Britt's Baby Shower and Bear Lake

As most of you know by now, my sister-in-law is due in less than two weeks and I am super stoked! I can't wait to have a little niece close to us and spoil her like crazy. I had the fortunate opportunity of planning Britt's shower for our family and it was a blast. If I could plan events for a living and throw them for people I totally would. I have way too much fun getting cute decor, baking all kinds of goodies, and thinking of awesome ways to spoil the guest of honor. I want nothing but the best for my future niece and her wonderful soon-to-be Mother!

I love her so much!

I can't wait for baby Hayward.

Thanks for dropping by!

It was a pretty great shower, if I do say so myself. We played some games, had a diaper raffle drawing, and got to watch Britt open all her gifts. It was good to spend time with the Hayward family too.
This last weekend I also had the opportunity to go to Bear Lake and spend it with some of the awesome Elderes y Hermanas de mi distrito en el CCM. We have so much fun together. This was something we planned in the MTC and I'm so glad that it finally worked out. I often wonder if other districts are as close as we are. I love them like family.
 Kat, whom I still call Sister Regis like 80% of the time, and I car pooled to Serenity's cabin together and we had quite the adventure on the way there. My GPS took us through the mountains, not a canyon, the mountains - dirt roads, wildlife, and all. We almost hit several cows and deer, we arrived two hours later than we should've because we had to stop and ask for directions. And who did we ask for these directions? Oh just a taxidermist and his wife who told us all about mounting antelope. That much said we didn't get to the cabin until about 11. Most of stayed up 'til about 2 catching up with each other and talking about anatomy (we can be nerds).
Saturday was a beautiful day! We got so lucky because it was pure sunshine and no wind. The water was pretty cold for boating but it was too glassy to pass up. We skied, boarded, and tubed. We were on the lake basically all day with a little break around 4 for a late lunch. I love my district and the good memories that we make, and even reliving some old ones.

Sunday was goodbye for Kat and I in the morning because I wanted to get home for the dedication with my hubby. We went home through the canyon and it only took a little over two hours ha. I was super tired from not sleeping much, but it was worth it! It was a pretty short little weekend but a great one. I can't resist not seeing District 35E!

The cosmic orbiter!

I love these people!

Summer is Funner

The grammatically correct way to say the title of this post is summer is more fun, I know, but I think it is actually more fun to say summer is funner. And I wasn't so sure this summer was going to be that fun, I mean we've had things planned and such, but Dan and I both had summer school and work almost every day.
Just some photos of random things we did over the summer and then on to the main events.

The Big Boy was in Ogden. That train wheel is as big as me!

Another one of Dan's friends got married! Congrats Derek!

Rodeo. 

Mini-golf on the 24th. 

Ogden Temple open house.

Dan only had a class the first block of the summer and I have had classes both blocks. He took an EMT course and is now an official EMT. I know I say this all the time, but he truly inspires me and I am so proud of him. I had to take classes in order to start my program this fall. It was a lot better than I thought it'd be because I'm finally taking classes that interest me and that I want to take! I am pretty stoked to start learning about my career. I have already been able to help others with their injuries, it's awesome!
The first pretty eventful thing that happened this summer, for me at least, was Girl's Camp. We had the opportunity to go to Moab and raft the Colorado River from Thursday-Saturday. It was weird to be the leader this time around but oh so fun! I love being in Young Women's and I learn so much from the wonderful girls I get to interact with. The trip was really fun and I would do it again for sure. We were spoiled and the people that we booked it through even took care of all our meals. All we had to do was set up camp where they told us and they took care of the rest. It was a sweet deal!

I also got to know the people I serve with better, especially one of my ward friends that I went to high school with - Jenna Rose. We got asked quite a bit if we were sisters so eventually I just started saying yes. It was really nice to have her on the trip to be able to talk to and get to know better. We also had some really awesome river guides that would start water wars and play river games with us. I am blessed to be a leader and attend the YW activities, especially Girl's Camp.

Rafting the Colorado!

Tent buddies.

South Ogden 6th Ward Young Women + Leaders and River Guides.

At the end of July I got off work for a few days and we headed down to Lake Powell. My family went down Sunday and I had a test Monday so Dan and I left Tuesday afternoon and joined them that night. Because I had sprained my ankle two weeks earlier I was limited on the things I could do. I was able to ski and board at least once but it hurt a bit and I didn't want to risk hurting it worse so I just enjoyed watching Daniel be amazing, like always. He landed two new tricks this year, a front flip and a back roll, the front flip he even landed the first try. He's good at everything and therefore I am glad he is mine!

Dan and I surfing together... or trying to.

I love going on family vacations. It was fun to be in Neverland with my whole family and their new spouses. I just love getting to know them better and bonding more and more. Plus the group that we go with is like an extended family. I love the Vernon and Foster families and how much fun we can all have together in a week. We played games (both water and land - thanks Mom!), caught some frogs, and then some fish with those frogs, surfed, had some stimulating conversations, and ate delicious treats and food.

My Lake Powell Family

And the last big hoo-raw for the summer was our awesome Hayward family vacation to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, where Peter served part of his mission. My in-laws certainly spoil us big time. Our trip was Saturday to the following Saturday, the last week of summer before school started.

Home for a week, Ocean Blue.

We spent the first Saturday flying to our destination and getting settled for the week. Sunday we went to church and I love being constantly reminded that the Gospel is true no matter where in the world you are. After church we played some games, walked up and down the beach, and watched the Saratov Approach on Netflix.

Stroll on the beach.

Monday we were going to go to an amusement park but it didn't open 'til 4 so we found a really awesome mini-golf place, Mt. Atlanticus, that had two courses and we could go and come back and play as much as we wanted. So we played one course and then we went to Subway for lunch in between and then came back and played the second course. It was really the coolest course I've ever seen and been to because it had multiple levels and cool holes.

Mini-golf.

Tuesday we had a beach day. I love the beach, I love playing in the sand and listening to the waves crash upon the shore. Daniel and Becky both got stung by jellyfish, Dan on his wrist and Becky on her leg. I decided I was done with the ocean at that point and went to swim in the pool, and everyone else decided that was a good idea and came along. We swam in the lazy river and pools the condo has for a while longer and then went down to the boardwalk at night and wandered through shops.

Wednesday we decided to go into Charleston. It was a full day, trying to get in all the things we wanted to because it was about two hours away from where we were staying. First we wandered through the flea market that was there and then we were all hungry so we went to lunch at Sticky Fingers. That was one of the places that Peter had wanted to go to and I'm glad we all made it there. Then we took a ferry to Fort Sumter and toured that place for a little bit. It was really neat learning more about the Civil War and being in places where battles occurred. After that we went for a carriage ride around downtown Charleston where there were houses from when it was first settled and the Revolutionary War. It was super fascinating! It's cool to see what it was like a little bit back then. There's lots of history there. Once we finished doing that we met up with one of Peter's old ward mission leaders for dinner. And after dinner it was time to start heading back to Myrtle Beach.

On the ferry to Fort Sumter.

Jaden and me at Fort Sumter. I don't think I had one good hair day in SC.

Thursday the boys and Becky went golfing early in the morning so the girls and Jaden went to Myrtle Waves, a water park. Sadly half the park was closed but that was ok because it was mostly for Jaden and so we just hung out in the kiddie areas and played with him. That night was date night! All the couples went on their own dates. Dan really wanted to go to a Waffle House for dinner, so we did, and it was pretty good. I learned a new way of doing chocolate chip waffles ha. We rented scooters and drove them there and then around the boardwalk for an hour or so after dinner. It was so much fun! One day I hope to get my own motorcycle so we can ride side by side all the time. After we turned the scooters in we headed to probably one of Daniel's favorite places, no matter what city we're in, Ross. He has this saying, "You always find good things at Ross when you're in a different state." So naturally we had to go check one out. He was right, we found stuff ha.

Myrtle Waves!

Our scooters.

Friday was basically the last day to do anything we hadn't done. I really wanted to go to a tienda to see if there was any Manzanita Sol, a drink I love because of my mission, and there was something like it but it wasn't quite the same. All of us went to the Piggley Wiggley and got T-shirts because honestly who doesn't want a pig face that says piggley on the front and a pig bum that says wiggley on the back?! I want to get more into photography so that evening I attempted to take some family pictures but the humidity wouldn't allow it. It just kept fogging up my lens and made me frustrated. So we just took some with phones and called it good. (BUT if anyone wants some free photos just let me know because I really do want to be a part-time photographer!) After that we decided to take one last dip in the ocean and swim for a bit. Then I packed up our stuff so I wouldn't have to in the morning.

Paradise.

Saturday is the saddest day of the trip because we had to come home and that means back to reality. It was a great trip and I can't thank Becky and Paul enough for spoiling us so much! We were pretty exhausted when we got home so we went to bed after watching a Psych episode or two.

And this is Bertha, our rental 12 seater van AKA the Mormon Assault Vehicle.

And now we've started school and are getting into our routines again. It's a good thing but who doesn't miss summer? I do, already.