Beach Bums

In my opinion there is no better way to recoup from real life stress than leaving it far behind and completely hiding from all of your responsibilities. This is why immediately following the boards (and before I began my rotations) we flew away to California and spent a week doing absolutely nothing on the beach. It was so much fun because we rented a cute little beach cottage right on the beach. Here is a picture we took out our front door.

Every morning I slept in and Kevin and my dad went fishing off the coast although all they ever caught was kelp they had a good time dreaming of the massive fish that could be waiting on the other end. We went boogey boarding tons. If you haven't gone boogey boarding what basically happens is you swim out towards a wave with a little foam board hooked to your arm. Right before the wave crashes you try to start riding the wave in. It was fun because you could blissfully ride the wave until you were washed up on the shore like some sort of beached whale. I think the best part was watching my mom fearlessly take on some pretty big waves like a pro. She even has some decent bruises to prove that she can play hard too. In the grand Chlarson tradition we of course built and enormous sand castle that was admired by visitors up and down the beach. We also made a mermaid body and had a fun time taking pictures in it. Every night we walked to the tide pools at one end of the beach and then came home and ate gourmet meals prepared by Kevin. It was such a fun vacation and it was great to be able to feel like myself again.

Back to the land of the living

Well nothing terribly exciting has happened to us lately, but in the spirit of updating blogs here I go..... I have been studying like a maniac for the first step of my medical licensing exam, AKA "the Boards". Studying has been a nightmare and, to be perfectly honest, so have I. I'm sure that my husband is eagerly anticipating the return of a wife who doesn't cry at the drop of a hat or yell at small children for blocking her view of the ice cream counter (ask Kevin about it). I think I am well on my way to recovery after a night of movies and junk food and I hope to be at full force next week when we take a trip to California with my family. In the meantime we actually have managed to squeeze in some fun here and there. Both Mother's Day and Father's day were lots of fun since we were able to hang out with our families. Mother's day was especially fun for me because Justin called and seems to be doing really well on his mission.
A couple of weeks ago we went camping overnight with my family (and the dogs) up in North Fork. It was a beautiful and welcome break. We had a great time going on a little hike up to a waterfall and playing around. It was a nice hike because it was super easy for a great reward.

We also went up Millcreek canyon and built a campfire with some of our friends a while back. It was so much fun to just get to hang out and eat our interesting smore-like concoctions.
Kevin was able to go fishing in Wyoming a little this last week which was good because I was worried that he might actually drop over dead from not fishing if he didn't get up there soon. Thank goodness his dad came to the rescue and whisked him away to the river he loves. He had a great time and caught some great fish (of course).

A Bit of Spring Fun

So it's been a pretty fun month. Nothing terribly significant but we've had a great time just hanging out with friends and family. In April we went on a fun hike up towards Black Mountain. We picked a beautiful day for the hike but unfortunately there ended up being a storm rolling in for later that night. Even though it was pretty the wind up on the ridge was a little too much for all the babies that were on the hike with us. To be perfectly honest it was a little nice to "have to" turn back early, wow am I out of shape.

Then we went to Flaming gorge with my family. It was such beautiful weather that we couldn't resist wading in the streams as we fished. As the pictures show the fishing was pretty good. It was also lots of fun to just hang out by the campfire. I think the highlight of the trip for Kevin was being able to return to a childhood fishing hole and have it be just as fun as he remembered. The canyon we camped in was beautiful and I was blown away by the actual lake. It was a great weekend!

Flaming Gorge

It's been great weather During the week we had fun with our friends and played tennis. We also went to the park and played frisbee. We also went and had a great fish fry with Kevin's family.

Spring has sprung

Well we had a good time over conference weekend. We were able to go to Kevin's parents cabin in Wyoming for a few days. I skipped school on friday and went up with Kevin, Scott (kev's brother), Grace (scott's two year old), and Kevin's folks. It was lots of fun. The weather wasn't very conducive to fishing but the boys got lots of work done on the old cabin and Kev's mom got lots done on the newer one. Grace and I were able to play together quite a bit while all of the working was going on. Friday night the rest of Scott's family joined us and we had a fun time watching conference and playing endless hours of Axis and Allies as well as Incan Gold for the rest of the weekend.

The next weekend was Easter weekend and that was great. After church I was able to join my family, grandparents and all, down at Temple Square. The weather was warm and sunny and the grounds were spectacular. All of the tulips were still out in full glory from conference and the star of jasmiine smelled amazing. We were even able to take a tour of the conference center and go up on the roof and see all of the landscaping and fountains up there. We then went to the park and played some games and ate our Easter candy. It was a great weekend.

St. Patrick's Day Weekend

We've had a great weekend playing with family and friends. Here are some of our pictures.

St. Patrick's Day Party