california girls

Over Mother's Day weekend, me, Lyndsey, and Brittney, ditched Provo to road trip down to southern California!

Our mission:

surprise Devon by showing up at his mission farewell!

Now I am one of those slightly crazy people who absolutely loves road trips. Like a whole lot.
The best part of this one: great friends and there were mountains in view the entire drive.
I have now officially been to Las Vegas and to California. Both are slightly over-rated in my opinion.
We arrived Saturday evening. Sunday morning we headed over to the church building.

Mission accomplished.

Devon was beyond surprised, and he gave a fantastic farewell talk!

Plus, it was mother's day so we got to hear the primary kids sing. Best Sunday ever.

me, Brittney, Devon, and Lyndsey

Monday we all hung out at the nearby lake/beach, watched movies, and basically had a blast.
At the end of the day, Devon was set apart as Elder Watkins!
There goes yet another friend off to the mission field... 
that brings the total to about seventy missionaries that I personally know out in the field. Craziness.
And then we drove right back to P-town on Tuesday.

road trip playlist:

(every great road trip has fantastic music)

"I Want Crazy" by Hunter Hayes

"Highway Don't Care" by Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift

"22" by Eclipse (yes, I'm obsessed. don't judge)

"When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars

and of course...

"Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts

I have now officially been to California, Arizona, and Nevada.
I have also taken a road trip with people other than family members.

Other pictures exist with Brittney and Lyndsey... maybe someday I will actually get them.

All in all, it was an adventurous and absolutely fantastic trip!

Here's to the start of a wonderful summer.

adventure time

I love sunshine.

Almost as much as this kid does.

via

We had a solid two weeks of warm sunny spring weather.

Oh how I envy everyone else on spring break. BYU does this really great thing where we don't get one of those.

I made the best of it and sat on my tiny cement porch to study and work in the sunlight.

Though I did still love the random snow fall a few days ago...

Finals are in three weeks.

I am so not ready for that. But I am also past ready for the semester to end.

And all I really want to do is go on an adventure and take a break from reality.

My family is in Washington, D.C. without me.

Seriously. 

They went to one of the most important historical sites in the world without the history nerd of the family.

I'm not bitter at all.

My cousin is in Oregon.

All of my extended family is currently on spring break.

As previously mentioned, most of my friends are heading out on their missions or off on fantastic study abroad adventures.

In the mean time, I will be here. in Provo. 

Studying and working as always.

Such is life.

In the mean time, I guess this will suffice.

But seriously. 
Who's up for some fort-building and coloring?
You will be my new best friend.

Road Trip

Monday I picked up my parents. And forgot to include these pictures in the last post. Love my parents so much!

Tuesday I moved out of the dorms.
Wednesday I took my last final while my parents toured BYU. We stocked up on Creamery chocolate milk with leftover dollars from my meal plan then headed to my aunt and uncle's home. We vacuumed out the car as well. fun times.

Thursday. We left the mountains behind us to drive back to the lovely Lake Zurich.
It was a blast to have 23.5 hours in a car just with my parents. It was such a different road trip without my three other siblings along, but it was still pretty fun! Though there was a lot more sleeping going on than usual.

goodbye for now mountains.

it's the Hub. Rachel will appreciate this.

one sleeps, one drives, the other takes pictures and attempts to stay awake and keep the driver awake. with the alphabet game. or word games. or the going on a trip game. lots of games.

waking up is hard to do.

one of the coolest things ever

...hours....and hours.... and miles....and miles.... of nothing....

FUNNIEST. MOMENT. EVER.
there is a scenic overlook in the middle of Nebraska. Let me say that again. a SCENIC OVERLOOK.

it's the exact same view from the highway...

we enjoyed it. and laughed a lot. and ran around. then switched drivers and headed off through the scenery.

hi daddy. he's great.

horse! something besides grass!

another hilarious moment: a sign for a local store. "We buy and sell antlers!"
seriously in the middle of nowhere. I guess that's what people do out there.

cool clouds.

shadows. clouds. flatter than a pancake.

gorgeous sunset.

barn in the middle of nowhere.

Friday. Drove a lot more. And finally arrived back home in time for dinner and to go watch Nathan's dress rehearsal for Sound of Music.

you start going a little crazy towards the end of 23.5 hours in a car...

 

 I have such awesome parents! It was a great two days with them in the car. 

a note: take a road trip. a long one. it's such a great experience.