On the Road Again

At the end of July, we took a trip to Utah and Idaho for my brother's college graduation.  This was our last big trip before the baby, and it coincided with our 5 year anniversary, so we decided to make it good.  We flew to Utah, drove up to Idaho for the graduation, drove back to Utah, left Brielle with my parents for a couple of days while we drove to Cedar City to enjoy the Shakespearean Festival, and then flew home.  Whew!  We were pooped by the end of that trip!  But it was great to see all the family.  We even got a visit in with Mark's grandparents.  Mark's grandma Herbst was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of months ago, and it's been a rough go for her.  She has a great attitude, and seemed to be doing well when we saw her.  She is such a trooper.

We also got to visit with all of my mom's side of the family.  We haven't been able to do that for quite some time, and I loved visiting with everyone.  We pulled out old home movies from when my mom was growing up, and it was awesome.  I had never seen some of them before.  I loved seeing my mom as a little girl, running around, being crazy.  It's a side that you don't get to see of your parents very often.

The Shakespearean Festival was awesome!  I had been in the fall, of course, as a student, but never in the summer.  We saw a production of Les Miserables, which neither of us had ever seen before.  It was a great production, and the cast was wonderful.  The best part about going to a play at the Utah Shakespear Festival is that the theaters are small, so you never have a bad seat.  It makes the experience so much better.  I'm so glad that I have a husband that will go on adventures with me and take in the arts.  Thanks for 5 great years, Mark!   Looking forward to many more.

Brielle loved spending time with Pop and Tati while we were gone.  And they SPOILED her something feirce!  Its what grandparents do, right?  They took her to see a production of Sleeping Beauty, which she LOVED.  She had her picture taked with all of the cast - except for Prince Philip.  For some reason, she wanted nothing to do with him.  She was intrigued by Malificent.  She told me later, "Mom, Malificent was mean inside, but nice outside."  She also got to stay up late, go swimming, and play to her little heart's content.  I think she wants to move in...

Reading the safety information before take-off

Playing with her Belle - an early birthday present from Aunt Merri.

Showing Papa how the Netflix app works on Daddy's phone.

Making silly faces with Uncle Cade.

Happy 4th of July!

We kept our 4th of July celebrations pretty low key this year.  Mark took us to buy some home fireworks, which we lit off the night before and the night after.  The day of the 4th, we invited our friends, the Hickmans over for BBQ and then headed to the state capitol to watch the fireworks on the river.

Brielle with her friends at the capitol building

Enjoying her water and the fireworks

Happy Independence Day!

A Horse Named Sassy

Mark has a co-worker that trains cutting horses.  He's been inviting us to bring Brielle out forever, and we finally got the opportunity to take her out to see the horses.  She loved them - and the dogs.  The dogs were well-trained, and she spent forever playing fetch with them.  She would throw the ball and squeal with delight when they would chase after it.  She finally wandered over to the horses, where she got to sit on a horse named Sassy.  She liked that name.  I think because it matches her personality...  :)

Epic Ice Cream Sundae

We had Summer Swim party for combined mutual at the end of June.  It was pretty low key, just hanging out and playing in the pool.  But what made this activity noteworthy was the EPIC ice cream sundae that we had.

See what I mean?  1 rain gutter (clean and new, of course), 6 cartons of ice cream, loads of cookies and brownies, 3 cans of whipped cream, and a whole bunch of bananas (like, 12).  And we're ready to dig in!

 

YUM!