56 Ways We Spent Our Summer: Lessons Learned from Time
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| 33 Weeks on Bridge at Dry Fork Flume Interpretive Trail |
When talking with other mom's-to-be, more often than not I hear the complaint that time just is not going fast enough. The days drag on, the months linger, and why are they so far away from their due date?
Not once during this pregnancy have I had that feeling. Maybe it was the chaos of moving cross-country the day I found out I was pregnant, maybe it was all the past experience I've had with time always passing no matter how anticipated or dreaded a certain day may be, or maybe I'm just content with the limited time I have left to focus on my husband & me.
Regardless of the reason WHY? I have felt like my feet are strapped to a high speed train hurtling towards July 31. Days pass by in a blur, busy weekends fly by, and suddenly here we are in July with only a few weeks to go.
As our last adult only summer for possibly a few decades, we wanted to really make the most of all our time. After all, whatever you waste you can never get back.
Well, here's how we did.
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| Dry Fork Flume Interpretive Trail |
We spent time outdoors hiking Moonshine Arch, touring Flaming Gorge, and exploring new trails like Dry Fork Flume Interpretive Trail. We meandered through the comparably small Uintah County Fair and watched Wiener Dog Races.
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| This German Shepherd is teeny compared to Lucy's regular playmates. |
Every Saturday we spent an hour or so at puppy playtime with Lucy, watching her take down German Shepherd's and Great Danes. Sometimes you'd think we were training fight dogs not just letting puppies wrestle.
We played with the hose in the backyard everyday, squirting Lucy until she was soaked. We watched her catch raindrops, hail balls, and bugs of all sizes. We all became master beetle-killers as the infestation grew around our home. Lucy's the best of us all and fixates on the grasshoppers crawling up our fence. More often than not she comes away from body slamming the fence munching on her tasty snack.
We helped Lucy graduate from puppy training Level 1 and Level 2. The Canine Good Citizen training is next up on her radar.
We've read and thumbed through baby book after baby book trying to prepare for our little one's arrival. We participated in 4 weeks of prenatal classes, spent hours at the Basin Medical Center for baby check ups and met our little girl via 3D Ultrasound, which had us falling in love immediately.
Countless nights were spent laying on the bed or couch or floor with Justin's hand glued to my belly while Evie rolled and stretched and kicked. We ate sugar to induce her movements - this little girl already loves sugar as much as her mommy. We sang songs to Evie and read her bedtime stories.
Dinner was often followed by spontaneous dance parties in the living room that often turned into wrestling matches between Lucy and Justin. Lucy always wins.
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| Baby Shower |
Saturday nights and Sunday mornings were often spent with last minute preparations and planning for our Valiant 9 primary lessons. Usually these ended up with only getting through half the lesson and the kids passing out candy to each other. I'm not complaining... I get candy too.
We spent 7 weeknights in Self-Reliance courses hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help us better our self-control and finances before Evie arrives.
We enjoyed evenings at Cinema 5 watching Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Other nights were filled with movies at home with X-Men Apocalypse, Gilmore Girls, No Tomorrow and any other show we could binge on.
We spent a month on a very strict and healthy meal plan to avoid gestational diabetes. Once cleared, we fell hard off the wagon.
Dozens and dozens of cookies were made ... and eaten. Tubs and tubs of ice cream purchased ... and eaten. Many - too many - impulse stops at McDonald's ... which we don't regret. You have to eat something while watching all those movies.
I joined the Bunco Babes in our area and totally won my first time.
We made simple dinners and invited the sister missionaries over. We found some more complex Pinterest wins for us! Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp, Brisket French Dip Sandwiches, and Smoothies galore!
Many a DIY Cards were made along with an outdoor Tic Tac Toe board.
I spent hours querying agents to publish the Harvest followed by many rejections and a lot more querying. We played the piano and sang all of our favorite songs while Lucy accompanied us with the squeaking of her annoying ball.
We started a love affair with Amazon and suddenly got all of our toys at once: adopted a BBQ (which we built ourselves), an Amazon Echo, an Iphone and Galaxy S8. We feel quite "in" with the times now.
We visited the Dinosaur Museum which isn't quite as impressive as Thanksgiving Point, but now it's off our bucket list.
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| Photo credit: CreativeSouthernHome.com |
We built, stained, and painted a luxurious dog house for Lucy and celebrated our first ever Mother and Father's days. We ate lots of birthday cakes in May and ended the month with a trip to Virginia to celebrate Justin's graduation where we saw family, walked along High Bridge State Park, and got to see Washington, D.C. one more time.
Justin worked overtime as he set up the Speech Therapy Program at Ashley Regional Medical Center. I worked "under time" with Book Review 22 to help pay for our baby bills.
We built Evie's nursery from the ground up, purchased baby gear galore and created a baby registry.
Lesson Learned
We spent a majority of our summer traveling - to Utah county and back, to Virginia, and exploring what Vernal has to offer. But we also spent a lot of time watching Netflix, training Lucy, researching baby information, taking Lucy on runs, going to church, etc. I haven't even mentioned the daily chores, grocery shopping trips, and naps.
Time can be one of your best friends or one of your worst enemies, depending on how you treat it. This summer has taught me that no matter what you choose to do with your time (vacations, working, napping, chores), enjoy it. Enjoy every little task and accomplishment. And make sure that you use your time doing those things that matter most to you. Because once that hour, day, or summer has passed, you're only left with the memories of those things you chose to do.
Was it worth it?
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