Jaunts in July

The saying is true that as you get older, life seems to go by much faster. It is especially true with being married. It's crazy to think how much of the summer it felt like there was left when we got back from the wedding. Almost like summer would be too long (is that possible?!) The other day I realized it's been a year since I left Romania. How fast this last year has gone! In our past month, we have kept busy just working, watching endless movies thanks to Netflix, fighting with Quest to fix our Internet and random outings with our families.
Earlier in July, Mark went over to his sister's one evening for a "LAN" party (Local area network). It was more like Mark, his brother, brother-in-law and brother-in-law's little brother, but they still had their "manly" fun fighting zombies and aliens (I think). I came along with him as we were internet-less at the time. So I borrowed their internet to surf for a bit and then went on a short walk with Mark's sister Jamie and their funny Beagle for some sister-in-law bonding time. It was nice to get out of the house and chat for a while. She's fun and very successful in her career as a writer. She recently got hired to teach a composition class at UVU this fall as well as an online course through University of Pheonix. She stays busy that's for sure. She also recently got contacted by a publisher to make one of her blogs into a book. So who knows, I could be famous by marriage one day. =)
Two weeks ago, we got to meet up with one of my roommates from my freshman year at Idaho (Cassie). She's been married for 2 years now and they have a little boy who was pretty darn cute. We met up with them in Salt Lake and tried out a ghetto looking place called Red Iguana. It was an alright place for Mexican food in my opinion. All I know is that chorizo sauce tastes like paprika and some bland sauce mixed in. The potatoes and tortilla it came with it seemed like something with no tastebuds would enjoy. I don't like way spicy foods, but even I could have had something spicier than what I ordered. Anyways, it was fun to see her after so long and so many texts/e-mails talking about getting together "some time soon". Last weekend we joined my parents, and two my sisters and their husbands in attempting to hike Mount Timpanogas/Timpanogie. We unfortunately had a late start and so to hike from our parking spot to the trail head was a 2.5 mile trail. We never made it to the top of the mountain. It was a "trail less traveled" and I think a lot tougher than we expected. It's nothing like hiking to the caves for those that have done so. We hiked from about 8:30m until about 4. It was a very long day and I think all of us were left sore for a few days after. I was included as well as having a desire to NEVER do that again. That kind of hiking is not my thing. I guess I'm a flat trails kind of gal.


This is us at about 1/3 of the way that we went up...we were still both smiling then but not for much longer (at least me, Mark was a trooper and even hung out with my Dad at the end where he was huffing a bit)






We split up towards the end and everyone was a while in front aside from me, Mark and my Dad. So They left directions for us when the trail came to a fork.
















And of course, one has to love the aftermath of hiking on dusty trails. I wore shorts which was annoying with brush but it was hot enough at some points I'm sure I would have been miserable in pants. I've never had to scrub my legs so hard before! I have to brag that I do have a decent tan on my legs now thanks to 2 days in the sun at Band Camp, but a good deal of that was in fact dirt on my legs.

That's about all the excitement for us this past month. We have a few precious weeks left of "summer" before I start back to school. Now that my internship is over, this week starts the official job hunt. I've sent out about 3 applications, have potential for one interview at a youth treatment center, and have three or four other places to try. The goal is to get a job that is related to what I want to do with my degree so when I graduate I can keep working, or at least have some experience to move on to something else. In the mean time, I've been enjoying my free time to experiment in the kitchen making all sorts of treats. I'm determined to make bread and maybe try out some home made doughnuts from the website my mother-in-law showed me. (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/)