Recent Happenings

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Last Friday night Ciege and I got to go to the Shakespeare Festival to watch "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" musical. It was a fantastic show. We were given a raincheck to attend this show since the last show we watched was rained out.

We started the evening with some white wine and cheese. We snacked and grazed on some yummy appetizers, fresh fruit, and bread. The evening was beautiful and there was a really cool peacock that was wandering around outside. There was this really calming breeze outside and we enjoyed a cool summer picnic.

The show was perfect and everything about the evening was just perfect. We had such a great time. And Ciege and I aren't big theater or live show buffs, so the fact that we really enjoyed ourselves meant that the show must have been great! :) More than anything it was just another one of those moments where Ciege and I were feeling really lucky and blessed.

On Saturday evening, CJ and I had a soccer game and Ciege injured his calf muscle. Every now and then CJ pulls his calf muscle but this time I think he really injured it. He has been limping around and having trouble walking all week. I've been doing my best to keep him iced and wrapped up so hopefully he'll get completely healed soon. I just LOVE all of our sports and activities but we never pulled muscles just sitting on the couch. :) But since we've lost about 75 pounds total as a family, we'll take the injuries!

Also, last Sunday I had the best dinner ever with my Mom. I wish that I had taken a picture of the two of us but I forgot. It was so nice to hang out with her and to enjoy a fantastic pasta dinner. I had really been missing my Mom and with all of the recent running I've been doing I had a huge carb hankering...so pasta with my Mom was absolutely wonderful. One of the best things of my adult life is the sweet relationship I have with my Mom. She is so cool to hang out with and she makes me so happy. I love her funny sense of humor and her kindness.

This has been a crazy week...crazier than usual. We're super busy at work and trying to wrap things up in preparation for our trip this weekend to Yosemite National Park. We're going to meet my Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Richard for a week-long camping extravaganza! Last year in November when we were visiting with them in LA before our cruise vacation, they mentioned that they were planning this trip and casually said "you should come down and camp with us!" We didn't even have to consider it. We both immediately said that we were up for it and we've been planning on coming ever since.

The trip will be an 11 hour road trip and we're really excited! Ciege and I have had some of our best discussions on road trips. We love them and we sit for hours and solve the world's problems. We have political debates, we chat about our future, we talk about our dreams...it is a blast and with every trip I feel closer to Ciege. It's great to have his undivided attention for so long and I can't wait!

Once we get to Yosemite, we'll be staying in a housekeeping camp with my Aunt and Uncle. It looks like the camp is sitting right on the river and is perfect. I can't wait to get so much time with my family and be able to sit around, relax, and explore Yosemite.

In the meantime, I've been doing loads of laundry and making lots of packing lists. Last night our dishwasher broke again. I have to admit, this really really bums me out. This dishwasher is brand new. It seems like I've had the WORST luck with my appliances. Is it too much to ask that my "chore machines" work properly? As if doing the chores weren't bad enough! :) Seriously!

But how can I complain? I'm just days away from an amazing vacation with my family. Those stupid dirty dishes can wait until we get back.