So here's what's been going on:
(I'm going to list events by date since that's the easiest)
June 29th - Park City - My friends and I had planned a weekend getaway to Park City, because why not? It was a grand adventure where we spent our nights on the town and our days at the market. Super, super fun. A breakdown of the weekend is as follows:
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| Park City, Home of the Moose |
Saturday we arrived at Park City. After walking around Main Street and feeling like underdressed tourists, we got dinner at Collie's Sports Bar & Grill where we all tried the Warzone Burger. It was a deliciously thick burger topped with bacon, guacamole and onion rings. What more could you want! After this, we checked in at The Yarrow Hotel. We wanted to go bowling, but couldn't find the bowling alley since it had apparently gone out of business even though the website was still up and running. So instead, we went to the grocery store for popcorn and rolos (try them together!), then got back to the hotel and watched Space Jam, jumped on the bed, got yelled at by management. It was a pretty typical Saturday night.
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| Like father, like son? |
Sunday morning we woke up bright and early so we could check out of the hotel on time. After this, we went to church - the closest building was 20 minutes away and almost everyone left after sacrament! I've a feeling we aren't in Provo anymore, Toto. Following sacrament meeting, we drove back to Main Street to check out the Silly Sunday Market where we got some AMAZING bread that we munched on for breakfast. Then it was time for the Olympic Park Aerial Show where off season ski jumpers launched themselves down the smaller ramps and did some amazing flips into the pools below. It was way cool.
We returned to Park City Mountain Resort (I know, I know. We drove back and forth like twelve times. But everything was time sensitive!) to ride the Alpine Coaster and the Alpine Slide. I heard they were pretty rickety so I was getting pretty sketched out. I had convinced myself I didn't want to go after the lady in the ticket line was being all pushy trying to sell us package deals.
After some Dippin Dots to cool me down (the first time I've ever had them!) we went for the deal and had a grand time racing each other down the side of the mountain. I'm glad I was bullied into it ;) Eventually, we were running out of things to do, so we hit up the Outlet Malls before they closed and then went to dinner at the Wasatch Brewery (as recommended by my father-in-law for their fish and chips - He was right! They were dang good!). By the end of this weekend that seemed to span two weeks, I was completely sunburned and broke, broke, broke! Definitely worth it.
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| Check out those ramps! |
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| Moose Statues EVERYWHERE. |
July 3rd - We drove up to Logan right after work to spend the Fourth of July with Kolby's family. Mama Falor had hot dogs and snack food all ready for us when we arrived. Immediately following stuffing our faces, we watched some fireworks at a safe (and uncrowded) distance. We decided that the fireworks made us thirsty and went to Walmart to buy every flavor of Mountain Dew. When we got back, we decided to watch Cat in the Hat (the one with Mike Meyers). I promptly fell asleep because movies are like lullabies to me nowadays. The rest of the gang apparently stayed up talking late into the night, but I was dead to the world. |
| 'Murica |
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| YUM. |
July 4th - Logan - We woke up pretty early so we could have breakfast and get to Kolby's grandparents' house before the parade started. After we ate and before we left, we dyed Christopher's beard, a strip of Ashleigh's hair, and the underlayer of my hair blue. We also donned our fabulous Fourth of July shirts from Walmart. We were ready to celebrate America! The parade was pretty fun, seeing as how parades were never a big thing in my childhood (either because its too hot to do anything in Arizona or because my dad hates crowds, I'll never know.).
The conclusion of the parade meant that it was time for a HUGE potluck lunch and Grandpa Long's famous homemade root beer! I drank so much. It was hot outside, and the party was dying down, so we decided to go back to Kolby's parents' place and go swimming. The final event planned for this patriotic day was to shoot off more fireworks at Kolby's sister's house. Her son totally fell in love with me and now I'm pretty sure we're best friends because I played dinosaurs with him non-stop. Little kids are fun :)
July 5th - Provo and Lindon - We drove back to Provo bright and early so Ashleigh could go to work. While she was gone, Kolby and Christopher and I went to Center Street to check out the Provo Freedom Festival. We soon found out that the milkshakes we had consumed and the heat did not mesh well and didn't stay that long. We somehow ended up checking out the Colonial Fest where everyone was dressed up and we felt like we went back in time.
It was meant for elementary school kids, but we really enjoyed ourselves.
When Ashleigh was done with work, she convinced me to dye my hair, so I picked up some Ion Brilliance in red. There was only one problem...
It didn't turn red.
Instead, it turned an insanely bright hot pink color. A color that was not Honor Code appropriate at all, so I got temporarily fired from my job at the Info Desk at BYU. That was an adventure...
It ended up fading really quickly and then washing out completely at the ends of my hair. It's been exciting. :) I'm pretty sure I've dyed my hair half the colors of the rainbow now...
After I dyed my hair, we went to Paula and Larry's house (Ashleigh's aunt and uncle) where we watched American Ninja Warrior and I promptly fell asleep (as usual).
July 6th - We started off the day at noon and then grabbed a late breakfast at Tangy's. I recommend the Sweet Roll! It's a huge cinnamon roll with lots of ooey gooey icing and melty butter. A tribute to Paula Deen, I'm sure. After we had satisfied our appetites, we had a massive water balloon fight but didn't roam much farther than the driveway (too impatient to pelt each other with balloons I guess). We drove our soaked selves back to Provo to change and have dinner. We finished up our night by lighting off our remaining fireworks from the Fourth of July. This started off innocently at first since we only had TNT brand fountains and cheap-y ground fireworks. We did, however, have one Phantom aerial firework left that we decided would be our finale. We set up the box and lit it, then jogged back to our viewing area. The first 4 shots went off without a hitch. Then, the firework took a turn for the worst. Or rather, it took a fall and ended up pointing into the crowd next to us. The very next shot bounced over a girl's lap and exploded in the crowd!
Everything seemed to be in slow-motion and high-speed at the same time. This was something out of Fail Videos - nothing that could ever happen to us! And yet, I was frozen in shock as Christopher decided to be a hero and ran back to the firework and tried to tilt it back up before the next shot went off. He only managed to tip it back the other way before it shot it's next two rounds into the cars parked in the parking lot. Thankfully, the 2 minute moment that felt like an eternity ended after those shots. A guy setting off some bigger fireworks across the parking lot felt the need to educate us on aerial fireworks by telling us that he kept his big ones balanced by placing the boxes of the used ones around it. Too bad we didn't have any big used fireworks to help us out. Christopher asked the group we almost killed if they were alright, and then we got out of there super quick. That was enough adventure for one night! This Arizona girl was pretty shaken up since anything with the word "fire" in it is pretty much banned in my hometown. Aerial fireworks are only a thing of dreams (and Disneyland)!
July 12th - 19th - Family Reunion in California - My only vacation for the summer.
I had been looking forward to this trip all summer; and it did not disappoint! Christopher and I took a massive roadtrip (11 hours) to Grandma and Grandpa's house the weekend before the reunion was supposed to start. We had a fun time playing cards with the Williams, trying to prep Christopher for the reunion. The Monday we were allowed to check in to the beach house, Christopher and I left mid morning to get our car's oil changed at the nearest Walmart (an hour away, but on the way to Oceanside) and then meet my parents for lunch. My mother screamed when she saw me. I'll let you guess who's the favorite ;) The beach house was beautiful! And surprisingly huge. It was fun to see all the family together in one place. Christopher handled it pretty well and only escaped for some peace and quiet like twice. He even won some 1 High games, proving himself worthy of joining the Miner clan. The last night we were there, us older cousins walked all the way to the pier and found a shark washed up on the beach and carried it back to the beach house like a trophy. Ah! Memories!
July 24th - Pioneer Day - This holiday was filled with more fireworks of course, only this time we were prepared! Actually, we didn't have any aerial fireworks but lit a bunch of smoke bombs and bees and army parachute men. Flamingthingsflyingintheair, Woo! We did have front row seats as the self-named "Provo All Stars" as they lit off thousands of dollars of fireworks. Bits of burnt cardboard rained on us all night. It was almost comforting to see that two other groups around us had firework mishaps - one shot into the dumpster and the other exploded right behind us.
I've concluded that fireworks are dangerous.
July 26th - 28th - Lehi - We spent this weekend watching the Wheeler kids. They are cute and silly and full of way more energy than my sleep deprived brain can handle :) I hope they aren't too mad at me for making them watch T.V. all weekend. I managed to get all the meals in, bathtime done before church, AND we got to church on time! I think I could totally rock this watching-kids-full-time-thing. However, that probably won't be for a while. ;)
July 31st - Harry Potter's Birthday Party
One of my friends from work threw a Harry Potter Party and it was EPIC. She has apparently been doing this for years, because her decorations were INCREDIBLE!! The food was fantastic as well - She had cockroach clusters, pumpkin pasties, Fire Whiskey shots and Butterbeer! Christopher and I dressed up as Lupin and Tonks and almost won the contest for Best Couple Costume. We bought some Amortentia (Love Potion) and Felix Felicis (Liquid Luck). I think my friend promised me a Chocolate Frog too! This has more fully convinced me that I need to go to Harry Potter World before I die.
Wizard's Chess! (Stef is dressed as Dobby the house elf.)
Friday August 1st - Sunday August 3rd - Milo's Visit - Christopher's friend from Colombia has been in Utah for the past couple weeks and texted Christopher to meet up for their long talked about reunion. He became one of Christopher's closest friends from his mission. Milo doesn't speak much English so it was an exciting weekend.
- Friday - We went to the Rooftop Concert, only this time it was a hip hop show. We saw this group called the House of Lewis which was made up of a guy with an afro, a guy who wore a flower suit and then changed into a yarn suit, and a fat guy. It was hilarious. When we got back home, we played Mario Kart (in Spanish!) and I went to bed. Christopher apparently stayed up til 3am catching up with Milo.
- Saturday - Christopher made breakfast then we went to Walmart to get stuff for patacones. Patacones are fried plaintain slices that are a common side dish in Latin America. We went to the rancho market to get good plantains and then watched Captain America with Spanish subtitles when we got home. When our stomachs started rumbling, we went to El Salvador Restaurant and got pupusas. This place is a super yummy, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is always crowded. When we were finished stuffing our faces, we drove to Santaquin for Orchard Days, but apparently it was already over by the time we got there. So we ended up going on a random adventure and driving all over the place. From the Payson temple to a trout farm to Sip'N drinks. Sip'N could rival our current soda place, Sodalicious. Too bad it's not closer. Milo wanted to see the Provo Temple and take pictures there so we did that and then made patacones. We finished off out night by going to the Velour to see VanLadyLove, a band we fell in love with at our first Rooftop Concert. Turns out, one of the sister wives was there too! (https://twitter.com/MeriBrown1/status) I was exhausted by this point, but the gang decided to go to Paula and Larry's again where we watched American Ninja Warrior and I (inevitably) fell asleep. (Does anyone sense a pattern here?)
- Sunday - We went to church at 1pm then went with Milo to the Spanish speakers Sunday school. We must not have been to our ward in a while because they thought I was a visitor in Relief Society. It was my hair color I guess. We ate Sushi after church, played some more Mario Kart, and then drove around to look for apartments for rent for Kolby. To end the night, we drove up the mountain to show Milo the Y. He enjoyed his stay here I think. Christopher liked catching up with his friend.
And now I'm caught up!
I've turned in my two weeks notice to the bakery. August 12th will be my last day. I am SO ready to sleep in! (As you probably noticed from my play-by-play of the month, I'm exhausted ALL THE TIME.)
For those of you wondering, here's what my hair looks like now:
I've got more exciting things planned for my summer:
ONE WEEK until Monumentour (Paramore and Fall Out Boy Concert)
16 days until Wicked
27 days until School Starts
August just might be more of a party than July was.
Here's to hoping.
