Oops - It's been a while

Part 1

Ok, so it's been a LONG time since our last post and, let me tell you, it's been an eventful time too. In July Dan graduated, we went on our big vacation visiting Utah (Salt Lake, Vernal, and Cedar City) and the Grand Canyon, got a new kitten named Hood, had the Andersons visit us here in Eugene, Dan started his new job, we went to Crater Lake, got ENGAGED at Crater Lake, and had an all around blast. I'll try to get into each but there's just so much so I might have to break them down into several posts. Be patient - although anybody who reads this blog has to be anyway with the big breaks and all. =)

After Kenai died, Dan had to go up to Portland for the ContinUO conference. It was his last act as a Masters student - once he completed the conference and subsequent papers, he was officially done. Yay! Obviously he didn't walk at graduation. He felt it was unnecessary and over pompous, if that's the right word. I elected to stay in Eugene during the conference instead of going camping with Jess as originally planned. Kenai had died just a few days before and we didn't want Juneau, who is especially needy, to feel COMPLETELY abandoned. So I stayed at home and tried to keep him occupied with toys and worked on a bit of homework. All in all, it was a very boring week for me.

Just days after Dan got back from the conference, we packed up the car and hit the road. It's a thirteen and a half hour drive to Salt Lake from our house and we did it all in one day. We got in to Katie and Anthony's house the night of the 3rd. John and Kathy drove in from Vernal for the 4th too so the six of us were able to catch up and had a great time on the 4th. We BBQed and Anthony's sister and brother-in-law came over for dinner. After we had margaritas and watched all the fireworks in the SLC valley from the Strong's phenomenal porch. The next morning we headed out for Vernal.

We spent several days in Dan's hometown reading, hiking, exploring. I went to my first drive in movie (fun, but slightly overrated), we went to Red Canyon where we had lunch, rented a paddle boat, and fed the ducks, we hiked to Moonshine Arch, Dan & Kathy went on a mountain bike ride while John and I read by a creek, and we had a rousing competition playing Wild West pin ball on John's iPod Touch. It was a great visit and wonderful to get to know Dan's family even more.

Since we'd just visited my family in Sun River we spent only one night in Cedar. Dan and I spent an impromptu night at the Shakespeare Festival. We saw A Comedy of Errors. Absolutely hilarious. We then stopped in to say hi to an old friend of mine for a little while before heading back to my house. The next morning the four of us (Dan, my parents, and I) went to Zion National Park and hiked the Narrows. I had to borrow clothing from my mom since we hadn't planned on such a trip and I ended up going in my tennis shoes. Dan borrowed a pair of new sandals from my dad which kind of back fired. Poor guy's feet got absolutely beat up. It was a very fun hike though! I'd love to go back and hike it a bit further next time. Oh, and if you ever go, make sure you have a stick or hiking pole of some kind! Makes a huuuuge difference.

That night we camped just south of Jacob's Lake which is just a little blip on the map leading to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Dan and I headed off to the south rim in the morning while my parents continued to the north rim before heading back to Cedar. We had an AMAZING time at the Grand Canyon. I almost got hit by lightning though. Ok, well not almost, but I could have been. It was raining with lightning and thunder when we first got there so we pulled out our $1.50 Alaska Shirt Co umbrella that we had yet to use and made our way to the lookout. Unfortunately, the air was so electrified that I started getting shocked (HARD) through the umbrella so we made a mad dash to the nearest shelter. It cleared up later that day and, since we were several hours ahead of the Horsts who were meeting us there, we were able to go on a hike and see the California Condors. Absolutely amazing birds. I still think it's the highlight for Dan. He loved seeing those birds in person. Anyway, we had a great night camping out with Brandon, Rebecca, and their two kids. We even made s'mores which were much better than the last attempt Dan and I had made!

The next morning we tried getting up early and packing quickly so we could explore the area a bit more before we had to hit the road. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to the Horsts once we made it out to Hermit's Rest since Jake and Elli wouldn't be able to go on the hike we had planned. Once again we didn't get as far as we'd hoped before time made us turn around and rush to catch the bus back to our car. I think one day we'll try to go back and spend quite a bit more time there. Maybe hike the rim to rim trail. Who knows. But we piled back in the car and started on our way once more. (Man, did we do a lot of driving that trip!) We stopped in Cedar once more to say hi and pick up a few things to take back with us. My mom made us some delicious greek turkey burgers and grilled corn and we headed off to Draper to spend the night at Dan's sisters again. (Thanks you two! We love you!) Another looooooong day of driving later and we were back in Eugene. It was great to be home!

Ok, and I think I'll stop at this point. I could use a break and I'm sure you readers could too. My eyes are starting to hurt from looking at the screen. I promise I'll finish updating in a few though! And yes, I mean it this time. =)

Until part 2...