Caroline's Baby Shower

last week I threw a baby shower for one of my very favorite people - Caroline! she is having a baby in January and doesn't know what she is having yet. but we all wanted to get together for party before both she and I move away from Provo! 

i love throwing parties, so an excuse to have one is always a treat for me. 

looking radiant and cute pregnant!

the menu: oven-roasted tomato caprese salad, creamy hot artichoke dip and chips, glazed asian meatballs, macarons, summer berry trifle, and cupcakes!

 ellen, caroline, and I. it was a great party! so fun to celebrate together :)

Best Friends Trip 2013

a few weeks ago my best friends and I all went on a little reunion trip to Jessica's parent's ranch in Coarsegold, CA (just outside of Yosemite). i feel like the luckiest girl around to have made such great friends at BYU. we all still keep in touch and it feels like we picked up right where we left off whenever we are together. i'm so grateful to have them all in my life! the trip was filled with tons of quality girl talk, good food, seeing country life on the ranch, and laughing until we cried.

there was a lot of hanging out by the pool and hot tubing at night. 

we all got to ride horses around Jess' ranch! it was amazing!

one night we had a surprise baby shower for Caroline!

one night we sang karaoke at the town's local bar - Alfanso's. hilarious! i have a new-found appreciation for all country songs about local small town bars now. 

absolutely gorgeous!

can we talk about their house for a minute? honestly a dream home.

the Veaters were so kind and treated us to a special dinner one of the nights!

 getting ice cream at the frosty.

antiquing in town!

 and of course we had to recreate some of pictures from freshman year... i don't even know...

i love all these ladies way too much! i need them in my life on a more regular basis. such a fun trip! thank you Veaters for hosting!

Sunday Dinners

While we've lived in Provo the past almost 2 years we've been lucky enough to have Nate's siblings Mike and Emily and my brother Wade here too! Almost every Sunday we get together with everyone for a Sunday feast. It has made for such great memories. Mike just left for optometry school in Houston, Wade is leaving on his mission to Brazil next week, Emily and Richard are moving to the Bay Area, and we are moving back to San Diego at the end of the month - so everyone is parting ways and moving on! But we are all glad we got to hang out so much while we were together. Scotty loves his aunts and uncles and loved getting all their attention every week. We will miss being so close to everyone! But we're excited about all the adventures everyone has in store.

Sunday dinners often concluded with walks around BYU campus... 

 And feeding the ducks! You have to be more creative with what to feed ducks when you eat gluten-free. No way I am feeding $7 loaves of bread to ducks. We'd like to think we expanded their palates with brown rice tortillas and corn chips.

Whitt Family in Provo

Last month my Mom came in town for a few days! It was such a treat to have her and we all had a great time. Wade is still at BYU for summer semester (leaving on his mission next week!) so she came in town to hang out with us and help Wade take care of a few things before his mission. Coincidentally my older brother and his family were in town the weekend my Mom was here too! So we had a little Whitt reunion of sorts. Ken is Scott's only cousin on my side of the family. I'm happy they got to meet

My brothers and I! We won't get another picture like this for at least a few years!

Reading books with Grandma. Scott loves my Mom and calls her both Grandma and the name he gave her when he couldn't pronounce her name "Gah".  One night she was putting Scott to bed and lifted him up and said "You're a really big boy!" Scott replied - "You're a really big Gah!" Such a silly boy.

The 4th of July in Provo!

We had a wonderful of July this year! Provo really knows how to do it when it comes to the 4th. The whole time we have lived here we haven't been to the 4th of July morning parade. Nate went over at 4am to camp out a spot and got lucky with a great one right on University!

Another event of note is that Nate had a beard for awhile. I loved it! I like him without it too. It's  just fun to switch it up once and awhile.

Scott absolutely loved the parade! He waved at all the "princesses", danced to the marching bands, got excited about the horses, and loved the free stuff they threw out. 

Nate's Mom came in town for the 4th of July which was really fun! Emily, Mike and Richard's Mom all joined us for the parade. 

Later that afternoon we all met up at the Beans for an awesome BBQ! I am still dreaming of the farm stand corn on the cob, watermelon, and cantaloupe we had. Not to mention steak and homemade ice cream!

After dinner we lit off some fireworks in the street while waiting for it to get dark enough for Stadium of Fire. Nate loves lighting home fireworks since he never got to do them as a kid in California. So fun!

Nate's office is right near the stadium so just like last year we camped out in the parking lot to watch fireworks. The Beans, Mike, Emily, Nate's Mom, Wade, and the McKells all joined us!

Scott was more scared of the fireworks this year than last year! Last year he just got really quiet and watched them. He was slightly terrified this year. Luckily he got used to it about halfway through the show.