Red Hills Ride

Last night Casey and I went on a horse ride in the red hills with my parents. I decided that I really love where I live. It's so close to so many beautiful places! Five minutes from our house to the farm, 10 minutes from our farm to the base of the red hills. We've gone on this particular ride quite a few times since I was little and I love it. I love riding horses! Something about it is so relaxing for me. I have so many fun memories of riding horses with my family and friends. We haven't been riding very much lately so I was glad we got a chance to go.

We left from my house kind of last minute so Casey ended up borrowing some jeans from my brother. The pair that was the closest to fitting him were Wranglers so he decided to complete the cowboy ensemble with a hat and some shoes. He looks pretty legit don't you think? Next thing you know we'll have him listening to country music. haha That'll be the day!

Eighteen

Aubree turned 18 on wednesday! I can't believe how old she is! We were watching old home videos on Sunday and it showed Aubree's 4 year old slip n slide birthday party. We decided it would be fun to throw another slip n slide party, this time on a much larger scale. We made a 75 foot long slip n slide. It was so fun! :) The funny thing was that there was a giant rainstorm right after we set it up. Of course in the midst of all the roasty toasty July days there was bound to be one cold day, and of course it would be during our slip n slide party. But hey, there's just more water to work with right? Nobody ate any of the otter pops I bought though. I should have planned better and got hot chocolate instead! haha

We had a little barbecue at our house after warming up in some hot showers.

Despite the unexpected thunderstorm it was a great day. I'm so glad Aubree was born so we could celebrate it! Also because she is the perfect sister for me.

climbing and floating...quickly becoming my two favorite verbs

I took the Praxis (I think I did pretty well! I felt good about it anyway...so hopefully I passed) and I gave my talk. Phew! Now I have some free time to post.

Last week was an awesome and eventful week! Casey and I got to go to an Outdoor Retail show in Salt Lake (supposedly the largest outdoor retail show in the U.S.) and the Mammut Bouldering championship. The championship featured some of the best climbers in the world. Talk about some super buff climbers! It was quite exciting and inspiring! The boulder comp finals were on top of the Shiloh Inn parking garage which was cool. It was a fun sporting event to go to because the crowd got sooo into it! All the fans were yelling and cheering for every climber. It was cool how everyone was excited about everyone's success.

Did I mention how amazingly strong these climbers were? HUGE muscles!

Our friends who also went to the retail show and bouldering comp.

Top: Me, Casey, Tommy. Bottom: Corbin, Sam, and Rob (who got us the free passes!). We were sitting/standing by the mom of the kid doing the sideways hanging move (I'm not sure exactly what to call it, but it was impressive!). He's only 16 and he won second place! There were only 2 climbers who finished all of the problems and he was one of them. It was so fun to watch how excited his mom was every time he made it to the top. It was cute. :)

Then on the 24th we got to go to Hatch with my family and float the Sevier River on innertubes and little rafts. Some of the Wal-Mart rafts and tubes didn't quite make it to the end but we still had a blast floating and skipping rocks!

ice cream would be greatly appreciated

I am trying to get some last minute studying in for the Praxis which I am taking on Saturday morning at 7:30 (yes procrastination does happen to be my middle name!) and I officially feel stupid. Just thought I'd take a little break to let you know. Yes it is only the Elementary Content test, but according to my study guide 5th graders know just about everything. I really don't think anybody ever taught me some of this stuff! Maybe I filled out a worksheet somewhere along the way but it certainly didn't stick. No I am not smarter than a 5th grader. And yes life is definitely full of ironies. A member of our bishopbric caught me last week and asked me to speak on Sunday. My topic? "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." :) I think it's a hint.

Going to the Lake Part II

Casey and I came home from Lake Powell early to work, so to make up for it we decided to go to boating at Sand Hollow this week. We are poor college students so our form of transportation on the water was a little more creative this time. We went to a furniture store dumpster to get some cardboard then to Wal-Mart for some plastic and duct tape, spent a few hours with a razorblade and walah! A floating cardboard masterpiece! We actually made it a few weeks ago and had been trying to find a time to go down and the timing was perfect since I was sad about missing some Powell time.As you can see it floated really well! At first... :) We made it all the way to the island you can see in the background. Turns out the island is bigger than we thought. We hiked all the way around it jumping off all the good cliffs we could see. It was so hot! The water (which was quite warm also) was such a relief for our feet that were frying on the sandstone. By the time we got to the island we had gathered quite a bit of water in the bottom of the boat and it was getting kind of saggy so we were a little worried that our boat wouldn't survive the return journey.

but it did! The picture below is Casey relaxing in our boat after we made it back to shore. Notice the condition of the bottom. The carboard was completely falling apart! We were basically floating in a plastic bag that had holes in it. haha. It was great.

We decided to see how long it would float so we just stayed in it near the shore. It lasted another good half hour!

When it finally went under there was simply no salvaging it. It completely turned to shreds! It was quite a challenge carrying the water logged cardboard (we'd put in at least three layers) and the giant plastic covering to the dumpster. So heavy! It's a good thing Casey is buff. :)

Lake Powell

Next stop, Lake Powell!! We got to spend a few days on the lake with the Graf family. I love that place. We had lots of fun swimming, tubing, slalom skiing (attempting to in my case anyway), wakeboarding, riding the wave runners, kayaking, cliff jumping, boating, wake surfing, movie watching...you get the picture. So much fun crammed into half a week. It was great having so much play time with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I loved it! Thank you Grafs for inviting us!

I think my dad plays harder than just about anyone I know when it comes to Lake Powell! I love going there with him.

SLC

Our next adventure was with my family and we headed north to Salt Lake City for the 4th of July weekend (I know I'm so behind!). The first day we went to the Oquirhh Mountain temple open house and it was beautiful! I especially loved the chandeliers that were shaped kind of like stars and the window panes that had stars in them. Temples are amazingly beautiful! They are so majestic and every detail is perfect.





That afternoon we went to American Fork Canyon. I sport climbed one route with Casey, Tommy and Bridget before heading back to the visitors center where I met my family and we hiked to the Timpanogas Caves. It was a hot, steep hike but it was worth it!

There were some really cool formations. This one is called the heart of Timpanogas.

Me with my "cavers pack" as Ranger Deb, our guide through the cave, called them. We had to wear our backpacks backwards so we wouldn't hit the formations while we were going through the tunnels.

Apparantly this formation looks like a crocodile eating something. Ranger Deb had a very vivid imagination. :)

And this one looks like a Saint Bernard!

That night we went to Aubree's concert which was the main reason for our trip. She is part of the Utah Ambassadors of Music program this summer and they had rehearsals and a concert before they left on their tour of Europe! She actually called this morning from Austria! I would love to go there someday. It sounds like she is having a blast and I'm so excited that she got this opportunity. I put in this clip of one of their songs they performed at their concert. Casey did the filming while I ran out into the hall to give directions on my phone. He was slightly bored as I'm sure you will soon notice. :) hee hee That boy always makes me laugh! Make sure you watch until the clapping, that's his favorite part. I watched it on my camera later that night and maybe I was just really tired but I could not stop laughing!

The next day we went to all sorts of fun places. Starting with the Utah Museum of Natural History. Very cool!

They had a frog exhibit there that was really fun. There were toads from all over of every shape and size!

I finally got to see a Kaibab squirrel!! When we went to the Grand Canyon we stayed at a campground in the Kaibab National Forest and they have a type of squirrel there that isn't found anywhere else and it has a white bushy tail. I never saw one while we were there despite my searching and hunting so I was excited to see one at the museum! Unfortunately it was stuffed.

Our next stop was the Zoo. I love seeing all the animals. My only wish was that they had lions and gorillas. The rest of the animals were very fascinating though!

Aubree thought this elephant looked very sad. If a few of the animals at the zoo go missing, we might know where to find them.

After the zoo we had a quick stop at the This Is the Place monument. We only got to go on one short train ride before they closed but it looks like it would be a really fun place to go! They've made this little pioneer village with a bunch of different shops and houses you can go to like you're living in pioneer times. Maybe I'm a dork but I think that kind of stuff is so fun!

Finally that evening we went to the Stadium of Fire to celebrate the 4th of July. Parking was rediculous but it was pretty cool. And we got to see the Jonas Brothers live in concert! Wahoo!! haha

Aubree was feeling quite thrilled about the featured band. :) They actually were pretty good at live performances I'll admit.

Sunday afternoon Aubree and I kept ourselves entertained with pictures jumping on the trampoline. Jumping pictures, whether they be in sand dunes, on trampolines, or simply on the ground, are quite entertaining! You never know exactly how they'll turn out which makes it fun. I like the element of surprise I guess. :)

Dad even joined in the fun for a little while.

My sister is so cool. I'm excited for her to be home again! She's a fun pal.