Family pictures and reunion fun

It’s been a while since we got new family pictures. Close to two years. I’ve had empty frames sitting on my living room shelves for almost a year lol. I finally scheduled this week with my sister in law’s cousin. Before I had been somewhat paralyzed trying to pick a photographer. There are so many to choose from. This girl, Tawny Jay Photography, did a fantastic job. We’ll use her again in the future for sure! 

Here’s a few of my favorites. 

We also had a family reunion yesterday for Bill’s grandma’s siblings and descendants, the Lunt Family Reunion. It was delightful and over much sooner than the amount of planning it took, haha! I always enjoy a good family reunion. It was just five or so hours at a park in Orem, but very nice. 

More birthday celebrations

 This has been quite the birthday celebration month. Chloe and Aaron have birthdays three weeks apart and they both wanted to go to Airborne Trampoline Park for their birthdays so we did a combined party. It basically turned into three birthday parties for both of them. Super fun for them, lol! Their party was this week and it was really fun. 

Natasha and I both gave each other an experience together for our birthdays and it took until now for us to finally go out together. We went to lunch at Aubergine’s, which was so good! Then we got pedicures. It was super fun. 

Chloe made herself a headband out of a couple strips of cloth she cut and she tied them together. Smart girl! It was really cute. 

Aaron and Chloe love to fill their room with blankets and pillows and stuffed animals and call it blankieland and sleep in it. It’s a bit much to clean up so this week one night Aaron made a personal blankieland in a soccer tent and slept in it one night. So cute! 

We don’t go to the library nearly enough but we went this week. 

Girls Camp and second round of birthdays

 I spent a day and a half at girls camp this week. It was fun! Wish I could have stayed longer but that’s all the time I could take off from work. We had a great time out at a camp by Scofield Reservoir. 

 

We bought some new lights for our downstairs. A couple in the hallway and one in the dining room. We’ll switch out more as time goes by. 

We also had a family July birthday swim party for Aaron and Bill. That was fun. 

Running and plants and birthday

I'm operating under the assumption that because we have so many plants in my house, that's why we never get sick. So obviously we need new plants all the time to keep that up. Hahahah! We also are kind of in between any big projects or anything going on, so have some flexibility in the budget, and so in the last week I've bought like five or six inside plants and gotten this outdoor planter and filled it too. I regret nothing. Bless Bill for loving plants too. He planted the outside planter and I love how he mixed it!Half the fun is picking new pots too. I love all the ones we found. 

We ran the South Jordan Glow Run last year and had such a great time, that we decided to do it again this year and our kids came along. They all ran the kids run at 9PM. We let them get slashes or ice cream beforehand at the golf course and that totally sabotaged them, whoops! The three older ones fought through cramps and still did awesome. Chloe actually didn't get any! She ran the entire one-mile race. I ran with her and Bill ended up sticking with Aaron. They are really so impressive. Chloe ended up taking first in her kids 5-8 age group! Aaron took sixth in the same age group. Genevieve took third in the overall girls' group, and Spencer took second in his 9-12 age group. So impressed by them all! 

We took the kids home and headed back ourselves to meet up with my Run Club! I love these folks so much! Been running with them since we moved here in 2020 and they are the best friends and fellow exercise junkies. This is just a few that did the glow run. Others were doing the Utah Spartan Race this weekend or running at our normal Saturday morning run. It's such a great group. 

Bill did the 5k ruck and I did the 5k run and we both had a great time! He took first in the ruck overall and I took third in my age division. These aren't particularly competitive races if you look at the times. I certainly wasn't breaking any records. But it is still so fun to place in a race and this is the most chill, fun one around. So affordable too, which is always a perk. 

 Today is Aaron's eighth birthday! What a kid he is. He's thoughtful and sweet. He's feisty. He knows exactly how to bug everyone but also how to make them happy. We get a lot of both from him, but at his core he sees needs and wants to fill them. I'm pretty sure the next six or eight years are going to be a wild ride with him, but always fun and I have high hopes for who he's becoming. 

He wanted a chocolate cake with purple icing. It's light purple, but we made it happen. 

He's way into axolotls lately, so some stuff was axolotl themed. 

Happy birthday, cutie boy!

Summer is for hiking

Our kids have started to get interested in working out with me and Bill with our workout groups, F3 and FiA. This is so fun! I took the girls with me to my Monday workout, which is a 3.5-mile trail run/hike with FiA and my South Jordan Run Club combined. We hiked it, so completely got left in the dust of all the runners, but had such a great time. Chloe gathered this bouquet for me along the way.

Spencer has been working out with Bill and F3 this week and is loving it so much. It's fun to see him really grab onto something. 

My childhood best friend was in town this week and I was so excited to get to hang out with her and some of her family for a few hours! It was so great. Kirsten and I have been friends since I moved to Colorado Springs when I was ten. We don't get to see each other much, and we honestly don't talk much either, but when we get back together, it's like no time has gone by. I love those kinds of people. Her older sister Holly happened to be in town too. So fun to see her and her family as well. 

We went to a splash pad after picking cherries at a You-Pick orchard in Payson. I didn't take many pictures, but couldn't pass up this one of Chloe sitting on a slide behind the sign that says no climbing. Lololol. 

Brought these beauties home. So much cherry goodness!

Bill and Spencer hiked with F3 to Deseret Peak. They left so incredibly early. Look at Spencer with all those guys! He loves being with the guys so much. 11 going on 30, 100 percent. Their hike ended up being nine or ten miles long. Pretty amazing stuff. He hiked it without an issue and had energy to spare the rest of the day. Bill and I, not so much. We were pretty wiped out by the time we finally got home yesterday. 

Not to be left in the dust, I took the other three hiking as well. We did Stewart Falls, which is a four-mile hike. They also did great. They're not really up for ten miles yet, but they really are awesome hikers. Except Chloe needs some shoes with better grip. She tumbled at least five times. She's all scuffed up today, poor girl. This is before we started. 

A cool tree we saw that the kids wanted me to photograph.

At the waterfall. 

Before and after hike shoe picture. I swung by the Altra outlet on the way to the hike and picked up a pair of trail running shoes. I knew what I wanted and just haven't had a chance to get them before now. So I started with a pristine pair of shoes and ended with a nicely broken in pair, lol. They worked great, just as I expected.

I think I mentioned before we're doing a summer dessert restaurant tour. This week we got ice cream at Baskin Robbins post hike. Never fails to delight! They still have the best ice cream. Costs a lot more for a scoop than back in college when we would go to dollar scoop night every week. Still tastes just as good.