Camping at Tinney Flats

Last weekend, my family went camping up above Santaquin at Tinney Flats Campground. We had a blast relaxing, watching the kids play, eating, playing in the river, and watching a deer in our camp site. Here are few random samples of the fun we had.

I Sure Hope I Can Do This!

I just wrote my first paper for graduate school and it was seriously painful to get back in the "student" mode! I had forgotten how much I hate to write papers! And this one was way easy! It only had to be between 350 and 700 words. I can write that many words in a blog-post with no problem. But when I am forced to write, my mind always goes completely blank! What am I going to do when I have to write my 30 page research paper?!?!? I sure hope I can do this!

What Happened to Summer?

This has been one roller coaster ride of a summer, but it has also been the best summer of my life. And now it is over! I officially start back to work on Monday, and I am having the hardest time getting back into the school mind-set. I have had a wonderful distraction by my side all summer that has boosted my self esteem and taught me a lot about myself. Believe it or not, this distraction has also made me into a very outspoken person! I know that is hard to believe! And now, instead of being free to go running, hiking, swimming, etc. whenever I want, I have to go back to working a set schedule every day. Plus I start graduate school on Tuesday! So I have to ask, what happened to summer? It flew by so quickly! Maybe getting back to real life will help even my roller coaster ride out. I am excited to see Heather, Kerry, RaeAnn, and Jessica (the newest member of our team) every day. They, Marci, and my dear mother and sisters-in-law have helped me keep my sanity this summer as I have been riding my roller coaster, and I cannot thank them enough, and I cannot tell them how much I love and appreciate them. So, real life, here I come! I am just waiting for my distraction to get back from a quest I sent him on, and I hope he kept his promise! I don't know what will happen next on my roller coaster ride - if I will be going up hill or down hill. But I do know that the Lord is the one laying the track and I trust in Him completely. So whatever happens, I will be ok!

Swimming Lessons #2 and #3

Lesson #2: July 30
Cam, the kids, and I went to Spanish Oaks Reservoir for Jacob's birthday and Cam gave me my second swimming lesson. I am hopeless! I do not trust the water nor myself so I cannot bring myself to lift my feet up and float! As long as Cam was holding me up, I was fine! We practiced holding our breath and going under water, and I am getting better at that - especially since Cam was holding me and I had no choice but to stay under as long as him! So, even though I still cannot swim, it was a ton of fun. We then played on the beach for awhile and the kids decided to build a sandcastle. Somehow, the sandcastle turned into, "Let's bury Ashley!" So Cam and the kids buried me up to my waist in sand and then Jacob and Jocelyn took turns dumping buckets of water on me to clean me off! It was pretty funny!

Lesson #3: August 3
Well, Cameron will not give up on me! He, the kids, and I went out to Spanish Oaks Reservoir again and I received my next lesson. This one didn't last very long though because the water was freezing! Cam did make me go out to the deeper water where I couldn't touch the bottom so I would have to trust myself. I didn't though! It was terrifying! I was holding onto one of those cool noodle things and onto Cam, so I knew I wasn't going to sink, but it was still scary! I did it though! I guess I won't give up quite yet! We then went and laid on the beach in the nice, warm sunshine while the kids played. It was a very fun day.