the chronicles of lauren...

as most of you know lauren was here in arizona visiting matt and myself. she arrived on february second at twelve thirty a.m. and left today around seven thirty a.m. we got to enjoy one hundred and twenty seven hours of her (minus sleeping time of course). we had a fabulous time and definitely look forward to her return. we found out that it was easy to entertain someone from the midwest at this time of year...provide some sun and a cool drink and you're all set! unfortunately, i did not document her entire visit with photos like i usually like to do. however, i did capture our hike on film as well as a little landscaping help from lauren herself.

february second: this was pretty much a lazy day. took a walk in the a.m., sat in the sun on the back porch and played cribbage, monica stopped by to say hello, watched groundhog's day (very appropriate considering), got cleaned up and went out for cocktails and dinner.

february third: lauren went for a run and then came back to invite me on a walk, got cleaned up and lauren made a six egg scramble (holy lot of eggs), she and i drove to historic downtown Glendale for the chocolate affaire, went to church, tried to make a quick stop at wal-mart for last minute groceries that turned into a half hour of switching checkout lanes, finally got home to eat dinner (chicken brats; matt took into account that lauren's a non-red meat eater).

february fourth: went out for breakfast at matt's big breakfast, matt made pulled pork sandwiches and we picked oranges, lauren pulled our dead palm tree out of the ground, monica came over to play games while matt watched the superbowl, we then walked monica home after we crowned her yahtzee queen.


february fifth: the perfect hiking day. matt and i decided on a trail that we had done before. a forty five minute drive to get there but well worth it. goal: weaver's needle. hike hike hike, matt says, "i lost the trail." hike hike hike, matt says, "still can't find the trail, somehow we got off it." hike back to the "T", find right trail, decide as a group to make our goal. hike hike hike, meet other hikers and tell them our goal. they look at lauren's six ounces of water and tell us that they hope we have more because it's still quite a hike. we decide as a group to forge ahead. i'm tired but lie and say i can do it. hike hike hike, matt loses trail, monica finds trail. matt shouldn't lead. hike hike hike, "that could be weaver's needle...let's pretend it is." lauren's now out of water, monica's is rationing hers, meg is sharing with lauren, matt gets off the trail many more times on our way back. we allow matt to go ahead on his own (never out of eyesight though), and the three ladies stay on the trail making good time with a new goal in mind: don't die and find car. obviously we made it back, not without very hurt feet, sunburns, bloody legs, and probably some level of dehydration. crazily enough after our long drive home we got washed up and went out for happy hour. talk about rehydrating with beer, chris would be proud.


february sixth: no way could we start the day with our usual walk, but a shopping trip was not out of the question. matt went to work and lauren and i went to the mall. lauren was successful in finding a new pair of jeans and i got sunglasses. we did take a walk in the afternoon though and met up with monica at her sister's house. finished off the day with some good ole leftovers and a little r&r in front of the tv.

february seventh: cup of coffee and out the door, bye laurie!

there's the synopsis of the visit, hope you enjoyed it.