PROVO

Well, we've been back to real life now for almost a week and I'm still only half way back into the swing of things.  Two weeks away can totally throw a person off!  There were bills to pay, laundry to be done, car things to be taken care of, and church responsibilities on the side.  The works.  And Dave started his new job on Wednesday!  He's pretty darn excited about it and he looked quite dapper yesterday on his way to his first day back to the grind:

But back to our last week of freedom.  Honestly, we need to ask for the month of August off mmm...every year.  We had so much fun running around the west coast and being with all our favorite people.

**Be warned: this post is full of photo documentation.

The first week we were in Utah we were up at our cabin in Midway, but the second week we were back down in Provo.  We spent a few night at David's brother house and the rest of the week at David's parent's house while my in-laws were in Canada with Dave's other brother.  We were sad that they were gone for one of the few times we're actually up in Utah (for a whole week), but so it was...and, on the bright side, it did free us up to hang out with some of our other favorite people:

We hung out with some configuration of this group of ladies every night we were there.  Talk about fun times.  I haven't spent this much time with these girls in over a year and we sure miss them (oh, and their husbands too ;)

We also spent more time with this cutest nephew of ours.  Geez, they grow up soooo fast when you're not watching.  I swear he was just a tiny baby yesterday.

Half the fun of coming to Utah is all the cutest nieces and nephews we get to smother.   

We bit the bullet (per my request) and hiked the Y.

Last time I confronted that mountain I was a brand spankin' new cougar freshman and, due to my lack of proper footwear, I ended up with one of my toenails falling off...I was better prepared this time round.

It's a fairly intense hike (yes we stopped at every one of those 11 switchbacks), and it was actually sprinkling on us the whole way up - which did feel pretty nice.  But that view is worth it, and of course, sitting on the Y is too fun.  Plus we had the best hiking buddies, so we weren't complaining.

We spent one Utah summer night sitting on a blanket listening to a country cover band in the park, taking silly pictures on my phone, and playing volleyball with one of my girlfriend's single's ward (my arms were SO sore afterwards - I'm definitely out of practice).  Then we picked up and went to a free outdoor movie in another park, grabbing a Little Caesar's 5buck for dinner.  If there is any more quintessential Utah summer night from my time in college, I don't know what it would be.

We, of course, made it up Salt Lake one day and made the rounds of Temple Square and one of our favorite SLC eateries.  It was a full, summer rainstormy kind of afternoon.

Have I raved about Bruges Waffles & Frites around here yet?  I'm sure I have.  We're pretty much smitten and I'm still in the works of coming up with some kind of copycat recipe, but oh boy...these are our favorite.  We tried "The Monster" this time round: one waffle cut in half with strawberries, ice cream, and our favorite speculoos spread in the middle.  We force ourselves to share just one, but...you know I could eat my own, no problem.

We spent one after work evening (darn jobs get in the way of all our fun) with our best friends BBQing and watching the sunset from Dave's other brother's house *cough*cough* and fabulous backyard.

The boys did most of the swimming, and the ladies did a lot of chatting, it was a lovely time and Scott and Anj were so kind to let us commandeer their backyard and their little girls.

We, of course, had to hit up Jdawgs while in Provo.  I like hotdogs as much as the next person, but I only ever crave a Jdawg.  That special sauce?  Oh baby.  Gimme some of that goodness.

We also attempted floating the Provo River with our friend Steve.  I was under the impression that it would take an hour or so, and...two and half hours later we started back home.  We floated on our own tubes, which is fine, but apparently it's illegal to float the river without life jackets on.  Who knew?  Now we do.  Anyways we got tipped off that a sheriff was downriver from us ticketing such un-jacketed individuals as ourselves.  So, logically, we scrambled up a steep, dirty, wasp and spider cover slope and walked barefoot for the last quarter mile left on the railroad tracks (probably another misdemeanor) back to our car.  Oh, the memories.  Somehow, none of us got a splinter, or a ticket!  So, I guess we were somewhat successful.

And we didn't see a single policeman the whole way back.  Better safe than sorry I guess...(grumble, grumble)

 We have a new and profound appreciation for shoes after this...

And those are smiles of sore, sore feet.

 We dug up a scooter in Dave's parent's garage and of course had to give it a go.  Those things are so fun (when you remember how to brake...).

And, last, but not least, one of the funnest reasons for being up in Utah this week was being able to go to one of my sweetest girlfriend's weddings!  She was the most beautiful bride, and we had such a fun time being there with them to celebrate. 

My family was also up in Salt Lake for the afternoon, so after we went to the temple we spent some time with them wandering downtown and spending time with my Grandma Tobler.  She moved up to Utah right when we left for California.  Terrible timing.  It would have been so fun to spend some time together in the same state for a while.

And, of course, the reception that night was a ball.  I'm all over those sparklers, and I love that picture of the bride and groom running off holding hands.  So, so fun.  Gosh I love weddings.

And that was a wrap.  We left for home the next morning caravaning down to California with my parents.

Oh Utah.  We had so much fun these past two weeks.  I'll work on getting August off again next year so we can repeat this :)