4th of July 2015

Tripp came home the week of the 4th of July for a work trip and extended it so he could be there throughout the holiday weekend. YAY! 4th of July is my favorite holiday and I was so excited we would be able to be in AR for it together!

We hit up Andy's for ice cream one night - the 3 of us. Reggie got a pup-cone :)

Fun days on lake with the Spendios.

One night, we had a double date night with the Lais' at Shogun :) We went to their house first to see Sawyer... he was eatin' dinner and adorable as usual. Tripp hadn't seen him in 3 months, so he got to hold him the most. I was OK with it - love these pics!

We got out of dinner at saw this rainbow while it was raining. Then the guys decided to pretend like they weren't coming to get us. So funny.

The 4 of us have had an ongoing group text for a long time. It mostly consists of the guys making fun of us. When we were planning our date night, Jess threw out going to see Magic Mike XXL and I was SO in. I love me some Channing Tatum. Well, the guys didn't realize we were serious. Heck yes we were. 

Barrett was legitimately pissed about it and Tripp seemed to internalize his anger.
 

Another road trip with Reggie.

I said "treat" to get him to look and this made me laugh haha!

My yummy smoothie bowl from Native Nectar one morning. I could eat this everyday for breakfast.
 

One morning we did yard work. We pulled weeds, laid down all new mulch and removed this tree that has been leaning since we moved in... and it was driving me nuts. The amount of roots from that small tree was mind-blowing! It was fun to do normal house chores and we were proud of the finished product :) I'm looking forward to more of this when Tripp moves home for good.

More rides with the 3 of us ;) I remember being on the phone with Jess Lais at this moment.

There were lots of people at the lake this year. Not everyone could fit on the boat, so we would split the group of people on the dock vs. on the lock. It started raining one day and the group with tubers on the boat kept going strong.

Those of us on the dock ate chips + dip huddled under the umbrella. It lasted about 30 minutes.

The group coming in after the rain. They were happy and I think they stayed warm with some cocktails :)

My parents + Tripp and I watched the fireworks from the car at the top of the lookout instead of the boat. They were SOOOOOO loud and right above our car. I covered my ears the entire time and my arms were shaking after it was over from holding them up so long ha! They were pretty (but still really loud).

Our redneck yacht club. Love these people!

My mom made this cute patriotic cake!

Julia's boyfriend, Eric, has a cousin that works at Target and Tripp works with in his CA role... so we took some pics for Tripp to send her on his items :)
 

It was a fun weekend on the lake, but it's always tough when Tripp comes home. Lots of emotions, people to see, typically a packed agenda and it's just weird for him. When I visit CA, it's just the 2 of us. We have a ton of time to ourselves, to reconnect and just enjoy each other. When Tripp comes to AR, we don't get as much time together and there are usually a ton of other pressures at play. He struggles with living out of a suitcase and being back in the house knowing he has to leave soon. It's interesting as I think we are always surprised when the "weirdness" happens, but we typically leave it at that. It's just weird and it's not long-term. I wish it wasn't like this, but it's not all rainbows and sunshine. This is hard and challenging, but also an amazing opportunity that we've tried like hell to make the most of. I'm still so proud of us.