Happy 24th, especially for me!!

This last weekend I was able to fly back to Utah for a quick vaca! I knew that my Hewlett family was having their annual 24th of July party, where we swim, bbq, and watch uncle Scott's AWESOME fireworks show. I was so sad that I was going to miss it this year :( THEN I remembered that I fly for free and I immediately contacted my dad to set up my flight!! I arrived to Utah around 5:30pm on Friday and flew home at 7:00am on Sunday. The trip was a bit short, but sooo fun! My mom, Drew, and Reese picked me up from the airport and we went straight to Hayden and Jessica's. I loved seeing Madi and Jack. One of my favorite parts of going home was when Madi jumped into my arms and squoze me to death for like 5 minutes, and seeing Jack's happy smiling face! I love my niece and nephew soo much! Friday night I also got to see McCall, and Brittany and her family! 

Saturday morning Me, my mom, Reese, Hayden, Jessica, Madi, and Jack all meet at Kneaders for breakfast. Later that day I ran some errands with my mom and just hung out for a few hours. It was nice to just enjoy time with my mom. I have missed her SOO much! Later that afternoon I went to Scott and Suzanna's for the party. It was awesome to see everyone!! 

 I loved getting cuddles from baby Bree!

 Suzanna needed some love from Allyson hahaha

 After not getting my hair wet ALL day, Hayden picked me up

 upside down and jumped in the pool!

Now...getting home was not as easy as I had planned. The flights were overbooked and I was not going to be able to get home until Tuesday, at the earliest, since I fly stand-by for free. To make a long story short, I ended up having to buy a $330 plane ticket home! It was a painful purchase, but oh well! My trip was short, sweet, costly, and totally worth it!! 

We Love You Doug & Lori!!

Alex's mom and (step) dad came to visit this past weekend! It was so much fun seeing them, and showing them around. While they were here we took them to some of our favorite restaurants, went to a mets game, went to the beach, etc. One of the days they were here the three of them went into the city and saw Wicked. The tickets were about $180 and I've already seen it so I stayed behind. It was so good to see some familiar faces and spend time with Doug and Lori. They are so great, and like parents to me. I spend about as much time at their house as I do at my own in Utah! We already miss them and can't wait to see them in a short three weeks time! (I can't believe we are already that close to going home!! HOLY COW, the summer has gone by sooo fast!!)

 We took them to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Margaritas. Did I mention that we went three times over the 4.5 days they were here??! haha Doug loved it!

 GO METS! They beat the Phillies, 11-2

 Lori was always prepared with a fan, visor, and fanny pack. (fanny pack not pictured, unfortunately)

 A few of the sales guys came with us to the beach! Good times!

I have to document my injuries from the beach. A wave got the best of me and threw me into the rocks. This is only a small portion of the wounds. My butt has a large black bruise! haha Not to mention when I came out of the water from getting TAKEN DOWN my whole butt was hanging out for the boys to see! SORRY to anyone who witnessed that!! hahah

Ta Ta For Now...

Well, our time in Jersey with Bree and Nic has come to an end. :(

Nic is such an awesome salesmen so they asked him to finish off the summer in Boston. Their office has been struggling so he went their to help get their numbers up.

 I am so grateful that they provided us with the opportunity to come out here.

 I loved getting to know and spend time with them. They are truly incredible people who I will never forget. We always joke that they were our mom and dad while we were out here, and it's so true. We could always go to them whenever we needed anything. We did so much fun stuff with them, and I'm so glad they let us tag along on all their fun adventures! They are moving to California in the fall, and we already have plans to go stay with them. They will truly be missed!

Love you guys!

 The whole crew went to Chili's for a going away dinner. After dinner we had a dance party in the parking lot. Whoop whoop!

 Their car was packed to the MAX!!

 Bree has been growing that little plant this summer, and she left it in our care. Its our 'love fern'.

It has continued to grow quite nicely, if I do say so myself!

Palmyra

This last weekend we had the awesome opportunity to go see the Hill Camorah Pageant and the sacred grove. I got to see the sacred grove last year when I went on Heritage Tours, but we didn't see the pageant. We packed up Saturday morning and took the 5 hour road trip up to Palmyra, NY. The pageant was everything and more than I expected. It was super easy to follow, and it wasn't too long or too short. It was FANTASTIC! Not to mention the hecklers who stand outside the pageant and yell things into a megaphone! They were saying the oddest things, that we just had to laugh! We rented a hotel room for the night, and lets just say it was a bit on the ghetto side! That's how we do things here in Jersey! haha It was one of those hotels where you never take your shoes off, even in the shower! There were five of us because Nic's mom was in town, so the three of them squoze into one double, yes DOUBLE, bed! So funny! We got up Sunday morning and headed to the sacred grove. I love going to this place. Nic read about Joseph Smith's first vision, and we just sat and talked about it. It was so neat. Then...we saw some of our leaders from our Heritage Tours trip! The July group just happened to be there the same day as us! We had a good long talk with one of the leaders and saw some people we knew from high school, and AF. It was soo awesome to see some familiar faces from Utah! I really miss that place! 

(Here are some pics, sorry about the above novel! haha)

This is possibly a bullet hole in the picture frame at the hotel, I said it was ghetto!

Brother Eliason AKA the man in charge of Heritage tours!

 Brother Pelo. He was our FAVORITE ht leader! 

4th of July

For the fourth of July we got to go to Philadelphia! It was fun to be there over the 4th because this is where the liberty bell is, the declaration of independence was signed there, Ben Franklin's buried there, etc. We drove to Philly on Sunday afternoon (about a 2 hour drive) following Bree, Nic, Michelle, and Joseph. (Michelle and Joseph are Bree's mom and brother who were in town for the past week and a half) Sunday night they went and saw the Amish communities and Alex and I just went to dinner and saw the University of Pennsylvania. On Monday we got up and went to the parade. After that we saw the liberty bell, independence hall, etc. We had planned to go to the Benjamin Park and watch Sara Bareilles and fireworks, but it was soo crowded and we were exhausted so we just headed home around 7:30. 

 Oh hey Abe

 and there's George

 Ben Franklin's grave

 We had to get a Philly Cheesesteak!

 Behind us are the stairs Rocky runs up in the show. If you look closely you can see his statue

 Miss America

 In Independence Hall, where the Declaration was signed

 This is the Mint, where coins are made

 I wish we captured how cute these apartments were!!

When we got home we landed right at the redbox. This is a nightly routine for us! haha

This was a great once in a lifetime experience to have, and I am so glad we got this oppurtunity. BUT I do look forward to being able to spend the 4th with my family next year. There's nothing quite like a bbq and fireworks with your family and neighbors! I miss everyone soo much!