Sand Hollow

Logan and I took a little road trip down to St. George over Labor Day weekend to go camping at Sand Hollow with some friends.  Things were quite comical from the get-go when we tried squeezing 5 people, all of our gear and 2 dogs into a small Mazda Hatchback.  

These pictures really don't do the scene in the car justice because we were CRAMPED!  We had to play tetris to get the back packed, the three of us in the backseat had a tent and bags of food on our laps and we were basically sitting on each other while the camping chairs, pillows, dogs and food were in the front.  It's an understatement to say it was the longest 4 hour drive we've ever been on!

Once we got there, however, we had a great time!  Leading up to the weekend it looked like we were going to be rained out almost every day but we actually had perfect weather.  The screen on my phone most of the weekend says it all:

Saturday was spent on the lake while we surfed, tubed and hung out on the boat.  Many thanks to Zach and Heidi's aunt and uncle for letting us use their boat and wave runner for the day!

We couldn't leave the beach without Russ and Logan entertaining us with their diving frisbee catches!

Love him!

Sunday we made the short drive to Zion and hiked Angel's Landing.  I can't even describe how amazing it was!  I had never been to Zion before and can't wait to go back.  For those of you that haven't hiked Angel's Landing, it's about 2 1/2 miles each way with a roughly 1,500 foot elevation gain.  The first two miles are loaded with switchbacks while the last half mile is unlike anything I had ever hiked before.  Because of the sheer cliffs on either side, there are chains you hold on to as you climb to ensure you don't fall.  We definitely had a few butterflies as we looked down below.

The following picture is a shot of the last half mile.  I was slightly intimidated at first but loved it once we got going!  

Without a doubt, the view from the top was amazing and more than worth it!

 

 

CMC

 

This hike is a must for anyone visiting Zion!  I can't wait to go back again!

Before heading home on Monday, we enjoyed the beautiful lake one more time and entertained each other with some cliff jumping.  Unfortunately we didn't get a ton of pictures but the girls even braved the 35ish foot jumps!

Thank you, CMC, for such a fun holiday weekend!  Can't wait until next year!

A Fresh Start

Many of you may have already seen my post from Facebook, but for those of you that haven't, yesterday was an exciting day for us!  My wonderful husband went back to school after taking the last several months off and he started a new job!  I couldn't let him walk out the door without taking his first-day-of-school picture!

He's such a good sport!

When Eli was admitted to the hospital Logan was about a month into the semester and he knew right away he wanted to devote as much of his time as possible to being with Eli so he dropped his classes but continued to work.  We both knew he'd have a difficult time focusing in school and I definitely didn't want him to have that extra stress on top of everything else.  I didn't doubt for one second that he would go back to school when things settled down.  Logan typically takes a full summer as well but wasn't able to take any classes during the summer either so I know he was pretty excited to get back into it this semester.  I'm so proud of him for keeping such a positive attitude despite having to push things back a whole year.  

The other half of the news is probably the most exciting!  After working in the auto industry for several years, Logan found a job in the medical field.  This is a huge blessing for us for several reasons.  #1, he wants to go to PA school so he finally has a job in that field.  #2, he was sure he'd have to work weekends and holidays but this family practice is a clinic so he works Monday-Friday and no holidays.  Happy day!  Logan has worked on the weekend since high school so he couldn't be more excited to have a Monday-Friday, 8-5 job doing something he loves.  He will be working part time as an MA and already loved his first day!

I can't believe it's already the end of August!  I love the summer heat so much but can't help but be excited about September approaching for many reasons.  Football season is right around the corner, basketball season is right after that, and of course, the holidays.  Who doesn't love the holidays?  Before we get into all of that, Logan and I are taking one last little getaway down to Sand Hollow with some friends over Labor Day weekend.  It should be a good time!

I have to give a quick shout out to one of my wonderful sister-in-laws.  I mentioned to her that I wanted to use a wall in our apartment for a collage of some pictures of Eli so she came over that night and put it all together, including the "E"!

Thank you, Krystal, for being so talented!  It turned out better than I hoped for!

**For those of you that read my post about the hero party that Logan and I went to, you may remember that KSL was there.  Check out THIS blog for the KSL story that aired on Sunday as well as another really neat video they put together of the balloon launch.  This family is incredible and has taught Logan and I so much.**  

Newport

Mine and Logan's summer travels took another stop this past week.  My family, all 21 of us, went to Newport Beach and had a great time!  It doesn't happen often that we all get together at the same time, especially with one of my brothers and his family living in Minnesota.  We went on this same trip a couple years ago and had a ton of fun so we've been looking forward to going again for quite a while.  We spent a couple days in Disneyland/California Adventure and the rest of the week hanging out at the pool and on the beach.  Rather than bore you with too many words, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

We love the condos we stay in!  They are right by the beach, a short drive to Disneyland and offer this fantastic view from our balcony:

For those of you that aren't familiar with Big Thunder Ranch in Disneyland, it's an all-you-can-eat BBQ restaurant that most of us tried for the first time.  Prepare to be messy when you're finished eating!

Goofy's Kitchen is always a good time, especially for the kiddos!  The 7:00am reservation is a bit early but is definitely worth it!  Unfortunately 3 people weren't able to make it for the picture.

I could take pictures of this little peanut all day long!

There aren't many better ways to entertain the kids than spending the day at the beach!

Logan practically lived in the ice-cold water boogie boarding!  He talked me into joining him for a mere few minutes each day.

We love Crystal Cove Beach!  (And most importantly, the Shake Shack!)

Two of our favorite rides!
(I promise I wasn't really that scared on Splash Mountain)

Hangin' out by the fire

We had such a fun week and are so sad it's over!  Many thanks to my parents for such a fabulous vacation!

A Hero Party!

One of the fabulous families we met while in the hospital had a hero party for their son this morning and Logan and I were lucky enough to be a part of it!  His parents promised him a party because he was so brave when he donated his bone marrow to his older sister.  This party was a great way to honor Lisy and Tyler's true super hero as well as an opportunity to raise awareness for bone marrow donors and recipients.  

A bobble head of the Fish's son was created and attached to a giant weather balloon along with 4 GoPro cameras and a GPS.  The balloon was let go and sometime later today will land shortly after exploding once it reaches a certain height in the atmosphere.  KSL was there to cover the story and spotlight this amazing family that has done so much for the bone marrow and SCID communities.  

I love that the bobble head is wearing the same shirt as the real-life super hero in the picture below.

Each person in this picture has somehow been impacted by SCID and/or a bone marrow transplant or donation.  This is such a neat group of people we're blessed to know!

The amazing Fish family who put on this awesome party
(The two kiddos in front are the bone marrow donor and recipient and the little gal in the pink cape has also had a bone marrow transplant)

Getting ready for lift off!

Thank you, Lisy and Tyler, for letting us join in the festivities!

For those of you not already on the Bone Marrow Registry, take a look at THIS website (www.bethematch.org) for more information and consider joining.  A small sacrifice on our part could be such a blessing and miracle in someone else's life!

My New Escape

For quite some time I have wanted to invest in a new road bike but it never happened because we had more important matters to focus on.  As life started to settle down a bit I brought it up to Logan again and he was all in.  We began doing our homework a few weeks ago and finally found the one!

I'm a complete novice when it comes to cycling but I sure have loved learning!  We were inactive for so long it feels great to get out and finally get back in shape.  The heat has been brutal but we are definitely taking advantage being able to be outside.  Any tips you care to share are absoultely welcome!

Life is treating us well!  We are working here and there, Logan is liking his clinicals for the class he took this summer and we're definitely enjoying the summer!

This picture made me smile today:

I love the tube-free face!

Finally...a random shout out to the Primary's staff for making life in the hospital much more fun than you'd think by doing things like this!

Montego Bay, Jamaica!

Logan and I returned home a couple days ago from our fabulous vacation to Jamaica.  It was so good to get away with just the two of us and have some time to relax with nothing to worry about (for the most part).  We booked this trip 6ish weeks ago and had been counting down the days ever since.  It's hard to believe it has already come and gone!  

I love the beach but am a big wuss when it comes to cold water and rarely get in if it's not semi warm so I know Logan couldn't wait to get to the Caribbean where the water was perfect and I would actually do more than lay out all day.  It makes perfect sense then that the day after we got to Jamaica and were swimming in the ocean for the first time I would get stung by a jelly fish.  I felt something wrap around my arm and thought it was just seaweed or but when I shook my arm to get it off that's when it stung me.  When I pulled my arm out of the water it was already gone but I had a big welt across my forearm.  I told Logan I would be just fine and we kept swimming.  A couple minutes later my arm was quickly getting bright red and swollen but I still wanted to hold out for a bit.  Logan was insistent on getting it looked at because he didn't want it to: "ruin our vacation" so we went to the clinic at the resort and after one quick look at my arm they said I needed to go right to the hospital.  Fantastic.  One of the worst things I've ever been told is that I need medical care while in Jamaica.  The nurse was worried that I was going to go into shock and wanted me to be taken in an ambulance but I insisted that that wasn't necessary at all so fortunately we were able to sign some papers allowing us to go in a taxi.  Considering how much the taxi charged us, it probably wouldn't have been that much more expensive to take the ambulance after all!

I was seen by a doctor fairly quick and given a steroid injection that worked pretty fast.  They gave me an antibiotic and we were on our way!  I was perfectly fine after that and it never became an issue the rest of the trip.  God must have known we really missed the hospital or something...too bad that wasn't the hospital I had in mind!

Believe it or not, our hospital adventure wasn't the only exciting thing we were able to do!  Our week was filled with sail boating, hiking a beautiful waterfall, shopping, parasailing and of course tons of hours spent laying on the beach!

Although we didn't spend much time indoors, our room was amazing!

Pictures really don't do the view from our balcony justice.  It was beautiful.

We don't have a bathtub at home but I know Logan would love one.  Proof:

He was in heaven!

The view from where we ate lunch every day

Dunn's River Falls

Sail boating--Love him!

We unfortunately don't have any pictures from when we went parasailing because you have to purchase their million dollar ones but it was way fun!  I told Logan I wanted to do it and he was hesitant because he watches way too much YouTube but when I told him I was doing it whether he came or not he gave in :)

There were several weddings while we were there including this one on our last night.  They had many unwanted guests watching them tie the knot.  I'm fairly certain they had amazing pictures at least!

Logan skipping rocks on our last night there

Enjoying the sunset and trying to slow down time as much as possible before we went home the next day!

We reluctantly packed our bags after 8 wonderful days and can't wait to go back!  See you (hopefully) soon, Jamaica!