an eclipse trip

Did you watch the eclipse? Mike and I traveled to Idaho this weekend to be in the path of totality. I thought Mike was kind of crazy when he mentioned it a few months ago, but oh, it was amazing! I keep watching the video I shot of the moment of totality over and over again (you can see it in my instagram), and it gives me goose bumps each time. It was an incredible experience.

This photo was snapped during totality. You can see that it wasn't totally dark, but pretty nearly. It was so, so strange.

We met up with my parents in Victor, Idaho. The skies were clear and the temperature was just right.

As we neared totality, the temperature dropped significantly and the sky started to darken, but it wasn't until the moon completely covered the sun that it got dark. I can't even describe it. It was surreal and spiritual and breathtaking. If you ever get the chance to witness a total eclipse, do it! Make it happen. You won't regret it.

One of my favorite parts of yesterday, though, was when totality was complete someone started blaring the song, Total Eclipse of My Heart. It was perfect. Not my favorite part: the post-eclipse traffic. Oh man, it was intense getting out of Idaho! We barely made our flight home.

But before the eclipse, we spent a little bit of time with my parents in Sundance. I hiked with my mom and we ate dinner together at the Foundry Grill. I felt so lucky to be there twice in one summer!

Mike and I made our way slowly north, stopping at temples along the way. First was Payson, for our Mabel, who was born in Payson. Then the new Provo City Center Temple (SO gorgeous, wow!).

And then up to Logan. Utah (and Idaho) is such a beautiful state. I am glad we were able to spend the weekend there. We had such a nice trip.

And now I'm scheming how I can see the next total eclipse in 2024. . .

happy weekend

It turns out that the Fourth of July is a good day to drive home from Utah. The roads are mostly empty and there are really great fireworks displays dotting the sky as you descend into the valley. We pulled into our driveway just in time to light a few sparklers and send everyone to bed.

We were away for two weeks, which felt like a good long time, but we were ready to come home. We are homebodies through and through and even though Sundance, Utah is my favorite place in the world to visit, home is my favorite place to be. I spent the rest of the week getting back into the swing of things and reminding myself that I don't need to drink Dr Pepper everyday.

The kids missed our cats while we were gone. I surprised myself by really missing my bike! None of us missed the heat, but summer time in Arizona is what it is. And strangely enough, 100 degrees at midnight feels like home.

More photos of our trip to come. . . Have a great weekend!

my Mexico report

Last week, Mike and I were in San Jose del Cabo. To be honest, I didn't really know where we were going, but "Cabo" or Los Cabos is actually made up of five towns on the tip of the Baja peninsula. Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo are two of them.

Our second day there was a Sunday, so we found the local congregation and walked 3 miles through some tough parts of town to get there. Mike and I don't speak Spanish, so we didn't understand the meeting, but it was wonderful just the same.

We split our time between two resorts. The first, Cabo Azul, was incredible.

We alternated between a beach cabana and the serenity pool, napping and reading. It was really nice. Food was not included at this resort, so we made a few trips to the grocery store for drinks and snacks and then Mike would search out delicious local restaurants for our meals. We spent a lot of time walking and riding the Urbano (old school buses repurposed), and ate some really good food. It was so much fun.

Our second resort wasn't quite as nice, but it was all inclusive, so we stuck to the resort more and ate at the restaurant there and drank lots of fun non-alcoholic drinks.

My favorite thing to do was to walk into town. San Jose del Cabo has a pretty, little, and very old downtown full of shops and restaurants. It was a lively place and lots of fun to explore.

All together, we were gone for almost 9 days! That's a long time to be away, and I sort of had a major homesickness breakdown on day 6, but we had a really nice trip. Being away for so long leaves lots of time to think and plan and consider changes that need to be made. I came home ready to get to work.

california, last week

A quick California recap, instagram style.

Leslie flew into my town and then drove with me to California to see my other sister, Julianne, who was visiting with her kids (including brand new darling Helena). The three of us span the distance of the United States and it's not very often that we are all together.

There is just something about the ocean breeze and the sound of the waves pounding the sand. I don't get to the beach nearly often enough, and it felt so good. Especially because I was there with my sisters and my mom!

I have two brothers still in Southern California. Lincoln is a dentist. Elliot and Lincoln's son, David, are best buddies. And Stella and cousin Sadie pick up right where they left off every single time. Cousin friends are the best kinds of friends.

My other Southern California brother is Matt, of Album Surf. We visited his shop in San Clemente and loaded up on Album stickers (which now cover everything in my house) and Album shirts and baby Helena smiles, too.

We spent a really nice morning with my grandparents, who live in Orange. I grew up just a minute away from them and their house still feels like home.

And of course, Ruby's! My cute sister-in-law, Mimi, snapped this photo of our crew. Fun times. Yummy veggie burgers.

Can't wait to go back.

cabin life

Mike's parents have a cabin in the mountains, about two and a half hours away. Since Mike and the kids are off on fall break this week, we spent a few days there unwinding in the cool, non-internet connected air.

Cabin life means pulling out our warmest clothes and realizing that we don't have any warm clothes.

It means long walks in the evenings.

And two out of four kids who willingly pose for photos.

Cabin life means at least one night around the fire pit roasting marshmallows.

And it means lots of lazy afternoons, reading books or playing games.

My favorite thing about going to the cabin is seeing my kids happy together. They genuinely get along with each other, and I love the bonds of friendship they form when it's just our little family without any distractions. If I was an emoji, I'd have all the heart eyes.

And now I think we are ready to get back at it. Maybe? Well, after this weekend, for sure. School (and all the housework), here we come. In a few days. :)

a quick trip to California

Mike and the boys and I headed west last week, and we didn't stop until we reached the coast. I have two brothers and my grandparents still in southern California, where I grew up, and it was high time we had a visit. Since all of the girls were in Utah for granddaughter's week, the boys had the run of things.

Cousin Henry, visiting from Massachusettes, showed us his muscles. Cousin David showed these out-of-towners how to dig.

That's my oldest brother, Elliott, in the background. (He lives in Massachusetts.) I don't think Oliver came up for air once he had that boogie board in his hands. He also tried surfing (thanks to my patient brother, Matt) and it makes me wonder what he would be like if he was able to do these things more often. I don't think I've ever seen him smile so big.

One night, we all got together at my brother, Matt's house and celebrated my beautiful grandmother's 86th birthday with my sister-in-law's fresh peach cake.

And then the next night, we went to my grandma's cozy house, one of my favorite places to be.

My brother, Elliott, and his wife, Ginger, and their youngest, Henry, were there with us. Album Surf shirts are sort of the family uniform.

My grandpa was there too, of course. There were lots of old photos to look at and stories to tell and yummy food to eat and good company to enjoy.

It was a quick trip, but I got to see the ocean, laugh with all three of my brothers at the same time, hug my grandparents, drive by the house I grew up in, and eat a veggie burger at Ruby's! A success all around, I'd say.

summer in Sundance, part two

Here's something fun we did while we were in Utah: We spent a day at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City. It has lots of fun activities, like ropes courses, zip lines, and an alpine slide.

Elliot is obsessed with American Ninja Warrior, so he was excited to try this ropes course. He and Oliver both said it was harder than it looked, but they did it! And then they had to zip line off. Ah!

It was so high, and Elliot looked so small, but he was brave! I almost couldn't watch, I was so nervous, but he said it was a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Mike had the ride of his life. Just kidding. He loved the summer tubing slope the best. It went so fast and looked so scary! (You can see the track behind Oliver in the zip line photo just above.) My favorite thing was watching the ski jump team practice into the pool.

A tip if you decide to go to the Olympic Park: wear sunscreen and a hat! There's not a speck of shade anywhere, and we all came home a little pink.

Mabel was at EFY at BYU with her cousin, Audrey, all week. We spotted her from afar as we went to the BYU bookstore for our annual indoctrination tour.

This is my parents' backyard. (Take me back!)

And this is the stream that runs through the bottom of it.

We went on lots of walks.

My parents' house looks so different when it's not covered in snow. :) I love Sundance in all seasons, but summer is my favorite.

We took one final walk to the stream before we headed home to this hot, brown, burning desert. Sigh. This trip almost made me regret encouraging Mike to attend ASU instead of BYU for his MBA in the fall. Almost.

summer in Sundance, part one

We spent last week at my parent's house in beautiful Sundance, Utah, where I learned that one week is not long enough in that place! I was homesick for it the minute we left. Luckily, I took a ton of pictures.

My sister, Leslie, and her family were there with us. We gathered the cousins for our traditional cousin bench photo outside the Foundry Grill. Too bad we are missing the other 13.5!

Just up the road from my parents' house is a beautiful stretch of manicured lawn. We borrowed it one perfect evening for some frisbee.

Every summer, I try to snap a photo of Stella snuggling my dad. It's never difficult to do. :)

This walk through the ferns leads to the Sundance stables (and then to lots of paths through the mountains). This night, we stopped to feed the horses some carrots.

Stella and Elliot braved a lift ride with my mom.

And a trip to Sundance in the summer is never complete without a dip in my mom's friends' pool. She lives in Provo Canyon, high up and away from the world.

And to the boys' delight, she just finished installing a real live baseball field on her property. It was so fun. But I mean, that view!

more to come . . .