Crazy Summer

This summer has been crazy. Its been busy, its been life changing, its been crazy. I was thinking about it today and there have been only 2 weekends since before Sage was born that we haven't either had family here, or been somewhere with family. After the events that have happened this summer, though, I couldn't be more grateful for that. Here is a quick recap of our summer so far...

Nic's family has been down to SLC several times in the last few months for a variety of reasons. We have loved spending time with them. One of the weekends they came down we decided to head to the Gateway during the Sidewalk Chalk festival. There was music, art, and of course the splash pad. Mason loves the splash pad.

Nic and Mason admiring the sidewalk art from afar.


This is what Sage did most of the time.


The splash pad was crazy busy, but the kids had a blast.


And nothing ends the day like a little ice cream.


During one of those weekend visits to SLC, Ali and Chase decided to move their wedding date up from July 23rd to June 26th. This resulted in a mad rush to finish planning the wedding and all the things that goes with it. My hat goes off to Victoria and Ali for making it happen. As for us, it meant a couple of crazy days and a nearly 2 week visit to Idaho Falls.

Nic's sister Lindsey and I threw Ali a bridal shower 2 days before her wedding. We didn't have much time to plan it, but I think it turned out really well. Lindsey is super creative and that coupled with some of Ali's friends made for a fun evening.

Grandpa Hall took Mason out in his "race car" while the women decended upon my mom's house (where we held the shower). Yes I let my child ride in the car like this and yes you can/should call child protective services on me.


Cute Lindsey


Cute Ali.

Friday night, before the wedding, my mom was playing with her band at the country club. So we headed out to support her and eat some good food.

Sage just hanging out listening to Grandma rock out.

Saturday was the wedding. Everything about it was beautiful. The ceremony, the luncheon, everything. I have very tender memories of Nic and his siblings as they spoke about Ali at the luncheon. It was really wonderful.

Note that we only have one child pictured in this photo. The other one was too interested in some bugs that were out of the range of the lens. Oh well.

Oh- did I mention that we had also planned Shay's baby shower on the 26th of June? Well...we did. So I left the luncheon early and drove to Idaho Falls (the wedding was in Rexburg) for Shay's baby shower. My mom and Shayna did an awesome job planning it.

Other than some morbid pictures of the fondant baby cake topper, this is the only picture I got. Minus my mom, its all the girls.

After the baby shower was the wedding reception. One word: beautiful.

I love this picture of Mason. Such a studly little guy.

Okay, so after the bridal shower-band performance-wedding-luncheon-baby shower-wedding reception-all in 72 hours weekend, we had a few days to relax before our family reunion. As I was going through pictures to post on here of the reunion I found that I didn't really want to post any of them. I can't even really look at them. They were all, obviously, taken before the accident, but they still take me back to that day. I don't need extra help reliving that day. I did find one though that I want to keep.

My dad and Penni with my kids (and a diet coke).

After coming back from the reunion, I ended up staying a few extra days in Idaho Falls. Nic was on call at home and I wasn't really in the state of mind to be alone. So we stayed and took Mason to the zoo.

Finally after almost 2 weeks we returned home where we resumed life.

We took another trip to the splash pad (after seeing Toy Story 3) with Camille, Paul and Jackson.

Mason took 2 weeks of swimming lessons (and this is the only picture I got).

We went to the farmer's market.

And we again had family visit for Sage's blessing. Post to come.

So thats it. Summer so far. Like I said, life changing in so many ways. During it all, however, we have been surrounded by those we love and who love us. I will always have some very tender memories of this summer. From the birth of my own baby girl, to Ali's wedding, to the events surrounding Max's death, there is so much to learn from and be grateful for. And the summer isn't over yet.