my happy place

Parker and I are learning that grown-up summers are hard...well, respectively.

Last summer we played...lots.

We took boating trips to Shasta, Powell, Yuba, Pineview...you name it!

We watched pageants in Manti,

hiked through Zion's,

went on more 4-wheeler rides than I can remember or count, and survived my very first downhill biking adventures (i.e. me living and parker somehow keeping a full head of hair despite his worrying over me).

We froze our little toes off in Lake Tahoe,

took in every attraction Reno has to offer,

and enjoyed endless hours on the phone & the road (the two things that brought us closest together during those 4 months apart).

We know we're lucky. Not many people see summers like that ever. Even fewer get to see their little budding relationships blossom in such an ideal setting.

But we did.

We were spoiled.

And now we're paying for it.

The "downer days" set in about two weeks ago.

Every day seemed the same—work, work, work, work, with an occasional jaunt to the gym, the pool, or the mountains in search of the one thing we'd found to keep us sane...endorphins.

Unfortunately those wear off rather quickly and one day I just lost it. I felt caged in our little apartment...trapped by work...and helpless to stop each day that brought me closer to a frighteningly full fall semester that I have yet to figure out how to survive.

Don't get me wrong...we are SO happy! Our days are full with each other and we know how blessed we are to have these lazy summer days together before school starts up. But we are also both little bundles of energy that cannot be stilled. We have to keep busy and feel as though we're accomplishing things or else we go nuts! Hence my little "moment."

I expressed to Parker my distaste for "grown-up" summers. How I realized that we did need to grow up and accept the responsibility that comes with marriage but that, in my mind, that didn't necessarily mean we were condemned to live in monotony. Parker agreed 100%...told me how desperately he needed a vacation...a change of scenery...kind of like my little houseboat jaunt (how quickly I forgot these things J).

And that was that. With both our minds set to "mix things up," we started to plan.

To us, summer means sun, swimming, and spending time with people who mean more to you than the last days of freedom you have before reality sets in.

So we thought...where can we go to see the sun, cool off in the water, and escape reality with people we love?

The answer:

Sunny SoCal

Our justification for such a jaunt:

a best friends' wedding, vegas buddies, awesome cousins, my siblings, my parents, and the

happiest place on earth.

Now tack this on to a few spur of the moment boating trips, the possibility of a couple's trip to Lake Powell, Girls' Camp & all the i-street visits and Sunday game nights you could ask for and you have a SUMMER!

I can't wait for our August to unfold JJJ