Weekend Happs-weekend in St. George with the family

My grandparents have lived in St. George forever. My mom grew up there, but even before then my family has been there. I used to go down quite often to visit. For some reason, I haven't been down as much the past couple of years. 

My parents were in town visiting for the week so I went down for the weekend to spend time with them and other family. 

I drove down on Thursday afternoon. I got there in time to meet them for a quick dinner before seeing MAMA MIA! At Tuacahn. The scenery is absolutely beautiful, and it such a nice night. The play was so good. The singing and dancing was great, and it was the perfect evening.

My dad and I hiked around the red hill on Friday morning. It's almost more of a walk than a hike. I love gettting on top and looking out over the whole city. It always amazes me how different the landscape is just a few hours away.

We had a family lunch on Friday. My aunt and uncle came over on their lunch break, and we got to visit with them. My mom looks a lot like her siblings.

We went to the rodeo on Friday evening. It was another nice night and fun to be outside. My favorite part is always the little kids. They are so cute to watch.

My mom, dad, and Malea went to breakfast on Saturday morning before my dad and grandpa left for sightseeing. My mom and I went for a walk, spend some time with grandma, and did a little shopping.

My mom, grandpa, and I went back to Tuacahn to see Newsies. It is such a great venue, and the play was really good. I would be happy seeing almost anything there because of the amazing venue.

Sunday we went to church, had dinner, and I drove home. It was really nice to spend the weekend with family. I don't get to see them nearly as often as I would like so I am always happy for time with them.

unblogged bloggable-Vocanas come to town

Chelsea and Jeff and their kids came to Utah this summer for a family reunion with the Vocana's at Bear Lake and stayed a few days after. They don't come here very often, and it was so fun to have them here. 

The Vocana's are so nice to include me in their family activities. They got to Bear Lake on Saturday afternoon, and drove up and met them on Saturday evening. By the time I got there, it was getting close to bedtime.

We went to church on Sunday morning. On the way back to the cabin, they got a flat tire. They got it changed and we went back to the cabin. We swam and hung out and had a good time.

We planned to go to the lake on Monday, but the weather wasn't very good. We ended up playing mini golf, getting milkshakes, and hanging out at the cabin. I left in the late afternoon to go home.

They stayed at the cabin for a few more days. They came down to Salt Lake for another few days. We met downtown at City Creek for lunch and Temple Square. They got another flat tire that afternoon. Luckily they were in the parking lot and not driving. A tow truck came and took care of the car while I took everyone else to have dinner at Celsey's house. Nettie came over with her kids. We had a good time visiting and swimming. The kids all got along well and had fun.

We met up with a few of Chelsea's friends, took the kids to Thanksgiving point, had a BBQ, and spent some time at the house. I loved having them in town this summer and wish they lived closer.

Beauty Time Thursday-August empties

i emptied several staple items this month. some of these are favorite items and others i probably won't replace.

indie dry shampoo-not my favorite

amika hairspray-love love love-it smells so good and has the perfect amount of hold

target gentle skin cleanser-my go to face wash

redken 32 hairspray-a little too strong hold

bath and body works foaming hand soap-always use

dove white soap-always use

stila stay all day foundation-loved at first, got bored and switched, went back and emptied it and still really like it

bath and body works lotion-love

bobbi brown concealer duo-the concealer was a little too heavy. it ran out months ago and i didn't replace. the pressed powder to set the concealer is amazing.

intuition razor-love

clinique chubby lash and lash lengthening mascara-2 of my faves

i have a few new beauty products to try and report back on soon. stay tuned!

blogging the bach..in paradise-2 weeks left

For the first week this season, I am mostly caught up. I watched both episodes last week. Even with watching last week, it still takes me a few minutes to remember exactly what's going on.

We missed the first couple of minutes in which Blake showed up with a date card. He has a little bit of a hard time finding a date. While he is trying to find a date, Fred shows up. It seems like Fred hit the gym after Rachel sent him home. Blake, Christin, Fred, and Dominique go on a double date in the ocean. Christin is one mess after another, and things aren't going well for them.

Back at home, everyone is kissing everyone. No one else is coming so the date card goes to someone currently there. Robby and Amanda go on a date and finally seem like more of a couple. 

Everyone comes back and it's almost time for an unexpected rose ceremony. Ben Z leaves to go home to his dog and a few others start scrambling to secure a rose-mostly christin's rose. the dean/d lo/kristina drama finally blows up.

lacey-daniel
taylor-derek
amanda-robby
raven-adam
dominique-diggy
jazmine-tickle monster
christen-jack stone
kristina-leaves
d lo-dean

One Little Word-September

Time is flying. The end.

via she's just smitten

my overall goal and theme for the year is EMBRACE even though my monthly goals don't always match that theme.

YEARLY GOALS

*nightly gratitude journal-better-i'm still using my commit 30 planner, and that works well

*do something that scares me/pushes me out of my comfort zone-i've felt out of my comfort zone multiple times lately. none of it was necessarily on purpose.

*attend temple 12 times-i didn't make it in august, but i did go on september 2

*monthly journal-still need to catch up

*csatt/fitness goals-there wasn't a current csatt challenge in august. i went back to a csatt challenge from last summer. i did pretty well getting the workouts in. at the time i felt like i was doing pretty well with nutrition, but now looking back i could have done better.

AUGUST GOALS
*spending/shopping freeze-i obviously can't completely freeze spending, but i'm freezing all unnecessary spending. after a few days, it's good for me to pay better attention to how i spend my money.-i did ok not purchasing a few things that came up, but i did make a few exceptions. overall i still felt like i spent more money than i wanted to.
*SLEEP-11:00 bedtime or earlier. there is always an excuse to stay up late, but i want to make it a priority this month and hopefully continue-i did pretty well. i was in bed close to 11:00 most nights.
*meditate/de-stress-work has been getting to me lately. i have made a lot of progress with managing stress in most areas of my life, but i have a hard time using those strategies with work. i want to find an app to use for some simple meditation.-rather than finding a meditation app, i started using the breathe feature of my watch more frequently. i use it nightly right before going to bed.
*the kissmybrave girls started our own fitness challenge this month. we are all doing our own thing for workouts, but the main idea is supporting each other and being more accountable to each other to stick to our goals. after a few days, everyone is doing so well. and i'm so excited.-i did the workouts and overall did ok with nutrition, but i need to step it up even more.

SEPTEMBER GOALS
*read gifts of imperfection or loving what is
*continue breathe on phone before bed
*open car savings-i paid off my car last month, and now i get to start paying myself
*re-focus on health/fitness goals

the year is flying by at rapid speed. before we know it we will be thinking about goals for net year. overall this year is going well, and i am excited to continue to embrace this season of my life.