Bogus Basin Resort, Idaho

Here I am with one of my fellow dietetic interns, Dana, at Bogus Basin Ski Resort just 20 minutes outside of Boise. The best thing about it was there were trees. If you look to the foothills of Boise you won't see a tree insight. It's totally bare until you get to the top and trees appear. Aahhhh, what a sight!

I'm going to be an autie again!!!

For those of you who don't know, Amanda Bacon, my sister-n-law is pregnant with her 4th child and I'm going to be an auntie again. It's very exciting to know that she's having a little GIRL! Yeah. Another addition of the female gender to the brood of 9 nephews. There will officially be 1/3 the number of nieces thanks to this addition. Way to go Jeremy and Amanda! : )

This ain't skool anymore!

As you may know, I have FINALLY started my Dietetic Internship and let me tell ya...this ain't school anymore! When you start school as a young child of 5 years old school is defined as a place where you have to go for several hours to eat lunch, play recess, and maybe learn a few things. Then it progress into a place where you have homework and recesses disappear. Suddenly you graduate from high school and you find that now you have a choice...do I work or do I continue with school? Hmmmm, what a choice! Many of us do both because we find out that now we have to PAY for it. School is no longer "easy". We are now required to be responsible. I have found that a Dietetic Internship is also not just school as we remember it. It's a full time job wrapped up in many learning lectures and MANY assignments that have to be done at home if need be. It's a constant learning session that you have to pretend you know what you are doing because after all...we'll be managing other people! Yikes!!! We had orientation week for the internship and what a wake up call! After a few days of heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and nerves going hay-wire I calmed down to realized that I have an entire year to get all these projects done. Phew! So to all of you who read this blog I sincerely apologize now for neglecting this site and not posting many things here for the next year. This is just a new definition of school for me for now.

New house in Boise!

My view of the road!

Moving to Idaho

You might have been wondering why I haven't been diligent on posting new things on my blog. Well, we moved to Idaho that's why! Our move went really well, better than we could have expected actually. We left out on monday morning, July 23rd where we proceeded to drive 600 miles to the border of Utah and Idaho. We got up early the next day to drive some more but soon arrived in Boise, about 300 miles later. We arrived much earlier than expected and so we started looking for housing. It was a little discouraging at first but the Lord provided on wednesday night. We now are renting a cozy little 2 bedroom, 1 bath house with a single car garage attached to it. It's in a great part of town near many parks, bike trails, and places I will be commuting to this next year. We love our new home and have finally made it our own. I think the setting up and unpacking is all over. Hallelujah!

Pictures of Durango

Durango Colorado

Right after we arrived home from Yellowstone National Park, I found myself driving with my friend, Julie Preston, to Durango Colorado. She had just moved there from Anchorage, Alaska and I was going over to make memories with her, test out the great mountain biking, and see what the big deal was all about. What a cute little town. We did many things while I was over there including hiking, biking, white water rafting, jeeping, and going about the town.

The Grand Tetons

Other cool Yellowstone things

Mt. Washburn Trail

Mystic Falls

Old Faithful

Geyser Basin

Yellowstone National Park

We're back!!! I know you've all been anticipating the reason WHY? we haven't posted any new blogs recently. We'll, I've got a reason and a good one too! We went backpacking in Yellowstone National Park and boy was it worth the trip. We went with two other couples, Craig & Lizz and Kevin & Sara, where we drove a very long trip up to Yellowstone with Craig & Lizz and met up with Kevin & Sara at Old Faithful on the first day. Here's a play by play of our trip.
Day 1 (June 20):Drove a LOOOONG time through CO and WY where we stayed the night at the KOA in Duboi, WY.
Day 2 (June 21): Drove some more, hoping to reach Old Faithful by 9am...didn't happen because we "got lost" and were headed toward The Grand Teton's. Reached Old Faithful by 11am via driving through Grand Teton National Park and reaching Yellowstone National Park by the south entrance. Met up with Kevin & Sara at Old Faithful. Watched Old Faithful erupt...very cool! Walked around and saw many more geysers. Went to Geyser Basin...more cool geysers to see. Ate lunch where Kevin made the BIG mistake of eating a chili dog. You'll know why later. :) Drove north through the park and couldn't find trail head. Saw Lower Falls and Inspiration Point 3 TIMES! Finally asked Park Ranger for directions...found trail head! Started on Glacier Rock Trail at 5pm. Walked 6 miles into the backcountry. Kevin pukes up chili dog and other lovely things all along the trail leaving "bait stations" for the bears to follow us. We finally reach our camping spot and the sun starts going down. We cook dinner at night with headlamps. We fall asleep. Lizz scared of bears and stays up ALL NIGHT!
Day 3 (June 22): Pack up camp. Craig, Lizz, Gerry and I hike up Mt. Washburn in the morning while Kevin & Sara leisurly hike back to the truck. We follow shortly thereafter. Very tired by now and view backpacks as our EVIL NEMESEES! Drive to Upper Falls to Ribbon Lake Trail head. Hike in 2 miles. Very Very tired by now. Feet hurt. Desperately need a shower. Set up camp and get eaten by a million mosquitos. Lake turns out to be swampy and full of lilly pads...there goes the hopes of any sort of shower. Hiked 10-11 miles this day. Kevin goes fishing and comes back with the catch of the day...himself. He snagged his arm with a luer. I perform "surgery" and patch him up. Sleep.
Day 4 (June 23): Packed up camp and hiked out 2 miles. Went to Yellowstone Lake and toured around. Went to Lewis Falls. Pretty! Decided against hiking with backpack ever again. Went to Lewis Campground and reserved a "car-camping" spot by Lewis Lake. Nice lake this time. Put our feet in and washed Lizz's nasty-worn-3-days-in-a-row-socks. Bought brats and beer and played games by the campfire. Good times!
Day 5 (June 24): Kevin & Sara departed for Mt. Rushmoor and home. We drove around the park some more and then headed for Jackson,WY to see the Grand Tetons. They are so beautiful that we've planned a backpack trip there for next year. Drove some more and stayed the night in a HOTEL in Larimee,WY. Oh finally a shower, a mattress, and a fluffy pillow!
Day 6 (June 25): Drove home. Ate mexican food...yum!

Missing Alaska

Now that summer has arrived, I can't help but think of the great Alaskan summers and how I'm going to miss not seeing one this year. As many of you know, we are moving to Boise, Idaho for my internship and with the expenses that go along with such a move, we won't be visiting Alaska this summer...and boy am I bummed. So, in honor of the great Alaskan summers and it's beauty I thought I should post a few pictures to commemorate such a great state!

Camping!!!

I went camping with a big group of friends over the memorial day weekend. It was fun to sit around the campfire, smell smokey, and eat "camp food" again after such a long winter. These are some of my friends from Colorado. We camped and went hiking at Catamount Falls just outside Colorado Springs. What a great time!

Commencent Ceremony

Here we are at the large, whole school commencement ceremony. The great thing about going to two graduations is that they are VERY short!!! I was bracing myself for another FOUR hour ceremony just like the one's I've experienced at UAA but thank goodness it was only two hours!

Whirlwind College Graduation

Well, hello again everyone! I'm back! It has been a crazy couple of weeks with graduations, family and friends in town, and many parties to celebrate but I think things have returned back to "normal" and I can share with you all the exciting news and events.

I have FINALLY GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!! Yes, it's true. I even had the pleasure (can you smell the sarcasm in my voice) of attending TWO graduation ceremonies. Here are a few pictures of them for you to enjoy.