When we last left off about our Arizona trip, Graham and I had only experienced a day and a half of spontaneous, highly adventurous fun. We'd jumped on a plane, climbed small mountains and ravished throughout the surrounding cities.
    Yet, the root of our trip was simple: to witness the marriage of Graham's friend Mitch to his gorgeous fiance, Abigail! Friday morning we slowly trudged out of bed, packing all of our belongs back into the car, since we would be hotel hopping for the rest of the trip.
    In typical Alexander style, we arrived to the Mesa Temple- only a mile away from our hotel- late! (Insert apologetic smirk here.) Luckily, things fell into place and we arrived just in time to witness a beautiful ceremony. I am so grateful to be apart of a faith that offers us so much.

    Somehow we did not manage to get the bride, groom and us into a picture! Oh well. Everyone looked adorable and carried huge smiles on their faces! After we separated from the bridal party, we were spent the rest of the day in attendance with the Las Brisas Gang, of which Graham claims membership. For all of those who don't know: Las Brisas is the bachelor pad of Graham and his bro's. 

    It's hard for me to describe Graham's relationship with his best friends. He loves them as if they're his kin, and he is always jumping to spend time with them; particularly Billy, his friend he has lost to the Iowan tundra. He had me promise to spend a full day with them, so Friday it was. We'd heard it was worth it to drive back to Phoenix and check out a sight known as the Hole in the Rock. Onward!

Before any unnecessary thoughts are thought about my lack of coordination, just know that I purposefully planned to not pack all denim, and by so doing my outfit was a little crazy :)

Also, Sunny overextended himself by attempting to climb up the wrong, unadvised way in shoes with no grip. Joshua came to the rescue!

Come on now. I need you all to understand how awesome this spot was!

    We were told that this location was a really cool spot to take pictures, completely true. 

     Okay, just know that I realize this is too over the top, but I can't stand it. This spot was flawless.

As we said farewell to Phoenix, we entered the surrounding city of Gilbert. Feast your eyes! This my friends, is the brand new Gilbert Temple! I was humbled to be able to go inside of it. It's very grand, very spiritually uplifting, very... well, very every-positive-adjective-you-can-imagine. 

    Finally, finally, it was time for the reception! I'll let everyone know now- this is what I live for. Receptions/Weddings are seriously the coolest because they're jam packed with upbeat music, goodies, happy families and dancing! Just know that I jived like a fool with no shame, dancing with a chocolate covered pretzel like it was nobody's business.

Congratulations Mitch and Abigail! Thanks for allowing us to take part in your special day :)

Intertwined

    Technically speaking, I'm breaking up my chronological recap of our big Arizona trip, but these are too good not to share! Special shout out to Jasmine Lynn Photography for these wonderful photos. I will say that this is the second shoot with her, and I highly recommend her work. The rom-com monologue, that's a bonus.

 

I was always my number one priority.

Until I met this heartthrob.

Sure enough, I had to have him!

And by and by, we fell in love.

I decided I needed to kiss him everyday.

So he popped the question.

And then we tied the knot!

We've had lots of ups,

and a few downs too.

We decided on forever though.

There's moments when "perfect" is the only word I can use.

When that isn't the case, we try to learn from our mistakes.

Remembering that we have our best friend by our side.

Our lives intertwined can be hectic.

But it's so worth it.

This love business is something else.

ARIZONA: Mesa/Scottsdale

    Thursday was technically the second day to our five day trip, yet the first full day for exploration. After waking up about 9, we were dying to cruise around town! 

    As we got in our vehicle in search of a recommended Red Mountain, we jumped in our rental car and began wheeling around. As soon we pulled out on the road Graham said, "look mountains!" Unbeknownst to us when we flew in at dark, we were surrounded in every direction by them! It was my first time personally seeing mountains; they were magnificent. 

    Our first stop really just showed us (mostly me, Graham had visited Arizona once before) the true desert landscape. It was just a stark contract as opposed to Georgia or Florida. It's crazy the diversity that can be found on this continent! 

    After stopping for a moment to buy breakfast at CVS we decided to hike a mountain, Graham has scoffed at that title and insisting it was merely a foothill! Nay, I say, it was not- at least, climbing it certainly felt mountain like. Judge not from the initial photos! The later ones show how large it really was :)

    When we came back down I finally saw my first cactus over a few inches tall! The desert is a strange, beautiful place. 

    From this point on, Graham and I did not have a point in our trip with just the two of us. We formed a few different groups with friends who flew out with us from back home. It was really nice though, it definitely enhanced our trip! We  met up with Graham's younger brother and his wife who were staying with a local who served his mission with Jared. This guy chauffeured us around all day, which was so nice!

    Our first stop, after a really good lunch at Cafe Rio, was an old mining town called Goldfield Ghost Town. Imagine time traveling to an old western town and you've probably conjured up better than what I could describe! This actually was pretty interesting location; there was a gold mine to explore, an ice cream parlor, a train ride, a place to pan for gold, a little gun shooting game, a small zip line and some of the most scenic views to exist. I'm telling you, if you're in Mesa, visit this place. It is SO worth it.

    Yes. I did say zip line and you know we had to ride it! I will just say that when we were at the top, it was breathtaking. The mountains towering around us, the desert just as dry and exotic as ever.

    After this we drove over to some place I'll never remember the name of it! It was in the outskirts of Mesa, and we drove on an intensely bumpy and winding road! I was actually terrified, just because I am so nervous about wrecking, and prayed for our driver throughout. 

    We passed a humongous water fountain, I believe the highest shooting fountain our tourguide said. We actually passed that to visit a National (possibly? I don't know) park and gorgeous place alongside the road with horses.

    But what I was excited about was the Indian reservation we were on :) I'll be honest, it wasn't what I expected at all. It mostly appeared to be inhabited desert land, sprinkled with a few mobile homes and one large casino. More than anything, it made me sad that all of the recent things I have heard or read about Native Americans seem to be true: Anericanized, poor, gamblers. Of course I can definitely not say that this is true of all, just seems to be a generalization with some truths. But I did have to smile when I saw an old red skinned man with long black hair and a few feathers on his cap. I love my heritage! 

    After all of traveling we had to rush over to the groom-to-be's house to prepare for a preweddig party! So we met up with Mitch (aka Groom) and his two friends visiting from England -international wedding, woop woop!- and all left for supper. In and Out is one of those fast food places that I have heard about from friends who live (or have lived) out West. I, not being a hamburger kind of lady, had a grilled cheese and a shake: pretty tasty :) 

    Then we were on to Scottsdale to engage in a go kart activity. Okay, I know what you're thinking: 'go kart? So what. Lame.' 

    Wrong. This is an intense 45mph race, in an open little cart, subject to more danger and this more fun. We wore head socks (giggle, giggle), Graham tested his strength with a punching bag, I played a few rounds of ice hockey. I'm coming back for a rematch Jared Alexander (who seems to beat me in every single competitive thing we do- croquet, phase 10, ugh)! Overall, this was so, so much fun! I told Graham that if we ever opened a business then this would be it. 

(FYI: Lav Fox=Mitch, Midfield General=Ollie, Graham Cracker=Graham,  Lacizzle=Lacey, Birdy=Jared, Kipin It Real=Kipin, Rachael=Rachael.    Ha! Totally forgot I beat Jared! Woo! Redemption! For real, I'm too competitive.)

    

    Go, Mitch, Go! The man of the hour was our winner! After we exhausted ourselves with that, we had to go for some gelato. By the time we finished with that I was ready to crawl in the bed. Originally Thursday was our only free day, and boy did we give it justice. This was one of the most amazing days I have ever experienced.