July Part 4: Friends

We really missed our friends while we were in Europe, so it was nice to come back and get to do fun things with them! Rachel started off her July by going boating with her young women class. She had to miss Girls' Camp, so I was glad she was able to go to this. I think it was a bit chilly, but that they all had fun. 

We were excited to go out with the Parkers. I asked Serene to help us pick out a good violin for Rachel, and we decided to make a whole thing of it, grabbing breakfast at TruReligion in Orem (which was so good), 

and then heading to Summerhays to pick out a good violin. We are a band family, so this is all new territory, and we were so grateful to Serene for her professional advice! 

Elsie also plays the violin, so she also helped Rachel pick her instrument. 

So many choices! 

Rachel finally landed on one, 

and then it was time to say goodbye to our friends. 

Rachel only had a week off before jumping back into the fray of her busy life, which I regret a bit now. First up was a two week ballet intensive at Ballet West Utah County where she got to see her friend that she met last summer. 

Rachel and I got to go see Elsie in Mean Girls, Jr, and that was a lot of fun. 

Meanwhile, Gabe loved being back in the neighborhood and hanging with his friends. I thought it was funny to see them cruising around the neighborhood in this toy car, which seems to foreshadow things to come. 

We got to celebrate our friend, Michael's 40th birthday with him at his house, which means we got to see other friends, including his amazing wife, Kristina (obviously)

and we were so excited that that meant getting to hang out with Tyce and Peter!

We also had a reunion of sorts with friends from our ward in Wymount at BYU. I can't get over how much these kids have grown. Here's Johanna, Ericcson, Carter, Wyatt, and Michael now. 

Here they are back in Wymount (Michael, Ericcson, Abigail, Carter, Maeili, and Jayce. Johanna and Wyatt were just babies when this was taken). 

Our bishop from way back then, Chris Burton and his amazing wife, Cindy, put this on for us at their house, just down the hill from us. It was so wonderful spending an evening catching up with everyone. We were sad more people couldn't make it, but we loved seeing everyone who could and seeing how everyone's family has grown. 

 We have been especially blessed by Chris and Cindy's influence in our lives, especially when we were first starting out. I'm so grateful that we have been able to renew this acquaintance.