Comings and Goings and Everything In Between

Camping and Hiking at Crater Lake (July 2 – July 3)

Six of us headed to the mountains for a fun night of camping and hiking the next day. Our adventures were complete with tin-foil dinners, delicious s’mores, a homemade hammock, and beautiful scenery!

I even got a bouquet of wild flowers!

Fourth of July

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. I am so glad I live in this wonderful country and this holiday is a chance to reflect on how truly blessed we are to call the USA home. We have so many comforts, freedoms, and privileges given to us. I went to a BBQ at a friends house that day and enjoyed some good company and ate a traditional 4^th of July hamburger. A group of us then met up for some fireworks that night. It was raining so hard, but that didn’t stop us from sitting in the car and watching through rain smeared windows while singing along to “Proud To Be An American!” Can you get more patriotic than that?

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Girls Weekend at San Juan Island (Thursday, July 8 – Sunday, July 11)

This was a fabulous vacation. Typically vacations are run, run, run and when you get home you need a vacation from the vacation! Well, I’m happy to say this vacation was truly how vacations should be… peaceful, relaxing, and very enjoyable! Aside from my oldest sister (missed you Jen!) all us girls were there. We flew in to Seattle and thus began our adventures. We drove onto the ferry and went across to the San Juan Island where we spent the next three nights in a cute little house we rented for the weekend. I will document our trip through pictures (there are a lot)!

On the Ferry Heading to the Island The house we rented was directly across from this gorgeous lavender field

Ashlee did a great job driving this huge people mover!

Lime Kiln was a beautiful place

Scrunch picture at Lime Kiln

Go Karate Kid Marcela!

We visited the American Camp and the English Camp while we were there. It was fun to learn some history

We enjoyed an evening of frolicking and picture taking in the lavender fields

Does vacation get any better then simply chillin'?

We even got a little golf in- Great face Jess!

First Haircut

More chillin'

We loved the big hay bails, so Katie had to get a picture!

Mom with an Orca

Loved the random speed limit!

We traveled on my birthday, so we partied the night before!

We met up with Ryan and Brent at a Park before we headed to the airport. It was great to see them for a couple hours!

I came home to a sign and delicious cinammon rolls. It was a fabulous end to a great birthday and trip!

Cassie and Kirk’s Reception (Mom in town) (July 15 – July 19)

I always enjoy when Mom comes into town. We have such a good time. I was bummed I had to work so I didn’t get to maximize my time with the Momisita, but we did get some good hanging time in. The reason for her trip to Colorado was Cassie and Kirk’s wedding reception on July 17. Annie was up past her eyebrows in wedding planning and Mom was able to lend a helping hand and I’m sure provide some encouraging words. The evening turned out beautifully. Congrats Cassie and Kirk!

Sunday Jared, Katie and the boys came over for dinner and games. I enjoyed spending the evening with family!

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Relay For Life (July 22 – July 23)

As you know it has sort of become a tradition for me to be a Team Captain for the annual event, Relay For Life. This is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society where you get a team together and a member of your team has to be walking around the track all night long! It goes from 6:30pm on Friday until 6:30am on Saturday. It really is an all night party! I think I got a total of 30 minutes of sleep that night and that was spread out between 2 different cat naps! It really was a fun time and this year was definitely a success. My team (there were 31 teams in all this year) had 38 people show throughout the night. My team’s total fundraising effort came to $523.62! $228.62 of that amount came from our on-site fundraiser, “Quarters for Change” where we requested donations and lined the track with quarters to see if we could make it all the way around. Well, we didn’t make it all the way around, but we did make it about ¼ of the way around which I guess was quite fitting! Yes, some people donated change that was not quarters, but we’ll take it! It was a fun event!

It was a Pirate theme and my Team name was "Scallywags"

Help! I'm stuck in a tent! There was water we were trying to dump out.

The few who made it to morning!

St. Mary’s Glacier RS Hike (July 23)

The Saturday that Relay ended was also the day of our RS Pioneer Day Hike. So, of course, I went even after only getting home and getting a short hour nap before heading out the door again. We went to St. Mary’s Glacier. It was a really short hike, only about a mile round trip, but it was a good climb though. It was a pretty area and a pretty day, good times!

The other thing that is new for me is the calling I recently accepted to be an Ordinance Worker at the temple. I work the Wednesday evening shift. I started on August 21^st. I think I will really enjoy it. I love the peace and the respite from worldly concerns that the temple provides.

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That is all from me folks. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! Love you all!