it's been too long

i love my friend summer. not only is she beautiful, funny, and nice, (sorry boys, she's taken) but she also has a fun, lime-green vw bug that can drive all the way to phoenix, arizona and back. so, i invited myself to tag along with her this week on a trip to just such a destination.



i hitched a ride in order to go visit one of my favorite persons in the whole world. her name is lyndsey, but i just call her lynz. she was my roommate for like 5 years when i lived in logan. we talked and talked and fell into nightly chit chat sessions that made me feel like we were still roommies. we interrupt each other all the time, but we still eventually get our stories told, even though we take a few detours along the way.

here's lynz with a baby named brody:




she has a wicked awesome husband, brian, and a very patient dog, indy




an adorable son, max,



and a beautiful little girl named lily.



i got to be entertained by them all for 3 days. lynz took me to visit another roommate from days of long ago, brenda.

brenda is a brand new mommy. she and her husband, don, just welcomed baby brody into their world.



they already have ted the tortoise, but brody is much cuter. here is ted with max:



lynz also took me to visit my cousin and his family. it has probably been 25 years since i've seen joseph. he is now grown up and married to lauren and they have two sweet children, grace and taggart. i forgot to take any photos of them while i was at their home eating delicious homemade brownies, so i was going to steal a photo from their blog, but lauren just installed a "swiper no swiping" feature. trust me, they're one good-looking blonde family with a very enviable orange owl painting.

i got to eat a lot of yummy food while i was in arizona. i ate some chinese food (pot stickers, general chu's chicken, egg roll, fortune cookie), some mexican food (bean burrito), some american food (in & out burger), some german food (hoot'n'nannies?), some polish food (costco hotdog), and some italian food (pizza), it was sort of like a little tour of the world all courtesy of lynz.

thanks lynz. it was a much-needed, much-appreciated little get away and your hospitality was superb. thanks also to summer for the ride and for listening to my non-stop chatter for 15+ hours. you're amazing and i hope your ears recover. (no, that's not a goiter, i'm just fat.)



this photo is for steph...you're not the only one with strange animals invading your bedroom walls. not that that makes it any better, but still, you're in good company.



lynz, we'll have to make the next visit a little sooner than 4 years from now. and nat, if you're reading this, don't think that you can escape my visits that easily...i'll find you...yes, i will.

most of all, while i was away i missed this cute, little gal. thanks again to my family for taking such good care of my smelly baby.