August 2010- Summer Continues

August surely flew by too quickly, and what a fun month it was!  Jake finally ended his summer classes on the sixth; he was quite happy about that.  We went out to Mandarin Garden in celebration.  The next evening we enjoyed doing Initiatories for my first time as proxy work, then had a nice dinner with the Peterson’s at Elements, followed by The Sound of Music at the Ellen Eccles.  I’d only seen it previously as a movie, but it is definitely one of my favorite musicals now.

The following day Jake and I both left for Girls camp.  Jake was a priesthood representative for two of the days, while I stayed all four as my last responsibility in YW prior to the ward split.  The camp went very well and was lots of fun!  It was very different from the previous camps I had been to as a girl and not a leader.  The leaders at this camp outnumbered the girls.  We had two camp leaders, myself, and the two priesthood holders, and just four girls!  We stayed at a nice camp just an hour away, in Idaho.  We did the usual certification, crafts, devotionals, endless games, s’mores, testimony meeting, and hiked Minnetonka Cave.  I arrived back on the 13^th.  Jake and I recapped about the experience over Olive Garden’s delicious soup, salad, and breadsticks.  He then went to work, while I met my parents at the Cache County Fair and then went over to visit the fun Nyman family at grandma & grandpa’s!  It was a lot of fun to visit with them and see Kelly’s cute little baby bumpJ! 

The following day we went and played with the Roskelley’s on Bear Lake’s North Beach.  I don’t think I’d ever seen the beach so packed- I guess everyone was trying to squeeze in the fun the last free weekend before school started!  We had lots of fun playing sand volleyball and wave running.  The next day Scott was ordained a Teacher.  It was a very nice ordination followed by a yummy dinner with both grandparents.  On Monday, we met up with the Peterson’s and some other families for their annual boat-racing event!  We ate a yummy potluck dinner and then raced our homemade boats down the river running behind Logan High.  Some of the interesting items on these boats were: a Barbie, Mannequin Head, and a rubber ducky!  The boats were made out of anything and everything, from a plastic diaper tub, a baking tray, to a milk carton.  I’m not sure there was ever an official winner, but we sure had fun racing! 

On the 19^th we enjoyed a fun night out!  We “collected” our 10^th temple- the Bountiful Temple!  It is now one of my favorite temples; it is very gorgeous, especially the Celestial room!  We then had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  We went in reminiscence of my birthday dinner back in March.  For my birthday, we had gone to the Jordan River temple and then out to the Cheesecake Factory where Jake had presented me with two tickets to Lion King the musical for August!  So, needless to say, we then went to the musical following our dinner.  The costumes were absolutely incredible; they blew me away!  What a great, uplifting musical!

We enjoyed a fun surprise dinner for my uncle Kevin on the 20^th as well as attending Jake’s five-year class reunion at Adam’s park.  We had a great morning the following day, going horseback riding with grandpa Neal! Grandpa was great to teach us all about how to get the horses ready.  We went on a pretty trail up past Camp Lomia in Logan canyon. We had an enjoyable time on Chip and Lobo! 

On the 24^th, I had the fun opportunity to go to a cooking class at Hamilton’s with Jake’s mom and grandma.  We were instructed on how to make about 6 different items covering appetizers, entrees, and dessert.  We were given the recipes to each and were even able to eat each item as well! Yum, Yum!  The next day was our 1 year engagement anniversary.  We had exchanged presents a few days prior to our anniversary, because on the day of I worked during the morning and at noon we left for my yearly USU Ambassador retreat.  Since we celebrated our anniversary ahead of time, I was very unsuspecting when I showed up to work and found a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses and a Symphony candy bar on my desk!  It was a lovely surprise!  As for the retreat… we started it off with sandwiches at First Dam, and then played group games on the beach at Bear Lake, enjoyed Café Sabor for dinner, followed by some more fun games.  Spouses headed home later that evening as the next day was just filled with going over our responsibilities and the year overview. 

On Friday of that week, we went to the Logan High Football game to watch Heather dance at half time as part of the Hi-lo mini-clinic.  She was very cute out there “busting a move!”  The game was also very exhilarating.  Logan High won in double over time.  That weekend, I also (FINALLY) finished my Levi quilt I had been working on for eternity.  Now I have that checked off my bucket list and won’t ever have to do another one (right)?  For some reason, I’m sure I’ll get sucked back into it again!  It is fun to see the finished product, though! To make the most of our siblings last bits of “freedom!” we had a fun night with them the night before their school started.  We went mini golfing and then had slushies afterward.

School is back in session and we feel as busy as ever… just as most of you!  Happy September!                                     Love, Kristina & Jake

*I have included a poem that Jake wrote in his spare time to express enthusiasm for his favorite time of year… Autumn!
                                                                              ACT II

The summer cast is at the curtain,
Here comes the final bow.
With the sunburns a hurtin’.
The memories certain,
It’s time they leave us now.

The boats and the cabins,
The wild chuck wagons,
Now seem so long in the past.
The grills and the kites,
The late starry nights,
They came and they left so fast.

Although it seems sad,
It’s not all that bad.
Don’t cry or shed a tear.
The curtain once closed,
Now is exposed.
The autumn and winter casts are here.

From the leaves that fall,
The heroic football,
To the Christmas lights so bright.
The school year has come,
Now no more hum drum.
I’m thinking it will be all right.