Twenty FUN

Valentines Day

This was mine and Zach's FIFTH Valentine's Day together... that's freaking crazy to me. I still remember when he first asked me to be his valentine in 2013. He walked into my 1st hour math class with some flowers, a strawberry daiquiri sobe with a card that said "You should SoBe my valentine." Needless to say I was pretty much hooked from that point on. 

Being the two broke kids that we are we kept Valentines day pretty low key this year. We got each other some of our favorite treats (we even got each other the same thing a couple time hahaha) and had a pretty relaxing day... once Zach got out of school of course. Zach had a few plans in mind but they all got spoiled by the weather. In the evening Zach and I picked up a pizza from Hungry Howie's and some drinks from QT and we had a picnic by Discovery Park, and then we were going to walk around the temple grounds a little bit... but of course it was closed hahaha. 

Overall it was a very relaxing day with lots of yummy treats and all my favorite things (Pizza and Zach)

Scottsdale Artwalk 

Zach and I joined Sadie and Parker on adventure to the Tucson Art Walk. I can't even pretend that art museums are my thing... the deeper meaning of things does not come to me easily. But I can recognize talent, and the Scottsdale Artwalk is just oozing with talent. I was mesmerized by the materials that some of the artists use for their masterpieces, I also could not get over some of the techniques painters use to create texture and the amount of colors they use to make ONE color. It was crazy to me. I spent a solid 15 minutes staring at a piece portraying a hay field and trying to figure out what material was used for the hay... I thought it was real hay at first but the closer I looked the more doubtful I was... but whatever it was it made the hay look super dope.

We were definitely the youngest people at this event, and probably the poorest? The dale (as Maddy would say) is fancy AF. But it was still a very fun time even though we were definitely the black sheep of the group haha. 

It's essential for me to get as close to the paintings as possible to try and figure out what materials were used

After exploring the artwalk we went and treated ourselves to some Fatty Daddy's. I laugh every time I read that name, it reminds me so much of Jenny... I just love it.

We got their signature treat which is two scoops of ice cream, a macaron and a toasted marshmallow to top it off. Zach and I chose hazelnut chocolate ice cream with a red velvet macaron, and it was SO DELICIOUS and enough for us both to share.

Games for Days and A Lot of Pizza.

This week had a lot of game nights. 

Last Wednesday Zach, Derrick and eventually Trevor in replace of Derrick came over to play games with me, my mom and Rory (oh and Avery of course). We ate pizza during this game night in celebration of Rory's new job.

On Friday McKenzie was home from Tucson for the weekend so we played games with her, Derrick, Zach, Granny and Master. Zach, Kenzie, Derrick and I also joined Granny and Master on taking Avery to her swim lesson and afterwards we got.... pizza! haha how could I possibly complain. 

The two games that my family is really loving right now are Dutch Blitz (but when are we ever not loving that game, it's a Richardson classic) and now Suspicion (which is like an insane game of clue). Avery is at the age that she doesn't want to be on anyones team anymore but she isn't quite skilled enough in these games to actually be on her own team... so it's always interesting when Avery joins in on a game. In Suspicion she always insists on being the pink girl or rolling the pink girl and that's all that matters to her.

On Tuesday my mom and I went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and I got.... pizza.... and then afterwards Granny and Master came over to play some new games with us (they aren't the biggest fans of Dutch Blitz so they needed to introduce us to new games that they would enjoy as well). One of the games they introduced us to is actually my new favorite and it's up there with Dutch Blitz and Suspicion as my go-to games.

Girls Day

It was super fantastic having McKenzie home for the weekend. On Saturday my mom, my sisters and I went and had a girls day. We started off at the Science Center. This is the third time that I have been there in the past couple months... and that place doesn't really change a whole lot, so it's starting to get rather boring to me. Avery loves it though, so that's what counts. The saving grace of the science center are the shows for me, and I have not seen them all yet so we are good. This time around we watched a show about dark matter which was very interesting but also kind of just gives me a headache trying to understand. After the shows they always do a little roller coaster simulator and this was McKenzie's first time experiencing that and it was HILARIOUS, she made the strangest sounds the entire time.

After the Science Center we went to IKEA for some late lunch (their hot dogs are heavenly) and to stock up on all our favorite swedish treats. We also mozied around that heaven a little bit, which I could easily do for an entire day.

After IKEA we went to Target to get Avery some Takis (because she's more addicted than me and Kenzie) and to look at some clothes for Avery.

Presidents Day

Even though the UA doesn't give students Presidents Day off (I could rant to you about this forever... and it has to do with Rodeo break and how we have been cheated TWICE... anyway) McKenzie decided to stay an extra day in Mesa. We went to lunch at Taco Bell with my mom and Avery and then went to Target (again) to look for clothes for Avery. Avery is really into pockets right now (but really who isn't into pockets?) and so we had to make sure all the shorts or pants we were buying her had pockets. It was pretty funny because that was the first thing she looked at for every. single. piece of clothing. That girl can be so funny sometimes.

After our target adventure (and a meltdown from Avery about the concept of paying someone back) my mom and Avery took McKenzie back to Tucson #crycrycry. I stayed behind because I was most likely going to Tucson later in the week, and I didn't want it to be overkill.

Instead Zach and I went and hunted for the fancy new gen 2 pokemon, and of course spent our evening watching the glorious Bachelor.

TWENTY FUN

On the 22nd of February my dear boyfriend Zachary Thane Walton turned 21 years old. I stayed over at his house until it was officially his birthday, we popped some martinellis and I gave him my gift (some new delicious smelling cologne). This was an important birthday to celebrate because now all the fam who are currently not on missions are 21 and we can finally all go play bingo together, or even better hit up all the clubs. 

In the morning Zach and I went on his birthday adventure. We got a Groupon to do this Phoenix scavenger hunt that apparently is the new Escape Room. Once you pay you download an app that gives you a list of things to find/do all around the city of Phoenix. There were some things that were worth a lot of points like going to a specific place like the St Mary's Basilica or things that were worth very few points like finding a stop sign. With every item you had to take a picture and submit it to be reviewed and you got extra points for actually being in the picture and doing something silly. There were 140 items total and we got through most of them in a couple of hours all around downtown Phoenix. We did A LOT of walking and circling and poor planning of walking and hitting points but it was SO much fun. We got to explore Phoenix in a way we had never done before and I got to explore it with Zach, there's nothing better. It was also SUPER nice weather outside which made all the walking a lot more bearable. We ended up coming in second place for the day, so go us!

There was one company that also offers hunts in Scottsdale and Tempe, so we will probably end up doing one of those one day.

Find a bike rack (or in Zach's case.... be the bike rack)

Find flowing water

Find a Pedestrian walking sign

Find the Gathering Statue

Find a bird

Act out one of your favorite zoo animals (sloth)

Zach and I were super tricky and since I am on my moms account for the Science Center we were able to hang out in there and validate our parking... so if you ever need cheap parking in Phoenix, just bring me along with you and we can spend some time in the Science Center.

After our feet decided they were DONE with all the walking, we went and got a birthday lunch at Firehouse Subs... where I ALMOST left my purse when were leaving but a nice worker brought it out to me. I literally would have died if I had left it there and someone had gotten ahold of it. Thank goodness for good people!

After lunch Zach joined me to go take picture at Sadie's dance class for some advertising she will be doing. I figured this would be okay to do on Zach's birthday because that gave him cuddling time with their adorable dog while I was working. 

Later in the evening Zach and I went to Joe's Farm Grill for his birthday dinner (where we had sub par service) and then went to Liberty Market for his birthday dessert (where we had super dope service).

Afterward the Fam came over to play some games and celebrate the year of Twenty Fun. We played Suspicion and the new dice game my grandparents introduced us to. I found out my friends are bunch of risk takers, and that I am probably the only one that would make money if we went to Vegas. I am the voice of reason in that dice game.

Overall it was a very fun day worthy of Zach's birthday. I count my lucky stars everyday that I get to have Zach as a big part of my life and I am happy to be living in the same city as him again so we can celebrate all day long!