We're going to Hawaii!!

Chad and I have officially decided that we're going to Hawaii this summer!

Because we had kind of a short honeymoon, and we weren't able to plan anything extravagant, we decided that for our one-year anniversary we are going to treat ourselves to a Hawaiian vacation. Here are the plans thus far:
We will be going to the island of Oahu during the week of August 22- August 28. On Friday, August 21, I'm going to pick up Chad from work and then we're going to drive all night to make our flight out of LAX at 7:00 a.m. on August 22. Thanks to my wonderful Dad who let us use his frequent flyer miles for the flight, we will be flying first to Dallas and then catch a connecting flight to Honolulu (it was the only flight we could get for that day). We've already found a place to stay while we're there and it's absolutely perfect; we will be staying in a studio apartment behind a house that is located right on the beach in Laie. We plan to spend the following week completely enjoying the beautiful beach and all the fun things there are to do on Oahu. I can't wait!!! We'll fly back to LAX on Friday, August 28 and then head back up to Utah to start fall semester on August 31st.

I seriously can't wait to go! This is going to be our first real vacation together, just the two of us (excluding our honeymoon) and we get to go to such a beautiful place. Probably what makes me most excited is that Chad has never been to Hawaii before so he will be experiencing everything for the first time! I know that August seems like forever away at this point (seeing as it's only April), but we're counting down the days!

Ski/Snowboard Weekend

Every year the Myer family embarks on a Myer family ski trip. Most years (all years until now), we have gone to Mammoth Mountain in California with other family friends. This year, however, Chad and I really couldn't get the time off of work or school and the Boud's daughter Natalie is also up at BYU. Fortunately for us, our families love us and wanted us to be able to go skiing anyway so the trip was planned for Park City! My family arrived on Wednesday in Provo and I was so excited to see them! They skied on Thursday and Friday (Chad had work off and got to go and ski with them while I had class/work on Thursday and Friday) and then I met up with them on Friday night with Jacie and Shane.

My parents rented an awesome cabin in Heber that was out in the middle of nowhere and we stayed there the entire weekend. There wasn't even cell phone service or the internet, talk about isolation! On Saturday, Chad and I went skiing in the morning and then we went sledding in the afternoon.

This is the sledding hill we constructed right outside the house... You would be suprised how fast that black innertube could fly down that slope and then continue on down the length of the driveway. It was fun all the way up until Chad and I went down the hill together, Chad was thrown off, the tube veered out of control, and I hit our Yukon with the back of my head!
The other fun thing we did on this trip that we've never done before is renting snowmobiles. Jacie and Shane were with us early Saturday morning when we decided to try them out, and it's a good thing they were! Shane is from Utah and therefore has had quite a bit of experience with snowmobiling and how to dig yourself out when you get stuck or fall over. We started of on a well-ridden trail off by the cabin when it started to turn into a narrow track through deep powder. Naturally, we continued on to explore the area and prove just how courageous we were. Before long Chad and I became stuck when we went too slow around a turn, and we all had to work to dig out the snowmobile!

Before leaving the cabin...Making the decision to go out in the wilderness.

Jacie and I being really helpful and taking pictures while the boys tried to dig out the snowmobile.

Look at our 2 strong boys!

In the evenings, we spent the time just hanging out in the cabin, playing games or pool in the basement, making yummy dinners, occasionally doing homework, and just enjoying each other's company by the roaring fire.Jacie and Shaners

Chad and I... I just love this boy!

My mom, pseudo-mom, and my little sister...

Some things about this trip just cannot be explained... for example, why Luke thought his ski clothes were, in fact, a ninja outfit!

The Utah boy (Shane).My little sister McKenna with some crazy eyes!

After an awesome weekend that ended far too quickly, I was sad to say goodbye to my family. You never realize how much you miss and love them until you live in another state. Hopefully I will get to see them again soon and next President' s Day weekend we will get to go skiing again. Anyways, the moral of the story is that my family is pretty much awesome and I love them.

This is how sad and upset they were when they found out we were leaving... or after traveling back down the mountain to take chad and I to our car with the car so full and loaded down we could barely breathe. gotta love 'em.

My daddy ran a marathon!

Last weekend my best friend Jacie and I drove down to St. George to watch my dad run in the St. George Marathon!  He was absolutely amazing, and improved his time from last time by 4 minutes with a time of 3 hours and 2 minutes!!!  I still can't even believe it.  As if it wasn't enough that he was running 26 miles, but it actually rained during the entire marathon.  Jacie and I hadn't really prepared for the weather so we were able to run around all day in a trash bag.

After the marathon, we got to hang out with my family and watch general conference together.  It's been a couple of months since I saw them last and I loved being able to just hang out with them.  For dinner, we met up with our long-time family friends, The Cummings Family, and spent some time hanging out with them.  Overall, it was an awesome little weekend get-away.  I'm so proud of my dad for all the time and effort he put into preparing himself for the St. George Marathon.  

This is Jacie and I prior to leaving  Provo... Roomie Road Trip Part III!

Coolest billboard ever!  (aka. Jacie and I in 50 years, kicking it and living young)

First thing we did upon arriving in St. George= In-N-Out

I pretty much just love my mom...  She and McKenna apparently thought something was pretty funny.

... and she didn't feel like being photographed.

Driving to mile 18 to see my dad (all 4 of us squished into the back seat of the Honda)

She was happy, I promise.

We were the trash bag people!!!  (who knew it was really going to rain?)

Family!

There he is, chugging along at mile 18.

Luke ran the last 1/4 mile with my dad, he was excited for him to finally get to the finish line...

After the race, we met up with the Cummings for some delicious food at Jimmy John's.

Hanging out at the Cummings...

Granite Pools

On the Sunday afternoon of our Shaver Lake trip, we hiked to a beautiful little spot called the "Granite Pools". The hike is approximately 2-3 miles from a dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere to this beautiful little hideaway. It is one of those hikes that unless you already know where it is, you would never be able to find it. The trail is marked by stacks of stones every 50 feet or so, but most times you can just kind of blaze your way down. On the way there, we had a little dispute because some of our group (Joel and Matt Simmons) thought it would be easier to follow the river high and then cross, while a larger portion wanted to cross the river first and then stay high like we had last year. The majority prevailed.

Side Story: On the way back, Joel persuaded the entire group that his way was better, so we all followed him. Turns out we chose the long way along a trail that really didn't exist. A couple of dozen cuts later, the pack of whining and complaining kids refused to let Joel forget that he had chosen this "easier" trail and had been terribly wrong. As if that was not enough, when we reached the parking lot, a father and two boys who had left the pools just minutes before us said, "wow, you guys took the LONG way back... we stopped and swam in the pools for a while, took our time, and have been back at the car for ten minutes". It was pretty great.

Just as the name suggests, it is a stretch of Dinkey Creek where the water travels down a canyon made of granite. There are all sorts of fun things to do at the pools including: jumping off a small waterfall, sliding on your bum down the slick rock into pools, swimming, laying out on the warm granite after swimming in the freezing water, hiking up the canyon to a fun waterfall & a porthole in the rocks, and then back down for a picnic lunch by the waterfall. It's a beautiful little place. Hiking to the secret "porthole" and waterfall canyon.
Chad lowering Luke down into the porthole... it's kind of hard to see, but there is a perfect circle cut right through the middle of the rock. (in the shadows)

The secret canyon leading back to a waterfall that you can only reach by swimming.

A pretty little waterfall...

Cliff jumping into a large granite pool... this is Joel doing a flip.

After hiking around the pools, we came back down to a little grassy knoll at the bottom to relax and eat some lunch.

Wakeboarding- Shaver Lake

The best time of the day for an awesome wakeboarding experience is first thing in the morning. Almost every day we were up at 6:30 and at the lake by 7:15 to take advantage of the glassy water and lack of tons of other boats. Lucky for us, the temperature of the lake water was always warmer than the air outside in the early mornings, so there was lots of motivation to wakeboard. Chad was worried, prior to this trip, that his hiatus from wakeboarding (about 3 years because of the mish) would mean a rocky trip for him, but he astounded us all and was amazing! He even cleared the wake completely about 2-3 times. What a stud!

This is my dad, he's kind of awesome at this whole wakeboarding thing...

Normally, my dad is hte designated boat driver, however when it is his turn to wakeboard, someone else has to take the wheel. Chad happily took control and turned out to be an awesome boat driver!

I'm slowly improving my own wakeboarding skills and can now do some pretty decent jumping. Next time, hopefully, I will be able to clear the wake!Chad likes to jump!

The other fun thing we learned how to do this trip was wakesurfing! You ride on a short surf board right behind the boat, using the wake to propel you. It's a funny sight for all the other boats around us because we had to load EVERYONE into the far back corner of the boat in order to get enough weight for a sweet wave on the side of the wake. I had a hard time when I was first trying to get the hang of it because the rope is very short and you are very close to the boat while you are riding. A couple of times, I was worried I was going to fall and hit the swim deck, but it's tons of fun!

Wakesurfing... (everyone said that I always stuck my tongue out while I was trying to focus)
...and then wiping out.
Happy boating day.