Four Stops, One Trip: Part II

After a fantastic Fourth, we packed up and drove another three hours to Ontario to where some of Dallas's family owns a campground. I got to meet a whole bunch of my new family, and I think Dallas even met a few new family members of his own. Dallas was very excited to see some of his cousins that he had been close with growing up, but hadn't seen in years. They were girl cousins, so I was terrified they weren't going to like me. BUT, they were even more awesome than Dallas let on and we got along very very well to say the least. Talk about a relief. We are definitely looking forward to spending more time with them.

Cousins and spouses. And one very tired toddler

We were lucky enough to have a wonderful aunt and uncle who let us borrow their camper, without even having to set it up or take it down. And did I mention they had bathrooms there? Real, flush toilet, wonderfully clean bathrooms? I was the happiest camper after this discovery, although Dallas spent the whole weekend rolling his eyes at my elation. He even had me use the porta-potty before revealing this crucial piece of information.

It was so stinking hot they put a sprinkler under the zip-line for the kids to cool off

While playing on the zip-line, I met two wonderful girls, A and M, who I became instant friends with. They drove me on ATVs, went exploring with us, and swam in the river with me and Dallas.

Me, A and M. Buds. The whole weekend. LOVED IT. 

I took sweet Z down on the zipline, and she didn't even cry!

Such a cute face

The whole weekend was filled with games, food and good company. I was so grateful to be welcomed in so lovingly to a great family.

The theme this year was a carnival, and the games were very creative!

Everybody all together

And did I mention there were bathrooms?

Four Stops, One Trip: Part I

For the last two weeks Dallas and I have been on a whirlwind adventure that involved a lot of driving. The first leg of our trip brought us up to Burley, Idaho to visit Dallas’s sister for the Fourth of July.  Her husband’s family always throws a great party and we were lucky enough to be included! There was great food, volleyball, and some super cute nephews. I couldn't have been happier.

 Not a nephew, but still cute ;)

About halfway through the evening someone pulled out some potato sacks (this is Idaho after all), and there were races all around. I even managed to finish the race without falling over, so I count that as a success.

A little help from Dad never hurts

Apparently I missed the white shirt memo

The night ended with fireworks, as all good 4th celebrations should and with our fancy new camera we (aka Dallas) got some pretty good shots. 

Anyone want to teach me how to photoshop that telephone pole out?

We are so grateful to have such a welcoming family to celebrate with, especially when we weren't related to most of them ;) 

Three Weddings in a year

My mom deserves the "Best Mom of the Year" award. Not only is she just amazing in general, but she has married off three of her children this year. THREE! That's more than half of her children. It started out with me last July, then my sister in October, and then ended with my brother at the end of June. It's a miracle we didn't drive her insane.

Even with Cameron and Kim moving to the East Coast at the beginning of the summer, we were all able to be together for all three weddings. What a blessing! Dallas and I were lucky enough to have my sister-in-law Kim and her adorable son stay with us, and we all had a blast!

 I threw a small birthday party for Wesley that included cupcakes, candles and watermelon. What else could a little boy ask for?

Grandpa and bubbles is a winning combination

The wedding was beautiful but HOT. There were many tears shed on the part of the nieces and nephews, but the reception that evening was pleasant and GORGEOUS. My new sister-in-law has some serious good style :)

All of my dad's siblings were able to be there so they had a blast catching up

A is for attitude!

Me and A are BUDS

They did it!

The one time Wesley wasn't fussy...trying to kiss his dad... 

 My brother being the handy man that he is built a dance floor out of excess pallets from his work. And then painted it teal. It was beautiful.

A and J were the stars of the dance floor

Dallas and I helped design and make this photobooth, and oooooh was I glad when it was done. We were still nailing pictures on when the first guests arrived, but it was done and it turned out perfectly

I know I used this word 3 times before but the whole day was beautiful and we were so lucky to have our whole family together to welcome Felicia into our crazy lives! Hopefully we didn't scare her off too  much ;)

Timpanogas Caves

Two days after I returned from Taiwan, and was still battling some jet lag, and Dallas decided it would be a good idea to go hike Timp caves. You know, to help my circadian rhythm get back on track. What really happened was that I'd been living at humid sea level for the past month and the 4,549 feet of altitude in Provo didn't get along so well with my lungs. We went with some of our good friends and their 2 kids so luckily I had an excuse to go slow. Also, we took no pictures going up because we were practically dying, so here are some pictures from when we were waiting for our tourguide at the top.

How cute is this kid? Oh, and little O is cute too ;)

I love that little hat

O and his Mom 

This dad loves his little girl!

The tour of the caves was really cool, and Dallas got some sweet pictures featured here:

Alright so he didn't take this one.

Love this adorable family!

One of the other people on our tour thought O was mine...I am NOT old enough to have a 3 year-old...

We had SUCH a fantastic time, even if the hike stank a little bit :)

I'm thinking...Christmas card?

Long Flights and Long Days

I am currently writing this from the iPad, so it will probably be very short and full of pictures, but guess where I am?! TAIWAN. As in that Asian country that used to be part of China. As in someplace where I know absolutely no one and know absolutely none of the language. Thankfully, I am here with 10 other nursing students and two faculty who can at least navigate this place adequately (emphasis on the adequately...not great). We work at a place called Chi Mei Medical Center three days a week and get to play and travel the other four. It's amazing and scary and tiring and lonely and exhilarating all at the same time. We haven't stopped going since we got here after a 14 hour flight two weeks ago, and it has been incredible. 

On our way to the airport 

In Taipei after the 14-hour flight

There are so many scooters here. This is the smallest bunch we saw

We Skype a lot. I miss him. 

First meal! I've eaten so many vegetables this month. 

It's called "schwa-bing" and it's amazing. 

We went to see iron man (in English thankfully) 

We rented scooters in Kaohsiung. I didn't drive. 

It was beautiful 

Those are monkeys. In the wild. 

This is Katie. She is keeping me sane. 

Beautiful city line in Kaohsiung 

That's a dead chicken. In our soup. 

In a tree house

Better picture of the tree house

More Skyping 

At an outdoor mandolin concert

Chi Mei medical center. See not just playing all the time...

I tried some acupuncture. Not super pleasant. 

This is my friend Kelsey getting "cupping" done. 

This is my bruise from cupping. The bruise means I 

have bad circulation there. Apparently. 

Karaoke last night. Soooo much fun.