And Now! Everything That's Happened Since I Got Back From England!

So, honestly, each of these things probably deserves its own post, but that's unlikely to happen, and probably by the time it DID happen, it would be, like, November and I would still be two months behind two months. So instead you're about to get a too-long but insufficiently detailed overview of stuff that's happened since I got home from the Epic Grad Trip.

Jules's Birthday 5K

 

I turned 32 this year. I know. I couldn't believe it either. There are things that happened that I remember happening that happened MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO!!! And! There are things that I do (like speak/study Spanish) that I've been doing for 15 years or more. Not even kidding. Anyway, to celebrated I had a 5K run! I did this on my 30th birthday and loved it so much that I intended to do it every year of my life forever, but last year between the car accident and general life mayhem, there to was just no time. This year's was just as fun as the first time, though, and even included some repeat participants. (Thanks for coming out, Dixons!) The course turned out to be a little more challenging than I'd anticipated (a mean hill during the last half mile was definitely not nice), but I loved it!  And we finished up with smoothies and muffins. Such a great way to celebrate.

Fourth of July

I spent fourth of July with Amy Lou and some of her friends from work. We made and grilled and ate kabobs and sat on the back porch and chatted about life. Then we walked over to the Falls Church fireworks show, which was actually pretty good. I enjoyed spending a low key holiday with friends and thinking about how much I do love this country and what it stands for, even though here in the DC area the problems with the system can become really, really apparent.

Emergency Trip to Vermont

I got a phone call late on Friday, 12 July from my dad's significant other who was calling to let me know that he'd been in a pretty serious motorcycle accident. They were being transferred from the hospital closest to them in Rochester to one in New Hampshire that would be better able to meet his needs. I spent the next hour or so calling people and relaying the news. That's never a very fun experience. Everything from the awkward transition from "hey, we haven't talked in a while!" to "so I have bad news, actually" to having to repeat over and over "Dad's been in a serious accident. He has a fractured skull and is currently having memory problems. There are indications of bleeding on the brain. He's also suffering from fractured ribs and a collapsed lung." It was a lot.

When it became clear on Saturday morning that the hospital stay was going to be least a couple more days, I decided that I would drive up so that I could spell Leslie from bedside duty. There was a whirlwind of packing, making arrangements with work and church, and other places that I have responsibilities, and then then drive. It's not actually terrible, about 9 hours, but depending on which way you go, it can cost $50 in tolls.


Dad spent Sunday night in the hospital, and was discharged late afternoon on Monday. My job for most of the time I was there was to sit quietly in Dad's room, but be on hand in case he needed anything. Not a bad gig, actually. I was also in charge of contacting the local missionaries who came over to give him a blessing. I drove him home after he was discharged, and Dad said that I did "a pretty good job." Which is kind of high praise. He's doing much better now, although his vision and balance are still affected by the head injury. And on the upside, I got to add a state to my collection of "States I have gone on a run in." New Hampshire, woo!

Root Canal

Okay, this is two bummer tales right in a row, but I had to get a root canal at the beginning of August. I had had this horrible, awful toothache that laid me low most of the weekend and scheduled an emergency visit to the dentist, who discovered that I need an old root canal retreated AND a new one. The office I went to doesn't mess around, I was in on Monday, and done on Friday. It was horrible. I don't remember my other root canal being as awful, but they were also top teeth and not bottom back teeth, so maybe that's why. Three shots, and achey jaw, and many tears later and I got handed the bill for almost $3K. Hor.ri.ble. And I still need to get the retreat done (I'm waiting until I can add dental insurance to my policy at work).

Work Trip to Panama

Yes, these are the only pics I have from this trip.

Also at the beginning of August I ended up getting to go on a last-minute, whirlwind trip to Panama for work! We'd planned a virtual team summit-type meeting, but funds became available and we actually got to do it in person, which is SO much better for planning team strategy and hashing out tough questions. Because it was so fast, though,I pretty much landed, slept, went to the office, went to dinner with the office, slept, repeat. No times for fun adventures or monkey sightings or anything, but I did love being back in my favorite Central American country. <3 p="">
Tubing the Potomac

The local Single Adult ward planned a tubing trip down the Potomac in mid-August, and that sounded like a really great idea. So Amy Lou, her sister Becks, and I decided to go play. It was really, really fun (except for the part where Amy fell out of her tube and hit her head. That was sad.) (And also the part where it was not terribly well executed in the get loads of people on the river which means we were waiting around for an hour+) but tubing down a river is pretty much the greatest idea that anyone ever had ever. We did "whitewater" kind which meant sometimes there were rocky parts which was fun to go over, so basically, it was amazingly relaxing and amazing. You can see a bunch more pictures here.

Labor Day Weekend: BYU Football and Hiking Shenandoah

 

I discovered that BYU's season opener was going to be in Charlottesville, VA, a mere 2-ish hours from me and therefore well within the boundary of Distances I Am Willing To Travel To Watch BYU Football. Once again Amy Lou and I decided that we needed to be there, and we went. There was a two hour weather delay, thanks to serious rain and lightning, and once we were back in the stadium, it started raining again during the 3rd quarter. But a little rain never hurt anything (Except BYU's offense).  By the time we were like "hey, maybe we should get out of the rain," we were so drenched that it was already too late. We just stopped by WalMart on the way home to get dry clothes. It was really fun to watch BYU play, even if the loss was just heartbreaking (they made up for it by their amazing performance against Texas last weekend, though). More pics here.

On Monday, Ames and I hiked Old Rag, one of the more popular hikes in VA. It's a really, really fun hike with about a mile of rock scramble just before you get to the summit. We picnicked while enjoying the view and then took the smoother, easier way down. Being in nature always leads my thoughts Gospel-ward and so we had really great discussions about the meaning of life and the beauty of God's creations. It was great. We got done rather sooner than expected and tacked on a side trip to Luray Caverns. I love caverns. I really, really do, and this one had one of the most stunning features I've ever seen -- a huge, perfectly still lake that reflected the ceiling so clearly you couldn't tell it was a reflection. Gorgeous. The picture does not do it justice.

And that's you caught up on my life. Hooray! Now I can get back to posting about the much lamer things that my life is actually made up of like making homemade marshmallows and trying to figure out this whole "career" thing.