The semester after my mission, I lived in a house with 10 girls. It was one of the best semesters of my life & I stay in touch with most of those girls. <3
Around February or March we started a group chat and found a weekend that worked for our summer Girls Trip. We knew if we didn't get it scheduled it wouldn't happen. After checking in with each other a few times during the spring and summer, no one backed out, & we met in Park City for a weekend.
I hadn't seen most of them since Shelby's wedding eight months earlier!!
We talked, ate good food, talked, shopped, talked, hot tubbed, and enjoyed being together.
Baby Bean and I had our first shower with those girls in Park City. It was a surprise and they totally pulled it off! I felt so loved & it was exciting to talk about this next chapter of our lives! Can't wait for all of them to have their own babies one day!
We painted some cute baby blocks for him.
After Park City, I drove straight to Las Vegas to surprise Justin for his Summer League games. This year, he was playing for the Celtics.
I have lots of memories here watching Justin and he has even more! Who knows the next time we'll come back to UNLV.
We stayed at the Mandalay Bay with a lot of other players and athletes. Walking out of the hotel one morning, we passed Donovan Mitchell. We didn't have a pen or anything for him to sign - sorry Andrew!
A huge plus to that trip was our Bean family! Mom, Dad, & Erin flew out from OK & Jourdon, Jacquelyn, & Brooklyn drove from CA to spend a few days with us.
I left Vegas a little earlier than the tournament ended to make it home in time for a ward shower put on by Karen & Mauri.
(I lost a bunch of pictures on my blog and still need to find the one of Mauri and Karen!)
Karen is like another mom to me. & all of her kids are our Blauer siblings. She knew about our miscarriage and had been praying with us during this pregnancy from 5 weeks on.
They planned the sweetest shower & I loved being surrounded by women and friends who I have grown up with in Santaquin.
Being home in July meant being around for cherry season. I don't know that I miss the working part of cherry season, but I do miss being around all of my cousins! Sooo many memories of eating our lunches together at midnight, snow cone runs after work, going to the high school at 5 AM to see if we made the soccer team, etc.
We made a few visits out to see everyone working.
The sunsets this summer were unreal. Almost every single night the sky was pink & orange & beautiful.
After Summer League, Justin signed with Alba Berlin who plays at the EuroLeague level in Germany. Germany became our new reality and Justin started learning German that night. Literally.
He dedicated at least 2 hours/day to learning German. It's definitely paid off getting us around the city & I'm so proud of him for immersing himself in this experience & putting the effort in to communicate in German.
Then the goodbyes started... I got to meet up with one of my mission companions, Madi before we left. Our mom's were companions in Norway and we went to the same mission in São Paulo.
I love her!! People would confuse us in the Visitors' Center all of the time. I loved being called Sister Tenney. :')
One of Justin's closest friends from high school lives in Salt Lake County and we were able to go to dinner together! Austin & Romney just had their second baby boy!! <3
Lots and lots of pickleball! Justin and Andrew were beating Mom and I until Andrew hit "baby Lance" with the ball & felt bad, so he gave us the game haha.
Andrew, Justin, and I have also started playing the whole Harry Potter co-op game each summer. It takes us about a week to get through all of the games.
More goodbyes. Whitney & Wesley
A few days before we left, GG Wag came down and spent the afternoon with us. Grandpa wanted to go golfing with Justin. Due to the heat, we opted for the driving range and it was fun to watch everyone hit some balls - including Grandma!
For the last 10 years, before we say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma, I play Waterfall by Jon Schmidt on the piano for them. It reminds Grandma of the Resurrection. This was a tender time playing it. I don't know when the next time will be but I'm grateful for that little tradition we have. Waterfall will forever remind me of her.
My other USU girls threw me one last shower before we left Utah. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many good people. Each of them has made an impact on my life and I love them so much.
During those last days at home I cried a lot. I had the impression many times this summer that I was very comfortable. I was living with family, surrounded by those I love. Justin wasn't on any road trips and we got to be together 24/7.
I knew that everything was going to change & that it needed to, no matter how different or foreign it would be. I wasn't really living "real life" & it was time to keep growing.
We had a summer like no other that we'll never forget.
