Here are the last of the photos from our trip to Utah last week! I figured I'd kick it off with this pic from a lunch date with two of my gorgeous Georgia young women. I can't believe they're full-on adults now! Hailey will have more kids than me by the end of the year, and my earth-angel Sesika's off to her mission in St. George next month. Sesika was my literal angel in Georgia. Cute lil' introverted me, confined to young women's and sick as a dog for a full year, wasn't really capable of making friends. Sesika took me under her wing (like she does with everyone) and would invite me for ice cream dates and stop by our apartment with pizza. I loved catching up with Hailey and Sika in Utah, and thought it was ironic that literally NONE of my childhood friends live in Utah anymore (every last one of them is in Idaho for the long haul now), but several of my young women from Georgia will be living there when we (probably) move back next year. So random.
Here are a few pictures from a spontaneous family trip to Burriston Pond in Mona! Me and my brother Chris sponstaneously set up a boating day for the Saturday before Labor Day (we've never had a family boating day in my family). Then it spontaneously fell through at the last minute and everyone was looking at me like, "Well, you going to fix this? What are we doing now?" It felt like a lot of pressure unexpectedly holding everyone's holiday weekend plans in my hands, but we wound up having a great day at Burriston Ponds. We beat the crowds and set up camp in a shady spot. Then we spent hours snacking, swimming, and just hanging out. This is a cute pic of my lil'est bro Timmy and his cute fiancee Abby. Yes, I also have another sis-in-law named Abby that my brother Peter married. They are both elementary school teachers. But one is blonde and one is brunette so I think everything will be ok. (I mean, I married a Jared and my dad is also named Jared, and no one's head has exploded yet.)
Haines bums, a series:
^^Jared right after his Orem interview. Wut a big boi.
^^Ok, this was so fun! Something that has been on Jared's bucket list for the past 5 years has been "jet ski on Utah lake." We never see anyone jet skiing on Utah Lake. Most people make fun of the lake for how gross it is, but we really like it (granted, we don't own a boat and don't have to deal with the muck and toxic algae). I mean, how cool is it that there's an enormous lake that takes up half the valley? I took that for granted growing up but now realize it's pretty neat, even if the water would probably kill me if I accidentally drank some.
Anyway, we rented a jet ski one weekday morning and took her around the lake. It was so fun! 5/5 stars, would recommend. It was I think $120 for two hours. We passed two other boats and one jet ski on the water during the entire time we were out there. (Probably because toxic algae, but we never once touched the water so I'm not too worried.) The lake was smooth as glass. First we rode around the entire perimeter of the lake (besides the southern end, where it's too shallow). We went from south Provo up to Lehi, and then we rode along the coast of Saratoga Springs and found a couple gorgeous modern homes on the water. Then we spent the rest of our time chasing birds across the middle of the lake. High five to Jared for making this happen. I mean, this was probably our only "vacation" of the year (Jared has to work on Thanksgiving AND Christmas--whomp whomp), so I'm glad we did something new and adventurous.
^^And this is from a hike up Big Springs, where the leaves were already changing! Savvy is the best part. The other best part was when we found wild raspberries on the side of the trail. It's been real, Utah. And it'll still be real when I'm back again in four days for Tim's wedding. And also still real when we're there half of November for Jared's elective rotation. The year of the Utah!
