Still Here! May GBOMB

May was so busy and so crazy and so fun! We had two weeks of vacation mapped out and ended up leaving a whole week earlier than planned. Which meant more time with family but there were lots of things I was planning on doing that ended up NOT happening (like having posts ready to go on the blog) because we boogied out of town so fast! But we really did have a great time! Here’s my May GBOMB:

Good

• Ben finished his first year of his Master’s Program! And with it he said, “Everyone should do a Master’s because it goes by so quick!” It really has flown by–he’s half way done 🙂
• We got to see so much family during our trip! We saw ALL of mine and Ben’s siblings, almost all nieces and nephews (including all 3 of my new nieces!) and a really good amount of cousins, aunts and uncles.
• Along with seeing so many people, we were able to do so many things. Seriously those three weeks were jam packed! We went hiking, toured a candy factory, visited 3 temples, played at several parks, went shopping, went swimming…the list could go on and on.
• Well it’s probably chubby of me to say so but one of my favorite things about visiting places I’ve lived is that I can go back to the restaurants I miss! On this trip Ben and I were shamelessly able to return to our favorite food venues, as well as discover new favorites. In case anyone’s curious, we stopped at El Rancho in Rexburg, ID (seriously some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had), Reed’s Dairy in Idaho Falls (hands down my #1 ice cream place ever…which is saying something cause I’ve eaten it all ;), New China Buffet in Twin Falls, ID (this one is more about tradition than it is about killer food but it does have really good Chinese foods and I often find myself craving their crab rangoons), and Don Joaquin Tacos in Springville, UT (taco Tuesdays!). We also went to Leatherby’s Creamery which I had been to once before but it was good to remember just how yummy that place is! Ben loved it too and I think it’s safe to say that it’s permanently on our Must Visit list when we head up North. Another new and delicious discovery was Rowley’s Red Barn in Santaquin, UT, specifically their Apple Cider Slush A La Mode (with vanilla soft serve). It. Was. So. Good. And now you all can judge me because I just wrote a monstrously huge bullet point on FOOD…
• I felt like our vacay was just what I needed to switch things up and get out of the rut I didn’t know I was in. Before the break my days were pretty standard and, honestly, I was stuck on doing certain things just because I always did those certain things (hello, Show On Netflix That I Don’t Even Care About!). Having three weeks of no real schedule was so refreshing! I think I just needed the reminder do things differently from time to time!
• I went to Nordstrom Rack with the sisters and got an insane deal on some really nice jeans:)

Bad

• We saw so many friends and family we wanted to see but we also had so many friends and family that we DIDN’T get to see.
• As you can imagine, three weeks of straight vacay has left us verrrrry tired!
• I never got my Hokulia shaved ice!

On My Brain

• While staying with Ben’s mom, we were able to see a couple of really cool log homes. And then with Ben’s sister we went to a few houses in Twin Falls’ Parade of Homes. Both these things got me daydreaming and discussing with Ben the features we hope our home has someday. In all reality, we won’t be in the market to buy a house for like 10 years, but even so, it’s fun to dream (bring on the rotating shoe rack and the secret entrance pantry;)!
• I’ve been trying to think of things to keep us busy this summer! Ben will still be teaching and working on his thesis but I think he’ll have a lot more free time than normal. Flagstaff is (surprisingly? I don’t know, I don’t really understand it) extremely touristy so lots of the local activities cost money. It’s also not very kid friendly which makes coming up with summer activities pretty difficult. Any ideas?
• Well, I’m just now thinking that I’m wearing the same shirt in all these pictures even though most of them occurred on different days. I need to go shopping.