Tucson girls trip

Avery had a track meet scheduled for early morning in Tucson. She could have met at the school at 4:45am and taken the bus and been back by 4pm on Saturday. We decided to make a mini girls trip out of it instead. We drove down Friday 3pm and did a little exploring before grabbing some dinner and checking into our hotel. 

There are actually kind of a lot of murals in Tucson, sort of like Flagstaff. Unlike Flagstaff and Mesa, Tucson has its own look and feel. The houses look different, the streets look different. It’s very southwestern inspired (even more than Mesa) with more Adobe style homes and buildings and lots of desert landscapes.

This Tucson postcard mural was a fun recommendation from Pinterest, along with the other places we went on this trip.

This antique shop was cute and had some fun items, but were used to thrift store prices. I did get a USA flag pin for $2 I thought would be perfect for patriotic holidays.

Check out this cool Moses and the burning bush mural!

We stumbled upon Chez Peachy. They’re known for cute mini bento cakes and the shop has a fun vibe. We needed up getting a Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookie to eat after dinner.

It’s always fun checking out homes in new places. This was actually a home turned business, but such a cute one in the area.

Thunder Bacon Burger was near the Tucson mural and it was dinner time so we thought we’d check it out. The style inside was very edgy and not my style but there were cute mini ducks throughout that were fun finding while we waited for our food. The burger was ok but the fries were amazing! The perfect amount of crispness.

Andrew booked the hotel 6 minutes from the school that hosted the track meet. Thank goodness because we were running a bit late. I sat with Heritage high school track which is the best because I get to chat with some of my previous cross country runners. 

This mural is actually the outside of a racquetball court! It was a senior mural from class of 2023 which I thought was cool.

Avery ran the 100 meter and 400 meter. She made a new personal record in the 100 which is exciting! Who knew she would be so great at sprinting?! This was her first meet running with spikes which I have never done. I ran distance in track my sophomore year.

After her last race we left early and grabbed some lunch at Mi Nidito, a highly recommended Mexican restaurant that apparently Bill Clinton and Goldie Hawn ate at. They had pictures of celebrities at the front of the restaurant which is funny. The food was only ok; the chips tasted burnt and the salsa was too spicy for me.

I have heard lots of good things about the Tucson Desert Botanical Gardens and am so glad we stopped by. It was a little pricey so it was good going just the two of us instead of the whole family. It’s smaller than our botanical gardens near the PHX Zoo but I liked more. There was a small indoor butterfly exhibit that we loved, mini trains, and it was overall more curated and cute design. They packed a lot in to the space available.

These moths are as big as my hand!

See the cute train? There’s a track above too. Those little buildings are replicas from around the Grand Canyon. There were other cool replicas from other states too.

Such a fun trip! Glad avery and I could have this time together.

end of year hike

 

Most years I like to start a hike usually "A" Mountain in Tempe.  We still might do that hike soon but it worked out that the week between Christmas and New Years the Johnson's had been staying at my parents and Dad thought a hike is a good idea.  I agree.  Arizona winters are perfect hiking weather and it was a lovely morning. (Top photo taken by Beatrix.  You can see her shadow at the bottom and she did a great job!)

This time we hiked our favorite, Spook Hill over past Red Mountain Park on Brown road.  This a well loved hike, only about a mile, and in the city so close by.  I've lost track of how many times I've hiked it but it's in regular rotation usually a few times a year for me.

    Andrew had work as well as Ammon so I picked up Elmina and Allen, DJ brought some of his kids, Louise brought her kids, and Dad drove separately.  Hiking is always more fun with a group of friends or family. Well, at least for me because I'm a special runner/hiker.  

Take a look at that sky!  Just beautiful.

Avery Heritage winter formal

The dance was at the Wright House.

Avery’s first date and first school dance was winter formal last Friday. Such a big deal! She asked Jonas who was such a fun date. I took the group photos which is why I’m sharing a lot here. It was so fun being there for photos. Unfortunately Jonas missed photos and joined later for the dinner because he had to work. That’s ok because Avery looked cute on her own.

We planned ahead and felt really prepared leading up to the night of the dance. We thrifted a few dresses over the last couple years so she had a few to choose from, some fitting her better than others. 

This is the dress she had her heart set on so we got the cream undershirt for modesty and picked red as on accent color since it’s very Christmasy. The shoes, earrings, and hair piece were all from SHEIN and worked so well.

Aren’t they all so beautiful?!

Below is Emma with her date Rivers, who is on Rachel Willis’s ward. Emma is Sarah Hancock’s daughter and I love that Sarah and I were friends in college and own our daughters are good friends.

And of course this is Liberty below, who is Rachel Willis’s niece. She’s wearing her mom’s dress from when she was young so that’s cool.

And below this is Ella, Sally Johnson’s daughter, and Avery’s BFF. Her date is Ben Gordon who is in our stake and his dad teaches seminary at Heritage. This really is a great group of people!

Gotta love that pop of red!

 Overall Avery said she has such a great time and I’m so grateful to Sally for hosting the dinner in her backyard. Taking the photos caused me to be super later to the B2B work party but so glad I was able to do both. Elliot brought Berlin with us to the work party which was so nice. What an interesting season we are in right now

39 years old

A couple weeks ago a turned 39 on a Sunday. So crazy thinking this is the last year in my 30’s. Ruth offered to make my cake and I sent her the strawberry cake recipe for the cake recipe Zara asks for every year. Chocolate sounded good too but I assumed Andrew would want a chocolate cake for his birthday a week later.

 In the end Andrew wanted ginger for a change but Ruth did a great job on the cake. I gave her 4 inspiration pics for the cake decoration and let her decide what she wanted to do.

As you can see she went with own version of the top left. Ruth and I both love baking.

Doesn’t it look great?

Since my birthday was on a Sunday this year I didn’t get to go to Joes BBQ or Joe’s Farmgrill for a free meal. The sisters all took me to Balboas for a birthday treat after dinner Monday night. Michelle Weber and her family had just got in town from New Mexico for Thanksgiving week and was able to join us last minute. I love how well she fits in with the family. I mean, the Webers are family.

The owner overheard we gathered for my birthday and let me know I could pick a free cookie for my birthday! I tried this chocolate mint one that was fantastic.

 For the dipped ice cream I went for Oreo, chopped peanuts, and Nutella. Very sweet but good.

So grateful for family and friends helping me feel celebrated this year.