Leaf Peeping

Just a few pics of our Sunday afternoon drive on the Alpine Loop. The leaves are BEAUTIFUL right now! My dad just bought a sweet camera, so I felt like I was posing for engagement pictures all over again. These are some of my favorite pictures that were taken.

Musings of a Cougar Fan...

I am going to start out my post by saying that I am proud to be a BYU fan! That's right....I love my team! The past two weekends, the BYU team has played some amazing football. They went up to Washington two Saturdays ago and beat the Huskies 28 to 27 when they blocked their extra point attempt. Everyone tried to take away the shine from the victory by claiming that the PAC-10 refs made a bad call, thus moving the Huskies back 15 yards, and thus leading to their extra point being blocked. I say BULL! I'm sorry, but you can't change the fact that BYU outplayed Washington in every aspect of the game. Check the stats. Last Saturday was even better. After listening to Ute fans (including close friends and family) rib me all week about how BYU was going to be SLAUGHTERED by UCLA, BYU not only shutout UCLA but spoon fed them their worst lose in 75 years!! Oh yeah. The final score.....

In case you couldn't read it, the scoreboard says 59-0.

The whole gang after the game.

Die-hard fans!

Posing in front of the cougar. Check out all that blue! Y'know, everyone loves to hate BYU, but I don't care. I'm a cougar fan and proud of it! Go COUGS!!

Life After Summer

So, I noticed today that I haven't posted since we got home from Minnesota. oops. I feel like I haven't had a moment to catch my breath since I started work. It's been a crazy ride, but I'm happy to say that I'm actually enjoying it. I met all of the kids I will be working with last week and they are so dang cute! I definitely come home tired every night, but it's a good tired. Jordan and I have gone through major role reversals in the past week. I go to work all day, and Jordan is at home more. I come home to a clean apartment and folded laundary every day. In fact, the other day Jordan had taken a pumice stone to the hard water ring in our toilet to get it extra clean. I couldn't be happier! My favorite part of starting work was decorating my little office. That's right, I have my own office. It might be the size of a closet, but at least it's mine. And, I have a big window. I know I'm lame, but I took a couple pictures of my executive suite.



This month we also celebrated my Grandma Hale's 80th birthday. I was supposed to bring homemade ice cream to the party, but I didn't know how and decided I was going to just bring store-bought. Jordan, however, decided that it was homemade or bust, so he bought all the ingredients and made a recipe he found off the internet. His ice cream was the hit of the party. My aunt even called him for the recipe. My little homemaker.


Jordan and my cousin Dix were sporting their football shirts. Jordan's was much cooler!

These last pics are of our niece's birthday. Emma turned two on Sunday and we had a huge family party.

Emma wanted Uncle Jordan to help her change her baby's diaper.


So cute!

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!