Favorite Summer Memories

Well I confess... I was really super excited for Labor Day Weekend! I LOVE watching the leaves turn... I love fall!! I love the feeling of fall, the smell of fall, the feel of fall, the colors of fall! Autumn is FOR SURE my favorite season of the year!! I look forward to it all year long! I love September and October!! But... I admit, this summer was filled with SO MANY fun and exciting adventures... so I guess before I revel in the fall glory, here are my favorite summer memories! :)

Running the Wasatch Back!! I LOVED running the Ragnar Relay! What an adventure! I am still working on getting pictures from Kris (I'll post them whenever I get them). It was so fun to do something so IMPOSSIBLE!! Whew hew!! I ran the Wasatch Back (a relay race from Logan to Park City, about 180 miles) with a group of friends from work. We had been training for several months and were all so excited! The DAY BEFORE the race our top runner had to back out of the race... so I called a girl in my ward (Tricia Rees) and she ran for our team! Can you imagine just being ready to run the HARDEST stretch of the Wasatch Back at the drop of a hat?!! Tricia Rocks!! It was fun to run and run and run... our ward also had a team running so it was fun to see them (we ran neck-in-neck for a while). I love the team spirit of running... everyone was totally cheering for everyone else! Runners would fly by me and shout out encouraging words like "Great job", "keep going"! I loved it!! (Imagine if we all did that in the aisles of the store while grocery shopping... I would for sure go shopping more often!!)

This is Kim and I right after I finished running my longest stretch of road in Morgan. My family came to cheer me on (which was nice... I remember during this stretch I was thinking I was almost finished with my leg of the race so I asked some guys who were cheering on their team if I was over 1/2 way there... cause I really thought I was FOR SURE past 1/2 way. They looked at each other and just got quiet. Finally one of them said... "Almost 1/2 way, another mile or so and you'll be 1/2 way!" Dang!! I was sure glad my family came so I had something fun to look forward to after running my stretch!)

Kim, Amy, Dad, JoyAnne, Joni... waiting and waiting and waiting for me to run by. They would drive a mile or so and then wait for me to run by, and then drive another mile or so and stop and wait for me again! It was fun to keep seeing them over and over and over during this part of the run!

Another favorite Summer memory!! The hike to Lake Blanche!! (Hope that is spelled right!) Lake Blanche is up one of the Cottonwood Canyons. I think the hike is like 6-7 miles... haha... or at least it FELT like that, maybe it was really 2 miles! Anyway it was a fun summer hike! The trail is shaded and has so many green trees and bushes and wild flowers!! ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! I loved it!! I admit... I was getting to be exhausted by the time we reached the lake... and then I saw little kids and older people up at the lake also! I am pretty sure they must have taken a helicopter ride in... seriously! I tried not to look at them and imagine the only people at the top of the mountain were super buff, super strong people (you know, people like myself that have muscles so big they could easily rip out their sleeve cuffs!) Okay... so yah, maybe my hiking endurance level is closer to that of a 3 year old... before this hike I was totally in denial! Oh well... it was a fun hike and SO PRETTY! I really enjoyed being outside!

We found this boulder on the way down... can you see how it looks like it is smiling?!!

Behold, Lake Blanche!

I think one of the funniest summer memories from this year is Pineview! The middle of August I went with Brent and Steven and Joni and JoyAnne and Steven's friends to Pineview to go Jet-Skiing!! What fun!! Did you know Jet-Ski's can even tow skiers and tubers?!! Awesome huh?!! Steven and Brent and I went out for a ride to do some skiing... but we didn't have a ski rope!! So Steven improvised! He found some driftwood and tied it to the tubing rope!! Want to know the best part... it actually worked!! Steven, Brent, and I all used it!! It was hilarious!! I was pretty sure the piece of wood would snap in 1/2, or someone would get their eye pocked out! But all was well... and I even stood up on skis for a milla-second or two! We also tried to master Phelp's butterfly stroke while we were there! He makes it look so easy on the Olympics! I think Joni and JoyAnne and I decided (after watching me try the stoke) that it is a great way to drown yourself! We had a lot of great laughs watching Brent perform his butterfly stroke also! Better watch out... I think he's planning on trying out for the next Summer Olympics!

The Saturday of Labor Day weekend, Brent and I went to Snowbasin and played Frisbee Golf!! I didn't have my camera on me... but I'm pretty sure we looked AT LEAST as cool as these people (if not MORE COOL)!! We played a grueling round of 9 holes of Frisbee golf and only lost one Frisbee!! Yah, we are pro!! Brent even had a long throw of 350 Feet!! (I think my longest might have been maybe 120 feet... if I was lucky). It was so fun... I'd definitely recommend it!! There is a course at the bottom of the hill and one at the top. Both are free! (But you might appreciate a gondola ride if you are playing the course at the top of the hill... it would be a LONG walk if you hiked to the top!)

My Pergola Dream Come True!

Apparently the writes of South Pacific were right... "if you don't dream, how you gonna have a dream come true"?! I got my Pergola Dream-Come-True this summer!! I love having the greatest dad ever for my daddy-o!!

I have wanted a pergola for a couple years now... I have researched pergolas and have been dreaming of them ever since we moved into our house! My birthday present this year was to have my dad's hard labor for 2 days to build me a pergola!! HOW EXCITING!! I think the pergola took a little longer than 2 days... but it looks even better than how I imagined it looking!! Thanks Dad!! Thanks for being the best Dad EVER!

This is the nearly completed pergola... as you can see we abide by the strictest of safety standards in the building process!! Can you imagine how painful it would be to crawl around on top of a pergola on your knees?!! I don't know how my dad could do that for two nights in a row!! (And at least I now know the pergola is strong enough to hold a grown man...good to know... since it originally did start to look like a gallows for a couple days!)

Who knew my mom knew how to hold a saw??!! There were SEVERAL late night evenings when my dad was working until it got so dark he couldn't see any more!
I think my dad used some type of calculus-geometry to figure out all the angles and notches and beams for the pergola... who knew it was so complex! I thought you just needed some wood and nails... use enough nails and the pergola might stay up!

The Gallows stage of the pergola... slightly creepy! I thought it was funny Dad and Kris used Alana's kiddie pool to mix the cement for the pergola foundation! Pretty clever! (Hopefully Alana doesn't find out!)