Summer Recap

Or..."the fun things we did this summer while I was in school."

I have to warn you...this is going to be a really long post. I am talking marathon long. We are talking about the documentation of three months here, so it's to be expected. Right? Don't feel bad if you don't read the words though, I totally don't blame you. 

Let's start with May.

In early May I went down to St. George with Jessie to see a Martina McBride concert at Tuacahn. I love the atmosphere there and I love Martina McBride, so this was amazing. I may have even teared up during one song. That's embarrassing. 

Before the concert. Beautiful. 

Then, I had a birthday! 

And made myself a cake.

 And got a beautiful camera. I love this thing so much...I seriously carry it around everywhere. 

Thank you family and Carson!

I have also been working on some new subway art.

This picture is really terrible but it turns out that its hard to take a picture of something gold and white. This looks a lot better in person. Right Nici?

 Of course I was going to school. 

 Legit.

And I got used to my daily commute to Salt Lake City. It only takes one and a half to two hours depending on the time of day, ha. But honestly I don't mind it most of the time. I can usually get most of my homework done on the bus so I can just relax with Carson when I get home. 

     

   

My trip consists of two buses and a ride on Trax. Unless of course Carson drops me off at my transfer point (he always yells things out of the car window like "be nice to the other kids" or "don't forget your lunch") and then its only one bus and a Trax ride. I do get to meet some interesting people though. 

Then Carson had a birthday! We celebrated with his family the Sunday before his birthday and we had the day off work on his actual birthday (Memorial Day) so we were going to celebrate then, but he couldn't wait so he opened his presents early on Sunday. 

 

 One happy boy. 

His mom also got him two fish, which he has been wanting for a long time (don't tell our apartment owners that we have pets, ha).

Meet (from left to right) Gill and Flipper!

I also started a "garden". This is only half of it. I'll show you the other half later. 

I have oregano and rosemary.  I love having fresh herbs. I wish I had room for more. 

On to June.

For Father's Day Carson made my dad metal targets for his new gun obsession. He cut them out of 3/8 inch steel and then powder-coated them. 

According to my dad they work great. Except when you shoot them with a mosin-nagant...then you just get a hole straight through your target. But for pistols and rifles they are awesome. 

Carson was also on an intramural football team with Ryan and some of their friends. They had a really good season, but lost the first game of playoffs because they were two players down. Sad.

A beautifully out of focus picture 

Nice and tired after a long game...but still looking good :)

I also got a new bag for my camera. I love Jo Totes!

Ready for July?

I made another subway art but unfortunately didn't get time to put it on Etsy...maybe next year. 

 I think this one is my new favorite. 

My mom and little brother came to Utah over the Fourth of July and were nice enough to take us to the Stadium of Fire. I was a little apprehensive about the Beach Boys performing, but it was actually really fun. I was surprised by how many of the songs I knew, but the best part by far was watching all of the old men dance and sing along. Seriously, priceless. 

Look who we saw...

 President Uchtdorf (a leader in our church) and his wife!

Then, after a long battle with Alzheimer's and over twenty years without her husband, Carson's grandma passed away in July. I can't wait to meet this lady on the other side because from what I have heard she was an amazing person. I am sad that I didn't really get to know her, but I am happy she is with her husband. 

Carson and I drove to Idaho (my first time being there!) for her funeral. I learned all about the ranch life Carson used to have and even drove through the town where he grew up. It's always fun to visit places that mean so much to him.

Carson with three of his nephews - Carson, Spencer, and Andrew. 

 Troublemakers (and half a smile from the boy!). 

My cute niece Morgan.

I still think it's fantastic that I get to have Jess as a friend and sister-in-law.

 Carson decided he wanted to be a photographer too...he loves our new camera as much as I do.

Carson and his sister Elaine. We sure do miss having her in Utah.

All summer Carson's sisters, Emily and Audrey, have been staying in Utah with their families, so we have had a lot of time to play with our nieces and nephews. We love having these little kids in town because we don't get to see them that often.

We invited Emily's older four kids over for a sleepover (or Xbox Kinect party as little Carson called it). We made calzones, homemade oreos, dirt dessert (by request of the littles) and s'mores. And of course we played a lot of Kinect...the pictures don't really do it justice, but it is hilarious watching people playing the Kinect. 

Andrew and Spencer.

 I think little Carson had more fun watching other people play than actually playing himself. You could not break this kid's concentration.

 Morgan and Spencer. 

 Carson and Andrew.

 Yeah...not so sure what Andrew and I were doing in this picture. 

 Morgan and Carson.

The much anticipated dirt dessert. This was my first time making it...does it look right?

They ate it all so I guess it was okay.

Andrew with his s'more...the third dessert of the night.

You may remember this hat from our honeymoon post - and you may remember how much I hate it. Of course the kids found it and made me wear it. 

As for the sleeping part, the kids kept talking about how they were going to stay up all night. Carson and I thought they were all talk and when we put on a movie around 10:30 with everyone tucked in, we thought for sure they would fall asleep. Turns out they were determined to see morning before they slept. Carson and Andrew didn't fall asleep until 3 and Morgan and Spencer made it until 6:30. Seriously? Carson and I were asleep by 11 no joke. I need to apologize to Emily again for how bad they were the next day. I had no idea they wouldn't sleep. 

The scene in the morning (Andrew is buried in there somewhere).

Oh and did I mention we had donuts for breakfast? I don't think we fed them enough sugar. 

 Notice the pink eye on little Carson? Yeah...we were both very lucky we didn't catch it. 

And finally, August (well...half of it).

If you are still with me now you must really love me. Or Carson. Or both. Either way...I commend you. 

So I've already told you I am obsessed with my new camera...and in love with my nieces and nephews. That combination produces a lot of pictures of the littles (unfortunately Audrey was keeping her kids away most of the time to avoid pink eye...so I don't have any of them).

Mr. Lane.

 Baby Maren. Look at those eyes!

Baby Ella (more with this girl in the next post).

Carson loves these kids too.

This is what a typical Sunday night looks at the Flake household.

 All of the kids crowded around some kind of electronic device. I honestly think they have just as much fun watching as they do playing (yes Collin, you are classified as a kid).

We decided they needed to be more active, so we organized some friendly sibling fights. I don't know why we got so much enjoyment from this, but we did. 

Surprisingly, no one got hurt...but of course there were tears shed (I won't name names).

By this time my semester had ended (yay!). My family has a tradition of taking the kids who got straight A's during the year out to a nice dinner. Since I don't get to do this anymore, Carson and I created our own version.

Pork nachos from Cafe Rio and a movie at home. Not quit Alize, but we are on a budget. 

August also brought some sadness. Collin and Jess moved to Ohio so Collin could start law school. Of course we are super happy for them, but it will be sad to not have them so close. We were definitely spoiled having them as neighbors. 

We all got together and had a "last supper" at Wingers.

 Jacob, Collin, Carson, and Ryan.

 I wish I had some pictures of me and Jess before she left, but I had just finished working out and she had been cleaning for the last three hours so we opted not to (that might be an excuse for the fact that we were very close to tears and needed to separate before the water works started - just saying).

Oh yeah, remember how a while ago I showed pictures of half of my "garden." My other half is a tomato plant. Unfortunately it is not doing so hot. I don't know if it is because my front porch gets ridiculously hot or what, but it has stayed small with only one tomato all summer. My neighbors plant on the other hand is extremely bountiful. Seriously I think there are probably 20 tomatoes on it right now. It got so big management told them to cut it back because it was blocking the path. 

I wish I had a better picture of hers, but this was as close as I dared to get. Can you stalk a tomato plant? Because I think I did. 

 My pride and joy. The one tomato my plant has produced. I am going to baby this thing and savor every bite when it is ripe enough to eat. I'll let you know how it is.

Well, that's it. Congratulations you have made it through the marathon post and now know more about our summer than you probably ever wanted to. Thanks for sticking with me!