Neature Walk

Vacation time! This is a preview. Details to follow later.

Adventure is out there!!!

                        

13 July: Sand dunes and dancing around a fire. It was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than with your friends!!

Since it was summer and there was a fire, naturally Joni and I had to dance around it. 

14 July: Lacey and I went for a drive through the country. We rescued a goat, admired some horses, and found the coolest wading spot around! The water was perfect. We found a tree that had been gnawed on by a beaver and a cow leg in the water. We got rained out, but it was totally legit.

Adventure....rock on.

18 July: I drove the crew out to a place called Monkey Rock. We got a little lost and got to drive down a dirt road for a mile, but it was fun anyway. When we finally got to the bridge, it didn't take Tanner much time to show us how easy it is to experience gravity. I went next. What a rush!!! Nothing makes you feel more alive than free falling and then splashing in refreshingly cool water. After jumping off a bridge (finals weren't really that bad), we went and saw the waterfall. So beautiful! The weather was perfect and life was happy. 

I took the "plunge" this summer, but there certainly weren't any bells ringing. 

Rexburg can't handle this much awesomeness

The Jubilant Jumpers

This may be the "Monkey Rock"....we didn't jump off this one

19 July: A small band of us set some tubes in at our "secret spot". Turns out it's actually Warm Slough. Not so secret. I neglected to grab the sunscreen and the consequences followed. It turns out it takes 4 1/2 hours to float to Beaver Dick Park, not 1 or 2. We got FRIED, but it was so relaxing. We saw a deer, turtle, killer butterfly, and we were led by a blue heron. It must have been some sort of protector or something, like in the movies. 

Warm Slough: this is where our trip started....before the sunburns

20 July: Moving day for the crew. Not an exciting adventure. Not worth details. 
21 July: Part of my family and I were going to go to the top of Mount Harrison and take the ski lift to a stargazing party, but it was a little cloudy and stormy, so we went to plan B. We could have either watched a movie or gone to Oakley to watch their annual fireworks show. Of course we watched the fireworks! It was awesome! The wind was blowing a little bit so we were right under the fireworks. I loved it. 

22 July: My adventure: cooking. It's a talent I have yet to refine. I managed to make a really good sweet and sour sauce for our rice and chicken. It was very yummy. Unfortunately the recipe cannot be exactly repeated because I didn't follow the recipe totally. The trick is to add less vinegar than the recipe requires. 

Doesn't that sauce look delicious?

 23 July: My day started at 5:00 a.m. I left my house, drank half a Mountain Dew and Snickers bar and drove straight to work. I was only 11 minutes late which is impressive. On my home I stopped in Rigby and bought gas for $3.33/gal. I thought the number was cool. I also got my very first Maverick club card. Yay! 

Later I had an urge to go on a short run. I ended up playing soccer with a random group of people for the next 2 hours and made some new friends. What a blessing!


24 July: I visited my Korean friend, Jung. You never know what Jung will say or do, so I always consider my time with him an adventure. I talked to him about Yellowstone. As we talked, I thought he said something about wanting a pillow. It seemed off topic, but I humored him. After a little bit, I figured out that he was talking about wanting to see a buffalo, not a pillow! It was entertaining and has made me want to go back to Yellowstone. 


25 July: I went on a random drive through the country by myself. It was so refreshing! I stopped by a wheat field and took some pictures and smelled the warm grain. I love that smell. I admit, I love to admire healthy fields. It makes my heart glad and brings out the country girl in me. "It makes me wanna take a back road, makes me wanna take the long way home." As I was driving along, I looked to the left and there it was!!.....the haunted swing. I have been looking for that swing for months! It's a random swing set and large patch of grass out in the middle of nowhere. It really doesn't make sense. But as far as I can remember, the story is that there was a girl that used to swing in this swing but one day she fell out and died. If you go at night sometimes you will see the swing moving back and forth because her ghost has come back to keep on swinging. I went to this place once at night. Not creepy at all, but it's a great place to stargaze. 

Look how beautiful this potato field is! I'm an Idaho girl through and through.

These little sunflowers are seriously one of my all time favorite parts of  summer. They're so happy!

Flying? Nope. More like falling with style.

All of this is made possible thanks to my trusty car, Fury. (Yes, named after Nick Fury from Avengers.)

Haunted??...........

26 July: I officially started my search for my very own guitar!! All my life I've wanted a guitar and I've asked for one and never got it. Now that I have time and little bit of money, I'm going to fulfill my life dream and purchase my own guitar. I visited a couple of music stores and I found a likely potential. It was a fulfilling adventure for me. I also wanted to see Avengers again, so I invited my friend, Jung, to come. He brought his roommate and along the way I saw some people that looked bored and I invited them to join us. One of the guys did! Avengers was awesome!! 
Lesson of the day: don't wait for life to come to you. If you want to hang out with people, don't wait to be invited....create your own party! If you want something really bad, don't wait for someone to give it to you...work hard towards that goal and go for it! In short, you can choose to act or you can choose to be acted on.


27 July: I got to work, like normal, but afterwards I filled up my car, grabbed a cool beverage (non-alcoholic of course), and hit the open road for Burley, my home sweet home. Driving any longer than an hour is always some sort of adventure. I had planned on watching Brave with my wee sister since I had received a birthday gift for that very purpose.....but, it's not showing in Burley any more. Sad. Instead I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics with my family. 


28 July: I got to spend the whole day with my family!! We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but it's good to be home and be happy. I haven't been this carefree in a while. Feels good. 


29 July: Church! We had a family meeting and discussed our upcoming vacation to Washington and Glacier National Park. Planning for adventure is part of having the adventure. I'm so excited!!!!!!

30 July: Driving and more driving, but we finally made it to Walla Walla, Washington. There's not a lot to see, but it's interesting to see how many Mexican restaurants and stores there are up here. Pretty much my family is the best ever and I have loved every minute I have had to be with them. 

31 July: Well, the day is still in progress, but some of us went to an aquatic center and had a blast! There were some awesome waterslides and a pretty decent pool. We all had a jolly good time and, thanks to tons of sunscreen, didn't get burned.