I wore my CTR ring to work (recently rediscovered it). My student thought I got married over the weekend and spread rumors that I was. 

I came home early from the office and went to dinner with Nate and Dad. 

We went to Charlestons since it was only the 3 of us. 

For FHE, my new ward had a luau to celebrate their birthday of becoming a ward. It ended up being a pretty big FHE. It had a great turnout. Colten and Torin also wanted to come, so we all rode together. 

Later in the evening they had a little show. 

Beforehand, it was mostly just eating and talking with people. 

Torin excelled in both- he stole two cartons of strawberries and brought them to our table AND we stayed an extra hour waiting for him to finish talking to a girl. Haha. 

The hour of waiting is not an exaggeration- FYI. 

Tuesday 

After A hour my supervisor asked if I was able to interpret a drivers ed review course from 3-6. I agreed, to give some leverage with me taking Friday off. i did feel bad leaving Nate home alone for the whole night (mom and dad were out of town), but I'm sure he didn't mind watching tv uninterrupted. 

The class was actually quite fun because it challenged me. We had 5 deaf students going. 3 that are your "typical student", so the agency interpreters had them. 2 of the other students are recently from Mexico and still learning ASL. So we (other district employee and I) had to really make our interpretation visual (a lot of gestures and classifiers) and really process what was being said to simplify the best we possibly can. It was fun to push myself a little.

As bonus for interpreting 3 extra hours, I don't have to go to A Hour Thursday. I think that's the best gift EVER. 

So a week ago, Sarah mentioned that Chainsmokers were coming to Phoenix! We debated going because we kind of needed to go to our dance practice that night. We did some research and saw that there were a few openers and they didn't even come on til 10. We decided to go and do both! 

We invited some friends, and ended up having a practice the Saturday before. So we decided to ditch dance, especially since we had people coming to the concert with us. 

The day of the concert, Colten found out he had something at 6:30 the following morning, so he couldn't come. I would tell him YOLO, but he flies planes, so he actually needs rest. So then we were scrambling to find someone to take his place. It was pretty late notice but we eventually found someone. It was pretty crazy in the mean time. 

We got there when the last opener was singing. It's the girl that sings "Gold". Can't remember her name. She was the epitome of an angry millennial who just doesn't care, but she also has a lot of fans for some reason? Her other songs were 95% just the F word. She literally walked around the stage. Not with hype or anything. Just walked. After her first song, she cursed out the crowd and said I don't appreciate you guys saying that i'm not singing. I have a sinus infection and have had so many IVs (of course more choice words intertwined). 

She literally had her hood on the whole time, and was wearing sun glasses. 

I was cracking up at her "performance". How is she famous??

The Chainsmokers show was best described as a rave. TBH, initially I was disappointed that they didn't play any of their songs all the way through. They would play bits, and then turn it into like dubstep (a taste of my own medicine for never listening to songs all the way through). The concert got better as it went, especially when I knew what to expect. By the end, I was bummed we didn't have more space to dance. 

Also the lead singer (Drew) has an AMAZING voice. He would sing some of their popular songs acoustic and he has some real talent. I wish he sang every song acoustic. Also he is extremely good looking. He is my new celebrity crush. (Sarah and I enjoyed looking him up online and learning everything about him- he is 27, graduated with his bachelors from Syracuse, his most used emoji is the heart eyes, etc). 

Drew is on the right. 

When we were getting ready to leave, this guy in our row, FELL 4 rows down. He was obviously plastered because he was completely oblivious to it. 

Our drive home consisted of talking about everyone's favorite topic- relationships. But really everyone offering unsolicited advice. It got quite passionate. Haha. 

Wednesday 

I had a lot of work at the office but I go early on Wednesdays, so it was a good day to be busy. 

I left after 3 hours though to go get my mom a mother's day gift. I realized it was THIS week. I made the little trek the Target on Power and Ray and it was so worth it. Easily the best target. 

When I got home, I freshened up and got ready for my date. We ended up getting COSTA VIDA (not even knowing it was my absolute favorite) and ate it on the bed of his truck on a dirt road. It was a well thought out date. He even brought blankets because Arizona feels amazing right now (IN MAY). 

I found out that we were going to leave for the cabin retreat on Thursday, which meant I had to pack Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I got home late, so I only semi packed. But I got the hardest part done- deciding what to wear. 

Thursday 

NO A HOUR. I didn't even have to take time off, I just got it off. #BLESSED. 

I could barely wake up at 7, so I definitely needed it. I guess I have had pretty poor sleep this whole week. 

CABIN TRIP

Our friend Colten was going to come early with us, but it all depended on if he had a flight. We were all kind of waiting til 12. He couldn't come which meant it was now Sarah, Aaron and me. I assumed he'd want to just wait til Friday but he's a trooper and still wanted to go early. 

Mom of course loaded us up with water bottles, brownies and popcorn. 

Side note: before getting on the highway, we stopped at QT. Without even thinking about it, he bought all of our drinks. Just a perfect gentlemen. I realized there is a difference from boy to man. That's one prime example. He also opened the car door every single time. What a gem. 

Anyway, the drive up was great conversation. Mostly about dating. Everyone's favorite topic. When we got into town, we first stopped at the cabin and then went to get food. Let me paint you a picture of this GLAMOROUS cabin. 

1. They have a gate with a code to even get in. 

2. They have a "regular maintenance guy" plus cleaning people. 

3. An alarm of course. Plus fence around the property. 

4. Full volleyball court with a net around the whole thing and the sand raked. 

5. playground. 

6. a ton of rangers

7. full basketball court. 

8. HOT TUB. 

9. Full movie theater room with chairs that recline completely flat PLUS jumbo love sacks. 

10. watch towers by the volleyball court and fire pit

11. park benches

12. 2 ziplines and so much more..

So we spent a good 10 minutes just exploring the inside. We didn't hit the outside til after dinner. 

The rest of the night we watched movies in the theater room. First we watched "All About Steve". It was freakin hilarious. Sandra Bullock so it's bound to be good. Then Aaron put in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Which is one of my favorites but I was out within the first 15 minutes (doesn't help that the bean bag was so nice). 

Friday

We said we would wake up at 8 to go on a hike and what not.. Well we (Sarah and I) hit snooze every half hour and finally got out of bed by 10. It felt so good to sleep in though. So worth it. 

Sarah said she loved making breakfast and wanted to make something for us all. Aaron and I of course obliged. By the time we actually ate, it was lunch but that just meant we could have a DP. 

We eventually made it out on a little hike. We just took a trail behind the cabin for about an hour. Ended up being more of a walk than hike of course. If we were smart we would have looked up one of the actual hikes beforehand. 

Our bishop was up at his cabin so we tried waiting for them but after an hour we went into town to eat and get snacks for when everyone arrived. 

Everyone slowly filed in. We chatted, watched half of fever pitch, put up glowsticks to direct people how to get to the cabin (thank goodness Kaysen and Torin were here by this point so Sarah and I didn't have to keep jumping out of the car), ate a ton of pretzel M&Ms and eventually had a devotional. 

The rest of the night was a party. They told us we are all expected to stay up til at least 1. They had music blaring while people played volleyball. Then we all got more rallied up with a game of Rock. Finally around 2 we all taped out. 

Sarah and I enjoyed pillow talk for an extra hour of course. 

Even though we had access to 3 cabins (all right next to eachother), we all slept in the same cabin. I guess we all have FOMO. 

Saturday 

The morning was chill. We had breakfast burritos, watched the other half of our movie, packed up, cleaned and headed out. 

We wanted to serve them by doing something helpful on the property, but I mean. They have professionals. So there was literally nothing for us to do. 

I'm so glad we got to go up there. Something about getting away. Especially with fun people. Does my heart some good! 

This is about 1/3 of the group. 

All the stragglers. 

Sarah and I had a dance performance that night which meant we had to be ready (makeup, hair done, everything) by 4. Alie was the best and ironed my shirt and picked up Zuppas for me. 

The show went by pretty fast. I loved having Sarah there with me. I didn't love our dances, but it always feels so good to perform regardless. It's crazy how much energy surfaces. 

After our show we hit up our friends graduation party and had "thrifty ice cream" for dinner.