Summer Trip

Mark and I got to fly out to Pinedale last week to be at his sister Rachelle's wedding. Though we didn't expect it to be a very eventful trip as we were making our plans (other than the wedding, of course), it turned out to be very memorable in many ways.

For starters, my friend and former roommate, Katie, let us stay at her beautiful home in Cedar Hills when we flew into Salt Lake. It was really great to get to catch up with her and her family, and we are still so grateful to them for giving us a place to sleep. I forgot to take pictures, but I stole this one off of Katie's blog. :) This is us eating breakfast on the 4th of July at their ward party (which we crashed). The cute kid on my lap is Jackson, Katie's 2nd kid, and Katie is in the middle.

While we were staying with the Dastrups, we were able to visit a friend of mine in the hospital in SLC. Her name is Tiffany, and she is also a former roommate from the good ol' BYU days. Tiffany had a stroke about 3 weeks ago, and I was so glad that our trip made it possible for me to see her. We lived together for a few years and were very close friends. It was hard to see the challenges she is facing now, but it was calming to hear from her family that she is doing really well and has progressed so far! The doctors think that because of her age and her attitude, that it is possible she will make a full recovery. Since she can't talk right now, I feel very grateful that I got to sit with her and talk to her while she communicated through sign language. I love this girl, and she is so tough that I know she'll keep making huge progress! The only picture I could find of the two of us is from my wedding. I remember being somewhat wrapped up in pictures and such that day, but the moment I saw her I screamed and ran to give her a hug. She is such a true friend and I love her dearly!

A few other highlights from our time in Utah:

• Visiting the Oborns (the former CES missionary couple from our branch in Ithaca - we love them so much!)
• Seeing Glen Beck in person at the mall in Orem, even though we didn't wait in line to talk to him
• Seeing mountains again
• Cafe Rio!!!!!!!!

On the evening of the 4th of July, we picked up Mark's sister Jessica and her husband Nick and headed up to Pinedale. The next day, Mark's dad took the two of us on a drive to New Fork Lake. It was a beautiful view, and we would have liked to hike more but we needed to get back to town for Rachelle's wedding. She and Ben were married in his family's backyard with a backdrop of the Wyoming plains and mountains. We're glad that we were able to make it out for their big day. We didn't get a ton of pictures, but in this one you can see Mark's beautiful sisters (Ashley, Jessica, and Rachelle), Rachelle's husband Ben, and Mark's dad on the far right wearing a sombrero and packing heat. :)

The day before the wedding we received the sad news that Mark's uncle Mike had passed away from a heart attack. It was unexpected and hit everyone pretty hard. Mark's mom left after church on Sunday to be with her family, while Mark and I stayed to spend some time with his dad. We took a short hike instead of the long one they had planned on, though based on how we felt afterwards it was probably better that way. We hiked to Photographer's Point which has an amazing view of the Wind River Mountains. We don't get vistas like these in New York, so it was well worth the climb and battling the myriads of mosquitos we encountered.

On our last day in Pinedale, we took the boat out on Half Moon Lake. The water is far too cold for swimming, even in July, but it was beautiful out there. Mark got to do a little fishing, and his dad even caught a fish, though it was too small to keep. In the pictures below you can see how blue the water is, and if you look really closely you can see the mosquito bites covering my arm from the day before. I was pretty lucky--I had a jacket to ward them off. Mark's dad didn't escape so unscathed. Also, the bottom picture is the only shot I have of Ashley and Jessica together that day. I debated on whether to post it or not, but decided if they want to make faces in pictures then my hands are tied. :) Unfortunately, Nick had to leave on Monday morning to go back to work, so I don't have any pictures of him either. It was great to get to spend time with everyone.

All of our flights home left on Wednesday morning out of Salt Lake, which was the same day as the funeral for Uncle Mike. We were glad that they had a family viewing the night before so we could participate in some way. We drove to Bear Lake on Tuesday and headed to the funeral home. Even though it was an emotional and sad day, we were very grateful to see so many aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins that we haven't seen in a very long time. The best thing about this trip was being able to be with so many people that we love and appreciate.