Pacing through Provo

For my birthday weekend (which happened to coincide with Easter this year), I wanted to travel up to Provo, Utah for 3 reasons: 1) to attend my LDS Mission reunion, 2) to see all of my friends before they graduate and/or move, and 3) so that Nick could see BYU and all of the places that had so much meaning for me in college.

We had Good Friday off of work, so we set off early in the morning for Utah. I drove so that Nick could finish a homework assignment. I was in a little of an imaginary hurry, and found myself driving far too fast along the Arizona freeways. All too close to Arizona-Utah border, I got pulled over and received my first speeding ticket. I made Nick drive for the next half hour, until we reached Page for some food. I then drove the rest of the way to Utah (way too much driving lol). After driving through Kanab and Penguitch Utah, we lost GPS signal. The GPS then said that it was going to take us two hours longer to reach Draper, meaning that we would miss most of my mission reunion. I lost it! I started crying, saying that we shouldn't have come on the trip, saying that we should just turn back around. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the GPS rerouted, informing us that we would be getting there right on time. Turns out, we did miss a turn (for all of you familiar with the drive from Arizona to Utah you know that we missed the turn to get on the 10 and continued on the 17 for several miles more.

My mission reunion was WONDERFUL! It was so good to see my mission president, his wife, several of my companions, and to feel the spirit of the Washington Tacoma mission. After leaving the reunion, we drove back South to Provo, where Nick and I visited with Sage and Nathan and then headed back to Koa and Michelle's respectively to stay the night.

The next day was action packed! We got up early to eat kolaches with Michelle and Koa. For all of you that have never had the privilige of eating a kolache, you are missing out! These delicious dough balls, filled with cheese, bacon, sausage, gravy, etc. are irresistible. Nick quickly realized why we all loved them so much and were willing to wake up early to go eat one. After breakfast, Nick and I toured BYU campus. We walked around to all of the buildings where I had made so many memories as a student and shopped in the BYU Bookstore. We ate lunch at J-Dawgs, which all of you Provo people know is a Provo must-stop! We then performed baptisms for the dead in the Provo temple, where I had worked as a temple worker. We then had ice cream at the BYU Creamery. YUMMMM!

After quickly changing, we headed to my birthday friend get-together at Cafe Rio! It was so good to see Tammy Rimington, a former, dear roommate. Then, we rushed to Comedy Sportz, where Nick, Michelle, and I laughed our heads off. We then laughed some more with Brent and Alicia and caught up on our lives together. 

We stuck around Provo the next morning for sacrament meeting and to say goodbye to Michelle and Koa and then hit the road for an uneventful birthday, Easter drive back to good ole' Arizona. We stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam on our way back. It was a lot cooler than we thought it would be. We want to go back and take a white water rafting trip down that portion of the Colorado River.

A quick trip, yes. But oh, so worth it :) Happy 24th birthday to me!