No Place Like Home

Well, it has certainly been awhile... Its already AUGUST! I can't believe summer has flown by so fast. For the last few weeks in July, I got to go home to Utah. I love Utah summers, and I've missed seeing the green mountains and sitting outside on a warm night. I got to see some of the people I've missed so much, too! I got to have lunch with this beautiful girl- my best buddy Erin!

Lunch at Cafe Rio and Erin is pretty much one of the best ways to spend an afternoon!

I was so glad to see her before she is off on her adventures for the summer!
It was so good to see my family. I got to be there for the 24th of July and we had so much fun at the neighborhood BBQ that ended with a great fireworks show!

Ruby with her cute little friend Owen

Ruby wanted to hold him of course.

waiting for fireworks to start!

Only a few days after getting her tonsils out and she gives us this gem of a picture. What a champ.

The fireworks were pretty spectacular, and Ruby was so brave!

All the family except Ethan. We missed him but it was a great Pioneer day.

 

We got to play in the yard and swim...

My all time favorite way to spend a summer night.

Then I got to see some more of my favorite people!

I love these guys, and hanging out at our favorite spot! The thinking spot will always be the greatest.

Some of my favorite people! I wish I could have seen all my friends, but I'm so glad I got to see these guys!

I loved getting to see my friends. I love how we've known each other for so long and when we get together we can pick up right where we left off. Even though we are all moving on with our lives, getting married, having babies, graduating from college, we are still good friends. I'm so lucky to have such great friends. I love these guys!

Finally, Ethan came back! We spent the last weekend of our trip hanging out with family, and it was great.

 

Ruby missed her buddy

All too soon, it was time to leave. Luckily, we got to bring some family with us on the trip home! My dad's bank owns a plane, and we were lucky enough to be able to go to Texas in it. It was small and a bit freaky, but really fun. And the no security thing was a major bonus. 
Michelle and my dad came along for the ride.

We pretended we were on the bachelorette with our sweet headsets.

There's our plane!

Now we are back in Texas for a few more weeks! This weekend, we got to go to Dallas and Six Flags! I love me some roller coasters! The kids all went to Six Flags and Lynn and Sterling went to art museums with Kenley. We had dinner and came home on Sunday.

Even though we were so tired and Ethan lost his phone, we had such a fun time at Six Flags! We'd have taken more pictures but we were too busy being awesome and riding roller coasters. 

Dinner Saturday night... haha apparently the flash was too bright for Ethan! :)

Its been a great few weeks! Before we know it we will be moving back to Utah! Hopefully soon we'll have our situation figured out for the fall. More updates as they come!

Softball nights

I love summer! There is something so magical about being outside on a warm night. This summer Ethan has been playing in a softball league, so every Tuesday and Thursday we get to hang out watching softball with our friends. They win some, they lose some... but we love watching them anyway!  I'm sad its coming to an end.

Ethan

Sunset + softball = great combination.

The boys in the dugout.

Good work on the picture, KK. Ethan at bat.

Buddies.

Love Londy!

KK is crazy...

Love Kenley!

Jonathan looks like a giant from this angle...

All the boys in the outfield. Look at those clouds!

 Also, tomorrow I'm leaving to visit HOME! I am so excited to come back to Utah, see my family and my mountains. I've loved my summer here but there is nothing quite like home. I'll post some more once I get up there! Can't wait!!

Simple Pleasures

Every once in awhile, life can be a lot to handle. Luckily there are little things that get us through. Even if some of them are silly, and maybe its just me who gets excited about some things. Things like:

a new tube of mascara.

sugar snap peas.

a hard working husband.

having a pool in my back yard.

a new pack of socks.

cupcakes.

softball games on a summer night.

sunsets.

Harry Potter. It never gets old.

drive in movies.

chapstick.

video chats.

fireworks.

encouraging text messages.

clean towels.

a new book.

flip flops.

goldfish crackers.

otter pops.

recognizing your blessings.

Anyway. Those are just some of them. Sometimes I forget to take a minute and think about those things.
 Isn't life great?

Happy 2 Year Anniversary!!

It is still so weird to think that Ethan and I have been married for 2 years!! Time has never flown faster in my life than it has since I've been married. Which I must say worries me just a bit- I don't want the rest of my time with Ethan to just fly by! I want to enjoy it. So I will. It will just also fly, and there isn't really much I can do about it.
As promised, I am going to write about our little anniversary trip. Unfortunately, there really isn't a whole lot to write about. But I'll tell you anyway.
We knew we wanted to get away to somewhere for our anniversary. We also knew that to go anywhere it would require quite a lot of driving. We were all for Six Flags in Dallas until we realized that it was the first weekend school was out- we'd already missed slow-ish time of year to go. Ethan works so hard that we just needed a relaxing weekend, really. So, we found ourselves in Lajitas, Texas. This is a little (and I mean so little) resort town on the border of Texas and Mexico. All that is in this town is this tiny golf resort. It was great! It was almost completely deserted because who really wants to go to the hottest place in the world in the middle of June? We're not afraid. We went. And it was SO HOT. But there was some beautiful desert scenery, and we could literally throw a rock at Mexico. The resort was right on the Rio Grande. Which was really a misnomer, at least in Lajitas. More than anything, it was just nice to spend time together.

In those buildings ahead was our room.

On the boardwalk in the little resort. As you can see, Mexico is only 0.25 miles away.

A view of the golf course. Those mountains are Mexican! :)

It was a great, relaxing weekend. It was so nice to have 3 whole days to ourselves!  We swam in the pool, I got a massage, and we ate some yummy food.

He was hungry. Hence the look.

On the boardwalk, about to go to dinner.

This place wasn't much to look at during the day, but when the sun started setting the scenery was beautiful!

On Sunday, we decided to drive home through Big Bend National Park. It was cool to see the desert formations. We drove down to the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon, where one side of cliffs is Texas, the other side is Mexico. It was pretty cool!

So hot. So sweaty. Please don't judge.

Skipping rocks. He's very good.

Left side Mexico, right side Texas

Well, that was pretty much our little weekend! I'll post again soon! Chelsie is coming to visit in 2 days and I couldn't be more excited about it! Until next time... Happy anniversary to the best husband a girl could ask for! I love you, Ethan.

So here we are in Texas...

Well, we are getting off to a good start here in Texas for the summer. Ethan has had to adjust a lot to the temperature difference. He went from working in 50 degree weather on ice to 105 degree weather on artificial turf which raises the temperature even more. It is so hot here! Poor Ethan... but he is such a good, hard worker and he is getting used to it. We are living in our travel trailer in the back yard of Lynn and Sterling's house. We are so glad to have our own place to stay. Its a pretty sweet little set up- Ethan even put turf around our trailer so its like we have our own yard! :)

its put together from scraps of turf from other jobs, but it still looks pretty good!

Home sweet home!

that's my hard worker!

Luckily Ethan and Sterling are able to keep busy-probably busier than they can stand. We are secretly glad for no rain because it means Ethan and Sterling stay in business installing artificial turf.  I just got a part time job at a preschool down here. I teach music to the kids twice a week. Its only a few hours a week but it is something to do, and definitely something to put on my resume that is applicable to teaching, so that's good. Basically, I swim. A lot. It is definitely nice not to have to worry about lifeguarding anyone in the pool. Sometimes I might still reach for my whistle or fight back the urge to tell people not to run... but otherwise I'd say I'm making the transition nicely. :) Hopefully soon I'll get to start teaching swimming lessons here.

Its hard to complain too much when this is how I get to spend most of my time...

We got right into the ward too. Ethan was called to be a Sunday school teacher, and I'm now a ward missionary. In Texas, that means you actually have something to do. I guess that's what happens when your husband's uncle is the bishop. 

Ethan joined a softball league with his cousins and friends, so we have fun watching the games. We've loved being here- Ethan gets to see all of his people and I love getting to know them.

Don't you just love summer nights?? They are seriously the best.

Also, in case you couldn't tell, there are some amazing sunsets down here. I miss my Utah mountains SO much, but the sunsets almost make up for it. 

Last weekend was our 2 year anniversary. Soon I'll post about that and put up some more pics!