Utah

A few weeks ago, I began to miss my brother. With Brian in Boston and Nathan working all the time, I headed to Provo to be with brother #2. Unfortunately, I arrived the day of the Utah BAR, and was unable to see him for a day and a half. Bummer. BUT! The joyous moment finally came, and to the Happy Sumo we went. :) I love Jared and I love sushi. Yay for us.
While there I got a healthy dose of nephew (he can say Doodle and I am just tickled pink), went on the Alpine Slide AND Coaster (AWESOME!!), saw Land of the Lost (I loved it) and spent time with friends. I went to a driving range for my very first time, got French pastries and lost a game of put-put and bought everyone pop to make up for it. I had tons of fun, and was deeply saddened once Sunday came around and I had to leave. The weather was beautiful and everything was just amazing. On Monday, I 'babysat' (played with Alix and had a wonderful time) then on Tuesday my dear friend Samuel called me. Our conversation went like this: "I'm in LA, I'm going to Provo. Wanna come?" - "Umm, yes" - "I knew you would, I'm already on my way over."
We spent the night in Vegas (where I gambled away my very first dollar!!) then made it to Provo the next evening. I had another wonderful week in P-town, although this time around the weather was not as nice and the movies weren't as fun (Terminator and Night at the Museum 2 - I love dollar theaters!). I'm happy to say that I got my fill of Thai food and won 2 games of bowling against someone who took a bowling class. I'm awesome. On the way home, I learned how to play Craps.
Now, I am back in Redlands. I began to miss brothers again, and spent a week with brother #3 watching his dog and Heros. With 2 down, I couldn't resist the urge, and am leaving to Boston next week to get the big #1 in.

Hiking

In July I went hiking in Havasupai with some friends from BYU. We met up in Las Vegas and proceeded from there. Luckily, we were late in leaving so we were able to make it to the trail head in the cool hours of high noon. I met some new people as well as remet people I had met briefly before. It was an exciting time as we explored new waterfalls and wreckage from the flood. It was not exciting to hike down with a pack, hike all around, and then find out the helicopter ride was not being offered. So, being the priss that I am, I naturally hired a mule to carry my belongings out of the canyon, enabling me to make the arduous hike out in under 3 hours (I also lost 6 pounds in 4 days, I'm that amazing). We left the parking lot late that night, and Sam and I got into Redlands in the early morning hours. We showered and napped before taking off for LA where I had lunch in Beverly Hills with my good friend Natalie (camping to Dior in 12 hours). The next day, I went quad riding for the first time in my life. I was a natural and basically awesome at it, despite the heat. That was one jam packed week. I can't describe the amount of sleep I indulged in once I returned from the desert nor the absolute heavenly feeling of it. Added bonus that my parents were out of town, so there weren't any tractors or whistling to awaken me.