Let's go rolling on the river...

Brad and I both have callings in the youth program in our ward- he works with the Priests and I work with the Beehives. We absolutely love it! This summer we have had the opportunity to join them on quite a few activities, one of which was the annual Float Trip on the American River. Although the American River is known for its rapids, this trip didn't involve any white water rafting... but that doesn't mean it didn't include unexpected excitement.

While we were waiting at the raft launch, before we had even gotten into the water, a 14 year old boy jumped from a bridge into the river. Lots of kids were doing the same, and no one really thought much of it at first. He wasn't from our group and so we weren't really watching him. Luckily for the boy, Brad and another guy from our group happened to look over and see that he was struggling to stay above water. Just a second later, he went under and didn't come back up. Brad and the other guy jumped into the river to help him. The boy was under for a good minute before his body literally ran into Brad's legs. He was wearing a black shirt and if he hadn't hit Brad, there was a good chance the men in the water (there was 4 at that time) would have missed him.

In the meantime, I was frantically trying to find a cell phone to call 911. Do you know how many people bring their cell phones on a river trip? Pretty much no one! Luckily for us, there was one man who had. I called 911 and explained our situation to the operator and tried to explain our location (can you believe she didn't know where the "raft launch" was? haha.)

When Brad pulled the boy out he was unconscious. Luckily two of the men that had jumped in were US Coast Guard and they were able to give him CPR and resuscitate him. The paramedics finally showed up and they life flighted the boy to the hospital and as far as we know, he was okay.

Word to the wise: Don't jump directly into the current of a shoulder-deep river, fully clothed-- especially if you aren't a strong swimmer!

What an adventure, and our trip hadn't even started yet! Brad was pretty shaken up for the next little bit, and for good reason- if he hadn't found the boy when he did, he would have been gone. Luckily that didn't happen and the story had a happy ending.

It took us about 3 hours to float down the river, which was basically a 3 hour water fight. People had super soakers, buckets, water balloons, etc. I don't know how it happened, but I ended up on the raft with the deacons and beehives. What was I thinking? Of course our raft was the one that the other 4 ganged up on, and we got absolutely drenched! At one point I was holding 3 oars and a super soaker (protecting them from the madness that was ensuing) and was pulled backwards head first into the water. Brad got an entire can of soda poured on his face, which I later learned was payback because he had done it first... way to set the example babe! We even had the water let out of our raft and got close to sinking a few times, but we made it through. Everyone was bruised, scratched, and sunburnt by the end, but it was an awesome adventure!

It's a good thing we love working (read: playing) with the youth as much as we do, because Saturday Brad will be celebrating his 25th birthday with them as we go down to Sunset Beach for an end-of-summer beach trip. Should be fun!

New York!

My cousin Jordan and his new wife Jessica got married on August 1 in the Palmyra Temple, and it just so happened that my work schedule allowed me to be there! Besides my mom and me, his parents and siblings were the only other family at the wedding, so it was nice to be there and support him.

While we were in New York, we had a little time to do some sightseeing, and we started with Niagara Falls in Buffalo, NY. The falls were absolutely breathtaking!

My mom and I in front of Horseshoe Falls (the one that crazy people barrel over)

The Maid of the Mist boat. It takes you right next to the falls... and yes, you get soaked!

This is the Cave of the Winds, basically another excuse to get wet!

A good view of all 3 falls: American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe

The Rainbow Bridge that connects the USA to Canada. We didn't have our passports, to we didn't venture across. Maybe next time.

The next day we drove to Palmyra and spent the afternoon exploring some Church History sights. Jordan and Jessica sure picked a great time of year to get married, because the weather was perfect and everything was SO green!

My cousin Vanessa and I at the Hill Cumorah. She's headed to BYU-I in a few weeks to start her freshman year!

The flowers were gorgeous- the hill is just behind them.

Sacred Grove. Yes I was really there... and I have the mosquito bites to prove it.


Smith Family Cabin. It was built in 1998 after 20 years of research to make sure it was as close to the original as possible.

Saturday was wedding day! We had been worried about the forecasted thunder storms, but the rain held off until we were cleaning up from the reception. It turned out to be a beautifully bright (and hot) day.

The Hymas Family (minus bride & groom)

The whole wedding party. I really liked her colors (probably because they reminded me of my own!)

Can you tell it was really bright?

Nick, Jordan's best friend from Texas and my good friend from BYU, and his wife Elyssa came from DC for the wedding. It was great to see them... and to officially meet her

Me and Jordie! Love you cuz!

One crazy month!

July was such a whirlwind month! There was so much going on in such a short amount of time! I took a grand total of 2 1/2 weeks off of work for our trips that consisted of: Lake Tahoe (July 2-5), adult leader at Girls Camp (July 13-18), Beach Week in San Diego (July 18-25), and quick trip to New York for my cousin's wedding (July 29-Aug 3). There was a lot of fun and family packed into the trips, but it is nice to be home with my hubby, and in my own bed! Not so nice to be back to work, but that's life!

So without further adieu, here's my attempt to blog about one crazy month!

I'll spare you the pictures and details about Girls Camp, except to say that is was great being at Rucker Lake with such amazing girls. I was the leader for the 11-12 year old girls and I wasn't quite sure how it would go. Let's be honest here, I look 12 years old myself so I didn't know how the girls would accept me as their "leader". And you better believe at least once a day I was mistaken for a girl and not a leader... I even got in trouble once for walking without a buddy! Also, being new to the stake I don't know many people from other wards, so I was nervous about getting to know all these new people. Silly, right? Well, everything turned out better than I expected! It wasn't that long ago that I was at camp myself, and to see how mature and strong in the gospel these girls are was amazing. And not only that, but I survived the week with only 1 mosquito bite! Woohoo!

Our next adventure for the month was Beach Week. For those of you who don't know, this is an annual tradition for my family and about 15-20 other families from our ward. We go to San Elijo State Beach for a week and... you guessed it: enjoy the beautiful beach! My family hasn't been able to go for 2 years due to strategically-placed mission calls and unexpected hospital stays... but this year we went and the Hardcastle's came down from Utah to join us. It was a lot of fun and just what I needed after a week of 20 preteen girls ;)

Believe it or not, my first time boogie boarding.

Taryn- oh how I wish I could tan like her...

The only extra rash guard we had was about 5 sizes too small... but that didn't stop Brad from wearing it all week!

They each tried their luck with surfing. I think Spencer stayed up the longest? It was fun watching them learn!

Our crazy mama's fed us yummy food all week!

Making woofums! (Refrigerated biscuits that you cook like a marshmallow, then fill up with delicious goodies like whipped cream, chocolate, etc!)

Enjoying a woofum

Us Hardcastle's took some family pictures at La Jolla Shores one morning. They turned out really cute!

The Urry's tried to get in on the family picture action...and even though we aren't matching (or wearing makeup) it didn't turn out half bad!


It was a wonderfully relaxing week, and great to be with both families. We are so lucky that they get along so well, and like to be around each other! Can't wait until next year!


Coming soon: New York trip of Niagara Falls, Palmyra church history, and wedding pictures!

4th of July

About two weeks ago we decided that it would be fun to spend the 4th of July weekend in Tahoe. Neither of us had been to Tahoe before, so we weren't sure the best place to go, activities to do, etc. I did a little research and found a great resort in Tahoe City and we booked it! We decided to just go and play the rest by ear... and it was a great trip!

If you know me, you know I am a planner. So it is very rare for me to say I went on a trip without a plan. But everything worked out great! Lake Tahoe is absolutely beautiful. I decided it was the perfect place for us because a vacation is not complete without water (for me) and mountains (for Brad)...and Tahoe has both.

Here's a summary of our weekend:

This was our resort- "Granlibakken"...yeah, try to say that 5x fast. It had a unique setup where you stayed in separate cabin-like buildings. It was secluded enough to make it quiet, despite the holiday weekend, yet within walking distance to the lake. It had a pool, tennis courts, a walking trail, a fabulous hot breakfast every morning, and a delicious BBQ on the 4th. It was a great little place!
Our first view of the lake Friday morning. I couldn't believe how blue & clear the water was. It is so clear that you can actually stick a white dinner plate 75 feet below the surface and still see it. Absolutely gorgeous!

We parked ourselves on a little beach in Tahoe City for most of Friday morning. We took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some reading and relaxing! The weather was just perfect, and the water was a pleasant 60 degrees. Friday afternoon we drove down 30 minutes to southern Lake Tahoe, to Emerald Bay. I know I've said it before, but it was beautiful!


Around Emerald Bay we saw signs for Eagle Falls & Eagle Lake. As soon as Brad saw people carrying fishing poles with them to the Lake he was sold. As soon as they told me it was only a 30-40 minute hike I was sold too. We hiked it and even though the fishing wasn't too good in the lake, Brad found success in a stream along the way.

Ready to hike!
Eagle Falls
Emerald Bay in the background
Beautiful Eagle Lake

Saturday morning we rafted the Truckee River. Some professional company with professional quality rafts wanted to charge you $35/person to raft the river. Us, being the bargain hunters that we are decided we could buy our own raft and do it ourselves for only $25. It was definitely an adventure! We knew our raft would be done with if it hit a rock, so we tried to avoid them at all costs. Brad was a trooper and steered us the whole way. It was really fun and the water wasn't even cold. Which was a good thing, because we got really wet.

After our rafting adventure, we decided to drive about 20 minutes and explore the northern side of the lake. We drove to Incline Village, crossed the Nevada border, and trekked down to this little gem of a beach. The pictures don't do it justice, but this water was almost turquoise! I was in heaven. We spent the afternoon relaxing, reading, and floating around the lake in our raft.


We wrapped up the night with a 4th of July BBQ at our resort (all you can eat food, including frozen Snickers... sooo good!) and fireworks over the lake.

Sunday we went to church in Tahoe before heading home. When they opened up the meeting, the overflow was already halfway into the cultural hall. Then they asked the members, not visitors, to stand. I think there was about 30! Everyone else there was visiting, and there was easily over 300 people. It was so cool to see how many people had made an effort to go to church while on vacation.

It was the perfect weekend and a great little trip just the two of us!

2 1/2 years

Last Monday was our 2 1/2 year anniversary! Where has the time gone? In honor of our half-iversary here's my tribute to my terrific hubby.

August 2006 (Look at how young we are!)

Let's start at the beginning: We met at the tender (ie: young) ages of 19 & 21. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight... he asked out my roommate first. (Brad loves it when I bring this up! ) Luckily for me, it wasn’t meant be and the date never happened. After a little flirting and some magic-working on my part to get into the same Statistics class, we were together and the rest was history. We dated for 8 months, were engaged for 4, and have been married for 2 ½ years. Even though I never thought I would get married at 20, I couldn’t imagine it playing out any different.

Brad is the best because:

1. He gets ready in the dark so I can sleep while he gets ready for work.

1a. He sets out my lunch and gets my toothbrush ready because he knows that I push snooze for 15+ minutes and am always rushing to get out the door on-time.

2. He goes to the gym with me (even during the NBA finals) because he knows I won't go alone.

3. He makes dinner on those nights when I just don't feel like it, even though he has a commute of at least an hour and I don’t have one at all.

4. He makes me laugh at those times when all I want is to be angry, and then I can't.


5. He converted me to the sport of Jazz basketball

6. He served an honorable mission and helped change the lives of so many Koreans.


6a.He brought his mission home and has not forgetten about the people. (Example: this post)

7. He is so good with kids... people are always commenting about it. I know he’ll be the best dad ever!


8. He is the spiritual leader of our home with prayer, scripture study, FHE, etc.

9. He lets me have the sofa and always takes the loveseat, even though I am not even 5 feet tall and have no excuse for taking the bigger couch.

10. He always gives me thoughtful gifts, takes the time to surprise me, and gives me flowers ‘just because’.


11. He wears business casual so well (because he’s one handsome dude!)

12. He is an organizer, planner, crazy goal-oriented person. What can I say, we’re two peas in a pod on this one.

13. He took me to the temple on 12/29/06 and every month (except 1) since then.


He’s one great guy, and I'm one lucky gal. I love you Brad!

Various Activites from recent months

Due to my major blog-slacking I forgot to document some fun events from the last couple of months:

1. We went into the city and had lunch with our good friends Ricky and Maggie. We ate at a Yaught Club right across from the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a little windy, but an awesome view!
After lunch they took us to Lombard Street... we were going to park and walk around, but it was a little busy. So we took a picture and kept driving!

After that we went over to the Muir Woods and went on a little hike (haha... or what was supposed to be a little hike). Only 2 hours, and 3 backtrackings later we finished.

We've really enjoyed getting to know Ricky and Maggie. We're bummed that they are moving back to San Diego in a few weeks, but we wish them luck!

2. Our good friends, and most favorite neighbors, the Andrews also moved on us! We knew it was coming but it was still sad to see them go. Before they left we finally had the fondue party we had been talking about for months. We had chocolate & cheese for dipping and oil for meat. It was so yummy!


3. Almost 8 months ago (oh my!), Brad and I drove to Napa to see the vineyards. It was the perfect time of year to go, as they were just changing colors and we got to see everything from dark purple to red to yellow. We stayed away from the wine tasting, so our day trip consisted mostly of driving, but if you know the Hardcastles you know that they LOVE to drive ;)

(This picture is for my dad, whose high school choir was none other than Opus One.)