Sisters' Retreat

A couple of months ago, my sister, Kristy, who lives up in Alaska, were talking about how we really get depressed in February after not seeing the sun for months, so last month, we decided we would go somewhere warm and sunny in February. We decided we'd meet our sister, Cherilyn, who lives in Pinetop, AZ, in Mesa.

When our sisters, Natalie (San Diego) and Shannon (Provo), heard we were meeting, they made flight plans, too. Our brother, Brent, lives in Mesa, so we invited our brother, Paul (Las Vegas), to come, too, but he wasn't able to come.

I got up at 4:00 a.m. and flew out at 5:20 (cutting it close at the airport!) I got in at 9:00 a.m. and within an hour all of our flights came in. We converged on Brent's house and played Guitar Hero and changed our clothes.

We checked into our hotel and sat in the sun for awhile. We were a little cozy in the hotel room with 5 of us plus Cherilyn's 3-month-old baby, Amie! At 5:00, we went to Massage Envy for massages. (Brent opted out! He watched Amie while Cherilyn got her massage.) Needless, to say, it was one of the highlights of the vacation!

Brent "waiting" for us to all get beautiful. . .

Kristy's husband, Brett, sent flowers and a balloon to Kristy at the beginning of the weekend for her birthday.

Every night we were there, we stayed up late talking. We all get along so well and are so chatty, that we didn't want to go to bed. I felt like I was back in college talking to my roommates!

Saturday morning, Brent met us to go hiking. We had so much fun. We enjoyed Kristy's rendition of the Little Mermaid and Natalie and Cherilyn's impersonations of a cactus and a lizard.

It was in the 80's that day, so we were loving life!

That afternoon, we tried to get into a spring training baseball game, but it was sold out, so we went to see Vantage Point, instead. I'd highly recommend it. Kristy said she looked down the row and we all had our hands by our mouths biting our fingernails or covering our mouths in suspense. While we were waiting for Cherilyn to feed her baby, we posed with a promotional cardboard cutout of Patrick Dempsey. This is Shannon--isn't she adorable?!?

After the movie, we went shopping. Again, Brent was very patient and went his own way while we helped Natalie pick out some new outfits.

Sunday was one of the highlights as we invaded Brent's singles ward. It was the largest singles ward I've ever seen! We promised Brent we wouldn't embarrass him enough to damage his social life. We were so tempted in Relief Society when they introduced us to say that we were taking applications for Brent to find a wife for him. There were tons of beautiful, talented, and sweet girls there. After church, we gave him our input as to which girls he could try to "get to know." (Poor Brent--I feel bad for him having 5 sisters teasing him--He was SUCH a good sport!)

Sunday was also Kristy's birthday, so we made lasagna dinner and cheesecake for dessert to celebrate. While we were waiting for the lasagna to cook, we went to the Mesa temple and walked around the grounds. There is a really beautiful cactus garden that we took pictures at on the grounds. Inside the visitor's center, there was an amazing photograpy exhibit of the life of Christ photographed by Mark Mabry. The man who portrayed Christ is the same actor for the Easter Pageant at the Mesa temple. Here is a link to Mark Mabry's videos of the process of taking the pictures: http://www.youtube.com/user/reflectionsofchrist

We had a fun dinner after we got back. We teleconferenced with our brother, Paul, and his family. We really, really missed having Paul this weekend, so it was really fun to have us "all together."

Kristy loved her cheesecake. She even blew the candles out on the FIRST try! Way to go, Kristy!!! (I should have put more candles on the cake.)

After dinner, we were sad to say good-bye to Shannon and Natalie Sunday night. Monday morning, we went shopping (again,) this time to stores that accomodated our post-baby/mommy bodies. We also spent a ton of money at kids clothing stores--but Kristy and Cherilyn found cute Easter outfits for their kids. While Kristy was trying on clothes, I went to the furniture stores next door to try to find a bedroom set I liked. (Still, no luck! I'm too picky!!! I'll do another post another time to get input from everybody.)

My favorite part of the day was when we went to the pool and just lay in the sun. (Sorry--NO Pictures!!!) It was only 70 degrees, but to me it felt comfortably hot. I got just enough sun for Steve to say that he could tell I'd been on Arizona.

After an uneventful flight, I walked off the plane and FROZE! I could see my breath as I walked from the plane to the airport. (I was still wearing capris and sandals.) Steve laughed at me as he pressed the seat-warming button on the car. I'm just glad it was sunny today, so the adjustment wasn't so bad.

I'm so thankful for my kind and patient husband who allowed me to go guilt-free. I didn't worry about anything while I was there. He was amazing! (I even came home to a clean house!) He even taught Sophie to sleep until 7:00 a.m. and got rid of her bottles while I was gone. One morning she awoke too early (probably 4:30 or 5:00) and he made her stay in bed without giving her a bottle. In her sweet, little voice, in between sobs she said her first sentence, "Where. . .is. . .Mamma!" Needless to say, she didn't leave my side all day today. I'm also thankful for wonderful friends who watched Sophie Friday and Monday so I could play. I'm ready to be a mom again. (I think!) But I'm already planning our next sisters retreat.