August

August started off with Stake Young Women's camp. (It was actually July 31 through August 4), at our Stake property, Camp Timberlane.

I've been involved in the Young Women's program since 2004, so this was my 9th year in a row going to girls' camp, with exception of last year, when I was just about to have Beckham. I only came up for dinner one night last year. I went as a ward leader from 2004 to 2011, but this year, I went as a Stake leader. We had an amazing time!

This is some of the Stake YW presidency, with exception of Rochelle, who came up later, and Sharee, who was sick and couldn't come. :(  Teena and Brenda are the Stake camp directors, (and they are amazing!), and Rhonda on my left is my counselor. I love all of the wonderful women I get to work with!

The "church camp fire" happened a couple of months before camp, and burned a lot of the area right by Camp Timberlane, but the camp itself was untouched. :)

The theme this year was "Survivor: Celestial Island". We got to have so many fun activities and challenges relating to the things the girls were supposed to pass off in their camp manuals.

We had a LOT of rain! Many tents were flooded. But luckily the rain cleared up by the end of the week.

We had a fun luau one night. This is the Valley Ridge ward doing their dance!

And the Stake Leaders' dance:

We had an awesome food challenge where the tribes would bid on different food items to make an interesting meal! It was really fun.

And these are the awesome missionaries. I loved them! They were such good people.

Onto the next event: My birthday was August 7, and Kevin and I went to the Roof restaurant for a nice dinner. Kevin told me he had a surprise planned, but I had no idea what it was.

As we drove closer and closer to the airport, I finally figured out that he was taking me flying! It was so much fun, although I was really nervous at first.

Downtown SLC. You can see the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, where we had just eaten dinner!

We flew over Parleys, past Park City, Heber, out Provo Canyon, and back to the airport. It was amazing! I wish I would have had my better camera with me. All I have is the phone pics.

The Chapman reunion (Kevin's dad's family), was August 10-12 in Blackfoot, Idaho. They rented this awesome waterslide, and the kids couldn't get enough of it!

The auction...

From Blackfoot, my sister Brianne and I headed up to Jackson Hole for a long awaited backpacking trip with our brothers. This is at the beginning of the hike, with a nice view of Mt. Moran. We went up Paintbrush canyon, up to Painbrush divide, then down the north fork of Cascade Canyon.

It was about 20 miles total, and one of my favorite trips to date!

We're headed up to Paintbrush divide, which you can see as the U shaped pass on the right side of this pic...

Almost there, with an amazing view of Mt. Moran.

Mica Lake on the left, Lake Solitude on the right.

The Grand Teton! First time we were able to see it on this hike. A little disappointed in the smoke from all the wildfires, but breathtaking nonetheless. We had an amazing view of her right in front of us all the way down the north fork of Cascade canyon.

Arriving at Lake Solitude.

It was pure heaven up there.

Day 2 brought even more smoke. So instead of hiking up the South Fork, we decided to head back and plan another trip in about a month to hopefully get some clearer views.

Visiting the ranger station. I could live here!

The rangers were headed up to do trail work on the south fork.

Cooling off in String Lake...

August 24-26 was our Chapman reunion (Kevin's immediate family), at Bear Lake. We rented an awesome cabin, did crafts, had lots of good food, had a fun challenge, played at the lake, and made a music video. Heidi and James were in charge, and they did an amazing job!