Silver Lake Flats Hike

Yesterday was a blast! Jessica, Jon, and I went on a hike to Silver Lake up American Fork Canyon. We started our hike at a horse trading site, below where the trail for this hike usually starts. From there, we hiked to Silver Lake Flat, and then hopped onto the trail for Silver Lake. There and back, the hike ended up being somewhere between 9 and 10 miles.

Jon and I before the hike began:

This yellow line is the path we took to the lake:

We were really glad that we hiked the extra little bit before Silver Lake Flat because it provided some of the prettiest scenery. One section of the trail was pretty much a little stream that we had to hike through...it was like The Narrows part two!

After hiking through the stream/trail, we made it to Silver Lake Flat! This is a beautiful, serene place that anyone can drive to. Just look at Jon. Doesn't he look so serene here?

In the background of the picture above, you can see the mountains that we sorta climbed from here. The trail from the flat to Silver Lake was 2.5 miles. The view along the was was amazing:

Finally, several hours after we left our car, we made it to Silver Lake! Man, it was gorgeous! 

I just wanted to stay and camp there for the night! I almost tried convincing Jon, but he loves school so much and I thought he might cry if I suggested missing class the next day, so I didn't say anything. Plus, we were missing a tent.

So instead of setting-up camp for the night, we took silly photos of each other. 

First, a nice group shot of everyone:

Then, some of Jon standing by the lake:

 Then, a nice one of Jessica and I:

Followed by many attempts to get a goofy picture of Jessica and I, which failed because Jessica always moved away too quickly (note Jon photobombing in the background):

Finally, we were successful!

And here's Jessica being Jessica:

Jon found a cool tall rock and climbed on top of it:

...And then jumped off it:

We stayed just long enough to watch the sun set over the mountains (holy moly!):

...then went back home. It was a very good day.

Dinner with Jess and Sarah

Yesterday I got to see two of my favorite people for the first time in nearly two year...Sarah and Jess! Sarah and Jess both recently returned from serving missions for the church. Sarah was in Montana and Jess was in El Salvador. Jon and I knew these girls when we lived at Campus Plaza. They were both Jon's FHE sisters, and I worked with Sarah in the Relief Society presidency and visit taught Jess. It was so good to see them!!! I love having all my long lost friends come back from serving their missions!

We spent the evening eating chicken pesto wraps (one of my favoritest meals ever!), watermelon (one of Jon's favoritest foods ever!), and yummy chicken flavored rice (compliments of Jess; it was some of the best rice I've ever had...teach me your Tex-Mexican ways!) While we ate we talked about life and missions and school and being brown and just enjoyed the feeling of feeling like only two days had passed instead of two years. After dinner, we played an epic game of Rook. Turns out, Sarah's family loves this game and she's pretty good at it, so I felt lucky to be on her team. Jon and Jess barely came out on top, but we didn't play to 500 points, so we can't really say anyone won....

I was happy because I took a bunch of awesome pictures on my camera and was excited to put them on here so that I could remember the evening. Unfortunately, someone changed the settings on my camera to Spanish and I have no idea how to change them back. So while my camera was screaming:

"I HAVE NO MEMORY CARD!!!"

 at me all night, all I saw was:

"No hay tarjeta"

Which looks nice and polite and all, but doesn't do much good for the white girl who took ASL in high school and college. Hopefully, someone fixes said camera tonight so that this mistake does not repeat itself.

Moving Jessica In and Mom In Town

This past week while my mom was in town, we spent our time moving Jessica in to her new place and having fun! There were so many errands to run to buy everything to get Jessica's new apartment in order. On one day we went to over 10 stores! I think she's finally got everything she needs now, though, and is good to go!

Amid all the shopping, we spent our time playing games, going on walks, eating ice cream, napping, watching movies, and making yummy food. 

We found this cool swing along our hike on the Provo River Trail. Jessica tried to replicate a picture of Emily on a swing in Norway. Here's the original picture of Ems...

...And here's Jessica's attempt to replicate it:

Uhm. Yeah.

Here is Jessica is cutting an onion for her YUMMY curry. Apparently biting a piece of wood makes you not cry? Really, I think this is just evidence that this girl is different from the rest of the world in special ways. 

I think Jon felt left out when I was taking pictures of Jessica, which is why he exclaimed: "You need to take a picture of me doing the dishes for posterity's sake!" Here you go, Posterity. Aren't you glad I took this picture?

 Jon playing "Carcassonne." He won. He was very happy about this little fact. 

My mom playing "Carcassonne." She did not win. She was very okay with this fact.

Now, Mom is back at home. But it was a really good week and I get to see her with the rest of the family soon at Alturus, and I get to spend the rest of the summer having the funnest time ever with Jessica!

Last Weekend

Last weekend was a lot of fun!

Last weekend, my mom came into town to help Jessica get ready for life away from home. That weekend my Aunt Janet and grandparents also happened to be in town for my cousin--Austan's--homecoming. On Saturday Janet, Grandma, Mom, Jessica, and I met up with my second cousin--Louisa--and her mom for lunch at one of my favorite places--Guru's! After lunch, Janet, Mom, Jessica, and I went to see BYU/UVU's play adaptation of "The Princess Academy," a cute book by Shannon Hale. I was glad that we went to see the play during the day when all the little kids were there, because it made it ten times more fun!

The next day was Austan's homecoming! We went to hear his talk and then congregated at his house afterwards for food and family time. The best part was playing Screwy Louie with Grandpa and the cousins. It's one of our family's favorite games and people really get into it.

Here's the crew playing a game of Screwy Louie! 

Grandma and I

 Grandma and Grandpa!

 Aunt Janet and Mom

And I could never forget Jessica!

Overall, it was a fun two days filled with good food and family.