Our Own Private Idaho

This past weekend we were lucky enough to go up to a cabin just outside of Preston, Idaho. We went with Jordan's old mission companion Zac, his wife and then two other couples. It was so fun! We have been meaning to go camping, but camping in a cabin is DEFINITELY our kind of camping.

We got up there on Friday night. Being the gamer that I am, I was in heaven when we played games until the wee hours of the night. (See ya next week Jack... can't wait for the Mario Marathon! {my nephew Jack heard that we were coming down next weekend and asked his mom if we could play Mario. Of course we can! Can't wait!})

The group before the tubing adventure.

On Saturday, we woke up and decided to float the river. I was lucky enough to inherit my mother's death fear of snakes. Now most people are kinda afraid of snakes, but us Gildea girls are REALLY afraid of snakes, like REALLY afraid... to the point of not wanting to do any type of activity if there could possibly be a run in with a snake (thanks mom). I was really really nervous that one was going to float right up to me while going down the river, I would probably freak out and tip my tube over, thrash around in the water and then stop breathing. No really, I did imagine all of this taking place before we went down there. I am happy to report that there were no snakes on the river today! We had so much the first time going down that we decided to go down again. The water was sooooo warm and it had just the perfect amount of rapid mixed with the perfect amount of calm, slow water. Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was definitely when I was getting out of my tube the second time and plop, a bird pooped right on my leg. My hands were full so I asked Jordan to wash it off of my leg. I guess he wasn't really getting the idea and washed it back towards me in the tube. Yuck.

When we got back from the river, we decided to kick around and shoot some guns. Jordan is a shooting virgin and I am pretty sure that I am too... although I may have had some experience as a kid with a beebee (BB? Bebe?) gun, but I don't really remember. Regardless, it had been awhile and I was all embarrassed to try it out because I just knew I wasn't going to be very good... well I was a lot better than I thought I was! I actually hit the target thing and kinda a lot too. Not to brag or anything, but I was like the second best shooter. Jordan did pretty good too! We were both getting the hang of it I guess.

A natural

Then we shot the shot gun... not so much. I think I hit the clay pigeon by sheer luck and I am pretty sure it was the same story for Jordan as well. Plus it was so freaking loud and the gun had so much force it practically knocked me back. As Jordan said, the little shooting that we did was just the right amount for both of us.

Getting the instructions
So hardcore

The boys had a lot of fun playing bocce ball the WHOLE weekend. They had competition after competition after competition. I am surprised I don't have any pictures of it because every free bit of time was spent outside playing it. Let's just say that wedding present was a HIT!

I love this picture. I look like a freaky bug and Jordan looks like he wants a little le
ss picture taking and little more fourwheeling. Which he did.

We also went fourwheeling a little bit. It was so pretty up there and we were able to just ride through these big meadows, up huge rocky hills, etc. It was so fun!


I definitely wish that we had about five more days up there. I wasn't ready to leave!

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Furr!

Last week, we had the chance to go to my old roommate and friend Megan and her new husband Ryan's wedding. It was my first chance to actually go to a sealing (besides my own of course) and the ceremony was wonderful.

Megan looked great and everything turned out beautiful!

The girls waiting for the newlyweds to come out. L to R: Tara, Devrie, Laura, Nan, Me, Tawny

Nan and I. It only took us about five tries to get a picture that Nan was satisfied with.
Tara and I The happy couple FINALLY coming out. They took forever.
This is our mock wedding picture since we didn't get any in front of the Temple on our wedding day. They were unfortunately doing construction during that time :( And just kidding, we just took this picture for fun, not to replace anything for the wedding..

Congratulations Meg and Ryan!

The 4th... a little late

I know it has been over a week since the 4th of July, but I am still going to post about it. I wish I could blame my non-posting on me being busy, but I think this time it has just been pure laziness.

Anyway, the festivities started on Thursday. My friend Christiana and I were at lunch and saw a bunch of people lining up for the parade. We thought that it was a great idea to have her fiance Justin go and set up a spot to save for the following morning. So they got all of the supplies and set up camp. We went swimming and to dinner, etc and then went back to our spot at like 10 pm. Unfortunately, right after we got there, the sprinklers turned on and soaked all of our stuff and kicked us out of our spots for about two hours.
While we waited, we were fortunate enough to watch the madness. I have never seen Provo like this. I could have sworn I was on the Strip in Vegas. There were so many cars and people. We were going to sleep there, but the longer we stayed, the more we realized that this wasn't the best idea. It was absolutely crazy. We didn't exactly pick the best location either. We were right next to a huge group of high-schoolers who were throwing fireworks at people trying to sleep, getting in fist fights and just all around being mature. We were also right by 7-11 which was a huge gathering place.
The parking lot was actually packed full of people. At about 1 or 1:30, we decided to call it quits so we could at least get a few hours of sleep.

We came back the next morning to watch the parade and the only thing Jordan really had to say was, "This is it?! People actually wait around for this?!" This might be our last year in attendance...

The rest of the day was spent swimming, laying out and just relaxing. Unfortunately, we didn't have tickets to the Miley Cyrus Stadium of Fire (rats) so we had to make due by watching the fireworks from a near-by park.

Jordan and Justin
Christiana and Kristine...we just came back from the pool. No judging.
The Girls. Natalie, Christiana and Kristine
Long story short-- no one had ever been to the Stadium of Fire, so I was explaining at the beginning of the fireworks show, there is this awesome song about the Stadium of Fire. Cheesy lines of song, explosion of fireworks, "Stadium of Fire!", explosion of fire. If you have never been, this probably doesn't make sense...
Jordan's version
Excited for the fireworks

All in all, it was a great day. I love this holiday and this year did not disappoint!