Saturday Happenings

Drew and I had a very eventful Saturday. We woke up and prepared breakfast for our aunt and uncle. I had mentioned previously that they were in town for the holiday. Well since it was national "Aunt and Uncle" day, we decided to treat them to breakfast! We made pancakes and sausage, had orange juice and watermelon, and enjoyed being together. It was yummy and fun to visit with them!

 After they left, my friend from Poland stopped by to see us. I met her in high school because she came to Richfield as a foreign exchange student. We became really good friends and it was sad to see her leave. Luckily however, she came back a year later to visit. And now, THREE years since then she came again! I loved seeing her and it was fun for her and Drew to meet. 

Then after she left Drew and I drove around to see the jets flying over St. George for a bit.

That evening, we went on a double date with my friend and her boy friend. They picked us up and we drove to Zions except we made an accidental pit stop at Kolob first.. Ha ha.

Eventually we made it to Zions. It was absolutely beautiful. Lucky for us, it was a little over cast + the sun was starting to set. We rode the shuttle, saw some deer, hiked to the upper falls of the Emerald Pools, saw tons of frogs, and then made it back just in time to catch the last shuttle back. We ate dinner at Oscar's Cafe and made it back home around 11:30 pm. 

In conclusion, our day was long, eventful, fun, and exhausting! We loved every minute of it. So far this summer has been awesome. We are so lucky!

Love,

Kate

Blessings and hair cuts

When it rains it pours, ya know? Yeah.. well that is how we have felt lately but of course there wouldn't be any rainbows without the rain.

^homemade calendar I made last Sunday to match my kitchen rug^

Drew was called and offered a new job the other day! We are so excited about it. He starts on Monday. It is the BIGGEST blessing. It could possibly be a long-term job for him if he likes it. If not, then it is definitely a blessing anyways because he will learn from it. Either way, we are so excited! It will allow both Drew and I to be home in the evenings together! 

Also, we both got our hair cut the other day too. I chopped seven inches off and let's be honest-- Drew probably did too ha ha, his hair was super long! 

Change is good!

Oh, and also, I got to drive around a golf cart all over Dixie's campus for work the other day. So fun!!! But SO HOT.

Love,

Kate

Pioneer Day 7.24.14

When I was younger the 24th of July was spent in Monroe. My family and I would watch the small-town parade and then we would enjoy visiting with extended family on the park right after. We would head back to Richfield for the afternoon and then make our way back to Monroe later that night to watch the fireworks on the football field. 

^volcano we passed!^

Well this has been my second year now that I haven't been there and it's a little sad. To be honest, I can't even remember what I did last year for this holiday.. but let me tell you about my experience this year.

Pioneer Day was very different for me this year.. but in a good way! I learned that on FamilySearch.org there is a button that will bring up your actual pioneer ancestors who came across the plains. How neat, right?! So my aunt who showed me this came down for the holiday and suggested we find some of our pioneer ancestors and check out their grave sights-- so we did just that! We went to Pine Valley that morning and walked around the cute old cemetery. It was definitely a neat way to celebrate those great pioneers!

Well we made it back to town in time for Drew to head to work. He had to work till nine that night so after he got off, he picked me up and we met up with some of our friends to watch the fireworks in Washington on the softball fields.

Although it wasn't my small-town festival filled with lots of family and friends, I was at least glad that I was able to spend my day with my aunt and her husband as well as some good friends.

It was a fun evening, and overall a nice Pioneer Day. 

Love,

Kate

Popcorn and otterpops

Drew and I have had something to do or somewhere to be almost every weekend so far this summer, so last weekend was definitely out of the norm. We stayed home for the weekend and actually found ourselves kind of bored. 

Friday night after work we decided to go on a date. We went out to eat at Black Bear Diner-- which never fails--it's always good!! Then later that evening we made brownies and played scrabble.

The next day we tended my cousin's baby all day which was so fun. He's perfect and happy and both Drew and I absolutely adore him! 

Sunday was a super simple day. We lounged around after church. Made a yummy dinner, watched movies, and ate popcorn and otter pops. 

Marriage is so fun. I love being able to just hang out with Drew. He is always so happy and fun to be with. He is such a joy to me!

Love,

Kate

Summer Fishlake Trip 2014

After the Fourth of July weekend we were back up to Richfield five days later to go to Fishlake with my family for the weekend. We stopped at Top Stop to grab some goodies for the road and made our way up to our favorite place in the world.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and tradition goes that we bring up Papa Murphy's pizza and cook it-- so we did just that. We enjoyed our pizza (ps. did I mention that food is always 10 times more delicious when you are in the mountains?), and then we all hopped in my dad's truck and went for a ride as the sun went down to look for deer. We played Celine Dionne songs and sang at the top of our lungs. We saw a few deer that evening and then made it back to the cabin where we eventually fell asleep for the night. 

Early the next morning Drew and I woke up to go with my dad to look for deer and to check his trail camera. (FYI, both my and dad and I have deer tags for this upcoming hunting season so ya.. we are on the look out!) We drove four wheelers out to where he had one of his trail cameras and ran into nine bucks! It was amazing. Drew was in shock too because he had never really seen big bucks like that before.. his reaction was priceless! Ha ha! He was like, "holy crap, holy crap! oh my gosh!!" the entire time as we looked at them through binoculars. I couldn't help but laugh, it was so funny. 

When we finally checked the trail camera, we were very surprised by what it captured! First we saw a MOOSE!! And then a couple pictures later there was a baby moose in the picture too! It was so neat! Although there are moose in Fishlake, they are very rare to see so that was cool that we caught them on camera! There was also pictures of deer, birds, and antelope. But the other thing that was amazing that the camera also caught was a MOUNTAIN LION!! It was huge! And a couple pics later we caught it again but this time with its baby! It was neat! But definitely creepy to think that we were possibly being watched while we were there... haha! 

That morning was definitely wonderful though. It was hard to wake up but it was so worth it! The morning sunrise was gorgeous, the mountains were quiet and serene, and seeing deer and other animals in real life as well as on the trail camera was awesome. 

Three hours later we made it back to the cabin for breakfast. Later we packed up a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon down at the lake. We played some volleyball, walked around the lake, took pictures, and just simply played around. It was a fun day.

 The next day Drew and I made breakfast for everyone. We made cinnamon peach hootnannies (german pancakes). That day we went back down to the lake and we rented a peddle boat. Just the siblings rode in it. Drew hung out with my parents as we peddled out of the marina down to the shore where they were fishing. It was not more than half a mile away but it took us f o r e v e r  to get there!

Long story short, we only had the boat for an hour which was perfect for us to paddle to where my parents were and then turn around and head back. It was super hot, super hard, and kind of annoying. Looking back on it now, it was actually kind of fun and kind of funny, but I don't think I would do it again... at least not with a full boat of four people. Maybe I would do it again if there was only two of us, but I think four was way too much. And peddling with all your effort to only go one mile per hour is super annoying. 

However, on the bright side-- the lake was gorgeous. We saw fish below us, and we made it back safe and sound (thank goodness!) The guy who rented the boat to us told us to get back ASAP if the wind picked up because they have had problems with people tipping over and stuff when it gets windy. So ya. Freaked us out, but we made it before the wind got worse, so that was good!

That night the boys ended up going on a razor ride to look for elk while the girls stayed together. We watched Mama Mia and did facials. It was fun! Mara was hilarious and was so proud that she put her facial on all by herself.

When the guys got back we made a fire and roasted smores. The moon was out and was stunning behind the gray clouds. It was a fun night.

The next morning was Sunday and we just took it easy. We hung out around the cabin, ate lunch, cleaned up, packed up, and made it back to Richfield that evening. 

It was such a great weekend! Fishlake was perfect. We enjoyed the occasional afternoon thunderstorms almost every day, ate good food, made some great memories, and loved every minute of it. There is nothing like being in the mountains.

Love,

Kate

Grandpa June's 90th Birthday Party

The day after the Fourth of July our family celebrated my Grandpa June's 90th birthday! We had a big luncheon with lots of family and some friends. We had the celebration at the Senior Citizen Center. Grandma Carol created a little quiz about Grandpa June and there were prizes afterwards. She made loaves of homemade bread to give out to the winners! She definitely went all out for the party because she even made heaps and heaps of cookies for the after party too! Everything she bakes and cooks is amazing, so you can imagine we were all in heaven.

Before it was over, we had Grandma and Grandpa stand up and dance together to some of their favorite old-school music. It was absolutely adorable! Everyone had their phones out snapping pictures and recording videos. They both had the biggest smiles on their faces and they looked so happy! Grandpa even kicked his leg up in one of the dances which made us all laugh. It was so cute!

I can't believe he is 90 years old. He definitely doesn't seem like it! He has good health and he and Grandma seem to take really good care of each other. Together they have created such a beautiful, loving, strong, talented, and fun family. It truly is amazing what can happen when two people fall in love. I am so grateful for their lives and their examples that they continue to set every single day for each of their posterity. They are truly both wonderful people who continue to live life to the fullest each day! I love them both so much. It was wonderful to celebrate with everyone on that grand day. Grandpa June is definitely blessed!

Love,

Kate

Fourth of July 2014

We pulled into Richfield around 4 pm. My brother Konner was in the front room of my parents' home waiting for us to arrive. We honked as we pulled up and saw him jump up to greet us. It's always fun being greeted by my family when we come home. Even if it's only been a week they hug us like they haven't seen us forever!

  

As usual, the annual primary parade is the night before the Fourth of July so we went to that. We spent the evening walking around and visiting with friends and family on the park. Drew and Konner decided to battle on one of the blow up things and it was fun to watch. 

Drew is definitely a "BIG" kid and I'm pretty sure he always will be at heart! He was such a good sport for Konner too-- He would balance on one foot just to give Konner the advantage every once in a while.
Drew lost a couple times as did Konner, but I'm pretty sure overall they tied! They're both so cute, I love them.

Alyssa and Barry showed up later that night to spend the weekend and festivities with us. We did some sparklers before heading to bed and of course we had to sleep outside on the tramp that night because its tradition. Drew was on the outside, then me, Kambry, Kinsley, and Konner on the other outside. By the time the cannons sounded off at 6 a.m. we were all squishing Kambry in the middle. Definitely not the best night's sleep but it was okay!

We spent the morning of the Fourth of July at the park. We watched the parade and the eventually walked around the park, visited with more family and friends, and ate some yummy treats. 

Grandma Carol's for lunch is always on the agenda for the Fourth of July so that is where we spent our afternoon. We sat around on her back porch sharing and laughing at each other's jokes. It was simple, but fun!

Later that evening we had my mom's family over to our house for a BBQ before the fireworks. We listened to good 'ol country music to celebrate and we ate BBQ'd pork, fresh fruit, and Grandma Micki's famous pastry dessert! It was delicious!

After we ate, we set up a bunch of games in our backyard and played around until it got dark. We played kub, cornhole, ladderball, and a sit down game called "signs." It was a blast! The sky was beautiful as the sun was setting and it was literally a perfect summer night.

We ended up watching the fireworks back at Grandma Carol's house. We sat in her backyard and ate watermelon during the firework show. Luckily this year's show was really good! We loved every minute of it!

After the fireworks got over, we went to the Morrison's to do our own firework show. Drew loves buying fireworks every year and he and Konner enjoy lighting them off together. All the fireworks in town went on for quite a while after the city's fireworks got over. It was a perfect ending to a great day and a wonderful Independence Day. We're definitely blessed to live in the USA!

The next night we continued the celebration with more friends and fireworks. It was a fun time! & it was especially great to see some old friends.

Love,

Kate

ps. I filmed this without Drew knowing because I thought it was tender! As we listened to this song, he had previously said that this certain part made him tear up because he would think about his brother who is now home from serving in the army! My heart melted.