Recap of the crazy summer of 2008

Our summer officially began with two exciting graduations. Scott graduated from BYU with a master's degree of accountancy and Laura graduated from the U. of Utah with a master's degree in speech pathology.

The end of May found us celebrating our 20th annual May family/Hale family Memorial Day trip in beautiful Yosemite Nat'l Park.

We pretty much got rained on for the entire time we were there including the day that we ran the Tuolemne River, a drenching series of class 4 rapids! It was soooo cold and soooo fun. We only had a few days when we got back from Tuolemne to get ready for our annual family vacation in . . . .
LAKE POWELL!

The best thing about Powell is being there with family and friends. This year we had my sister and brother-in-law (Elaine and Len Cervo) and their family and Jordan's family (John and Kathy Walker family). We did the usual wakeboarding, skiing, tubing, weenie-riding, cliff jumping, eating, card game playing, reading or whatever else suited our fancies. We had some crazy weather this year . . . tore our houseboat anchors right out of the rocks where we had secured them! Always an adventure at Lake Powell!

The day after we got back from Powell, Brent left for Peru with his friend Bob May and Bob's family. They stayed with the Zambranos who are Bob's daughter's in-laws. Brent, Bob and some of Bob's boys hiked the Inca trail (miles and miles of steep stone stairs) and spent a day at Macu Picu. Brent was gone for nearly two weeks.
While Brent was in Peru, my parents came to visit me. We had a great time together, including a short trip to Arches Nat'l Park and Canyonlands.We've ony made it to the end of June! We spent the fourth of July with Jordan's family in beautiful McCall, Idaho at their condo on the lake. The photo, below, is what we were looking at from their balcony, before the fireworks (over the lake) began. Thanks for the invite, Walkers! We had a great time.
Brent and I enjoyed an Alaskan cruise with our graduates and their spouses from July 14th until the 21st. Such incredible scenery . . . the glaciers were amazing. We cruised along College Fiord, into Glacier Bay and enjoyed three ports of call; Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. The photo was taken at Mendenhall Glacier (Juneau) and as you can see we had some cold, drizzly weather but we had a great time just the same.

We disembarked at Vancouver, B.C. and spent a couple of days with my family there. Len arranged for some sea kayaking at Deep Cove ( I stayed back and visited with Mom and Dad) and we also spent a day at our old haunt, White Rock Beach. Frisbee football, fish and chips, gelato, and a day in the son visiting with my brother and sister and nieces and nephews. It doesn't get much better than that!

Home from Vancouver on July 23, just in time to finish getting ready for the Hale family reunion. We were in charge (along with Brent's sister) of the family reunion this year which was held in Paradise, Utah. Brent has all the pictures of the reunion on his computer so maybe next time I blog, I'll do it on his computer. A couple of days after the reunion we left for Sun Valley, Idaho where Brent was presenting at a convention.

In other words . . . . we didn't do much staying at home this summer. It's actually felt pretty good to just stay at home for a few weeks and do some house cleaning and yard work!

Now that I've recapped the crazy summer of 2008, hopefully I'll only be blogging one event at a time!