Jason goes into the MTC!!!

I still can't believe it... Jason Lamprecht, my brother, went into the MTC on August 27th and is headed towards Independence, MI to be a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!   Chad and I had the opportunity we had to meet Jason and his parents up at the Salt Lake City Temple and go to a session the day before he reported!  It was an awesome experience and absolutely beautiful inside.  I'm so proud of Jason and his choice to go on a mission.  We'll see him again in 2 years!

SLC Sunday

Two Sundays ago (August 10th) Chad and I decided to go up to Temple Square for the day for some sightseeing/spiritually uplifting tourism. The original intent was to go up in the morning to see the Mormon Tabernacle choir perform in "Music and the Spoken Word" (we've heard that it is absolutely amazing) and then tour around temple square before going to pick up my cousin at SLC airport. When we got to the tabernacle at 9:00 a.m., we were dismayed to discover that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's was not there! A speaker got up and explained that Motab is unable to attend their weekly performance about once a year and this week was that week! Needless to say, we were kind of bummed. However, they did play a recording back of a previous week, and it was still amazing to listen to them sing while in the tabernacle. I think we will have to go back some other Sunday this year to hear them perform in person!

Posing in front of the temple... we actually have a picture just like this from when we were dating. So fun!

Temple Square pic.

Inside the tabernacle... side story: we just happened to run into one of Chad's old companions (his "son") and his fiancee right before it started. Small world?

In the afternoon, we decided to go on a guided tour of the conference center which included a sweet tour on the roof. It is absolutely amazing up top... there is a full garden with a fountain in the middle!

So on the roof of the conference center, there is a huge mural with all these pictures of different people. My favorite face on the whole wall was this little kid with the crazy smile.

Conference Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Seating Capacity: 21,200

Google Image Search

I stole this from a friend's blog, what you do is use Google Image Search and you search for the answers to the questions and you pick your favorite picture from ONLY the 1st page.
It's a fun thing to try and do it one day when you're bored...

Age:

A Place I want to Visit: Pacific islands (Samoa & Tonga)

Favorite Place: Home

Favorite Food: (grilled veggies)

Favorite Animal: (i really don't like animals, but I think elephants are kind of fun in theory)

Favorite Color: green
Where I was born: Hoag Hospital

Place I Live: Provo, UT
Past Pet: Zeke (tabby cat)

Past Love: climbing trees and making tree forts

First Name: Alyse

Middle Name: Marie
Last Name: Bennett

Not Yet, But Hopefully: Family with kids
College Major: Nursing

First Job: Babysitter

Bad Habit: Perfectionist

What I'm doing right now: working

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.

Shaver Lake, CA

August 13- August 18, Chad and I had the opportunity to head out to Shaver Lake, CA for my family's annual summer boating trip. Although this was only our second summer going to Shaver Lake, we had an awesome trip with the Simmons family and Chad got to be there this year! We were up every morning by 6:30 a.m. and out on the Lake for some serious boating while the water was smooth and then got to spend lots of time relaxing on the beach, playing cards, tubing, wake surfing (the newest boating sport), and eating. It was definately nice to get out of Provo for a couple of days and spend some time with my family.

The Myer family boat...

At the condo we stay at, there is a pool table located in the basement that my little brother Luke is obsessed with! Whenever we were back at the condo, it was almost a guarantee that Luke would be downstairs playing pool with whoever he had convinced to play with him that time.

Chad and I suiting up in life jackets before a crazy tube ride ( I think right after this picture he actually pushed me off the swim deck into the lake)
My little brother Luke has a real passion for fishing (of all the random things to be excited about) and was given my grandpa's old fishing pole and tackle box prior to the trip. To complete the outift, my mom also found this old black hat, and they found a yellow inflatable boat for him to paddle around our cove. It was hilarious how focused he was about this whole fishing business. He would grab all his gear and be out in the middle of the cove for an hour and a half just fishing. Unfortunately, we left his boat and gear on the beach underneath our shade cover over night and returned the next day to find that it had been stolen. He was pretty bummed, but excited he did have some chance to fish.

On Friday afternoon, we all drove over to Dinkey Creek for a picnic lunch, some cliff jumping, and a small hike to a large waterfall and a swimming hole. Dinkey Creek is absolutely beautiful.

Log-jumping into the swimming hole with Luke and Chad. We also drove over to a grove of Sequoia trees for a quick peek. Those trees were so tall, I couldn't even believe it!
One of our favorite things to do back at the cabin was play games, so on one afternoon all of the kids played part of a rousing game of Phase 10. It got to be quite competitive, as always, but was a fun way to relax after a long day.