we should all live in Arizona together

Over the holidays, we had the most amazing treat.

Our friends Britany and Bryce drove from California to spend a few glorious days with us!
We hadn't seen them since their wedding, 1 year, 3 months and 26 days before.

We were meeting them in front of the movie theater - we were planning to go see Les Misérables with Dusty's family.

Dusty and I stood out front, knowing they were drawing closer and closer.
"I think I might throw up a little," I said to him, choosing to be overly dramatic in my total excitement.
I was way too emotional.
Which, we found out later, would make seeing Les Mis a pretty bad idea. 

Bryce is a pretty tall guy. So when I saw a long arm waving in the distance, I knew it was time to scream and run and lose all (if any) remaining poise in the crowded mall area. 

Britany and I ran to each other, our purses swinging, and we hugged in a very violent but short-lived hug (neither of us are very touchy-affectionate people, so this may have only been the second or third time we had ever hugged), which was broken due to the fact that we both were bursting out crying and needed to hide our faces for a while. 
We had mere minutes to compose ourselves before the movie started, and then we spent the next three hours bawling our eyes out. 

The next few days, however, consisted of a lot of staring at each other dreamily, laughing, joking, shopping, watching Pitch Perfect (yes, we've seen it!), laughing, sarcastic joking, eating great food, and other shenanigans. 

Through it all, the same thought kept running through my mind: we should all live in Arizona together. 
Amiright? Amiright??
My life would be so much easier if all of my lifelong friends would just bite the bullet and move to the greatest, most wonderful place I have (anyone has) ever lived. 
Making friends as a married couple is fun, but there's something about those one-on-one friends made in childhood, or high school, or college that is so unique. It's vulnerable. They enter your life when you're still becoming who you are, when you're dreaming of your "adult" life and who you're gonna marry and what job you'll have and whether or not you should have bangs that year. 
Brit and Bryce are that "it" couple for us, because we met them as individuals, hung out with them on double dates, and then got to experience each other's engagements and weddings! 
And even though we're now married friends, deep down Brit and I will always have that year in college that we lived together and saw each other cry and rolled our eyes a lot and watched movies and had a funny quote book and shared secrets and pet peeves and she dealt with my messiness because she realized she loved me. We bonded with all the nonsense, before we had to live with men and grow up a little.
So what it all boils down to is, we should all live in Arizona together.

Becky, Britany, and I!

They left on January 1st, New Year's Day, after an amazing visit.
It was Dusty and I's 2nd anniversary!
We took lots of pictures together this trip, because we had somehow managed to only gather a few pictures in college together.
Britany understands me somewhere in my sarcastic core in a very special way, and it's friends like her that make me realize that growing up without a sister isn't all that bad - there are kindred spirits to be found all over the world.

She's also really pretty, and I'm only friends with attractive people.
I'm joking!
Kind of.

August 2010 - January 2013

Ya wild animals.
Thanks for all the good times.

And hey - may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine in your faces, and may Arizona be your forever home someday.

In love,
Cait

Christmas with air-conditioning

Whenever we talk about the fact that we're from Arizona around Christmastime, the conversation always ends up landing on the idea that Arizona never gets that cold. Especially here in Virginia, I mean, people are surprised we haven't shriveled up and died when the temps hit the 30's. People think we Arizonans ride horses to work and use sand as deodorant.

I feel like Dusty and I have these conversations down pat. 

In fact, almost always, my husband ends up saying: "Oh yeah, most of the time we have the air conditioning on in the car on Christmas Day."

Which happens to be true, I suppose. But sometimes I think we try and brag that Arizona winters are delightful, like we're wearing shorts and t-shirts. 

I have no real point to this story. I've just realized over the years that we have the same conversation over and over. 

I love Arizona in the winter. Good Lord, it's beautiful. It's crisp (and, yes, it gets cold!) and clear, and Christmas in Arizona, 2012, was a delicious time to be alive. 

This is my family's street, and "my" mountain.

We went back and forth between my family and Dusty's family just about every other day, drinking in all of the glorious home time.

Highlights

1. 

Babies.

Which, by the way, is also #1 on the list of things we were good-naturedly harassed about (#2 on the list was whether or not we had seen "Pitch Perfect" yet. Don't worry, guys, we've seen it now), and my dear husband certainly doesn't help when he does "Caitlin's pregnant!" fake-outs whenever the mood strikes him. 

It's true, though, the new babies in the family are way good-looking, squishy and soft and sweet.
And we spent as much time as possible holding them and trying to teach them that we are their favorite aunt and uncle.

Although usually the please-love-us bribes fell flat.

Thanks for the chocolate, dude, but you're dead to me now.

 2. 

Christmastime!
The best and merriest time of the year.
We spent Christmas Eve/Christmas morning with my family.
We had a lot of great moments, including going to our Christmas Eve service. It was the first time in a long time that my whole family was there together! Dusty and I sang "O Holy Night" with my parents, and my brother Chris spoke his testimony on trusting God, and finished by singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel".
As always, we left the service singing Silent Night with lit candles.

Christmas morning, I had my dad's caramel popcorn for breakfast.
Which honestly, his caramel popcorn could be its very own highlight.
It was a morning full of laughter, smiles and adorable little nieces. It was so wonderful to all be together.

The second half of our Christmas was spent with Dusty's family.
After our pajama-clad morning, we got ready and headed up to Chandler to see family, eat a scrumptious meal at the fancy Christmas table, and enjoy our time together.

3. 

Games, hangouts, parties, girl time, shopping, and just good old-fashioned time together.

Happy Birthday faces, for my beauty of a sister.

Zoo Lights!

The next big highlight would have to be New Year's Eve.
But that'll have to go to another post!

Stay tuned. :)

The only down side to having such an extravagantly long trip home (two whole weeks!) is that you start to feel like you don't actually live far away...you start to sink in and your age-old roots begin to dig in again, and you enter this strange, timeless life warp that completely distorts your views of reality.
We were simply nomads. A different bed each night, living the dreamer's life.
It made it all the more difficult to leave, when the time came.

Next time:
- Old friends, new memories
- New Year's Eve
- Our 2nd Anniversary
- The long journey home...

In love,
Cait

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