Cake for Breakfast: Summer Adventures in Pictures

I'm so blessed! We've gotten to do a lot over the summer- rock climbing, camping, hikes, food and games with friends, boating, and road trips- but probably my favorite part of the summer is getting to go home and see our families. Last weekend, we took a trip to Rock Springs to visit the new busy mothers on Mike's side of the family, and this past weekend, we got to go to Kaysville for "the Jenson Family Reunion." It's been so great to see everyone! I'll have those photos soon (sorry to mislead you)...but in the meanwhile, enjoy some other pics from our summer!

We were just enjoying a walk down Center Street one day when we discovered a tree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have gotten to be great friends with some people in our ward (the McQuays, Killins, Leavitts, Valentines, Scotts, etc.) and so we took a hiking trip to Mt. Timpanogos Cave. It's actually really gorgeous and cool (temperature) even in the summer time and was a really fun experience! There's a part of the cave tour where they turn off the lights and it gets pitch black. When this part came, a man's little girl came up to Mike and, mistaking him for her daddy, grabbed his arm and used his hand to cover her eyes! It was so cute, even though she got scared when they turned on the lights and she realized who he wasn't.

From left to right: Heather Scott, Ashley & Mike Sanderson, Mike & Sarah Killin, and Kristen & Mark Valentine

This is another, er, part of the cave. Perhaps the utters?

The cave walls were generally more moist than usual because of the great amount of melted snow they've had lately. It was kind of fun to see! Also, because this formation was closer to the cave's natural entrance, the rock looked a lot darker

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These were fireworks from the Orem Festival "Days of Summer" (I think...Firework pictures all secretly look the same to me). We went with the Killins and my cousin Dan's group of friends

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camping with the Blumels up at Glendo, WY was a TON of fun! When we got there, we broke a streak of bad weather they'd been having, only to find that we brought with us other bad luck. When they tried tried to get the boat running, they found that the starter had gone out; but they were so generous and actually rented a "water rat" for the day so we could still wake/knee-board and tube. It was Mike and my first camping adventure together and we had fun driving the jet ski for each other, cooking, and even braving the nighttime gale which threatened to collapse our tent in on us about every 10 minutes! It's kind of sad to see the art of tent camping is dead--ours was the only one out on the lake! But even though we roughed it with our accommodations, we ate such good food, including our homemade garlic chicken kabobs, chili, chicken-salad sandwiches, and hardboiled eggs! I swear, I was soooooo proud of the meal planning I did to get ready for this trip.

Oh! Side note. So I woke up one morning sicker than a dog and decided to go near the car to...empty my stomach. Well, Mike was such a supportive husband (as always) and came with me to, watch? or help, or just support me I guess. No sooner had I begun the chore than a group of college kids drove by and started honking their horn, waving out the window and yelled "Yeah! All right! Woohoo!" It was hilarious because they thought we were partiers out on the lake who had had too much the night before (let me assure you that this was not the case).

Gorgeous water and a great view we got when we hiked this ridge on the other side of the lake. When I skiid out by myself at night, this cove was beautiful in the setting sunlight and there were deer along the bank of the river.

Did I mention the water was glass?

the cute couple (our nickname)

Chelsea is so cute!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finally got some photos of Women's Conference from my mom. This is the annual Jenson girls' ritual that has expanded to include college-aged women in my family as well (so far, I'm the first new member). Each year, my grandma and her three girls drive down to Provo and stay at the Water's house (owned by a family friend) and enjoy a week of spiritual insight, family, and crafting humanitarian aid projects. This year, the concert on the last night featured Hillary Weeks (which is also a tradition at the conference I guess) and an amazing pianist just off his mission, Donny Osmond's nephew, Vocal Point, and was MC'd by Kirby Heyborne.

While all of the speakers and entertainment were amazing, the part I enjoyed most was getting to be with my beautiful mother, and her mom...three generations which was very special to me.