Friends and Raspberries and Bon Fires

Remember when June and I went to Oregon last summer to see our friends? This summer it was their turn and they came here to visit us!

A little background for those who don't know- Rebecca and I served together in Armenia for our LDS missions. We were companions twice and we always got along great and have remained close friends ever since. The best part is that they have two boys and they are pretty much the same ages as our girls. It's fun. Her husband's name is Max and her oldest boy is Charlie and the baby is Miles.

 So after Buck and Hazel and I celebrated our anniversary we met up with our friends at the curiosity museum. Everyone did a lot of exploring but apparently these were the only photos I could manage to take.

The rest of the day we hung around at our house. June and Charlie started learning how to play together so that when they are 25 years old they can get married. She'll thank me later for the arranged marriage. I'm saving her a lot of dating woes, right?

That night there was a huge thunderstorm but Rebecca and I spontaneously ventured into it and drove up to the Armenian store in Salt Lake City. It was fun to stumbled over our Armenian together and try to decide which sweets to buy. Made me want to go back to Armenia RIGHT NOW.

Anyway... The next day, Saturday, we all went raspberry picking! This is an annual tradition for us and we go to the same place every year. It's fun to have June fully engaged in the activity now. This year they also had golden raspberries too, which I didn't know existed. We made raspberry milk shakes the next day. Yummmmm

That evening we trekked up the canyon and made dinner and dessert on a fire. It was the perfect night.

Sunday we all went to church.

And then we made an Armenian feast! I was really happy with how all the food turned out. We had three other friends come over for dinner that we also served with in Armenia.  It was a highlight, eating good food with the best company. We had dolma, cucumber and tomato "salad," flavorful cheese, lavash (flat bread,) eggplant caviar, and apricot juice. For dessert we had spearmint and cherry tea, waffers and candy.

Monday Buck had to go back to work but the rest of us ventured to the Bean Museum on BYU campus. It's a museum of a bunch of taxidermy animals.  So, like a dead zoo. But hey, it's free and the kids enjoyed running around like psycho paths.

Then we made dinner altogether. Afterwards I was like, "Buck, do the dishes" and Max and Rebecca were like, "Your marriage is on the rocks, go have a little date." So we did. We got some frozen yogurt. And it was great to have some time alone!

Tuesday was their last day. We spent the day hanging around and taking it easy and making sure the kids bonded, you know. For the sake of their futures.

There were more storms. Always storms this month! But while this cloud was behind me...

This was in front of me.

Thank you for coming to visit us guys! From companions to friends to devoted blog commenters to our children's' future in laws.  We pretty much have it all. We had so much fun and we are grateful to have such great people in our lives. We'll see you next time in Oregon. :)

Anniversary Celebrations

I was being kind of sulky this year when it came time to plan our anniversary. I wanted some time alone with Buck, dang it! But I knew that it wasn't going to work because Hazel just Will. Not. Take. A. Bottle. So there were some days when I wanted to be sad and throw my hands in the air exclaiming that there would be no get-away this year.

But it's okay because I finally came back around and remembered that I don't want circumstances to control everything, and that I can still have fun and live no matter what. I know, I'm so motivational. But whatever, I motivated myself and I'm glad I got out of my sorry-for-myself mood because it ended up being the perfect four year anniversary. With Hazel.

My wonderful friend Emily volunteered to take June over night, so I let her. So first Buck and Hazel and I went to eat at Olive Garden. Which is weird because we normally don't go there but it was good!

Then Buck whisked me away for our romantic evening... with Hazel. ha. We went to a bed and breakfast here in town that has only been around a year. They have some themed rooms and we stayed in the Cancun room. There was a hammock and sand and real birds! It was fun and felt like we were at least not in American Fork. We spent time with Hazel relaxing and watching a show. Once Hazel went to bed we were able to read our "Anna and Buck journals" and I finally got to show Buck the song I made for him. So it was good. It was so good to just talk and spend some time together in a relaxed state.

The next morning we slept in till 10:30!! This is so weird for me, I haven't done that for like 8 years! I thought for sure my phone was broken. That or maybe we had traveled back in time and it was 10:30 at night. I would have believed that before believing that I could sleep in like that. So, hey, Happy anniversary to us!

Also, I had a great hair day. That deserves to be documented, right? 

 Then for our activity we went to a small glass blowing class. (we have a tradition to do something every anniversary that we have never before done together.) We made a candy dish that I am now obsessed with. And also not Buck wants to learn to be a glass blower. So it was a win.

Our candy dish

Goals make my world go round. If I didn't have these goals of having an over nighter and a new activity every anniversary I would have given up. So I'm grateful for traditions, even if they are new. And I'm grateful for a fun anniversary. Next year is year FIVE and you better believe I've already started planning it. No matter what kid has to come along. ;)

If you're curious, here are the activities we've done each year:

Year One- Ride a roller coaster together

Year Two- Go camping together

Year Three- Go horse back riding