This weekend was a blast, and a much needed extra day off!

Friday after work Randy and I went to Cafe Trio in SLC. We got a super generous gift card from Jacob and Ammon Chung, two of our friends who we have helped do some web design work for (go check them out: Five Sushi Brothers) The flatbread appetizer was AMAZING!

That night my family all went to see the King’s Singers and MOTAB in an amazing Pioneer Day concert. It was seriously incredible! If you don’t know the King’s Singers go check them out! My family has been listening to them for years and they are so fun, we’ve seen them in concert before and every time is a treat. They are such talented vocalists, it’s a dream!

We then went and grabbed a piece of cheesecake together and it was so fun to laugh and hang out as a family (missing my brother though, who is still in California for his internship! BOO)

Saturday Randy and I got to go see Star Trek Beyond and I can’t even tell you how highly I recommend it!!! It was SO amazing and well done. Seriously, go see it.

We then came back to our apartment and it was roughly 10 million degrees. We live on the third floor and only have a wall unit AC so our apartment goes from comfortable to INSANELY AWFULLY HOT in just one second. We decided to run and grab a couple things from the grocery store, head to the mall to walk around and window shop, and then go grab some chips and salsa for dinner at Chili’s!

Sunday was crazy busy, Randy and I taught the youth in Sunday School and then both of us taught our third hour classes of Relief Society and Elder’s Quorum! It was a busy Sunday but it was so wonderful to teach together and prepare our lessons together. That night, Caleb and Nannette dropped by for curry and we chatted about their upcoming wedding – we are so stoked for two of our best friends to get married!!

Sunday night we decided to head to Kaysville to be there for the Monday morning pancake breakfast with my family. It was fun to chat with my family and hang out for a while.

Today was a delicious breakfast while we watched the Days of 47 Parade, games with the family, playing with my adorable niece, a wee bit of shopping, a fun afternoon with Randy’s family, and then home again for a relaxed evening.

I need to give a gigantic shout out to Randy. Friday he decided to go to the mall and buy me an adorable shirt, completely on a whim, because he found some money on the ground at school (don’t worry, he spent 45 minutes trying to find the owner of the money to no avail).

He is absolutely wonderful with my family and all the stress we have going on right now, he spent 30 minutes at my Aunt’s house lifting tile and didn’t have a word of complaint, I have been ridiculous and needy and whiny and Randy just lets me need him and is always there. He is my rock, has been so incredibly patient with me, and spoils me absolutely rotten. I am so so so so lucky.

And also, Pioneer Day. The pioneers are some of my biggest heroes. They gave up everything to follow the prophet, they moved to a brand new place where they could have a new life. They created something beautiful out of a desert.

Today I have seen a lot of people complaining on social media about Pioneer Day and why it’s celebrated here in Utah. I think we can be grateful for pioneers no matter what our religion is. We can be thankful that they moved here, created a beautiful city and state, helped their country with the railroad and fighting in wars, and respect their drive to preserve religious freedom.

Sometimes the world is a frightening place. But today, I’m taking strength from them. They faced trial after trial while always saying “All Is Well.”

We too are facing trials. But because of their example, and because of a loving Heavenly Father who has a perfect plan, I too know that “all is well.”

This weekend we had an awesome time in Idaho with my family doing our annual fishing trip! My grandpa has been floating the Teton river ever since he was little, and it’s so awesome for our family to go and hear all the stories and catch loads of fish!

We drove up with Liv and Matt on Friday and jammed to Hamilton (my current obsession. if you haven’t listened to it, stop reading this and go listen to it now.) We then stopped at Reed’s for ice cream once we were in Idaho Falls which is seriously my favorite ice cream EVER!

We woke up super early on Saturday to drive to the river which is in Driggs (sorta).

It took us about 8 hours to float the whole thing, Randy and I each caught about 12 fish and that was about the number that everyone else caught, except for my sister and my grandpa who landed probably 20 fish each!

We also saw a bull moose from a distance, and then a mama moose and two calves not 100 feet from our boat! They were in the river to drink, and were smack in between the two boats that we had for fishing! We had to wait it out until the mama decided to leave because moose are SCARY and will charge you if you get too close. It was a pretty intense 10 minutes of our two boats on either side of this giant moose, trying to make some noise but not make her mad!

It was really windy so Randy got his workout in paddling against the wind so we didn’t float upstream.

We went to Texas Roadhouse that night with our family and my aunt and uncle’s family. This is the crazy thing, as we were walking out of the restaurant I turned and saw a guy falling towards the floor, and I heard him choking. Everyone in the restaurant was either silent or panicking saying “Call 911! Call 911! He’s choking!” My sister is a CNA and my dad used to be an EMT so both of them rushed forward when the family of the guy who was choking didn’t know how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver. My sister got the guy to talk a little which was good because it meant his airway wasn’t totally blocked. My dad then performed the Heimlich and eventually got the guy to spit out the food. It was SO crazy! We were all a little shaken up but it ended up OK and the guy was fine! It was so lucky that we were there!

Sunday we drove back home, ate some of the fish we caught and visited with my family a little more before heading home for some Muddy Buddies and Boggle with Caleb and Nannette.

It was really a crazy busy weekend but a very fun one, and the weekend of fishing on the Teton is one I always look forward to.

Hello! So I haven’t blogged in about 30 years. Since the 4th of July which means I’m a horrible person. It’s been two whole weeks since I have blogged and I’m feeling pretty awful!

So let’s play a huge game of catching up and go over some of the things really quickly!

I helped throw my sister a fun bridal shower with her friends and it was a blast! I’m super sad we forgot to get a picture with everyone, but it was so wonderful!

We had all of Liv’s favorite treats for the shower; chocolate chip cookies, donuts, fruit, milk (in adorable milk bottles from Target) and we had the wonderful Lexie Faith do the adorable place cards, and she killed it! Seriously, go check her out, she was fantastic.

We also had a table of takeaway gifts of lipstick and kisses to help Liv “Kiss The Single Life Goodbye” We also had the girls put on some lipstick and kiss a piece of paper and sign their name, and we’ll get it framed for Liv to always have a cute reminder of her closest friends right before she got married!

We also did Liv’s bridals that night which was super fun. She had her makeup done by the FANTASTIC Madelynne Noelle who is absolutely amazing. Guys, she was in a car accident and still made it to our house in time to get Liv all dolled up and beautiful for her photos! She’s seriously the best. I also got to film Liv and Matt’s first look and formal video and I’m super excited to show you all how it turned out!

Randy and I also got to go to an Orem Owlz baseball game last weekend, which was a blast! We have Pass of all Passes from Seven Peaks so we get in for free, and it was a great way to spend a summer night. Randy always teases me about being nostalgic and sentimental about summer, and he’s totally right, I’m a sucker for fun summer nights and summer activities!

This long weekend was SO needed and chalk full of fun!

Friday Randy and I popped by Seven Peaks again after work – getting those passes was a great idea! We loved going down the crazy slides and racing and just having a blast.

Saturday Randy and I woke up and he went running, and then we went on hike! I had been needing some nature time and it was so perfect to get to the river and just listen and sit. Since I’m working full time and Randy is in school again, we don’t get to spend anywhere near as much time as I’d like doing outdoorsy, summery things. Plus our summer is super busy, so it was so nice to just go on a hike! We drove up to Kaysville on Saturday night to see Singin’ in the Rain performed by the city. They did such a good job, special shout out to our good friend Tyler who KILLED it as the diction coach. Thanks for getting us tickets dear Tyler:)

Sunday we taught Sunday School and visited with a new couple in our ward for a while, before napping and cooking lunch. We then went right back to Kaysville to start celebrating the 4th! We had dinner with Randy’s family which was delicious as always. Then off to my parents house where we played endless games of Rook and ate apple pie.

The 4th started with delicious breakfast and the 4th of July Parade with a bunch of my little cousins. The parade is always super fun, my sister was in it with the Davis Lacrosse team which was awesome, and it’s just such a hometown fun event. We then went and had a barbecue with my family which was awesome! Then it was off to the Low’s for some cake and video games haha. Then over to our friend’s house for a squad BBQ (I think we ate like 3 hamburgers that day!)

Then off to the Kaysville fireworks for some more hometown, family, and America love.

A lot of crazy and scary things are happening in this country. The 4th of July was such an important reminder that we’re all on the same team. We all are a part of this amazing country, we all live in place that people fight and give their lives for, we are all putting in the work to make it a safe and wonderful place. I am so blessed to live in this land, to have grown up in a small town in a free country, and for all the things that it means to be an American.

Home of the free, land of the brave.