Summer Vacation and Where We Are Now

So what does one do when they cannot sleep? Everything they have been meaning to do but just not taking the time for.

In August, I finished working at Aspiro as a guide and Joshua finished his summer semester of school. We took off just as soon as we could to California to cram as much of summer as we could into a 2 weeks. Here is some of the playing we did while in California for 8 days.

Tuesday (8/18/09): Fly in to San Diego. Relax. Family pictures on the beach and a fabulous family home evening on the beach with family and friends.

Wednesday (8/19/09): Relax. Read a book. Went to San Diego, walked on the boardwalk at Belmont (a beach area with an amusement park on the boardwalk) and saw were Joshua and his family would stay for vacations. We went to Legoland, free for one hour. I had never been before (nor do I think I would ever pay their price to go!) and Joshua had worked there for his first job. We went on all the rides we wanted to, saw the whole park, ate delicious apple fries (heavenly!) and took a picture with an employee who had on the same kind of stylish shirt he wore when working there.

Thursday(8/20/09): We went to Knott's Berry Farms (a 1st for me) thanks to Joshua's parents sitting through a wonderful timeshare presentation. It was a ton of fun! Growing up I was always a fan of rides with water, and that proved true still today. Before leaving we made sure to get some funnel cake with Mrs. Knott's boysenberry jam.

Friday(8/21/09): We relaxed some more. Went to La Jolla cove and saw tons of seal!! We climbed all over the rocks, down to some tide pools to look are crabs, sea anemones, sea urchins and a lot of other cool sea things. That night we went to the Pinback concert at the Del Mar racetrack.

Saturday(8/22/09): Relaxed. Hiked around Calavera Lake with Mom and Dad. Then we all went to explore Old Town in San Diego, have dinner down there and then take the trolley to the Padres Game. They lost but our seats were terrific and we had a great time. I had never been to Old Town or ridden on the trolley before. I felt like a young child with eyes open wide the whole day.

Sunday(8/23/09): Joshua accompanied me, Sister McMann, and Sister Wooley in singing "How Gentle God's Commands" in church. It was beautiful. These 2 sisters are sooo musically talented and have gorgeous voices that it was an absolute honor and pleasure to sing with them. We also enjoyed the day with family and visiting with the Robbins and Barnette families.

Monday(8/24/09): Joshua and I went to wander around around San Diego. I had never been to Coronado Island so we went out there. I called Elisa and told her I was on an island for the 1st time ever! The next day I was terribly disappointed to learn it wasn't really an island anymore because of the man made silver strand. While there though, we went and explored Hotel Del from "Some Like it Hot" and enjoyed the super soft sand of the beach. Later that evening we went to Balboa Park for a Buster Keeton silent film, accompanied by a terrific organist at the Organ Pavillion. It was the loudest silent film I have ever seen. I had not been to the Organ Pavillion before and was impressed by its beauty. The movie was simply delightful! And we had the great company of Mom and Dad and other family friends.

Tuesday(8/25/09): We got up early (by 8), went out to a wonderfully relaxing little cafe in downtown Carlsbad, then went down to San Diego again to explore the USS Midway. Brother Waddell was working that day as a guide and brought us on as his special guest. For how large that ship is, I would not like living in such small quarters. It was fun to learn the history of the ship, how it runs and to see all kinds of planes and helicopters. My favorite was a communication plane with a cool satellite that sits on top of it.

After spending 4 hours exploring the ship, we headed over to the Fashion Valley Mall. Joshua really wanted to get a picture of me by the Tiffany's store because of the great discomfort I had shown in it at Christmas time when we went there. To prove him wrong in thinking I could not even step in the store, I went in and tried on all kinds of jewelry. I would never dream of buying anything from there because it is so expensive. I would rather go down to Wal-mart or Target and get some fake pearls for a couple of bucks instead of paying $80,000! (Plus if I loose my Wal-mart pearls I don't feel so bad).

Wednesday(8/26/09): In the morning we went to breakfast with Claire, a friend of ours at a Cafe in downtown Carlsbad. It was the best waffle I think I have ever had! Afterwards, we headed back to the house to pack our bags, then have Dad drive us to the airport to come home. We had such a nice visit with Mom and Dad Williamson and loved the time to relax and play.

But when we arrived back in Provo the fun did not stop. Hours after getting in, we were at the traditional every other Wednesday dinner with my co-guides from Aspiro.

Thursday(8/27/09): We did laundry, got books for school and Joshua took me shopping for new clothes for my internship at the hospital. He thought my hiking boots and grubby shirts would be inappropriate attire.

Friday(8/28/09): We enjoyed the day relaxing at home and preparing for school. We went grocery shopping and Joshua was a good sport as I had add matched everything we were going to buy at Wal-Mart. Really it took a little more time and we had to make sure we got the right size product too. That evening a co-guide of mine was having a b-day campout. Joshua and I had already planned to go camping over the weekend so we headed up but when we got to the spot no one was there yet and we knew we had to be up early the next day so we went home and slept in our own bed.

Saturday(8/29/09): We volunteered to help run the Share a Smile benefit triathlon, that was also a friend of ours eagle project. There we saw old friends and made new ones. All summer, Joshua had taught our singles ward Bishop's kids how to swim preparation for this triathlon. That afternoon we went by his cousin's b-day party then went to stake conference.

Sunday(8/30/09): We enjoyed stake conference and then in the afternoon Aspiro called me asking if I could help in a search party for a student who had runaway. Joshua and I spent the afternoon combing the streets of Provo. It was a fun new experience.

Monday(8/31/09): School began for Joshua and I. This will be my last semester as an undergraduate!!! I only hope that I can make it. Being inside all the time after living outside for 24 hours a days every other week is a huge change.

So now we are in school. I love my internship at the hospital working on the mom's and baby, labor and delivery, anapardum, and pediatrics floors. It is greatly different than the work I was doing at Aspiro but I still am enjoying it. Joshua and I are trying to keep in touch with my co-guides from Aspiro. We just went to a cabin for a thank you party for one of the head people there. It was so fun to see everyone again. I look forward to going back.

I am currently working on applying to graduate school. The essay prompts they give are ridiculous. And Joshua is taking his last semester of classes so that next semester all he will have to do is student teach. He is also working on starting a triathlete swim program at a local gym. We met the owner when we were volunteering at the triathlon.

Currently, I am also training for a 3 day Iron Man length triathlon. Meaning one day will be the 2 mile swim, the next the 112 miles bike, and the next day the marathon run. We'll see how that goes.