gone

Yep, my Bret is gone. And life has been pretty slow and lonely without him. I'm just so grateful for Skype and Vonage that allow me to talk and video chat with B multiple times a day - he even watched my nieces and nephews perform a talent show today on my parent's front lawn via Skype. What a contrast to three years ago when he was there on a study abroad (when we were basically engaged) and we could only talk about once a week using expensive phone cards. I am beyond grateful for the progress of modern technology (a la Kip from Napoleon Dynamite). I am also so grateful for everyone who has shown me support and love already. Perhaps I'll survive the summer after all.

Since my life has slowed down considerably since his departure, I'll just fill you in on stuff we did before he left. I admit, this is one of those posts that doesn't really have a point except to document our lives for posterity. So get ready for a potpourri of pictures...


One thing we've done a lot of lately is walking/hiking. It's great because it's both free and necessary for me since that's about the only physical activity I seem capable of these days.


Puttering along the Bonneville shoreline trail


Ensign Peak


Bret and I, well particularly Bret, really likes birds so when I told him an aviary exists in Liberty Park we decided to include it in one of our walks. I think we were probably the only ones there not on field trip, which is ironic because I recall not really appreciating that field trip in my early days. Thanks to Bret and Scooter, I have certainly changed my ways.

Before B and the Rigbys left we had a little get together with some friends at the Long's. They even surprised me with an early (and delicious) birthday cake. They're awesome, just like Stuart's stache in this picture.

That group of guys are at it again with their little made-up games. For the past few months they've been going crazy over a game they invented called hand golf that involves throwing tennis balls at things. They often get together and play it for hours at various parks and high schools, attracting a lot weird looks. They played it on this night but once they got back they couldn't resist doing another game: rolling the tennis ball across the beam to knock off the marker at the end. Simple, yes, but I recall only one of them (mustache) being able to do it.

I've mentioned before how Bret has become my little gourmet cook lately. Well my new favorite thing in the world is his delectable Chicken Tikka Masala. I swear, it's even better than Bombay House's Masala (the picture does not do it justice). I think I miss it almost as much as him.... almost.

We made it on a few occasions before he left - a couple of times for friends which we traded dinner nights with. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of those excellent meals but I do have some from the bonfire we had at the Cramers after they made us a lovely BBQ dinner last week.



Cheers.

Even Phoebe the dog got cozy by the fire.

And finally, celebrating my birthday with the fam. We also stayed at a hotel up in Park City as a last hurrah/birthday trip but the only picture we took is really frumpy of me so I'm excluding it. Oh well.