Hiking the Y!

One very hot day a few weeks ago, Emily and Jon called and said they were hiking the Y and that I should join them. Having never done this hike before, not being busy, and wanting the points for the Biggest Loser, I agreed to go. We were kind of stupid about picking the hottest part of the day in which to do the hike, but it was a good experience overall. At least I can finally say I've hiked the Y!

Jen, Jon, and Em at the start.

Jen, Jon, and me at the start. I had to get proof that I had been there, too!

Haha. So there's a funny story behind this picture. As we were walking along the trail I was looking around at the beauties of nature surrounding me. Unfortunately that meant that I didn't see this hole along the edge of the path. One moment I was admiring the mountain, and the next moment I was sliding partway down a big hole! Luckily, that tree branch was laying across the hole and stopped my feet from going any further down. Jennifer also had a pretty quick reaction and grabbed my shoulders before more than just my legs could slide off of the path and down the mountain. I scratched up my left elbow pretty badly and even got a little injured on my right palm. Once I finally got up and continued walking along the trail, I couldn't stop laughing for probably 10 minutes! I wish I could have seen myself fall, because I'm sure it was very entertaining!

I had to get the classic view of Provo from the Y. Maybe you can see my house if you look really closely.

Ta-Daa!! Another "life list" goal completed, and only with minor injuries and major laughter.

p.s. Make sure you scroll down and see and comment on all of my new posts! I have been so slow posting things lately that today while I waited for the carpet to dry (carpet cleaners came today) I sat at my computer and got rill busy posting.

Pool Crashing

One day a few weeks ago, my friends and I decided to crash the pool at Glenwood Apartments. It was a very hot day, and we enjoyed the water so much that we ended up being there for quite a few hours. Thank goodness for water activities to keep me cool in the summer!

Whitney, Robert, and Nick. I didn't get pictures of Nate, Skylar, or Samantha who were also there.

Whitney and I were trying to be cool with an underwater picture. Basically I wanted to see what difference the water setting made on my digital camera. :)

When was the last time you went swimming?

Mona Lake

On Monday, July 5th, our ward decided to have a fun activities because of the holiday. After watching the parade together, we had another activity of going down to Mona to play on rope swings and to play in the lake. I didn't actually swing out on the ropes because the water was freezing and by the time I got out from swimming, I didn't want to get so cold again by jumping in. It was fun seeing people do cool flips and jumps off the high ropes, though!

Here is a partial view of the lake. It was so pretty!

Whitney, my lovely roommate. Greg is behind her.

Nicole, Liz, and Alexay -- friends in the ward who were also there.

New adventures are so fun!

Independence Day 2010

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! I have fond memories of getting excited for the missionaries to come join our family for a holiday picnic on the back porch. Spencer or Dad would grill hot dogs and hamburgers, we'd put out the red and white checkered table cloth, and we'd eat on those red, white, and blue plastic plates. As I got older we didn't always have the missionaries over, and I would often take on the job of using the hose to power wash all the patio furniture before the big day. It was always so hot during the picnic, and this would be the main day that we'd make use of the ceiling fan in our gazebo-feeling porch.

But, what I always thought was one of the best parts was the homemade ice cream! Dad would usually be in charge of making it, and I remember the motor being so loud and obnoxious for at least a half hour. When it was finally ready, he'd pull out the mixing part and put it on a cookie sheet. Most of us would promptly grab spoons and eat every last drop of stray ice cream off of the cookie sheet. We'd each eat a big bowl of the delicious treat, and we'd have a huge tupperware filled with the remaining ice cream. I always loved how much ice cream it made!

Things have obviously changed as I've grown and been in different situations for Independence Day. This year was my first year being in Provo for the holiday.

The Hansens and Jennifer watched the parade (which was actually the day after the 4th because the 4th was a Sunday) right in front of the spot that my ward had saved overnight. The first half of the parade I watched with my ward, but for the end of it I came and sat up with these cool people. I thought it was crazy how many people had camped out to save spots!

Here is Jennifer with Luke. It could have been a cute picture except for the fact that Luke was so wiggly. :)

I just had to take pictures of these two floats, because it was so funny/cool to me that temples were depicted on the various ward or stake floats. What a big deal parades are here in Utah!

This was one of the big balloons that went down the parade route. I felt like I was at a mini Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! There definitely weren't big balloons like this in our homecoming parades back home.

What a great country I am blessed to live in!

Utah Lake FHE

This is quite belated, but I needed to share proof that I have actually been boating and attempted water sports. This was my first time!

Whitney and me at the front of the boat. The bouncing motions were fun!

Robert being Robert. :)

Our boat-full. Bishop Richards is the one driving, and from L to R is Missy, Jenny, Jenny's brother, and Hannah. I lucked out with a fun group to go out with.

Here's the proof that I attempted knee boarding. I fell off about .5 seconds into both tries, but it was a fun adventure. I actually did go tubing with Jenny on the tube with me, but I didn't get any pictures of that. It was fun, but I was pretty sore the next day. Jenny and I had similar neck pains, and after she went to her chiropractor she found out that she had whiplash. Guess that's why my neck hurt so badly for a few days afterward, too! :)

My buddies Beth, Robert, and Nick while we sat on the docks and talked.

Everyone should go boating or tubing at least once in his/her life, and I was glad to finally get to do it 19 years into my own!

The Pits

Nectarines and Peaches have pits. They're tasty.
Plums have pits. They're usually tasty.

Being sick is the pits. Sore throats are my nemesis.

I Can't Wait!

I can't wait for this (rather, these):



I heart Harry Potter, and I might have just been re-inspired to re-read all the books since I don't do anything these days. Yippee! November is just around the corner, right?

And on a related topic, how about I put some of my desires in writing. I want to own a set of all the Harry Potter books and a set of all the Harry Potter movies for my home some day. Perhaps those will be on my wedding registry, yeah?

Friends

I heart these people! These pictures are all from a while ago, but I like these people, so I thought you might want to see who I spend a lot of my time with. :)

Whitney and Kara, my current roommates. What dolls.

Becky, my roommate who is not my roommate for Summer Term. Thank goodness she'll be back in Fall!

This is my buddy, this is my pal. (10 points!) Oh yeah, and his name's Robert.

Nick, another great friend of mine, plus Becky and Whitney.

Kara and me. I really really love sharing a room with her!