"That summer seemed to last forever!"

As summer slowly comes to a close (9 more days until school starts?!), I look back and see that it was pretty full for me of a lot of different things!  

First thing is the same old thing-- working at my wonderful job! As of the 5th, I have officially been working for a whole year!! It's something I've really enjoyed doing a lot and not to put school down or anything but I've learned more about becoming a social worker in my one year of working there than I have in my years of schooling! It's also been very interesting to see how the boys I've worked with have grown from the time I first met them--it's really amazing sometimes to look back and see how much change someone can undergo.  I have one boy right now who has made a lot of amazing changes and personal growth over the past year that I just want to go around bragging like a proud parent about it to everyone I meet!! I've had a lot of fun working with the boys but it's definitely tough work but they make it oh-so-much better by often times having such great attitudes!! 

The boys picked me a Dandelion Bouquet one day--this is cute, right?!

Next on to the update of what happened with Brooks' summer Grassroots Shakespeare tour this summer: it was amazing!! I saw each play at least 3 times and loved it every time!  It was a whole lot of fun to see Brooks doing something he loves and that he's freaking good at too!! The plays were a huge success and it was the most popular and profitable tour they've had to date! Brooks' acting got some people to take notice of him and he had a lot of offers to have parts in various plays and requests for him to audition at places like the Hale Center Theater! If you don't know Brooks, he's apparently a pretty big deal! Unfortunately because of his schooling he's not able to take any of the offers up but just wait until next summer--he's going to be all over that!!  Here's my favorite scene of his where he plays Pistol-- I just love the way he plays this old man and how well all the characters interact with each other. Brooks is super funny and (dare I say it... attractive) as an old man! (I've watched this at least 20 times because it makes me so happy!)

"There were some aspects of the production that were of particular enjoyment to me, such as the commedia dell’arte take on the scenes with Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol, complete with stylized masks and melodramatic acting. As Pistol, Brooks Lindberg displayed some wonderful physicality, bending his body into overwrought positions and shuffling across the stage in a hyperbolic portrayal of the elderly character."~Utah Theatre Bloggers Associate Review 

Speaking of Brooks, because of his ongoing tour of awesomeness sadly I did not see him nearly as often as I would have liked this summer.  When I did get to see him though it was absolutely amazing!! I made it out to see his plays as often as was possible and he tried to come see me as often as was feasible (not often). We were able to have a lot of fun those few times we were together--I freaking love this man!

Hike to Bridal Veil Falls

View at our favorite places to eat out--The Crepery

Playing on the beach at Bear Lake

Eating out and showing off our Poutine

For our family vacation this summer we went to Montana to visit my grandparent's farm and then we headed over to Glacier National Park.  It would have been a super amazing trip... if it hadn't rain nearly as much but even as wet as it was it was a very fun experience and I saw some very pretty things!! 

Those are pictures from my phone--gorgeous!! I saw some Bald Eagles, a beaver, a moose and baby moose. 

To update for the neices and nephews of 2014, Max and Parker are doing great and I love when I get to see them.  

Parker  (L) is not nearly as enamored as Max (R) is! 

Jake and Brook and have welcomed little Emmaline--I on the other hand haven't yet gotten that priviledge... oh the woes of a not so great work schedule!! I'm looking forward to meeting this little girl sometime soon!! (poor Jake is slowly getting more and more outnumbered by the lovely girls in his life!)

Megan and Bryant still haven't had their baby, but they do know the gender: Female! So that makes the result of this year 2 neices and 2 nephews! That'll be fun! I just had Megan come over and spend a few days at my apartment which was a whole lot of fun for me!! We shared a bed like we did growing up again but this time when we stayed up until 2 am talking dad didn't come downstairs and yell at us to be quiet!! It was a lot of fun to spend time with Megan and I'm happy she came and visited!

Prego-Mego at 29 weeks!

I've gone through a pretty big change this summer through finally making the decision to have the 2 moles on my face removed.  This was a pretty tough decision for me to make--the decision has been about 9 years in the making and I finally decided to just get it over with.  The reasons I ended up getting it done was as follows; still on parent's insurance, they kept getting bigger every year, there was a little bit of insecurity, and there were some weird/gross things going on with them that I'll save you the trouble of thinking about.  

The night before my procedure I had a little break down because I was worried what others would think about me for having them removed or that people would assume I didn't love myself the way I was. The main reason I was worried though was that I've had them for as long as I could remember and I was worried about not recognizing my face or losing part of my identity. Brooks was there to help me through all my crazy emotions and even held my hand during the procedure the next day (which I imagine had to be really super gross!) 

This is about 2 weeks after having the stitches removed

In the end, I'm happy I finally got up the courage to do it, I'm a little sad they're gone but overall it was the best choice.  The scars will take up to a year to fade really well but I'm really kind of happy with where they are now.  I've been asked why I don't try to cover them up with make up by the boys I work with and I shrug and say that I guess I'm just really confident with the way I am.  Now I truly know that I am and that though my moles at times made me feel a little self conscious overall I'm a pretty dang confident person and I know that I didn't have the removed out of shame or a negative self-image. I had them removed because their role in my life was getting complicated, and I didn't need them.  Right now I'm loving my scars--it would be nice if they healed and faded more but I know I'd be happy if they stayed this way forever!  So next time you see me, don't be alarmed by my 'unsightly' scars or surprised if you hear me refer to myself as 'Scar Face' I really am happy with my decision and I'm proud to be my beautiful self no matter what!!