Every September, as it starts to cool down, I get so excited for fall and the holidays and the prospect of wearing comfy sweats around the house, but this year is more bittersweet for me. I loved the summer! It was one of my favorites, and not because we had lots of crazy vacations (though we did have a couple). It was wonderful spending time outside with my two babies, who love the sunshine and playing in the water. Since today is the first day of fall, I'm feeling sentimental about the last few months and want to document the wonderful summer we had.
When SJ's school got out in May, I was worried about how we would fill our days. Last summer, we had a schedule that we would follow every.single.day. We'd go to the gym, then the library, then to "high school lunch" (the schools in our district serve free lunch for kids all summer), then home for a nap, then go swimming or to a splash pad or something in the afternoon. This year, Julia's nap schedules made that a little difficult, so we had a different routine: we'd play at the swingset at our old apartment in the morning, then Julia would nap at 10 and SJ would watch Blues Clues or Peppa Pig while we'd work or study. Then we'd go to high school lunch and either to a park, the swimming pool, or a splash pad. We'd come home and BOTH GIRLS would nap, which was bliss. In the evenings, we'd spend even more time outside and put Julia to bed at 8 while SJ kept playing outside.
We also enjoy going to the Midvale Park on Friday nights for their concert series. The picture here shows SJ and her best friend Hadley with one of the rock stars.
Our first trip of the summer was our family reunion in Island Park. Every year, the Anderson family has a reunion on the weekend around Ryan's birthday (June 17). That is a perfectly warm day in Utah, but we always go to Idaho, and it's always a crap shoot weather-wise. Island Park was COLD. Really, really cold, and the fun summer activities we had planned were sort of ruined by the weather. It was really fun to spend time with family and especially watch SJ running wild with her cousins. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but Julia discovered a love for corn, as shown below. As we were leaving the cabin, it was an absolute blizzard. It was so cold! Hopefully, we'll learn that we need to head south for any reunions we have in June.
We got to see some of our best friends, the Woodwells, on their trip to Utah from Montana. Their little girl, Florence, is so cute! And Syd's having another baby girl in December.
Julia has gotten really good at her "scruncy face."
For the Fourth of July, we headed back to Idaho for Soda Springs's festivities, and guess what? It poured rain! Seriously, you ain't gonna catch me moving to Idaho ever. Hayden and his brothers performed some American-themed rock songs at the park, and it started raining the minute they started and didn't stop until they were finished nearly two hours later. So we listened to them while huddled underneath the pavillion.
SJ has a special knack for music. She never stops singing, and it's the cutest thing. In listening to her dad and uncles rehearse for the performance, she picked up on lots of random songs, including "We're Not Gonna Take It!" and "Only In America!"
Meanwhile, I had been training for my first sprint triathlon! I've been wanting to do one for a long time, so in June, when Lorna asked the family if anyone wanted to do a triathlon, I jumped at the opportunity! We only had about five weeks to train, but the distance was short enough that it wasn't too crazy. I loved training, and I loved the race! It was so fun, and it felt amazing to push my body to do something hard. For being nine months postpartum, I think I did pretty well! I was aiming for an hour and a half, and I finished two minutes faster than my goal. I think I'll try an Olympic triathlon next year!
Of course, July is birthday season for Hayden and me! This year, we went to Splash Summit for Hayden's birthday (because what 30-year-old doesn't dream of going to a water park on his birthday?). SJ was just barely too short for the big slides. We snuck her on one big one, but we got caught trying to take her on a sliding mat slide, and she was sad. Next year she'll be the perfect height!
For my birthday, Hayden planned a hike around the Solitude resort with some friends and family. We definitely didn't spend as much time in the mountains this summer as we should have (hiking with a baby and a three-year-old ain't that fun), so it was great to get out. One of my best friends from high school, Tirsa, came with her cute family, and we had to take a picture of us with our kids. It's so crazy how time flies! SJ loved picking wild flowers with her favorite cousin, Emma.
We've sort of made it a tradition to go to the 24th of July parade downtown. It's a pretty good parade, minus the fact that they're not allowed to throw candy. This summer, we also found out that SJ LOVES fire. She doesn't have enough fear around, really anything, but especially fire. And swimming pools. That's a little terrifying. And of course, Julia discovered a love for watermelon this summer.
Hayden and I got to escape and go on a hike up Big Cottonwood for a date. It was so beautiful! Going on dates at this stage in our family's life is SO IMPORTANT!
Madison Johnson, one of my best friends from my mission, came into town from Arizona. We got together with some other mission friends at the Bountiful Town Square and it was so good to catch up! Of course, we also had to stop at Nielsen's for some custard.
SJ also got invited to Benson Gibbs's birthday party and met a tortoise!
We've been trying to soak up the last couple of weeks of warmth even though school has already started. We finally took the girls on the Donut Falls hike and it was...as fun as it sounds! No, it was fine. We just need to work on hiking with SJ.
We also went on a camping trip in the middle of absolutely nowhere to find some geodes. Every couple of years, I have to go camping to remind myself that I really hate camping. The girls did pretty well! SJ slept with Emma in Papa's camper, and Julia slept in the tent with us. She actually slept pretty well considering the circumstances. We went to the Dugway geode beds, which is about a three-hour drive from here, with two of those hours being on dirt roads. I don't think I ever need to go there again (see the picture below, it looked like the moon), but SJ actually really loved it.
Another major highlight of the summer was our trip to Washington with my whole family! Gabe got home from his mission in Peru and we all went to Port Angeles together. I'll try to make another post to document that fun (and exhausting) trip.
Right now, it's raining outside and I've got a fall candle burning. Fall is exciting and fun and cozy, but nothing beats a beautiful summer day when you spend the whole day outside. Until next year, summer!
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