Friday, December 28, 2012

Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday.  I love the food, time of year, Fall weather, being together, and the memories from when I was younger of this time of year.  I have so much in my life to be thankful for: my parent's love and support, my brothers and sisters, my nieces and nephews, my brother and sisters-in-law, the Gospel, Jesus Christ, the Atonement, my health, my talents, great friends, safety, resources, opportunities, warm apartment to live in, good food to eat, clothes to wear on my back, sunshine, responsibilities, books to read, kindness of others - the list could go on and on! This Thanksgiving was just as great past Thanksgiving.  Andrew, Marianne, Lucy, and Tanner came as well and we had a great time.  We ran our annual 5K Thanksgiving Day morning and enjoyed picking out our Christmas tree the day after.  My mother made a fantastic Thanksgiving meal and it was great being together!!








Shenandoah National Park

Rachelle, Lisa, Emily, Diana, and I ventured out to Shenandoah National Park for a night of camping.  Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE camping?  I do not sleep as well anymore as when I was a child but I sure do love t anyways! It is so wonderful being out in the open air, being warmed by a fire, and seeing many of God's wonderful creations.  Also, I am usually experiencing these things with great friends of family.  The trip was a quick one, only one night of camping and Saturday was spend hiking around some in the park, but it was a great trip.  We almost hit a bear on the road and the man from the next campsite over helped us with our fire. It was a great time!! 






Outer Banks

I had the chance to go to the Outer Banks with a bunch of my friends back in August.  We had a great time and made the most of our two days out there.  We saw several light houses, played at the sand dunes, ate delicious food, and saw the Wright Brother's National Memorial.  You will notice we really enjoyed taking jumping pictures during our trip.  It is so wonderful to have such great friends to travel with and enjoy all the amazing places in the United States.  I am very blessed and fortunate to live in a place and be surrounded by people that brings such joy and happiness to my life.   











Friday, October 12, 2012

Roller Coasters!!

Good times!! We went up to VA for a fun Saturday on the roller coasters.  A great group went and Collin and I got our annual photo, I have one like this from last year, I need to find it and put it up as well (found it). 
2012 Trip
2011 Trip

Backpacking!

These pictures are from our second backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail.  This was shorter than our first 70 mile trip, we went about 25 miles on this trip in the Mt. Roger's area.  We climbed the mountain during our trip.  The weather was perfect once again and we got to see the wild ponies.  Daniel's mom was nice enough to shuttle us from our ending point to where we started.  I am so grateful to have such great friends who have the time and desire to participate in these very enjoyable adventures.  I look forward to many more in the future.  














We ran into some girls from NC that we know, we knew we would both be on the trail at the same time but we did not know if we would run into one another and sure enough our final morning out, we saw them as we were leaving our shelter.  They had just camped about 100 yards down the trail from us, so fun!

During the summer time, my mom and I had a chance to take the kids camping for four days and we had a blast, even with the onslaught of rain that we received.  I think the kids had a great time and it will be a memory they can have forever.  We did some hiking, fire building, lots of eating, bike riding, running, game playing, and even a quick trip to Bristol during the rainstorm! I guess we cheated a little but it was worth it.  We could only handle so many hours in the tent during the rainstorm.  David, Mary, and I had a chance to bike from White Top to Damascus one day and then Mama and David did it again the next day. It was tons of fun and David and Mary did amazing biking the trail on bikes that do not have gears. 



These next several pictures show what Mama and I did during the rainstorm vs. what David, Mary and Sarah did during the rainstorm!! =)



David got my camera and the kids had lots of fun taking pictures of themselves while we took a short nap!



We tried out a dutch oven recipe from a friend and it was delicious - Daddy got to come up and join us for the evening activities. 

Wonderful camping trip and hopefully there will be many more in our future!