MAY

I absolutely dread summer school. I have been putting off the graduate courses only offered in the summer for the past two summers, and now, since this is hopefully my last summer, I had to take all of the courses I have been avoiding. Classes started in the middle of May and don't end until the middle of August. So it is literally the entire summer. :( I have no desire to write a blog when I spend 3-4 days a week writing papers. So here is the re-cap of the summer so far, mostly in pictures, with few words. 

When we moved into our house, I thought the backyard was a nasty mess. Why the family before us (who had 2 toddlers) wanted a backyard full of "landscaping" (crap) was beyond me. We definitely wanted grass. Not to mention I can't tell you how many snakes and spiders we found in those bushes and under the rocks.  When we started the backyard renovation, we didn't even own a shovel. or a wheel barrow. or gloves. or really anything for that matter. So we found ourselves at Lowes every other day. 

 The hardest part by far was digging up all of the plants, moving all of the rocks etc. We worked in the yard every night for a few weeks. Once the backyard was cleared, we extended the patio with pavers so we could have an area for our furniture. Laying the sod seemed to be the "easiest" part. It really wasn't that bad, and my dad came to help half way through. This meant I could run around and hand them popsicles while I took a break. 

 Max loves rolling around in his new grass!

We let the grass grow for about a month and half before we finally got around to buying a lawnmower ;)

 Mother's day brunch at Blue Mesa

Lana Del Rey concert with Liz

May Day

  I can't believe we are in May! Now that everyone is settled in to their new houses, time is just flying by! I survived another semester of Grad School and finished my first year of teaching at TWU.

 When we aren't studying for grad school or CFA, we are always outside! Now that Mike is out of school, we are definitely in the "fun/party" time of life. I think this makes time fly by faster too!

 Mayweather Pacquiao fight part in Parent's new house

 We have been in the process of re-doing our entire back yard! We tore up all of the weird snake infested bushes, rose bushes and rock paths (also had snakes :( yuck!), then we extended the patio and laid bermuda grass throughout the whole yard. The entire process took us almost a month (TONS of rain delays). We really liked working out in the yard for a few hours every night. Mister Max is so excited to finally have grass and I think Mike and I built some serious muscles.

 Mike wheeled the grass back and I laid it.

We are now entering my favorite season! Pool season! I think May- October are some of the happiest months in the year :) It's hard to be stressed when you are always in the pool.

Birthday, Easter, Conference

Every time my birthday is on the weekend, it always falls on General Conference and usually Easter weekend. Sure makes for three straight days of family gatherings, desserts, & a party!

We kicked party weekend off Friday night by having the family over for games, Cafe Rio sweet pork fiesta dinner, and Sarah Cha's cookie dough cupcakes. 

 Of course David brought the "flavor" to kick things up a notch

 Saturday morning Mike surprised me by planning a birthday bike ride to a cafe called The Snooty Pig for brunch. We had only been to The Snooty Pig once before when we were dating almost 4 years ago. They are known for their muffins. The cafe was close by, so it was only about 8 miles each way. We enjoyed the scenic ride. 

After the ride, we came home and walked/ ran local trails with Max so I could try out my new running shoes I received from my parents. 

We then spent the afternoon watching General Conference and snoozing from our adventures. 

Later we went to Bahama bucks so I could get one of my favorites- the Bahama Mama Rama with half blue coconut half blue raspberry. (I am also addicted to the snicker doodle smoothie). We took the icee home so we could finish off the day with movie night. 

Surprisingly I didn't take any pictures on Easter Sunday! Mom, Dad, Liz & Akina came over to our house for the Easter Feast, hot fudge brownie sundaes, & two more sessions of conference. Very lovely weekend.

Utah family getaway

All of the Lemich kids were able to fly to Utah for a sibling reunion to celebrate LaRae's 50th birthday. We stayed all over Utah during the vacation- The Grand America in SLC, the Lemich's in Cedar City, and a night a Grandma & Grandpa's house in Alpine. 

The Grand America/ Little America in SLC are family favorite hotels. I think they are super cute hotels, and we always eat amazing meals there. 

 LaRae's Bday dinner at Ninja. Our chef is the little man in the back with the hat. 

 Denae and I made birthday desserts for the party

 Happy 50th LaRae!

 Boys teaching Bry the art of ping pong

 We got to meet up with multiple family friends while we were there. 

The boys with "Butter" their childhood friend from Rawlins

 We even did an early birthday celebration for my 25th :)

The vacation was so much fun and ended too quickly. Hopefully we can everyone together again soon!

Feb + March

The days fly by quicker than I can count! Here is a few of our shenanigans over the past month.

SNOW DAYS

GRANDPA'S BDAY

This cake was super fun to make!

ANDREW'S BAR MITZVAH

AND LIFE

Teaching Max more tricks

 Mike joined our ward's city league basketball team and plays on Friday nights