Why is New York the only state with an "upstate"? Why is there no upstate AZ?

I have this friend Suz. The first time we met we were both newlyish weds in Flagstaff. We were both doing a musical number thing, and I announced to her that we were going to be best friends. I was right. It is very hard to make best friends as an adult. Even harder to make couple friends. However, it can be done. Once, I called Suz to see if they wanted to have a pizza and Settlers night and she said she was in labor. I said WHOA! some other time then. She said, no come over it sounds like fun. I'm trying to do as much labor at home as possible. So we did. We paused the game for contractions and the boys had a great time with the stop watch. We played "Don't Eat Pete" with peanut butter M&M's because Suz was cool enough to know that game too, even though it gave her wicked heartburn at the hospital.

Having a kid didn't stop her from going out and having adventures either. She'd still go to band shows and tote Lily with her.
She threw me a big kid birthday party with a pinata and a crown.

We drove to San Antonio together. (Curse you El Paso!)
She's that awesome.

So I took advantage of Spring break and flew to Upstate New York to see her.
Behold the epicness

The Lilster driving
Another city named after me
Road trip to Niagra Falls
Pit stop at the Palmyra temple
Aaaand the Smith farm
And the Sacred Grove
Da Falls! Canada style!
And it may have sorta kinda took us an hour to actually FIND the falls, even though we could hear them. Yes we are impaired. Must have been that awesome pub we ate at in Buffalo that Guy Fieri recommended. Oh, and if you try to figure out if the turnstile into Canada works, carry your purse that has your passport. Especially if you are staring at the sign that says, "documents required beyond this point." I mean, if someone you know would do something like that...

But we eventually did find the U.S. side too.

Check the snowyness
After the road trip, we had a few awesome days of just chilling out. I discovered that baby Stewart knows where it's at with the black out curtains. I may have slept twelve hours straight. Twice. I mean, it's a vacation right?

Anywho, we finished off the trip with a st. pattie's day play date. All green clothes and food. The kids wouldn't eat most of the green, but that was probably good considering the diaper ramifications.

Overall glorious trip.

Tune in next week for Adventures in Denver!