Week In Review

Grad school has begun for the summer. I am not really excited about being in school but I am really happy that this is my last semester of class. I have class Monday through Thursday. So far so good. I am working on getting back into the habbit of reading research and understanding it. Understanding it being the key word. It is a skill I have had to learn and I have had to reteach myself this week because I kind of forgot in my three months off. Somehow in between my classes and studying I have had a lot of time to still do the things I love BIKE, HIKE, AND KAYAK!!!!
My goal for the summer is to bike 100 miles a week on my road bike. The first four weeks of summer I have been able to accomplish this goal so that has been good. I am now also using my mountain bike for transportation, whenever possible. It has been really good, other then I am adjusting to going to class sweaty. Not my favorite thing to do but I rationalize it because all the guys are married and GAS is so expensive I need to find ways to conserve. The good thing is that I am getting in much better biking shape. My legs were a lot more sore this week because of all the mountain biking miles on top of the road biking miles.

I have also squeezed in a little hiking. I have a few backpacking trips planned for later on in the summer so now is the time to get those muscles ready for the miles they will need to endure. The picture up above is me, Amber Ellis, Mattie Smith, and Shaanta Kamai. We hiked the Y at nine pm last night. It was actually cool and it was really fun. The Y is the fall back hike becasue you can do it really fast but it is steep and intense so it keeps your heart rate up.

Last but not least some kayaking time has been squeezed in. You can see below the beautiful beaches in Utah. Very rocky, weedy, and full of ticks (we checked ourselves afterwards). I told Shaanta who needs Hawaii when you have the amazing beaches in Utah. We headed up to Deer Creek Saturday afternoon and spent some time in the sun kayaking and swimming. The funny thing was this little ten year old girl asked if she could try my Kayaks and I was like um let me talk to your parents first. So her Dad said it was fine and this 10 year old girl took over the kayak it was hilarious. She let all of her cousins try it out and she taught them everything we had taught her about the kayaks and then she bossed them all around. It was really funny to watch. Sadly it reminded me a little of myself when I was little and I just took charge and bossed my brothers around. Good Times. I was glad they used them and enjoyed them because I figure they might as well get used and we were pretty much done kayaking by that point. So that is pretty much my week in review: school and playing that is how I spend my time.

Strawberry Days - Giddy UP!!

Amber Ellis, me, and her brother and his friends all went to the rodeo this evening. It was a blast. It was my 2nd time attending and they are really fun. This year I even purchased a cheap cowboy hat so I could fit in with everyone. It was a busy day filled with biking and kayaking in 100 degree weather so this was a fun way to relax and enjoy the evening.
One thing I really like about the rodeos is that they are really patriotic. It is nice to sit and remember all the blessings we have in this country.
I was trying to get some pictures of the cowboys but I have not quite figured out all the settings on my new camera, especially taking action shots. Anyways it was really fun and I think we are going to go with some of our friends next week, it is the Lehi Round-Up and that was really fun last year so why not go again.
The drama of the day was that I went to move my clothes from the washer to the dryer and guess what was in the bottom of the wash machine .......... think about what you would least want to see at the bottom. For me it was my jump drive that has my thesis on it. You know the one I will never lose and so I never did back-up the last revisions. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. I choose not to kick anything because I have a hard copy and what was done was done. However I said a little prayer. The jump drive did not work all day but tonight when I came home I tried again and it worked. That is an answer to my prayer as well as a blessing in my life. I was already thinking about who I could pay to re-type the 36 pages. I am just really grateful that it works, so that was my miracle for the day. Don't worry I have now backed up my thesis on my computer as well, I learn the hard way sometimes.

Happy Fathers Day

Probably the best Father Day gift we could give my Dad was to have all of the kids home for a few days. We had a good time together even though it was crazy in our small house.

I just needed to take time and wish my dad a happy Fathers Day!! It was great to be home and be able to spend the day with him. Some of the best qualities my dad has is that he is hardworking, funny (sometimes), loves his family, and is always willing to help others (not necessarily w/out complaining but hey who does not complain once in a while). I always felt safe as a child because I knew my Dad would always protect me. I also knew that he loved me even though the word love is not really in his vocabulary. Happy Fathers Day!!!
This picture is our BBQ on Saturday. Daniel has been wanting to try to cook shiscobobs for a while and so we tried them out and they were amazing. They turned out great and we can't wait to try them again.

Grandma's Bday

My Grandma Brown was also able to come and greet Aaron on his day of homecoming and to top it off it was her birthday as well. It was really fun to be able to celebrate her birthday and Aarons homecoming all in one day. My grandma is an amazing woman and I really look up to her as an example of a woman who has lived a very good life in which she has dedicated so much of her time to her family. She also has been a volunteer in her community for a number of years. She is also the best cook I have ever known. She has never made food that I didn't enjoy eating.
The cake we made for her birthday was a little crazy because I put to much whip cream on it. My bad!!! But it tasted good even though it looked terrible. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Aaron is Home!!

Aaron came home safe and sound on June 12th. It was a crazy few days leading up to his homecoming all of Palermo was on fire and our house was crazy as family members arrived to meet him at the airport. He flew into the Chico airport. It was really fun to be at the airport when a missionary comes home, other then my own homecoming I have never been at the airport for a missionaties return. From experience it is a lot more comfortable not being the missionary returning home. It was lots of fun to be reunited with Aaron and to have our family all together for the first time in 4 years and two weeks.
One of the first things my brothers did was begin the measuring game to see how tall Aaron is compared to everyone else in the family. It turns out that he is now the shortest brother in the Brown family. Caleb and Anthony passed him up while he was gone and Aaron really did not grow much. I guess he will be the shorty in the family as far as the brothers are concerned.

You would think that trying to get a picture of my brothers would be a simple task but let me tell you it was not. There was only one that turned out really good because someone was goofing off in every other picture. It was really fun to sit and watch my brothers to be crazy as they were all together again. (This is not one of the good ones.)
Again another exapmle of the craziness. Before the airplane arrives I mentioned to my Dad that I would be dissapointed if Aaron did not wear a cowboy hat home. My Dad argued with me and said that he did not think that Aaron would have one. Well I was right. He stepped of the plane carrying a hat. Caleb quickly grabbed the hat and wore it the rest of the time we were at the airport. I think it is a good look for him.
My Mom and her two sisters Nancy and Loralie are so funny to watch. They have so much fun when the three of them are together and they loook so much alike. I am always sad that I don't have a sister because they have so much fun together, luckily for me I have a cool sister in law and I have faith that my other brothers will marry women just as cool so that I can have as much fun with them as my Mom has with her sisters.

WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF????

Every year in Utah there is a 100 mile all women bike ride called "The Little Red Riding Hood." I have wanted to participate in the race the past three years but each year I have had a conflict. This year there were no conflicts and I had the opportunity to ride with over 2000 other women. There are men dressed up as wolves that serve the food and hang out because there are "No cowboys allowed" on the bike course. After seeing the wolf and little red riding hood I am less frightened by the wolf. I kept my distance from little red. I did the ride with two friends from my last ward, Amber Ellis and Jenni Carlquist. We stayed at Ambers grandmas the night before because the ride took place in Wellsville, some podunk town in notheren Utah most people don't know existed. We rode as far north as Preston, Idaho. Overall it was a really fun day. There was a lot of wind so it was a little slower then I anticipated but it was fun and if I am around next year I am sure I will sign up for the craziness again. Pre-race picture. The sun cam out right at the start so I shed my rain coat and long tights. DUMB!! It was actually freezing all day and it rained a little. Bad decision. At lunch a lady said to me, "Your lips are blue." As I am shivering uncontrollably. It was a little better while I was riding because I was at least working out.
Post race picture and we are all smiling. I always ask my self why do I keep doing these century rides because they are hard but I can not resist. Who knows I will do at least one more this summer.

WOLF CREEK RESORT

It was my roomate Shaanta's Birthday last Friday so me, Shaanta, and Emily went to wolf creek resort and stayed at Shaanta's Moms condo. It was really nice and relaxing especially because Friday was the last day of school.
The scenery was really pretty and it was really nice weather. We played the WII, watched movies, ate out, and did a lot of reading. I love to read and it was so nice to have a lot of time to lounge around and read. You know wake up read then go to the hot tub, read some more and then workout, read some more and then cook dinner, read sme more and then go on a hike. I read one and a half books so as you can see I did a lot of reading. Shaanta hates to read so she always says, "Stop reading this isn't the library!"
Overall a great way to start my summer vacation. If you are wondering what I have done with my two days of freedom the answer is bike lots of miles, hike, take pictures, and take a nap everyday. I love taking naps. Is that bad? It is probably one of my favorite things about holidays is that I can take my afternoon nap. So far it has been a great summer vacation and after only two days I am reassured that deciding to be a teaher was a good decision.