Pictures from the Summer (and a few stories)

At times, summer felt like it blew by and I never had the time to download pictures and write about what I did so here it is in one fell swoop!

One of my favorite things to do during the warm summer nights is to sit outside and read. I ventured down to the library one afternoon and picked up a whole slew of books and read them quite quickly. It was so hot during the day that I spent most of it indoors but the evenings were perfect for sitting on the Adirondack chair and reading some lovely books and enjoying some lovely characters.

Rebecca came into town and I was lucky enough to get some time with her! It was so wonderful catching up with her- not only had I not seen her since graduation but we had started college ten years ago. We wandered around campus and popped into buildings and dredged up a lot of memories about our four years of college. And of course, we had to take a picture outside of Voorhees, where our friendship began.

My first night back at the Godwins, I spend the afternoon with Bailie and then the evening with Kevin and Brooke. We had steak and king crab for dinner with salad and bread and then spent the night in from of the fire catching up. Love my second family and love these types of nights!

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Well, I finally did it. I went to the rodeo. This was the first year I had been in town during the rodeo since living in Caldwell so after listening to the hullabaloo down the street for two nights, I finally decided to see what the fuss was about. I got dinner with Katie, Jake, Ben, KC, and Sam beforehand and then we met up with Caitlin. I had no idea what to think. There were some people VERY MUCH into the rodeo. I was just fascinated at the different roping techniques and trying to figure out how to score things. The rodeo clown situation is bizarre and it was crazy how if you messed up once, that was it (a lot rides on 8 seconds in the rodeo, no pun intended!). I'm not sure I'll ever go back but now at least I can say I spent an evening at the rodeo!

I've missed playing the cello in the Meridian Symphony this past year because I either had class or small group on Monday nights so when an email went out about playing in a jazz-ish concert, I signed up. It was nothing like I expected (and the names of the songs were odd- lots of puns) but it ended up being so much fun. The music was up-beat and almost a melding of jazz, blues, Celtic, latin, and classical music. My one complaint is that it was a bit long but definitely something I would do again. And Tom, our conductor/leader is maybe the nicest person ever. Plus, we didn't have to wear concert black! Always a plus in my book :)

I spent a weekend house/kid/pet sitting at the Godwins while they were at a wedding in Eastern Idaho/Wyoming.

That same weekend, I met up with Steve and Joanna to watch the Tour de Fat bike tour (TOTALLY doing this next year!) and then met up with Katie and Chris to wander around the event. I loved the different types of bikes they had (one had sneakers for wheels and one had three bikes melded together to ride in circles). Katie, Joanna, and I ended up manning the water station for about an hour and a half since the taps were low and the lines were long but it got us a sweet t-shirt (it's soooo comfy!) and some free beer tokens. We also ran into Drew and Stacey and Greg and Aly and all of them were planning to come to the Godwins later to enjoy the pool. After a day of drinking beer and spending time in the hot sun, it was so nice to share food and listen to good music and relax in the poor and around the fire for most of the night. Such great friends (and generous friends!)

I dealt with some ear issues. I tried to deal with the wax issue on my own but they ended up getting so plugged that I was practically deaf for a day. Luckily the doctor I usually saw at the Caldwell Primary Health clinic was working out in Boise now and I was able to see her before my meeting with Dr. Klein at BSU. My ears still really hurt after they were cleaned out so she gave me some drops and I spend a few nights with cotton in my ears. I'm pretty cool....

There was a very long day spent at Faculty Retreat but I had the best table and we had some good discussions. There was a long session listening to the future planning of the college but the best part was the delicious dinner and then convocation! Greg did a great job speaking and Aly and I grabbed a cake pop for dessert afterwards.

This year was my McCall-iversary, as it had been ten years since I was a freshmen up there. A lot had changed and yet, a lot was the same. I drove Caitlin, Juliette (the new Chinese professor) and Cynthia and Lindsay (counselors) up to McCall and there was a lot of great conversation on the drive up. Plus, the views are always beautiful. There were so many freshmen but they seemed quite well behaved and intentioned, which was great. It was a bit chilly but I took a group out on a hike and got a chance to talk one-on-one with a few students and get to know others while playing Apples to Apples with Brent. During our free time, I hitched a canoe ride with Kirsten and Brent and overheard some Mormon-based conversation which was fascinating. The campfire and gift exchange was hysterical as usual and I came away with a large double-frame. Not sure what to use it for yet but it was pretty than a random lamp! The next morning it was pouring rain but held off enough for us to do our morning events. Cynthia and I oversaw the play in a minute activity and some of the groups were fantastic! I definitely want to do this next year. And even in the rain, McCall is gorgeous.

My reward for getting through the first day of school was to go see Ghostbusters at the Botanical Gardens with Aly. I had seen Casablanca there a few years ago but this was the first movie this season. We grabbed some dinner at Boise Fry Company beforehand and watched the sun go down while waiting for the movie. It was much colder than we had expected but nothing could ruin the amazing-ness that is the classic Ghostbusters. Who ya gonna call??

Art in the Park is always a great weekend, although at times overwhelming. Lots of booths and too many people. We did Art in the Park right this year. Dustin and I met at the market earlier, since I had a bunch of groceries I wanted to pick up and then we met up with Aly, Greg, and Tessa. We wandered around Art in the Park a bit but mostly just enjoyed a bit of day drinking in the sculpture garden of the BAM. Definitely the preferred way of enjoying a day of art.

Aly and I ran the Fit-One 5K and ran the entire thing! Including the hill up to the Bench! It was really nice to run with someone and of course, we made out with chocolate milk, bagels, some yogurt and string cheese. No gross yogurt this year! The weather was perfect- no sun but not cold and very refreshing. Aly is a great running partner!