I'm a Mormon.

I'm interpreting church for a deaf woman tomorrow. The girl I'm team interpreting with found out the topics of some of the talks and lessons that will be given so I got online to look them up to prep. So I went to LDS.org; I saw the little blurp about Mormon.org and decided to click on it since I've heard of the site but never visited it. I then spent the next hour or so watching profile videos and reading profiles. I think you should too. I love the idea of this site. I love that they are breaking some of the stereotypes of Mormons and sharing neat stories. I also love my church.

(One video is of a Hawaiin girl, Joy, who won the world's woman's longboarding surf competition. She was in mine and Sam's stake and spoke at our Stake Conference. She is awesome).

Anyway, just had to share. Now I actually am going to prep for interpreting...

The Glass is Half Full Folks

Good news! I passed the written portion of the Utah ASL Interpreter Certification test! That means I am halfway done with becoming a certified interpreter! Now I can register for and take the performance test. That one I am a little more scared for....

Lake Powell

After our trip to St. George Sam and I drove to Lake Powell to meet up with almost the entire Nielsen clan (Maddie, Kirk, and baby Hank were MIA) for a fun week on the water. We had a blast! My first trip to Lake Powell was last year with the Nielsens and I was so excited for round two. I have so many pictures to share and could have included even more. Here are some highlights:

Sammy doing dances off the back of the boat:

3 year old Gracie testing out water skiing for the first time:

5 year old Parker showing off his mad skills:

Of course there was wake boarding all around (Jack is the model for this pic):

We found some fun hikes:

And braved the FREEZING cold water in some slot canyons, until it started raining and we had to book it out in fear of floods:

And about this time in the week I got sick and had to take it easy. Luckily, I could just lay down all day to rest up, but I wasn't willing to stop 100%.

So I sat on the boat and spread the message of peace with Grace:
There were some rough tube rides:

And some smooth rides for those of us who needed to take it a little easy (I was still sick at this point):

We made a stop to Dangling Rope where Parker and Grace fed all the fish (eyes open in this pic was optional):

We all loved and adored little Oliver - who by the was is the best baby EVER:

I caught Sammy getting the latest from the gossip magazines:

There was some quality house-boat jumping:

As well as cliff jumping:

We all enjoyed taking the jet skis out:

On our last full day I started feeling a little better and Sam and I had fun experimenting on the surf board:

It was great just to spend time with the family and hang out together:

If you can't tell, we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation time! Thanks Sallee and Tracy for a fabulous trip!

St. George

Two weeks ago Sammy and I jetted out of Provo for a little vacation time, and we lived up every minute of it! Our first stop was St. George, Utah. From Provo we drove straight to Tuacahn Theatre to get in line for standby tickets to see Tarzan that night (it was sold out), we arrived right on time and got tickets. Tuacahn is an outdoor theatre which was neat and we enjoyed the show!

After the show we headed back to our place for the weekend. Sammy had booked us a room at Entrada...if you've seen High School Musical 2, you've seen this place. I never thought a desert setting was as pretty as this place was! The following morning we were ready for our 9 am tee time!

No, neither of us are golfers. This was my first official round of golf and Sammy's 2nd, but Entrada is known for their beautiful and unique course so we thought it'd be a fun activity - and we had a blast!

Since we're beginners we only played 9 holes, but took advantage of our cart and drove through the whole course so we could see it all. What makes this course really unique is the black lava rock...

I really enjoyed it and actually hope to golf again sometime soon. You'll notice in the pics that Sammy is wearing flip-flops - the only footwear he packed for the entire trip (this is important again later). Every time a ranger came by we tried to hide his feet so he wouldn't get in trouble with the dress code!
We finished just in time to watch the Ghana vs. USA soccer game in our room (yes, I was cheering for Ghana). I was so happy for the victory, but sad that they're out of the finals now. After a little relaxation we headed back outside for some poolside lounge time...We then topped the night off with a yummy Thai dinner! The next day we knew we'd be meeting up with the Nielsen clan at Lake Powell in the evening, but we needed something to do with our time before then. Sam's friend had recommended we go to Zion's Park and do the Angel's Landing hike; he had said it was somewhat rigorous, but we could manage it within 2 hours. Sounded good to us, so off to Zion's we went!

We made it to Zion's and noticed everyone geared up for their outdoor adventures. Sam was in his flip-flops, but told me he'd be fine on the hike. We figured with just a 2 hour hike we'd be fine without water if we just drank some before our start. So we started.... this picture is taken near the start. The point of the cliff in the middle is the finish!

We managed the switchbacks with great timing, then came this part...

And let me tell you, this hike does not take 2 hours as a friend may say...it's more like the 4-5 hours the signs at the park states. That said, water is definitely needed. Lots of it (especially if you're doing this mid-day as we were). Well, we didn't have any water, but we continued on...

There is a 1500 ft drop on each side of this pathway; at least if you're scared of heights there are chains set-up to hold on to! haha I had never done a hike like this, but loved it!

We made it to the top! The view down one side...

Remember me previously stating that Sam was in sandals? Every person we passed made a comment. We even ran into some teenaged boys and one said "Oh you're flip-flop man? You're a legend around here!" ha, not the smartest move. What else wasn't smart? No water. As we started to descend I told Sam I was getting a little dizzy, but was fine to continue. Within a few minutes I was getting more dizzy and then my legs started shaking so I sat down immediately. Sam asked a nice stranger man behind us if he had any food. The man gave me a granola bar and had me drink out of his camelback....it made a world of difference! After a few minutes we started back down and didn't stop until we were at the bottom and in front of a drinking fountain!

Lessons Learned: When in St. George, do stay at Entrada. Don't forget the dress code if you're golfing. Do visit Zion's National Park and hike Angels Landing. Don't do it in flip flops. DO have water! And lastly, Do be an obnoxious newlywed couple and ask a stranger to take a kissing picture (because you'll love it afterwards):

Summer Fun Begins

Get ready for a load of new posts. Yes, I have been behind in blogging, but I have a good excuse...we just moved AND returned from vacation! Luckily the whole move-transition turned out just fine. Sam and I packed up everything we owned and made the move with help from some great friends in our (now old) ward. Within 2 days, we got 99% of everything unpacked! (I get anxiety when my things are packed so I couldn't settle down until the boxes were empty) We're going to miss our old ward, but are already loving our new place! We now have an extra bed in our spare bedroom and an additional bathroom, so feel free to visit and be our guests :)


A few weeks ago Sam and I attended Orem Summerfest with two other couples. It was so packed but really fun! I guess most cities in Utah have their own festival/carnival weekend throughout the summer (little did I know) so it was fun to attend Orem's. We walked around, went on a ride, watched the fireworks, and bought some mini-donuts that turned out to be not so good...

Ash and I found some hot new shades for this summer:

Case and Ash ready for our wild ride "The Sizzler":
This picture was post-ride and our thumbs up or down was to show what we thought of the ride. Looks like Scott and I were the only ones who enjoyed it. Sam and Casey obviously were NOT fans haha. Wimps!

My other exciting news is that my friend Amy got married. Amy and I met this past year in sign language class. She is the kindest and most service oriented person I know! She is always encouraging me to go volunteer interpret at events with her (I'm too scared to do it on my own) and what do you know...I do just fine each time just like she said I would.

Next up, St. George and Lake Powell....