Adventure #4 Spanish Fork Reservoir

This may be one of the best kept secrets in Utah Valley. My sis and I discovered it last summer and have made good use of it. It's hick alright, take this guy for example, bahahaha! But I still love it!

Just a fun place to soak up the sun for a few hours. A small swimming lake I like to take my raft out on with a beach on one side of it. What?! There's a beach in Utah? There sure is folks! I'll gladly fork over the directions if you want to check it out for yourselves :)

Celebrating the 4th of July

Because I was gone for the weekend rafting, I didn't get to see any fireworks. Darn! Who's bright idea was that?! (see picture above. Bahaha). It seems like I am always out of the country for fireworks either in Mexico, Canada, or Europe. I'll be in
China for the 24th, so again no fireworks this year :( Oh well, my sister and I still know how to party it up. On Monday, yesterday, we got up at the crack of dawn for the Balloon Fest. We got to the field just as the hot air balloons were taking off so we missed the best part, but still worth it.

Then we decided to go to the parade in P-town on the spur of the moment. Oh my gosh - it was so fun! I hadn't been to a parade in years, and it's even better when I'm with Elise. We're CRAZY! We were like little kids seeing a parade for the first time, trying to squander shirts off the Republican party to no avail, waving at everyone, trying to jump on firetrucks to ride in the parade, Elise daring me to ask some dudes if I could ride this thing.

Man! I'm SO disappointed. Although this isn't the exact one (I should have taken a picture) these dudes were riding a couch on wheels! Check that out! I've never seen anything so cool before. And Elise dared me to ask for a ride. End of story. SHOOT, I'm losing my gusty daring skills. I kept hoping they'd come back, but they didn't. I lost my chance.

Adventure #3 White Water Rafting on the Snake

For the July 4th weekend I went up to Wyoming with some friends for some SWEET white water rafting on the Snake River. We were about 30 min. south of Jackson Hole in Alpine, WY. We headed up on Friday, the boys got one run in that afternoon, had our own fireworks show that night, and camped out at the cabin. On Saturday all 26 of us were ready for some fun. We got 3 good runs in. The 1st was freezing, the 2nd pure bliss with the sun out, and the 3rd super windy. I'd do them all over again though :) These photos are from the Friday run. We had much bigger rafts on Saturday.

As many of you know, I have a small inflatable raft that I like to take out in random places like ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, oceans, swimming pools, basiclly anywhere there's water :)

So I've never been white water rafting before. It doesn't even compare to my own small raft (although I still love it)! It's a blast! I recommend you ALL go. Here's how intense the rapids are, just the names say it all! The Big Kahuna, Taco Hole, Lunch Counter (we theorized on this...maybe the rapids are so intense you throwup your lunch?). I almost fell out a time or two, but fortunately some dude caught me and pulled me back in. On the Big Kahuna my whole side of the raft fell out.

And of course rafting is not rafting if you don't have wars with each other and the other rafts. Yes, we all threw each other off and splashed ruthlessly. Good times! There was a spot on the river with cliffs where we stopped and jumped off, maybe about 15-20 feet high...just had to go! There were some professionals taking photos, but this is as good as it gets (way too expensive to buy). I'm on the left, second row back in the first photo and on the far right in the second photo.

Adventure #2 California - LA, San Francisco, Sacramento

After Sonya and Tyler's wedding in AZ, we drove to CA for half a week for their reception in Sacramento. We took a little detour and stopped off in LA at the Chinese Consulate so I could pick up my visa. Unfortunately, leaving at 3 am didn't cut it. We didn't get there early enough to get it back the same day. Thus we spent the rest of the day in horrendous LA traffic looking for a hotel on the way to Santa Monica beach. This doesn't even do it justice :)

Let's just say we spent a little more than I wanted to on the road....about 4 hours (that's only to go 15 miles folks). Yuck! Disgusting! Ew! Are you kidding me?!
It took us a little longer than we had expected to get to the beach, but we finally made it to Santa Monica. No time for swimming however, or bike riding.

We also spent one day in San Fran. I hadn't been since I was about 10 yrs. old so it was fun to go back. My favorite part was riding the cable car! It's no ride if you don't ride it the right way....hanging off the side! I'm surprised they still let you do that actually.

We hung out at Fisherman's Wharf, ate fresh fish, and the best of all - sourdough bread! Dee-lish-ous!

Checked out China Town.....

So I really wanted to bike across the Golden Gate bridge, but there just wasn't time. At least we got a great view of it!

To top it all off, we drove down Lumbard Street - the crazy back and forth road. Good times!

Before Sonya & Tyler's reception, we spent a few hours in Old Sacramento, the old part of town. My Mom grew up here and this is where my Grandpa lived before he passed away. I'd been as a kid and remembered it as a train town. I'd don't really have pics adequate to show, but Sacramento is gorgeous! Lots and lots of trees and really green.

Sonya & Tyler Holt

Friday, June 11 was the day of all days for Sonya and Tyler......they were married in the Mesa, AZ Temple. Here are a few pictures for your delight of my little sis and new bro in law. Welcome to the family Tyler! We're so excited to have you!

Later that evening there was a luncheon (slash dinner) at the Arizona Grand Resort to celebrate. Lots of family and friends came to share in the special occasion, enjoy the delicious food, preview the wedding video, give toasts, and listen to Sonya and Tyler give their thanks and appreciation to each other and their families.

It was such a wonderful day and the weather was very cooperative, not too hot despite it being the middle of June in AZ. Everything was SO nice. The reception in Thatcher was last night and now they are off to Cancun, arriving back next weekend for the next reception in Sacramento, CA. Pics to come!

All photos by Erik Lono