summer nights part 1

This summer has been one of -- if not -- the best summer to date. Seriously guys, it was pure bliss. Although I may not have reached the level of tan that I usually get, it was full of lazy days, family fun, softball nights, snow bobs, and some pretttyyyy intense tennis matches. I mean, what more could a person want out of a summer? But before I call it quits lazy-man style and leave you hanging, let's delve into a few more detailed memories, shall we? I think we shall: (i'll apologize for the large amount of detail in advance)




Rascal Flatts.  Ya, nbd, I saw them live. Mark surprised me and I was in my glee! Mark and I don't do many official "dates" (especially now that Laikers has been around) so when he called me on the Friday to go on a date on Saturday, I was so dang excited! I asked him what we were doing, and when he wouldn't tell me because it was a surprise, I was even more excited! I LOVE surprises. My mind instantly started working through all of the possible dates that we could go on and that Mark would plan: dinner and a movie? mini golf and little caesars pizza? bowling? the driving range? go-karting? Honestly, I didn't care which one it was -- I was just glad to be going out. (Well, that's not totally true. I'm not a fan of the dinner/movie combo, but that's not all that important.)

So on Saturday I started to ask a few questions. I didn't want to ask too many because I thought I would figure out what we would end up doing. (Ya, I guess I think I'm smarter than I am.) He told me to eat supper, so obviously dinner was out of the question, but he didn't really comment on how I should dress, so I just wore my classic blue jeans and a t-shirt. Nothing fancy. I hardly even wore any makeup. Anywho, we met up with Rob and Air at the A&W on the south side, which I didn't know it was a double date but I was excited that they were coming too. They're always a good time. But when I saw Air get out of her car and she was looking f-i-n-e, I was so confused.
what the freak were we planning on doing?

So we start driving and turned onto Scenic Drive. Because of that I scratched mini golf off of the list, but it still left quite a few on there. Then we turned onto the road heading into the Enmax and the LCC. I know you guys will think I'm a total air head, but I thought maybe we were going to do something sports-y at the college. But then we actually turned into the Enmax parking lot, which was totally packed b/c of the concert, and I was like, "Oh, good one guys--driving through the parking lot to make it seem like we're going to the Rascall Flatts concert." Those were my exact words. Honestly, I was sorta ticked. Way to get my hopes up! Nobody said anything back to me and started talking about where to park. where to park? what the?? I know it's easy to judge and say, Duh, you're going to the concert, obviously! but those tickets had been sold out for a while, and no offense to wonderful husband, but he's never been the greatest date planner. For him to plan this far ahead would be totally unrealistic. I love him, but I also know him better than most, and I because of that I knew we weren't going. I was ignored for a while longer, and they were still dilly dallying around in the parking lot. Okay, jokes over. quit shattering my dreams and let's get on with it. silence still.

"Okay guys, what are we actually doing for our date tonight?"

"Bethy, you seriously don't know?"

Oh, sorry Mark. Do you actually expect me to believe that you got us tickets?

but then he said, "We're actually going to Rascal Flatts. Air got us tickets."

Now it actually sunk in. There's no way that Mark could've planned something this good, but Air could! And then all I remember after that is saying 'shut up' over and over again like I was straight out of Mean Girls. (no wonder Air got dressed up!) It was the best concert ever. They were so amazing live! It was so loud in there that I couldn't even hear my own voice (thank goodness!) I even saw my big sis on the screen taking a selfie with Joe Don Rooney! It was probably my favourite date I've ever been on. 

Air (and Mark) you done good!

Soft ball.  Last year I was large and pregnant {insert chubby pic here} Softball was out of the question for me, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad about it a little bit. I love softball and have played almost every year since I was in grade 7. I got to play again this year and it was soooo fun! We played in a Magrath co-ed team. Our team lost last year in the final and we were itching for a W this year, but we lost again in the final! but it was still so fun and I have the best team! plus, I get to play along side mark so that's pretty fun too. We didn't even snap a pic of our team this year, which I was sad about! oh well, next year we'll have to snap a pic and win the whole dang thing. 

We also played in the family softball tourney for Cardston's Heritage Days. We played with the McMurray team (my mother-in-law's maiden name) Since there were so many girls on the team all of us subbed out quite a bit, but that was okay because I love to watch it too! and there were so many of us riding the pine that it was always a good time with lots of laughs! We ended up winning the whole thing, which was the cherry on top of a great weekend! 

^^ all the McMurrays that came to support. What an amazing second family I have! (missing a few)

^^ The two who started it all. we love Gpa and Gma McMurray!

Bitter Root Lake. Ah, Bitter Root. There's nothing like being at a cabin on a lake with your family, enjoying some good water, sun, food, and a little surfing. It really doesn't get any better. We had so many late nights laughing our faces off and so many fun days out on the water! We went on some crazy tube rides accompanied with some crying, of course. (I may or may not have peed a little -- okay, a lot. It was a crazy tube ride!) I also wiped out so hard on the wakeboard that I popped blood vessels in my face. But I did get to try surfing for the first time and it was really fun! it's probably my new favourite thing to do behind a boat. 
We had one rainy day out of the week so of course we did a little bit of shopping, but there are so many crazy kids in my family that we had to go to a fun zone, so to a fun zone we went! It was actually so fun! apparently everybody else in soab had the same idea too because we saw so many of our fellow Canadians there. Laikyn loved it! especially the little play place for kids.  I'm a kid at heart and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the arcade games. It was the best 10 bucks i've ever spent. (not really, but you know that) 

Here are some vids of Laiky in the play place. I thought they were pretty dang adorable. 

 our  'chase the ace' never disappoints, and it didn't disappoint again. I have yet to win that blasted game, but whatever I guess. The best part about that whole game was Nolan acting goofier than I had ever seen him. I thought I had seen the worst of him... I guess not. Judge Maxwell's facial expressions were equally as hilarious. Obviously he hadn't seen Nolan acting that obnoxious either. Along with some crazy chanting magic that I'm not even going to begin to explain, it was pretty much the best game of chase the ace. ever. Mark and I also took a quad ride up to the top of the mountain, which was awesome too! All in all, it was a fun and much-needed vacation.

^^ it's never too young for Target shopping

^^ playing in the rain

All right, that's enough of me for now. I'll update the rest of my summer in part 2