Not Letting Summer Go

Yes, I realize it is now October but I can't seem to let summer go. I have some what resigned to the fact that summer "technically" ended the 23rd of September, but I still can't bring myself to pack up the shorts and sandals. We had a great, busy, tiring, and relaxing summer break full of trying new things and hanging on to the traditions. However, school is definitely back in session and summer has come to an abrupt end. Bear with here, I know there are a ton of pictures but it's easier to do just one huge post instead of a bunch of little ones (plus that's what happens when you take a lot of pictures and don't post anything). And I'm simply reminiscing so there will be more than enough pictures to go around :)   

 To start, Chad and I picked up camping!! I love camping!! Chad... not so much... at all. We ended up having some really good times meaning I got him to go more than once. We started by going just outside of Rexburg and then made our way to a trip in Yellowstone!

Having this at the entrance to our campsite was slightly scary.

Can I just say how much I LOVE Yellowstone! 

Apparently, during the winter when there isn't a lot of food, the animals eat the bark off of the trees.

And we can't forget Old Faithful.

Idaho has some surprisingly beautiful places to visit and we have had a really good time finding them. Skyler and Kathryn have been really great at humoring us and tagging along.

Until we got attacked by mosquitoes.

Next up on the list is the awesome introduction I received into yet another Rexburg secret: Huckleberries:

They are seriously the most work you will ever do but very worth it. I have been told that raspberry-huckleberry jam is the best jam ever, so naturally I had to pick some raspberries. The real issue here is when, if ever, I will get around to actually making the jam.

I had never heard of white raspberries before; kinda interesting.

Continuing the theme of the great outdoors, we got to see a lot of wildlife this summer. Nothing really compared to the bear we stumbled upon, but there were some fun ones:

We are thinking this is a woodchuck?

Um yes this is a bat in our kitchen sink.We seriously have no idea how this happened. The closest thing we can come up with is the fact that this was the morning after we had gotten back from a camping trip... but I still don't know how that would have brought a bat home with us. Kinda creepy, kinda gross.
 Of course we all know my favorite thing about summer is the food!!! So we picked up some new favorites that I'm excited to share:
 These were scrambled egg pocket things. In other words, delicious!

These were some of the things we tried in our dutch oven! I think we have finally gotten the hang of it... finally.

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 This was a tinfoil dinner, stew.

 Haha, yes this is food. It's corn covered in mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, and chili powder. I realize this might repulse you but you have to try it.

 Fruit brownie kabobs.

This was a cheesecake that I made with some huckleberry sauce!

Mmmm, fair food.

 To be perfectly honest, the fall is my FAVORITE time of the year, but anyone who has spent ANY time in Rexburg knows that fall leaves way too quickly and is soon replaced by winter... and that is not my favorite time of the year. This is proof:
Dated October 6th, 2011

I love the fall and this one especially; I just finished applying for graduation in December!!! I know right, I can't believe it either!