Oh, summer. It is seen as the most glorious time of the year. Sleeping in, swimming, lazing about, hanging out, and not much else. Though I did get some of that in, it wasn’t a typical summer for me this year. Here are a few of the things that happened this summer!!
Slide Rock Canyon (Ballroom Tour):
I accidentally put myself in charge of planning the end-of-the-year tour for the Snow College Ballroom team that I was a part of last year. We went to the Mesa/Phoenix area in Arizona the first week after finals for 5 days. It turned out to be quite the adventure. Our last stop on the tour was one of the places that actually wasn’t my idea, Slide Rock Canyon in Arizona. The water was cold but the day was warm enough to make up for it. They had natural slides in the rock and, as pictured, cliff jumping! It was my first time and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!
After tour I had about 3 days at home before I moved to SUNNY FISH LAKE!! Actually, that was a dirty, dirty lie. When I arrived there on May 12th, there was still 3 feet of snow on the ground and the lake was still frozen over. BRR!!!
But with all the free time that we had (after work, which generally ended at anywhere from 3pm-5pm) my roommate Jen introduced us to the TV show that is currently in my #1 spot.
Oh, the beauty! These two brought so VERY MUCH joy to my summer! Bad days were instantly melted away by “I’ve heard it both ways.” And “I’m Shawn, this is Shawn… No relation.” as well as the never ending search for the pineapple.
I also happened to land some of the greatest roommates I could have ever had this summer. Seriously, they were the answer to MANY of my prayers. Three of us became especially attached to each other. We called ourselves the Three Musketeers (though we didn’t have muskets, so I guess we could have just been called the Three Eers).
We are, from Left to Right, Martie (or Morty Tulip), Tawny (Or Connie), and Jen (Or Jenn). :P
Our lovely cabin got pranked by the staff (probably led by Tom, the cook). We all went home for a couple days and came back to this!!
I had a chance to come a few weeks before I quit at Fish Lake to pick up my Car, Elpheba or The Turtle, which we call ElpheTurd for short. When at home I got the chance to meet the newest of my family members!
Olyvia Anne Barlow was born on August 3rd, 2011. In the picture she is being held by her older brother Zach. I came to visit home from Fish Lake that very day and met her just a few hours after she came into this beautiful world! She’s such a beautiful baby and has the softest, most kissable cheeks!! Someday I may pinch those cheeks, just to be the stereotypical aunt :P
I retrieved my car and worked my last few weeks, which included one of the best pranks I’ve ever pulled in my life! I decorated my friend Tom’s car (yes, the same Tom that TP'd my cabin earlier that summer) with car window chalk, little balloons, and pop cans! Yes, my very single friend had the car décor of a newlywed couple. It was so much fun!! (I don’t have the picture from this yet, but maybe I’ll add it when I get them developed) Oh, and Tawny and did a little decorating on each other’s cars as well. :P (once again, pictures will come in about a week).
After Fish Lake was over (which is actually not an experience that I would wish to repeat) I took the 3 hour drive home, stopping in Salina for a few hours to sleep at around midnight. At 1:30 I was awoken by a slightly tipsy man with quite the goatee waving at me through the window. I met his tipsy friend and their designated driver friend. We talked for about 45 minutes through my window that was rolled down about a half an inch, with the sober guy asking the whole time “Are these guys bothering you? … Are you sure they’re alright? I can get rid of them if you’d like.” We talked about everything from how tall I was (they were guessing according to the height of the seat on my bike which was attached to a rack on the back of my car), ranking the three friends from Hottest to Not (clean-shaven tipsy, then quiet sober guy, then goatee, to which goatee said “So I’m last??” with a very sad expression. I replied “Well, uh, not necessarily…” and he said “So I tied for second??” with a hopeful look. I agreed out of lack of gumption to tell him that he had pretty much no chance with me), the fact that I “Cuss” instead of cuss, how successful goatee was because he had started his own cement company, clean-shaven tipsy’s new job at said company, and how sad it looked when I was asleep in the Maverick parking lot at 1 o’clock in the morning. I opened my window for the last fifteen minutes to share a couple of spicy Doritos (one plain, one dipped in ranch) with clean-shaven tipsy who I may have really liked if it weren’t for the fact that he was drunk, shirtless, and quite tattooed. The whole experience was actually pretty funny (though my mom didn’t really think so). I made it home by about 7 am (I stopped in Nephi to sleep some more because I was still qute tired).
I spent a week at home and had plenty of adventures, a lot with my new niece and two of my favorite towheaded nephews. Now I am living in Logan going to Utah State University (not to be confused with University of Utah >| … :P ). So, summer is over, school is here and I’m quite enjoying it so far.
Oh, and guess who lives in Logan?? :D
(By the way, I loved to “mess up” the musketeer pictures by making funny faces when everybody else was smiling… hehe… So, this is me doing my thing while Tawny was trying to be the prankster, so I guess this picture could be called Double Pranked, which just ends up being the Goofy shot.)
