End of Summer Hoorah!

After I left Spokane I headed back to my beloved Utah! 

My first stop was in Logan!  Here I met up with some of my friends, went to a rodeo and just lived it up in Cache Valley

This is one of my good friends Laurie!  She was the one that taught me ASL!

And the Cache Valley rodeo!  I love rodeos because they always remind me of the great country we live in! 

Cowboys! :)

So my next stop was to see the Park family!

Dolly had told Connor and Cambree that I was coming and I must’ve been on their mind bc when she was going through the mailer Connor saw this ad and said “Look, it’s Alycen” to which Cambree agreed!  Bless those two kids!  :)

We went swimming.  Cambree apparently wasn’t havin’ it!

We went to Ikea…

…and wore silly hats.

We stopped in Manti on our way home from Austin and Sherry’s (apparently I didn’t get any pictures there either!) But the ice cream was good!

Dolly and Travis were so nice to open their house for us and have a BBQ!  It was a lot of fun!  I love my family!

Rochelle and the girls!

Like mother like son! 

Melissa’s tan looks amazing!

Scott just trying to establish dominance.

Travis and Brian manning the BBQ.

The always lovely Sherry, who did not want to be photographed that day!

Love these men!

Brannigan’s looking pretty thug back there!

 

Now just flip through these next pictures.  We’re a pretty funny bunch!

Then everybody went away and it was just us.

But the kids sure loved the attention!

Love this!

And this was my last Hoorah before grad school begins and, so they say, my life will be crazy!

I’m so grateful for my wonderful friends and family!  I couldn’t be more blessed!

Last Dance with Spokane

So I left Spokane this past week and although I am very excited to see what Graduate school and, yes, even Pocatello Idaho have to offer me, I have loved my time in Spokane and will miss the friends I have made there.

So for a little going away party, we all got together at the town center.  First LauriAnn and I had a delicious dinner at the Milk Bottle!  Nicole Pace (Donovan) had told me about this place before I left Logan and it took me the full year to make it there!  It was very fun though! :)

Thanks Nicole!

Afterward we headed to downtown and ran into these nice folks who let us pretend to play their drums!  They were lots of fun!

Then, of course, we played in the fountain!

Mom grew up close to Spokane (Spokane was their big city) and so she had told me about their giant merry-go-round.  So we rode that too!

I played the love machine and got UNCONTROLLABLE! :)

LauriAnn tried to get uncontrollable, but broke it instead!  I hope that’s not an indication… ;)

In the city center they have this awesome goat that sucks up and trash that you might have.  Jacob decided to try to tame it!  Not sure who won on that! :)

Oh Collin Bateman!  He’s been a very good friend since coming here!

I am so grateful for the time that I was able to spend in Spokane. I’ve made incredible friends and learned so much about myself and what I am capable of.  I’ve learned how much I love my family and how much they help me, even if I do run away for a while.

I have been so grateful for LauriAnn and the support she has given me.  She has been such a great example of a woman who words hard and plays hard and never lets life’s twists and turns get her down. 

Ahhhhh, here we go to the next phase!

Epic Adventure Part II

Goodbye Victoria!

We were in a hurry so we didn’t get to really explore the city, but from the ferry it looks gorgeous!

Oh Canada!

This is when we pulled into Seattle.  Welcome to the west coast!

Kabbs had never been to Seattle, so I became the tour guide (that was fun!)

We stopped at Pike’s Place.

We are so cool!

We had to stop at my favorite bakery Le Panier!  AMAZING!  Just like before!

Almost classy! :)

We got to go to the Chihuly Garden and the Space Needle again.  It was just as cool as the first time!

 

The Space Needle!

Oh Seattle! How I love you!

After Seattle we hoped back in the car and headed down to Yakima where we met up with our good ol friends from our ward in Provo.  Jeremy and Carson!

The next day was Sunday and after church we packed up and headed to Mt Rainier!

It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been!

We discovered Blackbeard Moss!  :)

Carson was hilarious!  I think he should grow a mustache now!

Entering the park!

Breakfast the next morning!

A stop along the way.

We arrived at the park late that morning and we hit the trail right away.

I cannot explain how beautiful it was!  All the flowers were in bloom and the sky was so blue!

View from the top of the trail.

I’d like to introduce you to Mount Rainier!

Majestic to say the least!

The wildflowers were breathtaking!

Model pose!

After our amazing day hiking we made it back to Yakima and ate at the world famous Miller’s!

We were apparently starved, but luckily it was very delicious… And HUGE!

Unfortunately that marked the end of our trip and Kristen and I hopped back in the car and headed back to Spokane.

We stopped just passed the Columbia!

If you look really closely behind us you will notice all the horses on the ridge.  It was pretty cool!