W reunion Part 1

Well well well...

It has been so long that I have put this off for over a month. I don't even know where to begin. I am embarrassed that I have abandoned my blog that long. It is crazy to think that they last time I posted, it was beginning of summer. Now, here I am sitting at home with the windows closed on the first cold night, with my fall decor up, leaves abandoning their home as mother nature changes her course that we all expect every year at this time.

June:
The beginning of June prove that it was going to be a busy summer. It started off with my niece leaving 2 1/2 month early for college. I was preparing for a summer full of fun and aunt advice on life lessons I learned but that came to a screeching halt when she got a job and decided to head down early. only 3 days after she had her wisdom teeth pulled, being a trooper, and going shopping with me to get as many things crossed off her list as possible. She did great and we got nearly the entire list checked off. I am rather proud that I didn't cry as I said goodbye to her. Oh man, what am I going to do when I have my own kids????

At the end of June I bought a new car! ok, well SUV. It has been my dream to own an SUV for a long time. We have been in the discussion of a new vehicle since January. We were browsing and I was figuring out what I exactly wanted in my vehicle. My first and only vehicle I have owned in my life was the bottom of the line... bottom of bottom. There was no picking and choosing what I wanted so this one we were going to do things a bit different. In April, I had finally figured out what I wanted. After searching and searching, putting my feelers outs there, going to car lot after car lot, test driving, heartache and all of not finding a vehicle - I finally decided to throw in the rag and give up. as I was telling Bryce all of this (I had a certain price range, certain miles, certain year, even specific 'add ons') I went on KSL to look at my 'back up plan' that had sold hours prior and there she was. 20 minutes posted. It was the color I wanted, in my price range, in my miles, features, everything. Next thing you know, we are looking at it shaking on it and heading home. I was beaming! I have been in love every since. There are definitely things that I learned with buying the vehicle but I think that is the case with any vehicle you get. 

In July I took my first trip down to see her. Unfortunately, 2 hours after I got there, I came down with the flu. My trip was then spent the rest of the day and night in a hotel, leaving early the next morning to head home. Nothing sounded better than my own bed at that point. That weekend, Bryce also took a trip with the guys to aspen Co for a fun biking adventure. Poor him, coming home to a sick me.

In July I also celebrated My 30th birthday. It turned out just the way I wanted it. quiet! Bryce ended up working late so we went to a quiet small dinner late that evening. 2 days later, we had our 8 year anniversary. We have been dating since the first date. We celebrated by going to the Cheesecake Factory for a nice dinner. It was a nice quiet week. Wouldn't have it any other way.

At the end of July, we headed up to Idaho for my dad's family reunion. well that wasn't until the last day we were up there but it was 9 days of family fun! I have been planning this since January. It was a ton of work but well worth it. I needed a vacation away from my vacation when I was done with it but it was a good kind of exhausting.

Day 1: Saturday - Bryce and I got up bright and early to finish packing. We keep the pathfinder in the garage to keep it clean. The night before we had packed up the majority of everything and my parents had even come over to pick up the 4 wheeler while Bryce fixed a few things on their trailer before we headed out. The original plan was to leave between 7 and 8. When I couldn't get ahold of my sister by 8:30, I decided to take the chance of waking her husband who had probably just fallen asleep, to make sure she hadn't slept through her alarm. Luck had it that she didn't, she was just running a little late. and by a little i mean alot. 9:45, after she showed up, we finished packing her stuff, the bikes and the rzr we were on our way. We knew that on our way down we wanted to stop at a few places. Our first stop was smith and Edwards. We spent a good hour and a half looking through that place. It has been forever since I have been there. We ended up spending a ton of money and the only real thing I remember buying is a carhart jacket.

We got back on the road and went as far as we could before getting food. When we stopped at Wendy's, we took some time to call my parents and my sister who were coming up behind us. When Bryce had worked on my parent trailer their tires were balding. One was going flat. We changed it out to the spare but suggested that they get new tired before we left. My dad, being stubborn - especially around 'trip' time, ho hummed about it. When We called them, they were not only stopped to get tires since they wouldn't hold air, but also to pick up my dad some clothes since he forgot all of his at home (at least he didn't forget his medicine!!!!) How he forgot his clothes is beyond any of us. They were too far to turn back and grab them.

Back on the road we headed as far as we could until we got the the Idaho Army Surplus in Idaho Falls. That place is huge. It is like a mans best friend. Bryce could have spent hours in there but I think we were all exhausted from being up late packing, and up early to leave. Right before we arrived at the army surplus, I had my first adventure in 'hauling'. Whenever we are hauling something, Bryce drives. He was aware enough to know that it was not safe for him to drive, it was my turn to take over. I didn't mind it but I was so tense the entire time. My neck hurt (it was raining the entire way down there), my eyes hurt, my head hurt and I was tired. As we were in the surplus I was literally falling asleep on a rack of clothes. After an hour, Bryce got himself a nice backpack. We got back on the road and finished the last leg of our trip. It was so nice to break up the trip with the stops.

 and hour and a half later, we were in Island park, cruising down big springs. The anticipation of getting there was driving me crazy! I was more excited than a kid on Christmas. I was even the first one out of the vehicle... possibly before it even stopped. I unlocked the key code to the house and opened it up for everyone. It was a big beautiful spacious cabin. Probably the most amazing cabin I have seen in a long time. 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, floor to ceiling windows, 2 fridges, 2 washer and dryers, game room filled with every gaming systems possible (and games!), amazing deck with an awesome view, all on a nice quiet cul-de-sac. about 30 minutes after we arrived, the rest of my family arrived. We all helped unload. The kids were antsy from being in the car for so long that it was nice to send them running back and forth with stuff they could carry in the house. Before we knew it, It looked like it was 'home'. We had everything we needed and everything we imagined. The night was still young so we unloaded the bikes and took a spin out on the rzr and 4-wheeler. When we got back We had a story for the kids. A story about Forest Faries.....

TBC