First off, what is the deal with people riding unicycles to school?? A unicycle was intended as a trick for circus performers, not as a legitimate form of transportation. And they always look so uncomfortable, like they're about to fall off. I seriously wonder why people think 'I'm just going to ride my unicycle to school' when they have probably owned a regular two-wheeler at some point in their life. Weird.
Ok, so here's the recap from the last week or so: On Tuesday my friends Tracie and AJ threw me a great baby shower with many of my old friends. It was so fun! I was so glad to see so many friends and that some of them traveled all the way from Salt Lake just to come. I got some good gifts, of course, but the funnest thing was visiting with my friends once last time before we move and the yummy food! And sorry, there are a lot of pictures and these aren't even all of them.
Okay, so two days later we left for our new home, Mesa, AZ. The drive down was one of the most interesting drives...it started off in Provo, naturally, at the 7-11. Aaron was pumping gas when this kid in a huge truck drives up and says he has no gas and no money, so could Aaron give him a little? Now Aaron is not naive, but he is also very charitable, but the gas ended up pumping so fast that before he knew it, Aaron had accidentally given him like $40 worth of gas! That was annoying, but the guy in exchange, buffed out a scratch on our car. He showed us the little trick of using brake fluid, but discovered that our brake fluid was completely empty. So he may have saved our lives (we quickly went and filled our brake fluid afterwards.) Next, we were near Page, AZ and we saw some hitchhikers, so we decided "pick em' up!!" It's ok, everyone, they were the missionaries. They have to hitchhike out in the boonies a couple times a week to visit some families. About an hour later, we passed a couple of cops, one of whom was pinning a guy on the ground and the other was pointing an assault rifle at him. It was a little freaky to drive by. Finally, when we were in Flagstaff pumping gas, another guy approaches us and asks us for a ride because he's hitchhiking to Lindon, UT. Of course we say we're going the other way but we gave him $3. It was just kind of a weird trip.
As for the actual househunting...we looked at tons of places. Here is the view and the inside of one of our favorites:
It was a cute little apartment with a beautiful view of these little lakes. The location was awesome too, right across the street from a movie theater, grocery store, mall, tons of restaurants, walmart, and costco. And it was only about a mile away from Aaron's school. Also, they offer good deals on the apt so that it's more affordable. The complex has a nice gym facility as well as several pools and stuff. So Aaron and I were pretty excited about this place and felt good about it. However, we got back home and I immediately looked up the apartment ratings for it and I found out there had been like 3 murders there in the last year! We were completely devastated. Not only were going to have to find a different place that we didn't like as much, but it was scary to think that such crime existed so close to where we'd be living anyway. But wait, there's more! Aaron calls me at work the next day and tells me that the apt complex I'd looked up was the completely wrong one, it just had the same name! The one with the murders was called Lakeview at the Bay and located in Tempe, AZ near ASU and the one we liked was called Lakeview at Superstition Springs. Whew! What a relief. Aaron found the police reports on it and found out it was some crazy ASU students who just really went crazy! So the area we're moving to is still relatively safe, it just has a higher car theft/break in rate because it's easy for people to take the cars over the border and chopshop them. Other than that, we are super excited to move. And it looks like we'll probably try to end up at the apartment that has the pictures above.
The weather there was SO perfect...it was like 72 degrees every day and sunny and clear. We ate at Cheesecake Factory where the portions were way too big but we were finally able to get the plain with raspberry cheesecake. It was good, but it was just WAYYY too much food! I felt like one of those moms who say 'there are starving kids in Africa who could eat this!' We also ate at Cafe Rio and In N Out. That area has like every chain store or restaurant you could imagine. And it's pretty...the palm trees and exotic flowers and huge cactuses, it's actually quite lovely. And of course I couldn't write about a trip to Arizona without posting about the amazing Grand Canyon. We also stayed at my cousin Sara's house and we are so grateful for them hosting us.
5 comments:
I notice you're wearing my sweater at the shower. Truly great for the last months, although it tends to highlight hugeness. Glad to hear that the murders were only a superstition.
Actually that is my sweater, remember we have one that is exactly the same?
You look so cute! I was sad that I couldn't make it- but I was thinking about it. Your apartment sounds great!! I love all the extra ammenities. I am glad it ended up working out for you.
Heidi, I notice that you said "cactuses" in your post. You will no doubt catch a lot of grief for this in Arizona, where they are all firm believers that the correct plural for cactus is "cacti". However, I have it on good authority from an English prof that words that use an "i" to make themselves plural are generally of Greek origin, and the idea that the Greeks saw many cactuses out in their corner of the world is simply ridiculous. Thus, I strongly encourage you to continue to say "cactuses," if only to bug the natives.
(By the way, the dictionary lists both. The dictionary, as usual, is no fun.)
What a funny trip! You helped a lot of people, though. How exciting! You are moving to a very sunny place.
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