Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

Here's what we do...

We go for an evening drive. 

We visit friends in Arizona and eat delicious food.

We swim with cousins.

We relax and watch a show.

We eat popsicles.

We walk around the Temple.

We take a break on the steps.

We roast s'mores with friends.

We visit the splash pad.

We eat snow cones while Dad's at mutual.

We visit more splash pads.

We play with friends. 

We stay inside and play with toys.

We go bowling.

Update

Dan with our nephew at Sand Hollow.

I suppose after Claire's update I should give a little update on Dan and myself.  As for Dan, he has been busy building websites and sending wrenches to truckers all over the U.S. (a side business he has).  He and his friend are also working on a new business called Tall Slim Tees which are t-shirts for tall skinny guys! So if you know any tall skinny guys, his shirts will be for sale soon.  He is still working on getting the sizes just right.  He is also busy working with the Young Men in our ward and the boys love having him as a leader.  This week the boys are coming over to learn how to grill.  In his free time he has been writing some original piano music, which Claire and I love to hear.

As for me (sorry no picture), I have been busy starting a playgroup in our neighborhood where we head to the park, pool, or splash pad each week.  I've also started walking with some friends in the mornings and love it.  The weather has been so nice!  I'm also busy planning reunions, trips, parties and more for this summer.  It seems we've got something going on almost every week!  I've also made a summer bucket list and we've already checked off some of the activities including the beach at Sand Hollow (pictured above).  I got called to Cub Scouts a few months ago and I wasn't so sure about it, but I actually love it.  It might be the best calling I've ever had.  I just help with pack meeting, so I only go once a month.  I like it because I can take Claire, it's pretty laid back and they do some fun things!  Usually I help with treats so the kids like me :).  Just last week we took a trip to Arizona to meet up with some of my old roommates.  We had such a blast and enjoyed being in a new place.  The weather actually turned out to be so nice and we ate at some of the best restaurants.  Aside from the long drive (lots of crying...) we had a great time!

We are busy and happy.  We love the start of summer and are looking forward to spending more time together as a family as well as seeing extended family and friends!

Swimming

Claire went swimming for her very first time yesterday at our neighborhood pool.  I wasn't sure how she would react but the minute I put her in her float she laid back and was all smiles!  It was so cute.  She loved relaxing in the pool.  I love the float we got for her.  It's so nice because she can sit in it and it has a shade cover.  We were only in the water for about 20 minutes and then she was done, but I think we will be making a lot more trips to the pool this summer.  On the walk home she fell asleep, guess all that swimming wore her out.

Here she is in the pool... she is so stinkin cute!

Loving the pool!

Baby and me :)

Random pictures

I finally have a few things to post about.  I haven't had much to say because we really don't get out much, which I am totally fine with.  I'd rather lay on the couch and watch the Olympics anyway.  Because I'm just so tired!  Whenever pregnant ladies told me how tired they were I never understood how incredibly tired that really is.  It's like I could just nap all day long and still go to bed early and sleep through the night.  Making a baby is hard work (I keep reminding Dan of this). Speaking of work... my job starts up again next week.  I'm excited to get back into a routine, but a little nervous.  Just crossing my fingers I'll survive!

Now for a few random photos I have snapped this summer of things I have actually done other than lay on the couch...  

At Nielsen's with Dan's family.  Can't have a visit without a trip to Nielsen's!

Double rainbow over Cafe Rio!  For a while St. George was rainy and I loved it.  Meant less than 100 degrees every day!

New washer and dryer!  I love them! We figured we should get a decent set because I'm sure I'll be doing more laundry once baby comes. 

At the fair with our niece.

Carnival games.  Dan loves them!  I just try to forget how much the carnies are cheating us.

The fair was really fun, but after walking around in 102 degree weather for a while I was ready to go home.  I had to get a huge snow cone at the end to survive.

And last bit of news... we find out Baby D's gender tomorrow!  We are super excited!  Except I keep worrying they won't be able to tell and they'll say... "sorry, come back next month!"  haha... hope that doesn't happen.  I'll be sure to update tomorrow!

Another Vegas trip

The day after school got out we headed down to Vegas to meet up with Dan's brother and his wife for a quick trip.  It was an awesome way to start off summer break!  In some ways I feel like we've done everything there is to do in Vegas (well all the clean things), but the two things we still needed to do were visit the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and go to a Cirque du Soleil show, so that's what we did!

We started the day off by eating lunch at Claim Jumper, which we love.  We then headed to the Shark Reef, which was really cool!  Made a quick stop at NY NY arcade (can you guess why?). Ate dinner at the crepe place in Bellagio (highly recommended), and finished the night with the Cirque du Soleil show Ka (amazing!!!).  Went to bed that night and headed home the next morning after a nasty breakfast buffet at South Point (will never stay there again).  All in all, minus the nasty buffet, it was a really fun trip!

And now for the pics...

Shark Reef tunnel!

Ben, Rachael & Dan

By the shark tank!

Jellyfish!

Sting rays.

Did you guess right?  Back at the NY NY Arcade for some giant claw game action.
Nope, still didn't win!  Maybe next time.

Yummiest crepes ever!

Mmmm... chocolate @ the Bellagio.

The fountains are always a must see.  Especially beautiful at night.

This show was literally mind blowing!  They did things I didn't think were humanly possible.  We really loved it!

In the Ka theater.  I don't think you're actually supposed to take pictures in here, but after the price we paid, I think they owed it to us :).

 I now want to see the Cirque du Soleil show "O" next time.  I've heard it's the best!  Hmmm... maybe for our anniversary in August?

California Trip

Ok I'm finally posting something non-house related.  Recently we spent about 9 days in California for a family reunion.  We had lots of fun!  The first day Dan and I went to Lake Tahoe and enjoyed a day just the 2 of us.  We then headed to the reunion house for a week.  It was located in a small town outside of Sacramento where gold was first discovered in CA.  Then we stayed in San Jose with Dan's family for the 4th of July.  Here are some pictures of our adventure (i made collages to try and fit in more pics):

At Tahoe we rented bikes and rode them to the beach, an ice cream shop, and this aquarium thing.

At the reunion we did lots of fun activities!

Although it was a lot of driving, we really enjoyed the time spent with family.  I also loved Tahoe, I could have stayed there all week!  Now that the month of June is over we will mostly be home the rest of the summer getting ready to move in August!

Hello June!

It's June! I love June! June means summer! To kick off June, I thought I'd start w/ a long blog post. The blog post is about May. Goodbye May, thanks for the long weekend.

It was a fun, long weekend :). On Friday we went mini golfing @ Trafalga. I can't tell you how many times we have gone to Trafalga to play mini golf and ended up just playing arcade games instead because the line for mini golf is too long. But this time we did it, we stood in the long line! Plus I've never done their indoor course, only their outdoor course. So here we are (you can't really tell we're at the mini golf place- but we are!)


On Saturday we went to lunch with my sister, Noelle. We went to Magleby's Fresh, which we love! It is one of my favorite lunch spots in Provo. Then I took Noelle shopping for some wedding stuff.

I also made a strawberry pie this weekend! It was so yummy. I have been wanting to make one for a long time, so I finally did. It was super easy too! I even took a pic b/c I was proud of myself for being so domestic :).


On Memorial Day we had a family BBQ. It was so much fun! I wish I had taken pictures (I'm hoping to get some from my sister). We had a lot of fun eating, chatting, and playing w/ our nephews. We also made sure to put up our American Flag (we got one for our wedding, but never put it up before).

And one last thing I did, I got us tickets to Stadium of Fire!

I'm really excited about it. For those that don't know, it's a huge fireworks show/concert on the 4th of July in Provo. This year the main performer is Carrie Underwood. We both think she is pretty good (not huge fans or anything) definitely one of the better American Idol winners. But hey, the last time I went the performer was Taylor Hicks (who? haha... one of the not so great American Idol winners...) and I still had a fun time! The fireworks they do are awesome. I'm excited b/c I tried to get us tickets a while ago, but all of the cheap ones were sold out (I really didn't want to pay a ton). But then luckily I got an email from them saying they released even more tickets last week and they were even cheaper! Yay! So I got them! If you wanna go, maybe they still have some left. Now I'm getting excited for 4th of July (it's Dan's favorite holiday). Plus we get to spend it w/ my parents too! Hooray! Maybe I can convince them to go to the big Provo parade w/ us :).

Swimsuit giveaway!

So... remember those swimsuits I just posted? Well, good news! Lime Ricki is doing a giveaway for a free swimsuit! Yay! You just have to go to their blog & leave a comment telling them which suit of theirs you like the best. I just entered and since I am such an awesome friend, I am telling you about it too :). I realize this creates more competition for me, but I don't care. I would love to win a free swimsuit, but I would also love one of my friends to win a free swimsuit. So... if you liked the swimsuits you saw, go and enter their giveaway here.

p.s. I start working today. First city I get to find cool things about is San Diego!