July Catch up!

July has been a whirlwind! I feel like I have spent a good chunk of my month at the airport... Oh wait, I have! After we got back from Alabama, I headed to Louisville for a few days of work meetings with Big O. 

Luckily, Louisville is a pretty cool place.

We always stay right on the river in Indiana when we go and I love love love the city/river/bridge views! 

I had enough time for a run/walk one afternoon and ran from Indiana to Kentucky over the pedestrian bridge. 

On the way to the airport we had a little time to kill, so we decided to check out Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Waverly is an old hospital that housed tens of thousands of Tuberculosis patients in the early 1900s. Apparently thousands died there. 

Since the regular gate wasn't open, naturally we went up the service entrance driveway. We cruised around the creepy building and then were abruptly stopped by a worker who said we were trespassing. They were not happy and I guess the service driveway we had just driven up was just barely laid down with new asphalt. We looked at our rental car and there were drips of tar all over the wheel wells.

.... Oops. The owners we so mad, threw our keys and held us there for a bit. By then we were cutting it close to make our flight. They went back to check the freshly laid driveway and it turned out the damage wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it would be. 

They let us go, wouldn't take any of our money and even helped wash some of the tar off the vehicle. Turned out to be a decent ending. Phew!

Madi was in town for a bit in July, so we made it to Cafe Rio and she came down to Utah County to visit Logan and Anna who were also in town. 

We took a side trip to Battle Creek Falls. 

 She's the BEST!

Snow cone season is in full swing, we've been about every week at least... but my favorite memory is this^ little can't talk about it without laughing! Aaron wore his brand new shoes that night and some little kid dumped his pink snow cone on his new shoes. I died. 

AL

We spent the 4th of July in Alabama with my parents and siblings. 

Kicked it off the holiday week by running the river at the classic Redneck River rafting spot. 

We went on the 3rd and it was a perfect day. The river was pretty quiet, and the water was warm. We saw tons of turtles hanging out on logs along the river, and Aaron absolutely loved playing on the rope swing at the end and climbing all the trees. 

We got an extra tube so we could blend in with our cooler... except it was full of soda and Gatorade :). 

Everything was so green, dense and thick, it was so pretty! We spent a night walking around one of their favorite parks close by and we got to drive my Dad's convertible! Wahoo!

4th of July breakfast at First Watch was delish! 

Our waitress came fully prepped to our table with coffee mugs and coffee... she was real surprised when none of us wanted coffee... haha all that work for nothing. 

I love the outlet stores by my parents house, so we swung by... he hates shopping haha. 

Aar and I had Steel City Pops for the first time. SO. DANG. GOOD. 

It doesn't really cool down at night in Alabama... that took some getting used to. 
We watched fireworks at the golf course nearby, and then had a small fireworks show in the culdesac at my parents. Sparklers and wasps were a blast. 

The week flew by so fast! We grabbed some Panera with my mom and then had to had back!

It's been a busy past couple of weeks since! Right after Alabama Aaron headed to El Paso for work. When he got back I headed to Louisville for work. We went camping in the Uintas, I have a quick Denver trip and then Dallas to visit Madi and Gavin! 

Chattanooga

Currently sitting at the airport wishing we never had to go home. 

Aaron and I spent the holiday in the South with my family. We flew in late Friday night and woke up the next morning and took the 2 hour car ride to Chattanooga Tennessee! 

First stop: Rock City

Rock City was a cool little nature park on the corner of Georgia/Tennessee. There was a trail that squeezed through rocks, trees and tunnels with pretty views.

 There's a viewpoint where you can see up to 7 states! Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina & Alabama! Luckily we went at the perfect time before the afternoon rainstorms while it was clear... but very hot and muggy.

 Everything was so green and pretty with the rolling hills, trees and blue sky.

We had some much needed lunch in downtown Chattanooga and then headed up to Ruby Falls. 

The Ruby Falls Cavern is 1,000+ feet underground. We took an elevator down and trekked through the caverns full of stalagtites & stalagmites. 

 At the end of the tour, was thee prettiest underground waterfall... which the explorer named after his wife- Ruby.

 Ben & Jerry's was calling our name so we took a river walk in the warm weather, visited the moon pie store and headed back to Birmingham.

Chattanooga was a success!