Utah Part 3: More Friends, Welfare Square

Sunday night I stayed with my Aunt VoNique and Uncle Jared. VoNique and I stayed up late talking, and I loved that. I don't ever get to see her one-on-one very often and her faith is inspiring to me. I wish I could've spent more time with them!

The next morning, my friend Andrea picked me up and we picked up Cafe Rio, then went up to our friend Chrissi's house to eat. The kids played and we talked...about all the TV shows Chrissi and Andrea have seen. :) So funny that I have to go all the way to Utah to see these beloved friends from Indiana!

Andrea drove me up to American Fork and dropped me off at my friend Christa Keele Cotterell's house. (How annoying that all my friends now have extra last names that I have to remember!) I don't think I've seen Christa since before my mission. Since then, I've completed a mission, she's completed a mission, she's gotten married, and she's had a baby! We had a lot to talk about! She still cracks me up, just like she did my first day of college in our freshman Student Development class.

Christa gave me a ride up to Draper where I met my friend Ron Lewis, also from Indiana. He moved to Utah last winter, so it was fun to see him, who I know from Indiana, now in my second home! He also cracks me up. We walked his dog and I convinced him to go with me to my favorite sushi restaurant, Happy Sumo, and even got him to try some of my sushi, even though he hates sushi. He admitted that it "wasn't bad." 

Then he took me back to Draper (Maybe I just use my friends for rides?) to Brady and Kristen Southwick's house. Kristen was my Laurel advisor, also in Indiana, and she and her family have moved all over the world since then. The last time I saw her was in 2005 when my cousin Melissa and I visited them in Beijing, China. Kristen was, and still is, a huge inspiration to me. At that time, there were a few women in my ward who were young, smart, strong, and fun. At the same time, I had an EFY counselor who was also just the coolest and she'd recently returned from a mission. I wanted to be like them and so I figured I had to do what they'd all done -  a  mission. I'm grateful to have had strong, faithful women in my life as a teenager who inspired me to be a better person. 

The next morning, Jaime picked me up and we met our mission friend Beth Doyle for breakfast. I hadn't seen her for several years, either. That's the great thing about a trip just to visit people - you actually have time to visit people! After breakfast, Jaime and I headed over to Welfare Square to tour it. It was interesting to see the center of the Church's food production and storehouse. One of our sister missionary guides, Sister Cardus, was from Hurlingham, Argentina - one of the areas Jaime and I both served in! Her dad was the Stake President while we were there, so I remember her family, but I don't remember her. She was barely a teenager then!

Jaime and I had lunch at the Red Iguana before heading over to see the documentary Meet the Mormons. Aubrey Johnson met us at the theater. We were too full from lunch to have popcorn, though, which was pretty disappointing. That's about 75% of the reason I go to movie theaters. Isn't she such a pretty friend?

That night we met most of our good girl friends for our traditional girls' night at Happy Sumo. I love, love, love these girls. I've said it a thousand times, and I'll continue saying it, because it's just true. They're the best. Also, Happy Sumo is the best, and if you were wondering, totally worth going to two days in a row. Per tradition, we hit up Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory afterwards for some caramel apples. I've missed laughing so hard my stomach hurts. Happens every time with these girls.

Me, Jiame, Angela, Hailey, Whitney Ehlers, Aubrey Johnson, DeeAura (Thompson) Willmon. We missed our friends who weren't there!