Grad School Adventures

Tom has been going through the interview process for Physician's Assisting. So far, he has been to Pennsylvania and we all went to Arizona. The Arizona trip ended early this morning after an all-night drive that we've vowed to never do again. We've driven through the night once before on the way back from California, but that was when we were young and childless. Adding a small person to the mix makes things a bit more complicated. Emmitt has decided that screaming is a pretty fun way to use his voice...especially in a close space such as the car. Our ears had about had it by the time we reached Mesa. On the way back though, Tom explained to him in big-people language that he needed to stop the screaming and that we were very sorry we couldn't play with him just now. It was then that we realized Emmitt understands much more than we give him credit for because he kept crying softly, but the screaming stopped and he fell asleep shortly after. The only problem was we had to keep ourselves awake to drive the rest of the night.

Tom's grandparents let us stay with them on the way down. They live in St. George and it was the perfect half-way point. Emmitt absolutely loved Grandpa Allphin. It was so fun getting to know them better since the only time I've been able to talk to them was at our wedding luncheon. They put us up in a comfy bed and fed us some delicious homemade bread and pozole (sp?) and then french toast for breakfast. We are quite spoiled.

Have you ever heard of Hotwire.com? Tom's mom suggested it to us and we've always been pleasantly surprised at the deals we find. Hotwire is a travel agency of sorts that has deals with hotels all over. If a hotel hasn't been able to fill it's rooms, it gives a lower price to Hotwire and they pass the deal on to you. At least, I think that's how it works. You don't know what hotel you're staying in when you see the price, but you can ask for a minimum rating. We went with four stars for 70 bucks and we ended up in a pretty ritzy resort with the best pool, big rooms, and (my favorite part) free warm chocolate chip walnut cookies at check-in! (:

Not too shabby, eh?

For the record, and for my mom, these pictures are courtesy of some website. I am not the type to take a picture of my hotel room and then forget about grandparents, husband, and child.

Anyway, Tom went off to his interview leaving Emmitt and me to tour the little campus. Arizona's really pretty. I didn't take any pictures, surprise surprise, but we loved the palm trees and the mountains. I'm afraid that living in Idaho my whole life has made me kind of cold blooded, though. I like a warm day as much as anybody, but I define warm as 80-90 degrees. Above that, it's just too uncomfortable. Mesa was really warm and humid the day we were there.

The interview went well and I it was a good experience for Tom. We were sad to cut our little vacation short, but on the way back, we had an anniversary dinner. Our second anniversary is coming up, but Tom will be back in Arizona at another University, so we had to celebrate early. It was a nice break in the drive.

I take it back, I took one photo with Tom's phone. A double rainbow. You're welcome.

What does it mean?!!