Camping at Nebo Creek

For the 4th of July weekend Lin and I decided to go camping, just the two of us. We went to Nebo Creek in Spanish Fork Canyon. It is amazing there. You are camping right next to the creek and there is nobody next to you. It was so beautiful. Here are some pictures I took when we first got there of our campsite and the creek.

We brought our sweet, 8 man tent that we bought at our ward boy scout yard sale, but somehow we forgot to bring the stakes. Lin, the handyman, found some sticks and made some stakes for us.

Lin whittling away

Our awesome fire pit all cleaned out and ready to use.

Two of the completed stakes.

Our tent finally set up.

After we go settled in we went fishing down the creek. We didn't catch anything, but it was still a lot of fun. and so peaceful away from everything. Lin brought his waders and made me promise not to laugh at him in them. They do look kinda funny, but I would have liked some myself. I ended up just wading in the water.

After awhile of fishing we left our poles on the bank and took a stroll down the river. We had a boat race (Lin's stick won) and took some pictures.

Sorry the middle picture is blurry I think I was trying to take a picture of our "boats".
After our stroll we headed back to camp. We hiked on the road instead of back up the river. When we got to our stuff Lin slid down this steep pathway to get our gear. Then he was stuck and walked up the river to our site while I walked on the road.

First part of slide

Second part of slide which was much steeper. I am not sure what is causing that streaky part in the corner but it kinda looks cool.

Lin in the creek and me on the road.

We made tin foil dinners and had smores with marshmallows and those fudge striped cookies. YUMMY!

One of the best parts of the trip was breakfast. Lin cooked bacon and eggs over the fire in our cast iron pans. It was some of the best bacon I have EVER eaten. You may think this is gross, but the fat tasted like candy. It was that good, and I don't normally like the fat.

Sizzle Sizzle

The best camp chef ever!

Yes the bacon gets this close up picture just to make you jealous. It was seriously so delicious!

BYU Clogging Camp

So I finally got the pictures from clog camp. I don't know what I posted before so some of this might be repetitive. I got to work as a counselor for the camp and I was in charge of about 13 girls (along with another counselor). It was a lot of fun. They picked a theme this year of Best Dance Crew (like the TV show) and so each group was a "crew". We were Crew "Twister". Here is our group with our banner.

Our girls were so cute and such a fun group. We were much smaller, younger, and less experienced than all the other crews so the competition aspect wasn't the best but we did quite well considering everything.

We got to go to a lot of different classes, our own crew class to put together our choreography, games, and 7 Peaks. It was a lot of fun.

Treats the first day

Our crew choreography with Maria Tucker

Update on Summer To Dos

So I thought as a check for myself and an update (if anyone really wants to know) I would post an update on my summer list from April. Here we go:
Plant a garden-- It is doing pretty well. A few of my plants keep getting eaten but the tomatoes, peppers and peas are thriving. I also planted some transplant beans from my sister, we will see if they survive. . . .

Bottle and dry fruits, sauces, etc-- I haven't done much with this I need to figure out when the fruits I want to make jam with and bottle are at the peak of their season. But my sister and I are going to bottle shredded chicken in the next couple weeks, so I will keep you posted on that.

Deep clean my house (cause it needs it)-- I started out great with this I deep cleaned my kitchen. . .. then I started to dwindle. I did clean out my closets though and I got rid of a lot of needless things. I still haven't deep cleaned the bathroom or the front room. I just hate washing walls and I am not sure how to clean the huge drapes in our front room; any suggestions are welcome.

See if I can get a teaching job at one of the charter schools-- I don't remember if I already posted this, but Meridian School wants to hire me to teach a 4-6 week intensive course in Jan or Feb. I am really excited because it will be a great start to this class. I will be able to see if it will work or not and if it won't I only have to make it work for a month.

Start teaching clogging-- no success here. I can't find a place I can afford to rent when I only have one students whose parents want to barter for lessons. I am up for the barter, but I want at least a few paying students before I rent a place.

READ for FUN-- I have already finished one Agatha Christie book and am in the middle of another book.

Go camping-- I have gone camping once already and Lin and I are planning to go again this weekend :)

learn how to sew some type of clothes (I can only really sew curtains, blankets, anything with a straight edge)-- I haven't started this one because I am trying to get out of some other projects before I start in on this one.

Finish putting the home videos onto DVD--I have successfully captured every video to my computer, completely burned discs 1-3, currently I am finishing burning all copies of disc 4 and hope there is only one disc left. 4/5 not bad.

Relax--Even with all that I have accomplished on this list I have relaxed and it has been needed and wonderful. I have not been totally controlled by the clock which is great and I would love to live my life that way.

Looking at my list I am glad with how this summer is turning out. There are still things I want to finish on the list and other ideas still in my head, but I am liking where I am headed.

Update

So it has been awhile since I last blogged so there are quite a few new posts. Other than what is below I go to work at BYU's Clog Camp as a counselor (more info forthcoming with pictures). I also had my first cavity :( It was not as bad to get it filled as everyone makes it seem. I was pleasantly surprised at how quick, easy, and fairly painless it was. The worst part was being numb for a few hours after. Other than that I have just been busy with work. I hope you enjoy the posts and pictures below.

Roses

I wanted to show off our rose bushes because they were so beautiful this year.

Anniversary

So Lin and I went off on an anniversary vacation from the 11th-13th. We went to Manti and stayed at the Yardley Inn. It is expensive, but we very rarely go on any other vacation due to school and work so we save and splurge a little on this weekend. The Inn was great and very relaxing.

(sorry if these pictures are spaced funny I can't seem to get the new picture uploader to work right)

We also got to go do a session and sealings at the Manti Temple. It is so gorgeous inside and the session was very small and personal. It was an amazing experience. When we did sealings we were the only couple there so it was just us and 3 temple workers. It was actually really funny because they were three old men and they were just hilarious from the start, but we also learned a lot from them. After we took pictures and walked around outside the temple.

It was a stormy day but still very beautiful. The view off Temple Hill was gorgeous.

There was a neat curved sidewalk that Lin and I both liked. I took a picture of Lin frolicking down it with the umbrella.

He then wanted to take one of me. As I was heading down the sidewalk I decided to click my heels. Lin caught me at the perfect time even though he had no idea I was going to do it.

This picture is one of my favorite pictures of all time now. It just makes me so happy :)

On Saturday we drove down to St. George. We wanted to go to Zions National Park, but it was very rainy and cloudy. We couldn't check in to our hotel until later so we ended up walking around the St. George Temple grounds.

That evening we went to Tuacahn and saw Cats. It was interesting, but I liked. It doesn't really have a story line like most other plays but it has some phenomenal dancing and singing. My friend Eli (from one of my modern dance classes) was in it so we went and said hi to him after.

We also took a picture of one of the other cats because Cats is the one play my mom really wants to see.
Tarzan was also playing (on a different night) hence the picture. . . .

Lin's Surprise

So on Monday the 14th Lin texted (is that a word?) me and told me he had a surprise. Usually this isn't a good thing; he isn't the flowers or chocolates type. Anyway I asked if I was going to like it and he said no. This got me worried but he reassured me that he was okay. Around 4 PM he FINALLY got home and low and behold his right pointer finger was wrapped and splinted. I asked him what happened. Here is his story:

They were working on a road in Heber (for those who don't know Lin works for a road construction company that specializes in putting the cement collars around utilities, manholes, water valves, etc.) His brother tilted a lid and bell (what the lid sits on) because there was a small chunk of brick beneath it that was causing problems. Lin stuck his hand under to grab the brick as his brother was telling him to get a shovel to get it out. Right as his hand went under the lid and bell slipped and fell right on his hand. They got it off of him and Lin looked at his hand; it was extremely beat-up and bloody. He realized he needed to go get medical attention pronto. Amazingly enough despite being crushed by over 600 lbs he only needed 25 stitches in his first finger and had some nasty scraps on the back of his hand; no broken bones, no tendon or nerve damage just a very ripped up finger.

Here are some pictures I took of his hand.

I am trying to get the picture his boss took at the clinic after they cleaned it up and before they started stitching. I am very glad that he was not hurt worse he definitely had some extra protection.

Camping

We went camping on Friday the 4th up Hobble Creek Canyon. We had a big group of people. Me and Lin, Lin's brother Jim and his wife Haley, Lin's sister Carly and her husband Shawn, Lins other sister Amanda and her husband Matt, Robbie Peterson and his girlfriend Jessie, and Cody and Paige Mills. We decided to take a big flatbed trailer and leave Lin's truck at the bottom of the trail. Cody, Paige, Robbie and Jessie drove up in one truck which left the rest of us with Jim's truck and the trailer. Me, Carly, Shawn, Lin, and Matt all sat on the trailer to hold the stuff down. It was a little bouncy, but not too terrible. About halfway to the campsite there was a stretch of road that was really muddy. The truck didn't make it the first time, or the second time, Jim backed it up to get a good quick start and we all hunkered down on the trailer. As Jim tried to get through the mud the tires were flinging mud everywhere. Even after all that we still didn't make it. So all of us got off the trailer for safety reasons and so we wouldn't have to be sprayed with more mud. Lin stayed on to make sure nothing fell off. Finally Jim was able to get the truck and trailer through the mud spot and we were able to make it to the campsite. Needless to say the five of us and everything on the trailer were covered in mud.

Lin was by far the worst with the mud because he stayed on the trailer that last time. But hey we wanted an adventure and that is what we got.

It was a lot of fun to be up in the mountains and to have a fire.Saturday morning we were taking down camp and a car came and the people asked us if we were the race headquarters. We said no and wondered what race they were talking about. Pretty soon we began to see runners coming down the mountain. This made it a little inconvenient driving down with the trailer but it worked out. We asked one of the runners where the race went. It was a 50 mile race (wow!) they started at Vivian park in Provo Canyon and ran across the Squaw Peak road down the road we were in on in Hobble Creek Canyon and back up hobble creek canyon eventually ending back at Vivian Park. I can't even fathom running 50 miles. We decided that if an average good runner runs a marathon in around 4 hours this race would take 9-10 or more. Once again WOW!