Back to School and more House Pics!

Before my journey back to Oregon I got to do some fun things. I went to lunch with grandma a couple times and helped her clean some of her cabinets.We had a good time talking.  She also invited me to help can salsa. That was fun and I enjoyed picking fresh veggies from the garden.I forgot to take pictures but if I had there would have been a picture of a gallon sized ziploc over half full of garlic cloves (you'll have to ask grandma about that one ;)

I went on one last Utah hike with my parents up waterfall canyon. It was a beautiful hike and we had great weather. 

We also did something we've wanted to do for a while but have never done. We went to the Salt Lake Cemetery and visited the grave sites of many of the prophets. The cemetery was much bigger than expected and we were sure glad that we had a map to follow. It was a neat experience and I'm glad that we did it. Afterwards my parents surprised me by taking me by taking me to The Garden restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, one of my favorite restaurants ever! I took some fabulous pictures of the temple with the sunset while we ate.

My mom took the next day off and we went back to Salt Lake to hike to Ensign Peak, another thing I'd always wanted to do but never did. It was a steep hike but the view was pretty neat at the top. It was neat to think that I was standing where Brigham Young laid out the plan for the city and where they raised a flag as an ensign to the world. After our morning hike we headed to Hogel Zoo for a few hours before heading home and beginning to pack.

I wanted to go see the house one more time before I left. I am glad that I got to see the almost finished product. My parents will be moving in very soon to this beautiful home and I cant wait to visit it this Christmas and see the finalized house with all the furniture in place. Even though we went to the house almost every day it is still hard to believe that my parents are going to be living there soon!

Then, I headed back to Oregon but I didn't go alone. I brought my dog Scout back with me along with the usual menagerie of 2 turtles, 2 frogs, and 2 fish. It was a long drive and I split it over 2 days. Scout had fun staying in a hotel in Idaho and he was a great traveling dog. He's still getting used to apartment life but he's doing pretty well. Our favorite past-time at the moment is to hike around and pick fresh blackberries. They are all over and are so yummy! I'm really enjoying having a dog here and I plan to take him to the coast one of these days to see the ocean. I think he will like it.

My travel buddy

 

The House and Summer Highlights

As I prepare to head back to OSU next week I've been thinking about best parts of this summer. I worked at Banfield Veterinary hospital for 10 weeks as part of a student job program and I gained a lot of good experience and knowledge by doing that program. I got to meet some really neat people and see some cool things in the process.

The family came for a baby shower and it was so good to see everybody! Some of us hiked up Adams' Canyon and saw the awesome waterfalls. We were also surprised to hear the rattle of a rattlesnake and we saw the same snake on the way up and on the way down. Ironically, we only seem to see snakes on that hike when family is in town.

The small rattlesnake

The baby shower was a blast! It was a double shower for my cousin Amy and Kate, my cousin Jeremy's wife.  I enjoyed helping to make paper balls out of tissue paper for decorations and fill popcorn boxes for party favors. It was fun to see all of the extended family and hear their funny stories and to see all of the cute baby gifts.

One big pile of delicious pink popcorn!

yummy desserts1

Grandma and her sisters

Another big event this summer has been the building of my parents house. We've been seeing it pop up before our eyes and hardly a day goes by where we don't go to the house to see what the latest new addition is. It's been really fun to watch and I think my parents have done an excellent job with the difficult task of picking out all the details and things for the house. Here are some photos of the latest additions. More photos to come!

The kitchen counters and cabinets

The fireplace

Mom in her kitchen. 9-6-11 the wood floor and the hood over the stove at the latest developments. 

The exterior of the house is nearly done