DAY 1581-1583... 4th of July Weekend

I started off my Saturday morning with a 6.5 mile run to my parents house,
and had a 5 minute PR,
so I was feeling pretty good about life.

When I got home,

Spencer had decided that we should go to Utah ASAP for the 4th.

Luckily,
I was in a killer good mood and

we were able to quickly get everything packed up and on the road within a couple of hours.

I feel really blessed that we are able to have these mini-trips as a family.

Aniston was thrilled because she had been missing her Grandparents and her cousins from our last visit.

She likes to dress like Darth Vader often these days...

Spencer and I have been talking a lot,

especially since our last Utah trip,

about where we want to end up.

He has job offers in Las Vegas and the Tri-Cities in Washington after he graduates in April,

and although we LOVE the idea of Vegas,

Utah has been on our mind a lot lately.

We have so many AMAZING friends and family members there,

we know the area very very well,

and we LOVE those mountains.

But we will see....
Hopefully by February we will know where we will be headed.

We stayed super busy over the holiday weekend.

Because of our crazy schedule,

church did not go so well.

Spencer and I ended up in the foyer,

both with a crazy grumpy child.

Luckily mine fell asleep pretty quickly...

Spencer's took a while longer.

We did LOVE our Sunday afternoon walk up in Daybreak.

After our walk Aniston really wanted to go swimming.

I kid you not,

the minute we got to the pool and insane storm hit.

Like crazy prick your skin rain!!!

I thought it was hail!

Aniston was very disappointed,

especially when after 20 minutes it was super sunny again but we had already changed and made other plans.

Our nap schedule really gets thrown off when we are road tripping.
Usually Benson will only fall asleep with his blankie,
a bink,
and in bed.
The poor little guy was completely exhausted!

We celebrated Aniston's birthday early with family and cupcakes.

The morning of the 4th,

I went for an early morning run around Daybreak and then my Aunt Julie came and joined me.

She is seriously the best,

and I don't even have a picture of her from our trip....

Ani and I rocked our matching shirts,

while the boys rocked theirs.

We headed out to Scheel's,

because you can't go to Salt Lake without going to Scheel's.

And also the Cheesecake Factory.

Aniston asked if she could live there because she loved it so much.
I think she and I will be moving there quite soon.

After lunch we headed over the cousin's house and then to Great Grandma's pool.

Perfect day for swimming,
thank goodness!
It made up for the craziness the day before.

Benson had a little anxiety going into the water without me.

But he was okay when Uncle Bill took him in the water!

Those blue eyes!!!

These are actually my first cousins,

but Aniston always insists that they are her cousins!

She loves them!

When we were done swimming,

of course we had to jump on the tramp.

Benson was exhausted,

so he napped with Uncle Bill for awhile.

Have we told you that Julie and Bill are our favorites????

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday.

Don't forget what happened 5 years ago on the 4th...

I just love the freedoms that we have in this country..

Although I really worry about the future,

at this moment I feel blessed.

Aniston had a really rough time leaving Utah this trip.

I guess it's a good thing we have a family reunion in a couple of weeks so we can go back.