EPIC SUMMER PICTURE POST!

In case you were wondering why I haven't posted all July, the answer is that I was busy doing things, as evidenced by the following pictures. First, there was the Fourth of July parade...

the best part of which was this possibly Chinese dragon.

 Also, THOR.


Next, there was Daniel's birthday.

Where to begin!?!? Pictures! Pizza! Presents! Puppies! (Well, one not technically-a-puppy puppy.)

 

And most importantly...

CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then there were a few long, hot, tedious days, during which the camera made only the occasional appearance to document noteworthy accomplishments, such as...

Or to preserve this face made by Matthew one day while studying for his anatomy class:

Or to prove to skeptics that my hair was now long enough to be French-braided:

Sarah also took up nursing, by which I mean there was a great deal of blood pressure taking and blood pressure comparing going on:

Also featured: welcome-arm-baring by certain handsome muscular patients

Then the month took off again, because suddenly it was MY BIRTHDAY!

And there was much goofyness and picture taking and awkward placing of arms in the land.

Mama made me a strawberry cake!

Yep, that cake was the star of the show.

Cake, cake, cutting the cake, texting about the cake... Seriously, WHAT IS HE TEXTING?

But the last week of July turned out to be the most epic of all, as I got to visit Kirtland and Hiram, Ohio, for three days with one of the professors I work with at BYU.

For THE FIRST TIME EVER, I got to stay in my very own hotel room. I surrounded myself in pillows and watched The Shawshank Redemption past midnight. It was sheer madness.

                               This is where Joseph Smith walked in and told Newel K. Whitney "Thou art the man!"                                   I totally would have bought a T-shirt of that quote for Matthew, but sadly couldn't find one.

Over our allotted three days, we did a lot of filming and research and working on other projects in the car while the photographer did his thing, and I carried a lot of bags and technical equipment and amused myself by taking quirky pictures of myself in a graveyard.

LIKE

SO.

We also got to go inside the first Latter-day Saint temple, the Kirtland Temple, which has been kept up and is owned and operated by the Community of Christ. We even went into the basement, which was pretty cool (and slightly terrifying - you could look up and see the light from the first floor coming through, as well as see where they had to reinforce the foundations with slightly crooked but thick trees). We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the inside, but guess what? The outside is prettier anyway.

SEE?

PRETTY!

In Hiram, we visited the colorful John Johnson farmhouse, where Joseph Smith and his family stayed for a while as the Saints were gathering to Kirtland.

This is the bedroom where Joseph was dragged out by a mob and tarred and feathered. You would expect it to be dark and "spiritless," but it's actually more colorful and fun-looking than nursery rooms at church.

This is the upstairs room where Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had a vision of the different kingdoms of glory. I didn't love the salmon paint, but at least it wasn't purple. Ew, purple.

My favorite part of the trip came on our last day as we were on our way to the airport, and stopped briefly at one of Lake Erie's beaches. I could have stayed for hours, but we only had five minutes. Still, it was probably my favorite five minutes of the entire summer. As Matthew can attest, I loooooooooooooooooooooove the beach and would rather go there than do almost anything else in the world. Something about the combination of wind, water, sand, and sky just sends shivers all over me. It took a LOT of self-control to keep from diving in, clothes and all.

The beginning of five minutes in heaven!

My professor grew up in Long Beach, meaning that she loved the beach (like me) but wasn't CRAZY about it (like me).

You know I'm happy when I'm smiling even though my part (in my hair) is being completely DESTROYED!!!

Well, I got home and summer started winding to a close. I barely noticed when July ended and August slipped by, but Matthew and I did take time out to go mini-golfing, swimming, and use a coupon we've had since Christmas to eat out at IHOP. And that was the last of our happy summer memories.

We were planning to have pancakes, but ended up getting steak and potatoes.

HAPPY FALL EVERYBODY!