a quick rest of the summer recap......

so my parents planned this HUUUUUUUUUGE cross country trip that included visiting my grandparents in iowa (who i haven't seen in 4 years and who have never met grant), and visiting my sister and her family who lives in florida, and visiting normans mission! so although it would be the the longest trip of my life including 22 states and 6200 miles in a 5 person small SUV with 5 people and a huge carseat... we decided to accept the offer from my parents to join them!! it was lots of car time...but it was worth it! we did a lot and saw a lot. and luckily for us...grant was an ANGEL the whole trip.

 we took lots of pictures (well..."we" meaning my mom...) but here are only a few from everywhere we went....

^^^norman peaking into the mission office he served in^^^

^^^obligatory 4 generation picture^^^

^^^seaworld^^^

 ^^^notre dame campus/savannah georiga^^^

^^^lake michigan^^^ 

^^^siesta key beach in florida^^^

^^^my sister's graduation from her masters in nursing at university of south florida!^^^

we went to a lot more places that i didn't include here...but this is what took up a good portion of summer (3 ish plus week trip). I coach volleyball at hillcrest high school and the day after i got home from this lengthy trip VOLLEYBALL SEASON STARTED! so...that's really what i've been up to.

ALSO... my cute sister got married a couple weeks ago!!! she and jared had been dating for about a year and a half, i believe, and they finally tied the knot!! we were more than thrilled and happy for them. it was so special to be in the temple with all of my family! being the youngest, i never thought i would be able to attend the sealing of one of siblings, so this was pretty cool for me! i'm glad she has found someone to take care of her and her 4 girls the way they should be. he is a good man and a great step-dad. we love you, jared!! 

^^^the happy family!! (not pictured: jared's 3 cute kiddos that couldn't make it out for the wedding)^^^

so there ya have it! that's about as up to date as it's gonna get...can we believe it's october already, people???? i love it. best time of the year!

semi annual island park vaca

first of all, happy new year!!! it's 2015!! can you believe it?? i really can't. like...really.....
second of all....my blog got a face lift!! what are your opinions, my friends?? i've been wanting to do it for a while now and thought what better way to start the new year than with a new layout??? so that's what i did today. i still have a couple things to iron out and i want to add some stuff but i love it so far! 

so every summer and winter for about 2 years now my cutest friends and our husbands go up to island park and stay at my friends' cabin and par-tay. we look forward to it every winter/summer. we eat tons of yummy food, we chat, we sled, we play games til all hours of the night, we ride four-wheelers, etc. etc. all the fun things you can do at island park. which, by the way....is one of the prettiest places.....ever. 

so the weekend before christmas we made our way up through the trees and it didn't disappoint. we honestly have the best time with these friends of ours and couldn't ask for a better group of people to hang with. seriously, norman and i always talk about how spoiled we are because we have the best friends ever. and i always rave about it every time i write one of these posts but it's just so true! i love them all so much! 

so here are some pictures i took of us playing in the snow. (which by the way....it snowed so much while we were there that our poor husbands had to push two of the 4 vehicles about 1/2 mile through the snow because our cars suck in the snow....it was still worth it though, right boys?)

more to come on christmas and new years!!

summers end...

tomorrow's the day, folks. it's the day i become a loner in my apartment again as my husband is leaving me for school. i feel rather lucky, really, cause by now the whole world is back in school besides buy-idaho. they start really late. i'm not complaining. it's been such a fun 7 weeks hangin out with my husband and sweet little boy with no school interruptions. and we have been on the move, let me tell ya. ever since he got out of school back in july we have been going non-stop til just recently. it was fun, but a little exhausting and i think all three of us are ready to be back in a normal routine.

our last few shenanigans for summers end were as follows:

we made one last trip to island park with normans family over labor day. it rained most the weekend, which i secretly loved because who can resist a good rain storm. and it pooooured. so we mostly stayed inside...watched secret life of walter mitty, played russian rummy and five crowns, ate food. it was good.

on labor day evening we attended the annual eastern idaho state fair with our bestest friends and it did not disappoint. this was grant's first year, {last year he was in my tummy but it was still our little secret}. he fell asleep as we walked around...typical baby. ;) i enjoyed a delicious teriyaki bowl and my yearly fried candy bar. we also got to see lady houdini! she was a real treat. almost gave me a panic attack when she was doing her water chamber escape trick. .......i've seen the prestige....she dies.

the next day was the EAGLES CONCERT!!!! oh, guys...it was so good. norman and i are changed forever. 

we drove down to SLC, dropped my boy off at my gracious cousins house for her to babysit and we headed to the concert. it was our first real "date" without grant and it was a good one. although i was worried grant would be a pill {he refuses to take a bottle these days..as i've mentioned}, he ended up being a perfect little angel for my cousin and her husband and i was so thrilled. it allowed me to enjoy our night without worrying! 

and again...the concert was ah-may-zing. :) it was the history of the eagles tour so they had everyone there! even one that quit years ago {except the one guy wasn't there that they got into a fight with years ago}. it was so fun watching norman soak it all in. it's his favorite band and i understand why. they were so so so good. and they played all my favorite songs! {except waiting in the weeds...i was holding out for it..but it didn't happen}. 

so even though we had nose-bleeder seats...it was still so rad. :)

my niece, jenna was then baptized that saturday back in pocatello, and the next day we made the trip back to heber for my cousins baby stella's baby blessing! both were great days and it was fun to be with family.

then two of my friends had their baby's on the same day! {september 8th} i didn't get a pic of sweet little adison lyn cause we were too busy talking! but she was the sweetest! and so tiny!! a huge congrats to Savannah and Austin Wallis for bringing that little one into the world... it was quite a rough labor but i'm so glad everything turned out ok!!

i did happen to snap a pic of my friends, Jared and Jessica's, baby Kyrie James Hendricks! and he is a dream. can't wait to snuggle him some more. luckily they live in rexburg, too so i will get to see him lots!

^^^our other friend, kelsey, holding kyrie^^^

since then i've been doing lots of volleyball coachin and norman has been doing lots of baby watchin. it's been so fun to be back in the sport i love again!!

^^^this was us at my team's tournament the other day reppin red for my friends little nephew that passed away from HLHS. #henryforever #henrysheart ^^^

now it's back to the grind! it was a fabulous summer but i'm sooooo looking forward to fall and cooler weather and holidays and sweaters and pumpkin everything! :)

Seattle // 3.

our last day was mostly spent driving home, but we woke up early to stop by a few places we missed on friday and still wanted to see....

like the space needle

^^^the pic on the right is the last one out our hotel window looking at the puget sound^^^ 

^^^attempting to get the whole space needle in my pic^^^

^^^yes, i'm aware this isn't the most flattering pic of my post baby belly...it's fine though^^^

after the space needle kelsey and i wanted to make a really important stop....

if you're a true grey's anatomy fan...you know meredith grey's house in the first season is different than the one in the rest of the seasons...and that house is located in seattle...we found it. and took a pic.

^^^picture from season one of meredith leaving her house^^^

^^^my multiple random pictures of kelsey so i could see if my lighting was right, thanks for that :) ^^^

we found this view of seattle around the corner from meredith's house... it was too pretty not to stop. meredith and christina probably had their nice long chats here. ;)

our last stop before heading out for good was the seattle temple. and it didn't disappoint. as per usual.

 thanks for another fabulous trip, seattle. until next time!!