Road Trip: Boston to Phoenix

As always, a lot has been going on and, yet again, I haven't been doing so well updating our blog. Rather than post pictures of what we've been doing, I wanted to recap in a few bullet points and then focus on pictures from my most recent cross country road trip with my best friend. April was just crazy, crazy, crazy (cue K-Ci & JoJo)....

•  Had a girls night with some of my high school besties. We cooked Mexican food, played card games and just caught up! I love that special time with those girls. 
• Celebrated a sweet friend at her baby shower in Oklahoma and also saw Annie get ready for her last prom - can't believe she is a senior!
• Had a special Easter morning with Heath. We want to start new traditions before we start a family to share them with, so we went to church Saturday evening and slept in, made brunch and reminded ourselves about what Jesus did for us by watching Passion of the Christ. 
• Went to see Ariana Grande in concert with Dakota - girls only of course :)
• Went to our first couples cooking competition at The Space Dallas. This was so fun! We went with another couple so it was fun experiencing that together. I found it on Groupon and it was worth it. 
• Ben and Kristin (Heath's brother and his wife) spent some time with us in Grapevine while they were here for a conference. Although we are all in Texas, they live about two hours away so it's always good to see them. 
• Last but not least, I finished working another work conference. It was my second year to be a part of this team so it was a lot more responsibility this time around, but I loved it! It's always a joy to see our members and hear how much our efforts have helped them on their professional journey.

So moving on, I went on a road trip with my best friend. Not just any road trip, but a 45-hour road trip across the country. Da-Nell (but I call her Nelly) moved to Boston a little over a year ago as a job opportunity opened up for her. She was so brave and trusting of God's will for her to make such a big move, but she did it. Now God has opened another door for Nelly back in Phoenix, so she got to move back home. When she told me this during the holidays, I did not hesitate to ask her when we were going because I was committed to fully supporting her and being by her side during this move. Literally, considering we were in the same car together for hours over four days.

With two type A's in the car, this was the perfect road trip. We had ETAs each day, a final destination with somewhere to sleep at night, never drove through the night, only stopped if necessary (food is necessary) and even made it to Phoenix early enough for us to enjoy the rest of the day. Nelly did a great job planning and I didn't even ask any questions until the day before. If you know me, this is a big deal because I always want to know everything in advance.

I flew to Boston Thursday evening and it was smooth sailing from there:

• Day 1: We left Boston Friday morning, drove through NY, CT, PA and stayed the night in OH
• Day 2: We went from OH, through IN, IL, MO and stayed the night in OK
• Day 3: We went from OK, TX and stayed the night in NM
• Day 4: Only a six-hour drive from NM to Phoenix!

Nelly is too sweet and got me some road trip goodies! I now have 3 Alex and Ani bracelets and they're all from her :)

Stopped at a random place for lunch. Good find.

State sign picture fail.

Had brunch with Lauren in Oklahoma before we hit the road again

College besties!

Stopped for Subway at a random gas station - lucky us, a free car museum :)

This is us having Blue Bell ice cream. The guy gave us way more than one scoop, and I thought we were pretty lucky. Only to find out that Blue Bell has this national recall the day after!!!

Nelly did a Priceline Express Deal, which doesn't tell you where you're staying until after you pay. We got a casino hotel! Nelly loved that :)

$5 Free play!

I lost mine in a matter of seconds while Nelly won over $40 on her free play. This is why I don't gamble :) Best part was $2 off the casino buffet just for signing up haha

We made it to the last state!

Celebratory dinner - Nelly back in Arizona and us just out of a car in general :)

We listened to the Serial podcast during the trip and our only complaint was that it needed to be longer because we loved it so much :) Thankful for friendship, thankful for vacation time and thankful for God opening new doors! I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Until next time,