As Sisters in....Mesa!

A couple of months ago, my sisters started talking about how we were sick of cold weather and how we should all meet up somewhere where the sun shines and it doesn't snow! This talk continued for quite some time until my sister Kristy, who lives in Alaska, finally made a move and bought a ticket to Phoenix! About 24 hours later, all of us had made plans to get to Phoenix as well! Tammy (Seattle), Kristy (Anchorage), Cherilyn (Pinetop, AZ), and Natalie (San Diego...well, technically Carlsbad) all met in Phoenix at the end of February/beginning of March for a fun weekend that I hope becomes a tradition! Our brother, Brent, lives in Mesa, so we invited our brother, Paul (Las Vegas), to come, too, but he wasn't able to come.

I got up at 5:00 a.m. and drove to the airport go catch my flight. I got in at about 9:30 a.m. and met up with Tammy. Within an hour all of our flights came in. We converged on Brent's house and played my Guitar Hero. I got Guitar Hero for Christmas...you play it on the computer. Only problem...it doesn't work on my computer. So with a heavy heart, I mailed it to Brent so he could babysit it for who knows how long. All the more reason to visit him! :) We checked into our hotel and sat in the sun for awhile. We were a little cozy in the hotel room with 5 of us plus Cherilyn's 3-month-old baby, Amie (who is so stinking cute, I might add!)

That evening, we went to Massage Envy for massages. (Brent opted out! He watched Amie while Cherilyn got her massage.) Needless, to say, it was one of the highlights of the vacation!

We did lots of other girly sister things while we were there...like painting toe nails, pedicures...all while watching Tommy Boy? :) We also exchanged methods of applying eye make-up. It was fun to compare our eyes with each other to see similarities!

Every night we were there, we stayed up late talking. We all get along so well and are so chatty, that we didn't want to go to bed. It always amazes me that even with the age differences among us, we still get along so well! Ya, I couldn't exactly join in on the talks about being a mom and wife, but I just love listening to them share their stories. I would laugh at them and they would just say, "You laugh now Shannon, but this will be you in a few years!" And that's why it's so funny. :)

Saturday morning, Brent met us to go hiking. We had so much fun. Obviously Natalie had fun being a cactus, "Javelina" thrower, and the next Karate Kid!

Amie had fun too...

Our fearless leader...

Here are some other hike pictures...

Sunday was one of the highlights as we invaded Brent's singles ward. I thought it would be fun to check out the guys, but there was a small problem....there weren't any boys in his ward! Okay, that's an exageration, but there were so many girls!!! We promised Brent we wouldn't embarrass him enough to damage his social life. Throughout church and after church, we gave him our input as to which girls he could try to "get to know." :) Thanks for putting up with us, Brent!

Sunday was also Kristy's birthday, so we made lasagna dinner and cheesecake for dessert to celebrate. While we were waiting for the lasagna to cook, we went to the Mesa temple and walked around the grounds.

We had a fun dinner after we got back. We teleconferenced with our brother, Paul, and his family. His kids were so cute on the camera! Anna sang star wars again, Jacob made faces the whole time, and Aaron even put on a lightsaber show for us :)

After dinner, Natalie and I headed back to the airport. Our flights went out right next to each other, so it was fun to sit together at the airport. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed, so I got to sit there for another couple hours than expected and didn't get home until 2am! The exhaustion that week was so worth it! I love my family so much! They really are the greatest!