Yay Maren and Aaron!

Congratulations you two! I think I was standing a little too close to Aaron. Don't worry Maren, no competition there!
It was good to see old roommates and friends from CT, I miss you guys!
(And this is also to prove that I don't always look like a man. ;)

Hot Springs

This weekend we went to the Hot Springs in....I think Springville or Spanish Fork, one of the two! Last summer I went there for the first time and loved it. It was actually my first real camping trip ever. They have changed the hot springs quite a bit--they made them a lot nicer, putting up rocks and places to sit and hang your towels and what not, and they are a LOT cleaner. Plus you can control the water flow and make it warmer or cooler as you please! Its like a spa!







This was the girls' tent. That pile of toilet paper is from a little war we had with a bunch of earwigs and spiders as we were trying to go to bed. Word from the not so wise: keep your tent door closed! Also protects from bears and the like.... :)

Here is the actual hot spot. This is me in the morning after spending all night worried I would get eaten alive by earwigs and spiders. I'm serious, they were everywhere. But anyways, see how they are all man made now? WAY nicer. And apparently sulfer is great for your skin AND it kills bacteria. And thankfully our democrat friends weren't swimming around when we went down there...they were a little too liberal in some ways....

Mmmmm Breakfast burritos! Thanks JR and Rich!

This is Jaime, I am very glad she came. We all noticed it was a little chilly in the morning! (that's not why I'm glad she came. I'm just glad she came. :) )

Hahaha get a load of these bumper stickers. We Californians decided that this truck made us feel like we were at home so we took a picture by it! This belonged to our Democrat friends. They were actually really nice, they waved to us every time we passed by their campsite.






Yay for a fun camping trip. We have contemplative looking Jeff on the left, manly looking Shayna in the middle, and...Rich. Yeah, I had no idea he was doing that until after the picture was taken. Good thing the car didn't lurch or something, that would be the most disgusting wet willie EVER. ;) (side note, I had a HUGE crush on the guy at my right)

Education Week!

Well, our fun in Rigby was up, and now it was time to head to Education Week. To be honest, I was having so much fun that I didn't really want to go to Education Week. But I am so glad that I did, it was just what I needed!

When we arrived, we realized that our dorms were BOY dorms. Yeah, I know. Don't even go there. There were stinky, its true, but we spruced up the bathroom just a little bit to make it more homey.

Ahhh, much better. Guys, you know you wish you had more females around.

Actually the beds were pretty comfortable, and it wasn't all that bad. We had the place smelling like girls in no time!

I love being a woman! ;)

So before we even got settled, we got to know some of the ladies on our floor. I guess my roommates already knew them from previous Education Week adventures. What fun ladies! I couldn't have asked for more energetic women. They were a lot of fun! Here is a picture of the whole group of em...




The classes were just amazing. We were definitely tired after a long day of class, but I don't think I have been that motivated for a long time. You know when you get into ruts, and at least for me, its like you lose your purpose and direction? I think I really needed to get some boost in that. After I graduated and still don't have a job, not really gettin married anytime soon, its kind of demotivating because you don't really know what your purpose is in life. But I think the most important thing I gleaned from Education Week is that I do have an important mission and that each day I can especially keep building up other people around me and also remembering to nourish my own spiritual reserves by filling up my own lamp so to speak.

"I GREET YOU AS A FELLOW WORRY WART!!!!"
(had to put that in there....girls, stop worrying about things, let the Lord take it over! Anxiety never gets you anywhere and it only crowds out feelings of peace and faith in the Lord! We can't become what the Lord would want us to become if we are so stuck in fear! Thanks Merillee Boyack ;) )

Here I am filling up my oil in a class that taught us the difference in men and women's communication styles! That is Kleresa my roommate, she is such a great example and fun friend to have--always has her head on her shoulders! I love this girl!



Side note, I just saw Prince Caspian last night....way good movie, a little violent but it reminded me again of the nobility we all have within us--the power of godliness, and how if we rely on the Lord instead of ourselves we can find whatever strength we need and THEN some! And oh how much happier we can be! I highly recommend those books....just ask me if you would like to borrow them!

So after class one day we all decided to go take some pretty pictures outside in the romantic gardens that are oh so strategically placed on campus......right smack dab in the middle, you prettymuch HAVE to walk through them, which isn't so bad ;) I can just see two co-eds one day, walking through campus, in a beautiful place....their eyes meet....I dont have to go much more into detail.

It was good to see Becky again, she is another amazing girl!
I think this week really made me appreciate my roomates
more. I already love these girls, but spending a week
being uplifted and motivated together really helped
us to become closer! And sharing shampoo and hair straighteners and a broken hairdryer helped, too. ;) Maybe I should tell you a little bit about how great they are.
Ashley, well she is the one on the far left. She is always looking out for those around her. She seems to know exactly when someone needs a smile and a lift, and she is there! She is a hoot to be around, too. If you need anything done, she is right there on the ball, definitely a strong leader in our apartment! Not to mention very good at decorating , and cleaning....its nice to have Ashley around ;) She is also the one who tends to bring in the men.....its okay though, we have our own fun bringing her more men...like Todd! ;)
Then there is Kleresa. Kleresa and Ashley are sisters! Kleresa is the older sister, but only by 10 months. She is my next door neighboor ;) well so is Ashley but anyways, Kleresa is our organized one! She plans things out to the detail, and it is quite an amazing skill! She also always keeps to good standards. I admire her ability to stand up for what she believes in! Kleresa also looks out for those around her! She is always the one that people come and talk to about things, what a great friend! And what another fun girl!
Then there is Becky, who used to live in our apartment but she lives in Idaho now. (That is where she is from). Becky is our highly enthusiastic one--when she gets excited about something her entire being lights up! She makes everyone around her excited, too! And when she is on excedrin its even harder to keep up with her. And then she gets involved in doing her projects and she focuses her energy on that. Becky is very fun, very kind, and very all around all-American girl!! We have other roommates now, but since they aren't in these pictures I'll write about them later!

This is our last stop..Becky's apartment! What a cute place, and what fun roommates she has!

I love these girls!!

Hmm what other pictures do I want to share with everyone.....

What would be a trip to Rexburg without seeing the Rexburg temple? There were at least 4 weddings going on. I had to take these pictures around all the groups of people! This temple is brand new, it just opened in November I believe. It reminds me of Nauvoo! I have yet to see Nauvoo in person but one day I will!


Well, now that we are at the "tail" end of our trip, I would like to say to everyone to come to Idaho! What a beautiful state. Of course, I spent half my life in Oklahoma and about 4 years of my life in Utah so it felt like a second home to me, perfect mix of the two ;) (I have yet to see it in Winter though, I might change my mind....)

PS....go try a cow tale candy bar....they are good ;)

Fun in Rigby Before Education Week

What a blast we have had in Idaho. After hiking Table Rock, we spent a few more days at Jeff's house, having lots of fun. We took a ride in the tractor, and his dad even let us DRIVE it!

(ACTION SHOT!)

We also tubed down the "green river" behind his house:


Poor Jeff--what a chivalrous guy--jumped in the river to stop his boat because I was taking too long and was way behind the group.....for some reason my tube did not want to go quickly, guess I ate a little too much that week! ;) So here he is holding all of us down while we were waiting for everyone to get in so that we would be somewhat together as we floated down the "rapids.."(rapids meaning a little bump in the river..seriously I thought it would be like a 3 foot drop. It didn't help that my roommates went in front of me and I couldn't see the bump, but I could hear them screaming from miles away, and here I am thinking "great, death becomes me.." but then it was not nearly as bad as I had thought. hahaha) Here he is probably frozen solid cause all his clothes were wet and that water was COOLLDDD!!



We also ate some Bambino's (little pizza-in-a-scone type things), swung on swings by the river (ahem...we almost died there too, just ask me about the bee trap planted right there on the swing...dont worry we had men then too to protect us), followed by some GOLFING...my first time ever! I thought it would be boring to be honest, but it was really pretty fun...its kinda satisfying to whack that thing across the golf course....

















We drove around Rigby and saw all the cute little places that you can only find in a small town, like a drug store that served drinks called "ironport & cherry" (that was a way cute place. There was a guy there serving the drinks behind the counter, and all these kids kept coming up to the counter and ordering them just the way they liked it--just a little more juice in that one, please!)



Not to mention the the wild dirtbike riding that Jeff took us on ;)



















Overall we had a very good time, we definitely tired out Jeff! (SHHH dont tell him this picture is up here, he will not be too happy ;) actually if he wants me to take it down I will.......but he was very much asleep, I couldn't help myself, I thought it was the perfect picture to illustrate just how much he did to keep us happy.....haha.....


What a great week in Rigby. Nice people, lots of fun, away from the rest of the world. I had a blast and am definitely going to miss it once I get back to Provo.

Teton Hike--Up to Table Rock We Go!

I just got back from Idaho yesterday, and what a blast it was!! I think I am in love with Idaho! Our first day there, we were greeted with a delicious meal by Jeff's very kind parents, we packed for our hike up Table Rock, and we tried to go to sleep despite our excitement!

At 5:15 we woke up and got ready for the hike. We left about 7, and started the hike around 8. What a beautiful mountain! Full of flowers and tons of trees and a river that we crossed quite a few times, oh how pretty!

Of course, it was pretty dangerous too, ahem....we prettymuch could have died, you know, all that crossing over rivers and no bathrooms around anywhere, not to mention the bears that we had to tackle and the anaconda that wrapped itself around Kleresa--don't worry, she is safe. If it wasn't for our fearless men we would have perished..

By the time we got up past the treeline, we could see our destination pretty well. It seemed so far away! Yet we had already gone about 3-4 hours, and we had covered tons of ground, so we just kept enjoying the journey. We even crossed a potential avalanche! ;)



Well, there was snow piled up--it was pretty cool looking to see it! Then we crossed this rockbed--tons of rocks, I have no idea how they got there. We also passed several "altars" people had made out of the rocks--or, just piles of rocks that have been added to over time--JR added a rock each time we passed one.



Eventually we got to the top, after several exclamations of "OK, only TEN MORE MINUTES!!" What a pretty sight! We had to cross 2 states to get there! ;) We started in Idaho and ended up in Wyoming. (I will admit I got a bit loopy at the top...maybe it was the altitude! and did you know that there are really fat flies that can survive at 11,000 feet? It's hard to take a nap on a rock when there are flies buzzing around your head...sigh....guess all good things come with opposition ;) )




Did I mention how tired we were? We didn't think that we would make it! But we did, and those rocks felt so comfortable!!

Here is a picture of Jeff, he wanted to win the BYU bookstore bag picture so he brought one up to the top of Table Rock.....I think he is really imagining that he is hitting the winning golf shot against his dad!

So in conclusion, I love being in the mountains. There is something to be said for accomplishing a tough feat, but there are also lots of gospel lessons that you can get from it! I was thinking about this a long time ago, why its so peaceful to be in nature, and I recall learning at one point that all of Heavenly Father's creations, like the trees and animals and everything in nature, has a spirit. They are also completely obedient to what He would have them to do, unlike humans, who get feisty and stubborn (unlike me...ha ha ha) so I think being around that kind of an atmosphere, around obedient creations, brings a feeling of peace. And it reminds us of what the Lord has created for us! What a beautiful world this is!