Alaska

Well, we're home from yet another vacation. All I can say is that Alaska is fabulous! As a graduation present for Scott and I, my parents were kind enough to take us and our spouses on this amazing vacation. Thanks mom and dad!! As my good friend's dad said, "Every view of Alaska is a post card." We saw SO many beautiful things while there. Cruising is definitely great, but it's not the kind of vacation to take every time. Otherwise, I just might weigh 500 pounds. Oh...the food.....Dining was my favorite part of the cruise. The food was delicious, and there was SO much of it! All you can eat pizza and ice cream is a winning combination. The only downside to our trip was that Jordan and I managed to get both our video camera and still frame camera stolen. How then did we get so many great pictures you might ask? My dad bought a new camera before the trip and took AT LEAST 5000 pictures. Here are some of the highlights from the trip.

Glacier Bay National Park:
We actually saw the glaciers calving. Straight off a nature show!



Skagway and the Yukon Territory:

The smallest desert in the world is located in the Yukon. It's amazing to see this little patch of desert in the midst of beautiful green mountains.




Ketchikan:
Jordan's salmon caught while in Ketchikan.

Rach, Scott, Jordan and I

Vancouver, BC:
Our cruise ended in Vancouver, so we got to spend three days with our relatives. We wish we could have spent more time. What a great vacation!

McCall, Idaho

After a week and a half in McCall we're home! This year's McCall trip was as great as ever. We spent the first part of the trip camping in Ponderosa State Park, and then spent the last few days in the Walker's condo. Purchasing mountain bikes turned out to be money well spent. If we weren't out on the lake or eating ice cream from Ice Cream Alley, we were on our bikes doing all sorts of fun trails. Our favorite trail was up to a lookout point over the lake. You could either take the road back down from the point or go on a steep bike trail through the woods. We of course opted to take the trail through the woods. The first time we came down the trail I had a bit of a mishap. I was flying down the steepest part of the trail when I lost control. I was horrified when my tire started going down the steep mountainside to the right of the trail. No matter what I did, I could NOT get control of my bike and I ended up flying over the front of my handlebars and sliding on my stomach until I rammed into a tree using my head. I hit the tree hard enough knock me out for a second and leave a LARGE dent in my helmet. Thank HEAVEN for helments. If I had not been wearing mine I would have definitely had a traumatic brain injury. Let this be a lesson to you all. WEAR HELMETS!! All right, I'm off my soap box. Don't worry though, I still like mountain biking. These first pictures are of us cruising on the "party" boat aka patio boat.


The fourth of July in McCall is a PARTY! People come from all over to see the McCall firework show. They have a huge barge in the middle of the lake that they light the fireworks from, so people sit in their boats to watch. The picture I took of all the boats didn't give it justice. We had a perfect view of the fireworks from the Walker's condo deck.

Pictures at the lookout. The last mile of the trail is straight uphill, so we all look sweaty and tired. The view was amazing though!

Lake Powell Pics

Here are the pictures I promised. Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!

Behold, My Future....

After waiting rather impatiently all summer, I FINALLY have my job assignment for the fall. I will be working at Hannah Holbrook Elementary School....


.....and Millcreek Junior High.

I couldn't be more excited! At Holbrook I will have 30 kids on my caseload and I will get to work with a preschool, and at Millcreek I get to work with 8-10 special needs kids. Both schools are less three miles from my house, which considering the rising fuel costs, is pretty nice. I am so happy to finally practice what I went to school for. Yay for getting paid!

Here's To You Lake Powell

Lake Powell. The vacation that dreams are made of. This years trip was as fun as ever! An entire week of tubing, eating, playing cards, swimming, laying out, reading, riding the water weenie, wakeboarding, and watching movies. I'm sorry I don't have more pictures, but my brother has all the pictures on his computer, and he still hasn't sent us the disc. I did, however, include one of my favorite pictures of all time. Last year my dad bought the SWEETEST tube ever. You get insane amounts of air on it, and most of the time you don't get hurt. The following picture is of me, Annie, and my sister-in-law Kalli last year at Lake Powell. Take note of my freaky, mini, white feet protruding from my stomach. Ha ha.

Kalli and Laura tube ride 2008. Do I sense the birth of a new tradition?

Rivers, Rain and Waterfalls

We just got home last night from a Hale family vacation to Yosemite, California. You would think that being in California we would all have nice tans by now, right? Well, let's just say that we didn't see much of the sun. In fact, it rained the WHOLE time. Despite the rain, we had a great time in Yosemite. We hiked some beautiful trails up to the most gorgeous waterfalls, rafted the Tuolumne River, and visited the Mariposa Grove Redwood forest. Sorry for the length of the post, but I took so many great pictures!

On Saturday we ran the Tuolumne River. It was only 40 degrees and pouring rain the whole time, but it was SO FUN!! As an incentive to get good grades, my dad has been taking my family on river trips since I was in ninth grade. This was my third time running the Tuolumne River and it was as big as ever!

This would be moments before my little body hit the freezing cold, glacier-fed river water. Yes, I fell in twice.....in the rapids.....I have bruises. I pretty much had hypothermia until my dad gave me his fleece to wear under my splash jacket.

The four-way spoon while watching 'Disturbia' in our yurt.

The crew. This year marked the 20th year of Hale-May Memorial Day vacations. Go team!

The hike up to Nevada Falls. There were over 600 stairs. My legs were BURNING!

Scott cooking breakfast in his speedo. I apologize for the indecency.

The Mariposa Grove Sequoias. Worth the drive!


We had a great time in Yosmite!

Two Years and Counting..

On Tuesday Jordan and I celebrated our two year anniversary. Instead of buying each other presents and staying somewhere nice, we decided to spend our money on some new mountain bikes from the REI sale. The plan is to stay in shape AND have fun together. Fool proof. Anyway, after buying our bikes we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (one of my favorites). It was such a fun night! I wouldn't say that our first two years of marriage have been conventional (i.e. most husbands don't fall off cliffs and almost die), but they have been wonderful. I love Jordan more than I did when I married him two years ago, so I guess that's a good sign. I included a few pictures from our wedding day and also a few shots of our bikes. Disclaimer: the bike I wanted came in only one color--PURPLE! Given the choice I would have picked a different color, but I guess it's time for me to embrace my girlie side.




Doesn't get much hotter!


Two years later and we're still in love. Imagine that!

It's Official!!

It's official everyone. On Thursday, May 1st I received my Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology. After five straight years of school, I am more than happy to be done. After reflecting on my college experience, I realize that receiving an education has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. The things that I have learned in my studies will help me throughout my life. I recognize that I couldn't have done it on my own though. I feel like I need to thank Jordan first and foremost. He has been SO patient with me while I have been in graduate school. He worked hard so that I didn't have to work while I completed my degree (and so that we would actually be able to see each other). He also helped me to tone down my Type-A, overachieving personality and just CHILL a little bit. I love and appreciate him so much.

Also, my parents have helped me to get to this point by helping me to understand the importance of education. From the time I was small they have helped me and encouraged me to go as far as I can academically. I couldn't ask for more supportive parents.

Speaking of supportive, my in-laws also came to my graduation. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but my father-in-law didn't even go to his own graduation. He has now suffered through two graduations on my behalf. For him it is the ultimate act of love.

What now? Well, this summer I plan to do whatever the heck I want. I'm going to travel, work on my tan, read books, and get my life organized. Oh yeah.

The fun part of school was making such great friends. These are two of my greatest friends in the program--Brittany and Julia. Though I will NOT miss taking tests and writing papers, I will miss seeing these girls everyday.

The crew. What a good looking group, eh? I have loved going to school with these people.

My brother Scott graduated from BYU with his Master's in Accountancy last week as well. We took some pre-grad pics.

Who knows?