Changes

It's odd, being here. A year ago, I was an anxious, shy new student at JHBC, excited yet terrified of what the year would bring. I remember the almost immediate feeling of belonging, of love from the staff and awe for these mountains which have grown so familiar (and only more adored). And so, this year, as a watch a new group of young people orient themselves in this place I call home, taking my place as it were, I have mixed feelings of melancholy nostalgia - wishing for my year back, profound thanksgiving to God for where He has brought me, and excitement for the new students to be blessed the way I was. It was such a cool experience being on the other end of things, showing students around, answering questions, encouraging them. I really enjoyed it and I am having a blast getting to know these people.

It's a slightly smaller class this year, 26 students: 14 guys, 12 girls. So far, they seem really fun. They have finally desegregated themselves which is nice - the first few days where uber awkward, hopefully that is behind us now!

We've had some pretty fantastic thunderstorms lately and I just have to say, I don't know what it is but I love 'em! From the rumbling warning as they build up over the mountains to the brilliant flashes of light to the sudden downpour of rain sheeting outside the window. I love to walk out in the sheets of water and feel the shock of being instantly soaked! Anyways, that was just a short plug I had to put in for thunderstorms. I mean, if I had to miss out on all the swimming, water sports and camping I usually enjoy with my family (*tear*) then at least I got to enjoy some FABULOUS thunderstorms!

Sock tan, sore muscles and two blisters later...

That's right, I've been backpacking! :)

Despite the unhappy prospect depicted in the title of this post, our 2 1/2 day trip was fantastic! So, let me explain...we found out that the college backpacking trip that usually happens...well, it wasn't really legal because you aren't allowed to take groups of over 20 people into parks or "wilderness" areas, so the past few weeks has been a mad scramble to figure out what to do with the students this year. It was decided to take them in groups up into Grand Teton National Park for two nights, not ideal but it would get the students out backpacking and it would be fun to show them the back country Jackson Hole. So on Thursday the staff headed out to check out what the hike would be like...

What a hike it was! We booked it in there and out in high gear man! To avoid a novel-length post, I'm just gonna give ya the highlights:

- 3 miles in we spent an hour chillaxin at these amazing pools. SO awesome!

- finally at our campsite about 7 miles in (around 4ish), we set up our tents and ALL of us just crash and sleep for about an hour. BEST nap EVER!

- mange (which means "eat" in French for those who ain't bilingual) some MREs which really shouldn't taste that good! Seriously, just add water?

raspberry crumble...dessert anyone??

- about 7:30 we all head to bed because we can't survive the hordes of mosquitoes

"wilderness mocha"

- up half the night listening to a porcupine chew on backpacks, and shoes...

- day hike to Death Shelf = 3 miles to the shelf, 3 miles along the shelf...6 miles back (poor Jess's back almost went out at the end of the shelf making the 6 miles back to camp VERY long)

Tetons from Death Shelf

our camp was in this canyon, to the right

-blown away by the amazing views. It's unbelievable that THIS much beauty can exist in a sin-cursed world, devastated by a flood!

- awe-struck by God's amazing gardens up there!

- amazed at our bodies ability to KEEP MOVING. Seriously, it's like my feet were just programed to keep moving, they surely didn't want to at the end of that day hike!

- bed at 8 second night (again with the mosquitoes) and up at 6:45am ready to head back at 8:30

- 7 miles in 2.5 hours!!! we is beast my friends!!!

- SHOWER (it's amazing how great it feels to be clean after that!)

So there's the trip in a nut shell. The theme of the hike was "flat as Kansas". Scott kept saying it would be flat in the canyon, then up on the shelf...neither of which was flat AT ALL! (we began to wonder if he'd ever been to Kansas!) So many hilarious jokes and laughter the whole time. I seriously love these people and love hiking and LOVE God's creation! Being out in it, falling asleep to the sound of water cascading over rocks, waking up to the warm morning sun, walking through fields of wildflowers which smell like heaven...how blessed I am to have this experience!

Find your inner woman 16: The Golfer

Sooooo, last Sunday I tried something I thought I would NEVER get around too. Actually, it wasn't even like on the bucket list. Actually, I've always looked down on it and never EVER even considered trying it...that's right, I went golfing.

So let me explain. My church here in Jackson, Community Bible Church has this tradition of doing a golf scramble in the summer and so this year I was like, why not!? It was a new experience to try, something fun to do on a Sunday afternoon and a great time to hang out with friends, so I went. After about an hour of driving we arrived in beautiful Star Valley, made our way up to the course and then got into our teams and sat in the golf carts waiting for our turn to head out.

yay for golf carts - one of the best parts of the day!!

So...the very first "drive"...was rather terrifying. I mean, not really, but I had NO IDEA what I was doing! Kaitlyn and I were with Kerri who actually knew how to golf so she gave us some pointers but really, you kind of just have to figure it out for yourself. Basically, my first drive was an epic fail...but at least I hit the ball on the first try (I'm told that doesn't always happen for beginners)!

Moving on down the course we slowly got better and better and I started to get the hang of it. Funnily, I ended up being better at driving than just putting the ball. Kaitlyn was our star putter. I learned all about the different clubs and how to direct your hit and such. It was rather entertaining. Of course we laughed our heads off the whole time, had a blast encouraging/teasing each other and just doing our best.

it didn't go in - in case you were wondering :)

Kaitlyn and I, geniuses that we are, forgot to bring water so we were pretty much fading away with thirst in the blazing hot sun. Kerri gave us half a bottle of lukewarm water which we rationed to keep ourselves alive... okay it wasn't that bad.

When we all finished (like four hours later!!) we headed to the Pratt's house (they live really close to the course) and had a BBQ and ate WAY too many Oreos. Our team came in dead last...pretty hilarious but we didn't even care because it was such a blast. Now the group is planning a midnight golf scramble with glow in the dark balls and stuff!! I might just have to try it because it would be just too impossible!

Anyways, I've decided that golf is not a terrible sport and it must take a LOT of skill and practice! Seriously, I have a much deeper appreciation for golfers now. Still, it's not really a sport for me. I mean, maybe just for a fun afternoon every once in awhile but nope, I'm not gonna make it a hobby. Still I'm glad for the opportunity to try it. Now at least I know and can fairly give my opinion (which you all know I love to do!).

Also check out the photos page for some pictures of my latest hobby (unfortunately not going to so well).

It's raining...stars

Okay so about last night (the meteor shower remember?), it was...AMAZING! Four of us went out, Cally and I sprawled in the middle of the field on a sleeping bag, warm and snuggly under a blanket while Kaitlyn and Jen just stood and watched because they weren't planning on staying long. Of course, this sight attracted more people and Josh and Kenton soon joined us. Everyone chatted away as we stared intently into the sky, awash in the rather beautiful glow of that (annoying but too amazing to really be angry about) full moon. Jen and I saw one little one which was nothing really to get too excited about (we of course did anyways!) and then she went to bed, followed shortly by Kailtyn. The rest of us stayed out, still talking, throwing jests around and laughing beaucoup. Finally, Josh got bored I guess and went in, ironically, not 2 minutes later the MOST AMAZING meteor I had EVER seen blazed through the North-western sky and Cally and I burst out into screams of awe/joy/excitement. Kenton, who was wandering over to the campfire saw it as well and expressed his amazement. Poor Josh :(

Cally and I ended up staying out there chatting for another hour and seeing a couple more really fantastic ones along with a spattering of less extraordinary shooting stars. One that we saw, the best one of the night blazed longer than any other and left behind a soft glow for a few seconds. Seriously, it was so cool seeing them all. I could not help but be reminded of the ever popular Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands

So, though my toes were frozen stiff by the time we got in and the brilliance of the moon hid the majority of what we COULD have seen and not everyone stayed out for the party, it was a truly remarkable night which I am so glad I made the effort to see. I do believe I shall head out tonight for a bit to see if I am blessed with a few more.

Against all odds...

Tonight I shall brave the cold Wyoming darkness, defy the obnoxious glare of the full moon and drag my friends out with me as well! We are going to watch the Perseids Meteor shower against all odds if I have anything to say about it! The meteor shower happens every year (go figure!) from late July to late August, peaking TONIGHT...unless you are in Europe...then I think it's tomorrow...still a little fuzzy on that. Of course, the full moon also coincides with this fabulous peakage of the shower...makes things a little difficult and apparently its ultra fabulous glow is really going to make the show less than spectacular yet I am still determined to see this through. Kaitlyn and I have been planning and anticipating this for MONTHS. (If you will remember my class with Dr. Lisle - he told us about it way back then and we put a reminder in Kaitlyn's phone to make sure we'd see it! See Inner Woman #14 for more detail about Dr. Lisle's class.)

Anyways, not sure exactly when we are going to attempt this little shindig, perhaps sooner before the moon reaches the zenith (look at me and my fab words hehe) or perhaps we shall get up SUPER early after it is lower in the sky. We shall see but MARK MY WORDS, I will see this meteor shower!

I'll let ya know how it all goes!

mmmm, love the smell of bug spray and sunscreen

Had an unbelievably fabulous day at the lake. I mean, I am SO blessed! How many people can say they go boating beneath the shadow of the Tetons!?!?!

It was a rather amusing day actually. Our beach was taken by a very expansive group so we shuttled out to another beach on an island but then after be attacked by ridiculous amounts of mosquitoes as well as realizing, rather unpleasantly, that the muddy areas of the beach were infested with leeches, we all (10 of us) climbed aboard the boat and decided to spend the day chillin out in the "deep end" where the insects were less likely to trouble us. It was so relaxing, listening to music, chatting, doing Sudoku and Wordsearches, floating around and around as the sun came and went behind the clouds, giving everyone a very pleasant reddish hue we will all be regretting tomorrow.

As I sat there, watching Scott float on the tube with Jessica, I found myself missing my own dad and our awesome chill times on the lake. As I watched and laughed at Jess and Heidi bickering, I missed my own sisters and our silly arguments always filled with laughter. As I listened to Heidi teasing her mom, I missed my own mother and her adorable quirks. Suffice to say, I was missing my family. Yet, also, I praise God for having me where I am, with such amazing people who bless me with such joy and comfort. If I have to be away from my family, at least I am with people such as these!

A "Fair-ly" Regular Day

Okay so, the Teton County Fair has been over for two days now but I have just now found time to sit down and write about it. For five days I lived and breathed the Rocky Mountain Ministries food booth and the last two days have given me some semblance of recovery enough that I think I can describe honestly what happened without exhaustion tainting my tale.

So basically, Tuesday was spent getting stuff ready for the fair: cleaning fryers, finding table cloths and decorations, getting coolers and such out etc. Then Wednesday morning the guys headed out early to set up the booth, put in the floor and lights and we followed shortly with the food, tools etc. So set up day was pretty busy for us just setting up but not very busy foodwise. However, the rest of the week was another story. Here is my typical day:

our booth

Get up at 8, get ready (close-toed shoes, hat and clothes that can get greasy and nasty), devotions, breakfast, be in the lodge by 9 or 9:30ish. Then we load trucks and head out to the fair grounds. There, we set up: snocones, deep fryers, BBQ, grill, food stuffs and cash register. About 10:30 Will, kid from the lemonade booth shows up asking why it took us so long to get there, orders a burger or some other such thing which shouldn't be eaten that early in the morning and heads back to his booth. Then we serve the few people who trickle in, try to survive the first round of the terrible guitar duo which performs three times a day, and if it's really slow we do monkey bars on the 2x4s which hold up the ceiling. (We even held a man challenge one day in which we almost split one of the boards...got a nice bruise on my palm from swinging up there but luckily now slivers.) If the slowness continues, ice starts getting thrown and we start eating the first of the deep fried oreos and scones (ugh so nasty but  delish).

Deep fried oreos

Then around 12 the rush begins and everything is chaos for a couple hours. I run cash with either Lisa, Jen, Cally or Holly and we take turns shouting orders, writing them down, grabbing drinks, taking money, directing people here and there. There are scones frying, burgers flying, philly cheese steaks grilling and snocones dripping.

We've got music playing, people shouting, metal clanging on metal as well as whatever act happens to be going on under the big top. I loved it. The noise, the chaos, the smells, the cheery people...it was fantastic. The mid-afternoon lull was always dreaded but we made the most of it with more ice cubes flying, lunch breaks, swing dancing and corn eating. (The booth next to ours sold corn on the cob with all these fantastic toppings. Jen and I went and traded them two cobs for a philly and WOW they were amazing. We were a little hesitant at first to try this odd concoction of corn, mayo, cheese, lemon juice and chili powder but I don't know if I can ever go back now! BEST way to eat corn, seriously!) The dinner rush started about 5:30 and usually goes steady till 8, a couple nights we went past nine! After that, we pack up, while still serving snocones and the occasional philly and hopefully get out of there around 10. Then back at camp we spent about an hour cleaning, preparing stuff for the next day and counting the days profit. Then it's to bed for 8 hours only to rise again and do it all over!

It was seriously one of the funnest weeks ever but also SO exhausting. We all decided that it's the kind of fun you really only want once a year. I mean, it just wouldn't be healthy to do it any more often what with the amount of deep fried food we ate. Ugh, I have never eaten that much grease in my life! We all would return home at night feeling like a deep fryer. I wasn't even that bad compared to those who spent the day over the grill and fryers. Oh, I have to put in a a good word for deep fried Oreos though. I convinced everyone to try them and then we started selling them and they went like CRAZY. By the last day we were also selling potatoes deep fried on a stick which were FANTASTIC as well as treating ourselves to deep fried Snickers which OH MY HEAD ARE SO AMAZING! Anyways, as you can tell, it's a good thing it's over or we would soon all die of heart attacks.

Tater Sticks!!!

Altogether it was a great time full of new experiences, fun fellowship with friends and a cool opportunity to practically serve God. One of the funnest parts was giving firemen and police officers all their food for free as a thank you for their service. Their reactions were always so great.

Anyways, that was super long and I understand if you gave up half way through. But if you read this far, thanks for joining me on this exciting retelling of my crazy week. It was definitely one to remember!