July-August

The 4th of July was a fun day.  We spent the morning exploring a canyon in Centerville that we heard had a rope swing somewhere along the trail.  It took a while, but we finally found it and it was worth it!

 

This pic shows how high off the ground we got and evidence that I swung!

This was the clearest picture i got of Thomas, I am not very good at action shots. 

Later that night we went to the West Bountiful fireworks show (very short but fun). Prior to the show we played some frisbee.

Thomas had to lunge a little more than his hamstring liked :)

Later that month we were lucky enough to be able to participate in a ward trek at Martin's Cove, WY.  Unlike the pioneers that traveled through here in the winter, we did it in the dead of summer, so our experience was slightly different than theirs, but I still got a good feel for what they went through.  Everyone that participated in the trek was supposed to walk for one of their ancestors.  I just happened to have one that crossed the plains pregnant, just like I was, so I got a really good taste for what it might have been like for her.  I was just shy of being 6 months pregnant and everyone was very concerned about me staying hydrated.  I was actually more worried about Thomas staying hydrated since dehydration causes pancreatitis attaks for him.  I am happy to report that we both made it through just fine though!
 

 

We are at the memorial honoring the four men who helped the saints cross the river.  I wish you could see the detail of the faces of all the statues, there is such a sweet spirit here.

After trekking around all day, we went straight to the river to cool off and it felt WONDERFUL!  Thomas and my dad had lots of fun swimming around in the water like water snakes, ha ha.

 

I didn't care that I was still in all my clothes, in fact, no one did. 

 

The youth were in charge of getting the handcarts to and from camp and we were in charge of the youth, so we got to participate in pushing the handcarts the 3 miles each way. 

Before we left Wyoming, we visited Independence Rock. It is a really cool, huge dome shaped rock that you can climb to the top of and see all the valley around you.  We hadn't climbed to the top yet in this pic, but don't we look excited?

The finale to July was a girls weekend with my college roomates.  We lived together the whole time we were at college and hadn't all been together in years.  It was my turn to host, so they all came to Utah and we spent a few days in a hotel, traveling around the Salt Lake City area.  It was so refreshing to talk to them in person and just enjoy their company. 

We took a tour of the conference center and they took us up to the roof.  The view was really cool!

Doin what we do best, eating out! ha ha ha, yum.

We also spent a lot of time window shopping at City Creek.  The window roof overhead really kept things pleasant even though it was really hot outside.

 
While waiting for our conference center tour, we listened to a live organ recital...... I was tired and apparently organs soothe me to asleep :)

Thanks for coming out girls! I loved every minute of it and hope to be able to do it again sooner rather than later.

August was also a busy month.  We went to Yellowstone, I went to Portola,CA to visit where my mom grew up, and after spending every free minute I had house hunting, we finally found a house we liked and started the loan process.

Yellowstone was a little different for us this year than in years past.  We camped in Grant, close to the lake so we could spend a lot of time fishing.  Unfortunately, the fishing was pretty horrible, until the day we left (of course!) It was still a lot of fun and we loved being in such a beautiful place. 

These are probably 2 of the 4 fish caught the entire trip, ha. But it made catching them all the more exciting!

 

This is a picture of the walkway that lead to our little apartment that we stayed in when i went to Portola with my mom, sister and grandma. 

The girls :)

There isn't a whole lot to see in this pic, other than how beautiful it was.  It was like this wherever we went!

 

Another pretty view

I thought the trains were loud in West Bountiful, I was wrong.  I took this pic to capture how close the train tracks were.  They came by early in the morning and late at night and blew their horn every time, sometimes the trains were only minutes apart. 

I realize now, looking back, that I traveled a lot in July and August!  It was kind of a last hurrah because I no longer am able to just take a trip at the drop of a hat.