A little road trippin'

My friend Kari's birthday was on Sunday and she invited me to go on a road trip with her down to St. George in celebration. She had never been to Zion National Park and wanted to check it off her list. So Friday afternoon we packed up and headed out. We had a nice drive down talking about whatever we felt like. About an hour before we arrived I got really excited to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn and we decided we should sing the rest of the way. Not sing songs, but sing our conversation. It was very entertaining.
We stayed with our friend Blaire at her family's house in St. George. We dropped off our stuff and then piled in the car to head to Tuacahn. Blaire's brother in law works there and scored us some free tickets. Since Kari's third person she invited couldn't come at the last minute we had an extra ticket to the play so we took Blaire's 4 year old niece Anya with us. She was shy for about 37 seconds and then proceeded to tell me everything about everything since I was sitting in the back with her. By the time we got to Tuacahn we were the best of friends.

The play was fantastic!! I had heard the soundtrack to the play before on the way home from my mission in Spain. It makes for a very long flight when the person next to you is asleep, you can't play the games on the touch screen in front of you because they make you sick and you can't watch the movie; A. because you're a missionary and B. because it will make you sick just like the game did. That leaves listening to music provided by the airline, so what else is a poor missionary to do but listen to Disney. I loved the added songs and was excited to see how they played out. I was not disappointed. It. Was. FABULOUS. I really just loved it so much.

The next morning Blaire and I snuck out to the grocery store to get some flowers and chocolate for Kari's birthday while she was still sleeping. When we got back we headed into town for some breakfast at The Bear Paw. I decided to just go with the pancakes. Kind of boring. In my head I was thinking IHOP so I ordered the large stack because I was feeling very hungry. Holy cow! The pancakes were bigger than my face! I barely made it through 2 and gave the last one to Blaire since her French toast was so little.
Then we were off to Zion. I've been there a few times, but I forget how HUGE those rocks are. It's amazing to me the talents of God. I know that sounds a bit ridiculous, but seriously! What an artist! The colors and just the size of those rocks is so amazing.

Kari wanted to hike the narrows so we got on the bus and headed in. It was a pretty warm day, but once we got down to the water it was the perfect temperature. Being down in that canyon provided shade and the water was pretty cold. It worked out perfectly.

After the narrows we headed to the emerald pools. It had a beautiful view that has provided a nice new lock screen for my phone.

Saturday night we went to Anasazi, an interesting steak house in St. George. They brought you your meat on a hot stone and you cooked it yourself. It was very different, but fun.
Sunday morning we went to a local ward and it happened to be the primary program. It was very entertaining watching those little kids say their parts and sing the songs.
We finished up the trip with a stop at Blaire's house for lunch. Sloppy Joes, my favorite! And then headed out to Snow Canyon. It was SUPER hot so we only got out for one hike to Jenny's canyon which was only half a mile round trip.
It was a really fun weekend with Kari and Blaire and I'm glad I got to go.

Utah temples

It's on my bucket list to go to all the temples in Utah and Idaho and do an ordinance of some kind.

Logan
Brigham City
Ogden
Bountiful
Salt Lake 
Jordan River
Draper
Oquirrh Mountain
Timponogos
Provo
Provo City Center- construction
Vernal
Payson- construction
Cedar City- construction
Monticello
St. George


Rexburg
Idaho Falls
Twin Falls
Boise- been to two sealings, but I've never actually done an ordinance
Meridian - construction

I'd say I'm doing pretty good.

Decisions

I hate making decisions. Like big ones that are really going to affect my life. Probably in a really big way. I've been feeling the need for a big change for a few months now. New job, new place, new people. And although I know I need the change, I just have no idea what to do or where to go. It's terrifying. I feel like I'm stuck in life and then even more stuck in trying to decide what to do. A neon sign pointing in the right direction would be super. Sadly I know that's not how it works. I'm glad general conference is in a couple weeks. I probably should make a couple trips to the temple as well and maybe find out who my home teachers are. Being an adult really is the pits sometimes.

Camping Camping

I love camping. Love it. Sadly I haven't done much of it this summer, but thanks to my brother Kevin we had an awesome family camping trip this last weekend. He and Marc decided it needed to happen and Kevin took it on, with the help of mom and aunt Tammy of course. They found a weekend that worked for everyone and at pretty much the last minute, it was decided that we would go camping out by Heise hot springs.

Friday I got off work early and headed to Jon and Louisa's. Jamee and I would be taking three of their kids and they would be coming with the other three in Jamee's car. There was a little misunderstanding that led to a late start, but the kids entertained themselves climbing in and around my car while we waited. 

Once we got loaded up we hit the road for our four hour drive. The kids did pretty well, with Talmage only asking if we were there yet three times. We had to make a stop in Idaho Falls for some last minute supplies. I was super fast getting everything, but then ended up in the longest line ever! We finally got back on the road and made it to camp. It was dark, but luckily everyone had been there for a couple days already and everything was already set up. Dinner was just getting done so we sat down to eat with everyone.

Saturday morning mom and I were in charge of breakfast.We had eggs, hash browns and bacon.

After breakfast we headed out to Ririe Reservoir. Sadly I didn't get any pictures. It was pretty windy and cold. Toward the end of the day the winds died down a bit and the sun tried to make an appearance so there were boat rides and exploits on the jet skis. A couple of the little kids ventured to jump in the water and Julie and I had the great idea that we should push Jamee in. It worked, but that meant we had to go in too. It was dang cold. Seriously. FREEZING. After warming up a bit, Jamee, Julie and I went to change into running clothes to run the 10+ miles back to camp.

It was a miserable run. We know I've been having troubles the last 4 months with running and it wasn't any better this time. I had eaten tacos about and hour before and we didn't bring any water. We decided that instead of running on the highway for a mile we would just run on a dirt farm road until it connected on the other side. It didn't connect like we thought it would so we decided to keep going through the farms. Oh my goodness. It was an adventure. I was slower than normal and SOOOO thirsty. We had to cross a few canals and a river. Luckily there were stellar "bridges" so we didn't have to ford the river.

We finally connected with the road and made a stop at Mountain River Ranch for a drink. Then we were back on the road for the last 3 miles. At mile 9 we called Kevin to come and get us. Shortly after that my dad pulled up  behind us. He had been worried and went out looking for us. Thankfully we were not kidnapped by a trucker, murdered and cut up into little pieces. Just lost in the middle of an alfalfa field. :) We made it back for the end of dinner and then pretty much laid around the rest of the night.

Sunday was full of rain so we stayed in the camper for most of the morning. I took a walk with my dad once it quit and later in the afternoon Jamee, Julie, Kevin, Marc, Dustyn and I headed down the road for a little hike. It was a fun little hike. Julie and Marc are two of the most ridiculous people I know and they made it very entertaining.

we all look pretty homeless

Dustyn may struggle with the duck face ...

but really, no one looks good doing the duck face

Monday morning we packed up and headed out. Mom and Julie convinced me to come home and hang out for a while. Kevin took us out to Warm Slough for a little more jet ski riding. The water there was no warmer than the reservoir, but we had a good time. It was a rough drive home for me and I stopped on Malad pass and took a nap. Overall it was a fantastic camping trip. I love my family!!