July

After the fun of June, I was expecting July to be rather non-eventful.  Happily I was wrong and it was full of some really fun activities.  Something that has not been fun but necessary is an overhaul of our sprinkler system.  Mike and Cam (and a sprinkler guy we hired for a few hours) have spent much time unearthing the old pipes and rerouting the sprinkler heads in different places.  It's still a work in progress, but at least the trenches have all been filled in and we're able to water the lawn again like normal.

This 4th of July was one of the less exciting ones we've probably ever had.  We did get together with Mom, the Skeens and Bundy's on the 3rd for a tasty dinner at the Bundy's, then to watch fireworks from our neighbor's backyard like we did last year.  On the 4th, Mike and I went on a bike ride to Smithfield, then he worked in the yard all day working on putting in supports for our new deck and I did my own thing in the house, then that night we went for a neighborhood bike ride and sat in the hot tub.  Cam had been in Lake Powell all week with his friend Steve and their family, and all our extended family in Cache Valley was out of town, so it was definitely a quiet holiday.

 
Mike had a meeting in SLC for work that he really didn't want to go to, so I told him Cam and I would come along for the ride and while he was at the meeting, he could drop us off at City Creek to shop and then we could stop for dinner on the way home.  That made the prospect of driving to SLC much more appealing to him, so that's what we did.  Cam had a great time looking around at his favorite store- Van's for the whole hour and a half.  I quickly got bored and found my way across the street to walk around temple square.  It was a win/win for everyone!  We had an enjoyable afternoon and evening together.
Mike decided he needed to do some physical accomplishment to celebrate turning 50, so he settled on a sprint triathlon.  Since he's not a swimmer at all, he spent the winter months trying to get a little better at it.  He's not a runner either, so did a little training with that.  The big day came and he was as ready as he was going to get.  He did a better job than he thought he would doing it in 1 hour 25 minutes.  The swim would have been faster if he had actually been able to swim instead of getting elbowed and kicked by the other swimmers practically the whole time.  He thinks he may try it again next year. I loved going to watch and cheer him on.



The Skeens put in a pool this spring, so Ann had a little pool party one afternoon for Mom, Searles, Lindsey and girls, Pete boys and me.  We had a tasty lunch, then after it got done raining, had a nice afternoon lazing by the pool.  It was too cold (76 degrees) for me to get in, but maybe by the end of the summer I'll take the plunge.
 (the picture of the yummy looking salad wasn't from this party, but from when I went to lunch with my college friends in N. Ogden.  I love the salmon salad at Bella's!)

I've gotten together with my two favorite college roommates for lunch several times before when Gayle, who lives in California, comes to Utah in the summer to visit her parents and daughters.  This year we had the addition of another old roomie- Kim.  She was from California, and we lost track of her after college, and just found out she's been living in SLC for the past 10 years.  We were so happy to reconnect with her and work it out for all of us to come together for lunch, and reminiscing.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  When I got home, I searched through my college scrapbook and found a picture of when the 4 of us went to Flaming Gorge for Memorial Weekend in the early 1980's.  Coincidentally, we all posed in the same spots back then as we did this day! 



Janet was in town for 24 hours, so Mom, Carol and I (Ann was out of town) went to dinner together at Texas Roadhouse then up to our house to play Rook.  It's always fun to see and get caught up on things with Geebird.

In June Kylee asked me if I would consider coming to Ft. Collins for the weekend of her birthday.  That was an easy proposition to consider!  I was a tiny bit hesitant to make the 7 hour drive all alone, but after doing it, would for sure do it again in the future.  All because of the great experience of listening to a book on tape!  The miles flew by!  I loved the book I listened to- The Whistling Season, and would recommend it to anyone.  It was a charming, sweet, engaging story.  I had a great 4 days and 5 nights in Ft. Collins with the Hatch's.  Kylee had planned so many fun things for us to do together.  Brody joined in on some of it, but had work and studying for his qualifying exam to do so missed out on some things. On Thursday Kylee had to work until 3:30, so I slept in, read and watched a movie in bed, then went to the house she nanny's at with Brody to have lunch and lay out by the community pool. The only problem with that was that it rained all afternoon, so I settled on sitting outside under the porch and reading my book while Kylee did her thing, then we did a little shopping, made dinner and went for a lovely bike ride.  On Friday the 3 of us spent the day at Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was a beautiful drive.   I absolutely loved it.  We saw 2 elk, a big horned sheep, and drove on the highest (in elevation- 12,000 feet) road in America. 

We had a nice lunch in Estes Park (a quaint little town much like Jackson Hole) did a little shopping, then headed back to Ft. Collins. Ky took me to her club to do a intense kickboxing class, then we cooked a tasty Pinterest meal. Ky and I played a rousing game of frisbee golf on a course near their house.  On Saturday, Kylee's 26th birthday, she and I spent the day in Denver.  We first went to a session at the Denver Temple, then ate lunch at Firehouse subs (yum), then shopped on 16th street in downtown Denver.  It was a huge outdoor mall. We made it back to FC by 7- in time to meet Brody for dinner at BJ's. It was a delightful day!

We made this darling pinterest inspired "fruit cake" that I thought turned out really cute.  What a beautiful, loving, kind girl my sweet Kylee is.  

On Sunday we did more Pinterest cooking, went to church, did a photo shoot with their new (to them) Subaru Outback, and made some cards. (aren't our matching Rocky Mountain NP shirts cute??)

I headed home Monday morning.  Because I was so engrossed in my awesome book, this plain, boring scenery that is Central Wyoming went by in a blur.

I'm certain that August will be totally uneventful, but we'll have to wait and see!