He Made It Home

of course! They made it home safe and sound and no one was hurt, except Dad C.'s horse Lighting, but he'll be fine. I'm so proud of Jake because he TOOK PICTURES!

So he left our house at like 7 am. Then they got the horses loaded and drove for an hour and a half. Then they were ready to ride to the campsite!

Dad C. and Kayla riding

Jake riding... And a gorgeous background!

So pretty!

Dad C. and Kayla

Kayla and Jake in the tent playing some game that is like phase ten, but it's the Cromwell version

Dad C. and Jake all ready to go fishing!

Jake in his fishing gear

Jake fishing

Dad C. and Kayla sitting around the campfire one night

Kayla freezing and studying her butt off on the benches and little table Jake made

Jake fishing on the last day

Being goofy. This is his fly that caught him like eight fish in two hours.

Dad C. and Jake leaving the camp on the last day and heading up to the Upper Lake... To play on the rope swing...

Kayla about to go into the freezing cold water...

She's in.

Jake about to go in...

He had a video of him doing it and he yelled "I love Rachel!" but I can't find it!

But then they made it back to the horse trailer and came home!!
I'm glad Jake got to go up into the mountains. I hear he's grumpy all winter if he doesn't go at least once in the summer. Mostly I'm glad they had fun and were safe!

SPOILED ROTTEN

So to keep me entertained while he was gone, Jake got me....

A KINDLE!!!!! (it's also an early birthday present)

I'm naming her Kinzie. :)

Jake is so awesome. I can't even believe I have Kinzie my Kindle!

It was still a long three day weekend but Kinzie did help make the time go by. ; )

Bodies Exhibit

Mom C., Bomer (Shalina), Dane, Dash and I went and saw the exhibit on Saturday! I feel so smart after going! It was FASCINATING. We learned that all the specimen were from China and that their laws are different concerning what to do with dead people so when someone dies and their family can't afford a funeral, the body gets donated to science. They love to donate to this bodies exhibit because every ten years they switch to new bodies and they call the families of the old bodies and throw a really nice funeral for them. I also learned that getting the bodies to this exhibit takes 1 year of prep. I can't remember all the lingo or the order but they first soak in some chemical for three months that takes off the skin and fat. Then they do the same procedure that they do for baseball cards, they soak it in something for 6 months that makes it have a plastic (or rubber maybe...) covering! Then they do something else for three months and then the bodies are ready! I also read about how they got the one specimen they had that was all blood vessels ready but I can't remember what the process was called or how they did it... arg! It was so amazing though. And they said that every single thing in the museum is real, the eyes, nails, blood vessels, everything! It was really creepy if I thought about it but I just didn't.

I also learned lots of random facts that I of course don't remember most of. Like, you have to take in 3500 more calories than your body burns before you gain a pound. Same thing with losing a pound, you have to burn 3500 calories more than you took in before a pound is lost. Babies are born color blind, I already knew that. On average people let out a disturbing amount of gas every day, I don't remember how much. Something like 30% of the people in the world have an extra rib. Most of the dust in your house is dead skin-puke. People literally shed like 15 pounds of skin every year! There were so many other cool/sick/weird/random facts that I wish I could remember!

The baby room wasn't as cool as the bodies exhibit I went to in Oregon. One of the babies really did look like Voldemort, sceery. They had a placenta that was from triplets, it was so huge but way cool!

They had one body that was broken into two parts and they were facing each other, the skeleton of the body and the muscle of the body, same person! It was so neat! And that specific specimen has broken his upper arm and had not been able to afford treatment so you could see on his arm bone a huge bump from where the calcium deposits had healed it itself. SAD. I wish I could have taken pics but that was not allowed. It was just super super cool and I would go like three times if I could. I wish I could have gone with Jake, because it was SO COOL! But he was on his forever long horsepacking trip.

Speaking of this trip to the mountains, it's really bothering me because I have an over active imagination when it comes to bad things happening to people and he has no service so I have not talked to him since 7 am Saturday morning. And I'm nervous for them because Tyson ended up not going and so it's just Dad C. with a really bad leg, Kayla with, let's be real, no survival skills, and Jake. For all I know the bear that was spotted there THIS WEEK ate them. Or worse, just mutilated them and they are currently suffering and bleeding to death. Or their horses freaked out and they are all stranded running out of food. Or they drowned in the river while bathing. Or they were eaten by a piranha while fishing. Or Dad C. re-broke his leg so they're waiting for someone to find them. Or Kayla wandered off and got lost so Dad C and Jake are still looking for her. Or SOMETHING and they won't come back tonight like they are supposed to and then, if you think I'm being ridiculous now, I will REALLY freak out and basically Jake will never be allowed to do anything ever again. Woo glad I got all that off my chest! Haha. Seriously though, I have not fallen asleep until like 2 am every night and I've gone to bed between 11 and midnight!

Anyways back to my actual post about the exhibit, it was amazing and fascinating and I love doing things that make me feel smart! I'm glad I went!

Also, I'll update you about whether Jake makes it home or not, because I'm sure everyone is as worried as I am, right?

On The Drive Home...

from Bear Lake, Jake and I saw a double rainbow! It was cool because from the angle we were at we could only see one end of it and then the farther we drove the more and more we could see until finally we could see the whole thing! Then the farther we drove the more it disappeared until we could only see the other end of it! I tried to get good pics but they are lame-o. And you can only see the top rainbow in some of them. The inside rainbow was SO bright sometimes but the top one was always barely there, rainbows are the coolest thing.

We also saw this cute license plate :) in case you can't read it, it says eluvsme, he loves me, so cute!

Bear Lake August 2011

Jake and I got more time off work this round! Yay! We drove down Wednesday night when I got off work. We stayed in the mountain cabin. I was determined to take A TON of pictures. But I seriously have like maybe 10 pictures total. I'm more than a little bummed!!!

Thursday Jake and I jet skii'd (sp?) around the entire lake! It took us 2 1/2 hours! It's a huge lake! It was super fun. We got super burned though because neither one of us has even seen the sun this entire summer. I read like 80 pages in the book I'm reading. We also built a water trampoline! It was sooo funny and I really didn't think it would work. The older siblings pitched in and bought two trampolines and I think five of those big black tubes. We flipped one trampoline upside down and tied the tubes onto the bottom of the tramp. Then we put the other trampoline on top of the upside down one and hooked the legs together with metal thingies. At first it was not bouncy at all and I left to go on a jet ski ride but I think they took out the tube that was tied t0 the center of the trampoline and they tied the tubes so that they were just around the edge and hanging out a bit. Anyways, whatever they did it worked because that thing was so much fun! It looked a little white trash ;) but it was a blast to play on.


Friday I got a new swimming suit because my thighs were so burned from Thursday that I wanted longer shorts. So I got board shorts! And I love them. And Jake taught me how to surf behind the boat! I never got to the point where I could let go of the rope but it was fun the few times that I lasted a couple of minutes! Jake and I went knee boarding together, it was so fun! I had never knee boarded two at a time before! Jake, of course, was standing up and doing 360's and spinning in and out of the wake and splashing me and knee boarding backwards etc etc but I just sat there lol and it was so fun! I also learned how to ride the standing jet ski! You start out kneeling down and then stand up. I like it better just kneeling down but it was pretty cool.

Saturday was kind of a friend day. Most of Jake's family left to go to a family reunion and so it was just Dane and Shalina and Dash, Tyson, and Kayla. So Jake's old mission companion Chris came and brought his girlfriend Elise with him. We had a kinda chill day. It was a little stormy so we went out and watched Tyson and Kayla surf together, Kayla on Tyson's shoulders... It's impressive because surfing behind the boat is hard even when you're hanging onto the rope! Then Jake taught Chris and Elise how to surf, and I tried again, and then we went in and went to a pizza place then played card games with the others for a while. Jake and I went out on another jet ski ride and we took Chris and Elise with us so we had all four of us on one jet ski. Jake went over a couple of waves that almost knocked Chris off the back! After that we went water skiing.



Sunday we slept in and it was wonderful. We went to Bear Lake's sacrament meeting and I felt cool because I recognize the people in that ward now, I've gone like five or six times this last year! Then we spent the rest of the day cleaning the mountain cabin, lake cabin, boats, and jet skiis. I badly wanted to get back in the water!! Curses!!

My Brother Daniel

Daniel is one special kid... err young man. He is seriously the sweetest person ever. He is a peacemaker. He is helpful. He is funny. He is talented. He just rocks. He drew this picture in church and I think it's so awesome!
I miss my family!

He Makes Me Happy

He....

makes me laugh

cleans the house

is a really good cook

gives me massages

writes me notes

brings me lunch when I work on Saturdays

takes an hour lunch break every day that he works so he can come home and eat with me

takes me to the temple at least once a week

sings while he cleans, cooks, showers, everything

makes me try new things

takes me out on a date every couple weeks

wants to be a dad

is always happy

has a contagious laugh and smile

is so much fun to be with

always says it's my turn to pick the movie we're gonna watch

lets me bore him with my opinions and stories about the books I'm reading

dances like a dork to make me laugh

makes sure I always have flowers

gets all ready for work in the morning and then gets back in bed and cuddles with me until it's time for him to go

helps me wake up and get ready when I have to go into work early in the morning (I am not a morning person, he is)

brushes my hair

makes sure I always have a ton of lotion and my favorite chapstick

always makes sure I'm happy and if I'm not he finds out why and fixes it no matter how insignificant or dumb the reason is

is super cute

is super sexy

is friends with everyone

helps everyone, almost to the point of driving me crazy

is good at everything he tries

loves loves loves horses and makes sure that I do too, haha

loves to work and help people in any way he can

tells me I'm pretty

tells me I'm sexy

always kisses me goodnight

supports me

is so fast to forgive me when I act crazy

really truly cares about my family

can be a five year old but he can also be serious

is so good with kids- his nieces and nephews, my siblings, our primary class

is a really good teacher

is definitely my better half

Townhouse

Back in the beginning of July we moved from our apartment in Rexburg, to our townhouse in Idaho Falls! The plan was for me to go to Itech to do nursing and Jake to go to Itech to finish automotive.... Long story short I'm going to BYUI for social work (and I am REALLY EXCITED about it) and Jake is going to decide before January where he will either start his winter/spring track at BYUI or start the automotive program at Itech. For the record, we still LOVE living in IF way better than Rexburg and we LOVE our ward and our calling. We team teach the CTR 6 kids in primary and it's so fun.

So onto the tour of our new place....

This is when you walk in the front door. Our couches were from the Cromwell parents when they got new ones! Yay! (The pile of clothes are my summer clothes that my momsy sent me!!!)

This is the big blank wall that needs something. That's our TV, also from the Cromwells.

This closet rocks it's so big. We keep all of our shoes and picnic baskets and suitcases in there.

This is the half bath that is on the main floor.

This is our pantry. I'm so excited to have a pantry!

Even better, this is our LAUNDRY ROOM. I so love it!! and yes that's the cute C from our reception hanging there.... I need to decide where to hang it!

This is our kitchen... Don't know why the picture is so dark. I love the curtains by the way.

More kitchen.

More kitchen. It's so much bigger than our last kitchen it's great.

The clock we got from the Bluth's that I LOVE.

Time to go upstairs....

.....

Closet at the top of the stairs.

Extra bedroom for our extra couch and Jake's weights.

And his pull up bar.

It has a big ol closet.

The extra bathroom.

The cute towels that the Cordells gave me when I left for college.

Our bed. (There's actually room for each of us to have a nightstand, YAY!)

Our dresser, actually in our bedroom in this townhouse! I don't know if you remember, it inly fit in our living room in Rexburg!

Our mirror that I love. I don't want it on the dresser like it's supposed to be because I like that I can see all of me not just the top half. I have a bathroom mirror for that. But Jake thinks I'm crazy...

Our Bathroom.

We still use the bins.

Our closet

The right side of our closet

We LOVE this place so much. Now that we live here I don't think I could ever go back to living in that closet apartment we lived in in Rexburg! Good thing I didn't know any better! Haha

Haircut!

I was going to try really hard to wait until Christmas to cut my hair but I just couldn't! For some reason I was so annoyed with it every day. So I chopped it! I wish it looked like it did when I got it cut in Louisiana but that's okay.

P.S. I love my husband!