Celebrating this special guy!

From one weekend to the next it was all about Jack!  We kicked off his birthday celebration going to see Top Gun Maverick at Disney Springs and concluded with his favorite Hello Dolly bars with some grilling in the backyard in between!  The movie was fantastic.  Definitely brought us both back to our childhood and how fun to share a taste of that with Sage and Ty.  Of course we missed having Connor with us so we'll definitely have to have a repeat movie night when he gets back.  A couple weeks later on his next trip out we were celebrating him again on Father's Day!  It's hard to believe as a family we have been separated for over four years now with Jack commuting back and forth but hopefully now that we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel with construction underway in Utah, planning commuting schedules around special events will be a thing of the past! We sure love this guy and all he does for us to provide such a great life. 

S is for Sage's sweet 16!

It's hard to believe our baby is now 16! It's even harder to believe that she LOST the "sweet 16 and never been kissed bet"! This meant no $1,000 payout to her. Seriously I never imagined she would be the one, and only one, of our kids to not win the bet!!!  Like even the boys made it!  But I'm not complaining for having an extra 1K in our checking account...ha! And clearly she felt it was worth it. Plus now that she doesn't have that extra cushion in her savings account I think a job this summer is more likely in her future! Now she just needs to get her driver's license! That would be the best gift ever...to give me! 

One of my most fond memories from my childhood was my 16th birthday. Instead of my ride arriving to take me to early morning seminary on that day, the doorbell rang and I was greeted by a chauffeur, asking for me by name, and then telling me my limo was awaiting.  I remember being so shocked, confused and excited as my parents said "happy birthday, go on now and have fun"!  I was led to the limo where there was sparkling cider and glasses and he said we'd be making a few stops before getting to our destination. My parents had arranged for him to pick up five of my closest friends and take us to breakfast at Carrows. After we were finished, he took us for a drive around Folsom Lake before dropping us all off at school. It was the coolest surprise that I'll never forget not to mention the first time any of us had ridden in a limo. Fast forward to the weeks leading up to Sage's 16th birthday and I was racking my brain trying to think what I could do or if I would be able to pull off something similar. When I asked Sage which friends she would choose to do something special with on her birthday, she responded she would rather have one big party with all her different friend groups since in the past she focused just on her school friends, afraid that adding her rowing and church friends to the group would maybe make things awkward since many of them don't know each other or attend the same school. But this year would be different. She wanted to have a big bash not leaving anyone out! So here are a few of the highlights:

The gang of friends

When I asked Sage what type of food she wanted for the party two must haves were chick-fil-a and krispy kreme.  Typical high school favorites.

When we were planning decorations for the party I thought it would be fun to have a wall of all of Sage's school photos from preschool up. Unfortunately the only loose photos I consistently had from each grade were wallet sized but that didn't stop me from displaying them along the kitchen counter backsplash for everyone to chuckle over.  haha!

It wouldn't be Sage's birthday without the traditional 'creepy crepe in bed' breakfast and her dinner and dessert of choice on the actual day.  

Happy Sweet 16 Sage!  We love you to the moon and back...infinity!

Friends for life...

I feel so lucky to have such good friends in my life.  And thankfully since I'm not able to see many of the them as often as I'd like I feel grateful that when we do see each other, it's like no time has passed.  So how fun it was to reunite with Heather, Pilar, and Dan here in Florida. We had talked about it for years but finally we made it happen. And with Jack being away so much of the time it's especially nice to have the company!  I hadn't seen Heather and Dan since July of 2015 when we met up in Utah, and the last time I saw Pilar was back in March of 2014 when I met up with her and Heather for a girl's trip in Beverly Hills while simultaneously tagging along with Jack on a business trip.  No doubt this visit was long overdue!

While Heather and Pilar both have access to beautiful beaches where they live, Dan not so much.  And it seems like a crime to come to Florida and not spend time at one of our many fabulous beaches so that first morning after everyone woke up we decided to head to the Tampa Bay area in search of a beach!  With it being a Saturday and in the midst of spring breaks across the country we decided against some of the more popular beaches and instead focused on finding parking close to any public beach which put us in the St. Pete area.  It wasn't an area of the beach I had been to and with the wind the water wasn't looking as beautiful as it normally does but we were all just happy hanging out together.  By far the best part of the day was spending the evening walking around downtown St. Petersburg near the pier, something I hadn't done before.  It has a vibrant and fun night life with all sorts of shops, restaurants, and music. It's definitely a place I need to return to with Jack.

The Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive seemed like the perfect way to spend a part of our Sunday.  I really can't think of a better place to admire some of God's not so beautiful creatures. It's usually a crowd pleaser and sure enough this visit did not disappoint with the dozens of gator sightings we experienced. In fact, it was Pilar's first time seeing an alligator in person!

After seeing enough gators to last a lifetime, we made our way to 'The Wheel' at Icon Park.  This seemed like the perfect way to see all of Orlando in a few minutes and it was something that I had wanted to do since moving here but just hadn't gotten around to.  Little did I know Pilar had never ridden a ferris wheel in her life! Another first!

Aside from beaches and alligators, Florida is also known for it's beautiful springs. So the next day we were off to go tubing down Rock Spring at Kelly Park. It really is such a beautiful place and a relaxing way to spend a few hours. If only I had been able to capture a photo of everyone trying to get into their tube at the top of the spring. Let's just say some were more graceful than others! Thankfully no hats, sunglasses, or cell phones were lost in the process. haha!

And I guess you can't come all the way to Florida without experiencing some sort of Disney experience so off to Disney Springs we went for our 'last supper' together. Not only did we experience some great food at Raglan Road Irish Pub but they also had some great entertainment.  It was hard to believe our time together was already coming to an end.

Originally when we were planning this trip I assumed we'd spend a day in our backyard soaking up the rays and enjoying riding the jet skis but we just ran out of time! We did manage to get in a quick ride before it was time to head to the airport. I was hopeful that maybe one of our resident lake gators would make an appearance but no such luck. Once again though Pilar can check something off her bucket list...riding a jet ski!  Yes, this too was a first for her! :)

From learning new card games to sharing life updates, it was so nice to spend time together and as an added bonus Pilar at the last minute decided to extend her stay and keep me company for a couple extra days! Secretly I think she just wanted to hang out with her new best friend Nova a bit longer! But either way I was happy to have her a few days longer!

Thanks for the visit and fun memories Heather,  Dan, and Pilar. Until next time...

Happy Valentines Day!

Someone couldn't be happier to have her first valentine!  :)

One and done...

Nova loves to hang out on the dock with us. And there are few things as cute as seeing the enthusiasm he shows as we pull up to the dock after being on the lake.  With his tail wagging uncontrollably and the excitement on his face one could only assume he'd love to go for a ride too! But for some reason the response we get when we try to get him on the ski with us is no where near the response we get when we offer him a chance to ride in the car with us. On this day Jack was determined to change that.  He grabbed a towel to make a little seat for him and prevent his nervous paws from scratching or tearing anything, feeling certain he'd really enjoy it once he got on. Unfortunately I don't think Nova will ever be begging to get back on the ski. He was clearly never able to relax even though Jack was basically idling around the lake.  But who can blame him knowing there are plenty of scary creatures under the water that would love a little taste of him!!!