HALF OF THE HALF-WAY MONTH

Time goes so fast these days that I'm at the point of having just two seasons in my life: after Christmas (January to June) and before Christmas (July-December). 

AM I RIGHT? The 4th of July seems to come so fast after Christmas...every year it's shocking to me.

Anyway, the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! And I'm going to be real...it was realllllly hard to be away from home this year. I think it's the first time ever not being in Idaho for it. Between our two families, we've made some pretty fantastic traditions for the 4th of July. We all get together and have a picnic in my parent's backyard, play some games (almost always including wiffle ball!) hang out and talk, then sometimes break for naps, and then gather in the Park's backyard that night to watch the fireworks from Jensen's Grove. It might not sound all the special to you, but it is to me. And to be away from it this year was so much harder than I expected. I tried to plan things for us to do all day, but with the blasted heat here and hardly any celebrations happening around here (what's up with that Vegas?!!) we just stayed at home (and I may have cried about it). 

Thomas had the genius idea to get us tickets to a 51's game for the night. (Sometimes on the eve of the 4th, I use to go to Chuckar's games with my family, so it was a perfect idea!!)  

The firework show at the end was better than expected  and it turned out to be a great night for just the two of us. (But I am definitely going home next year...so start planning peeps...)

July 11th marked our 8th wedding anniversary! We kept it low key this year by sleeping in (wahoo!!) and eating Cafe Rio for lunch (double wahoo!!). I had my first interior design client "reveal" (when the client sees the new space for the first time - it was awesome!) and that evening we drove up to Mount Charleston and went star gazing in the back of the truck (something I've been wanting to do since 2010...). 

It was a good, peaceful evening together. The cool mountain air blew over us as we listen to some folks with telescopes parked down the way talk about their findings and we talked about our past and future. 

The next Friday night we met up with Chris and Lacey at the Red Rock outdoor theater for some "Bye Bye Birdie" fun. I've never seen that play before, and I'm not sure what I was expecting...so it was interesting...haha. But the company was great as always and the surrounding area was gorgeous!

The next day we did a little shopping and I finally found a hat that I've been searching for for a long time! We had to celebrate with lunch. haha jk. but really.

(Thomas, trying to be a good sport and take a picture of me in my new hat. I couldn't be serious.)

So after we spent our anniversary evening star gazing, we decided to buy a truck-bed tent. The day it came in the mail, we made a camping spot reservation and headed up the mountain. It was my first camping experience since girls camp over eleven years ago. (If you didn't know, I'm not a big camper)... There's just something about sleeping in the truck in a tent vs sleeping on the ground in a tent that is way more comforting to me.

It was a ton of fun and it helped that we went with the camping pros, Chris and Lacey. I see more camping weekends in our future! 

The last picture is a view of our camp site from the bed of the truck.