Fitt Family Reunion 2018

Every three years, Jon's grandpa's siblings on down get together in Utah for a family reunion, and 2018 was one of those time. Jon took off work and we made the trek down to Utah to join on in the fun.

The first day we drove straight to a mini reunion on Grandma Fitt's side of the family. They had food and a huge blow-up water jump house which Phoebe thought was the coolest, especially because it was so hot!

For the main Fitt reunion we spent time in Heber Valley at a chalet. Phoebe ate her first oreo, got aquainted with Grandma and Grandpa Fitt, and hung out with the cousins. Jon spent some time hitting around a baseball with his sibling and Uncle David (who was sure to show off his baseball moves).

Not all our time was spent at the Fitt reunion, though. Jon's immediate family decided to rent a house to stay at while there so that we could spend more time together. We played games, ate junk food, and slept at night and then ran off and adventured during the day when it wasn't Fitt reunion time. We walked to church just around the corner on Sunday and on Tuesday enjoyed lunch at Tucanos (Jon was in heaven), looking at animals at the Bean Museum at BYU, and got ice cream at the BYU creamery.

The reunion happened to fall on Phoebe's birthday, so we got to celebrate it with them! On her actual birthday she was so worn out from traveling that she fell asleep in her high chair in a room full of noisy people. So we waited until the next day when things calmed down to do the celebration. She had lots of cousins to excitedly watch her open presents and when it came time to eat cake, she wasn't quite sure what to do--"It's so big!" she seemed to say--and so she just flopped her face right down into it.

On our last day we said goodbye to Jon's family and spent the day adventuring around. We met with my old boss, Fred, from my days doing early morning custodial at the Tanner Building during college. Then, we dropped by and walked around the grounds at the Provo City Center temple, which was completed right after we left Utah. After a visit with my Uncle Steven, we were able to say hi to one of Jon's old roommates, Jacob. That night we slept at my Uncle David's place and while I visited with my cousin Stephanie and her new baby there, Jon ran off to say hi to another old roommate, Eric.

On our drive home, we stopped for lunch to say hi to my Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen and Aunt Janet. How grateful I am that we did, for my Grandpa passed away just a week after that.

And that was it! Like I said, the Lord has blessed us with more amazing people in our lives than I can count, and it was a blessing to spend time with them.

4th of July and Birthday Celebrations

For the Fourth of July my family drove up to spend the day with us and to celebrate Emily and Phoebe's birthdays. Having all my sisters home for the summer has been a tremendous blessing. I'm trying to soak in get togethers like this as much as I can because I realize that as my sisters go off to school, get jobs, and start families of their own, it's going to be a lot harder to get everyone together.

Phoebe didn't really get what all the hoopla was about, but we enjoyed celebrating her. I had cute decorations my good friend, Lui, gave us to use, which made for some fun. Phoebe thought it was weird we buried toys in bags and paper, but boy--tissue paper is cool! And Abby brought her a cupcake which she enjoyed munching down. Overall, a success!

Before we sent my family on their way, we set off a few fireworks. We thought they would scare Phoebe, but they didn't--she even helped Grandma Rogers set off one! After the family left Jon and I waited for a little more dark before lighting the rest of the fireworks, some of which were generously gifted to us by a good friend. It was the perfect way to end the day.

July 2018

July was the best month I've had all year. It's been so full of time with family and fun that my house is a disaster, but my heart is full. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed me with such amazing family. 

And little Phoebe? She's not so little anymore! She's in the 98% for height, is walking/running like crazy, eating, clapping, sippy-cup-ing, babbling, laughing, and being the joy of our lives. One year old looks good on you, Phoebees! 

Because we did so much, I'm going to split July's photos into separate posts. In the meantime, here's a little squish to brighten up your day!

Alturas Lake 2016

Here's some photos from the fun I had this summer at Alturas Lake in Idaho with my mom's side of the family. We go camping here every single year and it's one of my most favorite places in the world!

Grandpa playing Rook. He's been going camping here since he was 11 and he's been bringing his family back ever since

We played Screwy Lewy, of course!

Ems & me by the lake (gotta love the hair!)

Sunrise at the campsite we stayed at the first few days

Stephanie, my cousin's new (awesome!) wife, and mwa-self!

Aunt Janet & Mom

Mom & Dad

Kate & I at the campsite

Jessica & I on an awesome hike just my immediate family did

Tubing and Chess at the Park

We ended July and welcomed August with a bit of fun! On the last Tuesday in July Jon, Jessica, and I went on a hike up Vivian Park at a place called Big Springs and then went tubing down the Provo River. I was pretty tired on the hike so we went really slow, but once we hopped into that cold river water, I woke-up pretty fast!

Here we are a hiking!

While on the river, the three of us tried staying together by holding onto each others' tubes. This quickly ended when Jon failed to steer and ran into a bunch of branches sticking out on the bank, which resulted in his falling away from our group because he fell out of his tube and into the river. After a while, we finally got all back together. Jessica and I were fine, but Jon was shivering and chattering his teeth, so we let him hold us together while the two of us steered our entourage around. We ended the day by eating pizza and watching "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." It was a rather lovely day.

Here we are, life jackets on and ready to go down the river!

Later that week, Jon and I welcomed in August by getting a cold treat at Rita's and then by playing chess and tossing a Frisbee at a park in Orem. It was a very simple little date night, but it was like a little piece of heaven--ice cream, good weather, pretty surroundings, and my husband. I would call it a success!

It's almost time to say goodbye to summer!

Fitt Family Reunion 2015

As soon as we got back from backpacking, we got to spend some time with Jon's side of the family at the Fitt Reunion! This reunion happens every 3 years or so and it includes a lot of extended family! Jon's maternal grandpa and all of his brothers get together with all of their descendents for some food and fun for a couple of days. This was my first time going, and I loved it! Jon's family is very friendly and easy to get along with.

We went on a little hike up Cascade Springs and watched a staged train robbery, but for the most part we just hung out at a cabin they reserved near Heber--talking and playing games and eating good food. Though it was only a few days, it was fun to get to know Jon's side of the family a bit more and create some good memories!

Aunt Emily and Jane!

Jon and Liva walking to watch the train robbery:

Jon watching the bad guys rob the train:

Jon arm wrestling his Uncle David:

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle David, Jon, and me!

A Bike Ride with Jessica and FHE with Bugs at Utah Lake

If you haven't caught on, I'm using some of the extreme amount of free time on my hands to chronicle every bit of my life. It's being fun, and I doubt I'll ever have time like this to do something like this again, so I'm goin' for it!

Yesterday was Tuesday, Jessica and Jon's day off! Unfortunately, Jon had to cover for someone, so he had to miss out on the daytime fun. Jessica and I had tons of fun though riding our bikes along the Provo River Trail up to Bridal Veil Falls and back! I was really excited because I'd spent the morning tuning our bikes, so I thought everything would be perfect! Well, in order for that to be the case I would have had to tune the bikes perfectly, which I didn't. Therefore, the handlebars on one of the bikes got flipped the wrong way shortly into the ride and wouldn't move back and the gears on one of the bikes didn't work well and the handlebars on one were too short and the tires weren't as full as I'd like them to be.

Therefore, rather than perfect, it was interesting.

But 20 miles later, we'd done it!

Later that evening, Jon joined us for FHE (which was a day late). I was in charge and I had this wonderful idea. This was the plan:

Make our way to Utah Lake right as it gets dark. Talk about the story of The Brother of Jared from The Book of Mormon. Then, because that story has glowing rocks, we'll splatted rocks on the lake shore with glowstick gunk and then skip them across the lake, watching the glow jump it's way across the water.

It would have been great, except then we got there and HOLY BUGS!!! I've never seen so many bugs all in the same place at once. They literally peppered the sky and filled the air with the constant sound of their buzzing. Loudly.

I've been to Utah Lake at night before, and this had never been a problem, so needless to say, this was a surprise.

We tried talking about The Brother of Jared, but Jon and Jessica were hopping around like rabbits and so we decided to try moving somewhere else where the bugs didn't qualify as a new form of air pollution. This new spot had less bugs, and so we tried cutting open some glowsticks, pouring them in a bag, and then shaking some rocks around inside of it. The problem now, however, was that instead of having bugs congest the sky, this new area had mosquitoes, and mosquitoes really, REALLY like my blood for some reason.

Jon was suddenly as happy as could be because he was skipping rocks and thinking he was cool for how many times they bounced, and Jessica was enjoying watching him. I, on the other hand was hitting myself obsessively to try and kill the mosquitoes that were raiding my body. I would hit three on my left leg (I was wearing capris) and then four on my right leg and then four on my left arm (short sleeves) and then five on my right arm only to look back to my left leg and find five more already there again! And I'm not dramatically exaggerating here! (My leg is itching in memory as I write this!)

I tried staying, because Jon kept wanting me to watch him be really cool and skip a rock a ton of times, but I failed to watch him skip nearly every rock because I was too distracted with hitting myself. Finally, after about five minutes, I just turned around and left. It was not worth it. Plus, the glowing rocks didn't even glow as they bounced across the water like the internet said they would. Lame!

Today, my legs look like they're recovering from chicken pox.

Summer Bucket List 2015

A couple of days ago I did an impromptu interview with Jon about me to see what he knew. One of the questions was: "What does your wife like to do?" and one of his answers was: "Making lists." He was right! I love making lists! They help me infuse my life with purpose and give me things to do in my free time. So to make our summer more awesome, I of course suggested to Jessica that we make a summer bucket list. She agreed! And we made one! And we're already crossing tons of stuff off of it! And I'm ending way too many sentences in a row with exclamation marks!

We split our list into three categories: food, outdoor activities, and stuff we could do at home. Being us, of course the food category is the biggest of the tree. Naturally, this is also the category we have already started to tackle.

The first thing we made from this category was popsicles. This was Jessica's idea, and I think it's probably one of the best ideas she's ever had because the AC unit in our apartment doesn't work and I've become a chain popsicle sucker. The best part of all is that the popsicles we made aren't even bad for you! We just made up some Wyler's Light lemonade with a little less water than normal, mixed it with some fruit, and froze them in cups with spoons stickin' out. My favorite was the one with pineapple and strawberries.

The other thing we've made is tomato bisque. This is another one of Jessica's ideas, which was--once again--fabulous! We used this recipe. It was incredibly easy, and incredibly good. I'm definitely going to make it again!

Here are just a few of the other things on our list that I hope we cross off this summer:

• Make fruit pizza
• Make cauliflower potatoes
• Eat tatter tots!
• Go geocashing
• Go swimming
• Go to an outdoor movie
• Watch all the Star Wars films
• Paint postcards
• Grow basil plants
• Write and send Emily a poem

Rock Canyon Hike

Yesterday Jessica and I went on a hike up Rock Canyon. It was very beautiful and very fun!

I really, really, REALLY love having my sister here to share my summer with! Jessica--thanks for hangin' out with me so that I'm not some loner teacher-on-summer-vacation-with-a-husband-busy-with-school bum! This summer's gonna' be epic with you around!

The Past Few Weeks in Pictures

Dear Jon, Thank you for taking me to the Summer Fest in Orem a month ago. You should not stress over planning fun dates--you're really good at it! I love how easily amused you are by the carnival games. I love that you make me want to eat goingtokillyouscones because it means I get to share something with you. I love how sick you got on the one ride we went on and that you let me laugh at you when we got off and you tried to regain a grasp on reality. It's doing the small and simple things like this with you that make me love spending time together so much.

Dear Ward Groupies, The water kickball activity in June was the best. I was so exhausted when we started from having just run 12.7 miles with Jon, but the cold water and all of your cheery, fun countenances energized me and by the time the activity ended, I was running all over the place. Thank you for being nothing but smiles and laughter and everything sunshiny!

Dear Emily, Marissa, Gabbie and Jess, Going to Stadium of Fire with you four on the Fourth made for one of the most fun Fourth of July's I've ever had! The Kelly Clarkson, Carly Ray Jepsen and Cirque du Soleil were highly entertaining, but your company was even better. I cannot tell you how good it was to be among friends that I could just let go and be goofy with. You ladies rock!

Dear Jon, I was so happy that we got to sit together and watch the fireworks on the Fourth because you were in charge of cleaning the very area I was sitting in. Best. Coincidence. Ever.

Dear Tyson, Adam, Mike and Jon, Hiking Timp with you four on Saturday was one of my favoritest things I've done all summer! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Your commentary was absolutely hilarious. The view was absolutely breath-taking. I can imagine no better way to spend a Saturday than exhausting myself by trekking out into God's beautiful world to explore it with good people and the best of friends. 5 coworkers/friends, 12 hours, 13.6 miles and perfection all wrapped-up in the mountains of Utah Valley. It truly was the best.

Letters

Dear Alex, Logan and Jon, The rooftop concert on Friday evening was very enjoyable (even though the slanted seats weren't). Thanks for the fun evening!

Dear Jason, The food you made for us on Sunday was SO GOOD!!! You are a top-notch cook! Thank you so super very much for sharing your talents and your food.

Dear Jon, Hanging out at the pool after running 9 miles has to be one of my favoritest things you and I have done yet. It was absolutely divine. Thank you for humoring me by getting in the (not very, but I'll amuse you) "cold" (*cough, cough*) water. You're kinda' the best.

Dear Sunshine, Phew--you're sure staring to get hot! Bring it on!

Dear FHE Family, The hike on Monday night to Battle Creek Falls was fun, chill, and gorgeous. Thank you for the lovely evening.

Dear Ward Soccer Team, Watching you guys play Tuesday night was SO FUN! Thanks for playing a game that was worth cheering through and that got me to hold my breath more than once!

Dear New Car That Belongs to Me, Wait--what?! I own a car?!!! Oh. Yeah. Still getting used to that thought.

Dear Karianne, It made me so happy to see you Wednesday at work! Sounds like you're having quite the crazy adventure up in North Dakota. I'm sad that you have to leave and go back today, but hope you know that I've missed you like crazy and can't wait for you to come back in the Fall!

Dear Scott, You are such and absolutely AMAZING friend for taking me to pick-up my car and then for being willing to be late to work when things went slightly crazy. You are a top-notch guy and a superb friend.

Dear Rachel Smith, I loved talk with you on Tuesday while walking to my car. Let's talk more again soon, okay?

Dear Jon and Coworkers, I had so much fun joining you guys on Wednesday for lunch! It was quite the privilege to be able to sit with ya'll in your little shed and to participate in the vital conversation about Disney movie music. I'm glad that Jon has such happy, upbeat and awesome people to work with.

Dear Emily, Eating dinner with you on Wednesday and coloring with you last night was pretty much one of the bestest things I've done in a very long time! Please, please, please say you'll do it with me again!

Dear Jon, Sometimes I wonder why on earth you still want to spend so much time with me when, after a day like yesterday, I look back and realize how dramatic I can be. I mean, I was even starting to annoy myself! Whatever it is that keeps you around though--even with all my dramatics--I'm extremely grateful for because I really like being with you.

Dear Thursday Temple Visits, You're one of the best decisions I've made all summer. Thank you for the peace and clarity and calm which you bring into my life. I plan on keeping you up.

Dear General Conference Talks, Sometimes you hit it right on the spot. I love how easy you are to access and how wonderfully inspired you make me feel.

Dear Half-Marathon Training, You have not been the best of friends lately. Let's change that, yeah?

Dear Amelia, I really need to write you a letter. I promise, I'm working on it!

Dear Landan, WELCOME BACK HOME!!! I can't wait to hear your homecoming talk this coming Sunday!

Dear Wonderful and Amazing Coworkers, I'm so grateful and blessed to work with people as amazing as you guys. Thank you for providing me with a workplace where I know my needs are just as important as the needs of the office. Thank you for your kindness and for lifting me up when I feel down. I'm so lucky to get to work at such an amazing place.

Dear Heavenly Father, Only two more days until Father's Day! I hope that the way I live my life over those two days can be, in the smallest way, a gift to You. Thank you for giving me the most wonderfully blessed life in the whole world. I love you so very much.

Dear Friday, I'm so super very extremely much excited to make you the best day that I've lived of my life so far! Here's to productivity, living with purpose, looking out for and lifting-up others, feeling the Spirit, choosing to be happy, using my agency wisely and responsibly, keeping a prayer in my heart, loving unconditionally and being just plain all-around awesome!

My Life the Past Several Weeks in Pictures

Ems and I have been having dinner together twice a week. This was a DELICIOUS dish she made--pasta, sauce, tomatoes, spinach....pretty much amazing!

Eric, Jared and I drove down to Pocatello, Idaho the weekend of May 18th&19th for Ellen Lewis' farewell talk. She's headed off to North Carolina! We drove through a crazy storm on our way up, but even that was fun! Besides hanging out with Eric and Jared I got to spend the night at Aunt Christy's place! Ethan, Clancy and I watched "The Gods Must Be Crazy." It was so good to see them. I'm so grateful that Eric and Jared were kind enough to let me join them in this wonderful adventure.

Several weeks ago, Jon got to go to his boss' place and killed a chicken! On Sunday night, after I got back from Pocatello, we grilled it on the BBQ. It was tough meat, but super duper yummy! Scott and Stephen joined us too.

This past Tuesday, May 21st, my friend Steve and I went hiking. After driving around for a while, finding a place, we settled on hiking Stewart Falls. We got there at twilight and made it back to the car just as the darkness was settling in. It was beautiful!

Today, Jon and I woke-up super early to go hiking. We got on the trail around 7:30am and made it back to the truck around 3:30 (that's eight hours!!!) It was a pretty intense hike--steep trails and lots of snow (sometimes deeper than our knees)--but it was SO beautiful. Now, we're both extremely tired, though. We'll definitely have no problem falling asleep tonight.

When we got home, Jon and I quickly pulled out some hamburgers and hot dogs and hosted a Memorial Day BBQ! It was wonderful to spend time with ward members and friends and to eat yummy food.

In a nutshell: my life is crazily blessed right now. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father is looking out for and taking care of my every need. Just when things seemed to be getting pretty bleak, He sent amazing, supportive, loving, good people into my life, and they have made all the difference. To them, and to Him, I am forever grateful.