Home for good....maybe...

Well, I can honestly say that after the craziest, most fun summer of our lives, we're ready to stay home for awhile. I just looked at the calendar and realized that we have only been to our ward three times all summer. Yes, we are officially the worst primary teachers ever. Our latest endeavor was for Jordan, Annie, Scott McKasson (my sister-in-law's younger brother and our good friend), and I to drive 18 hours across the country to visit Mike and Erin and the kids. While the drive was long, it was so worth it!!! We had such a great time and did so many fun things. Thanks Mike and Erin for letting us come! Here are a few of the highlights.

The first day we went to the Como Zoo which had all sorts of cool animals and fun rides.

Mike and Erin have a park near their house that has a little splash pad for the kids to play in. Notice in this picture that I am in my regular clothes. I saw Abbie and Landon playing and decided I didn't want to miss out on the fun. My clothes were soaked through!


I thought these pictures were so dang cute!! They make me want kids right now!

Jordan was Uncle Extraordinaire while we were in Minnesota. Abbie and Landon LOVED him! These are some of my favorite pictures of Jordan with the kids. Take note of Jordan's nasty moustache he decided to grow while we were there. Yes, he does look like a pedophile.

Abbie and Jordan being silly.

Uncle Jordan after giving Landon a bath.

At the Minnesota Twins vs Yankees game. It was a great game, but unfortunately the Twins lost.

We decided to drive 30 minutes out of the way to see Mt. Rushmore on the way home. We were too cheap to pay the fee to drive up close so the picture is kind of far away. Ha ha. We all look like garbage after the long ride.

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!