Summer Camping!

Summer finally seems to be showing its face! I am definitely a person who experiences the winter blues, so I have been anxiously awaiting the warm weather. As a reward for surviving the very VERY long winter, we decided to drive down to Little Sahara for our first camping trip of the summer. We had SO much fun, but I'm frankly surprised that we were still conscious by the time we arrived at our campsite because Jeremy turned the car into a deadly gas chamber.

It has clearly been way too long since our last camping trip because we forgot to bring a few vital pieces of equipment, including flashlights, firewood, an air pump for our air mattresses, and condiments for our hot dogs. Dry hot dogs (or turkey dogs in my case) are not as appealing as they sound, and going to the bathroom with nothing but the light from my phone to guide me was far from enjoyable. However, we are all resourceful people and we came up with some impressive solutions. Easton and Jeremy rounded up some tree branches on the four-wheelers, I enticed some intoxicated neighbors into letting us borrow their air pump, and Jeremy convinced another fellow camper to fill up a ziploc bag with ketchup. We still had to use the potty via phonelight though.

The four-wheelers were definitely the best part of our trip, although I was a little nervous about driving by myself on the sand dunes. The sand was deep and slippery which made it a little difficult to maneuver the ATVs.

Easton fancies himself an expert four-wheeler and was proud to pose with his machine.

Kristen couldn't handle TR's crazy driving and decided to abandon ship before he killed them both...

...which was a very smart choice, because I managed to roll this bad boy down an embankment.

Fortunately the four-wheeler and I both came out in one piece. For a little while I was kinda embarrassed about being the only one to cause trouble with the four-wheelers, but this sentiment didn't last long because my little blunder was FAR from the worst thing that happened. We headed back to camp...the next group took off on the four-wheelers...

...and Ben got stuck in a tree.

To top everything off, Jeremy slammed his chin into the handlebars of his ATV and we had to cut our trip short to take him to the emergency room.

What a RAD camping trip! Can't wait to do it again soon.

Here Comes the Sun...

Just like the Beatles said, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter. Well, maybe it hasn't exactly been lonely, but it has definitely been LONG and COLD! Let's hope that the sun decides to stick around this time. I have had enough freezing weather to last me a lifetime!

I finally finished the misery of last semester and I feel like I can breathe again. It's nice to actually have time for trivial things like sleeping and eating. This summer won't exactly be easy -- I'm working on a research project and taking a prep course for the GRE -- but I'm sure the next few months will be a vast improvement from last semester.

My family came out to Utah for my graduation, which I know was long overdue. It was so nice to spend some time with my parents and Courtney, although it wasn't the same without Shannon with us. As always, we spent a lot of time eating and shopping...two of my favorite things to do!

I must admit that I'm going through beach withdrawals, especially now that summertime is just over the horizon. San Diego is calling my name!