‘Cause You Gotta Have Friends

On our last trip out to Utah I was excited to find out that many of my old friends would be in Utah visiting their families too. I decided that since I had just been to Utah to visit my family 2 months ago, I was going to use this trip to try to catch up with some friends. While I still spent most my time with family, it was wonderful to be able to sneak out and hook up with some of my favorite people:

First group of Ann Arbor friends (Emily, Tanya, Jenn, me, Gwen, and Carly)

These girls were some of my first friends in Ann Arbor. I remember my first week in Michigan I knew I was going to love it and that was largely because I had already met these girls who right away included me in all their plans – including those long gone but much missed “Friday lunches.” We’ve all moved on and everyone lives in different states but thanks to Tanya (I think I can pretty well speak for the group in calling her our “uniter” because she always makes sure everyone stays connected) we’ve all kept in pretty good contact!

Petersons (Front to back:Michelle, Jenny, Mark, Shawn and me)
We went to breakfast with the Pertersons and my wonderful friend Michelle who I still get to have with me in Ann Arbor. The Petersons are another couple that have moved on from Ann Arbor and are now in California. Not only did Abbi and Keely get along famously, but I always had a blast with Jenny! One of my favorite memories was stopping at a scary gas station in Toledo, OH on the way home from the zoo. Everything was going wrong, I couldn’t get the gas cap off my car, I put my credit card in the wrong gas pump, and we really were in a bad area. This weird looking guy came out of the gas station to see if he could help me, which was so nice, but then I turn around to see Jenny “the bodyguard” Peterson standing behind me in this totally protective fighter stance. I mean, what was she going to do?? While I was thankful to her for having my back, I’ve never laughed so hard!

College Roommates (Rachel, me, Steph, and Arah)
Oh the stories I could tell, but I won’t! Really, these girls are crazy fun and every time I see them I remember why they were so easy to live with and why we clicked so well. We were constantly on the move but I think my best memories were our Mafia parties (not the real mafia, the card game) and just hanging out at the house with friends. I have to say that I'm thankful everyday that I got to have my sister Arah as one of my roomies - that's when we really became close and her friendship is one of the most cherished in my life. We were sad not to have Chelsie at lunch but she was busy getting ready to deliver a baby. : )


High School Friends (In 2nd picture: Kerrieleigh, me, Autumn, Jenny)

Okay, my friend Autumn found this prom picture and I don’t want to hear any cracks about my big hair, white nylons, or my silver astronaut dress! : ) I have to say that I had the best group of high school friends ever! As you know we are from a VERY small town which meant we had to be a little creative with our fun. Although we were very good girls, we did seem to get in a lot of trouble because of that “creativity” factor. One of my most vivid memories was the time we decided to practice vigilante justice on one of the “mean boys” from high school that we felt had just gotten away with too much. We buttered and leafed his precious truck and then prayed we wouldn’t get caught. I remember he caught up with us on Main Street about an hour later looking for the culprits and we just sat there shaking our heads with shock and concern saying, “Who would do that to you? That’s so messed up!” Sounds mean I know, but if you knew him it wasn't!