A Reason to Party

I'm taking the liberty to write about this, because our blog has pretty much become our family journal since we've been married. So here it goes...

My dad is actually retiring! It's been a long process the last few years, but he finally made it. Well, we couldn't let this momentous time go unrecognized. So we decided to plan a little family party! It was a lot of fun to just do the planning. Since he's a banker we did everything around $$$ and even had his face printed up on some pretend money. It looked so real a few of the younger grandkids thought it was better than real money. We spent the whole day in SL in their main office where my dad's worked for the past 30 years! We ended up doing everything on the 21st floor. It was great and such an amazing view of the city.  The day started by walking across the street to temple square and we took some family pictures...since the whole gang was in town. Then the party started! He took the grandkids on a tour of the whole bank, we played some a bunch of different games (including BINGO which is a tradition at the annual bankers convention we've been to many times in Sun Valley) as well as some hilarious "minute-to-win-it" games. All in all we had a splendid day together and am so thankful for a hard working dad throughout my life. He's a wonderful  example to me!

Independence Day Celebrations

Each year I look forward to the 4th of July and all that this holiday brings. This year we did things a little different with my parents on vacation in Europe. Usually we all head home and celebrate in Kaysville, but this year all of my family came down this way to join in the festivities. We had my little brother Matt and his family visiting from Texas and kicked off the weekend with a big family BBQ.  Then it's becoming tradition to run a 5K in the morning. So this year we tackled the Freedom Run in Provo. I'm so proud of my 9 year old nephew, who ran his second race this year. It's so fun to see him get excited for the race. The race was great and we got to see all the hot air balloons rise over our heads as we ran the parade route. Then we found the rest of the family and watched the amazing Provo parade (this was a first for me and Stephen and I would have to say that it's quite a step up from the little parade in Kaysville.) Then we spent the next two days swimming, eating yummy food, watching movies, fireworks, and having more BBQ's with friends and family etc. It was a constant party for a good 72 hours. We had a great time and loved having everyone come down our way.

Playing in the Pool

Watching the fireworks on a chilly 4th of July

Stephen and I enjoying the parade!

Me and my "little" brother :)

Relaxing with uncle Stephen

Our Spontaneous Date Night

One thing that is very different about Stephen and I is that one of us is very much a planner and the other is totally spontaneous. I won't mention who is who, but let's just say that we've learned over the few short years that we've been married that there needs to be a balance of both of these in our lives. So sometimes and somehow we seem to find a balance between these two. Last weekend we decided we needed to be totally spontaneous. We've talked about doing this for a while, so maybe it was somewhat planned....anyways, here was our adventure!

1. We hopped into the car around 4:00pm not knowing if we'd have time to do it all but headed out anyways.
2. Made a quick stop at Wal-mart for a few supplies (ie. graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate and a little gas can)
3. Headed up to my parents cabin.
4. We got there and packed up the 4-wheelers with all of our goods.

5. Filled them with gas and took off onto about an 18 mile trip to the Uinta National Forest.
6. Found a spot to build a fire overlooking an amazing meadow and felt like the only ones out there.

7. Went looking for wood and built a fire. (yes...Stephen had his doubts, but I built that fire all by myself!)

8. Ate a little PB&J for dinner.
9. Roasted some delicious marshmallows and snacked on smores till we were full.

10. Couldn't take in enough of the scenery, but decided we needed to pack up and go.

11. Heading back to the cabin we were stopped by the DNR and feared for our lives :)
12. After the long trip back to the cabin, we realized there was a small family of great horned owls hanging out on the deck of our cabin. We parked the 4-wheelers and watched them. Never have I seen such big and beautiful birds....and four of them at the same time, just hanging out. It was incredible.

13. Got back home in time to get some real food (aka hamburgers and shakes)
14. Climbed out onto our roof and watched the big fireworks from around the valley, under a blanket we kept warm as we ate our real dinner.
15. Realized it was 4 years ago, underneath the fireworks that Stephen held my hand for the first time and we started dating more seriously. Wow!!! How incredibly fast time has flown and what a wonderful ending to such a spontaneous night!