Birthday, Girl's Camp, and Yellowstone

Nate-

I heard about a natural water slide in Alpine where you can slide down a river and over a sloped waterfall into a deep pool of water. Kathryn and I had to try it out so we went, parked next to the NO TRESPASSING sign, and hiked 1.5 miles to the slide. A large group of friends was just leaving when we got there so we could see how it was done before trying it out. The water was painfully cold, but we each did it twice.  We want to go back when it's midday and sunny so it might not be so freezing cold.

Kathryn-

 A couple weeks ago we had girl's camp.  Nate can testify I was

ready for the big snipe hunt

DREADING it because, as much as I loved it as a teenager, it is a lot different being a leader at camp.  It actually was a really great couple of days.  We just had 3 first-years there and they were SO excited about every activity.  One girl was a non-member friend of one of our beehives, and it made me so proud to hear her explaining the gospel principles we've been teaching over the past few months to her friend.  I learned a lot from their excitement and go-getter attitudes.  There was a camp store where throughout camp and the month preceding it they could earn points by attending church, serving family, reading scriptures, etc.  These girls had more points than anybody else there.  I remember myself as a beehive being kind of like that-
with an overachiever mindset.  I feel I've since lost a lot of that drive and it made me want to strive more to regain it. Along with spiritual experiences, us leaders had fun racing (and beating) the girls in a canoe race, going off the zipline, chatting with each other, and hearing the girls tell us about their first snipe hunting experience.

My birthday was a few days after I got back.  Nate and I drove up to Park City to meet my parents for a birthday shopping spree. We went to the outlets and I was finally able to get the fossil purse I've been wanting forever.  After the shopping we got some tasty mexican food from the same restaurant we went to on our honeymoon.  Then we went to coldstone for some ice cream to complete the night.

The day before my birthday Nate gave me cake making tools that I'd requested and surprised me with The Cake Bible, a 500 page book with recipes and tips. We had dinner at La Jolla Groves, one of our favorite places. Nate also got us a gift certificate to go racing at the extreme go-cart race track near our apartment. The go-carts went 35 miles per hour and I schooled Nathan <I actually let her win as another birthday present-Nathan>. We've been wanting to go for a while now, and it was really fun.

At the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone overlooking the Lower Falls

This last 4th of July weekend we went up to Victor, ID and then to Yellowstone National Park with my parents and Danny and Camille. As per family tradition, my uncle brought tons of illegal (in Utah) fireworks so we could hold our own fireworks show on a deserted road. The next couple days we spent in Yellowstone where we saw a herd of elk, a coyote <I saw a coyote-Nathan>, lots of bison, and two black bears!!

It's a BEAR!!!

All together at the Victor Cabin

This was my last visit to the Crandall family cabin (Mom's side). I remember visiting there ever since I was a child.  It is getting old and hard to keep up, so it will be replaced by something even better (which my uncle has assured me I can use as long as I am "with child" either in the womb, or otherwise). It was sad because of all the memories I have of it but I'm excited to see version 2.0 (actually 3.0, because before I was born it burned down once).  It may also be my last visit to the Price cabin (Dad's side), where I remember fishing, and playing in the stream, and on the hammock, and finishing lots of puzzles (I say finishing because I always hide a piece so I can be the one to complete it).

Along with saying goodbye to those places, the trip made me realize how we really are moving far away really soon.  It is super exciting, but also really sad to know we can't swing up to Logan any weekend we want for a family get together, and it will be really different.  Every time I've moved outside of Utah it's been for a set amount of time, knowing I would return. This time it is long term, which is going to be hard to adapt to. I've grown so used to having family and close friends nearby and I will miss them all so much.