Labor Day Weekend

It's always nice to have a day off of work, and it's a bonus if it happens to be a Monday. I've come to appreciate Monday holidays more and more.

Saturday Jason and I hiked part way up the Mt. Timpanogos Trail to see a couple of waterfalls. It was a beautiful day to hike and there weren't many people on the trail since it was threatening to rain. In fact it didn't rain until we were a 1/4 of a mile from our car, and then it poured rain for several minutes. Even though we tried to run to our car, we were both soaked by the time we got there.

Monday we had my family over for Labor Day. Since we couldn't all fit in our small apartment, we organized some family Olympic events in the backyard...complete with a picnic. Afterwards we went to Bridal Veil Falls, which was more busy than I've ever seen it before. The water was really cold, but somehow the kids didn't mind.

Jump the river

3-legged race

Jason's favorite: wheelbarrow racing

The Fun Continues

The last half of August proved to be as fun as the first. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

Jason and I ran in our Ward Fun Run on Aug. 18th. We both took first place in our age category which was ages 19-39. Jason actually deserved his title after beating a high school cross country track member by a good 20-30 seconds. I, on the other hand, can only attribute mine to luck. 

As a late anniversary celebration, Jason and I went to the Olympic Park in Park City and went on the High Adventure Ropes Course and the Extreme Zipline. We had fun and enjoyed some great weather and scenery. You can see in some pictures below that the leaves are already starting to change colors. I would have gotten pictures of the zipline, but we both went down at the same time.

I borrowed this pic from their website, in case you didn't recognize us in the pictures. :)

 

http://utaholympiclegacy.com/facilities/park/activities

We also went to Donut Falls with some friends of ours from the Sandy ward where we used to live. It was fun to hang out with them again. I think you can tell from the pictures who was their favorite. :)

Julie and Jason with the Simmons Family

This week after work I also took advantage of the $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point and went walking with my high school friend Marilee Bass Garner. We had a great time and the gardens were gorgeous! They are putting in a new exhibit with statues of Christ that will be amazing when it is done.

August Getaway Part 2

Early Monday morning we said our goodbyes to the Carter family and left Rexburg drove 1 1/2 hrs to West Yellowstone. Not too far into the park we actually think we caught sight of a grizzly bear. We wish that we would have stopped, but we were so inexperienced and didn't realize how rare that was. Although Jason decided that he wanted to start with a 6 mi. strenuous hike to see some panoramic views, I talked him into a 5.5 mile easy hike to Fairy Falls and back to a cool geyser hidden another 1/2 mile back. A little off the trail we could also see an amazing view of Midway Geyser Basin. It was great way to start our Yellowstone experience!

Fairy Falls

Higher elevation view of Midway Geyser Basin

Our next big stop was Old Faithful. We saw it erupt 3 times while we were there; it was so fun. The newly renovated visitor center is really great and we spent over an hour there watching a couple of short videos and seeing the exhibits. We also walked around the Old Faithful area and ate dinner at the cafeteria there. I can see why it's such a popular area. That evening we drove around to Canyon Village where we met a couple bison walking along the road. The first one we saw really startled us, but we were prepared with the camera for the second one.

Old Faithful

Bison about 10 feet from our car walking the opposite direction. I didn't even zoom in for this picture.

Tuesday we enjoyed hiking South Point Trail between the Upper and Lower Falls. Jason and I really love waterfalls, so this was probably our favorite part of the trip. Every time we even passed a waterfall on the road as we were driving along we would park the car to get a better view. We drove around Yellowstone Lake and stayed the night in Grant Village. We ate dinner at the Lakehouse Restaurant built right on the lake's edge with a beautiful view of the Yellowstone Lake.

Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Lower Falls from Inspiration Point

Cool colored pools of water in West Thumb

Our lakeside view from the restaurant

Wednesday we drove out the south entrance of Yellowstone and through the Grand Tetons. We were looking forward to the beautiful scenic drive, but it turned out that it was so smoky and hazy that we could barely see the mountains even though we were only a couple miles away from them. The drive home through Wyoming was long and we were happy to be home again.

This picture doesn't even do justice to how hazy the air was around the Grand Tetons.

August Getaway Part 1

Friday, August 10 was a great day! We made an important deadline that morning at work and so as a surprise reward, they sent the whole production team home at 10:30am. That totally made my day!
That and the fact that Jason and I planned to leave right after I got home from work to go to Rexburg to visit family on our way to Yellowstone.

We drove all afternoon and got to my sister Katrina and my brother-in-law Neal's new home in Rexburg. Their home was just finished in March so they've only been there a few months. It is very spacious and beautiful. When we stayed there, we had the whole basement to ourselves! It's too bad our rented basement isn't as large as their basement! :)

Anyway, we had fun talking, cooking, eating, laughing, and playing games. Our 6 yr. old nephew Daniel kept us laughing. His favorite thing to do was to challenge us to something and say, "the last one done is a rotten egg!!" We were able to get him to do lots of things like getting in his pajamas and brushing his teeth and getting into the car by giving him the same challenge. I won't tell you how many of those times I ended up being the rotten egg. :)

We attended church with them on Sunday and got a personal tour of Neal's new office at BYU-I as well as the gardens right outside his building. BYU-I is a beautiful campus. It definitely reminds me of BYU in some ways but has its own unique qualities as well.

Here are some pictures from our visit:

Daniel seemed a little nervous about this drinking fountain, but he was still happy to pose for a picture.

Neal's new office in the Political Science building

Porch swing in the gardens at BYU-I

The new Carter residence

The Fun Month of August

I crossed off an "I've never..." from my list today--the one that says, I've never been 4-wheeling. When my co-worker/friend at work, Nari, heard that I had never been 4-wheeling, she invited Jason and I to go with her and her husband Gary. Our husbands met us after work on Friday and we drove up to Daniel's summit near Strawberry Reservoir. We found some fun dirt roads that took us passed some surprised cows (they weren't the only ones who were surprised) and out to some beautiful areas where we enjoyed a picnic dinner. I had a lot of fun and it didn't take more than a few minutes to feel comfortable zooming down the road at 20-25mph. Jason loved it too and wished we would have gone faster. The only bad thing was that the very dirty nature of 4-wheeling didn't mix well with having hard contacts. I think a third of the time I was driving with only one eye open. But lest you be concerned, I did stop the two times I had to shut both eyes in order to cry out the dirt that kept getting in my eyes. :) Nari and Gary were so fun. We had a great time and would love to do it again sometime!

My co-worker Nari Carter and her husband Gary

Check out the dirt on his nose! My face was just as bad. :) We were covered in dirt afterwards!

I don't know what it is with August, but a lot of fun things ended up being planned for this month. Probably partially due to the fact that Jason finishes his summer term on Aug. 8 and then has two and a half weeks off. In any case, look for more August fun to come.

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 4th anniversary on July 17th. I had to work, but Jason surprised me with flowers and a picnic lunch by the Provo River. I was very surprised since I was planning to have lunch with another friend from my ward and Jason showed up instead. He set the whole thing up and asked my friend to invite me to lunch that day so I wouldn't suspect anything!

Four years has flown by quickly. I'm so grateful to be blessed with such a loving and kind husband. We've already been through lots of ups and downs but I'm glad that we're together on this ride called life. I can't imagine life without him!

Rogers Reunion 2012

Hooray for family! My out-of-state siblings met up with the rest of us at a cabin in Heber City for a Rogers Reunion. My parents were kind enough to rent a large enough cabin for all of us so we could get some adult time after the kids went to bed. Friday the girls spent some quality time at the outlets in Park City and that afternoon we all rode on the Heber Valley Railroad. Normally the tickets are pretty expensive, but when our home teacher found out we were going, he volunteered to get us a MUCH better deal since he happens to work there. We were very appreciative to say the least. It was a perfect day to go and the canyon was beautiful.

Saturday we went to the Olympic Park in Park City. I had never been there before, but it was a really cool place to go. We watched the athletes training on the ski jumps and walked around the museum. Then most of us rode on the Alpine Slide. I had low expectations for the slide, but it was much better than I expected. The only bad thing was that it happened to be pretty windy and chilly outside that day so I look forward to going again on a sunny, warm day. Despite the cold evenings, we enjoyed the beautiful view of the stars at the cabin. I bought the Star Walk app for my iPad that allows you to easily see and identify the constellations and stars in the sky in real time. It still amazes me what we can do with technology these days!

Sunday all 25 of us invaded one of the nearby wards to attend church together. My mom attended Primary with the CTR 5 class since I have 5 nieces and nephews that age! After church my cousin and her husband drove up to the cabin to take some family pictures. They turned out great!

Monday came too soon and our time at the cabin was over. Fortunately Melody and Brandon came over to our apartment afterwards and spent the day with us. We enjoyed talking, going to the park, throwing the frisbee, and playing games together. Brandon just finished medical school in Missouri and starts his residency program in Nevada tomorrow so I'm glad they'll be a little closer to Utah now.

I'm already looking forward to our next reunion.