4th of July & Visitors!

Ben and I had been looking forward to the 4th for quite a while this year. First, his parents were planning on coming out to visit (we all know how much I love visitors :)! Second, America + red, white, and blue + time off of work! All of that good stuff.

I'm happy to report that this past weekend did not disappoint. We busted out our patriotic colors, went gallivanting around the city, and enjoyed some great firework displays. America, we sure do love you.

 

^^Old Courthouse downtown and the Arch in the background^^

^^The Old Courthouse gets dressed up with flags each 4th of July and it's so fun to go see!^^

 ^^My cute in-laws & Ben and I. (Side note: the Arch is so big that sometimes it's hard to get the whole thing in pictures!)^^

^^Thomas Jefferson. My very favorite part of the Missouri History Museum.^^

^^Watched fireworks from the top of a parking garage by our apartment with this cute guy. One of those moments in life that you want to bottle up and save for for the future. :)^^

^^A room in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. (Learned that there are 41.5 million tiles in the basilica! Crazy!)^^

^^The crowd at Fair St. Louis waiting for The Fray concert and fireworks. SO. Many. People. This picture doesn't even do it justice.^^

Not pictured:

a million other activities and places, fun restaurants, and the many miles we walked around the city

We sure love our family & our country!

camping, utah, and such.

I've had pictures from the last month that I've been meaning to post, but life gets busy.  :)  Now commencing, Operation Blog Catch-Up.

Our friends, Braden and Whitney, invited us to go camping about a month ago.  Of course we had to jump on that opportunity since we had never been camping together before, and I had been dying for some s'mores.  We drove about 2 hours south of St. Louis and ended up camping next to the prettiest little river.  We set up the tents, got our s'mores fix, and stayed up too late talking around the campfire.

We spent the next day playing in and climbing over all the pools and rocks (as you can see Ben and Braden doing so in the left picture), and swimming in the river.  Admittedly, it was the first time I stopped and realized that I actually think Missouri has some beautiful spots.   It felt like I was emotionally cheating on Utah...aaaand then we drove back to St. Louis and my heart was recommitted to Utah.

Birthdays are best when you get to request special cakes and summer night walks.  (Also, turning 21 doesn't mean much when you're Mormon. #youngwildandfree #butnotsowild.)

It was probably a good thing that my heart finally settled on Utah after our camping trip, seeing as we flew out to Utah the next week.  We went for my best friend's wedding, a family reunion in Idaho, and just to spend time with my family.  It was fabulous! (Minus having a dead camera battery and no charger for the whole trip.)

I stole this group picture off of Facebook from a stranger.  It's whatever.  Also, I'd like to point out that this is probably the first time I've ever looked semi-tan in a picture.  Can we all just soak it in for a minute?  Okay, thanks.

(Note:  This steakhouse is the coolest place ever.  They bring your meat out to you on a hot stone and you cook your meat as you cut off pieces!  Food and entertainment. :)

We look like babies in this picture, but what can you expect after spending all day at the pool in the hot sun? :)

Until next time, Utah!

4th of july sale.

Guys, Forever21 is having a Fourth of July sale that I just can't stay away from.

 

After searching their website for something modest, I finally found these two tops.  And guess what?  It's only going to cost me $24 (yay for free shipping!).  Enter FREESHIP21 when you're checking out, and you'll make your bank account a little bit happier.

Happy (early) 4th of July!  We're starting off the holiday early this evening with a picnic and a local play.