Ode to July!

Man we have been enjoying summer around here.

(Mace finishing his plate....and we have been eating fresh corn on the cob almost every night!)
But we have been crazy with so much going on.

Like I said earlier,

I thought summer would be s l o w

and sitting at the pool every day

or hitting the parks......... but not really the case.

We have had lots of stuff going on:

Sister trip to St. George, Birthdays, 4th/24th Holiday, Parties, Homecomings, surprise secret sister lunches, late night heart attacks, July 5k runs...

Brett and Brie turned 25.

Big celebration-

quarter of a century

Lots of parties for Brie which I will let her post about.....

this is Angela's back yard. So beautiful!

It was such a fun (surprise) party for B and B.
We all had such a great night hanging out....

No kids! We were able to talk and talk!
Soft candles and lighting.

Warm summer air. It was sooo nice.

I am so jealous of Brett and Ang's backyard!!!
Mature landscaping everywhere.
It was such a pretty sight...

good job Angela on planning the party!ahh Brett and Brie are such cute twinners.....25 ! Earlier that day, we had Secret sister for Brie .
Which included the best chicken salad and then

"smart cookies."
Honestly the most divine sweetest sugar cookie made. We all just kept eating thinking we should stop, but NOPE. It was great!









So our month of July has been F A B U L O U S. You all know my love for July is like love for chocolate, I can't get enough. I don't want to let it go and creep towards fall, but we will have some great memories.

Thanks July!

the 24th

the 4th of July fireworks hanging with the fam....and cousin love sister trip to start the month off!

My lovely Birthday!
and Mom and Dad had their official Homecoming.

Wow.

Lots and lots of people came that day.
M and D gave the greatest talks.
They served 3 years valiantly and blessed the lives of hundreds of missionaries.

(Their mission was the highest, (yes the H I G H E S T) baptizing mission in A L L of North America.

and my Parents almost D O U B L E D the number of baptisms during their 3 years of service. awesome. (My day would NEVER of told us that. The area Seventy did!)

But their talks were sweet and we were all teary eyed by the end.

So much sacrifice of time, family, money and service, but in the end,

it was all worth it! They brought many to the gospel.
I really appreciate their good examples to me and especially my kids.









There were tons of missionaries, relatives, friends and

family gathered at the Mountain House....
it was great to see so many people we hadn't seen in a long time.

It was also a little crazy and loud at times but it was a great day..

At one point, my M and D and the missionaries gathered in the front room and they started singing the classic missionary song:

Called to Serve.....
The room was full of proud missionaries and their deep voices filled the room...

I could hear it from outside!

Gotta say, it was pretty darn cool to feel the spirit of all those missionaries.

Giving up 2 years of the "prime" of their life is amazing and they wouldn't use the words giving up, they would say it was an

"H O N O R to serve the Lord."

Cool. simply cool.

Food,food and more food.

The Elders can eat! Good thing we all brought lots.

They all talked and talked about their mission experience. It was such a great day!

Good job M and D.

The grandkids hanging out.
They were having a good time running in and out of the house and playing.

Ry and I have had both sets of parents gone and honestly it has been great to have just our little family together.

WE have grown so close.

We have really missed our parents but on the other hand, we have enjoyed holidays and Sundays with just us.

But we are excited to have them all back too!

So today at the pool us girls were talking about

how great this summer

has been and how their is only 4 more weeks till school starts.

WE have just looooved summer and are

so sad to see schedules and homework returning.

We were talking about all the holidays, bdays, parties..etc.

It really has been great. And I guess it's okay that school and sport schedules return....

BUT and it's a big but

We have the Beach House to look forward to in Sept!!!!!

and that gets us through it!!

Sooooooooooo excited. yes we are.

Plans have already been made for

late night fishing,

eating at Ruby's on the pier,

early morning walks on the beach,

looking for sand dollars at high tide

and hanging with the cousins all day in the sun-

and watching the sun set behind the oceans waves

seriously can't wait.

yay!

So thanks to July for such a great run!

I really do love you!

Till next July...

All in today.

Today it's NOT really a blizzard outside in April! (again)

Today I have the best friends in the whole world. really.

Today I had the best diet coke with chocolate chip cookie at lunch with Kimmers.

Today I refuse to wear a winter coat and I put my short sleeve vest on.

Today I ran 5 miles and sadly realized I am not running my half this Saturday. (I still might w/o my running chip. But 12 days of no running and being sick...argh.)

Today I decided to run the Provo River trail run next month to make up for my 1/2.

Today I realize it is Mace's 3rd birthday in 2 days.

Today I cleaned my entire house top to bottom and it felt so good.

Today I finished my tivo'd Biggest Loser and cried cuz it's so darn inspiring (sad huh!?)

Today I realized that life throws way to many curve balls but that's what it's all about.

Today my kids are bummed that all of their soccer training was cancelled again.

Today I am grateful for a husband that knows me.

Today I love Nie Nie's blog...she is truly amazing.

Today I am grateful for cute grandparents who send Easter Packages in the mail for the kiddos. (thank you Gma Suzy and Gpa Jerry)

Today I am grateful for a 2 year old that NEVER. stops. talking. ever. ever. ever. ever.

Today I realized I may never get to decorate or paint my basement. s a d.

Today I have a house full of crazy kids and lots of cousins and appreciate every minute of it.

Today I hope we can come to a decision about one of the biggest decisions of our life and p l e a s e stop snowing in April because it's making Arizona sound really goooood right now!

Today I hope you all have a good day!

song sugarland, 'We run.'

Life's road~

It feels good to be back. The Rockies. my home. My run felt so good this morning: I was surprised after 12 days of no running that I saw tulips budding, trees blossoming and the smell of the fresh cut grass (a first this year). So exciting to finally get good weather. I was so sluggish in my run considering my diet of cinnamon bears, cadbury mini eggs and diet coke on the road for 4 days (thanks to Amber's loot bag she left on our doorstep. so sweet.)



wow what an adventure......


Thanks to the help of my sisters and my mom taking my kids (you are all life savers!), Ry and I hit the road....it was beautiful to see all of the sights....we said goodbye to the tall Rockies and were off to the desert.

WE drove through the little towns of Utah. Kanab was our favorite. I could wake up every morning to the blue sky and red rimmed rock. People's lives seemed so easy and care free...ahh I was jealous at the simplicity of their lifestyle.

We saw the beginnings of the tall towers in Bryce Canyon.We drove down a narrow, curvy road that gave us the first glimpse of the North rim of the Grand canyon. You could see the earth drop off into the large caverns of the earth....I loved it.
We stopped in Page Arizona to see the wondrous Lake Powell. The most beautiful lake on this earth. I have never been boating on the lake but I have hiked it many times as a child. My dad's favorite trip was to take us kids backpacking down the Escalante and hike 50 miles with just the food and clothes on our backs! It taught me to appreciate nature's beauty and to love the outdoors. okay most of the time....the stories I do have about our crazy adventures...

Here is the view from the top of the bridge...amazing!

My only fear in life is heights....I wanted off that bridge!

Next, we drove through the Indian reservations along the Northern tip of Arizona. There was tall, red-rock cascading for miles and miles with their homes just sitting at the brim of the rock. w o w. can I live there too?WE made it through the desert and we were back into mountains...I had no idea AZ had mountains.

We drove through the S N O W in flagstaff, Arizona. It looked like powdered sugar sprinkled on top of the large pine trees and the clouds hovered low to the mountain line. I couldn't believe in 10 hours we could hit sun, snow, and sunshine again.

We made it. finally! Ry's building: Fidelity Investments.

Arizona was beautiful. Flowers in full blossom, wavy palm trees, and all types of plants blowing in the wind. It was a refreshing sight compared to Salt Lake. It was eighty degrees..ahh perfect.

The rest of our journey was spent in the car driving the entire Phoenix, Glendale, Peoira areas. Searching, looking, calling, trying to find what we were looking for....hmmmm. What a journey, what a trip.

After two exhausting days in Phoenix, we hit the road to come on home. We stayed in Kanab Sat. night and we made it back to Provo Sunday morning. Thank goodness the Easter Bunny hit Grandma's mission home for the kids....they were thrilled to find all the candy and eggs. Thanks so much to grandma and grandpa and the easter bunny... We love you!

Overall the trip was good. Ry and I enjoyed the time alone and had a great time together. Road trips allow you to just talk and talk and talk without constant interruption. Imagine that! I want to thank all who helped and offered to help. We feel so much love and support from all of you and we thank each of you for being an important part of our lives! xoxo

Kids with gma at the Provo temple on Easter sunday....! (Thanks to my mom (who I have never asked to help b/c of her mission but she was able to do it this time but I know she had sooo much to do: missionary interviews, hosting dinner to 50 plus missionaries, running around organizing, phone calls and yes my four kids! exhausting.

My kids had such a good time loved to be able to see what Mission Presidents do every day. They looooved all the "cool" missionaries..thx again.) and I couldn't resist this cute picture of my mom holding sweet, baby Chloe. soooo cute. (good job T and K!)
Here is a pic of some of us girls on Easter...fun day, nice to see everybody. I missed my girls!!!

btw, my face is in the shadows and I loooooove that I look somewhat short!! yay xoxo