Saturday, June 28, 2008

Theme Park Week

Since I no longer am working, I went to a few theme parks this week with family visitors. I went to Seven Peaks with Ali, our cousin who lives in Arizona and is visiting. Bri, Palmer, and Portia joined us for part of it. And I got a little crazy with my camera.
Palmer and Portia were too busy shoving licorice and pretzels in their mouth to pose.
She is very focused in this picture.


Again, eating. Portia likes food . . . a lot!

Here she is eyeing food.
Not quite sure what he's doing, but I can almost guarantee it includes talking to himself.

This is her, "I'm getting splashed in the face and I'm a little startled" look.
She loves splashing in the water.
Palmer was very focused on going down the slide. Especially after he got taken out by a stupid kid.

I had fun with Ali, particularly when we were making friends with as many twelve year old boys as possible! (I miss my job).
I also went to Lagoon with Sierra. She had come up to see Landon off at the MTC and then stayed a few days longer. So we got to hang out. I was able to introduce to her the greatness that is Felicity. She'll never be the same.
Self-portrait on the log ride. We didn't really trust the other couple with us that was making out the whole time to take our picture. It was SO hot that day, and the rattlesnake rapids was closed! So we had to settle for the lame log ride.
Sierra was freaking out before we went on Rocket. I thought it was funny, so I thought I'd capture it in a photo.
After the Rocket. Last ride of the day, the Carousel. We found this spinny thing to sit on on the Carousel (we were eyeing it while waiting in line). So we joined a couple other kids on it. It was like a tea cup at Disneyland. But the kids were spinning it so much, I thought I was going to throw up, so I had to ditch them. It was a fun day, but extremely hot, and I think I got slightly dehydrated.
I'm sad that I'm moving to Oregon right when Sierra is moving away to go to college. But I'm happy for her; she'll have fun in Rexberg.




Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Lake Powell . . . was. . . awesome!

Nick and I went to Lake Powell last week with his family and some family friends, the Bradshaws. It was ridiculously hot, but the water was perfect temperature! I love Lake Powell so much, and never want to leave. It was fun going with Nick's family, to spend some time with them, especially before we move.
This is Brittany, my sister in law. We went on a hike one day up to these cliffs. If you have really good eyes, you can see a spot of blue in the distance, that's Nick.
This is the view from our hike. You can see our houseboat on the right. I used to not think the red rocks were pretty, but I've changed my mind. I think its so beautiful there. I'm definitely going to miss Southern Utah.
Jacci, Nick's other little sister, just got done wakeboarding like a pro. I think her nails helped her.
Nick, and his new hobby, fishing. He caught one the first night, and then a few nights later caught a freakin' huge bass. I was so proud. I wish he was wearing his sweet fishing hat in this picture!




Me wakeboarding. I kinda sucked. When I went a few weeks ago, I jumped one side of the wake, but I was a wimp and couldn't handle waves at all this time. What can I say, I need all the gear. I'm a high maintenance wakeboarder. That's how I roll.

Nick doing the screamin' semen. He also did the pirate and attempted to do the shotgun, but I didn't get any pictures. Besides, as he explains, all of these tricks are better when you waterski naked.
Mike, a.k.a. father in law, a.k.a., Nick's pa. He's one of my favorite people. Even more so because he wears long pants at Lake Powell!
Tube Wars!!! We spent pretty much two full days on the tubes. Trying to get everyone on to one tube was a big challenge. It was so much fun though. There were a few injuries, but that's the sacrifice you make.

We had fun laying out, going swimming, playing games, watching the Celtics win! I'm still in denial, that I am home and somewhat back to real life. Not exactly, seeing as I'm done with school and my job. But you know what I mean.








Sunday, June 22, 2008

So Long Little Lanny

My little brother Landon left on his mission this last Wednesday, June 18th. I was in Lake Powell with Nick's family, so I wasn't there to send him off at the MTC (which was probably a good thing, seeing as I'm a tad emotional). He is going to the Puerto Rico, San Juan West mission, and I'm excited to hear stories about those sassy Puerto Rico women (shout out to Carla, my professor at the U). I'm going to miss him though. Even though he enjoys beating me up when he sees me, it was always fun having him around. I know he's going to be a great missionary, particularly if he is able to show the puerto ricans his dance moves. If that doesn't bring a few souls to the gospel, I don't know what will!

This is us golfing in Oregon a week before he left.


Friday, June 13, 2008

Keep On Trekin'

Nick and I went on our stake trek last week. We went hiking and camping about an hour and a half south of Utah Lake. We were Ma and Pa of a group of kids. Unfortunately for the first day, Nick was a single father. I got really really sick on Wednesday. I was throwing up about every half hour and thought it might be a little scary if I was trying to push a handcart and camp. I did get to join the group on Friday however, and it was really fun, but muddy.



Nick was in his element, out in the wilderness, sporting his gear. Here he is putting up some tents to sleep in for our family.


On Friday night, we had a big meal and a "hoe-down." It was beautiful outside, as the sun was setting.


Here is Nick with our family,a nd the kids pushing the handcart. It had rained quite a bit the few days before the trek. So it was really really muddy. A couple of kids actually wiped out and were covered in mud head to toe.




On the last day of the trek, they randomly had people die. Nick and I were chosen to die. We were taken away from our families and had to walk along a short cut to the end of the trail. We waited there for our families until they returned pushing the handcart. I felt bad for our family because at that point, there were only three kids left pushing (a few had to go home).

The last day, we woke up in the morning and it was raining and it was freezing. Like 40 degrees. I really thought it might snow. Luckily, the weather calmed down and it actually turned uot a little bit nice that day.

Overall, it was a nice little spiritual experience. And it was fun to do something with the youth. However, there were still a couple funny stories from the trek:

1. The last night at the hoe down, there was a couple that was like really serious into the country line dancing and swing dancing. They actually started doing lifts. Nick and I were tempted to try it, but then realized we would probably get hurt.

2. After they were done playing fast songs, the band wanted to end with a spiritual song. So they played How Great Thou Art. Nick and I were joking around with each other about how we should go slow dance to it. Sure enough, a few couples went out and started slow dancing to it. Nick and I were mixed between laughing and being completely baffled. We were like, um, is this appropriate? We realized just as we were making fun of the couples dancing, the stake president was standing right next to us and probably had overheard everything. It was a weird 5 minutes.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Moving on up

After a lot of deliberation and prayer, Nick and I have decided to move to Oregon, about 30 minutes south of Portland. We're planning on heading out the first of August. Nick is going to be attending Willamette University, and I am still looking for a job. We're both excited and nervous about the changes we'll be making. But we are also planning on having a lot of visitors. And I mean that! If you don't, I will no longer be your friend!

This is a map of Oregon, and you can see where we'll be. We are going to be in Salem, the capital. It's where the little red star is. It's actually a great location, its about 30 to 45 minutes away from everything, the city, the beach, the mountains.

This is Portland (on a clear day).

There are a lot of beautiful places around Salem that are great for hiking and sight seeing and everything. This is Silver Falls, a state park next to Salem.