A CORNUCOPIA OF SUMMER ACTIVITY - Part 1

I am SO good at summer. Seriously, anyone who chooses a career path outside of education is silly because I have been playing all summer and getting a pay check. Suckers! My first two trips of the summer to DC and the mission home were great and frankly, my journeys just kept getting better and better. Here are some highlights of my summer adventures:

Lani, Alisha, Heather, Lindsay, and I did the Raft for the Cure on the Colorado River. This is the trip I was most excited for of course and it definitely lived up to my hopes and dreams. We hiked in Arches for a few hours until we got trapped in a flash flood while at Delicate Arch. High winds + rain = wet, cold, sad, dirty, wet, cold people. We got back to the car as fast as we could but there was really no use because I might as well have just jumped in a pool of red sandy water with all my clothes on. The best part is we were camping that night so none of us ever really got warm because we slept under the stars in wet, nasty crap. We stayed up Slick Rock Canyon in Moab and although I didn't sleep a wink, the scenery was enough to keep me energized for the next morning of rafting. We had the greatest time going down the river in the most beautiful country out there. After our day on the river we met back up with the group of 300 BC rafting supporters for dinner and an amazing blue grass concert. We were the only sober ones I feel but yet, we were the best dancers. I mapped out a route back to Provo that wasn't really the fastest way but I wanted to show the ladies the real Utah. We took a 12 hour drive home going through Hanksville, Capitol Reef, Dixie Forest, Grand Staircase, Escalante, Bryce Canyon, and then back to Provo. Not too bad for jamming it into one day. What better vacation for me combining Breast Cancer and Utah adventures?!?!

Bryce Canyon


Raft for the Cure cake in the shape of a life jacket!


Double Arch as seen while laying on my back underneath it


The rafting crew (Heather didn't do the rafting, just the trip)

I went down to St. George twice. The first time I took 33 students to a leadership conference at Dixie State. The food was bad, the company energized, the trip short. We did see a show at Tuachan and that was definitely my favorite part.

The second trip to SG was much better. All the Belnap orphans went down for the Pioneer holiday. We talked. We ate. We swam. We laughed. We wrangled children. Yep, good trip. I made my family all settle down on Pioneer Day so I could tell them a story about the holiday like my dad would if he were around. I don't think they dug it that much but that just goes to show nobody can replace my daddy - not even a Utah history teacher on Pioneer Day! I did stop and see Jacob Hamblin's home, Brigham Young's home, and in Filmore the original State Capitol building.

Territorial Statehouse

Sitting with the babies outside of the Chuck because they couldn't be

inside a public place anymore

I went to Denver to visit Leslie. Her very gracious family let me stay with them for a few days so I could get my Nessle fix before she heads off to DC for a few months. She took me to a fancy - yes fancy - baseball game and I actually enjoyed myself at said sporting event. We saw the temple and the Platte River! I played school with her little sister Lauren. And the best part: we watched a late night movie on the couch, with glasses on, eating chocolate chips!

Just hanging out on the front row next to the dug out at the Rockies game