June recap

July is a big month in our house. Besides the 4th, July also contains my birthday, Aidan's birthday, Utah's birthday (also known as Pioneer Day), and a never-ending parade of hot dogs, smores, and sunshine.

Oh sweet July

But before we look forward to July, let's take a moment to reflect on the awesomeness that was June. The start and stop snow finally stopped. Aidan finished second grade. The Cummings family celebrated our one-year anniversary in Utah.

Here are some other things that happened in June:

Robert and I teamed up with Christine's family and ran the Dirty Dash. The Dirty Dash, for those unfamiliar, is a "mud run obstacle course where a military boot camp meets your inner five-year-old's fantasy." (http://www.thedirtydash.com/about)

Before

After

As the only legitimate runner, Christine was team captain, but as the most exuberant, shoulder-rolling, dive-into-the-mud-headfirst member of the team, Robert became team captain of the obstacles. It took us about two hours to run 5.5 miles through the mud, but we had the best time ever. It was so much fun that Christine conned Robert and I into running the 13 mile Dirty Dash this fall. Hopefully we don't die.

We also managed to score some quality time with the Bennett family in June. Lenore threw a backyard BBQ because, really, what better way to kick off summer than a backyard BBQ. The kids enjoyed the homemade shaving cream water slide and the adults enjoyed Lenore's Twix salad. That's right, TWIX SALAD. Definitely pregnancy food but absolutely delicious.

Cold Aidan

Tough Jude

Sassy Mimi

We also got to sneak in a really nice double date with the Bennetts at Finca, sans children.

Bennetts not shown 

Speaking of dates, Robert and I got to go see Neon Trees while Aidan visited his dad in Los Angles.  Neon Trees is a Provo-based rock band, and one of Utah's biggest musical exports. Provo is 45 minutes south of Salt Lake, 98% Mormon, and disturbingly homogenous.  Yet, amongst all that sweet, vanilla goodness lives Tyler Glenn, the larger than life, electric frontman for Neon Trees.

In reality, Tyler Glenn is from California, but I suppose Utah doesn't get much in the way of hometown heroes, so we'll let them have this one. Side note: the name Neon Trees came from the In and Out trees that are lit up at night. How Southern California is that? 

The show was awesome. Neon Trees and the entire crowd bopped around to Sleeping with a Friend, Animal, and Everybody Talks, and the band ended with the Pixies Where Is My Mind, always a classic. This was Tyler's first show in Utah since coming out as a gay Mormon and there was an incredibly sweet moment when he addressed the crowd by saying, "I love God, I'm thirty-years-old, and I'm gay... I'm not telling you to come out as gay; I'm telling you to be yourself. Come out as you." It felt very personal as Tyler addressed the Salt Lake City crowd with a hint of hesitancy, almost as if he were coming out to a friend.  The crowd responded with overwhelming affection, and I felt good about social progress in the most conservative state in the nation.

On a lighter note, the Cummings family also discovered yet another awesome thing about Utah in the summertime: cheap public pools. We spent a day at the Cottonwood Heights rec center, racing down waterslides and showing off our best dives. Robert was by far the most best diver, Aidan was the cutest, and I get the participation award for getting off my Mommy butt and playing along.

The Frog

Not exactly Olympic form

Robert inverted

My more traditional style

There were quite a few things that happened in June, but I'll just report on one other. I won a contest! It was very exciting for me because it was a research paper competition for papers on the topic of Data Curation (yawn, I know I'm losing you already). I submitted a paper that I wrote in grad school, and won $750 and the publication of my paper on the ICPSR website. You don't have to know what any of that stuff means. Just be happy for me because I got validation that my writing doesn't suck and $750. Yeah!!

Tomorrow, we're headed back home to Los Angeles to spend a week laying on the beach in San Juan Capistrano with my family. You'll probably hear a little more from me since I have the next ten days off work and thus plenty of time to blog.

June, you were great. July, don't disappoint!