Throwback Thursday: Spring Break 2012

In light of Spring Break coming up, I wanted to share a few pictures and stories about the Spring Break we spent together while we were dating. This was from March 7-19, 2012. Enjoy! :)

Curtis and I started dating on December 31, 2011, after his first semester of college at the U of A. We were rocking the long distance thing, but anyone who's gone through a Long Distance Relationship knows that it's very important to have something to look forward to. Skype is a wonderful thing, but nothing can replace experiencing life together, side by side. And so, as a reward to myself for finishing massage school, I booked my flight to visit Curtis in Tucson over his spring break.

I flew by myself for the first time ever, navigated through the big airports in Chicago and Dallas, and hopped on a bus in Tucson with no idea when my stop would come. But it was all worth it when I saw him waiting for me at the bus stop, and I jumped off the bus and into his arms.

This was my first time ever visiting Tucson. My first thoughts were "It reminds me of my trips to Mexico..." and that unfortunately, it was colder than my hometown in Iowa was that week! With highs in the 50's and windy, I was unprepared for this "cold" and had to stop at a consignment store for something long sleeved. However, I found the University campus to be beautiful, and enjoyed walking around hand-in-hand with my boyfriend. I was able to meet all his new friends, and make some of my own at a girl's Bible Study. One of the girls let me stay in her dorm while we were "on campus." (I came down on the Wednesday before his spring break so that I could experience what "normal life" was like for him.)

Curtis built this!

On Friday, when Spring Break officially begun, we joined the Navigator group on their Spring Break trip to Chinle, AZ. The main purposes of the trip were to build a house for a Navajo family, and hold a VBS for the Navajo children. Curtis and I both joined the house building team, where he was able to put his many skills to use and I was able to relive my favorite memories from Mexico trips: Chicken Wire and Stucco!

While we were there, we were also able to do a little sightseeing. Our first stop was to Canyon De Chelly National Monument. This was our first official hiking adventure in Arizona together! I remember being quite winded, even hiking down the canyon on the White House Trail. I also remember comparing the scenery to The Lion King's settings. My mind is just programmed that way. :)

The trail that leads down the canyon

The White House Ruins

After that, we stopped at the Sand Dunes near Chinle. This place reminded me of the opening scenes in Aladdin. We loved running through the sand barefooted, up and down the dunes... this was before they warned us about the scorpions and poisonous centipedes that lived there. :P

We left for Chinle on Friday, the first day of break, and stayed through Thursday, then drove to Payson and stayed in the beautiful Kohl's Ranch. (We also stayed there last year over spring break - see pictures and read about that here!)  We went hiking and letterboxing with some friends there - I'm pretty sure this was also my first ever letterboxing find!

On Friday, we finished the drive back to Tucson. I didn't leave until early Monday morning, so we spent that weekend with his cousin at her apartment. We did puzzles, ordered pizza, went to brunch, visited his church, and binge-watched How I Met Your Mother. I questioned why I had bought plane tickets to go back. ;)

That was us, 3 years ago! Such cuties. Now we're planning what could be our last official "spring break!"