Balloon Fiesta - Albuquerque NM

So I have wanted to fly in a hot air balloon for a very long time, so this was the year that I decided to do it! I decided that in February and mentioned that to my roommates. Well Kelly had connections with her "uncle" in New Mexico. So the roommate road trip was planned. We had no idea what an opportunity it would be! We learned how to crew for the balloons. It was so super cool! We met wonderful people and the excitement of the entire event was AWESOME!!

Since we were with the pilots of two balloons we were included with the VIP treatment! We had all our meals provided except for two. It was so amazing! I can't even explain in words, but here are a few pictures of the many I had to choose from!

This is dawn patrol. These balloons inflate in the dark and check the winds when the sun comes up!

These are the Zebras-- they are the launch patrol. They give the pilots the ok to launch.

Some of the many balloons! There were 500 balloons participating this year! We watched them launch in two shifts one day... it was called so impressive!!

Lucky us- VIP! Yes we are!

Here are a couple of the many shape balloons.

This was balloon glow! Awesome--The balloons inflate at night and then all glow at the same time.

We are getting to fly!

Look Mom! Im flying!!

We are doing the awesome job of holding down the balloon! I ended up holding it by myself one day. I ended up grass skiing while someone driving by yelled - "HOLD ON KID!" Little did he know that I am a 32 year old kid!

AWESOME!

One day we road the longest tram in the world! I think it was the longest waiting line also! but we had fun!!!

We got to help with giving rides to little kids. That was alot of fun!

We met a very cool couple that taught us the "ropes" Thanks Pam & Tom!!

Elk Lake 09

We love Elk Lake! Here are a few things that happened during our week!
Here is me and my cutie mom.

This is the setting up of the girls tent... with instruction from Bill.

A Little Battle of the bands...

A little bike ride... (ha ha ha) Isn't Von so adorable!

A little ice cream making.

A little stinky tent... I hung out in the boys tent when we were blowing up balloons for mom's suprise birthday, party! I almost died!

A little shooting...only BB guns and yes I hit the target the first time!

A little service project!

What a great trip! Everyone was there!!!

Saturday afternoon hike!

Esther and I hiked up to the waterfalls on the Mt Timpanogos trail head at Aspen Grove.

These are so nasty!!!!!!!!

The mountains are so Beautiful!!!

Globin Valley...What a cool place!!

We took a little road trip to Goblin Valley, and Little Wild Horse Canyon. Wes, Esther, Angela and I. It was a perfect day!!

Little Wild Horse canyon has lots of slot canyons. They are amazing!

At some points there were puddles that were impassable! This one, Esther did not want to get very wet...but what did she do... she tried to run threw it and ended up getting everyone super wet and then she trip and fell in and got super wet! We laughed so hard!

Wes had to empty his shoes!

We got to the end of the line! This puddle was Huge!! Wes was only a few feet in. We decided that this was a good time to turn around and head home! Good Adventure!!

Mirror Lake - Memorial Day 09

We decided that we wanted to go to Mirror Lake for our Memorial Day outing! We got the group together, packed out lunches and headed off! but....



We got to this... Yep the road was closed! we were almost there, but there was to much snow so we hung out by the river and then went to Upper Provo River Falls. Good trip even though we didn't make it to our destination!







Oh- good thing my eyes are closed! Sheesh!!

Antelope Island Bike Ride...

Saturday was a beautiful day! Esther and I got up and drove to Antelope Island,(north of Salt lake city). We were so excited for our bike ride! It was sunny and nice.
Here is a picture of the Great Salt Lake (which I found out is 75 miles long and some 20 miles across, and has no outlet for water, it only evaporates) isnt it gorgeous.

With our bikes in tow... here is the mountain we are going to ride, Wahoo!

But who really thought that when the sign at the entrance of the Park said biting gnats we would end up looking like this... now known as the Biker bandits--what a pair! There were so many gnats I almost gave up and went home. We were being eaten alive!! no joke- you will see the results in a moment! We took our bandanas off our heads and had to wear them around our faces so we could breathe. I did inhale some and almost threw up. No joke the whole island was one big sworm of gnats.

We found the one lone tree and took a break and ate some snacks! No that isnt chew in my cheek, but a whole lot of fruits snacks! Forgot about that when I took this picture!

We saw some amazing scenery!

We rode our bikes out to the edge of Elephant head Trail! I couldnt find the elephant!

It has become tradition that Esther has to pose for a Baby pose picture on every trip!! she is hilarious!

And the moment you have been waiting for! Yes eaten alive-- I had so many bug bites on my face and around my ears it was awful-yes all the red dots you see are gnat bites. It was nuts!! Sunday counted the ones that I could still see! I had 70+ on my right arm and 50 + on my left. And 30+ on my face! The back of my neck around the collar line was covered- I am guessing 100+! I am so grateful they didnt itch! I would have gone MAD!!!

We stopped at Burger King on the way home and the cashier lady looked a little creeped out by me! I just smiled and laughed! what an adventure!!

Road Trip!! And which direction should we go you ask... let us point to the map and go the opposite direction!!!

We had a grand ole time!! So the weather was so nice one monday and I got the road trip bug!! yep when I got home I proposed to Esther and Kelly that we go on a road trip! We decided to go to Great Basin Nation Park in Nevada! We invited Wes and Cassie along too! We were super stoked!! By the time the weekend came it was suppose to be rainy, but we were heading south so we hoped it would miss us! As we are packing my car, we realized that all of our stuff would not fit in the car. Wes decided that he would not go! We were so sad!!!!! We said ok and headed south! We got on the freeway and decided to change our destination, since it was going to be a 4 hour drive. We pulled over to the side of the freeway and decided to go to Antelope Island, which yes is North and in the eye of the storm. We called Wes and he decided to go with us, since he was heading North and would meet us in Sandy. We stopped for Pizza and had alot of fun just chill'n! So at this point Wes drove and Esther rode with him and Kelly, Cassie and I were in my car!! It was about 10pm when we finally got to the Park! and our plans were foiled again!! The park was closed!! We decided to go home and just get up early and then head south again and go hiking in the San Rafel Swell. This time we all rode in Wes's truck! We had a blast! We drove through a town called Helper Utah! Not that will mean anything to the rest of you, but for those that were on that trip they will get a good laugh!

We were hiking to see petroglyphs and here is the first ones we found!

Cassie Jo is contemplating the mysteries of life.

This was a really cool view! Man we are so cool!! and if you notice that all of us girls are matching--we didn't plan that at all!

I think this is the coolest picture! I am adorable! :)

So we found this crevas and can't you tell we are trying so hard to help Wes out!

Oh our beautiful selves (apparently i am full of myself today!)

Peek-A-Boo! On this part of our adventure we are trying to find Devil's Canyon, we never quite found it, but after much off roading we found these cool rocks to climb on! Kudos to Wes and his amazing driving skills! In the back of this picture you see Wes's truck, her name is now Lola!
Kelly and I did some rock climbing! Pretty sweet! We were very careful cause the rock likes to fall apart!

The scenery is amazing! and we are pretty amazing too!

I forgot to put the last of our trip. We drove through the canyon on the way back home and it was a blizzard! The weather is crazy! but makes for some great ADVENTURES!!!