In my own backyard

Utah is amazing! I’ve lived here all my life yet it turns out it’s a rather foreign and lovely world to me. Katie’s friend Chelsea from Connecticut came to “see the west” this week so I took the week off work and Katie and I took her hiking, rock climbing, camping, swimming ETC and it was great.
Joseph, a great family friend, showed up at the Bean Museum on Friday and then accompanied us, or more like it fueled, our trip to Mona Lake as we loaded up the kayaks and jumped in the car.

Swinging from great heights x rickety ropes / murky scum water + Joseph, Katie, Sally Chelsea = wicked fun.

THEN we went camping. We made tinfoil dinners and found some leftover juice boxes and thew them in the car with some sleepin' bags and campin' stuff and went to cherry campground up hobble creek. Joseph and I were chief overseers of tent put up and we both had rather drastically different visions of how to get it off the ground. Mary held the flash light patiently for about an hour in the dark as we played with different configurations of poles and possible tent shapes. We thought about calling it quits a few times but couldn't really think of anything we'd rather be doing... it was a fun late night jigsaw puzzle! We finally did figure it out, but only after we realized we must be missing some poles. and so we slept on top of the tent under the amazingly humongous starry sky and got bug bites all over our bodies.
THEN in the morning we packed up camp and went rock climbing. At rock canyon. With real ropes and tiny shoes. Professional style. It was amazing! Joseph introduced us to his friend Art Van valkenburk or something like that who was a fantastic rock climber and awesome teacher. He was so patient as I proved to be the worst in our group at climbing but I did make it to the top!! wahoo! we went again Monday morning on a much harder climb and though I think Kaite pulled half my weight up as she belayed me, I once again succeeded and am really sore right now. It opened my eyes to the beauty of rock climbing! When Art did it it was amazing! I realized rock climbers embody all I want to be! My goal is to, by the end of the summer, have developed the characteristics of a true rock climber: I'll be a scrapy hippie who sleeps in, dreams too big, and wears tevas. Just who i've always wanted to be! Also, I'll be a hard a climber.
ANYWAY...after we went rock climbing we finally took Joseph home - he is a true inspiration of spontaneity! The whole family loves this guy... I'm starting to think that he may be the perfect option for marriage for my older sister Katie. However I have always somewhat been under the same impression with Mary in that he kinda looks like Abraham Lincoln - really big forehead, kinda balding...
We hiked the Y Wednesday night with Andrew, John, and his friend paco. Last time my family hiked the Y it was with Bronzson instead of Paco... it made me nostalgic. I kinda wish we were still friends. I keep thinking how this time last year he was my best friend. And now we're not even talking. Cause I told him not to talk to me ever again. I'm not really mad at him anymore, I think he was an idiot but I miss being his friend! But I think it's too late to apologize. and he never apologized to me. ugh stupid blah blah stupid stuff.
Speaking of Andrew and John, they and paul are currently either in Italy or Egypt or dead in a ditch. they're backpacking through Europe for this entire month - hitting up basically every country in Europe except Spain I think. I'm so jealous. One day I'll get out there and see the world! But I guess for now I'm quite content to live in my beautiful Utah home.