Finally Finished the Placemats

The day before I left for Chicago, I realized I hadn't bought a present for Karen's wedding. I was super stressed trying to pack for Chicago and Honolulu, and I was running out of time. My mom encouraged me to finally finish my placemats and give them to Karen. My mom helped me so much, and she laughed really hard when I told her I was being selfish and didn't want to give them away because they turned out so great. Dra and I have already decided to make more.

Bells Canyon Hike:

The Search for Upper Falls

Zach and Ben

I forget what they were discussing, probably like me, they were wishing to see Bighorn Mountain Sheep fighting each other on the cliffs.

We could hear the falls ... or could we?

Found the Upper Falls!

No we didn't, now we truly found the Upper Falls.

We hiked around a bit amidst what we thought were the Upper Falls. Zach got a lot of pictures; I can't wait to see them. The water was amazing. The trail went on a little bit further past what we originally thought were the Upper Falls. We wondered if the trail led to the reservoir, so we decided to keep going. Good thing we did. These falls were amazing. I think I might be more impressed by the Upper Falls than the Lower Falls.

Is Ben planning what I think he's planning? Of course. He scrambled right up the rocks of this waterfall. Scared me too much, so Zach and I left and climbed to the right of the falls to get a view from the top.

The rock looked so flat and smooth at the top. Perfect for a water slide until you got to the fall part.

I don't remember what I was hoping to capture with this snap, but I laugh every time I look at this.

Swim Fun at Anth's Apt. Pool

Ben

Teighlor

Ben tossed off his flippy floppys and had fun with my camera. You can catch a glimpse of me right at the beginning of this video. I am contentedly stretched out reading my book.

Silver Lake Flats Swim

On our last day of the Bateman Family Campout, we packed everything up, headed down the canyon, met up with our friends the Gainers, and headed straight back up the canyon for a swim in the lake.

The boys found a log and swam around the lake.

Jess and I laughed at their antics, the fishermen around us did not.

View of Tibble.

Mt. Timpanogas Cave

Ben and the Stellars Jay

What? Can't find the bird?

That's because it flew away right when I took the picture.

Stellars Jay right by the original entrance to the cave.

Heart of the Cave

Salt and Pepper Shakers

Some joker broke them off and stole them, they were later found and returned then glued back on, and now we can't touch them.

Granite Flats Campout

The last week of July was our annual Bateman Family Campout. My dad and I arrived first at our campsite up American Fork Canyon, and he kept me busy helping him set up the most ridiculous tarp above our tent (above the rainfly). My fear of bungee cords came out in full force as I continued to get thwapped by them. If I had been working with anyone but my dad, there would definitely have been tears. It's hard to see the system in the below picture, but let me assure you, neither my dad nor I are tall enough to have just simply stretched to reach the placement around the trees. I had to shimmy up pine trees (this doesn't work well at all, especially in tevas), my dad hired a stick to help guide the bungee where he wanted, and we found a box that he stood on while I braced it. I didn't really know how to brace it, so basically I just stood there with my body against the box, knowing full well that it would break my femur if it gave, repeating, "Please don't break," over and over and over in my head.

Back of Mt. Timp Hike

My Uncle Scott often organizes a hike up the back of Timp, and this was the first year I've ever been able to go. It was so amazing, and I hope we get to do it again next year.

Our first stop at the first meadow.

My cousin Josh (aka Bizarro World Zach) pointing to a deer clambering over the rocks.

The wildflowers were out of control. All of my pictures don't give them any justice.

View from the second meadow. We're going to the very top of that peak. Yowza. Can't say my heart didn't sink just a tad. So much farther to go.

My cousin Jess and our first encounter with a mountain sheep.

Ben at the Saddle.

Everyone pulled out their cellphones and called loved ones.

The tippy toppy!

We pulled out our snacks, Dra gasped, "My Doritos! Ohhh, I must have dropped them." Soon after, our cousin Brandon reached us and shouted, "Did someone drop Doritos?" He saved Dra's day.

Josh perched safely, but it still made my head spin a bit to see the drop.

Next challenge: Heading down to this lake.

Me and my sissy Em at the top, Ben checking out that guy's butt.

Me, Em, and Dra laughed so much the entire way up, and the majority of the way down. It was so much fun to hike with them.

The glacier we slid down.

I was so scared at the top when we were sliding sideways on the muddy rock.

I was so scared to slide down the glacier; it was so steep, and I was convinced a rock would give me another butt crack. Ben went first and laughed the whole way. Em and I sat on our garbage bags and tried to make a train, it didn't work. Dra has a hilarious video. I am scared but laughing, Em is scared and screaming bloody murder. Lots of our group gingerly walked down.

Herd of mountain goats right by the lake.

Can you believe we slid down this bad boy?

Incredibly beautiful.

I hope that Em and Dra post some of their pictures (hint hint wink wink). We had a fabulous time.

Bateman to Malone

I saw Karl Malone at the airport when I came back from Hawaii. He was standing right in front of me as Em and I sat on the bench waiting for Ben to pick us up. I wasn't paying any attention, but then I heard his trademark drawl. "Sounds just like Karl," I thought to myself, yup, there he was right in front of me. I elbowed Em and told her who it was, but she questioned how I knew. How can you not?

Doesn't he look like Brian Fellows?

Ben pulled up right when Karl came back with more luggage.

Ben: "Excuse me Karl Malone? Can we get a picture?"

Karl: Looking straight ahead, tad grumpy, "I've just been on a 26 hour flight, let me put my luggage down."

So I took off my shoes, didn't fix my Superman curl hanging down in front, and snapped a picture of me after a night on a plane standing next to The Mailman.

He shook my hand, and I said thank you, and managed to not embarrass myself like I did when I met Thurl Bailey at one of his concerts up at USU.

Thurl: While shaking my hand, "So nice to meet you. You look very familiar."

Me: "Well I did play Jr. Jazz."

Idiot.

Hawaii Pictures!

I was invited to my adorable friends Karen Conklin and Kahili Woods' wedding in Hawaii. Emilie Decker Ralph and I travelled together. Emilie is good friends with Karen, and Karen hired her to be her wedding photographer. We had a blast together.

Pria the flower girl (Kahili's niece), Karen in the background getting ready, Chelsea (Kahili's sister) helping with Karen's hair.

My camera card was full, and I frustratingly tried to delete old pics, but I could not figure out how to get back to super old ones. I knew it had to be so easy, I even had Emilie the wedding photographer look at my camera, but she couldn't figure it out either. Em took amazing pictures of the wedding, so maybe in a couple of weeks I will re-post about Hawaii with better quality pictures.

Old International Market.

Deep sigh as it took me back to Taiwan and Thailand.

One of the five pools at the Hilton.

Karen and Kahili honeymooned at the Hilton which was conveniently located right across from our hotel: Aqua Palms and Spa. Our pool was a pathetic L-shaped eyesore. Em laughed when I disappointingly pointed out that with a name like Aqua Palms, the place should have a better pool. Karen invited us over to swim in their lagoon and pools. Yes please! The pools even had little kiddy slides connecting them. I waited my turn in between two five year olds, then slid down one of the slides. It was fantastic.

Karen and Kahili getting their picture taken right by the lagoon we swam in.

I loved that it was shark and jellyfish free.

I ran my own little 5k along the beach behind the Hilton. Usually when I run here in Utah, my throat gets pretty dry, but such was not the case in good ol' Hawaii. I was terribly sweaty due to the humidity though. Well, more sweaty than usual. There were a lot of people out and about in the morning, I was pleasantly surprised. There were even quite a few people swimming in the ocean which reinforced my jealousy of people who can swim.

Helicopter Tour!

By far my favorite thing we did.

In the picture: Our pilot in the blue jeans, Em in the helicopter, weird flirty copilot.

This is the beach I ran!

Bruce Willis (aka bizzaro world Brent Bateman) and Keanu Reeves have houses somewhere on this hill.

Hawaii's take on Sea World.

We could see lots of hiking trails. They were beyond steep, I swear, they were practically straight up the mountainside. I don't know if you'll be able to make out the white blur, but we saw a guy on top of one of the peaks. I waved furiously, and he waved back, and I tried to get a picture.

This could be Stairway to Heaven.

I had to reach over Emilie to get this picture. Here's where parts of Lost and Jurassic Park were filmed.

Sacred Falls

Can you spot the waterfall? Our pilot said that they had to close it down to all hikers because too many people were getting hurt.

Pearl Harbor - USS Utah

Our pilot took us on the same route the Japanese took.

Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona