Fun, Fun, Fun

Yesterday we had a super fun (and exhausting) day. We finally made it to the temple! We got up at 5 so we could get out the door by 6 to make it to the 8:30 session in the Snowflake, AZ temple. It is very similar in size and things to the Columbia River temple. Between school getting out, moving, and our recommends expiring we hadn't been to the temple since we were in Washington, and it was so nice to go and do work there.

Dax and I did get a picture together by the temple, but it is from very far away and there are lots of people in the background (someone had just gotten married), so I put this one on here as a tribute to Dax's budding photography skills. His aim was to get a picture that you could actually see the waterfall with and he did a good job.
As soon as we got home we changed, grabbed a snack and headed to the Snowbowl (the ski resort just outside of town) to ride on the skyride up to the top of the mountain. They usually charge $12 a person to ride it, but all this past week you could ride it for free if you brought an item for the food bank. We jumped on the chance because we had been wanting to go, but didn't want to pay $24! I have never been skiing before, and so it was a little scary for me. It was so pretty though! There was actually so much green up there, we were very surprised! There are lots of ponderosa pine trees in Flagstaff (we are in the forest), but there isn't any underbrush and it isn't very green. Not like the forests we were used to in Washington anyway.

I couldn't believe that there was snow up there! I guess the elevation is 11,500 ft so I shouldn't be too surprised.

This is the top of the mountain. You can't really see from the picture, but it does have an amazing view.



After we got off the skyride we went directly to a party that Gore was having for employees and their families. Gore is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, so the party was massive. They must have spent many tens-of-thousands of dollars making that celebration happen. There were 4 food tents and a sweet treat stand surrounding many tables that all faced a live band playing on the stage at one part. At another there were carnival rides, rock climbing, etc. for people to get on. They also set up probably 15 very large bounce houses for the children to play in as well. They had people walking around doing magic tricks, a face painting booth, and I don't even remember what else! There were probably around 700 people there at any given time, and it lasted from 12-5. This was definitely a party! We raced down the giant slide and enjoyed the food and entertainment.

We did put sunscreen on, but I guess Dax decided that his knees didn't need any because this is what they looked like when we got home!


When we made it home we were so hot that we decided to jump in the pool for a little bit while it was still warm outside. It was so nice because my fingers and toes start to swell a little bit on hot days, and I don't think it helped that I was up and around all day. After that we relaxed and watched a movie...I was so exhausted that I fell asleep before it was over! It was a very fun day. I don't get out much lately besides doing my internship, so I definitely had a good time between all of our activities. The best part was that we didn't have to spend a penny! (Unless you're counting the 40000 pennies we spent in gas) :)