Summerizing

For me, summer has always been the most wonderful time of the year. When I think about my childhood, it's as if the whole thing took place in the summer. Night games in the backyard, sleepovers on the trampoline, catching fireflies in my swim suit, and having ice cream on the porch for every meal. All good things, but the family road trips were the best of all. My favorite family memories come from our summer travels, and that's why I'm so glad that I have Neil! He approved each and every summer adventure that I had mapped out on the calendar by March, and he even let me include a "doughnuts" column in our budget for each trip. We had six weeks of summer and so we took six trips. I'm all about collecting moments instead of things, and so here are the best moments I collected during each of our summer highlights. 

Utah

• Lauren spilling salsa all over her white dress after I suggested eating Costa Vida on the way to the wedding. Neil tried to warn us.
• Getting to read the letters sent me from her mission about Spencer at her rehearsal dinner. I'd kept them for just such an occasion. 
• Dancing with all five of my sisters at the wedding. 
• Having the Brown family and the Webb family together for a day at the lake.
• Running all over the state of Utah to see our friends. We miss them. 

Knott's Berry Farm

• Making friends with little kids in the line for the Silver Bullet. They asked us to sit by them and they helped me not be as scared.
• Riding our favorite wooden roller coaster (Ghost Rider) at night and seeing fireworks from the top. 
• Running madly all the way across the park so that we could ride the Silver Bullet one last time before the park closed. It worked! 

Venice Beach/Santa Monica

• Finding a shop on the boardwalk with delicious mini fried doughnuts. 
• Riding bicycles down the boardwalk to Santa Monica pier. 
• Watching street performers for longer than expected.
• Being content to hear the waves crash against the rocks. 

Seattle

• When we first got to our treehouse and Neil kept saying "This is so weird. This is so weird." because he couldn't handle living like a hippie.
• The bookstore owner in Pike's Place who narrated our life for us every time we walked into his shop.
• Obsessing over the baby otters at the aquarium.
• Lying down in the middle of the floor in the Chihuly glass house and looking up at the Space Needle.
• Meeting up with my childhood friend from Virginia and exploring together.
• Watching Neil go WAY out of his way to help someone who had crashed on their bike downtown. 
• Going to a park that was recommended to us by our new Irish friend and walking through the trees next to the water. The fact that some people were swimming in the sea and Neil was wearing about 13 layers of clothes because he was cold, and I loved him so much.

 San Diego

• Hanging 25 wishes on the bushes for my 25th birthday.
• Riding a roller coaster on the beach at night because I said, "We should ride that the next time we're here," and Neil said, "Why not ride it now?"
• Seeing all of the doughnuts lined up perfectly at the Donut Bar AKA heaven.
• When I realized that we were going whale watching on our way to the harbor.
• The first time a pod of dolphins surrounded our boat and were leaping around us. 
• When I finally saw a whale's tail come up out of the water and then every time after when it was just as surreal as the first.

Universal Studios/Newport Beach

• Entering the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time with the person who loves Harry Potter more than anyone else on this earth. 
• Getting off of the Forbidden Journey ride and then getting right back on again.
• When we started chanting "Life finds a way" on the Jurassic Park ride. 
• Riding the kid rides in Super Silly Fun Land at night when they were all lit up and pretty.
• Doing yoga on the beach with my sisters.
• Swimming and laughing in the ocean for hours. 
• Having Abbie come all the way back to Yuma with me just to make milkshakes, watch movies, and go to my favorite doughnut shop with me. I have the best sisters. 

I took a couple of other short trips without Neil, but life is always better and more real when he's with me. School is back in full swing, but lucky for us, it will be swimsuit weather and road trip season all year long. 

Border Life Vibes: What I Like About My Address

It has been more than a year since my husband and I packed up a moving van and relocated to Southern Arizona. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Before we graduated from Utah State and got married, we both hoped to move somewhere bigger than our college town, and I'd done extensive research on school districts in places like Seattle and Washington D.C. Neil even flew to Denver to lock up a job we thought was in the bag. Ultimately, though, we were both praying we'd end up where we were the most needed. Enter Yuma, Arizona. Neither Neil nor I had ever been to Yuma or anywhere like it. All of my preconceived notions about what Yuma would be like came from the Disney movie McFarland, USA (which turned out to be fairly accurate, actually). We didn't know what we were doing, but we knew it was right, so we jumped.

Yuma is nothing like the artsy and vibrant cities I'd had my heart set on, It has been harder than I thought it would be to live far away from family and friends, especially in a place that no one wants to visit. (We DO have a guest room, though!) Despite these drawbacks, we have made a home that we love here in the desert. Here are the 10 things I love most about where we live.

10. Hidden Charms

I come from a town that does NOT have a charming main street. (cough Layton cough worst main street ever cough). Yuma's downtown area is small, but is has a surprising number of boutiques, art studios, bookstores, and antique shops. Oh, and an old wedding chapel.

9. The Colorado River

The only thing separating our town from the Golden State is the mighty Colorado. We like taking our tubes down the river and admiring the Ocean to Ocean bridge.

8. Temple Trips

Our nearest temple is the San Diego temple, which is almost three hours away. This has turned out to be a blessing, I think. We have to plan ahead and sacrifice other outings to make it to the temple, and the drive there and back makes for more quality time together. Plus...it's the San Diego temple. The temple that all other temples aspire to be. We also have three gorgeous temples in the Phoenix area, which is about the same distance away.

7. Dog Friendliness

It was SO easy for us to find a pet-friendly apartment when we moved here. In fact, I don't know of any housing here that doesn't allow pets. Plus, we have a great big fantastic dog park in Yuma and Charlie loves it. The local pools even have Woof Splash days where you can bring your dog swimming. Our dog doesn't like swimming, but I've heard stories. She does like the Original Dog Beach, which is in San Diego, one of the most dog-friendly cities in the US of A.

6. Community

Yuma is big on community events and there is something going on every weekend. We've got Quincenera Expos, Jazz nights, outdoor movies, and a parade every five seconds.  We're still trying to figure out why.

5. Mexican Food

We try out a new restaurant every Friday, and we still haven't hit them all. Plus, the food FESTIVALS. This town has major taco festivals, tamale festivals, and most importantly, Yuma Lettuce Days. (Did you know that Yuma is the Lettuce capital of the world? Next time you eat a salad in the winter, thank a Yuman.)

4. Mexico Itself

We live ten miles from the border. This means that sometimes my colleagues and I can take a trip to Mexico for churros after work. It also means that, if we want, we can get incredibly cheap dental work done.

3. Proximity to the Ocean

I have wanted to live next to the ocean my whole life. I hope we move even closer someday, but we'rve made a lot of progress compared to Logan, Utah. We've spent almost as many weekends in California as we have in Arizona.

2. Educator Life

We love our jobs. We feel purposeful and needed. I teach the greatest group of kids, and I love that Neil landed in education as well, because now it feels like we are working towards the same goals. I love that Neil has learned all the educator jargon and that he cares so much about doing what's best for the students here.

1. Endless Summer

My number one favorite thing about where we live is that we have not had to scrape ice off of our cars for a solid year. Yuma is the sunniest habitable place on earth. Seriously! We have 364 days of sun a year. People back at home are like, "Don't you miss the seasons?" and I'm like "Sort of, but I'm about to jump into the pool, so can we talk about this later?"

Arizona is our adventure for now. For our next trick, we'd love to live in Seattle. Or London. Or New Zealand. I don't sit still for long, and I love that Neil is willing to dream big with me.

Yesterday I said to him, "Neil, I want to teach at the United Nations International School."

And he said, "That's in New York City."

And I said, "We could move there."

And he said, "That's true. We could."

The world has too much to offer to stay in one place forever, but the first stop on our journey has turned out to be a winner. So if you're ever craving some decent carne asada or you want to visit a camel farm, hit us up!