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!

Gus Bus

I feel like I've had one of my most productive couple of days in a while! 

We spent Friday night eating at Zupas with Spence and Lexi discussing new and exciting things for Gus. 

After we spent the night playing Quiplash with Logan and Anna who are in town for a few weeks from med school... yay!

I woke up earlyish Saturday morning and went to the gym. 

Came home and cleaned the house.

Went grocery shopping & to Home Depot. 

Did some yard work with Aaron. 

Cleaned up and went to Red Robin with Logan and Anna again... yay!

Stayed up late watching New Zealand shows on the Smithsonian channel... our new favorite station... we are nerds! We are having serious FOMO for New Zealand and are feeling like we need to go back already... especially to the South Island. 

Went to church of course Sunday morning. 

Took a nap. 

Had Gma Jack over for dinner.

Did a Gus photo shoot. Loved how the pics turned out! Stay tuned to insta for more to roll out...

 It's harder to get on the roof than you think... 

.... aaaand brought Gus into work today.

AND booked tickets to Dallas for the end of July to go visit Madi, Gavin and Owen! Hooray for vacations! 

Happy Summer!

It's officially the first day of SuMmEr and I am pumped. Aaron and I are summer babies through and through. 

Wishing we didn't have work so we could hike and lay by the pool and eat snow cones. Quick update...

Attended my cousins wedding last week at the SL Temple.

My dad came to town for approximately 40 hours. But enough time to go to Cafe Rio. 

Denver work trip.

Lots of flight scheduling... Kentucky & Denver for work every. single. month. But Bama with the fam next weekend!

Kamas Kabin Klub.

Early morning runs.

Our Photo Bus Gus is killing it. We've been getting lots of new events and we are PUMPED! 

Family Forever

The past 2 weeks have been a blur.

We still have our suitcases out from the Bahamas.

Eating treats and junk all day everyday.

Driving back and forth to Holladay at least twice a day.

Since Grandpa Jack's decline, family has been in town... waiting for the inevitable.

It's been so fun being with immediate and extended family nonstop... but it leaves me dreading to go to work and get back in the routine.

Over the past couple of weeks we.....

Celebrated Nicole's upcoming wedding at her bridal shower

Had another Gus event at the Murray High grad party!

Lexi's mom was in charge, so we all tested out the money grabbing machine, ate lots of Chick Fil A and OG, aaaand Aar and I got to leave early since we'll be covering another event while Spence and Lexi were out of town.

Hiked up to Bell Reservoir on Memorial Day... and had a BBQ at Gma & Gpa Jack's later that night.

My favorite time of year by far is late May/early June. The temperatures start to warm up and all the trees, bushes and plants are all bright green and the mountains are still snow capped. THEE best!

We also went to Top Golf and tried out The Baked Bear.

The weekend was long and full of funeral activities remembering Grandpa Jack. He was 92 years old, and the last of his siblings to pass away. His dad died when he was only 14 years old, so I can only imagine the reunion they had.

Although the passing was bittersweet, the gospel sure makes things so much better. I am so grateful for the comfort and the Plan of Salvation!

In addition to the viewing, the next morning they had a one hour open session with just family for people to share any memories. After that was the graveside dedication and then on to the final viewing and funeral followed by the luncheon.

 It was a long day so obviously we had to stop and get some chicken nugs and Diet Coke to honor grandpa.

Now back to regular life... and SUMMER!

The Bahamas

Aaron had 2 things he absolutely HAD to do in the Bahamas....

1. Visit the stock exchange and take a picture in front of it.

2. Ride on the water tricycles. 

One of the mornings we woke up and went to the lagoon first thing to ride the trikes. IT was perfect since we were the only ones on the water. 

Turns out he didn't love the trikes as much as he thought he would... haha we all knew that would happen, but we still had fun.

Spence and Lexi got a paddle board and we switched between both toys while my parents sat back and took pictures.

And we can't forget the stock exchange. Here's his pic at the BISX to add to his collection.

That night, we ate at one of thee best Italian restaurants I've been to. It was all served family style and at the end it looked like we hardly touched any food. We had salad, giant pieces of garlic bread, chicken parmigiana, lasagna aaaaand the best dessert....

THE TITANIC!

Basically an entire pan of brownies with 10 ice cream scoops and plenty of whipped cream on top. to. die. for.

At night the resort was lit up and so pretty! Couldn't resist not taking a thousand pictures each night. 

The next day we went to Balmoral Island to feed the stingrays. 

 They were huuuuge! It took a bit to warm up to them, but I finally held one.

They brush up against your leg like cats and love to be fed. ^This lady was a lot heavier then she looks... and she was pregnant! 

I love that my family is an ice cream/dessert family. And I love that my best friend and extended family know that.

Aaron's not really a dessert person, and can't believe we go out of our way late a night, or drive somewhere just for ice cream. I love it though.... and he can't complain to me when everyone else is around :)

I <3 Ben and Jerry's.

The Atlantis also has tons of cool aquariums around the resort... and we didn't discover these til my parent's showed us the last day!

 Gettin' brave and touching/holding a starfish!

So glad we had the waterpark to play in too! 

We played card games at night while silly Aaron went to the casino... and had the sun work us every day. 

We flew back a day later than my parents so save some significant money on airfare. 
Unfortunatley, we booked a horrible AirBnb... tiny, misleading pictures, bugs in the bathroom, wifi not working.... not great.

So we woke up early to go to the airport to start our long leg home. We spent the rest of the day at the airport and in the air.

Such a fun trip and so glad my parents were able to take us there, they are the best! Just missed David. 

Now back to business at home. Grandpa Jack is on hospice right now and could pass away any day now. My parents and David are in town right now. Grandpa gave me a good squeeze last night though and is in good spirits. He is just not able to speak because of his recent stroke and is very weak and tired. Now it's just a waiting game.