Vacation by Instagram

Vacation was so much fun, but so exhausting. I can't imagine how I would have really changed anything though. There's never enough time. Here's how it all went down.

Friday:
Airport was a zoooooo. I've flown on Christmas Eve and haven't seen it this bad. Was happy I'd gotten there extra early and didn't need to stress. Happy as a clam as we're set to take off on time and the captain announces we're first for takeoff. And then, the rain and lightning storm hits. We sit on the ground for 2 1/2 hours. Before a 4 hour flight. Awesome. Luckily we finally took off and made up good time, only arriving an hour late. When we landed I was so tired I could hardly see straight so it was straight to bed.

Saturday:
Brunch at The Wild Grape with Lance and Melissa.

Shooting with E. So so fun. I shot a 22 rifle, 22 pistol, and a 9 mm. When it comes to guns I'm a total girl so I don't even know if I wrote that right. Even though I don't consciously feel nervous, I get so tense and Ethan had to keep reminding me to relax and breath. I had so much fun and felt like Jack Bauer. The craziest part was when we walked into the range and some guy shot a sniper gun. It was so loud and literally physically brushed me back. I've never experienced that before.

I posed like this and then Ethan said, "Is that your tough face?" So I took another, smiling, and looked totally stupid.

After shooting we met up with Alex for Cafe Rio and the Demolition Derby in Heber. I've never been to a derby before. I expected it to be fun but I enjoyed it even more than I anticipated. I'd picked this purple truck below as a winner for a round. It was super exciting when he hit this other truck and flipped it over. At another point he hit a truck and completely took the bed off. Pretty sweet. I was feeling very tough after my day of shooting and enjoying the derby.

Sunday:
Brunch with E, relaxing at Grandma's, and then tons and tons of cousins, aunts, and uncles over for dinner to celebrate Grandma's birthday. Was really wishing Shellie and Tri could have made it. We need a cousin reunion.

Monday:
Drove up to Boise. Everyone kept telling me I was driving so much in such a short amount of time, but I love it. I don't drive in the city and it's absolutely wonderful to get in a car, have an open road, and blast the radio. Last year on this vacation I drove from Orange County to Salt Lake on a Friday, up to Rexburg on Sunday, back to Salt Lake on Monday, and back to California on Tuesday. I loved every minute of it other than the bad traffic I hit in Vegas.

I got to Shantay's and we hung out for a bit and then met up with Brittney for dinner followed by dessert. We had such great girl talked and laughed so hard at one point that Shantay spit her water out.


Tuesday:
I drove to Rexburg and went straight to Chelse's. Man I love that girl. I wish so badly we could live by each other. She humored me and had lunch with me at Gringo's, my all time favorite Mexican restaurant. Shantay and I had "Tuesdays at 2" lunch dates forever in college and most of those were spent here. Chelse and I had some great girl talk and caught up. It's so hard to stay up to date in the lives of my married friends who live in a different time zone so these meals are so fun.

On my way to my grandparents' I drove through The Ridge parking lot and stopped for a minute to look at my old building. I lived in 303 for four months and 304 for from September 2003 until July 2006, only going home January-August 2004. I love love loved that place and made some of my best friends there.

Got to Grandma & Grandpa's and started helping with the raspberry picking. I picked about two buckets worth.

Idaho has the best sunsets I've ever seen. View from the back porch.

The White House.

After Grandma and Grandpa had gone to bed, I went over to Chelse and Ryley's. We sat around talking about the good ol' days and reminisced about the first time I visited Rexburg after I'd graduated and we went skinny dipping in Rigby Lake with Aimee and some unnamed boys. We then decided maybe we hadn't quite turned into old ladies yet....

Ready for a little mischief...

There are few things that will make you giggle harder than being in almost a pitch black night at 2am, standing on a dock naked, holding hands with one of your best friends, working up the courage to jump into the freezing lake. It took us a few minutes of standing their laughing but we finally did it.

Wednesday morning I drove back to Salt Lake and saw this as I was headed out of town. So so true. Chelse and Ryley were headed to Bear Lake so Chels drove with me as far as Pocatello. You know you are real friends when you're giggling like little girls one minute, and then six hours later driving in a car together talking about serious grown up stuff and trials in life.

After I got to Salt Lake I met up with Maria for lunch at The Robin's Nest. It was so yummy and even better to see my Maria. Sad we didn't take a photo.

Next I was off to SLC airport where I was able to meet up with Steph who was flying to NYC for the weekend.

I arrived in Orange County and my mom picked me up and we went straight to dinner at my high school hang out, Rubino's. I couldn't have been more thrilled to see the Yankees game on their tvs. My mom and I ended up chatting for about thirty minutes with lovely couple next to us, she was from New York and he was from Philly but they'd lived in California for thirty years. They were both still total east coasters.

Then I was off to my sweet Gina's new Irvine apartment. I'm sad we didn't take a photo but we were both not looking our best, to put it lightly. She always looks beautiful but I don't think either of us felt photo ready. We sat on the couch and talked and talked and talked and then had a sleep over and it was all lovely.

Thursday:
I was up early again to meet up for breakfast with Denise. More girl talk, and more hysterical laughter.

Next I rushed home to get my mom and we headed to Elise's to meet up with her and Hudson, and Rebecca, Ryan, Megan, and Jared for some pool time, cupcakes, and relaxing.

Hudson's tooties while he napped.

Friday:
A little leisurely shopping and Golden Spoon at the Spectrum with Jane followed by a much much needed nap at home.

Then I was off to Felicia's so we could head to our 10 year high school reunion together. The committee did a really great job planning and choosing a location. The golf club at Coto was really nice. It was great to see people I haven't seen in so many years. I felt like it was really hard to actually catch up with people though. I'd see someone and get through the initial surprise and "How are you??!" and then suddenly there was someone else. It was like stimulation overload.

Saturday:
Got up early to go for a ride with my dad. Brace and Karen came along, as well as Mark and Carley. We drove along Ortega Highway through the canyon and it was so pretty. We ate at a really yummy biker breakfast spot called Hell's Kitchen and had a ton of laughs. I didn't want the ride to end.

After we got home my sister and the kids were at the house and we all went to the beach. I've said it before but I really can't believe how much I prefer New York beaches. It is SO nice to just hop on the train and then you're at a nice clean beach where the water is warmer. I absolutely hate driving in traffic, waiting forever to find parking (I waited 20 minutes) and then schlepping down to a beach full of rocks, wood chips, and other debris, and an ocean full of rocks and seaweed. I know there's beaches that are a lot better than San Clemente but you still have to drive and find parking.

Rebecca left early to take Jared home and my parents, Ryan, Megan and I stayed until close to 6. It was so nice. We drove home and got pizza, put the kids to bed, and then I just packed, did some laundry, got one last Golden Spoon, and went to bed.

Sunday:

Got up so early, stopped for an asian donut and Diet Coke (breakfast of champs) and then my dad dropped me off at the airport. I was so happy to see I was able to get an exit row, and also happy I was flying out of Orange County since they sell the New York Post. I love my newspaper.

We took off with no delays, landed a half hour early, and I was in my apartment by 7pm! Such a nice change from the usual midnight landings when coming from the west coast. I was sooooo sleepy and luckily Courtnie came over and kept me company while I unpacked so I wouldn't fall asleep.

After I'd unpacked I found these eleven tootsie pops Lance had snuck into my bag. Sneaky sneaky!
It is good to be back in New York. We've had great weather this week, I've been busy, and now it's Friday and I'm exhausted. So happy to have a mellow weekend at home.