So Happy Together

Colorado with my family was so, so fun. I wish summer vacas would never end.

We all met up in Denver Wednesday night.

I flew in from Chicago.

Angela, Mike and Steele drove in from Utah.

My parents drove in from Kansas.

Alex, Bryan and Lincoln were all awaiting our arrival!

We spent Thursday hanging out in Denver.

We toured the Denver Broncos Stadium.

(We LOVE the Broncos. Always have. Always will.)

We even went to the Kids Zone to take this pic. :)

We met up with Bryan for lunch and then were able to see where he works.

The afternoon ended with ice cream at Little Man Ice Cream, the cutest vintage looking ice cream place around.

Oh, whenever the Pavlovskys are all together, we always enjoy ice cream and dance parties. It's a given. Thursday evening we headed for Manassa to meet up with our extended family.

Friday was the Thomas Family Reunion. My mom is one of 10 children. Here's proof.

Yep, we had a dance party after lunch! And a cotton candy machine maker. My cousins came from all across the US - California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Illinois, Texas, Virginia. We took a big group picture of the 170 of us that attended the luncheon. I'll post a pic when I get one.

I have twin cousins! Megan and Michelle are a year older than Angela and me. This is the famous twin pic we always take whenever we're together. Same pose. Same position. Every time.

Saturday we ran in a 5k and enjoyed the same parade that happened on Friday. Oh, Manassa celebrates Mormon Pioneer Days every July 24 with a parade, carnival, hamburger stand and fireworks. The best part? Getting together with family and friends. We were able to stay with my Grandma Pav so it was a lovely weekend with both sides of my family.

I cried when I left. I usually don't, but it's probably because Christmas seems like such a long time until we're ALL together again. I'll especially miss this little guy.

Road Trip to Nauvoo

I had a fun weekend taking a road trip to Nauvoo with my friends!

I've been to Nauvoo several times before, and I always leave feeling uplifted as I'm reminded of how faithful the pioneers lived their lives.

We managed to pack a lot of activities in short amount of time... Carthage, Nauvoo, the Temple, the Pageant, car dance parties, girl pillow talk in our motel room with 8 bunk beds, ice cream cones, sunset by the Mississippi... oh the memories!!

Next weekend? I'll be in CO with my fam. :)

YSA

Have you noticed that my blog is mainly a review on what I did over the weekend?! During the week, I'm so busy with life that I don't have a lot of extra time to update my blog. So, I like quickly highlighting the fun times I had over the weekend.

There was a Young Single Adult Conference and I spent Saturday afternoon with my friends picking up trash at the Forest Preserve. (Yes, we did wear the yellow Helping Hands vests!!)






We then played volleyball and later had a nice dinner followed by a dance.





As I headed out to the dance floor, I left my camera on the table and later found this picture. I do love dancing and laughed at this..

Next weekend? I'll be in Nauvoo.

4th of July

Three day weekends are the best.

I did create a weekend to-do list which included paying my bills, cleaning the apartment, doing my laundry, organizing life, etc. Number one on the list? Working on my summer tan.

I did work a half day on Friday. Spent the afternoon at the pool.

Argentina lost Saturday morning. No comment. Spent the afternoon at the pool. BBQ Saturday night. Toy story 3 in 3D. (First 3D film. Pleasantly surprised!)

Sunday church. Dinner party. Fireworks over Lake Michigan!! Made an appearance on WGN -9

Monday spent the afternoon at the lake with my friends.

Weekend to-do list complete and then some!

Chicago Botanic Garden

We had a work party on Wednesday at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Oh, I haven't talked about my job. I'm an Account Coordinator at NCH Marketing. We reached a financial goal before the scheduled date, so we were awarded with a celebration! When we arrived at the garden, we were put into teams and played "The Amazing Race." My team didn't win, but we did finish strong. Here are pictures that were taken along the way. Thanks to Wambaire for sharing some of her photos! And, my co-workers make me laugh every day. They're great. At the party, they all won amazing prizes. I was a little bitter, but got over it fast. Oh wait, I take that back, Matt didn't win a prize either. He was really bitter though and complained the whole time. Not really!