Happy, Happy Birthday

Today is my nephew Sam's first birthday.

I can hardly believe that this was a year ago!

I love that boy so much and I'm so happy I could be there for his birth, for the first year of his life, and today to celebrate his very first birthday.

Fall Semester 2012

Alright, here's the run-down on my semester!

I'm working part time, still at the Alumni office, and I'm taking 14 credits.

I've never taken less than 15 credits, so this semester is seeming like a breeze so far.

Who knew that you could actually have a social life if you aren't slammed with homework all day every day! :)

These are my classes:

Infant and Toddler Development: I'll love it once we get past all of the theory and research stuff that we go over in EVERY child development class. It's an early class and my teacher (who I'm distantly related to) kind of puts me to sleep... But, I'm so excited to tour the L&D and Nursery at the hospital later this semester!

Adolescent Development: I really like this class, and my teacher is great. He used to teach at BYU and he did a lot of research and had quite a few journal articles published worldwide on his findings. He's a fun teacher.

Parenting: I absolutely LOVE this class. I have the same teacher I had for Child Development last year, and he's definitely one of my favorite teachers of all time.

Children's Literature: This class is so much fun! All we have for homework is reading children's novels (like Ella Enchanted, Harry Potter, Charlotte's Web, Beauty, and so on). My teacher reads us picture books and is having us start out own personal children's library.

Prep for Eternal Marriage: Laugh all you want, but I love this class. Brother Pyper is awesome and he has a lot of really great insights. I've learned a lot already!

So with all of that, work, and a social life, I'm plenty busy and really enjoying this semester :)

Hopefully I can continue to say that for a while!

All I have to say is that Bronco Mendenhall better not sleep tonight.

You thought going for the 2 pt conversion was a good idea?

Seriously?

We could have tied the game.

Oh, and Bronco, get a new quarterback.

This is real life...

So I'm sitting in the MC peacefully eating my sandwich, when I decide to walk into the bathroom to get a few paper towels for napkins.

I walk over to the bathroom door and start to open it, when thankfully I realized it was the men's bathroom.

I tried to be discrete so I turned to walk the direction I thought the bathroom was, but I was headed the wrong way. So I turned around and walked the other way towards the real women's bathroom.

Looking back to where my stuff was sitting, there were about five people watching me in amazement and chuckling to themselves.

But wait, it gets better...

Not even an hour later this poor girl who was sitting near Esther and I walked IN to the men's bathroom. Seconds later the turned around and came out, looked at Esther and they both busted out laughing. She went and sat down by her husband and we were all just laughing for a good five minutes.

Moral of the story, my embarrassing moments could always be much worse.

Also, we don't know this poor girl's name, but we'll forever remember her as the girl that walked into the men's bathroom.

"They need to put a sign or something... oh wait, they did."

-Esther

Today We Remember

September 11th, 2001

We all have our story about where we were on that tragic day eleven years ago. Today as I was sitting in class, listening to the many different places people were from, I realized that each and every one of us were affected in a different way. Maybe your the girl in my Adolescent Development class who lost her brother in the World Trade Center. Maybe you're the father who lost his son in the Pentagon. Maybe you're like me and you were old enough to understand something tragic had happened, but too young to grasp the concept of terrorism.
No matter your story, we all have one.
Eleven years ago, today, our country changed.

Today our school put on a memorial service. They did the colors, a choir sang a few patriotic songs, and there was a moment of silence.
Seeing all of those students stop their busy schedules to stand and listen and remember during a moment of silence was so incredibly humbling and moving.
It brought tears to my eyes.

For the first time I finally understood true patriotism.
May we never forget.

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Five

Today was the day we decided to head home so we could make it to the BYU kick-off game Thursday night.

It felt like we'd already been gone for a week and a half.

We'd done so much and seen so many things, and I think we were both rather content to get home and sleep in our own beds.

But first, we had a lot to see in Zion National Park.

We began the morning with a hike to the Emerald Pools.

I didn't even take any pictures of the pools.

I'm not sure I even really looked at them because I was mesmerized by the waterfalls.

I was also busy cooling off underneath them :)

After that we did the Temple of Sinawa which leads to The Narrows.

I spy, with my little eye, a mountain goat!

I spy, with my little eye, a hummingbird!

My dad and I finally decided to just do it, the Narrows hike, which is the one where you hike through the Virgin River.

We only had our hiking boots, but neither of us really cared. I really wanted to do it even though we'd have to walk two miles back on a path and take a forty minute shuttle ride back to the truck.

I'm so glad we did it.

It was so much fun!

I already want to go back and hike even further in.

Maybe when there are less people :)

So overall, I had the time of my life, saw things I'll never forget, and created memories that will last forever.

Everything aligned perfectly for our unplanned trip and we had so much fun.

I'm very glad I took the time off of work and the time away from Rexburg just to spend time with my dad doing some of our favorite things and seeing some more National Park and National Monuments.

There's not much I love more than exploring and learning more about the world.

What a beautiful place we live in.

 

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Four

The morning of day four, we woke up and took our time getting packed up and ready to go.

It was a chilly morning so by the time I woke up my dad had a fire going and water hot to make hot chocolate. Every time I've ever gone camping my parents have done that each morning before I woke up, so now I truly felt like I was camping.

We headed out to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and this is what we saw as we walked a couple little rim trails:

We walked up to the lodge and were surprised that we could snag a comfy couch in a bay window overlooking the Grand Canyon.

The Lodge. We sat in the bay window overlooking the Canyon.

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't blown away by the Grand Canyon.

Sure, it's cool, and pretty vast, but after all we'd already seen on our trip, I just wasn't impressed.

I was ready to go just a couple hours after we'd gotten there.

But, I saw the Grand Canyon, which everyone should see at least once in their lives.

Next we headed on our journey to Zion National Park

Before we got there for the night we ended up at Pipe Springs National Monument, which has quite a bit of church history, so we spent an hour or so looking around outside and in the visitors center.

Once we got to Zion and got a campground the trip turned bad for the first time yet.

We had a storm coming - fast. We needed to get the tent and alcove set up before the rain so we could cook our dinner and feed our starving bellies.

We got it all set up just in time and it only rained a little bit.

I started cooking our dinner, and then the bees attacked.

I kid you not - at LEAST thirty bees were swarming our campground.

To top that off we had ants on literally every square inch of the campground as well.

The bees were relentless and I have this incredibly irrational fear of them, so my dad took over the cooking while I sat on the tailgate of the truck trying to avoid them and the ants.

To make a long story short, my dad got stung bad, I got bit by an ant twice and had an allergic reaction.

Who knew that could even happen?!

So after dinner we were short on patience and decided to get out of there and go for a walk to the visitors center and to one of the Ranger Programs.

Thank goodness we got packed up in the morning before the bees came back.

Let me tell you, it was awful.

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Three, Part Two

Day three began in the desert, in what felt like a completely different planet.

It would end in a lush green forest.

After lunch, my dad and I saw quite a few amazing and very unique things.

We ventured through the Vermillion Cliffs and also Balanced Rock.

I'll let the photos do the talking...

My dad looks miniscule compared to that giant boulder!

A rock tree :)

This next sight was something we drove up upon and were just confused and, quite frankly, in awe...

We asked a few Navajo women (who were working their jewelry stands, I told you they were everywhere...) the story behind this little house.

They said that way back when a woman was traveling through this area when her car broke down right there. Story goes that she loved the area so much that she didn't want to leave. So she purchased the land and built a home out of the giant boulder that was already sitting there.

The view from a window inside. This is quite possible one of my favorite photos of the entire trip :)

Next we traveled along Honeymoon road (that's really what it's called) and headed into the Kaibab forest.

View from the Kaibab forest looking over Honeymoon Road and the Vermillion Cliffs

We were in for a huge change of atmosphere.

We went from what you've seen above to a desert-style forest to this:

Miles and miles of forest destroyed by fire.

There's something I just adore about the aftermath of a forest fire.

Maybe it's the new vegetation that's grown in spite of the destruction done before.

As soon as we got out of the damage done by the forest fire and had climbed thousands of feet in elevation, this was our surrounding...

I'm not going to lie, after feeling like I was on another planet the greenery was refreshing and I felt a little more at home.

I guess it reminded me of Washington :)

We camped that night surrounded by trees in Demotte Campground fairly close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

It was a cool night so my dad and I were able to have our one and only campfire of the trip, complete with s'mores and hot chocolate.

It was definitely a well-rounded trip :)

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Three, Part One

Going through photos and blogging has made me realize just how much my dad and I did each day!

This day was no exception to our jam-packed vacation, which is why I'm splitting it in two parts as well.

Day three of our trip began by driving through Monument Valley, still on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Monument Valley

Early on we began seeing these little huts on the side of the road with signs for jewelry.

My dad was all about giving me an authentic experience, so we pulled off to one of the first ones and took a gander at the little shop.

Let me tell you, this handmade jewelry was absolutely stunning.

The Navajo couple we talked to at the first stop were so nice. It really was fun to stop and shop :)

We stopped at four or five of these different huts throughout the entire day.

My dad was getting tired of it, I think, but I was on a hunt to find the perfect turquoise ring.

  

I think the worst and the best part about this vacation was that every minute we spent driving we had something to look at. Whether it was a stunning monument in Monument Valley, these odd little cacti that lined the sides of the road and spotted the landscape, or a canyon that made me anxious to see the one we call Grand, I never tired of looking out my window. The downside to which is that I could never spend much time sleeping or reading in the car :)

We eventually stumbled upon Navajo National Monument.

Instead of trying to explain it, here's a description directly from the website...

"The prehistoric Puebloan Ancestors built Tsegi Phase villages within the natural sandstone alcoves of our canyons. The resilient Ancestral Puebloans paved the way for current Native American groups in the Southwest region. These villages, which date from AD 1250 to 1300, thrill all who visit with original architectural elements such as roof beams, masonary walls, rock art, and hand and foot holds."

Just to the left of the shadow in the alcove you can see the dwellings.

Pretty dang cool.

This trip just kept getting better.

Believe it or not, these little huts above are how the Puebloan Indians "bathed."

They would go into these huts, cover them, and then lay in there to sweat all of the dirt out of their skin. Then they would wipe off the dirt, or, if lucky enough, rinse it off with a what water they had.

Sounds like a modern-day sauna.

After our history lesson at Navajo we kept venturing on to the Grand Canyon.

We came to the incredible Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River.

Navajo Bridge on the right, pedestrian bridge on the left

It was a blazing 104 degrees, in direct sunlight, standing over water.

I could hardly stand it, but we dealt with it for a bit in order to watch some people floating down the river.

Later on we drove further down the Colorado and ate lunch on the banks of the river by the company that sets people off on those 16 day trips.

This nice stroll under the Navajo was probably the most leisurely time those people had, compared to the rapids they'd experience later :)

I never would have guessed that the rest of the day would bring more incredible sights and a complete change of atmosphere.

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Two, Part Two

After Arches we began our trek down to the Grand Canyon, knowing we'd have to find a place to camp for the night somewhere in between.

The road took us through a town called Monticello, where we stopped to check out the tiny Monticello Utah Temple.

After that we continued on and ended up visiting my dad's Aunt and Uncle's grave site.

Our next little adventure was onto our first Indian Reservation during the trip. We spent the majority of our time driving through them, and that was definitely the beginning of our out-of-this-world experience.

We missed a turn to go see a sight, which ended up being to our advantage. After driving through a few small towns on the Indian Reservation, we were completely alone on the road. I kid you not, I don't think we saw one other vehicle for at least one hour. 

We knew we were headed for Monument Valley, with our intention to make it to Gooseneck State Park to camp for the night.

As we rounded one corner we saw the most incredible sight I've ever seen.

Let me set the scene...

We hadn't seen another soul in over an hour.

It was dusk.

There were thunderstorms happening off in the distance.

We were bordering Arizona. Desolate, empty, vast, Arizona.

If you've ever been down there you know what I'm talking about.

Imagine hundreds of miles of nothingness with huge monuments, like these...

everwhere.

So as I was saying, we rounded this corner and could see for hundreds of miles to the left and right.

On the left it was storming, right over the monuments in the distance.

On the right it was sunny and stunning shining through the clouds.

I couldn't even come close to actually capturing this experience, mostly due to the out-of-this-world feeling we had been having as we were driving.

So here's a photo that can give you just a glimpse into what this whole experience was like.

Yeah, doesn't even come close.

You'll just have to take my word on this one.

Anyway, we pressed on for the Goosenecks.

We finally passed a car or two, but as we got off the beaten path and headed for the park, we were back on our own.

When we got to the state park, I kid you not, there was nothing except for a French family who left when we got there, a few campsites on the edge of a cliff with nothing but a fire pit and trash can, and we were overlooking this...

Pretty sweet view, right?

Too bad there was NO way I was going to camp there, all night, with no one, and literally NOTHING for miles.

I'm adventurous, and I love camping, but I literally felt like I was on another planet, and if I had consented to sleeping there that night, I'm convinced I would have been abducted by aliens.

Anyway, my dad was aware that there weren't many campgrounds for quite a ways, but we went on to try and find something.

We ended up in a little town (you can hardly call it a town...) called Mexican Hat.

My dad and I both felt like we were in Mexico or Panama, and not the tourist towns...

It was sketch. 

My dad even agreed.

We had no choice but to stay, and there was no where to camp, so we ended up in a motel.

Surprisingly enough, it was pretty nice.

We cooked our dinner in the dutch oven on a little porch we had outside, took showers, watched the new episode of Breaking Bad, and caught some news.

I was out like a light and was sleeping like a baby, until the storm came.

As if we hadn't had a weird enough day already, it was pouring like crazy with wind on top of that, and thunder and lightning off in the distance - over the Goosenecks.

So call me a prima donna for refusing to camp at the Goosenecks, but if we had, I'm pretty sure the tent would be floating down the San Juan headed for the Colorado River.

I'm not sure we'd be alive.

I would have been abducted.

Oh, what an adventure it was.

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Two, Part One

I'm having to split our second day into two parts.

Yes, we really did so much in one day that I can't cover it all in one post.

We woke up our second day in Arches National Park.

We had a plan to get packed up and ready early to make it out to Delicate Arch before it got too busy and too hot.

The hike out to Delicate Arch was really fun.

Along the way we got to see some Petroglyphs:

After getting a little off the beaten path and finding our way back, we reached Delicate Arch.

Now, for those of you that haven't been, don't be fooled.

The arch looks small in comparison to my dad and I, but that's an illusion.

 Check out the picture below...

 See that teeny tiny person in the blue?

Yeah, it's that big.

While we were up there taking a snack break and checking out the view...

...a little crow joined the party...

...and all of the foreigners were amazed.

Apparently crows aren't common in France? :)

After hiking back down from Delicate Arch we headed to The Windows, and then stopped at a few other arches on our way out.

It was hot, hot hot, and we were anxious to get out of there for a little relief.

Little did we know, we were in for some serious heat over the next three days...