Utah Trip August 2019

Thomas is a senior this year, so it was his last season of football. We wanted to go to one of the home games, so we chose the season opener against Utah. The game was the Thursday before Labor Day so we took an extended weekend vacation and made a trip out of it.

I was really excited to see the game and see friends and family, but I was also really excited for Utah food! Some faves - Kneaders french toast, Cubby's, Crown Burger, Crumbl Cookies, Zao Asian Cafe, Cafe Rio, and JDawgs.

I went out a day early so I could see friends. It was such a fun day and I was able to connect with mission companions, college roommates, and singles ward friends. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with those people, but of course got pictures of the food.

Once Brandon arrived, we spent the first day visiting the BYU Bookstore before heading to the game that evening. I had to get my chocolate covered cinnamon bears!

The weather started out nice, albeit very hot. But in the shade it wasn't too bad and the game started in the evening so it was really pleasant once the sun went down. Once the game started, though, clouds started to roll in and by the second half we were getting rained on pretty heavily then had to sit through an extended lightning delay.

Before all of that, though, we got to go down to the sidelines and see Thomas and the other players warm up.

The game was not great - aside from the weather, the team didn't do so well and ended up losing, but we had great seats and had a great time.

In past visits, we spent most of our time visiting people. This time, though, I wanted to make sure we had at least some time to actually be on vacation. On Friday we headed to Salt Lake and visited the Family History Museum, did a session at the Salt Lake Temple, and had dinner at The Garden Restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We stayed downtown at the Radisson in a beautiful room overlooking the city. It was my favorite part of the trip. I love being with Brandon and exploring new places together.

The view of the sunset from The Garden was gorgeous, as was the building itself.

The next day, we had lunch at City Creek then headed up the canyon and drove through Park City up over the mountain. It was a gorgeous day and the views were stunning.

We had a cookout in Provo Canyon that night with my family. We ate and played games and walked along the Provo River. The next day was Sunday so we went to church with Thomas (we stayed with Thomas and Madison which was really nice) then had family dinner at Isaac and Dominika's house in Saratoga Springs. It was fun to see their cute kids who are growing up so fast and so far away from us.

It was such a fun trip and I'm so glad Brandon was able to come - it's fun to share with him a place that is so special to me. I always feel a little like home when I'm in Utah.

Park Day

On a beautiful day in September, we checked out Southwestway Park. We played on the swings and the other playground equipment, then went on a short hike. Jackson brought some of his toys which he swung in the swings as if they were humans - standard only child behavior. :)

Summer in Indiana

I traveled quite a bit this summer for work, driving all over Indiana. Aside from the humidity, I love summer in Indiana. The tall green corn against the blue sky is one of my favorite sights. 

On one trip to Evansville, I realized that many of the scenes from one of my favorite movies, "A League of Their Own" were filmed in Evansville, including their home stadium scenes. So I looked it up and drove by to check it out. The gate was open, so I snuck inside to snap some pictures. It's a beautiful historic field, and it was a fun fangirl moment for me!

It was such a gorgeous day so afterwards I went to the park next door to do some work.

On another trip, I visited Madison, Indiana which has a gorgeous historic district along the Ohio River (have you noticed I love historic buildings?). It was also a gorgeous day so I grabbed a spot outside to do some work - one of the benefits of working remotely!

Jacksons' Back-to-School Night

Jackson started first grade this year at Clark Elementary in Whiteland. He's riding the bus to and from school and doing well, as always. At his back-to-school night we got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Reusser, and explore his new school. It's a really cool building - a converted historic high school turned elementary school.

88th and 1st Birthdays

The 3 babies in our family turned one this summer. Elias and Alexander live a bit farther so we weren't able to celebrate with them, but Nova lives about 50 yards from us so we got to celebrate with her! She was the star of her party and looked adorable in her tutu. 

My grandma also has a birthday in the summer, so we celebrated with her, too - she turned 88 this year! Still as beautiful and lively as ever. I'm so grateful to know her!

UNION 2019

Each summer, the company I work for, EVERFI, brings all employees together from all over the country. A lot of our staff works remotely, like I do, so it's a rare opportunity to be in the same spaces as colleagues and learn from each other and re-commit ourselves to our mission. Our headquarters are in Washington, DC, so that's where we met this year at the new Conrad Hotel, which was so beautiful!

Our DC staff just recently moved into a brand new office, so our first day's evening social was held there. It's a beautiful space with a great rooftop space with a great view. I don't think I could ever give up working from home, but if I had to, that would be a great place to go to work!

My favorite part of the two days is when we have time with just our K-12 team. We get to hear from our leaders about the past year's impact and they give out awards to high performers. This year, they introduced a new award called the RV Award, which references this picture of our 3 founders who started the company traveling the country in an RV visiting schools and sponsors. They do Founders Awards each year, where each founder presents an award to a staff member who has just really set themselves apart. This RV Award is K-12's version, I guess - each territory lead chose 1 person from their territory to spotlight. And mine chose me! EVERFI as a company is not short on enthusiasm and they applaud for - and stand for - every single thing. It's actually really annoying to me. But when they all stood to applaud me as I walked up to the front of the room, I definitely felt like I'd just won an Oscar, which was kind of fun. 

That afternoon was really fun for me - of course it feels good to be acknowledged for your hard work and to enjoy success. But even more than that - I was sitting around the table with a group of schools managers who I would classify as the A-team and I was one of them! I've been at the company for 2 years now, which is pretty long for someone in my position and it just felt nice to feel like I had arrived - like I belonged there. I love my job and it was really fun to celebrate all the good things from this last year. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for leading me to this job and for the success I've been blessed with - much of which I don't think I've really earned. It was a great couple of days!

That night, our reception was at the brand new Spy Museum in DC, which has some pretty incredible views of the Capitol and Washington Monument. 

In commemoration of the anniversary of Apollo 11's flight, there was a hologram on the Washington Monument which was fun to see!

The other best part about UNION - seeing my teammates! We work together on an almost daily basis but only get to see each other in person twice a year. They're the best! Below are Erica Hart and Stephanie Stokes.

After the conference, I stayed an extra day to spend time with my friend Rebecca (Buxton) Petho who came down for the night from Philadelphia. We had a great time walking and talking and enjoying the pool. It was a fun few days, but I was happy to go home to Brandon.

Summer Shoaf Mini-Reunion

The week of the 4th of July is always a favorite - that's when Thomas, Madison, and Micah are often able to come home for a mid-year visit. On Micah's first day here, I picked her up from the airport and met Mom, Tessa, and Alisha and the boys at the Museum of Art for lunch. The food was delicious and we all doted over Alexander - he's so big and so fun.

After lunch, Alisha and the boys headed home so Alexander could nap and the rest of us got a private tour from Sister Dittmer - mom's friend from the temple.

Later that week, Tessa brought Emerson and her friends downtown for a concert and Micah was waiting to pick Thomas and Madison up from the airport, so we met downtown for dinner at Bru Burger. Once the girls were at the concert, Tessa, Micah, and I hung out and enjoyed some sister time.

Over the Fourth of July holiday, we all gathered in Brookville, Indiana for a couple of days. I didn't take any pictures so I only have a few that Alisha took. The first day was a boating day on the lake, but Brandon and I arrived just as a storm was coming in so we didn't get to go on the boat. We went back to the lake the next day, though, to swim, then went to a fireworks show at a local church. We stayed in a big house with plenty of room for everyone. We played lots of games and enjoyed lots of good food. It's so fun to have everyone together - we were just missing Isaac's family.

Brandon had already scheduled a camping trip with his family that week, so I stayed the next night at my parents' and hung out with Thomas, Madison, and Micah before they all left town. We went to the Bartholomew County Fair and ate fair food and watched a tractor pull. I'd never been to a tractor pull before, but it was pretty fun!