Anticipation!

I have a lot to look forward too in the next few months and it's kinda crazy to think of how exciting life is!

Here ya go! 

• In one week I will be going to my home away from home for an entire week! I will be spending an entire, much needed, week up in Island Park at our family cabin! There is nothing I love more than being surrounded by nature and spending quality time with my favorite people! The anticipation for our annual "cabin trip" is something our family can't stop talking about...we are planning meals, activities, departing times and much more weeks before we even leave for the cabin! We always do a couple of BIG trips through Yellowstone looking for bears and other exciting animals...and when I mean big I mean it is a leave at 6:30 AM and don't come back until 11:00 at night kinda day! But they are always my favorite! 

  

• My best friend is coming home! She has been working as a kids camp counselor at Zions Resort in Utah, and although she comes home the week we are in Island Park when I get back you better believe it will be a non-stop party until we leave for school! I seriously can't wait...my Summer has not been nearly as exciting and it's mostly because I haven't have my adventure buddy here with me! Can you say, 4-wheeler rides, bike rides, road trips and much more! I can! 

• I go back to school! While school is something I really don't look forward to...EVER....I am trying to have a really positive outlook on meeting new people and starting fresh! I am moving wards which can be nerve wracking but I know I will have plenty of support from my family if I ever fall down! Hyle will still be there and someone else will be coming up or should I say coming home very very soon...which leads me to the next point! 

• ERICA COMES HOME! Ok so I know this is still a ways away but it is a big reason I am anxious for school to get here because it will bring me that much closer to seeing my best friend! She is doing so great...Her and Sister Eames are wonderful together and it's funny to think I was neighbors with Ivie just four months ago at school and now she is a missionary companion with my sister! Erica will most likely be home around Thanksgiving time and by that time the semester is on the downhill and then before you know it it's Christmas! 

Life is good! Life is really good! I really can't fathom how blessed I truly am and how no matter how hard life seems to be I always have something positive to look forward to! 

Happy Fourth of July!

Let's face it 4th of July is an entire week celebration! I think I have come to discover this is one of my top favorite holidays! Little Rupert Idaho has some great shindigs throughout the week of the Fourth, food, parades, fireworks, and this year there was a catapult! You sit in a bucket seat and get locked in and then they shoot you into the air and holy moly never in a million years did I think I would ever do something like that...I know I know how big of a baby am I?! Well I am the type of girl who wants to do all those exciting and exhilarating things but can never muster up the courage to do them. When I was out with a friend he told me if I wanted to he would do it too...I could tell he wanted to...but he was very kind and was not pressuring me to do it at all. For some reason I just said ok let's do it! And up we went. Once he bought the tickets on the very bottom in bold print it said, "NO REFUNDS". I knew then I was in it for the long haul! I am very glad I did it...it was really fun! And you could see the entire town of Rupert, right at sunset which was so pretty! Here is the video if you can't tell from my screaming I was pretty nervous!

(Sorry it goes sideways...I wasn't recording!)

We got to go to dinner as a family one night into the Square! All of the food is local businesses, churches, schools, clubs and such!  Mexican food is a favorite, as well as the Declo Kettle Corn! Yum! 

The Fourth came and it was the most relaxing holiday, I can safely say, we have had in a long time! We had no plans but the parade and it felt good! Summer is always hustle and bustle and don't get me wrong I love it, but sometimes it is so nice to have no plans especially on a day where you normally would have five million things to do! After the parade we went home, took a nap, and my Grandma Stocking took us out to dinner...the only place open was Pizza Hut but we didn't complain! It tasted good and we got great service! :] Later that night we lit off fireworks with our neighbors...its always so fun to see the cute kids get so excited for the fireworks they have been dying to light off for a week now! Even Holli and I got excited about the sparklers! 

Don't mind our lazy outfits...like I said it was a lazy day!

Right before fireworks a crazy storm came through, making all the little kids stress that fireworks were not going to happen haha! But after the storm passed a BEAUTIFUL sunset came! I wish I was out in the country to enjoy it more fully because it was so pretty! I could have stared at it for hours! 

Since the Fourth was kind of a lazy day my mom and dad decided we could do something fun on Friday! Neither of them had to work and we decided it would be fun to go swimming! We headed off to Lava Hot Springs...someplace I have never been before. It was really fun, until the lightning storm came and they closed the pool! But trust me I would much rather be safe than a fried body in the pool! As we were walking out we were bummed, but once we realized how tired we were in the car we weren't so bummed anymore! 

All in all this past week has been so fun! Like I said the fourth is one now one of my favorite holidays and now I can't wait for next year!

Splash Park!

I decided to take the little girls I babysit to the new Splash Park that opened in Paul! It really is fun and a great way to cool off on a hot day! 

Lux was all about the camera...Sayde not so much! 

These girls are so funny they laid out their towel and told me to leave them alone because they were working on their tan! haha...never a dull moment with the 5 and 2 year old! 

Lux and her red lipstick...cracks me up!

4-Wheeler Picnics!

Holli and I one day just decided to go for a little four-wheeler ride to somewhere random! We packed snacks and we were off...it was so hot so that was the only downside to this whole idea but it was worth it! Plus living in a farming community there were plenty of pivot sprinklers spraying us! We took a dirt road and I may have gotten a little crazy...Holli wasn't to happy with me! There were lots of mud spots and it would have been lame not to go through them! Sorry Holli! 

We found the coolest/prettiest spot on a ditch bank! There was a bridge thing across it and we just sat there eating our snacks listening to music with our feet in the water! It was so relaxing and fun we've decided to make this a weekly thing! 

Weddings, Fireworks and Farewells!

This past weekend was my cousin Elise's wedding in Salt Lake! It was so stinking hot down there we could barely stand it! We left on Friday, my Dad's birthday, and met my Aunts and Uncles at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Dad's birthday...don't worry we didn't make him ride the saddle we all knew better than that! It was really fun though to see all my cousins, and have a mini get-away trip even if it was 105 degrees there! Thank goodness for air conditioning! 

We got back on Sunday just in time for the traditional Rupert fireworks to kick on the 4th of July! They never seem to disappoint! And the yummy square food is always a favorite!

On Sunday was one of my really good friends farewell! She and I have known each other from before kindergarten! Her mom used to babysit me and we parted ways going to different schools but she has been home for a little bit this Summer and we've been able to hang out a few times! Makenzie is going to do so great in Argentina they are truly getting one of the greatest girls! Good luck Makenzie!