Summer Fun

    A few random summer pictures. :)

Boating with the Johnson's. It's cold at 8 in the morning. Sam LOVED every bit of it. She became quick friends with Sherry once she discovered the fruit snacks. :)

Samson sure loves Puffy!

Watering the plants is more fun when you get all wet.

It's fun to see her play with the chickens. :)

Eating green beans!

Bike rides are the best!

Tender Moments

  There are moments when I feel so close to heaven, and this moment was while watching Sam. She has yet to show interest in sitting down and watching movies (I know it won't be long and I'll have to peel her away from the TV) but when I turned on The Prince of Egypt she was captured. When Moses' mother was putting him in the basket to put down the river in hopes of saving him, she sings him a song. Sam was happy and laughing and as soon as this scene started to unfold she got tears in her eyes. She looked at me and said, "baby?", worried for him and sad that Moses' mother was crying. And then after that scene and Moses was a grown man Sam kept asking me about the baby. It was pretty cute to watch.

 

Mom's in Town

    My mom and Skyler drove out the last of the last of Nana and Grandad's cars from Georgia. Skyler will start school again soon and my mom drove with her and then stayed here for a week. I was sad to say goodbye. We went to Idaho for a few days and spent time with Nana and Grandad. We shopped all the DI stores in the area since there aren't DI's in GA...for someone who doesn't like to shop, I really did a miraculous job at staying happy. My mom even mentioned how surprised she was that I left in a good mood after 3 hours of shopping...But when you don't get to spend much time with your mom even shopping is a fun activity if it's with her. :) We went to Lagoon one day and had an absolute blast there! We drove down south to visit Aunt Cindy and her kids-who are all grown up! It was good to see them and catch up on life. We also spent an evening and visited Danny and Tiffannie and their kids. I sure love family! Mom and I explored the family history and church history museum and Temple Square in SLC one afternoon, too. It was a blur of a week because it went by so fast, and I'm glad mom made the time to come and visit and spend time with us. 

Washington

    We traveled to Washington at the beginning of the month for our nephew's baptism. He turned 8 and decided he wanted to get baptized. It was a pretty special weekend to see him make such a big decision. This was my first time to Washington. I'm from Georgia and I've been told it's pretty similar, but I was WOWED by the greenery! There were sooo many trees! 

It was a quick trip, but we packed it full of fun. We picked lots of blackberries and blueberries, went on morning runs to explore, went to SeaFair and saw the Blue Angels, ate delicious food, watched some Olympics, family walks, the baptism, church, the Seattle Temple, and Pike Place. The big city is definitely not my favorite but we had a really good time. There's a really cool playground in Seattle that all the kids (and me) played on. 

Then it was back on the road, back to Utah. 

I had some really neat experiences and memories from this trip- so trip SUCCESS. :)

Liz's Special Day

    My old roommate, and dear friend, got married last month. Liz Clarke, who is now Liz Clarke May, was the most beautiful bride! Here is some of what I wrote in my journal on that day:
"I want to remember everything about today. What a special day for Liz and Nathan, and for their families. And for me. I am so proud of the decisions Liz has made throughout her life that has led her to Nathan. And I'm grateful for Nathan and the good man he is, who will be good to Liz and their future children. It was fun to meet family and friends and to observe them throughout the day. There was definitely a special spirit and it was saturated with happiness."

Mt. Whitney

14,508 feet in elevation, the highest peak in the Lower 48.

22 miles.

6,134 ft in elevation gain. 

Early morning, lots of stars.

Beautiful sunrise, beautiful scenery, beautiful day.

And hard. Very challenging.

Lots of switchbacks.

Elevation sickness.

Amazed at the beauty.

I did it! 

Signed the book at top, feeling accomplished.

Good company.

Blisters.

Sweat.

Downhill.

Ran the last half mile. 

Feeling even more accomplished. 

Downed a whole bottle of chocolate milk.

Oh yeah, then the next day we went to the lowest point in the Americas, Death Valley. It was hot.

A big huge thanks to Josh for making this possible. I appreciate how supportive he is of me going on these kinds of adventures. There was no hesitation in being willing to make it work, and that means the world to me. And thanks to Tasha for babysitting Sam during the day while Josh was at work. I have such good friends. I sure missed Josh and my dear Sam, and was happy to return home to them, a champion of Mt. Whitney. :)