Summa' Time

It's time to catch up on my blogging for the summer, now that it's halfway through October. Whatever.

Picking up from where I left off last, which was Santa Fe, my next trip was a 3 day rafting trip on the Grande Ronde River in WA/OR. The usual crew went as the past two years (though I was on a much bigger and longer rafting trip on a huge navy ship last summer), but this year we added Spencer, Kathie and his family to the mix. It was a lot of fun! The first day the current was *extremely* fast, which didn't please Alyssa, the youngest of the crew, but after the first day, it was a lot more chill and relaxed the rest of the time.

Though still somewhat cold, the weather was MUCH better than our river trip of 2009 in Glacier National Park.

Who doesn't love a good gummy worm?

I want s'more!!!

No, I'm not having a stroke in this picture, though it may look like it with my droopy, swollen eye. I happened to have *extremely* bad allergies the moment we stepped on land at this campsite. But Charlotte is too cute in this picture to leave this one out of my blog post.

And yes, I was a little more than disconcerted when I saw this big guy hanging out in the water with us. And my niece and nephews STILL went out swimming in the water. I now know why they call it the Snake River.

Our last stop before leaving, sitting and playing the Jelly Belly game.

Next trip in July was a Church History Tour to Palmyra, Niagra Falls, Kirtland OH and Nauvoo IL with my good friends Erica and Garby with their kid Austin, and my friend from nursing school, Alicia. These pictures are just a very *tiny* snippit of an awesome and amazing trip. So much history, and so much gratitude for my faith and my Church. I'm still waiting to get most of the pictures from Kirtland and Nauvoo (cough, cough...Alicia!!...cough, cough), but if I had those pictures, this post would be forever long, so maybe it's a good thing that I don't have all the pictures anyway.

Sacred Grove

Book of Mormon printing press

The whole group!

The inner nurse in me couldn't resist taking this picture :)

Pretty sure this is Fayette, NY, where the first organized meeting of the Church met.

Palmyra, NY temple. We went to church at the Palmyra ward, and we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer. Coincidence? I think not :).

Don't mind the hair, it was super windy. This is Niagra Falls, which is marginally cool compared to Iguazu Falls in Brazil/Argentina. Alicia and I went there during nursing school, and were told multiple times on that trip that Iguazu is way cooler than Niagra. We couldn't help but make the comparison. But both falls are awesome, and both are very beautiful.

Nauvoo, IL Temple. So. Incredibly. Beautiful. I'm glad Alicia and I were able to do Temple Baptisms while we were there.

All in all, a great trip with great company. I'm so glad I was able to finally go.

OK, next up was family reunion in McCall, ID. What can be better than warm sun, family, and water sports? Probably nothing. So there you go. Some more pictures...

Charlotte couldn't even make it through dinner, she was so tired after having so much fun!

This cute couple found out whether they were having a boy or a girl with cupcake filling. They're having a girl! Congrats Paul and RaeAnn!

Sibs.

Girls day out to the sprawling city of McCall! It's actually a very fun little town, and I enjoyed it a lot. And, FYI, I'm the only not pregnant one in this picture.

And we celebrated my birthday! Can't believe I'm so old, I won't even disclose my age on my blog :) Oh, and those fries are definitely Gregory's-those are a little greasy for my taste.

All the grandkids minus Christian, who's on his mission in Brazil.

The whole crew on a family hike! A lot of fun and beautiful scenery! Paul and RaeAnn did a fantastic job of planning this reunion!

On to September: two main things to talk about, one being going hiking up Mt. St. Helens. This was such an awesome, fun hike! Super steep, but super fun! I went with my friend, Gari. We went up early in the morning, got up there before noon and made the round trip in about 8-9 hours. Not bad. On the way up, you go through about 3 different types of terrain, first being a "normal" hike through the woods, and then you get to the rocky part, where you're bouldering much of the way, and as you get closer to the top, you're basically hiking on ash, which is like hiking through sand. Which means that each step you take, you slide back 3/4 of that step. A little maddening since it's so steep and takes so much energy out of you, but it's so worth it with the view at the top. You look around and see Mt Adams, Mt Rainier, Mt. Constitution(?), etc. Fantastic view.

We opted to slide down a little bit on the snow banks on the way back down.

At the top!

Crater from the ridge at the top. It was a little creepy. We were sitting up there and eating a "lunch" of trail mix and turkey jerky, and the ground starts rumbling, rocks start sliding into the crater, and you can see steam coming out of the vents in the crater. Gari got a little nervous and wanted to head down. I, however, assured her that even if we left right then and the mountain erupted again, we'd still die, so we might as well enjoy the view. So we stayed up there for about 30 more minutes before heading back down. Luckily, the mountain decided not to blow, which I'm grateful for. :)

Heading back down.

The next day, Jessica and David joined us to hike the Ape Caves, which is one of the longest lava tubes in the world. Fun hiking/spelunking, but we were ready to go home after that.

The most recent trip taken was down to Salt Lake City for my Uncle Howard's funeral. He's been battling prostate cancer for the past several years, and the disease finally got the best of him. I am so sad that he is gone from this mortal life, and I already miss him terribly, but I'm so grateful that he's not in pain anymore, and that he is able to enjoy his time again now with my late Aunt Artelle.

So, my Uncle has a thing for big red trucks (probably because he's a Ute fan, which is unfortunate :)), and this particular one he get only a few months before he died. So, instead of a Hearse, he opted to be taken to the cemetery in his red truck!

Arnesens with the Rigtrup crew.

The day of Uncle Howard's funeral was also the day of the Relief Society broadcast, and we were able to get some tickets to attend the conference. It was so fun to be able to go with my mom and my sisters. It was a great meeting.

My cute, cute niece Jenna.

Before my siblings drove home to make it back to WA for the work week, we went to the MoTab choir broadcast Sunday morning, and got a picture in front of the Salt Lake temple. I was able to stay a couple of extra days, thanks to my work schedule to visit friends from college, which meant I got to see new homes and meet new babies that have been born since my last trip! I can't believe how grown up we all are, it's pretty crazy. I love my Utah friends, and I miss them so much when I'm in Seattle, but I'm grateful that I've been able to keep in touch with most of them and see them on occasion. It was an excellent trip.

Since then, I've been laying low, and actually been in town to hang out with my Seattle friends, which has been great! I always look forward to new adventures, but there is definitely something to be said for staying at home and enjoying the view. I can't believe it's already fall and Halloween is only a few weeks away! And I don't have to work Halloween night for the first time since moving back to Seattle. Any costume ideas for me??