Our Ultimate Life: Best. Summer. Ever.

It's been the best summer ever. My summer was completely made this last week. Gabe and Alex camped at Redfish for the weekend. After they found a campsite Friday, Gabe called and said there was a spot for a tent if we wanted it. I brought it up to Justin, and an hour and a half later we were on the road! We got to the site at 7:30 Friday night with just enough light to get the tent set up, beds put together, and the hot dogs on the grill for dinner. It was DIRTY. And there wasn't a tent pad so thank goodness the kids had their pack-n-plays and we had our cots. The kids didn't end up using their beds because it was too dang cold. It got down into the 30's that night and Emmett cuddled with me (after waking up at midnight crying, "cold Mommy") and Logan cuddled with Justin. I didn't sleep a wink but I knew Emmett was warm and he was sleeping so... I just leaned in. Justin got up with Logan at 6:30 - they went into Stanley for some hot chocolate and came back to share. Emmett was up at 7:00 and it was still FREEZING and the sun wasn't up yet. So we went for a drive around the campsites at Redfish to find a flushing toilet for Emmett and myself. Alex made us a plate of bacon and potatoes and Gabe made pancakes. They headed to the hot pots and we stayed behind to let the kids dig in the dirt and pack up our stuff. At 10:30 we left to find a parking spot at the lake. Justin took Emmett for a hike while I stayed in the car with Logan reading "The Nightingale" while he took a quick morning nap. We swam with the kids from 11-2:30. My parents even came up to have lunch with us and see Gabe and Alex. Emmett and I joined the big kids on a paddle boat with Spencer, Benett, and Logan. We got an ice cream cone, the kids played in the sand, Emmett tried catching fish with a net, and it was the most perfect, sunny, cloudless, ZERO WIND, day. It was pure bliss and I loved every minute.

On Thursday we took the kids to the KOA in town and swam at the pool for an hour and a half. The KOA had an ice cream social for $1/scoop so we enjoyed that treat on our way out.

On Sunday, Justin and I celebrated SEVEN years of marriage with fasting all day long. 🤣After putting kids to bed, we enjoyed a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and a riveting game of Phase10. It was probably one of my favorite anniversaries yet. Why do we feel like we need to do a "thing" every year? Is it beause everyone else is doing it, so we feel like we need to? Not interested. I thoroughly enjoyed rewatching our wedding video together, spending some quality time eating and playing a game, and watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (one of our favs).

Every Labor Day when we had our house in Washington we did some "project" - it was either painting, or landscaping...whatever. This year, we did absolutely nothing. It was great - at the end of the day we ate at the Drive In and I finished the day balancing the budget and writing my blog #adulting. This has been the best summer of my life - living in Arco has been total bliss. We are so lucky to be here - I'm going to miss it.

showing Emmett the racoon we caught that did TOTAL damage to my mom's corn. I've never seen anything like it! In a matter of just a few nights it completely wiped out the crop of corn. That stuff is literally gold to my mom. She's handling it quite well I must say.