June 2019 - Part II

By the time June ended it finally felt like summer had arrived.  The weather heated up and we were all able to spend a little more time outside.  We played hard this month, and I don't regret any of it.

Forever the dog whisperer

We all got the best surprise when Josh showed up and my parents for Sunday dinner.  He has been on a cross country tour managing a concert for Machine Gun Kelley and happened to have a day off in Salt Lake.  Jess told grandma that she was coming to dinner, but no one had any idea she was bringing a guest.  It was so great to have an unexpected night with him to catch up and hear all about his job and the tour.  The kids, of course, recruited him to play lawn games - he, Jess and Bronson were the best sports to play with everyone.  By the time he left I think he was exhausted and likely ready to back to work.

Twinning with his bestie

We got the chance to go to the Howard Jones concert at Red Butte Gardens and had the most amazing night.  It was perfect to see LeeAnn since the is the original Number 1 fan, and is probably who introduced me to Mr. Jones.  The concert was fun and the venue was absolutely beautiful.  Mostly Tim and I just kept saying how lucky we were to have had so many dates and concerts lately.

Poor Jami spent about a month in bed, super sick and miserable.  While she was down, we had the kids come stay for a couple of days - Luke and Ruby could not have been happier about the arrangements.  We had a fantastic weekend together.  To start, we decided to take everyone to the reservoir where they played, and paddled, and built sand tunnels, and generally just had a great time.

When you play hard...you sleep hard.

Luke had his last baseball game of the season.  It was a fun team and I think he learned a lot about hitting.  I wish there would have been a little more action during the games to keep it interesting for the kids.  But it was still a great experience.  Hopefully he will want to keep playing because I think baseball might be a really good fit for Luke.  

We spent part of an afternoon over at Provo High trying to help the girls practice their roller skating.  I'm not sure who got the bigger workout, me helping, or the girls trying to stay upright.  I think the boys were the smart ones, they looked pretty dang comfortable on their bikes. 

Ever since Penelope was born we have loved her like our own, so we were especially excited to help celebrate her first birthday with flamingos and pineapples.  The party was fantastic with great food, a giant slip and slide, and plenty of chatting with neighbors

Playing puppies

Ten Years Down...Forever to Go

Ten years ago Tim and I said our vows and started out on the best adventure of our lives!  Sometimes it feels like it all passed quickly, but then I think about all that we have shared and ten years doesn't seem long enough.  In that time we have experienced so much - a lot of really great times, some really unexpected hard times, and plenty of regular days where we have learned what it means to be a couple and family.  Tim and I have been lucky to have traveled and seen a lot of the world together.  I think it is one of the ways we best connect - especially when an ocean is involved.  We had initially talked about some big travel plans to celebrate ten years, but then real life and little kids made that tough so we decided to stay closer to home to celebrate.  I'm not sure how I pictured our life when we committed to each ten years ago, but looking at what we have today...it's everything I want and need.

We started the celebration a few days early at the Brad Paisley concert.  We danced to his song "Then" at our wedding, so it was perfect that he was in town to help us celebrate. 

The weekend after our anniversary we said adios to the kids and headed out to California for a few days at the beach.  Before this trip we hadn't ever heard of the "June gloom", but we learned more than we wanted about the phenomenon during this trip.  The days were mostly cool and cloudy, and we only saw the sun for a few brief hours.  When we first arrived I was a little disappointed and wondered what kind of vacation we would have without sun (it's really my favorite).  But then we realized that cloudy days were great for sleeping in, walking everywhere, and somehow made it even easier to spend the days relaxing.

We walked a few miles to this gluten free bakery in Redondo Beach and it was so incredible we went back twice.  Even Tim thought the nutella french toast was 10/10.

Decided to try roller blading - I was just so relieved to make it the full hour without crashing.  Tim rode a bike so he could document the fun.

We just really love hanging out at the beach

Especially when the sun peeks out for a few hours

Saturday morning we headed out for a long run along the Strand.  We stopped and watched surfers, lifeguards graduating, dog walkers, and all of the other interesting people who were out enjoying the day.  As far as runs go, it was slow and not so steady, but the overall experience was pretty great.

Back to our happy place

You can't tell from these pictures, but we were standing out on the edge of a very long pier and it was really windy and cold.  We were about ready to leave when we noticed a pod of dolphins swimming just a little ways from where we were standing.  It was magical to watch as they swam around the area for a few minutes. Definitely seemed like a good omen. 

I talked him into the lifeguard sweatshirt

Sunday morning we slept in, then had a few hours before we needed to get cleaned up and head to the airport.  We decided to rent bikes and see how far we could go down the strand.  Spending time on the strand is really one of our favorite activities when we are at the beach - so many interesting sights and sounds all while doing something active.  It was the perfect ending to a great trip together. 

After walking/running past numerous times,

We finally got a picture with the surfer