Welcome to the good life...

SO I have had a little bit of a break from work and had the opportuniyu to do some pretty sweet things and spend some excellent quality time with my family. I guess I will start with the 4th of July.

It was awesome. I love Freedom Festival. For one weekend Provo is in the spotlight and there are so many convivial things to do. On the actual day of the Fourth I went to grandma Marilyn's because my FAMILY WAS IN TOWN! YAY FOR FAMILY! We had yummy food and went to the park and did all kinds of fun stuff, but none of that really matters because the important thing is... WE WENT TO SEE THE JONAS BROTHERS AT STADIUM OF FIRE!!! It was prodigious. Colossal. Huge. Jace would say Epic. Linds would say Legit (I am a Junior in college so i used better words...) Because i grew up in the 90's I think that my love for boy bands is perennial. Stefanya and I took all my little cousins..(Linds, Abs, Sara, Em, Sam, and Morgan). The day before the concert we made these SWEET Jo Bro T-Shirts (see picture at bottom of blog for more information). Mine says "Jo Bro Hoe" Thank you to Stephanie Alexandra White for that one. SHE MADE ME ; D Together we made quite the little fashion statement. Especially since Tia Tara gave us a huge box of glow sticks to use. We loved every minute of it. No matter what Abbey tries to tell you about Joe...NICK IS THE CUTE ONE. I am so thankful for this country. If you have never watched fireworks to the tune of patriotic music you should do so. It is really quite emotional.

Next I went to a Harmer family reunion up at Brighton for a weekend. We played games to get to know our family members better and did what Harmers do best - eat, sleep, and fight : D Actually there was very little of the later and we were pretty active so it was a success. We hiked up the mountain to Lake Katherine and floated the Provo River. GOOD TIMES. I love my Utah family. What would i do without them? I would probably not be here in Provo i can tell you that. Aren't they SO SO SO CUTE? We are getting pretty large in numbers eh?

Steph has been begging to come to Royal City for quite some time. I tried to warn the poor city girl about the size but she stood firm in her conviction. FINALLY this past week we made the trip. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Steph had this wishlist of things she wanted to accomplish so we were pretty adventurous. Let me tell you so of the things we did...

* Shot some Skeets with a freaking 12 gauge - my arm even bruised from the stupid kick.
*Milked a cow
*Helped birth a calf - OK, so we witnessed the birth of a calf, but our cheering TOTALLY helped ; D
*Drove a tractor
*Bailed Hay
*Flew a plane - IT STALLED AND FREAKING FELL THROUGH THE SKY. Can you say adrenelin rush?
*Rode a float in the local Community Days Parade
- we made the front page of the Columbia Basin Herold AND we were quoted in the article about Summerfest because some
nice lady interview us about the giant cake we were asked to serve. It was in the shape of Grant County to comemerate the
100th birthday.
*Went boating - i am still soar. NOT AS YOUNG AS I USED TO BE.
* Made raspberry jam - WHICH WAS DELICIOUS if I might say so myself
* We also made authentic Mexican food. SHOUT OUT TO THE AMAZING AURORA AND HER ADORABLE FAMILY!
*jumped on the trampoline and watched a movie EVERY night

GOOD TRIP!!!

Home to Me

So i have been so busy working Especially For Youth Sessions that i hardly have had time to sit and think and blog. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and I was sitting here thinking about how last year on the fourth of July I was traveling to Egypt on a sticky hot Israeli bus and next year I will be WHO KNOWS WHERE on my mission. Israel was an amazing experience, one that I will never forget. I think about it all the time and I would give almost anything to go back there. I LOVED IT. I am also so excited to go on my mission and have tons of new and fun experiences. It seems like I am always doing something or going somewhere. Right now I am working for EFY, which I absolutely adore and I am so thankful for that opportunity, but every single week I am starting over. I am in a new dorm with a new group of counselors and a new group of girls to manage. The few weeks that I am not working I am at my apartment in Provo and that is slightly awkward because I am never there and I do not really know very many people in my ward. I love new places and new adventures but all this packing and unpacking has made me a little tired.
My Bestie Steph is coming to Royal City with me next week. I have been telling her about it and warning her about the size and stuff for weeks. Yesterday at my grandma's I came across a couple of old family pictures that I was showing to her of our house and us growing up in Royal CIty. I MISS IT! I miss walking barefoot everywhere. I miss the simple peace and quiet. I miss the people. I miss the fresh cherries and I miss Pa and Grandma Jean. I miss my siblings and my high school buddies and my cousins my age. I miss our sweet little community we built there in the heart of the Columbia Basin. I even miss going to dirty old Saddle Mountain Supply to get a pop and say hi to my dad. When i was traveling abroad we went to the American Embassy both in Jordan and Tel Aviv. I remember thinking that as much as I loved being cultured and studying abroad that it was like a little peace of Heaven on Earth because it was so familiar and it felt like home to me. That is what Royal City is like.