I'll Get By...

So good news I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am the proud new employee of TURN, a company that assists handicapped people to live better lives. I am so thankful that I finally got a job... it doesn't pay very well but its better than nothing. Oh and it also counts for medical hours so hopefully I will be able to apply for PA school in the near future.

Now I am working on finding a place to live in the Fall. Its a little unnerving to be moving somewhere without a roommate. I have never done that before so hopefully it turns out okay. I scoured Craigslist and KSL postings hoping to find something good and cheap (since I am going to be poor as dirt). I found a few places in Provo that are promising and a few in Orem. I am personally hoping for a place in Orem. I think if I move like 15 mins away maybe it will feel more like starting over. Hopefully this will force me to get a new group of friends to hang out with :-) I am going to see a place tomorrow so I will keep you updated!

Anyways so it was obviously 4th of July weekend... I was a little nervous because I have always had something awesome planned for it but this year the plans were all kind of up in the air until the last minute. I ended up going up to Alpine to watch people do some pretty crazy jumps on a bike into a pond. I was too chicken to do it (the bike was soo messed up, the brakes didn't work, the gear shift didn't work, and the pedals didn't work). I'll post a video below of what they did. Oh and I also ran into my Bishop from years ago and his family which was pretty neat.

After Alpine we hurried and headed back to Provo so we could hike up Squaw Peak and watch the firework show from above. I got online trying to find a shorter path to the summit so that we would make it on time for the show and because I was sick and didn't want to kill myself. We thought we found the right path but it ended up taking us to the wrong summit :-( We could see the Squaw Peak summit from where we were and we decided to hike down the wrong summit in the general direction. We ended up hitting tons and tons of shale like 800ft straight down of shale. I don't know how many of you have ever hiked down shale but it is pretty crazy because pieces will get loose and come flying down and nail you if you aren't careful. I got whacked hard by one on my ankle that had me unable to put much pressure on my left foot for about 30 mins. (That made getting down even more fun). Then the most life threatening thing happened... someone hiking above me knocked a huge rock loose and it came flying right at me. Luckily, Bryce, the guy above me warned me just in time for me to duck out of the way.

Here's a video of a dude who ski's down shale and it kind of gives you a picture of the rocks that go flying everywhere. On the video at about second 44, he causes a huge rock to go flying and it reminds me of the one that came flying at me.... :-/

After we all made it down, battered and bruised from the shale, we finally found the right path to Squaw Peak. We took off running... well they took off running and I tried to keep up but I was wheezing from my cold, haha. We didn't make it to the top for the firework show but we were able to get to a scenic spot where we could watch them. We actually got to see 4 different shows around Utah valley because we were so high up. :-) After the shows were over we finished hiking to the summit and enjoyed the views for a while before we decided to go find a camping spot.

The camping spot we picked I had actually been at before but not to camp but to dance! :-)

We camped in this meadow where more than two years before Nicole and I danced around (see above picture) and we were super excited to be in a meadow. It was also the same meadow where we carved BNK (Brian, Nicole, Kenna) into a tree. Its still there as well I just didn't have a camera to take pictures.

We built a nice little fire and roasted some hot dogs really quick before hitting the sack. I actually slept very well thanks to my awesome hiking sleeping bag which kept me nice a toasty all through the night. When we woke up, we decided to just hike down to the entrance to Rock Canyon Park rather than risk trying to hike back up to where our cars were parked. We had a friend pick us up and then after church we drove up and got the cars.

I don't have any of the pictures from this adventure but I do want to put a picture from one of my recent Rock Canyon Adventures. I LOVE Rock Canyon, it is easily my favorite place in Utah. Y mountain is on one side and Squaw Peak on the other... Awesome. If you are ever in Provo I would recommend going and playing.

Pretty neto pic if I do say so myself :-)

PS. I also woke up bright and early to go watch the Freedom Festival Parade with my friend Sabra... not worth it. It was fun to see Sabra and my friends Brian and Phil were in the Parade but that was basically the highlight. This year they made a rule that no one could throw anything to the crowd... not even candy... a parade is not a parade without candy.