Adam's Canyon Backpacking Overnighter

Last weekend we had an adventure backpacking up Adam's Canyon. It was so much fun! We went with our friends, Lauren and Justin. We left Friday night after Cortney got home from work. Here we are ready to attack the canyon!

The hike was beautiful, as usual. We hiked up to the waterfall and there was tons of water, so we donned our sandals and crossed the river.


Cortney is so hot right now! Ha!

Then we hiked/scrambled up a rockslide to a secret campsite that Justin knew about. It was sweet! It was right next to the river and was a perfect little spot!
(Us finally at the top!)

We set up the tents, Cortney gathered firewood, and we all got our dinner ready to cook. We got everything set up just before the sun went down. It was perfect! Then we just hung out around the fire and ate. And ate. And ate s'more(s)! We had hot dogs, and mountain house dinners, and an MRE, and lots of s'mores. Oh, and jerky. The whole bag. Ha ha! It was so nice to just hang out and talk and eat. It was such a fun night with lots of laughs! Then we went to sleep.
Good morning!


The river right by the campsite....beautiful!

After a little breakfast of fruit leather and a peanut granola bar, we headed down. I'm not going to lie, I had some anxiety thinking about coming back down the rocky part of the trail right before the waterfall. It was a little scary! It was nice to have Justin to help us get down safely.
We celebrated at the waterfall!

After we made it down, we drove to IHOP for breakfast! We looked like a bunch of raggamuffins and probably smelled like it too, but that didn't matter. We just wanted some good, real breakfast! Ha ha! It was such a fun outing! Thanks, Lauren and Justin!

Willard Bay Triathlon

Yesterday was the first triathlon of the year! Me and my sister, Rhonda compete in triathlons to try and stay in shape. It's a fun little hobby and it helps having someone else do them with you because it's a great motivator! It was our first time doing the Willard Bay Triathlon and it was a blast! The weather turned out awesome! It was neither too hot, nor too cold. The too cold part came when they told us how cold the water was - 51 degrees. Yes, that wasn't a typo - 51 degrees! I've been working hard to improve my swim, but yesterday my mind wasn't in it enough to overcome the effects of the cold water. I still got an okay time, but I can blame the slowness on the cold :)

Getting used to (or trying to get used to) the water...
The start...
Cortney's artistic shot while waiting for us to finish the swim...
My nephew L...
The swim is finally over!
Rhonda beat me on the swim and I caught up to her on the bike - we came in at the same time!

The run out - check out the guy in the blue on the left hand side of the photo. Is his reaction one of, "Go get 'em!" or one of, "Get outta my way!" ? What do you think? Ha ha ha!
Rhonda's naturally a faster runner so she finished first...
I loved having my nieces and nephew there to cheer me on!

They even ran with me 'til the end! L is in the grass and you can barely see C right by me...
The finish!


My #1 supporter!

I sure do love him and am so grateful he supports me at every triathlon!
Me and C
Both Rhonda and I got first place in our age groups! Woo hoo!

It was a great start to a great triathlon season! Yeah!

U2 and the Fray!

On tuesday May 24th, we were able to go to the U2 and the Fray concert! It was soooooooooooooo awesome!
I love this guy!

The stage...

The groupies...
Us and our AWESOME t-shirts! Thanks to Melissa!

What an awesome concert it was! SOOOOO cool! I've been waiting my whole life to go to a U2 concert and my dream was finally fulfilled! It will be a great memory!

Mississippi Trip 2011

We had the awesome opportunity to take a trip to visit my parents in Mississippi! It was such a fun trip! Most of all, it was great to be with my parents and to see their place and all the people they associate with. It was awesome! Don't worry - this is a long post. :) We got there on Thursday afternoon and just chilled at my parents' apartment. It was fun to catch up and relax.

Friday morning we got up and headed to Vicksburg. We stopped first at the Mississippi river to check out the level. My parents mentioned that it was highest it has been and was supposed to crest that day. There was a lot of water!!



We then visited Vicksburg Military Memorial Park. When I took history, I probably learned about Vicksburg, but I don't retain information very easily, so it was nice to learn a little more about Vicksburg by being there! Cortney is a history buff and loves stuff like this!

Vicksburg was where one of the civil war battles took place which was an important turning point in the civil war. It's crazy to think about the civil war and how friends and family fought against friends and family. We took a cool driving tour to see all the battle sites as well as monuments that each state who participated in the battle have put up.









The ship "Cairo" which sunk during a battle and then was brought back up and reconstructed...
After the driving tour, we headed to the old Vicksburg County Courthouse and museum.

It was stuffed full of old artifacts and was fun to look around. There was even this cute bible that is teeny tiny! The width of it when open is about 2 inches.
It was a cool old museum! We then headed back down to the river to check out the flooding...


It's crazy how much water there is! The flooding here in Utah is hardly anything compared to that in Mississippi. We also saw where they had opened the water into the levees. And we drove into Louisiana to say we had been to Louisiana :)

After the nice drive, we ate a dinner of fried chicken and catfish at a delicious place called Pen's. Mmmmm. It was tasty! It was an eventful and wonderful day!

Saturday morning we arose and headed to the mission office to check it out. It was neat to see the things my parents do for the mission and to meet the other office couple.

Awww, fer cute!


We ate lunch and then headed to the petrified forest! The drive there (and everywhere) was beautiful! It's so green and there are tons and tons of trees!

It was a neat little place to visit! There was a cool hike/tour that we took that showed many petrified logs. It was cool! The forest was so beautiful!
This is a pretty tree called a Loblolly Pine...


At the end of the hike, they had a cool little museum which had tons of fossils and rocks. If I was a geologist, I would be in heaven!

And this sign was posted on the way out...

And yes, a lot of the people have AWESOME southern accents! I love hearing the accents :)

We drove from the petrified forest to Jackson to see the capitol building. It was spectacular!

Then we went to see the old capitol building. Here's the scoop...
And the beautiful building...
It was also a cool museum that was interactive. It was beautiful inside too! After visiting there, we headed to Joanna's house for dinner. She is a sister in my parents' ward who they helped get baptized. She's so nice and very pleasant to be around. It was fun to just hang out and chat with her. The dinner she made was great! It was neat to finally meet her!
Sunday was a nice day to relax and to attend my parents' ward. It was cool to meet all the people in their ward. The mission president and his wife were also there and we met them too! It was neat to hear all the people say how much they loved my parents and how much good they've done in the ward. This wasn't a surprise at all :) My dad talked me into playing a piano piece for sacrament meeting too. After church, we drove by one of the reservoirs near Jackson. We spent the rest of the afternoon having a nice meal prepared by my mom and just chillaxin. In the evening we had a family home evening where we talked about some of the conference talks and what we had learned from them.

Monday was our last day in Mississippi :(

To start out the day, my dad showed me this cool trail near the mission office and I took a nice run while he rode his bike. It was a beautiful trail through the trees! Gorgeous! Then I rode the bike back to the office. After we got all packed up and ready to go for the day, we all headed to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. It was super cool. It was like an old town with all the older buildings and a general store! (My favorite part :) ) The museum itself was cool and talked about logging as well as the cotton industry, etc. etc.. It had a bunch of trains and planes too! It was so cool! Then we watched a short video about the catfish production in Mississippi. Interesting! And delicious :) I love places like this! It also had this super huge rocking chair...

It was a cool place to visit! And I wanted to get a picture of the magnolia flower...

There are these beautiful magnolia trees everywhere! After visiting the park and museum, we ate some genuine southern food at a restaurant right outside the museum. It was fattening and delicious! Mmmmmm.

We then went home and got out luggage and then headed to the airport to go home.

It was such a nice trip and it was so good to see and be with my parents! We were spoiled to the maxx! Thanks, Mom and Dad for such a great time! We love you!