It's true. In fact, it played as one of his tactics in trying to get my attention when we met. He and I and our friend LeAnn chatted it up before and after class every day. Okay, and sometimes during class too {Sorry Professor Gee!}. And he would tell us about his best friend Kenny and how they were starting up an ice cream business together. I thought it was a great idea. It was high time we had the jingling little ice cream music playing through the streets of Rexburg.
He told us they located a run down little cart in Oregon, hauled it to the Burg, ordered ridiculous amounts of ice cream and popsicles, got a business license, and began refurbishing their little motorized vehicle. I'm going through Roy's old pics but I can't find a picture of the thing. You would be impressed.
And obviously he was hoping that I would be impressed. Not long after LeAnn dropped the class, he invited me over to his sister's house where they were keeping their ice cream cart/thing in her garage.
"You should come over and see it. It's pretty much finished," he told me in class, getting out his iPod. "I even wired in a speaker and I'm going to plug it into my iPod and play this music."
Okay, not really the ice cream man music I grew up hearing, but it was jingly enough.
I decided to go ahead and go over and check it out. I was curious how he was going to pull this off, and I may or may not have thought he was cute. I mean, aspiring to be an ice cream man is totally attractive, right? This man knew how to play his cards. {HA!}
Little did I know that I was going to meet two people who would be in my life forever from that point forward.
My future sister-in-law
And Kenneth McAffee.
Aaaand I have no idea who that guy in the yellow shirt is. No idea. Again, from Roy's old camera.
ANYWAY, you want to know first impressions? Kirsten pretty much terrified me like any good big sister should when her sibling brings over an interest. Good work, Kirsten.
And Kenny... well I realized right away that he and Roy completed each other. Together they called themselves, and named their new company, The McMasters. Combination of the last names. Aw, how sweet/creepy!
{Seriously, who is that guy? Totally intruding on the bromance.}
Even though on their first day of sales their ice cream cart sputtered out along with their hopes and dreams, it took no time for them to find other adventures and wild ambitions to dominate together.
Even though they both love their wives, I think it was an adjustment for both of them to give up being roommates and being together 24/7. But that was nothing compared to the devastation we all felt when Roy and I had to move to Sahuarita. :-(
But 700 miles isn't gonna stop this bromance. Nope. Kenny and Andrea drove 12 hours just to spend a weekend with us!!!
So here is our week of McMaster Spring Break adventures in southern Arizona!
They arrived sometime in the early morning on Thursday. Early morning as in hours before the sun came up. I vaguely remember hearing Roy and Kenny's voices and getting all excited before I slipped under again. I had to get up in a few hours for work, and my body just wouldn't let me get up.
But they still had a warm welcome from me. :-)
And I put little chocolates on their pillows along with a note welcoming them to the Buckmaster Bed and Breakfast.
The next morning I snuck out of the house without waking anyone. I'd been given permission to run in and jump on their bed and tell them goodbye, but I happen to know just how exhausting that drive can be. So I left them alone and drove off by myself.
Usually Roy carpools with me, but he was on spring break. I was jealous he got to stay home and do fun stuff with the Macs, but someone has to bring home the bacon, right?
While I was gone Roy gave them the grand tour or Sahuarita. And they went to the copper mine!
I remember a field trip here from second grade. So I was okay missing out.
They said they were the only ones on the tour who weren't in retirement, but they had fun. Of course the boys couldn't get over the size of the trucks. There could be a whole 'nother post about these boys and their experiences with heavy machinery. I'm glad they never had access to these things.
I can just hear this conversation.
Kenny: "Andrea, go stand by that truck!"
Andrea: "Why?"
Kenny: "So we can tell how big it is!"
Andrea: Raises her arms up. "Ta da."
Then Roy took them to my favorite, then San Xavier del Bac mission!
Luckily on Friday my boss let me take half the day off so that I didn't miss out on everything. Nice guy. So they came to pick me up at work and we went and grabbed some food and made a game plan. Our game plan ended up being to go to the park by our house and play sand volleyball and go swimming in the pool.
We didn't take any pictures, but it was fun. Andrea was in Heaven laying out under the sun. And I totally know what that's like. I remember how amazing it was when the four of us went to sunny California around the same time of year- when you're sick and tired of the clouds and the cold in Utah. Arizona is a good place to be November-April.
That night we took them for some authentic Mexican. La Parilla was our first obvious choice, but we decided to branch out a little. We'd heard amazing things about a place a lot closer called Manuel's.
It was here that Kenny learned to fold a burrito.
Success! And Andrea is so proud.
Manuel's is also where we met our slightly intoxicated friend who told us that Mitt Romney can't be president because "Look what happened to JFK, the first Catholic president!"
Um, what do you say to that? So...
Our reactions:
And Roy had the camera, so there are a lot of weird pictures of me... enjoy.
We had a slight dilemma. We needed to find something awesome, but doable for a pregnant lady.
That's right people...
ANDREA is pregnant! Yay!
She was 14 weeks and just baaaarley showing a tiny little bump. But just because she didn't look much different doesn't mean she didn't feel any different. Still, if you know Andrea you know that she was totally down for anything and was determined to keep up. I mean... she's married to Kenny... she's been scrambling after him and all his crazy stunts for almost three years now.
So we picked a nice little 8 mile hike. No big deal. And she only stopped to rest when I forced her to.
Destination: Seven Falls.
These are my Scottish hiking boots. They were absolutely necessary in the crazy conditions we were exploring in when I bought them in '09. It was cold and wet and slippery. But now I have these humongous, real deal mountain dominators and hardly an excuse to use them. So... I went all out and looked really cool. Why not?
"Adventure is out there!"
Roy was trying to get me to pose with a butterfly but it flew away. So it just looks like I'm REALLY excited about this rock.
I spy, with my little eye, something venomous.
And of course Kenny was all but climbing up the rocks to get a closer look. Later he grabbed another, non-venomous snake's tail. And he caught a lizard and chased butterflies... he's always entertaining.
He found a cactus skeleton.
Roy thinks these sun glasses make me look like a bug. I don't see it.
Finally-- Seven Falls in the distance.
The boys being adventurous and climbing up top.
Andrea's sunburn. No remorse, she loved every little lobster line.
The boys, together again.
Us.
We were all pretty exhausted when we were done, but we headed to my parent's place for a BBQ. Oh, and to celebrate, of course.
HAPPY LATE ST. PATRICK'S DAY!
Kenny and Andrea, we miss you guys already.
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