24th of July

Last weekend was the 24th of July. Sadly, it's never been a big deal for me and my family until the last few years when I really started to appreciate my pionner heritage. My great great great-grandfather was Peter Maughan. His second wife, Mary Ann Weston Maughan married him and they came to Utah from England. Peter Maughan was asked by Brigham Young to settle Cache Valley, which is now where Logan and Utah State University is located. He has a statue downtown SLC on 300 W and 300 S. I'm pretty proud of this heritage.

This year Justin had to work and I was on call for work so no parades for us. :( I did watch the Days of 47 parade on TV. Our ward did "The Avenues" float which was awesome. After Justin came home from work we spent the evening with Justin's family. Zach and Brandi have a stock pile of illegal fireworks from Evanston... even the nextdoor neighbor who was a cop off duty loved the fireworks. Zach and Brandi's college friends, Sveker and Becca were there with Justin's mom, Chris. I love this picture. It's totally Zach and Brandi's personality to light up roman candles as a couple. So romantic. Oakley didn't like the noises so she stood like this for over an hour. Haha. She's so adorable. I love my nieces. Here is my other niece, Rylee. She never smiles for anyone but her mom. This is the "Okay, I'll guess I'll sort of grin" look. This is Ashton watching the fireworks. It was a great night for him. His dad built him a Lego boat AND we had fireworks. He had trouble breathing he was so excited.

New Goal: To update my blog regularly

So uh.... I guess I haven't really blogged in a while. The summer is over 1/2 way over and I really haven't updated this thing. (Not that anyone reads it... I wish I knew how to make it cuter.) So here is a recap for whoever cares:

May: I was BORED. I was only working 18 hours a week and school was over. There are people that thrive on free time. Not this girl. I spent most of my time cooking, running and facebooking. Lame. But after finals were over Justin and I went on a fun little trip to Moab and hiked Arches. It was our first trip to Moab together that wasn't spent mountain biking.

June: Lots lots lots!!! First and bestest: KAUA'I!!! That trip was INSANELY fun. My awesome parents have a timeshare and this year they were able to score two condos for our fam. Caroling and Jordan stayed in the condo with us while Hilary stayed with Mom and Dad. Sa-weet! After a run to Costco in Lihue stocking up on hot dogs, pita chips, spinach artichoke dip, chips and peach mango salsa we were good to go. We rented some kayaks, kayaked up the Wailua river about 5 miles and stopped for a hike up to Secret Falls one day. The Hawaiians used to hike up there to pray/bless only other people. So beautiful! We did a TON of snorkeling. We even fed the fish on mushed up wheat bread. It only took a day to get over my fear of fish. (I was stung by a jellyfish in North Carolina when I was 14--it actually got smooshed in my swimsuit.) We tried Saimin, a local Hawaiian noodle soup. Wasn't my fave, but it had a good flavor. (Pho is better.) I also fell in love with the lychee fruit. It's like a cross between raspberries and grapefruit. Holy crap that stuff is amazing.

Second: JACKSON HOLE RIVER TRIP! We left on my birthday and stayed for 2 1/2 days. Zach and Brandi, Hilary, Dad, and all the Einfeldts were there. Justin's best friend, Tyrel, is a river guide-- as well as his whole family. They own 3 rafts and do a river trip every year. We ran the river about 3 times, went mountain biking and justed enjoyed the beauty of the Snake River. Zach actually fell out of the raft on the biggest white water wave, Lunch Counter. My Dad learned that he loves the middle of the boat on the rapids. We all had a great time and I had a great birthday.

Third: I started work! Same as last year. Nannying the kids. Quinn, Grayson and Luke. They are bigger this year and way more active. It took me about 2 weeks to get back into their groove, but now we're having a great time.

Fourth: I got sick a lot. I got a cold from Brandi on the river trip, then food poisening from some Octopus at a sushi restaurant, then allergies made the cold last for weeks. It put my running on the backburner.

July: One weekend we went backpacking up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Lake Blanche. The 2.8 mile hike felt like 10 miles because of the grade. So steep! It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the lake and only 1 hour and 15 minutes to get down. Lake Blanche rocks. Seriously. With a natural sun dial overlooking the lake, fresh mountain runoff water and the beautiful view over the canyon, this place feels almost sacred. We watched a lightning storm over the distant mountains. It was AWESOME.

I started going to the Farmers Markets. I love the crowd, dogs, food, art... everything. It makes me feel like SLC is more urban than it is.

Justin has been biking more than ever. He rides frequently up to Emigration Canyon and East Canyon resort. One day he did Big and Little Cottonwood. My husband is a stud. And he looks hot in those spandex bibs. That probably sounds messed up to anyone unfamiliar with the cycling world.

We cancelled our Brasil trip. :( Tyrel decided to get married during our trip. Jerk. Who does that? Dates someone for 5 months and then gets married. Such a stupid idea. Oh wait... I guess it worked for my parents. And Zach and Brandi. Oh well. Justin and I dated for a year, and the first 4 months of adjusting to living together was tough. But it works for some people! Good luck Tyrel and Sam. We'll be there at their wedding.

Anywho. Hopefully I'll get around to cute-ifying my blog and update it regularly.