Zion's!!!

This last weekend I went on a ward camping trip to Zion's National Park in southern Utah. I remember having been there briefly as a kid on a family trip, but this was my first time back in over 10 years and I'd forgotten how incredibly beautiful it is!


A few shots of Zion's while winding up the canyon road to the Narrows.

At the entrance to The Narrows, the Virigin River fills the floor of the canyon. So if you want to go in, you have to be willing to get a little wet!

The water was a cold, but I fortunately have long legs and this was about as deep as it came on me :)

A view inside the Canyon.

Looking up the wall in the Canyon-so incredible that plants grow there!

I love the look of the sandstone; it looks like it's in motion :)

I had so much fun and wished I had time to do so much more, so I'm definitely planning a return trip for the near future!

July In Pictures

For three weeks in July I was on the USNS Comfort providing health care to the people of Nicaragua, with an ending liberty port in Panama! I met so many amazing people and saw a plethora of beautiful sites. So here's some of my trip in pictures :)
Samuel, my little friend on shore in Nicaragua.

Friends, co-workers, and patients on board!

Yes, I drove the ship and we didn't crash! Then I got really sweaty working out with Rachel.

My rack, the Diablo Rojo bus, Panama Temple, and the Bridge of the Americas.

Our ship the Comfort!

Being constantly surrounded by beauty for 3 weeks definitely spoiled me! With such gorgeous views it was hard to come back :)

Washington Peninsula Trip

Those who know me know that I love to travel. So for one of this year's road trips I decided to drive up the Washington coast to see the forests and beaches on the peninsula. It was gorgeous! So here's my trip in pictures since words can't describe how beautiful it is :)

Starting with the forests: I saw the Hoh rainforest and hiked up into the alpine forests of the Olympic mountains.

The first place we stayed was Cape Disappointment. I have no idea why it is called that, but it was the ending place for the Lewis and Clark expedition in Washington. So I hiked a trail up to a lighthouse that roughly mirrored Clark's trail back in the 1800's!

Loving the ocean as I do, it wouldn't be a trip without seeing some awesome coastline. I saw beaches in Cape Disappointment, La Push's First Beach, Rialto Beach, and the coast line of Port Angeles.

The Olympic mountains were formed by receeding glaciers, and so there is a lot of rough, stony ground and jutting peaks that I loved hiking through!

We also saw some sweet waterfalls. This first one is Multnomah Falls, which is the 2nd highest continuous running waterfall in north america. The second is Wahkeena Falls, which is near Multnomah.

And it wouldn't be a trip up the peninsula without a pit stop in Forks :)

On the way home from Washington, I stopped in Portland and visited my friend, Sarah, who graduated with me from BYU's nursing program and now lives there with her husband and 2 kids. We went strawberry picking one day and then canned some into jam and dried some others. I felt very domestic :)

So other than the fact that my hair was a completely frizzy mess the entire time (thank you humidity) it was an amazing trip! In fact, I'm now going to plan a trip down the Oregon coastline and into the Redwood forest of northern California. Anyone want to come with? :)