And the Utah Awesomeness Continues...

 The day after my baby shower, I headed down to St. Geezy with these pretty ladies:

We didn't leave until later Friday night and only stayed until Sunday afternoon, but it was totally worth it! We thought we could make it without stopping, but by Beaver I couldn't hold it any longer, and we all had a quick potty break with a bathroom selfie, of course! 

Saturday we spent the day sleeping in, chilling and chatting poolside, shopping, eating delicious food and ending our night with The Little Mermaid at Tuachan.

I thought it was going to be too crazy hot, but my ankles only swelled up a little and I was able to enjoy the awesome production!

We attended a sacrament meeting on Sunday morning and then headed home after lunch. We stopped in Kanosh to see Grandpa and are so glad we did. He wasn't feeling too well, but was still kind enough to show us the crazy jars and crazy cups he had been working on. Well, if you know anything about crazy jars, you they are coveted among all the cousins and just this last Christmas he started giving them away as gifts for the grandchildren's gift raffle. Todd and Stacie were the lucky winners of that and Kelli and I were the lucky winners of catching Grandpa at the perfect time to snatch up a crazy cup of our own without all the luck required at the Christmas party. I ended up with this beauty: 

and Kelli with this:

I love that she put a plant in hers--It is so cute! Luckily none of Brian's cousins read this blog, or this revelation could cause some problems. Please don't mention this the Christensen grandchildren. I sure feel lucky to have this in my home, it will be treasured forever!

A few days after getting back from St. G, we headed to the opposite end of the state to see these favorites:

It was so fun to finally see Breanne's beautiful home they finished right after we moved to Texas. I loved seeing how all of her hard work came together. We spent time at the pool and mostly just letting the kids play while we chatted and wished we could do what we were doing more often. 

Taryn and her girls met up with us the next day, and we had to make dinner plans with Ms. Niki before she had her baby girl and moved to Massachusetts. 

 Me(28ish weeks).Niki(38ish weeks).Taryn(17ish weeks).Bre(28ish weeks)

After getting some energy out (and some tears for Brielle and some boogers for Wes) at the mall play place,

it was back to the Miller home for a nice slumber party.

 We had such a good time catching up with each other, and I just love that I was able to spend time in Bre's home with her awesome family. It is so fun to be pregnant at the same time again because I just love having these experiences together with one of the best ladies I know. 

And the good times just kept rolling...

I was so happy a reunion was in order with some of my favorite Connecticutters.

We met at the park and caught up and just enjoyed pretending like we all still lived on the east coast for just a day. Natalie is the only one that still calls CT home, but it felt like for just a minute that I still got to see those girls every week at church or every Monday night during The Bachelor or every other Wednesday for Book and Cook club. I sure miss my east coast days, but am {again} so glad that Utah is the crossroad for so many of us!

My 10 year high school reunion was cancelled, which was a total bummer. Brian had his last summer, and it was really great to catch up with people that we had lost touch with over the years. Me and my girls didn't let that stop us from having a night out on the town!

It was dinner at The Copper Onion and then Angie and I went to movie because we weren't ready to end our night without kiddies.

I love these girlies so much and am so glad we are all still good friends. I know I went to high school with them, but it was really our freshman year at SUU that solidified our friendship. That year almost seems like a dream, but it was a fun one and I am so grateful these friendships were etched it stone that year. 

Aunt Kelli got the cutest puppy in all the world! That is a lot coming from an animal non-liker and especially a non-liker of the idea of having pets before kids. I do confess that I realize there is a need/draw for so many to have animals that I just don't understand it...well, not until this cute Simon pup! I'm not saying I fully understand it still, but it gave me a sliver of understanding about animal love. We all loved him and couldn't get enough of his awkward puppyness and constant sleepiness. 

I heart Simon.

Thad and Wes really heart these cousins of theirs, too! 

Riding in back of Aunt Brigi's truck was such a treat!

We headed to Angie's house for a pre-Independence Day BBQ and these are the only two pictures I snapped:

Thad, Harper and Vaughan were the only kids interested in fireworks and they used all 5-6 boxes of sparklers between them. Wes hugged me and pretended he was sleeping for the firework show, but other than that had a great time! Angie has a beautiful home and yard, and it was so fun to spend a perfect summer night at the Pearson home with lots of fun friends.

Brigitte's Birthday:

Since Brig was turned the big 3-0 this year, I wanted to see if we could make her day a little special. She has such a good family that celebrates birthdays to the max, but Grandpa Kent was home and Grandma Cindy had the day off work, so we coordinated with Rob and met for lunch at Pizzeria Limone.

She was surprised when she walked in and even teared up a little because she had a rough morning and was just happy to see that we cared. I sure love this big sister of mine! 

My Wessie sure loves her too! She is all fun and we all love to be around her as much as we can!

That night we headed to the temple with Heidi and Jason. We decided to do sealings so we could all be together and enjoy each other. We got to wait in the beautiful wedding waiting room for about 25 minutes and chat and enjoy the beauty of the Oquirrh Mountain temple. 

This is one of our very favorite couples in the whole world. I could go on and on about them, but I think they know ho much we love them and spending time with them. A couple hours spent at Red Robin for dinner was good for our friendship souls and it just made me wish Utah and Texas were just a little bit {maybe a lot bit} closer.