Crash Catch Up!

Wow, I've been a slacker at blogging, so here's a catch up.

On our (long) drive back to Utah from Philadelphia we were able to stop and see Melissa and take her and her companion out to lunch on her mission in Marietta, OH. On our way out of town she pointed out one of the local mounds built by the Hopewell or "Mound builder" indians. It was especially cool because we'd just listened to a DVD about how the events of the Book of Mormon could have taken place in the great lakes region and he postulates that the Mound Builders were Nephites. But it was fun to see Melissa! Both Brian and I were excited to head home for Utah, but Brian was especially ready for the summer to be over. He told me he never even wanted to look at an alarm system again! Our summer went well, and at least I had a lot of fun too, but we're ready for this next phase. Especially the part about not having to move in a couple of months. We've moved every four months since we were married!

Brian is taking lots of science classes this semsester at SUU. He's doing well in all of his classes and really enjoys them. Our friend Taylor came up to visit us one weekend and he talked Brian into running a 5K with him. Brian hasn't run at all since we were in Africa, and he just up and ran cold turkey without training at all! I took pictures and cheered for them. The next day I laughed a lot at Brian's expense because he was so sore he was walking like an old man!

Seth has been after Brian to take him on a "boy's only" camping trip for a long time now. But I didn't want to be left behind so I talked them into letting Sarah and I come along too. We had a great time building a big fire, cooking and eating tin foil dinners, roasting marshmallows, and telling scary stories. It was a fun night out.
Silly Boys!

I went up to Idaho with Mom and the four youngest to Idaho Falls to visit Grandpa and Grandma Gunderson. I haven't seen them since Linsy's wedding so I'm glad we were able to go. We made rhubarb blueberry jam, went and visited Sheridan at BYU-Idaho, made bread, and just visited, played and had a great time. We went up when Grandma and Grandpa had a few days off from working at the temple visitor's center. It's another mission for them and is a lot of work, but they do an awesome job. I love my Grandparents a ton! On our drive back home we stopped in SLC at the Hogle zoo. Dallin especially loved all the animals. It's really been fun to live close to family again. We've either been working like crazy while we were close by, or thousands of miles away from them ever since we got married. Even the 7 hour drive to Arizona doesn't seem so bad to us after the 36 hour drive to PA!

See the jaguar in the background? He's drinking at the top of the waterfall.