In between my Utah trips I was home for a couple days and had some serious family time. Some memories from those two days:

Listening to Nychea's stories from Youth Conference.

Painting my grandma's toe nails.

Every minute with Odessa.

And the night before I left, my adventure with Nychea and her friends.

Basically my boring Wednesday (July 13th) of cleaning, packing, and playing catch up on here turned into a really fun night! Nychea's friends Hannah and Autumn came down from Ely and brought James with them from Lund. Nychea had made us all hobo dinners earlier and so we headed to the 4-H camp pond to swim and have a fire.  When we got there, the gate was not open as we were told, so we ended up having to throw everything over the fence and then hop over it ourselves.  Well, it was more like climb over it; it was a really tall chain-link fence with barbed wire on the top (so serious). We all made it over with out any injury and quickly made our way to the water.

Swimming turned into a n a s t y moss fight, and I don't think I have laughed that hard in quite awhile. I felt a little silly hanging out with a bunch of 16 year olds, but hey, I'll take what I can get out here. ;) 

We started a fire and threw on our dinners then continued to swim while they cooked. The moon was sooo bright, casting the prettiest light on us as we all sat around the fire eating our hobo dinners...with NO forks. Haha. We truly were hobos. So sloppy.

After making some delicious s'mores we packed everything up, put the fire out, and had to climb over the fence again. This time, I came out with a small wound. Those barbs can be kinda tricky sometimes... When we were all back in the truck we headed back to Lund to drop off James and then came back to the ranch for a little scary movie. I thought, "I am pretty much over scary movies, this won't even be fun." Wrong. I ended up in the same recliner as Nychea, holding on to her for dear life. At one point we both jumped and screamed at the same time and definitely banged heads. I guess I underestimated this one, but never again. I freaking HATE scary movies. Yuck!

Favorite quotes from the night, "You can't touch my chastity boob-basket!" "'Sup wit it!?" "Ew." "He's 14!?" "ohh, you mutha uh uhh." and on and on...oh I miss being 16! 

After my resolution to look on the bright side, things in my life suddenly started to look, well, BRIGHTER! :)


The week before the 4th was spent working, a lot! My job is amazing. I love it so much.  I work with girls who come from troubled pasts and have challenges far bigger than mine in their lives.  They are so strong and hopeful and they are a strength to me as they help me to remember how blessed I am.  I am sooo thankful for the opportunity I have to try and be an example to them of how happy a life free of drugs, and violence can be.


On Saturday Nychea and I went to Ely and went out on the lake with Oakley and her family.  It has been so nice to see Oakley all the time! I missed her SO much and am really happy to have such a good friend in my life.  Boating was a blast! We wakeboarded for awhile because the water was like glasssss. Just perfect :)

Once the water started to get choppy, we broke out the tubes and Oakley's dad gave us the ride of our lives.  It was so much fun just soaking up the sun and laughing with people I love. Right before we left, Oakley's dad gave some little kids a ride on the tube and basically made their whole day.  It was so sweet and nice of him.  Things like that just make me smile. 


That night we went to Oakley's and had a BBQ with her entire extended family, who I haven't seen in almost two years so it was way fun to catch up and talk.  After we ate we split up into 4 teams and played some beach volleyball in Oakley's back yard.  When we were in high school her dad put in an official sand court in their back yard equipped with snap lines, lights and all. We played volleyball well into the night and it was a blast! I had so much fun. In between games I jumped on the trampoline with her little cousin Hayden and he pretty much fell in love with me. ;) ha. After a sun filled day of exhausting, totally amazing activities we headed home and hit the hay. Soooo tired.


The 3rd was fast Sunday and so that meant Fast & Testimony meeting! It is my favorite meeting because I grow so much from other people's beautiful testimonies. This Sunday I was particularly grateful for my blessings because being around the girls that I work with really makes me see how much I have. My heart was overflowing as I sat through the meeting. I was suddenly overwhelmingly thankful to be home with my family and at that moment I knew that was the most important thing on Earth and I was exactly where I needed to be.


Monday morning we packed up the car with apple pie ingredients and swim suits and headed to Eureka, Nevada for their 4th of July celebration.  We met my sister and her boyfriend Logan there and watched the parade.  Then we all took part in their relay races on main street. We pretty much dominated:

Won some $$

Sam racin'

 Odessa :)

I talked Megan into doing the sack race with me, and then about half way through, to my surprise she was beating me! So I hurried and caught up to her and right before the finish line. When were were neck-and-neck I reached out and pulled her back so that I could win--they never said there were any rules! She reached back and gave me a good smack in the chest and the whole crowd gasped...I guess we don't really look like sisters. Haha. I think they were getting ready for a fight, but we just laughed hysterically and hugged. It was really funny. They still gave her first though, which I am a little ticked about! ;P

Three-legged race champions!

Megan & Logan

After the relay races we went down to the park to get some pulled-pork sandwiches. When we were all fed we came back up to Main St. for the egg toss (the prize was 50 dollars, let's be real here). Megan and Logan went together and Ashley and I were partners. We threw the eggs back and forth, taking a step back each time. Pretty soon we were all they way across Main St. throwing eggs. Megan and Logan made it to the final 5 partners when they finally dropped their egg.

 Mom & Sis

 Best Friends <3

Trio :)

Hahaaaa ;)

 Toons!

 She is sooo pretty! :)

Following the egg toss we went up to Logan's great grandma's house and started making apple pie for the BBQ. Everyone went to the pool except my mom and I.  I had to work the night before and got about 1 hour of sleep so I took a nap and my mom made her legendary apple pie :)

When I woke up everyone was back and the food was ready so we ate. The food and the apple pie was amazing, per usual. That night we headed back to the ranch but made a quick stop in Ely to watch the fireworks with Oakley's family and light some of our own. Nothing like a summer night with people you love! :)