Cramming in the Fun

This summer has flown by. I'm sad to see summer end, so we have been cherishing every moment the past few weeks. 

Andrew and I enjoy playing tennis together. We are very evenly matched and so it's always interesting to see who ends up pulling out the victory. This most recent time, I won which meant Andrew had to make me ice cream. It was delicious by the way. I ended up taking to heart something Andrew told me last time I lost to him. He said that he wins because he is willing to move around and get the ball no matter what. This time, I did just that and it paid off. 

Last weekend we went and saw the play, "Mary Poppins" in Provo. Andrew and I made a bet about something that would happen in a T.V. show and decided that the winner would be treated to a date of their choice. Based on the date, I'm sure you gathered that I won. I chose that we go to dinner and "Mary Poppins" with Luke and Wendy Wilson. We went to JCW's for dinner on the way and tried to stop by the Provo bakery before the show started, but were disappointed to find that it was closed. Their sugar cookies are out of this world. We were disappointed with "Mary Poppins" and decided to leave at intermission. I'm glad we did because half of the show lasted an hour and a half. We weren't sad to go back to our place and play some games with our friends.

(This is how Andrew would pose in every picture if I let him.)

On Monday for family home evening, we went with some friends from our ward on a hike. Andrew and I have had plans to hike Stewart Falls multiple times this summer, but each time something came up. (Work) I was so excited that we were finally able to do this hike. It wasn't very challenging which made talking to our friends easy. When we got to the falls, we celebrated by eating some sour patch kids.

(Too bad we didn't get a pic with Brighton and Ryan!)

This past Wednesday, August 19, school started. What!? I'm a teacher? I can't believe it. The first three days were busy and exhausting, but I am loving every minute of it. When the bell rings to dismiss the students, I'm always surprised and sad because the days fly by. I have the cutest students and I am so excited for this year. Every school day so far, my body has automatically woken me up at 5:00 am because I'm so excited. I'm hoping that will change this week because the extra sleep would be nice. I won't claim that teaching is easy, because it isn't. But going into teaching, I knew it would be challenging, and I'm up for the challenge.

Yesterday my best friend Mary got married in the Manti Temple. It was a beautiful day and we were glad to be a part of it. It ended up being quite a long day because Manti is about an hour and a half away. We had to leave at 8:00am and we got back home at 9:30pm. We left the luncheon right after I gave my "maid of honor speech" (which I was so thrilled to give) so we could race to my nephew's birthday party which was 2 hours away. I then had to eat quickly and dash to the reception for pictures. I got to play the keyboard at the reception for about 45 minutes which was fun and challenging. I saw lots of friends there and had a hard time playing the piano beautifully and talking at the same time. I finally ended up asking for the next pianist to take over. :)

Throughout the day, I took multiple pictures with Mary anytime she had a spare second. It took many tries to get one that wasn't too dark. Here is our best.

Still sporting the beard.

I had to post this picture. Andrew told me he wanted a good picture of the temple, and I saw him take one. Later I asked him how it turned out and he told me it was great. I asked to see the picture and pulled this up. Apparently he didn't notice the pole. haha. 

I can't believe it's time for another busy week to start, but bring it on. Oh, and wish me luck at back to school night this week as I get to present to the parents.

Lake Cavanaugh

We spent the weekend at Lake Cavanaugh about 2 hours outside of Seattle. Andrew's family goes to this lake-house annually and I can see why. It's breathtaking. (This was my second time going. We didn't go last year.) It is near Mt. Vernon and there is no cell service/internet there. It was nice to take a breather from social media for a few days.

We purchased the cheapest flights possible which made our travel times less than ideal. We left on Thursday, July 30 at 6:00 AM. (Meaning we had to leave for the airport by 4:30 AM) We returned from Seattle last night at 12:00 AM and we pulled in to our place around 1:15 AM.  Yikes.

We rented a car to travel from the airport to the lake-house and found a really good deal. I think we ended up paying $11 a day for our rental car which is so reasonable. We got the cheapest, crummiest rental car possible. When we got to the rental car place, it turned out that every rental car would be rented that day, so we were allowed to pick any car. According to an employee there, we got a quadruple upgrade which was nice. Driving in Seattle traffic is no fun, but my phone lead us around the traffic areas and we got to drive through various parts of Seattle on our way.

The lake-house was quite crowded this year because every one of Andrew's siblings came. There were 43 of us total in a 4 bedroom place. Andrew and I slept in the loft with a couple of our nephews. One couple slept in a tent, another in the back of their car. Meals were massive and I found myself in line for seconds or even thirds far too often. I won't be stepping foot on a scale anytime soon.

The weather was perfect and I was very cautious not to recreate my Puerto Rico burn experience, so I lathered the sun screen on. Now I'm a little sad I was so careful because it doesn't really look like I went to a lake at all. Oh well, there is always next summer.

There were plenty of kids (28) to hold and play with all weekend. My body adjusted to going to bed around 1:00 AM every night and waking up when all the babies did at about 7:00 AM. Nights were always exciting because all the kids were in bed and the adults could focus on things other than their children. One night each couple told the story of how they met. Another night we all traded first kiss stories. Ocean's 13 was projected one evening.We also planned an adult family vacation for 2017 which can't come soon enough.

Lots of nerts, hand and foot, and spike ball were played and I miss it already. (Although my partner and I were out of the spike ball tournament in the first round.) I have a few battle wounds from our time there. I got at least 6 huge bug bites on my legs. I am also still limping from the 3 mile run I took around the hilly lake. (That run was the deciding factor in why I chose not to run the 7.8 mile run around the lake race the following day.)

I went tubing twice and realized quickly that I'm getting old. I was sore the following day from gripping the tube so tightly. My back was also yelling at me. I learned that going with boys tubing is a completely different activity. They purposely try to kick and knock each other off. Who knew.

It was an eventful weekend with 3 birthday celebrations and one trip to the E.R. Some stitches were necessary after a skiing incident on the boat. (Poor Vaughn) I am glad to be home though because I finally got to shower!