We have been blessed with SO MANY visitors since moving to Arizona. I'd like to think that people really like us and want to see us, but let's be honest... it's probably because we live in the desert where it's sunny almost every single day. It's hard to pass up a free place to stay in Scottsdale where it's 80 degrees when it's rainy and/or snowy where you live. But I don't care about the motive. I love seeing friends and family, so if they come for the sun, that's fine with me. But I am not joking when I say we've had a LOT of visitors. Like a really unusual amount if you ask me. Here are all the visitors we have had in the past six months.
Our first first official visitor was Micah's sister, Malea, who came down for a weekend in November to watch the Seahawks play the Cardinals. (I guess our first visitor was actually my own sister, Katie, who helped us move into our apartment, but since she had to sleep in the midst of boxes and was given the task of organizing our kitchen cabinets, she was treated more like an indentured servant than a visitor.) So the first visitor who got a bed with sheets and their own room was Malea.
A week later, Micah's mom, Cheri, came for Thanksgiving week. We had fun showing her around Scottsdale, introducing her to my extended family at Thanksgiving, and Micah took her up to see the Grand Canyon. I had to work, so I still haven't seen it....sad.
At the end of December I had an almost-surprise visit by one of my very best friends, Kristin. When we found out the TCU HORNED FROGS were going to the ROSE BOWL(!!!), Kristin decided to hitch a ride with some friends who were making the Fort Worth to Pasadena trek for the game. She had them drop her off at my place for the weekend, so we got to spend four glorious days together while I was on Christmas break. I have learned that visitors when I am not in school is a very amazing thing! Kristin was here for New Year's and got to meet lots of our new PHX friends at our impromptu fiesta! She also was by my side as the Horned Frogs won the Rose Bowl, one of the happiest days of my life!
Just two weeks later, Sarah, Bekah, and Ashley flew down from Seattle over MLK Jr. weekend to run the Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll marathon. It was so fun having them here for a sunny, crisp winter weekend and we all conquered the race together. So much fun!
In February, my sister came back as a real visitor. I didn't make her clean or organize anything this time, and she got a bedroom sans piles of boxes. We had lots of fun. Tried some new recipes, went shopping, ate Chick-Fil-A. Basically experienced all the good stuff in life.
Right before or after that (sometime in February) Micah's grandparents were also here. They didn't stay the night with us, because they were staying with another relative out in Mesa, but we did have them over for afternoon lemonade and introduced them to Yogurtland. We forgot to take pictures...
In March, another best friend, Allison, came for her spring break. We were horrible at taking pictures, but we had lots of fun. We even tried out a swing dancing place in Phoenix. Most of our group struggled, but Allison has become such an amazing swing dancer in the past year or so, and it was fun to watch her in action.
In April and May things got crazy because it got hard to balance school with our continuous flow of visitors. My mom came to visit during the first week of April. I cooked lots of new recipes, we got pedicures, finally watched
Toy Story 3, and got to have lunch with one of my mom's life long friends. It was great.
Two weeks later, my sister came again, needing some escape from the Seattle rain. Because it was so close to the end of the semester, my schedule was completely insane with paper writing and presentations, so I was not such a good hostess this time around. Katie went back to being an indentured servant and made most of my meals for me (bless her!), but she got unlimited access to our pool for a week, so I feel I repaid her with bronze skin. We also bought matching shirts (see below), so we can carry on our tradition of dressing like twins...
At the beginning of May, I got more surprise visitors. My friend, Amber, contacted me and told me that she and another friend, Jenny, were taking a last minute trip to Phoenix the following week. I got to meet these two amazing ladies for lunch and lots of talking! What amazing women. They were setting up the restaurant for the dinner crowd by the time we finally left...
The very same week, my best friend, Camille, flew into Phoenix for 24 hours for work and got to stay the night with us. Although I had a paper due the second day she was here, I could not be more thankful for this brief little visit. I felt like her presence was so refreshing and encouraging in the midst of the stress of the semester. Love her.
During the same 24 hours that Camille was here, Micah's cousin, Erin, was here with her husband. We met them for a Cinco de Mayo dinner before they left town for Vegas the next day to celebrate their one year anniversary. It was so fun to see them, but we forgot to take pictures again!
Just a few days later, Micah's friend, Ryan, came to visit. Micah only worked half days while Ryan was here, so they had lots of fun golfing, playing basketball, and swimming. I, unfortunately, was writing another paper during Ryan's visit, but I did take a break to introduce the boys to Smashburger!
Now we are moving onto boy visitors. Ryan left two weeks ago and next week Justin is coming! Justin is one of Micah's college friends, but all three of us are very close due to the year we spent living in Lake Stevens as adults. When you are an unmarried, Christian adult living in Lake Stevens, Washington, it is hard to have a thriving social life. So when Justin, Micah, and I all lived there, we hung out all the time. I can't wait for Justin-i to get here!
We already have Micah's brother, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn on the line-up for late August, and my dad told me on the phone last week that he might try to get out to visit us at some point this summer. So who's next? Just let me know if you want to book a visit! This $100 mattress (that we try to make bearable with a memory foam pad AND a feather topper) might be calling your name...
