Table Mountain

Zak and I went hiking this last weekend with two of my co-workers, Kate and Sarah, to Table Mountain. It it one of the best hikes in Idaho and one of the best views there is of the Tetons. It took 10 hours and is one I won't do again until I get in better shape. It was alot of fun but very strenuous. I"m glad to have people to hike with that motivate me to be more active! The slide show at the top is some of the pictures I took. You can click on the slide show to see them larger.

Fly Fishing on the Warm River

Last night, Friday, Zak and I went to warm river. Although we got there a little later than we planned we were still able to fish for about an hour. Zak fished for a little bit and I took some pictures. It was a little dark and I didn't bring my tripod so some of them are a little blurry. After a while Zak convinced me to get in a try it. The water was freezing but it was really fun to have Zak teach me about something he loves. I felt like we were dating again the way he stood behind me all clever-like and helped me learn how to cast. It was a great night.

On our way to the fishing spot we saw this older man sitting outside a trailer (which Zak later told me was an old ambulance). Zak told me that he had seen that same man in that same spot everytime he was there fishing in the last 4 months. He was just listening to oldies and watching his fire. At first I thought, "Man, that would be the life!" but after a few moments of pondering the man's solitude I wondered what his life really was like. Did he or does he have a family? What does he hope for? What does he miss? Does he really like being here? I wonder if I would enjoy such a calm and peaceful life or if I would find myself aching for something to work for. I had to take a picture. It doesn't quite capture the mixed emotion it made me feel. What do you think about this type of life?

Just an Update!

I thought after our company left things would slow down but they haven't really. We want to congratulate Omi and Opa on their mission call. They will be leaving November 17th to spend 23 months in Berlin Germany! We are excited for them and greatful for their examples. Among other news, I quit working at The Learning Center (my summer job) and will start my REAL job as a teacher on Monday. I'm very excited but also very nervous. I will be teaching a developmental preschool with tons of kids. I was excited to hear that other than me there will be a part time teacher as well. Thank goodness. I could not do it on my own. Zak was sick this weekend so we spent the weekend just hanging around out apartment which was kind of nice after all of our company and travels. Hopefully he will feel better soon and be able to go back to work.

Mikah in Idaho

The night after Andy left Mikah came to town to stay with us for a week. Her and Zak had lots of fun while I worked. They went rock climbing on Thursday and then on Friday we left to go to Bear Lake. Zak's uncle Kevin, his family, some of their friends and Omi and Opa were there. It was quite the party. We went to pizza with all of them and then stayed the night in the cabin. It was fun to meet Kevin's family for the first time. They invited us to spend some time with them in Southern California which we will definatly have to do in the near future. The next day we cleaned the cabin and everyone left to go back to there homes and Zak, Mikah and I headed up to Blooomington Lake. It was beautiful. Zak and Mikah went off the rope swing and Mikah even jumped off this huge cliff that even Zak was too scared to go off. I was not even hot and had no desire to get into the water. I wish I would have brought my camera though because it was so beautiful. That night we camped in the canyon and headed home the next day. In Monday Zak and Mikah went to yellowstone and did some hiking and sight seeing. On Tuesday they drove up to Mesa Falls and then she left early on Wednesday morning. It was nice to get to know her better and provide some of her summer fun.

Fishing with Andy

Right after we got back from Yellowstone Zak's uncle came to stay for three nights and fish with Zak. They went to Henery's Fork and Hariman State Park. They had a blast and it was a great time for me to get to know Andy more. It is easy to see why Zak looks up to him as much as he does. Although Andy was much more successful at catching fish Zak learned more about fly fishing and they both had a great time. They are already talking about doing it again next summer.

Yellowstone with the Birds

My sister Teresa and her family came to Idaho to camp in Yellowstone. We tagged along and had a great time. I had never been to a lot of the places we went to, including the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We also went to Boiling River. It is this place where a hot spring runs into the river and creates naturally warm spots to sit and relax in. We had a run in with a coyote. It circled our camp once and we thought it was a wolf but it came back later and Zak turned on the car lights when it started to approach him. Justin yelled at it and it ran away. We aren't sure if it came back because we went to bed but it was exciting. Just in case you are wondering, Teresa has a had time talking when she is scared. He he. We also saw lots of buffalo and elk of course. It was a great time and I loved seeing my nieces and nephews again! One of my favorite lines comes from my niece Mikelle. "Guess what my favorite food is... It has a dog and a bun." My guess was a hot dog and she corrected me saying, "Nope, a corn dog."

Miranda's Wedding

Miranda got married! Congratulations!I was there for the ceremony and reception. It was held outside his home. It was beautiful. Miranda looked so great. Her dress was very impressive. Her mom made it in less than two weeks! I couldn't believe it. Being married is a wonderful thing! We wish her the best of luck.

The first half of July!

It is only July 13th but already this month has been so busy. On June 30th was Zak's 26th birthday. We stayed home and I made him a really yummy dinner and then some friends came over for cake.




The forth of July weekend was so busy and loads of fun. Since it was a long weekend for both Zak and I we decided we would try to go backpacking. We left after I got home at about 6:00 but didn't start hiking until 7:30. We thought maybe we would make it to our destination (which neither of us had been to) before dark. At about 10:00 we still had not found the spot that we were looking for and were teriffied of bears. We turned around and hiked all the way back out. It was a total of about 8 miles and we were exashted. We drove about an hour back to Rexburg and slept soundly that night in the comfort of our apratment. Needless to say we won't be going backpacking at night again. We will however listen to the spirit when it says that this is not a good idea.




The next morning we got up and went to the Rexburg 4th of July parade. It was pretty fun and suprisingly long for such a small town. It was rather hot but we still enjoyed it. Later that day we went and floated down the river on tubes. It was so relaxing and a great way to spend the day. That night we went to Idaho Falls to watch the firework show. It was as good as anyother year but we got to sit on someones private property so we were so croweded out like we usually are.




This last weekend Zak's best friend from Georgia was in town so we got to hang out with him, his wife and his dad. We had a fun time. We went to the Rexburg Annual Demolition Durby. There is something so fun about sitting in a crowed of people watching cars crash into eachother. One of the best parts though was a pig run. I thought that the poor thing was going to die. It was just standing there are peaceful until the people got about 2 steps away when it bolted. It practically got tackeled and still got away.




Next week we are going camping and then Zak's little sister Mikah will be here so we still have alot of fun things ahead. I love the summer here. Rexburg is a great place to be.


If you click on the picture below if will take you though an album of some of the events I described. Hope you enjoy.

I got this as a forward from my sister and thought it was awesome. It is worth taking the time to read.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday> Morning Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful li t up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a cr猫che, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like thi s happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His> blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ' jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully, Ben Stein

Ducks

We went to the Nature Park in Rexburg yesterday. There were so many people there feeding the ducks that they didn't even want to eat our crackers. Those poor ducks are probably feeling rather sick today. We got some fun pictures though. Check out the album.

April

So many fun things have happened this month. In the beginning of the month there was graduation and Bear Lake but since then there has a lot of opportunities to take pictures with my new camera. Click on the pictures to view the albums.

First there was Hunter's 1st birthday. If you don't know Hunter, he is my best friend's boy. I spend a lot of time with there family and they call me Auntie and Zak, Uncle. We have plenty of pictures of him because he is the most interesting thing to photograph. Anyways, first birthday's are always fun.

On Sunday the weather was the nicest it has been since last summer so we decided to go to the park. I couldn't believe all the people that were there. We just sat and watched all the people playing games, skateboarding, biking, flying kites, playing on the playground and swings and soaking up the sun. I got some fun pictures of Hunter and Ally playing ball.

The next Monday we (me, Zak, Brad, and Ally) started clearing an area for our garden. I'm so excited. It was a mess at first but after we cleared away the dead stuff and started pulling weeds it looked much better. We are going to plant a tone of stuff and although it will be quite a bit of work I hope it will pay off. We have never grown a garden before but we are all hopeful.

Over this last weekend Zak and I went out to Warm Slough. It is out by the river and there isn't much around. We got there right as the sun was going down and it made for some great pictures. There was another group of people that showed up about the same time we did and they had about 30 pallets with them. We watched as they lit their fire. We couldn't believe how big and hot it was and we took some cool pictures of it. We will be going out there again on Monday so Zak can shoot his shotgun and we can have a fire of our own.

Bear Lake

After graduation we all headed down to Bear Lake to spend the weekend in Zak's grandparents cabin. We were all grateful for their generosity. It was the perfect place for all of us to spend time together. It was like a family reunion. We were only missing a few siblings but they were greatly missed. Hopefully we can get everyone there at the same time some day in the future. We spent hours playing in the snow, playing games (including hide and seek with everyone and ping pong!) and the boys got to go snow shoeing. Everything went well and even though several of us ended up with the flu we survived and created plenty of memories.

Graduation

I'm done! I can hardly believe it but I have finished and am now a college graduate! Elder Ballard spoke at graduation and I got to shake his hand! There is no where in the world that is like BYU-Idaho and I feel very blessed to be able to say that is where I graduated from. I'm so grateful for my family who always stood by me and believed in me. SOOO many family members came just for graduation and I know I could never have made it without their support and faith in me. I'm also so grateful for my husband, who for the last year has stood by me and never doubted my abilities. Thank you to everyone and I love you all so much!

My Husbands Crazy Hair

A few weeks ago the Bishop told Zak he had to cut his hair for school. Last night he decided it would just be easiest to take the buzzers to his head. There was hair everywhere. He doesn't even look like the same person but I still think he is hot!


BeforeAfter

St. Patrick's Day

We had the best St. Patrick's Day party ever! Ally made dinner and all of us contributed. It was delicious!!! Brad was at the table eating long after everyone else left; it was great. We played the most awesome games thanks to Jocey (Ally's niece). Ally got some great videos of us playing one of the games where we had to catch something between our bodies, race across the room and drop it in a box. Watch the video below.
After games we watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People. It's kind of a crazy show but it's tradition.

Fun Times

I was just looking at some of my old pictures and created this album for all of you to see. It has almost been a year and we have had some great times. Click on the picture to see more.

Cross Country Skiing

Last weekend Zak and I decided to try cross country skiing. It was so much fun and I recommend it to anyone. We went with people he works with. It just so happened that his boss used to do cross country races and he had some of his old "uniforms" if you can call it that and Zak decided to wear one. It was quite a sight. We had a ton of fun and can't wait to go again (hopefully without the ridiculous outfit).