The Beach: the Pacific and Atlantic

Thomas and I had the wonderful opportunity to spend one week in SoCal with my family and a whole month with his family in Miami. Needless to say, we spent many hours at both the Pacific and the Atlantic ocean's coasts. Both were beautiful! The water in California was chilly, dark and filled with my favorite- WAVES! And the Miami water was warm, clear, still and full of fishies! We had a blast boogie boarding and kayaking in San Diego and had fun swimming and chasing fish in Miami. Here are some pictures from both.

I'll start with San Diego, because that's where we went first. Here we are kayaking!

Me and my sweet sissy:

My great Dad, who took us on the trip: Thanks Dad!

Look at the sea lions behind us. There were sea lions, on the rocks and caves behind us. And, we kayaked to where sharks swam underneath us constantly. Then, we spotted some dolphins, so we paddled after them. But, the only animals I was able to capture on camera were the sea lions.

Then, we went to old town San Diego.

Here is my adorable nephew Krew on an old cannon:

He's so cute, I couldn't help but take tons of pictures of him.

Then, we went to Miami, where we stayed a whole month!

Here we are at the beach: It was right at sunrise and was so beautiful. It was my first sunrise at the beach, because I've only ever seen the sunset.

Here's Tom's cute parents, Juanita and Tom, Sr. stealing a kiss:

Here's my stylish Mom-in-Law, Juanita. She's a Latina babe, with a passion for fashion (literally, we shop together; it's great).

Thomas floating in the crystal clear green water:

We also went to the University of Miami game- it was great. It was my very first college football game and we did it right; we had a tailgate dinner and everything.

Here's the group we went with: Kathleen, Macarena, Jessica and Seth:

Here we are:

The U game was a blast, but it was really hot.

And, we went to Orlando! We spent most the day at the temple, but walked around outside Universal.

After a month in Miami, we flew back to Arizona, and then drove back up to Rexburg, where we started school. We've tackled two whole days of school so far and have a whole semester ahead of us. Fortunately, Tom and I are taking three classes together; badminton, broadcast performance, and of course building an eternal marriage.

Our Vacation Pt. 1

We are on Summer vacation! It's just like when I was a kid and had a nice, long Summer break, except for the fact that it's not as long. This Summer vacation has been 7 weeks long, and I haven't even updated my blog at all- shame on me. But, our vacation has been more than delightful and I will begin to divulge this vacation now.

First, we went on a road trip from Rexburg to Southern California to see my family at a beach house they rented. We drove with my sister all in one day and had a blast, until about the time we hit Vegas. Then, we spent an entire week at the beach with my whole family. It was so much fun to see all of them again. We did so much fun stuff too. We

boogie boarded, jogged on the beach, went shopping in downtown L.A., and went kayaking.

Here are some pictures from shopping in L.A. We went to this place in downtown called Santee Alley with just the girls. It was a crazy place where homemade jewelry, lots of clothing and knockoffs are sold. My sister Ashley and I bought some one dollar jewelry (doesn't get much cheaper than that!) and my Mom sprung for a couple of other things for us. My sister-in-law Ashli bought some Pink (Victoria's Secret) clothing and we had a good time being the minority down a dirty alley lane...that is, until all the shops closed down. We star

ted getting worried because things were quickly closing up and we were in one of the worst neighborhoods in L.A. We saw a drunk guy fall into the street and there weren't really any females left around. We began to fear for our lives, and we were nervous that we wouldn't be able to find the place where we parked the car. Finally, we met up with my Mom's friends who we drove up with and made it safely back to their car. It was fun and one of those things that is nice to say you have done.

This basically describes the madness of Santee Alley (mind you, this really is an alley, this is not an outdoor shopping mall):

• People everywhere
• Lots of looking around and shoppers not paying attention to where they're going
• Cheap jewelry wherever you go
• Shopowners shouting or playing rap music to try to draw you in
• We were definitely the minority
• Bright, colorful umbrellas and displays
• Crosswalks built at busy streets for the alley- weird

Me and my sister Ashley had a great time hanging out. I love her!

I'll have another post soon telling about our kayaking experience

that involves sharks, dolphins and sea lions...

School's Out for Summer

You heard it right- only two more days (and only one more final) until I'm free from this semester. I'm so excited! Tom and I are meeting up with my family at the beach, then flying to Miami to spend a month with his family...soaking up the sun. I can't wait for the welcome break and opportunity to slooooooooow down. It will be glorious- I've already ordered a book off E-Bay to read! I'm going to read a normal, non-texbook, book. And, I'm going to swim in the Pacific AND Atlantic oceans this Summer. It's going to be the best summer ever. I plan to make movies of our adventures, once I figure out how to convert the video files from our flip-cam to something that I can edit.

Basically, I CAN'T wait!

Just Found Out Today

I just realized today that I have two more semesters of school left, rather than one. I could try and squeeze it all into one semester, but I will try not to kill myself. It's not that big of a deal though; I mean, I was going to have to be in Rexburg while Tom finished anyway, and now we get to graduate together! It's just that I'm so sick of school and I am ready to graduate. Fortunately, this is also giving me the opportunity to take some of the classes that I want to, but haven't been able to. That will be fun, and at least I know I'll be doing something when we get back to Rexburg. I'm sure that this is a blessing in disguise because honestly, I don't want to be working at Taco Bell next summer.

Also, I can't wait until finals are over... I'm just waiting, counting down the days, seeking for that light at the end of the tunnel. It's coming, slowly but surely.

However, Tom and I are still having tons of fun being together all the time. The weather is lovely and we have glorious vacation time ahead. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Two More Weeks

Until FREEDOM! Freedom from school for 7 blissful weeks!

Tom and I are busy, busy, busy with final projects and studying for finals. Currently, I'm working on a T.V. episode and a documentary for two classes. Being a broadcasting major is fun, but these projects have to be semi-good quality and they take a lot of time to do. Also, Tom and I are trying to find a cheaper place to live in the Fall. We love our apartment, but it's expensive. Can we afford it? Yes. But, would we rather live somewhere cheaper and save money? Yes. So, we're doing that too. School is going just fine, but I am ready for it to end for a while.

I'm also super excited because after the semester ends, we are going to spend a week in California with my family! Then, we'll go spend a month in Miami with Tom's. What a rough life. Spend our 7 week break at the beach? Sure thing! I can't wait to be back in the sun...California dreamin.

4th of July

First of all, MY PARENTS CAME TO VISIT! They dropped Dallin (my little brother) off at EFY in Provo, and stayed on the I-15 all the way up to Idaho to see me and my sister. It was wonderful having them with us. My Mom helped me cook and clean and bought us food and new clothes! And, after my Dad got back from his intense man hike, he took us to the movies (even to Eclipse!) and bowling. We spent our Fourth (really 3rd) of July watching fireworks in Idaho Falls with them.

Here we are, by the Snake River, waiting for the fireworks to start:

Like mother like daughter

Thought it was a good spot...until the fireworks started. Our view was completely blocked by a huge tree and we had to move.

Some patriotism across our faces.

The beautiful Idaho Falls Temple, from behind some brush.

Here's my parents watching the fireworks, in Red, White and Blue colors.

Then, on Monday on our day off of school we went to Grand Teton National Park and went on a beautiful hike by Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls. Afterwards, we went whitewater rafting with Tom's Uncle John and cousins, Rendon and Tevin. Rendon set it all up, and we had a blast! We went that evening and we didn't get out of the water until nearly 10pm! Needless to say, it was freezing by the time we got done, but it was worth it. There were many times that I thought I (or someone else) was going to fall in the Snake river, but our fellow rafters did us no wrong. I'm so glad we got to go; it was Tom's first time whitewater rafting and it was awesome!

Here's some pictures from our hike:

The lovely Jenny Lake

Hidden Falls!

Also, me and Tom ran in a race two weekends ago. We joined up with the Peterson family of Firth to run one leg of the race each (5 miles). Sadly, it almost killed me. But, we did it and had a great time!

Here's some pics:

Right after the race

Here is almost everyone who ran!

Yellowstone! Part 2

In Yellowstone, we saw lots and lots of animals! This is a brief synopsis of our trip, using the animals as the timeline. Right when we got into the park, we saw the very rare bald eagle.

After that sighting, we saw some cute ducks, and, of course, many buffalo.

The closest we got to any of the animals was a reindeer really close to us in a field! There were two just grazing and they were so cute.

Then, we saw four grizzly bears- a mama and three cubs! They were pretty far up the hill though and we only saw them for a little bit before they hid behind the trees.

This was the best picture I could find that we took. Those cubs stayed well hidden.

Of course, we saw Old Faithful too!

Then, on our way back to our campsite, we almost HIT a DEER! It was TERRIFYING, but we're okay. Of course, we didn't get a picture of that; although the face of that deer with his wide eyes and springy legs are forever emblazoned into my mind. He was a very cute little deer, and he jumped just like Titan, our little dog. Here's our tent:

Yellowstone is BEAUTIFUL and we had so much fun!