Two Dates

Last week was my last week with Nate for the entire summer so we tried taking advantage of it and spending as much time together as we could!  On Thursday (the 17th) he picked me up from work.  He came to IF to get our car's windshield fixed (it's been cracked for an entire year) and then just hung around until I was done.  Sadly, that meant he has a couple of hours to kill because the windshield was fixed at 2:00 and I don't get off work until after 6:00 (and I was rushing to get my stuff done!).

He had already wandered around stores for a few hours but he wasn't hungry so we didn't want to eat quite yet.  We settled on walking around the mall for a bit.  The amazing part of this story is that we didn't buy a single thing!  That's quite an accomplishment for us :)  However, we did walk by some of those massage chairs and splurged a whole $2 a piece on a ten minute massage.  Best $4 we ever spent.

After our massage, we went to Texas Roadhouse and had the best steak we've ever had at a Texas Roadhouse.

On Saturday (the 19th) I was convinced we needed to do something fun because it was the last day we'd have together since I work during the week.  I've always wanted to go to the IF zoo and have never gone so that's what I decided on.  Nate woke up not feeling well so I didn't think we'd have time to go (I had to work at Broulims in the afternoon) but he sucked it up for me, because he loves me!  The zoo was little, but still fun!  I especially loved just listening to all the little kids there talk about the animals.  The monkey's were probably my favorite because they actually did more than just lay around.

There was a little, itty, bitty amusement park outside the zoo and I wanted to go on the ferris wheel but Nate thought it looked too sketchy so we passed.  To his credit, it was pretty old looking.

Funeral for Grandpa Bob

We flew to Ohio for a last minute weekend trip at the beginning of June.  Nate's Grandpa Bob passed away and so we went for the funeral.  Even though we had to go for sad reasons, it really was a great trip because all of Nate's siblings, and their spouses, were able to come as well.  It was just a big family reunion!  And of course it was great to see my family as well.  We flew out Thursday afternoon and then back on Sunday so it was a quick, quick trip.  We really missed Sawyer...as you can tell from the only pictures we took haha

4th of July Weekend

This year we decided to go down to Utah for the 4th.  I have had to work Saturdays so we haven't been able to go anywhere on the weekends.  Somehow, I got Saturday the 5th off so Friday night we headed down.  I had to work at Broulims until 6:30 so we didn't leave until 7:30.

I was really sad we weren't going to be able to go to an actual fireworks show but it worked out that we got to Tremonton around 9:50 and was able to watch fireworks all down the highway to Provo.  It was amazing!  There were some points where we could see probably 10 different firework displays at a time.

We didn't get to Provo until 11ish and our first stop was to pick up my brother Eli from his apartment.  We then changed our plans slightly and ended up getting a hotel in Provo for the night.  Well, we tried finding one in Provo but they were all booked solid because of the Carrie Underwood concert so we got one just outside of it.  Once we got there, we realized we were all hungry so back out we went (it's now 1:00am) to find food.  The only places open were Del Taco and Taco Bell...so we went to both!  We never had Del Taco before so Eli and I wanted to try that.  Nate didn't want to try something new so he wanted Taco Bell.  Eli and I also ended up getting stuff at Taco Bell too, just in case Del Taco was bad.  Since the food was so cheap, it didn't matter!

When Eli worked at the gas station back home he developed the habit of walking over to McDonalds after his shift to pick up dropped change from the drive-thru....so he hopped out of the car at both places and found some.  I think he made a whole 45 cents or something.  (Excuse our very dirty windshield).

Eli posted this picture on twitter with the caption "Third Wheeling Level 100"

On Saturday, we took Eli to run a few errands since he doesn't have a car.  First, we went to DI to buy him some kitchen essentials that he was so lacking.  I happened to find a mini muffin pan which was nice because mine has gotten lost at some point during my college career.  Next, we went to Super Walmart to buy food because he'd been surviving on Saltine crackers for the most part.  He spent over $100 which was definitely the most he's ever spent in one trip on food.  Thankfully, most of the stuff he won't need to buy again for a really long time (flour, oil, salt, rice, potatoes etc.)

Last time Nate and I were in the area we discovered an outlet mall that we didn't get to spend much time at so we went there next.  The boys enjoyed looking around the Nike store (which bores me) but then we went to J. Crew and Gap.  Outlets are a fantastic thing, I might add.  They make stores like J. Crew have prices in a range I can actually afford...since I can't be buying $50 pairs of shorts and $70 shirts!  But I ended up getting a pair of shorts and a shirt and Nate got some shorts and shirts as well.  At Gap I found a pair of jeans (which is good since I've basically been wearing one pair for the last year...I need some variety) and two really cute shirts.  It was a great trip all around!

In my new Gap jeans and shirt, with Eli right before we left to go back to Idaho.

After shopping, we met up with Nate's brother Brandon's family for pizza at Pizza Pie Cafe.  We have one in Rexburg but rarely go because Nate doesn't really like it.  I was glad it's what the kids picked because I hadn't been there in so long!  Sadly, it wasn't as good as I remembered :(

These kiddos are hilarious!!

To our excitement, there were fireworks planned for the night in Spanish Fork, where Nate's brother lives.  Apparently, it is just some guy that puts a show together because he loves fireworks.  Sounds like not a big deal, but it was legit.  It was set to music and had huge fireworks and everything!  Since our expectations for it were not really big, it was far more exciting than we anticipated haha (and I never got a picture of a big firework so this picture will have to do...)

On Sunday we went to church with Brandon's family and they fed us a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, and pineapple jello salad!  The girls wanted to paint nails before I left so we went onto the porch outside to do that.  They painted mine first (a wide variety of pinks, reds, oranges and one blue) and then it was my turn to paint theirs.  Well, me being a total klutz, dropped the paint bottle and spilled silver nail polish all over my brand new jeans which I had been wearing for literally 15 minutes.  Brandon was a lifesaver and scrubbed it out using nail polish remover and after washing them when I got home you can't even tell it was there!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with family.  I especially enjoyed visiting with Eli and meeting some of his new BYU roommates.  It was a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants weekend, but that's how we like it :)