loving through life: NBA All-Star Weekend

I have this amazing best friend and her name is Aubrey. She works for the NBA and was in LA for the All-Star game last weekend, sooooo, naturally, we had to drive down to see her.

It was a pretty amazing weekend. We left Friday around 1:30. The agriculture check point in Yuma had to be the highlight of the drive. I wasn't feeling very well so my head was down and Kelsey was driving while Cami and Mel chilled in the back. For 4 years, I was never stopped driving through this point, but now with my Utah license....well, he had us roll down our window. He siad, "Was there a beauty contest somewhere?!" ha! I pulled my head up from sick head down position and just looked at this man and we all laughed. He asked us if we had fruits and the, I guess, normal check stuff. Then before he waved us through he said, "Now girls, while you are in California you will be required to wear sunglasses at all times or else the boys won't have any protection from those beautiful eyes." Thank you ag. check man for making our drive down awesome.

Oh and El Cajon pass (kels refuses to call it the el cajon (the the cajon) pass). It was terrible. Completely covered in a mist/fog. Visibility was next to nothing. My hands hurt from gripping the wheel. Everyone had their flashers on, which was extremely helpful. It was a long and slow drive down the pass. And then the rest of the 91 to the 55 to the 73 (or whatever we did to get to Newport) was just a puddle mess. It was just the greatest thing to drive in.

We stayed Friday night with my Grandparents in Newport Beach. They are wonderful and it was great to be with them for a bit. I am so blessed to have such amazing family. We left Kelsey there, my cousin was getting married the next day and Kelsey was a surprise guest, while Cami, Mel, and I headed for another adventurous drive.

Saturday morning we left Newport for LA around 10:30, thinking we would for sure be there before 12:45 (the time we had planned on meeting up with Aubrey). Boy, it was a close call! Mel's TomTom took us up and down and all around. We finally made it to the Staples Center/Convetion Center with just a few minutes to spare. I was so giddy to see Aubrey and it didn't really hit me until we ran into friends from our last ward and then someone said, "Look, here she comes!" I miss that girl so sooo much. We tried to say hello, while letting her stay professional and everything, but it was so hard not to just jump out and hug her. We got into the Jam Session and took pictures with all things Dwight Howard and the Laker cut outs.

Told you we loved Dwight Howard....

My favorite though, was watching the Special Olympics clinic. This clinic was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I was so impressed with how the players handled themselves and how they were really just there for the kids. Shannon Brown had fans screaming at him from all around the audience and I was so happy to see him ignore them and just focus on the sweet people in front of him. Shannon Brown, for that, you earned 9304820532871 points in my book. Tim Duncan, Chocolate Thunder, Sam Perkins, Felipe Lopez, and a few WNBA stars were also at the clinic. I fell in love with Felipe Lopez too. He was a hoot to watch playing with the kids. He loved it and was putting all of his energy into it. I was totally distracted by his group the whole time. Felipe Lopez, you too have earned 92290812904734 points in my book. It was so fun to see the faces on these Special Olympic teams as NBA players came out to the court to work with them. One of the cute girls closer to me was the first to spy Tim Duncan and she could hardly keep it all in. I loved seeing these sweet people and seeing some of my own students in them.

After the clinic we finally got some Aubrey time and ate lunch. We hung around for a little bit longer after lunch but went back to the hotel and hoped to find a hot tub. Long story short - they didn't have one and that was a little bit of a let down. Instead Mel, Cami, and I layed on the bed in our swimsuits and sweats and watched the Dunk Contest. It was a little ridiculous how much we couldn't pull our eyes from the TV. Then when Aubrey made it home, ESPN was still on and we had to wait and watch the Jimmer portion...of course. Then we put on some movies and crashed pretty fast....And somehow, this is the only great picture we got with her. The other ones are all make-up less and falling asleep, cute huh. I thought I would spare the blogging world of my makeup-less, sleepy face.

Sunday was a beautiful day. We drove down to pick up Kelsey from grandma and grandpa's and we went off to Fashion Island. I love Fashion Island and I have so many memories there as a child. When we lived with grandma and grandpa in Newport Beach when Kels and I were just little girls, mom used to walk us there. We would always go to the little stepping pond with the huge koi and the popping water fountain (which is now sadly gone). I might have spent too much money at Urban and Anthropolgie (all great buys though) and Melanie got a super cute new hair cut while we were there.

Sunday was the most beautiful day. We had to say goodbye to Aubrey (but I get to see her the second week of March thank you to the MWC basketball tournament!). But as we were heading back to Utah, we decided to find a beach to visit. Somehow we ended up at the Santa Monica pier! It was amazing and wonderful and so much fun.