What do you call someone who has known you for (almost) twenty-two years? Who has celebrated your biggest triumphs, and help your hand for your biggest failures?
Who stays up giggling with you at 2 in the morning, telling eachother secrets about boys that you've never told anyone before, worrying the whole time that you'll wake everybody else up? Who lets you use her toothbrush when you forgot yours on vacation? Who has to have a fan on or she can't fall asleep?
Who does Dance Workout With Barbie with you even when you're both in college?
Who pulls a sleeping bag over both your heads and tells you to run around the room and dive across your beds? Who is more concerned about mom finding out about the sleeping bags than she is about the blood coming from your forehead after you ran into the nightstand?
Who cries with you in the middle of a busy airport so you don't have to cry alone?
Who saves up with you for a year to go in together on the Polly Pocket town you've both been wanting? Who typed up a bunch of poems you wrote in elementary school as a birthday present for you one year?
Who is more fun than any one person deserves to be?
Who gives you private dancing lessons when you're nervous before your first Dance? Who helps you plan, pick out, and write down the outfits you should wear to a week of EFY, including such details as hairstyles and toenail polish?
Who always lets you be the girl even though it means she has to be the boy?
Who only lets you have a half piece of gum because she wants it to last? Who flies to Savannah to suprise you for your last year of All State Chorus?
Who can push you onto the ground with one finger?
Who helps you make iron-on t-shirts for a girls' trip to Disney World? Who belts harmonies with you in the car? Who knows how to make you laugh better than anybody else? Who knows how to make you mad better than anybody too?
Who stand up for you when some girls are mean to you?
Who doesn't return your shirt after she's borrowed it going on three years? Who drives to your house to pick you up because you needed to get out? Who plays the piano for you just so you can sing your favorite songs? Who has you both claim dibs on favorite baby names when you're both still in high school?
Who is moving 2,000 miles away from you in less than three weeks?
And who you're going to miss more than you can possibly say?
I call her my best friend.
Courtney and her precious little men!
Peek-a-boo!
And then we stopped trying and just got to know our new friends better!
So I figured it would be good to not just get a picture in the restaurant, but to have a mini photo shoot against the cute brick wall across the parking lot! SO glad I did, as each one turned out totally frameable! Enjoy!
Have I mentioned that I LOVE these girls and am so happy to have them in my life?!?!?
A classic... the jumping shot!
Once we hit Louisiana, it started pouring. Three hours of bumper-to-bumper trafic meant that our twelve-ish hour leg of the race was closer to 15... and we were exhausted and grumpy when we made it to Aunt Karen's house in Dallas that night! Good thing Karen has cute kids, comfy beds, and makes a delicious breakfast!!!
After Karen's yummy breakfast Saturday morning, Mama and I headed off for Lubbock, TX. What's so exciting about Lubbock that we had to make a detour to go there??? Why, three sets of cousins who all have precious little families, of course! How could we not stop?!?!?
Then right after church, we went to visit Chelsea and Shawn! Callie sang "Happy Birthday" to us, but was very disappointed when I changed out of my 'princess dress' to put on more comfortable clothes for the car!
After we left Shawn and Chelsea's, we took off again, towards New Mexico. We found these in a gas station right before we left Texas and just had to take a picture!!!
After driving several more hours of driving, we made it to St. George, Utah, on Monday afternoon! My cousin, Aubrey, met us for dinner and gave us a tour of the city! We found the new school I will be teaching at, the mall (very important!), the temple, and lots of other fun stuff, including... AN APARTMENT for me to live in!!! Hooray!
Tuesday morning, we visited my new school to see my classroom, get some questions answered, and meet some of the teachers! It was wonderful! The school is such a great facility, the teachers and staff seem welcoming and happy, and my principal is as kind and fun as ever! Best of all, though, is that I found out our school mascot it... wait for it... wait for it... a T-REX!!!! Is that not the best mascot ever!?!?!?!
We got back to Provo Tuesday afternoon in time for some shopping and even some frozen yogurt with my the Haynie cousins!!! All in all, we had a blast, even if we didn't win a million dollars for racing ourselves cross-country and winning!!! Who needs that money, anyway?!?!?
