Summer 2019 Round Up

In between trips, I had a pretty awesome summer at home! Here is a recap of some of the fun things I did to celebrate summer.

I belong to a card club, where we meet once a week to play our favorite card game, Hand and Foot. We have been playing every week for about a year now! It's such a fun club, I look forward to it every week. During our weekly meetings, we have often discussed how much we love brunch, and which brunches around town are the best. After much discussion, we decided Sundance had one of the best Sunday brunches, so one week, those of us that were interested, went to Sunday Brunch at Sundance!

While Sundance's brunch might be a little smaller than others, the food is exceptional. And I rather have less choices of amazing food, than more choices of mediocre food.

We were able to get a table out on the patio to enjoy the beautiful weather and the lush greenery, it was the perfect spot.

Many summer days were spent at the pool. I absolutely LOVE living in a community with a pool so close to my house, it makes summer a million times more fun. I would go with friends, or even by myself. The Madisons also love to come down for a swim day. This was Monty's first time swimming, and he loved it!

Angie and Bear invited me to join them at a Real soccer game! It was so much fun! We even got dinner in their VIP lounge which felt so fancy!

Highland Glen Park is one of my favorite places to get out and enjoy the sunshine. I love going for walks around the lake, or stopping by while biking on the Murdock Trail, or just sitting in the shade listening to the sounds of summer and feeding the ducks.

Sunday dinners are my favorite part of the week all year long. But my Mom's summer meals are especially colorful and fresh. They feel like gourmet picnics 

Her table settings are always stunning as well!

Work is always so much fun during the summer, and I usually pick up a few new clients as everyone is looking for a pet sitter during their summer vacations.

Walking my dog clients in the summer is so much fun, I can just see and feel their excitement while we walk. While they are excited for walks in the winter, I can tell they don't enjoy them as much since not all of my clients are fans of the snow and the cold.

Look at those adorable, happy faces!

Odin and Wren LOVE playing with their toys in the backyard. 

Sadly, this handsome boy moved at the end of the summer, so I lost him as a client. I loved having the opportunity of watching him grow up into such a handsome boy! We had so much fun together!

The exact same week Winston moved, so did Sister and Skipper. Two of my favorite, long standing clients moved in the same week and it was really rough. I grow to love these fur babies so much and it is heartbreaking for me when I no longer get to spend time with them. It was especially hard saying goodbye to Skipper, he had become my therapy dog, I spent so much time listening to his comforting snores while he slept curled up next to me or with his head in my lap, he is a special dog. 

But when I have to say goodbye to some clients, it opens the door to new clients, which is always so exciting! I absolutely love meeting new clients! 

I picked these three up as new clients this summer and they are such a blast

Rocket the Rottweiler is 2 years old and is full of spunk. She loves to play and is a bundle of energy.

Bane the English Mastiff is the sweetest, most gentle giant I have ever met. He asks for pets by leaning his whole weight against me, if I don't brace myself, he would easily knock me down.

Then there is Dash the Corgi, he has my heart. He is reserved and will sit quietly next to me and look up at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes, hoping I will get the hint and give him some loves. He has the softest, most luxurious coat and his itty bitty legs are just too cute to handle.

I also got these two cuties as new clients this summer! Daisy and Phoebe are Jack Russell Terriers and they are both sassy and sweet. Phoebe, the one with black and brown on her face, is a mini.

This is their brother, Milo. He is the most magical kitty, he acts just like one of the pups. He loves to talk and is soft and squishy.

We would go for walks twice a days, its so fun to have a job that gets me outside multiple times a day to soak in the sunshine and fresh air, as well as get in some exercise.

I also got this sweet gal, Sophie, as a summer client. Her face is just the sweetest thing, every time I would show up for one of our visits, her cuteness would just kill me, I never got used to it. 

Then there's Jaxon, another new summer client, who I instantly fell in love with. He is the most gorgeous cats I have ever seen, and he has the funnest personality. He is used to getting lots of outside time, and since I didn't feel comfortable letting him out in the backyard to roam, I would take him for walks in his kitty backpack.

We also spent lots of time in front of the screen door

In June, we got to celebrate Katie and her birthday! She loves to sing so the perfect place to celebrate her was at Heart and Seoul Karaoke in Provo! This place is so much fun and has created the best way to karaoke, each party rents out a private room and everyone sings together! No singing in front of strangers and no one has to sing alone, it is soooo much more fun than traditional karaoke!

We had such a blast!

Summer was filled with lots of baby snuggles with this sweet face!

For the 24th of July, I went with the Madisons to check out all the amazing parade floats. I thought I had taken more pictures than this, there were some other amazing floats!

I could not get over the amount of glitter that covered these dragons!

Then we headed to Liberty Park to attended the annual NACIP powwow. We got dinner at one of the many food trucks that lined the streets of the park, and then joined the circle to watch the beautiful dancing.

I was amazing Monty was able to fall asleep with the loud drums so close to us! 

V was so excited to join in with some of the dancing! She made friends with several of the families around us and ran around and danced and had the best time. After the dancing, there were fireworks!

 A few days later, we went on a day trip to Ogden to visit the Dinosaur Park and to get dinner at Prairie Schooner, a steakhouse in Ogden were you get to dine in your own private covered wagon. My family used to go to a restaurant similar to this when we were younger and we absolutely loved it, I even had one of my birthday parties there. It was fun to introduce V to this magical dining experience, she absolutely loved it.

The taxidermy is also super silly

Towards the end of the summer, the Madisons were nice enough to check out Swiss Days with me up in Hever. I have heard so much about this festival for years and have always wanted to go, so this year we made it happen.

To be honest, we didn't love it. First of all, it was waaaaay bigger than we were anticipating so the driving and parking was unbelievably stressful. Then, I had expected it to be like the Christmas Market at This is the Place, which feels like a real, European experience. I was expecting lederhosen, Swiss foods, Swiss chocolate, Swiss music, fun European shopping stalls. We got NONE of that, it is just a county fair, with a misleading name.

But we always have fun when we are together, so we still enjoyed ourselves, it just wasn't what we wanted it to be. The best part of our entire experience was the scones. We got a scone for all of us to share and it was literally the same size as Monty. We got jam and honey on the side for dipping.

The home projects continued as well. I had been on the hunt for some chairs to fill out the seating area in my family room. I found some perfect ones at Pottery Barn! I took these photos of my house to show the designers so they could help me pick out a fabric that would match the aesthetic. We got the chairs all ordered, and they will arrive sometime in September or October and I can't wait! I thought I would include these photos just for fun, I love how everything in my house is turning out, it is such a happy place to live.

I also finally was able to get a piano this summer, I have been wanting one ever since I moved to Lehi 8 years ago! My dad found an amazing sale at the Piano Gallery so he went with me to help me pick one out. I had always known exactly where I would want to put a piano in my house, and it fits so perfectly and is so beautiful! I am so excited to be able to practice the piano in my own home!

I also love my patio in the summer, I spend a lot of time out there, especially in the evenings, it has the perfect view of the sunsets.

As a last hoorah of the summer, my friend Blake, got a group together for one last trip to the lake down in St. George. We rented a beautiful apartment near snow canyon that could sleep all 12 of us. We spent the entire first day on the lake. It was amazing, 8 straight hours of sun, water, music and friends.

The second day turned out to be too windy and cold to go back out on the water, so we had fun playing games, watching football, having a BBQ, watching movies and going for hikes in the canyon.  The next day, we all attended church together at a ward near our rental, and then drove home, it was the perfect weekend getaway.

Summer ended on a high note, with Angie, Laura and I attending the Jonas Brothers concert!!!!!! This was such a fun send off for summer, those boys know how to throw a party! We had so much fun singing and dancing in our seats!