Land of the Lost: Mesa Style

Cy loves dinosaurs.

We happen to have a museum in Mesa that has a whole section devoted to dinosaurs.

It's a little pricey.

We're on a pretty tight budget.

It's free the first Sunday of every month from 12-4, until the end of the year.

So, guess what we did last Sunday? (judge if you want, I don't care)

We made our oldest son's wildest dreams come true, and he LOVED. EVERY. MINUTE. OF. IT.

Greeted by the skeleton of a Prehistoric Mammoth

He saw this skeleton across the room and said, "Oh, my FAVORITE!  Mom, it's a Triceratops!"

Cy made sure to educate us on almost every dinosaur we saw.  He informed us which ones ate plants and which ones ate meat.  He also gave us his professional opinion on which dino he thought would win in a fight with another dino.

On the third level, looking down.

The Beast begging to get out of the stroller.  He DID NOT get his wish.  Can you even imagine what would've happened had I unleashed the Beast in that museum?  Oy!

Just kickin' it in the Universe.

I'm a star baby!

Serving time in the original Mesa jail.  How much do you think it would cost to have this installed in my house?  Just asking.....

Crawling through a lava tube.

Look at the joy on that kid's face!  He was in HEAVEN!

Afterwards we headed over to our good friends Stacy and Derek's house.  They live on the east side, we live on the west side.  The times are few and far between that we are able to get together.  In the last two months we've been able to get together 3 times and though I can't speak for Stacy, well, actually I can because I know we are on the same page, getting together this often has been a wake up call.  Derek and Dave are best friends from childhood.  Dave and I got married in August of 2002 and Stacy and Derek got married in November of 2002.  Stacy and I clicked almost immediately and we've been close friends ever since.  We have a blast when we are together AND our kids LOVE each other.  They are all around the same age and totally entertain each other.  I wish I would've taken some pictures, but I didn't.  However, if I had, you would've have seen this little guy

running around with his pants on backwards and doing flips on, off, and around the couch.  You also would have seen this dude

running the show and using the Force to conquer Wipeout on the Kinect.  Finally, you would have seen these two beautiful people

winning at Deal Monopoly (Way to go Derek!) and making me laugh til I about peed my pants!

Overall, it was a fabulous day on the east side and totally worth the late night, grumpy kids(the following morning), and the dead battery.  Til the 27th S&D, til the 27th.  Oh and let's hurry up and plan that cabin trip.  I'm itching to hang out with you guys for longer than a few hours!

*All pictures stolen borrowed from Stacy's blog.  Thanks Stacy! 

Make New Friends.......

but keep the old.  One is silver and the other's gold.

Today I had the honor of catching up with a Gold friend.  (Blast it Tricia!  We didn't take any pictures!  Good thing I have some old ones that I can scan and post.  Ba ha ha ha!)

In the Miller parking lot.  Not sure what we were doing.  Tricia?  Any idea?

This is Tricia.  We go back.  Like, way back.

Somehow, I had the great fortune of moving into Miller Apartments my first year at BYU.  I was a transfer student and knew, um, nobody.  Miller was an amazing place to live.  The apartments sucked.  The rooms were small, the management was bad, the roof leaked, the hot water ran out, I could go on and on.  Miller's one redeeming quality?  The people who resided in these awful apartments.  There were two buildings.  The girls and the boys.  They were built in a L shape.  Each building was three floors and the apartments faced each other.  Our BYU ward was made up of these two buildings, a couple condo's, and I think a couple houses.  We were a small and tight knit group.  Words cannot express how much I loved my ward and the people in it.

Shortly after school started I got called to head the Homemaking committee (it is no longer called Homemaking, in fact it is no longer called anything).  Tricia was called to be one of my minions.  She started calling me Boss.  I took to that name like a fish to water (I have some slightly bossy tendencies, just ask my in-laws).  We weren't roommates, but that didn't stop us from becoming good friends that had a great time together.

A girl I can't remember, Chantel (my roommate), Tricia, Neil (from apt 12, oh the stories I could tell), and me.  Don't ask me what I'm doing.  Perhaps I was constipated?  Who knows!

At the Manti Temple.  A group of us went to do Baptism's for the Dead. 

Going to a dance.  I don't remember which one.  We did have dates.  I swear we did!  I just didn't want to post their pictures and embarrass them. 

During the school year, Tricia and I both decided to serve missions for our church.  Apparently, we couldn't get enough of each other and we ended up at the MTC at the same time!

Elizabeth (I think), Tammy (our former Relief Society President, we have her to thank for bringing us together!), me, and Tricia. 

All of us were in the Miller Ward and we were all going different places.  I'm not sure where Elizabeth went, but Tammy went to Italy.  I went to West Virginia.  Tricia went....ummm.....somewhere in South America.  Ya, we all went foreign.  Elizabeth and Tricia learned Spanish.  Tammy learned Italian, and I learned Hillbilly.  Hey, don't mock, it's a hard language to learn.

After our missions Tricia and I both ended up back at BYU.  I left BYU to get married and move to AZ.  Then, because she just can't get enough of me, Tricia moved to AZ after she graduated from BYU.  Okay, MAYBE it has something to do with her sister living here, but whatever.  We got back in touch and I went to her bridal shower.  (She married an Arizona boy so there's a chance she might end up here permanently.  Hint, hint.)  She came to my baby shower for Cy.  That was 7 years ago and that was the last time we saw each other, until today.

Yep, 7 years.  We've stayed in contact via Facebook and Blogs, but after 7 years of not talking on the phone or seeing each other a lot of friendships would fizzle out and die a slow friendship death.  But not ours.  Seeing her today, it was like no time had passed at all.  I love friendships like ours.  I didn't feel any pressure to get my house spic and span before she came.  I know that Tricia will accept me for who I am, chaos and all.  There were no awkward silences.  No inner dialogue saying, "Did we really used to be friends?  What did we ever have in common?"

I am so grateful for her friendship and for the chance to meet her 4 beautiful children.  They were so sweet!  LOVED THEM!  She has 3 little girls and 1 boy (and another on the way).  They were so personable and not shy AT ALL.  I honestly and truly wish that she lived closer (they split their time between Washington and New Mexico for her husband's job).  Oh the fun times we could have!

It's a rare friendship where you can pick up right where you left off after 7 years.

Let's not wait another 7.  What do you say, Tricia?

"Okay Boss!"

Ya, that's what I thought.