Maybe a Neglected Blog Means I'm Living a Full Life...

Wow. I've been MIA from the blogging world for, like, three weeks. It seems I've been negligent...

I am, indeed, still alive, thanks for caring enough to stop by and check up.

What have I been up to over the course of the past 20 days? This and that. Spending some time with my family over the fourth of July weekend. Playing softball (WeAreSoNotUndefeatedThisYear). Going on a trip with my mama in Southern Utah (where we laughed so much it was ridiculous. And awesome!). Working (obviously). Chillaxin'. Like I said, "this and that."

Also, I made some super stellar cookies, of which I totally took a picture and posted it on Instagram. (Yeah, if my friend on Instagram, you've known all along that I am very much alive and well. I post on there every.single.day.) Rhonda requested the recipe (because I totally bragged about how stellar my house smelled while they were baking), and I'm here to oblige, Rhonda! (Only 5ish days later than promised!)

I found them through Pinterest, and the recipe is found on a blog called Averie Cooks, and these cookies are magical! (I used both chocolate and peanut butter chips, with happy results.)

I think it was about a month ago that I babysat Goose and Janel's kids with mom while they went on a date. We helped Marshall and Kaylee make bird feeders, and then we went to the park. (Glorious times were had!)

Marshall spreading peanut butter onto his giant pine cone.

Lady Kay holding a butter knife like she means it.
(She is so cute I could just die!)

Me and Marshall, after we hung his finished product in the back yard.

Kaylee couldn't quite reach it...

We played at a nearby park (until it got too warm for Auntie Gina),
and on our walk home, Marshall jumped off a fun-looking fire hydrant.

Later that day, I went to the outdoor pool in B-to-the-righam with Abby, Jane, Lindsay, and Stella. Both Jane and Stella loooooove the water slide with all their little hearts, and their mamas were both pregnant, so I was the designated best friend. (Jane and Stella aren't quite 3, and they're too little to go down by themselves.)

Jane already loves me bunches (we spend lots of time together every time I head down to Utah), but Stella doesn't really know me from Steve, so she was a bit nervous to go down the slide with me at first. (She said something like, "I wanna go with you!" as she looked directly at her mama.) However, when Lindsay said, "If you don't go with Gina, you can't go at all." Stella thought for approximately 2 seconds to size me up and decided to go for it.

I was the bees knees to those little girls that day. After that first time, Stella started giggling the entire trek to the top of the slide, and then continued to giggle the entire way down. Jane would exclaim, "This is fun!" and chat my ear off when it was her turn.

There are 42 steps leading to the top of that water slide, and I climbed it 25 times carrying approximately 30 pounds of giggling, wiggly, happy girls each time. Oh, what a happy time we had!

I did the math, people. That's 1,050 stairs I climbed.

Me and my little buddies, Jane and Stella.

 I spent Independence Day with my family this year, which was totally rad. I went to Logan in the morning to visit Gramma in the nursing home. They were doing a patriotic music-fest thingy, which didn't exactly thrill me or Mom, but Gramma seemed to be enjoying herself a lot (she sang every word!), so we...took it up the tailpipe and didn't wheel Gramma back to her room until the program was over. Then we visited with her for another hour or so in her room until lunchtime.

That afternoon, Goose and Janel had a BBQ in O-town, which was super tasty and quite fun.

Janie loves to bounce...

Kayleebug enjoying a cold treat.

Marshall doing his thing on the trampoline.

I could never grow tired of watching this cute thing (with her cute pig tails)
throwing snappers at the ground.

Here we see Jane with a bit of red icing from a sugar cookie on her chin.
Janie got a kick out of kissing my hand (and spreading the frosting all over).

Grandmother reading to her girls.

Oh, heck, I think Marshall is so cute.

Mom and I headed down to Cedar City on July 5 to check out the Shakespeare Festival. We thought we'd check out downtown Cedar before the play, only to discover there's not much to see there. After dinner (at an "interesting" Mexican restaurant), we headed up to campus and got there in time for the "green show" before our play started.

A snapshot of our drive to Southern Utah.

The green show was interactive, so you know. When I say "interactive," I mean to say that the thespians prance around and interact with their audience. You understand this, right? Mom and I didn't even know about said green show until we got to campus a whole hour before our play began, and we definitely did not know it was interactive. Interactive makes us uncomfortable! But we had fun avoiding eye contact with the thespians, and standing up with wet bums (because the grass, where we sat, was wet).

Ohhh, LAUGHTER!

That's what Mom and I did most on our trip. We talked, and we laughed. Over ridiculous (and occasionally shocking) things.

Also, we went shopping. In St. George.

This is one of the best salads I've ever eaten. Found at Paradise Bakery in San Jorge.
Mostly we went there for the cookies, though :)

 Yeah. It was fun. I totally love my Mama...

Aaaand! Before I sign off, I have happy news to share! Vance and Abby had their baby last week! Her name is Julie, and she is cute as a button! I cannot wait to meet her in real life (which will happen in less than 48 hours. Not that I'm counting down or anything)!

Jane is crazy about her baby sister!

Julie Linda, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, it seems!
Named after two spectacular women: her grandmothers!