I'm an Alumni!!!

It finally came. I walked across the stage on Friday -- and I didn't fall! Yay!

My Excursion to Idaho

I love camping. I don’t do it often, but I really like roasting marshmallows, fishing, looking up at the stars and appreciating nature. While I was in Idaho, I went camping with my Grandpa, my Uncle Curt and three of his girls. The first day we were there my cousin Mariah who is eight woke us all up at 6:44 in the morning to look at all these bears on the mountain. She kept saying they were getting close and they were going to come down and get her. Now, I have never seen a bear, so in my mind I was debating whether I should get up and look or stay in my warm sleeping bag. I should have stayed in the sleeping bag. You see, all these bears that she was going on and on about – and not quietly – were in fact cows. Now, I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve seen enough cows to last me a lifetime – and it is definitely not worth getting up at 6:44 in the morning to see some on a mountain… Well, at least I got a story out of it.

Since we didn’t get at the camp site until about 10:30 at night, I had no clue I would wake up to the most incredible site. It was breathtaking.

One of my favorite parts of the camping trip is when we went fishing. My mom doesn’t understand the appeal of fishing, and I don’t know how to explain it, but I really like it. I didn’t catch anything and we didn’t get to fish very long because a storm was blowing in, but I learned how to cast and I got better and better at it. I was lucky and my grandpa never made me bait my hook (I have never touched a worm in my life.), and since I didn’t catch anything, I didn’t have to gut a fish either. Overall, it was a great feeling to be out on the lake, be surrounded by nature and fishing with my family.

We went camping Northwest of Boise, on the Idaho / Oregon border and I was visiting my grandparents south of Idaho Falls, so after camping my grandparents and I drove back to their house. We had one big adventure. Before we got to Twin Falls, we decided to take the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway, but we missed the turn. It ended up being a good thing because we found the Malad Gorge State Park.

It was so pretty and the edge of the gorge didn’t even have railings so it was kind of scary too. We did get back on the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway, but didn’t see much because it was too early in the season. So, we got off the byway and made our way to the Niagara Springs, but once again it was too early in the season to see much.

While driving in the back country, we found a little ice cream store, so we stopped and got HUGE ice cream cones. I most definitely could not finish mine. Before leaving Twin Falls, I really wanted to go and see Shoshone Falls, but we kept getting lost. Once again this worked out, because we happened upon the temple being built there.

I’d never seen a temple under construction, so I was excited. Plus, we got directions to the falls, and I am super glad we did. It was so pretty and peaceful.

After seeing the falls, we decided to head home. We had a lot of adventures for one day…

Visiting with my Great Grandma

Yesterday on my way up to Idaho I stopped by my great-grandma Bute's house to visit with her. She is so adorable. I love sitting in her kitchen and talking about her days in nursing school; how she and my great-grandpa's marriage had its ups and downs, but they loved each other and worked through it all; how much she loves my mom and dad and admires them; etc. We laugh like young school girls as we both admit we are loosing our minds because we can't think of someone's name. (We had to call someone so we didn't go crazy.) I love listening to her stories and advice she gives me. Most of the time she tells me the same story about when my mom first brought my dad to meet her and my great-grandpa and how my dad and grandpa stayed up all night talking about whatever (probably mechanical stuff). Apparently after Dad left, my grandpa told my mom that if she let him go then something was wrong with her in the head. She always ends this story in the same way: with some advice for me. She says that when I am deciding to marry a boy that I need to make sure that whenever I see the boy or hear him coming my heart needs to start "pitter-pattering." She said that my great-grandpa did this to her. This inevitably sends her into another story about my mom's cousin Michelle (who is about four years older than me) and how when she was engaged my grandma asked her if Scott made her heart pitter-patter whenever she heard him coming. Michelle said, "Oh yes, Grandma. Every time." Grandma Bute then blessed their marriage. She is the sweetest thing.

I ended up not making it to Idaho. So, I stayed at my other grandma's house in Morgan last night. My aunt Patrice was in town from California so I wanted to come and visit with her before heading up to Idaho. I love traveling around and visiting family. It is something I will miss when I leave Utah...

My Adventures Aren't As Cool As...

Recently my friend Magen wrote a blog telling everyone that she is leaving for Prague tomorrow. I am super excited for her to not only to go to Prague, especially since it is one of the top three places in Europe I want to go. (The top three are Iceland, Paris and Prague.) Well, today I'm leaving on my own adventure. Of course, mine is not nearly as cool and adventuresome, but I'm excited. I'm going to Idaho to visit my grandma and grandpa. I plan on staying with them for a week to two and finishing up some projects that I have to have done by graduation.

The longer I stay in Provo the more I like getting away. I love having Provo in my rear-view mirror. I don't think there is anything as freeing as getting behind the steering wheel and leaving Provo. It is something I've been looking forward to for weeks.