Trouble in the Tetons.

On Friday August 2nd, I gave my last tour as a BYU tour guide :( and then Stephen and I hit the road for Wyoming! It was really fun being able to spend time in the car together and drive through exciting cities like Kemmerer, WY (home of JC Penny) as well as Daniel Wyoming, population 100. :) Stephen's Uncle Randy and Aunt Ruth invited us to come with some of their family (kids and grandkids) on a little camping trip in the Tetons, and we were excited! We'd been looking forward to this trip for months :)

Here's how the trip went in a nutshell:

Saturday-
Wake up 6:30 am.
Drive to Jackson lake (two hours).
Load boat with all the "hud." (Code for camping junk)
Boat doesn't start.
Wait on dock for 4 hours trying to get boat to start.
Get really really really sunburned.
Get really jealous of all the other boats on the dock.
Wait another couple hours for people to try to figure out how to make the boat start.
Give up and drive back to cabin.
 
Sunday-
Raspberry pick around cabin.
Drive to String Lake (two hours).
Kayak on beautiful String Lake.
Drive back to cabin.
Eat delicious raspberries with ice cream and angel food cake.

Monday-
Wake up at 6:00 am.
Drive to Jackson Lake.
Rent motor boats.
Ride motor boats to campsite.
Set up camp (while others went back to pick up the rest of the crew and return motor boats, then kayak to campsite).
Play in the water.
See Grizzly bear.
Call Park Rangers.
Watch Grizzly bear come closer and closer to campsite.
Call Park Rangers.
Pack up camp.
See a second grizzly bear.
Call Park Rangers.
Wait for Park Rangers.
Park Rangers arrive.
Listen to Park Rangers tell us we were supposed to yell and throw rocks at the Grizzly Bears.
Be confused.
Ride with Park Rangers back to Dock. (While others kayaked back, and others waited on the campsite for the Rangers to come back to pick them up.)
Drive back to cabin.

Although the four days didn't go exactly as planned...and in the end there actually wasn't any camping involved, we had A TON of fun! It was the perfect little escape before we came back to the craziness of wedding planning and preparation.  :)

I haven't spent much time in Wyoming, other than driving through it on various family road trips, but I must admit that the Tetons and the Wind Rivers are BEAUTIFUL! I can't say that I'm a crazy-intense-outdoorsy type of person...but I can definitely appreciate this incredible world in which we live.

The view from the deck of Randy and Ruth's cabin.

The view with the sunset was INCREDIBLE.

The raspberries iiiiiii picked! (above) 

Oh what a life I'm living! 

Two months late.

I started this post the last week in July when the pictures were taken....needless to say, my life has been pretty crazy since then :) 

Our good friend Melissa's family invited us over yet again for a fun BBQ in honor of Pioneer Day (the 24th of July)! We very much enjoyed it, and had a lot of fun with the fireworks and sparklers (especially since I set a long exposure on my camera and got some pretty cool pics).

We ran out of sparklers at the end, but were still having fun with the long exposure setting on my camera, so we tried using the flashlight app on my phone (thanks to the suggestion from my sister, Sarah).

Thanks Littlefield Fam for the fun Pioneer Day celebration! 

(Even if that is a very belated thank you.) 

What a life I'm living! 

Weekenders.

The last few weekends have been a lot of fun! Sadly, I don't always remember to take pictures like I should but hopefully I'll do better in the future!

Weekend activities included things like:
BYU Baseball
Hokulia Shave Ice (x2) (My Hokulia addiction is back in full swing this summer)
Thai Food (which of course included Massaman Curry - our favorite!!!!)
Attending baptisms
Shopping
Watching movies (I forced Stephen into watching Mes Miserables with me. He said he thinks he would prefer the stage version better, but he still watched the whole thing without complaining :) I was grateful!) [Other movies included The Village, and Bernie.]
Hot tubbing
Wedding Planning
and more!


(photos not in order of when they were taken)

Even though I'm only working 20 hours and week and taking one class....my weeks fill up SO quickly! I always feel like I'm barely keeping my head above the water, and then Friday comes and I can breathe  freely again! Of course we have to take advantage of the time off and we fill our friday/saturday/sundays with LOTS of fun things - so many that there never seems to be enough time to do homework...so by the time monday comes around I'm already back to barely keeping my head above the water. Hmmm.. I refuse to see any correlation between those two problems. haha.

Oh what a life I'm living! 

California Dreamin.

Last Wednesday Stephen and I road-tripped to CA for a "Mission: Possible" themed family reunion. [My mom chose this theme since my brother Daniel will leaving on his mission to Cleveland, Ohio a week from today!] As cheesy as it may sound, Stephen and I were both really excited to be able to spend 10 hours in the car together [each way], and in the end it was JUST as much fun as we thought! :)

We had so much fun spending time with my family in CA! My nieces and nephews are just as chatty and adorable as ever and even though it was a little stressful when Stephen and I were left in charge of all seven of them while everyone else went to the temple for a couple hours...we survived!

It was a wonderful couple days filled with:
Early-Bird Nephews and Nieces,
Minute To Win it Games,
WARM 80-90 degree days, (definitely been dreaming about those since we got back to Provo and it's basically rained every day...)
Cleveland Trivia,
Water Games,
Family Pictures,
Mini Golf,
Olympic Events [such as wheelbarrow racing and marble toes],
Miriam's first date (which was SENIOR BALL - she went as a sophomore!)
and of course rounded off With a Flinders Family Original Music Video!

Sadly, I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were so busy, but here are a couple of my favs.

(Stephen took the one above, and I was REALLY impressed with how well he did, especially considering he had to focus it manually. We have a photographer in our midst, ladies and gentlemen!)

We really are a happy couple, can't you tell? ;)

(Photo Cred: Sarah! (She's the real photo expert in the family.) [Thanks for all the photography tips, Sarah!])

Oh what a life I'm living! 

PS Check back soon for more details on our ENGAGEMENT that took place the weekend before :) 

Cheese on Toast.

Oh what a life I'm living! 

supes and totes.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of all the "abbreves" that are so prevalent as of late, 

but the other day I was discussing with some friends which word has more value: 

"totes" or "supes." 

Eventually we came to the common agreement was that "supes" is the superlative of "totes."

But either way... last night was a "supes totes" fun night.

(And yes, I know full well how ridiculous that sounds.)

What is required for an extraordinary night:

-A Thai Restaurant in Salt Lake that has mismatched dish-ware,

"That's how you know it's really good." -Alyssa

-Playing Ruzzle (a virtual version of Boggle) at the dinner table. 

(Tacky. Yet necessary. We may or may not have an unhealthy addiction.)

-Declaring a "Chinese Fire drill" at a stop light - despite the drivers' protests.

-Danny getting locked in the car during said fire drill.

-Bowling. And just being able to laugh when you get two gutter balls in a row.

(Not that that happened or anything.)

-Peer pressuring Danny into eating a box elder bug.

-Eating delicious waffles at Brugge. (Pronounced real fancy like.)

-Spending time with good friends and creating memories to last a lifetime.

Honestly...it doesn't get much "supes totes" more fun than that! (haha.)

Oh what a life I live,

Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Okay I'll be honest. I've actually never seen the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.

BUT, a few weeks ago 

(sorry I've been behind on this blogging thing) 

Danielle 

(who's first name is actually Tiffany, 

who is more affectionally referred to as T-Bone by those who know and love her best) 

(haha take that Alyssa!)),

 got married! 

 During the time leading up to her betrothal to Jonathan Williams

 (doesn't that sound like a prince name?) 

there was much cause for celebration! 

A bridal shower was in order.

 And what better way to celebrate than a classy,

"Breakfast at Tiffany's?!"

I will admit...I take unusual pride in my ability to take quality pictures of food. 

(I guess that's what happens when you love food as much as I do.)

It's crazy to think it's already been a year since Danielle and I were roommates in Jerusalem.

Oh what a great year it has been :) 

CONGRATULATIONS DANIELLE AND JOHNNY!

Oh what a life I live,