Summer

It's been a long time since I've written anything. I suppose it's such an unnatural thing to write about my life. Life is...well, a lot of adjectives. It's crazy to me how things can change in a matter of hours, minutes, etc.
I think I'm going to sum up my summer (ha ha). June wasn't very exciting. In July, Jeffrey and I drove down to Kansas to see my family. I love road trips. We left early Sunday morning because we had reservations to stay at Whitebird Summit Lodge (B&B), go horseback riding, and the next day we were going whitewater rafting. The lodge is so serene (mom and I stayed there last summer) and Terri always makes great breakfasts. The morning of rafting was overcast and chilly, so the water was well...cold. We didn't have to paddle, which was kind of lame. Our guide was a funny kid who stopped to show us Indian painted pictures on rock, which was really neat. We also jumped off a super high log that hung over a cliff. It was awesome. I want to go cliff jumping.

Immediately after we finished rafting we left for the 22 hour drive to Kansas. Idaho really has great scenery. It was a long drive full of talking, snacking, and me begging Jeffrey to stop so I can get out of the car. We were kinda on a time limit though, because Jeffrey needed to be back earlier than expected because the silly Air Force needed his signature. Sadly, Jeffrey and I have different ideas of road trips. I like to stop often, walk around, browse small towns. He likes to drive. and drive. We stopped outside Boise for the night and left in the morning. We drove down through Utah and made a detour to SLC so we could see the Temple and Temple Square. Mormon central wasn't exactly his scene, so he read a book outside the square. I saw Daniel there...we talked, it sucked. It was like, everything coming back to get shattered. I still find it strange that he doesn't talk to me...

We drove the rest of the way without stopping (much) and got to the house sometime Tuesday morning. When we got there, Jeffrey went to sleep and I tried to my password to long onto the computer, which I eventually found by reading it in a cooking magazine. Mom got home a while later and it was really great to see her. Because this is Kansas, to do...anything really, we had to drive. We went to Wichita, to go shopping, see Ashley and to the zoo; we went to Hays to go to the Sternberg and eat German food, stopping at Ft. Larned and Pat's Beef Jerky. Saturday, we were supposed to go to Oklahoma City and hang out and wander while the parents went to the Temple, but we figured we were kind of over being in a car and had more driving to do soon, that we would rather hang around and chill at the house. We ate a Pizza Taco (a Pratt, America staple). Sunday was church. Mom, Brandon and I spoke...it was Jeffrey's first (and thus far, only) time going to an LDS church; it was nice that he went. I was surprised how well Brandon and Jeff got along. Being with the family was great and it was such a comfort being with mom and talking to her. Being at home though, was quite triggering. There's always a ton of food around and memories are haunting. I had episodes of behaviors, naturally.

We left Monday and drove the 22+ hours straight so Jeff could be home Tuesday. I wished we would have be able to stop in Laramie so I could see some friends and show Jeff the campus, but both times we passed Laramie, it was dark and the middle of the night. Montana in the dark is still pretty cool. Jeffrey found out that he liked Huckleberry taffy and cookies don't travel well not being packed carefully. We were given about....oh, 100 cookies, which had to ultimately had to be thrown away because they were just too dangerous sitting in the freezer.

Kansas does have some beautiful sunsets.

August came fast. It's crazy how time really does fly. The first weekend in August we had a YSA campout/water activity. I went with Katie and Kendra and had a BLAST! I love those girls. We had a full size air mattress shoved inside a 2-3 man tent, us, a dog, and all our stuff. It was crazy packed and messy with food prodcuts/wrappers, clothing, make up (yes, we took make-up), shoes, etc. Friday, we got there around 7ish and Katie and I set up the tent while Kendra walked around. It was just a fun night, talking to each other, meeting new people, and sitting around a fire. Brandon and I hung out until like, three in the morning. When I got back to the tent, I squeezed myself in between the girls and sunk to the ground as the air mattress deflated. Naturally, I was the first one up and woke Katie so I could talk to her. It was quite chilly the entire day, which sucked being in the water. We had an...incident in the tent in the morning. Breakfast looked disgusting, so we ate our feelings in Little Debbies, Doritos, Lunchables, and Pringles. Oh, and marshmallows. Katie played "chubby bunny" for the first time and almost choked on her 4th marshmallow, causing me to laugh and spit mine out all over myself.

We swam in the lake and went tubing. I hadn't been tubing since I was younger and had a blast. I got quite bruised and Katie further injured her foot, but it was totally worth it. On the boat with us was this kid Jon (who I kinda met the night before walking around with Brandon at night...he was laying on a raft under the pavillion thing and I made some sorta comment about waking them up and cuddling) and his friend. They were crazy. It was a blast.

I think I'm done for now. I'll have to update on the past couple days later.