I know that I do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?*

Monday morning, Jesse and I ate breakfast that little town we stayed in and headed over to Havasupai. That's when I got to meet his parents and we began our ten mile hike to our camp site. 

We find the Mormons 8 miles in to the hike!

We have to cross the "river" to get to our campsite - in the hopes that this would keep the horses and other animals away

Our home for the next few days.

The ten mile hike in wasn't so bad. I was over it by the last two miles which was mostly sand and downhill.  It was nice to set up camp and rest!  More picture with waterfalls to come!

There's what's right and there's what's right and never the twain shall meet. *

Saturday I flew into Phoenix, Arizona.

My first impression of Arizona was a pretty cool airport with a recreation of the Grand Canyon on the walls surrounding the escalator and an airplane that looked like it was about to crash into the Grand Canyon (sorry - no picture - I tried not to look too much like a tourist).

Next impression MY WORD IT'S HOT THERE!  guys...it's THE DESERT! Not the two "s" kind that I am in love with, but the single 's'! I felt like Rango when he first experiences the real desert...p.s. there will be a lot of movie references throughout.  You can ask Jesse - I kept comparing everything to a movie.

To be honest - I don't think I had seen a cactus in real life before.

Kami and Jesse came to pick me up at the airport and we drove around for a while, I got to see Scottsdale - which is where we have our Arizona office.  I couldn't remember the address though - so this picture will have to do.

don't know why it won't flip right

Then we tried to go see Ashley at the Mesa Temple.  That didn't work out so well because she wasn't there, but we got to write her a note.

Then we met up with Jesse's friend...Rob?  He works in Human Resources too and when he found out that I did he said we should get married.  Later he mentioned something about getting a ring...I mean - sure, if you want to make if official and move to the east coast cause this dry desert in a land with horrid public water was not the place for me.  But he was a fun guy nonetheless and it's been a couple of months since I've been proposed to - so it was nice to get a refresher.

Then we drove to Tuscan.  I was exhausted by the time we got there because it was basically 1 or 2 a.m. my time.  I tried my darndest to stay awake - but it didn't happen.  I slept on a very comfortable couch and woke up around 5:30 or 6 because that was sleeping in for me (8:30 or 9 EST).

Church was good - Kami kept trying to get me to fall in love so I would stay out there, but three hours just isn't long enough to be sure - you know?

I got to have dinner with Kami, Jesse, and my friend's (Erin) mom and grandmother.  It was cool, I was nervous at first because I'm kind of shy and I get all quiet around people I don't know well.  But they were good fun with good conversation.  I learned a lot about tea that I didn't know (and that Jesse told me wasn't true later - but I'll have to wikipedia it first).  Not that it matters, I don't even drink tea, but interesting nonetheless!  Then Jesse and I packed up.  Jesse's roommate, Michael, has been to Havasupai three times, so he was helping me pack.  Basically the rule of thumb is, "what can I do without?"  I packed the bare minimum and it was a good thing too! I would even say there were a few things I wouldn't have taken with me.  But live and learn (and never repeat - I am putting it on the public record that I never need to hike Havasupai again...stories to come). 

Jesse and I drove about 5 hours or so to Seligman, Arizona Sunday night.  It was...a small town, so the old, musty feel of the motel...wasn't as bad as it would have been if there had been better options out there...

I'm molting!*

Sooooo....I don't think I told you guys about why I was on meds (pain killers and antibiotics).  I have been told a few times that I haven't really blogged much - so I think it's safe to assume I've done a bad job of updating you guys.

(p.s. I promise there are more pictures from my AZ trip to come - there are just a LOT of them and I need to pick which ones to post).

Alright - the meds.

About 6 years ago I had some issues with my jaw, it basically felt like a Charley horse in my jaw!  The only thing that helped was sipping on cold water (I went to the bathroom a lot in those times).  I went to two doctors and a dentist and nothing was conclusive.  My doctor said it might be TMJ.  Patient First didn't know either, but they gave me antibiotics (they always do).  And the dentist couldn't find anything wrong with my teeth.  So I took my antibiotics and eventually the pain went away.  That is, until about three or four weeks ago the pain came back.  Since nothing was done about it last time I ignored it (I know - I know).  Then my face started to swell and the pain woke me up at night - so I went to the dentist.  He took a look at the tooth and said I might need a root canal *gulp*. 

Well, I had this Arizona trip planned and I wasn't sure what was involved in a root canal and...I....didn't want one.  So I put it off until yesterday.  I was pretty nervous.  First - can I just say - I have this fear/expectation that people behind a front desk at doctor's offices are going to be cranky and mean and treat me like I'm an idiot.  I'm not sure where this came from, I can only assume it's happened enough that I have been condition to think it when approaching a similar desk.  But these people were so nice.  Everyone kept checking up on my allergies, making sure I wasn't allergic to latex or any medication (they asked A LOT).  I went to the back and sat in a VERY comfy dentist chair (there's no sarcasm here folks).  They had a TV there - so I got to listen to Fox News the whole time and my chair was in front of these two huge windows.  At one point I wanted to tell them that they had a very nice facility.

The whole process was actually pretty relaxing.  They gave me my little smock and put safety glasses on my face.  I leaned my head back and they put some kind of balloon contraption around my mouth - which was nice because there weren't random tooth chunks and fluids falling in to my mouth.  I closed my eyes and let myself start drifting off and before I knew it they were done.  I kind of wished it went on longer so I could have gotten a decent nap.  It's kind of sad that the only time I can truly relax seems to be in a dentist chair.

But honestly, it was a lot better than getting a cavity filled.  Very relaxing.  So far - none of the bad stuff he mentioned might happen has happened...so I'm happy thus far.

OH - but my whole point!! I have to get another one.  The tooth next to it MAY have been the culprit of the 2007 Jaw-Charley Horse.  It has some bone loss? (I think that's what he said).  It's funny because never in my life has the back tooth bothered me.  The doctor did a cold test on those teeth and the back didn't react at all, which made him take an x-ray and got me another appointment for another root canal.  So the lesson here - no pain means big trouble.  It's okay - cause I'm sure I could use another nap like that.

Oh, nonsense. This is nothing compared to the twig of '93. *

Good morning!

I know I've been M.I.A. for a while but I have a good reason.  I went to Arizona and finally got to see the Grand Canyon! I have a million pictures that I need to get off of my friend's camera (I borrowed his SUPER tough, water proof camera for the trip).  Then I'll start some posts about my trip.  There will be several because I was out there in the wild, hiking for five days!

I loved Arizona, by the way, it was just so stinking hot and then I came back to Richmond to 50-degree weather! I was freezing! But I think I'm getting used to it now.

Anywho.  While you wait for the post - here are some pictures I took with my phone.  The pictures don't really do the real thing justice - but these will have to do.

This is the water from our first camping/hiking place - Havasupai

Friday - last day of hiking!

The mules at the Grand Canyon

The only good thing about being wounded in the but-tocks...is the ice cream.*

Let's talk a little bit about ice-cream - specifically, Cold Stone

A few weeks ago, at our interesting Regional Activity that got rained out and moved to the church building, my friend, Cam, won a $15 gift card.  He said he didn't even know where a Cold Stone was and I told him there was one right by my house so he could take me on a date to get some (yeah - there are some people I have no qualms speaking to this way).  I keep reminding him (he lost the gift card by the way - he's looking for it and he likes to hold the ice cream over my head if I am doing better than him at Frisbee). 

I think the part of the story I like the best is that from this I got two dates for ice cream, neither of which were Cam.  The first asked if I would like to get some ice cream because he didn't think I should have to pressure Cam into taking me to get some.  The other said he wanted to try the concoction I get there (cake batter and mint mixed together with graham crackers - yum-o).  One was for this past Friday and the other for Saturday.

I had to reschedule Friday because I was feel pretty sick from my meds (my meds being antibiotics and pain killers...I'll explain sooner or later).  So Friday was moved to Monday and Saturday stayed the same.

Saturday, we had a baptism at church at five, so my date and I were going to go grab ice cream afterwards.  Here are the highlights.

Right after the baptism I was talking to two of my friends and my date came up and said, "I'm just going to run to the bathroom real quick." and I said, "okay" and my friends, who didn't know I was going on a date looked quizzical and I said, "Oh, sometimes he just like to tell me when he's going to the bathroom."  We laughed and joked that we should start doing that to people.  I did explain to them that we were going out for ice cream so it wasn't totally strange that he came up to tell me that.

He opened my car door for me and then we looked up the closest Cold Stone.  He decided to go to the one by my house.  It was a good time, I was coming off of pain meds so I can't really tell you all that happened. He did tell me that it was the first time that he had been alone with a girl since coming back from his mission (...he is an older returned missionary BTW) and I informed him that I was coming off of pain meds so I wasn't sure exactly what I would say. 

We had good conversation (I hope) and several times where I told him I was talking too much and it was his turn.  We got up to leave, he opened my door for me, and then he started to drive towards my house.  I wasn't sure if he wanted to keep hanging out or something so I didn't say anything until we were about to pull into my driveway and he starts thanking me for coming out to ice cream with him and I was like, "Oh, you're welcome...can we go get my car?"  Not a big deal, but I do need my car to get around.  We laughed about it cause he blanked and forgot my car was still at the church.  He thanked me again though, when we finally got back to my car. 

The next ice cream date was last night.  We met up at the church (I seem to be meeting up there a lot lately), skipping FHE in the great cause of ice cream! We went to the same Cold Stone at Saturday...luckily there were different people working.  It was a pretty eventful night - I ran into Mary Carmen's sister and a little boy sitting outside kept trying to communicate with me through the glass.  I think he was asking me where my ice cream was and I tried to communicate back that I ate it and it was yummy.  Then we kept trying to touch fingertips through the glass until his mom told him to finish his ice cream.  Also, Jennifer Garner made our ice cream - okay, okay, so the girl at Cold Stone just looked like her.

After that we went and walked around Barnes and Noble at all the books.  There were some very interesting ones and I may or may not have bought my brother-in-law a very random gift...but when you see something that reminds you of someone - it's the perfect gift and you should get it for them.

Now...I've had enough Coldstone to get me through to the new year.  It's time to cut out the sugar and be more diligent working out!

Shame on me for kissing you with my eyes closed so tightly*

August Book Reviews
Slow Month

The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews

I REALLY liked this book.  I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. 
Good Morning America says "Read This!" It's true, it's right there on the cover.  But seriously, I blogged about some of this book already.  I loved the seven things taught.  I need to go back through and write up a little summary for myself. I don't even know what else to say except READ THIS! 

Crossed by Ally Condie

Once I accepted that the main character was supposed to be the way she was (I had trouble with her biggest problems being so trivial) I enjoyed this book (and the first) a lot more.  I look forward to reading the third book (which doesn't come out until later this year).  I'll pass judgement on it as a series...I may read through it again before passing judgement too.  Overall, I think they are good books though, worth a try.