The Big Apple!
September 19-21

My great friend Kirsten was getting married. We met years ago at SVU and have had so many great memories. I was so excited when she got engaged because that meant an SVU reunion and one in New York City. It was more of an adventure than I could have even imagined! I must warn you, there are LOTS of pictures!

Thursday:
 we all had different flights so Kami and I rode to the house together and the others met us there at different times. The house was AMAZING. It was Thad's (Kirsten's fiance) cousins house who played in the NBA. It was a $14 million dollar 6 story house in the middle of Soho. It was so tall and skinny it felt like a Harry Potter house. That night we had planned on going out but we stayed up talking and laughing until really late, feeling nostalgic about our days running free in the land of Virginia.

 Arriving to the City that Never Sleeps

 The Beautiful view from the roof of where we stayed

 

 

Friday:
We started out the day by going to breakfast to surprise our friend Sam, since non of us could make it to her wedding. The food was delicious! We then tried to pack in as much sight seeing as we possibly could. This was all by 4 pm as we had to hurry back and get ready for the wedding dinner. It was such a blast. I don't normally get that dolled up or flashy but we figured why not right? The dinner was awesome, and afterward Thad's friends had reserved a lounge at a hotel club which of course we had to dance the night away. It was late but we were having so much fun so we decided to go out on the town! Even Kirsten came with us. We didn't get back to the house until early morning, exhausted, feet hurting and smiling.

 The line for the famous "Cronuts." People are crazy to wait that long

 All the girls out for a surprise breakfast for Sam

 A Cathedral right next to the World Trade Center

 Central Park

 

 I finally changed into more comfortable shoes!

 

Happy Ladies

 Battery Park/Statue of Liberty

 FAO Schwartz Toy Store

Um...Sorry Dan

The Wedding Dinner

At the Club/Lounge after the Wedding Dinner

Hitting the town at 2AM

 

 

Looking at the Empire State building

 

Cab Ride back....the Ladies didn't want to walk

Saturday:
We felt pretty trashed since we can't really handle all that partying like we once did in our SVU days but we felt young again and couldn't resist. We hurried and went the the 9/11 memorial before heading back for the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and Kirsten looked stunning! It was so chill and laid back (Kirsten style) they had the ceremony on the roof overlooking the city. Later on it started to rain during all the dancing. Eventually everyone gave up but us girls and we had the most amazing dance party on the roof, in the pouring rain, in our dresses. I still can't help but smile.

Riding the Subway

 9/11 Memorial

Getting ready for the wedding

Ready for the ceremony to Start

Why am I so tall?

 

Ladies!

 Love this little Bride

 

I learned to Instagram

Photobooth...need I say more?

And the tights come off...Ready to party!

Dancin' in the Rain!

 

 We had to all try to fit in the elevator at the house we stayed at

Sunday:
Sadly the party had ended so we all took the bus and subway back to the airport where we headed our separate ways but had made some incredible memories together.

 Goodbye New York City!

 

Triathlon Round  2
September 7, 2013

After our first triathlon we were all on a high and I really wanted to do another one. Well Dan found one being held at Yuba Lake and we all jumped on board, though I don't think any of us felt ready for this one. Aubrey and my Mom had to drop out since Aubrey made the Viewmont High School volleyball team and my mom got hurt skiing while boating (tough life). Luckily Josh and Betsy wanted to do one so they jumped on board. Dan also convinced his brother Hector and his friend Alex to do it as well.

We got to the hotel late and had to get up early so we were really tired, especially since Dan has been working so much. We got to the lake right as the sun was coming up, full of nerves, and feeling a little chilly. We were getting excited and the boys started first. The girls were right after them. I felt like the swim never ended but I tried to push myself. We all ended up doing well (hey, we finished!) We all beat our last time by about 30 minutes. I even took third place in my division! Afterward we all went to lunch before we went our separate ways but it was decided we are definitely doing another one, perhaps Dan and I will do the Olympic triathlon.

Ready to start!

This man rocks!

LJ Finishing the swim

Dan...on to the bikes!

Betsy starting the bike ride

Staci thinks she's funny....

Josh running, almost finished!

Hector finishing the run...

Kelsi passing the finish line!

Yep: 3rd place!

Betsy and Josh, so proud of them!

We did it!

Not going to say goodbye to summer....
August 29

A lot of the Bishop family went to the BYU game back East so Staci was in charge of the twins Logan and Kate. They were able to ride the front runner for Ty's birthday party then they came up to Logan for Treyden's kick ball game. They decided to stay the night and we had a movie night at my apartment. I loved having them there! I gave them a bubble bath after they were super dirty from the park and they are hilarious! The next morning they helped me clean then we went and ate at the park before we went to the Logan Zoo (not much of a zoo haha), then we had snow cones with the cute cousins! It was so much fun!

Labor Day weekend
Right after babysitting the cute kids Dan and I headed to the cabin. Most of the Flores clan were able to come for the weekend and we had so much fun. We did so many things. The kids played a lot of ping pong, along with having movie nights. We ate way too much, Dan and I felt so sick after all the delicious food. Enrique and Bruce started a fire in the fire pit and we had s'mores and told scary stories which weren't that scary. We went 4-wheeling, bike riding, hiking, shooting (yep, still a terrible shot!), hot tubing, and anything else we could think of to do at the cabin which is never ending! It was such a blast spending time with the family in the mountains. Enrique and 'Rique went fishing in the morning at the near by reservoir though the water was getting pretty low by then. It was definitely a good weekend, though it would have been fun if we could have stayed on Monday due to Labor Day but everyone still had to work so it was a short but awesome weekend!

Family Sealing
August 2-4

Dan's brother Enrique, along with his wife Jamee and their three kids 'Rique, Taislee and McCoy were all sealed together in the St. George temple on Saturday August 3, 2013. It was one of the coolest experiences. We got to St. George at 4 a.m. on Friday morning, after some sleep we spent the day with the family before Dan and I were able to go to Jamee and Enrique's endowment. Dan and I both forgot our recommends but luckily we were able to get it resolved! The next day we helped set up the reception at the church then got ready and headed to see their sealing. It was so precious! Afterwards they all took family pictures dressed in their whites then headed to the reception. It was so cute and they looked so happy and I am so grateful we were able to celebrate with them! It may not have been our usual adventure but it was definitely a real reminder about how special the temple and families are.

Back Packing
July 26-27

Dan and I have been doing really well at our summer bucket list and we wanted to get at least one over night backpacking adventure in. All of our friends have moved so we couldn't sit in self pity too long. We packed our bags and did a 9 mile hike to a lake. It was a beautiful hike and we had so much fun hiking and camping. I know that one day we wont be able to do as much if we have kids so we are taking full advantage of the time we have.

Grand Canyon
Day 6: Sunday 14

We finished our river rafting with one last class 10 wave. Dan and Staci were some of the ones on front and once again I was astounded they were able to stay on! It was a great way to end. After that, we all flew out on a helicopter ride, I got shotgun and Dan was in the window seat. It was so cool flying over the Grand Canyon! We then got to a small ranch where we were able to shower and change our clothes and eat lunch there.

Kissing the anvil rock, the girls kiss it for good passage

 

Not Ready to be off the river...

 

 Our helicopter group

 

Dan and Bob...and some creeper in the back...

 

The view from the helicopter to the boats below

It was such a cool ride!

 

Some of the girls with our helicopter guide, after our first clean, warm shower

 

    

We then loaded onto a small 19 person plane which I was really excited for until I started to get really motion sick, I ended up throwing up but it was still a really cool flight! Then Dan and I headed back for an 8 hour drive to Logan. Randomly we were driving on a back road and looked over to see our friends Rachel and DJ in the car next to us which was so serendipitous! It was an adventure and I will treasure the memories! A week without any technology, phones, tv, computers, work, mirrors, makeup, showers etc….It was so nice and it made me realize how much time is wasted when there is a whole world out there to discover!

Ready for our last plane ride before our 8 hour drive home

 

We were not on the same plane as the rest of the Bishop clan but I can only imagine how that was

 

Beautiful view of the Grand Canyon from the small air plane

 

It was a lot of fun until I got motion sick and threw up

Grand Canyon
Day 5: Saturday 13

We had another hike to yet another waterfall though they never got old. It was the bottom of Havasu falls so I was really excited. I was a little bummed to see the water was not the normal blue but because of a storm the day before it was a murky brown but it was ok because the water was awesome to play in. Brandon did the same thing Kelsi did at the Gauntlet and high centered on a belly flop, so funny! There was one part where if you jumped in just right, the waterfall would push you down and swirl you around like a washing machine before pushing you out across the water. It was sooo cool!

We came to a bridge that was about 40 or so feet up and we hiked up to it. The boys decided to of course pee of it and there was a tunnel that Brandon hid in to scare people. It was a pretty cool view. Brandon thought the donkey trail was ancient and Chelsea said: No Brandon, it’s for real life ;)
We set up camp and it was in a canyon so Dan and I decided to check it out. We got a ways into it when we ran into a huge herd of big horned goats so we decided to bail though we succeeded the next morning.

Checking out the bridge

Another beautiful Scenery

Trying to find the sheep

Our ticket to dinner was to have a painted toe nail, including the men. Kelsi painted my some of the boy's toes while they were sleeping, they were pretty confused when they woke up. The guides dressed up in “tuxes” and everyone wore togas. We had a huge steak dinner with music and formal attire, under the stars. It was one of the best nights ever!

Our Guides dressed up for our last night

Keeping it classy in our Togas 

 Kelsi painting the boys nails, Papa Brent was confused

Some Hor d'oeuveres before dinner