Our only trips planned for the summer were many trips to Utah. I'm not mad about this at all! Utah is SO beautiful in the summer, temperate with gorgeous and cool evenings. I couldn't get enough of the mountains and scenery, not to mention friends and family in abundance.
Our first trip to Utah I went out alone to go to my little sister Marcie's bridal shower.
On Thursday we met the Bluncks at the museum of Natural curiosity. The kids loved each other and played so well. It was nice they stuck with their 'buddy'. I'm glad they can still be friends even if we only see them once a year.
Marcie's shower was so great! Kacey, Kim, Melinda and Carly were there. It was fun to be with sisters and give Marcie advice and shower her with stuff and hear her story more and more. I'm so excited for her. Grant seems like an amazing guy!
It was a quick weekend trip and Jackson, Mariah and I came home Saturday night (with help from Marcie's fiance's friend thank goodness ... we didn't land until 2 am!) I was telling my mom how scared I was for this summer. Jackson and Hallie tend to fight a lot and it is draining for me to help them navigate these fights. So my mom said she would keep Hallie for the week (since I was coming up the next weekend). It was a LONG time to be without my girl! But I think as a middle child she thrived with the extra attention and individual love from both grandma and grandpa. We had a great week in Texas. Jackson had art camp every morning and we did school and piano and I got to give Jackson enough attention he was happy... but he missed Hallie miserably. She is his go-to for playing anything. We went to eat with Dave for his birthday lunch. Then I went to Olive Garden for dinner with him. We stopped by home depot (our favorite way to end our date) for a new rug for the living room floor.
Dave was planning on taking the kids back up to Utah on Saturday while I prepared for Girls camp. I was going to have a weekend alone. I was mostly looking forward to having lots of time to catch up on projects I hadn't been able to do. Last minute on Friday night a flight opened up with some seats and Saturday was looking worse. We had just finished swimming and weren't planning on going until Saturday. But Dave wanted to see his family, so we made a mad rush to pack and leave. As I was helping my kids pack and rush to the car, I realized that I didn't really want to spend 3 full days alone and I missed Hallie, so I quickly packed a weekend bag for me. On the way to the airport I was still going back and forth on whether I should go or not. I kept hoping the flight would drop seats and it would make the decision for me, but more seats opened up, so I decided to go for it. I am so glad I went because we had a fabulous weekend. We spent time at the Harper's house. I went to the Draper temple and picked up Hallie from Lehi.
I came back to Texas on Sunday night with enough time to pack and prepare for girls camp. I spent nearly the whole day on Monday deep cleaning and de-cluttering. It is so rewarding to clean without kids making a mess as you are cleaning! Monday night I spent time with Mori and Adrienne, my good friends in Texas. It was a perfect day alone. I couldn't go to sleep though, so I stayed up way too late.
I went to girls camp as a stake leader of the 4th year girls. I don't work with the youth in my ward and I am new in the stake, so no one knew me. I felt a little lost, until I decided to stick with our ward and get to know the girls. It rained for the first 2 days. It was muddy and miserable. We did get to zip line and that was fun! I did it with Abby Hickson (she is the stake young women's president and she is my age).
Finally, the tropical storm Bill pass by and the weather cleared up (although the ground was muddy the whole time). We got to canoe, fish, do archery and enjoy our last day. It was a different experience from my camp days, but I'm so glad we had cabins.
As I checked flights Thursday night I was really discouraged because we weren't going to be able to get out of Dallas. I was scared I would never get back to pick my kids up and felt guilty for my length of time gone. I got home from camp at 12 and cleaned up a bit. I was so tired, but really wanted to make it to phoenix to do a birthday date with all of our old friends. The flights were full, full, full, but since I wanted to go enough Dave and I headed to the airport. The flight was slightly delayed, so we sat in anticipation. Luckily, that meant that some people changed planes and we were able to get seats! So unbelievable! We rented a car and went to a birthday dinner (FREE MEAL) at Rubios. We met up with friends from our M
esa ward and went to Jesterz, an improv group ( I got in free since my bday was the next week and Dave got in half price for Fathers day!) . It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in a while! It was so fun to be with Stacey and Lacey and Heather and Jessie, Cheska, Megan and Cecilia.
I miss my girls there. We went to eat after. We were going to crash on someone's couch for a cheap trip (since I was planning on leaving early in the morning) but decided to get a hotel and enjoy being together as a couple without kids. I was stressed about getting up early for a flight so I decided to just wait until later in the day and take a flight with Dave. Dave was suppose to go back to TX, but his flight filled up so he came to Utah with me and spent Fathers day with us. It was SO nice to spend time together. We woke up late, worked out together, I went swimming in the blistering AZ heat. We walked through our rental home there and it seems they are taking really good care of it! We shopped a bit, grabbed lunch and headed to the airport. We missed the first flight we tried for (only needed 1 more seat!) but made the next flight easily (and got to sit in the lounge area while we waited, thanks American Airlines!)
We got to Utah in time to put the kids down and head out shopping at Kohls to find some fathers day gifts for Dave (he didn't pack church clothes since he didn't think he'd be out of town. We got such a good deal (you know I love deals!) He got 11 pairs of socks, a white shirt, slacks, a tie and a belt for $60. PLUS, $10 Kohls cash to spend next week. I love a good deal.
We made Daddy a good breakfast and tried to treat him right. He left early for a flight, only to find out it was delayed 4 hours! We wished we would've checked so he could hang out longer with us.
I was planning on following right behind Dave in a day or two, but flight were full and traveling alone with 3 kids, I wanted a direct flight... so we stayed nearly all week. We filled everyday with fun activities
Monday we hiked with my mom's activity day girls to a waterfall.
I'm so glad I carried Mariah. Then we met my Ahlstrom cousins at Chuckie Cheese for pizza and arcade games. We went to Sandra's to play for the rest of the afternoon. Then for FHE we made s'mores up the canyon.
Tuesday, I went to the beautiful, new Payson temple with Marcie. I met up with my mission companion for a few minutes before Marcie's 2nd bridal shower where I got to catch up with our old friends and ward from when we lived in Lehi.
Wednesday was my birthday. Jackson and I went to Denny's for my free grand slam (I wanted his meal more).
We met up with the Blunck's again at the highland splash pad (no pics)
Then we went to Cafe Rio for lunch with Sandra and the movie Cinderella. Mariah fell asleep in my arms which is very rare and I cherished the moment.
We went to grandma Louines and the kids LOVED the swing in her yard. I had such a great time making them happy. It wasn't an exciting moment, but it was one where I stopped and lived in the moment and fully enjoyed myself and my kids.
I went to another shower for my little sister and caught up with all my friends from the Lehi ward. Dave sent me a text every hour telling me he loved me and then something specific he loved about me. I was in heaven! Such a great guy!
Thursday I was ready to go home, and we finally made a flight home. Landing in Texas it was overcast, but extremely hot. The house was boiling (Dave turns off AC when we aren't home) and the kids were crazy (lots of night staying up late). The house was a disaster immediately despite my deep clean last week. I missed Utah!
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