Summer in a Nutshell

Aside from the things I've already posted about, so much has happened this summer and I just don't have the time to fully expound on how wonderful each event was. So here's a little summary of a few happenings of my fantastic summer.

The best senior trip ever with the girls to Park City. It was the perfect week to eat, sleep, talk, shop, swim, soak up the sun, and basically do nothing. Thanks to Melissa and her family for letting us use their timeshare. :)

Rebecca turned 12 and was able to attend girl's camp for her first time!

My cousin Shalona won tickets to an early showing of Harry Potter 7.2 and invited me and a friend! We also went with her sister and her friend. It was incredible. And how appropriate to end my childhood with the ending of my favorite childhood series. This was also the day I cut 15 inches of my hair.

Summerfest! Mom and I volunteered one night, and Karissa and I enjoyed the dancers and music the next night. We bought matching Indian bracelets to wear and later went to a movie in the park and watched, "Tangled." It was a good girl's night out while the rest of the fam was at girl's camp.

Fish Lake. :) The Regis' are so awesome and let us stay in their cabin. It was a great few days to just relax and enjoy nature, as well as go boating and fishing a few times, too. We also took family pictures! First time in like 6 years. Wahoo!

Two days after Fish Lake, we went backpacking in the Uintahs. It was the first (and only) time I was able to go backpacking all summer and I was glad I could go. We had lots of fun, and Rissy did a great job on her first ever backpacking trip. 

Melissa, McCall, Lisa, and I spent one last morning together before we all head our separate ways around the state. We enjoyed a delicious all-you-can-eat french toast breakfast at Kneader's and didn't rush our time in the slightest. Who knows when we'll all be together again! It better not be too long... 

My summer flew by so fast I don't think I even blinked. Last night I got a fortune cookie, and the slip of paper read to me ironically, "You are just beginning to live." Tomorrow I'm headed off to college to start new adventures, and I guess, 'begin to live.' So here I go! Wish me luck as I leave the nest, spread my wings, and fly. 

UEA

Wow, this October has been insanely crazy for some reason. But 'crazy' in a good way! (*cough cough* the musical) Backing up to the third week of this month, we had UEA. My family, as well as the Stangers, went to Southern Utah. We stayed in the Stanger's uncle's house, which is insanely nice. While we were down there, Tuachan theatre was playing, "Crazy for You," the musical my school is doing this year. I wanted to go so bad because I'm in the musical. As it turned out, the tickets were sold out. Cyndi used her magic, however, and got four back row tickets. I was beyond excited. It was absolutely incredible and gave me ideas for what I could do for my 'showgirl' costume.

Insert Bobby ;)

{Tarzan was playing at Tuachan too.}

{Cyndi, Mom, Savanna, Me}

The next day we went on a huge day hike on the Subway. It took us a little less than 12 hours to complete. It was a fun hike with lots of obstacles (6 major ones).

{Trail head}

Obstacle 1: Repel between a crack in the wall.

Obstacle 2: Swim through two, freezing, ice cold pools.

{The two pools we swam through.}

Obstacle 3: Cross a very slippery and wet wall....

...so we don't have to swim through an even longer, thinner pool with a rock that could possibly fall on us.

Obstacle 4: Repel down a rock wall.

Random obstacle: Move a log downstream, so we don't have to swim in another pool.

Obstacle 5: Repel down a waterfall.

{Cool tunnel thing.}

{Entrance to the upper Subway. We love logs.} :)

{Crossing over the second waterfall.}

Obstacle 6: Repel down an even bigger and slicker rock wall than before. As you can tell from the picture, I was frightened out of my mind and wouldn't move a muscle.

{Savanna repelling off the wall.}

...so I just found a different way to get down.

{Entering the lower Subway.}

{Downstream view}

{Upstream view}

{Bec, Savan, Dad, Me}

Random obstacle: Find the exit point (which is a small sign and can easily be passed) and finish before dark.

As it just so happened, we found the exit point in the dark, with 1 more mile to go uphill. Rebecca and my dad were behind us for what we thought to be another half an hour. I think I said about 50 prayers at this point because we had all the flashlights (they didn't have any). Luckily, about 10 minutes later, they showed up. Thank goodness for faith and prayers. We hiked out safely, and ran into the park rangers. I felt comforted knowing people come and search for you if you haven't made it out of the park by nightfall.

Overall, it was a great trip that I'll never forget.

On Saturday, we had to leave bright and early so I could be back in time for Musical rehearsal. Later that night, I went to Trevor's birthday party. We had a fun time watching, "How to Train Your Dragon" (super cute movie) and chit-chatting. Trevor happened to have some chocolate covered bugs (yes, real bugs). I told Trevor I'd eat one if he did. I didn't think he'd give in so easily, but he just popped it into his mouth. It was obviously my turn next. It took me forever, but eventually I got the guts to eat it. It was sick. It tasted like hay and I wanted to spit it out so bad. But I ate the whole thing and coaxed Melissa to eat one too. It was quite the experience. We had a fun time though. :)

{The worm. Expect mine was covered in milk chocolate.}

(Photo credit- Me, Dad, and Mark)

Senior Life

I am completely loving Senior life. I can tell it's going to be a blast of a year.

{At the home football game (that we won) last week. This pretty much sums up my friends and me in a nutshell.}

On Saturday I went with Sar, Jassy, and Rach up the canyon to make s'mores. It was the beginning of many wonderful nights I'll have as a Senior.

"Uh Oh." (You have to picture that in Sar/Rach's voice otherwise it's not as funny).

You may call us 'Lords of the Flames.' ;)

That's right, this fire was made by girls, and girls only. We can do anything.

{Yum yum!}

{After s'mores, we decided to go stargazing, although not much of that actually happened.}

{Spooning :) I love the look of jeans.}