I've had a great time in California visiting family and relaxing a little. Although it would have been nice to be making money at a camp, I was about ready for a break after 3 camps in a row! I'm writing now from the Las Vegas airport before my flight to Salt Lake City. When I land from there I'm headed to Jackson Hole to work, then back to Pocatello, then Boise, Alaska, and Chatsworth to finish up.
While I was at home, I went on a hike to Gray's Peak in Big Bear with my parents, aunts Barbara and Brandy, and some of my parents' friends from their little church group.
It was BEAUTIFUL on the way up! We had some nice cloud cover to save us from being to hot and we enjoyed a little break after the 3 miles up.
This is me and my aunt Barbara on the top
Right as our friends were taking this picture on the way down, we saw some lightning and started hurrying down. With about 2 miles to go, it was POURING rain and soon started hailing! 
We were absolutely soaked by the time we got in the car to drive back down the mountain. This is our wet group right before we got in the car...
It was a wet, squishy ride home but we'll definitely have a story to tell for awhile!
Overall, it was a great trip home and I'm ready to start camps again. My plane is about to board so I will write more soon!
I'm half way down with my camps for the summer! Yesterday afternoon I finished my eight straight day of camp at three different sites and I am definitely happy to have a break! I have had great groups of athletes at camp (everything from CIF champs to elementary school kids) that have been very fun to work with so I can't complain!
Mikel and I are in Pocatello now and grateful to be staying at Lucas' house; we leave tomorrow again (me for California and him for Michigan). We are happy to spend some time together and hopefully see some friends!
Hopefully I'll have some new pictures soon! I actually did a hike with the high school coaches we were working for in Wyoming and Mike and it was beautiful but of course, I forgot my camera so I don't have anything to share!
I am writing from a hotel room in Gillette, exhausted from camp. Things have been SUPER busy! I finished my first camp in California, worked camp in Idaho Falls, and then headed to Wyoming. It was not a fun time traveling-- Mike and I finished our camp in Idaho Falls at 3pm, had to pack up all of the equipment and drove all the way to Gillette; we didn't get to the hotel until 12:30 and then were headed out again at 7:30 this morning!
This camp is only a 2 day camp so we are half way done and I have a lot of time tonight to catch up on sleep! After this camp, we are headed to another camp in Wyoming that is only about 2 hours down the road and then back to Pocatello!
Mikel is in Idaho right now and is glad to have time to spend time with family and friends! I got to see him and his parents for dinner when he flew in and before they headed to Hazelton and I'll see him again after my next camp for a couple days before I visit California.
My research project is also moving along and keeping me busy! That's the update for now-- things are going well and moving quickly it seems!!
Right now, Mikel is at work and I should be packing for all that traveling I have coming up but instead I'm looking through pictures! The slower pace of summer does make us miss family and friends even more although our friends have scattered to Nebraska, Washington, Arizona, Idaho so they are more difficult to visit.
These are some pictures from 4th of July last year. We had a BBQ at Ross Park in Pocatello and then watched fireworks at the fairgrounds. Josh was able to come home from where he was working and we got to see him for the last time before we moved! It was definitely a fun night!
Josh, Mikel,and Jesse waiting for the fireworks (I got 2 of the 3 of them to smile-- I consider it a success) 
Mikel throwing the frisbee with friends...Isn't he cute?
Waiting, waiting, waiting for fireworks...
Shannon and me. Yes, she's wearing my ISU volleyball sweatshirt... it got cold!
Now, back to packing so I can hang out with Mikel when he gets off work!
I can't believe summer is passing so quickly! I feel like I say that every summer so maybe I don't learn very fast!
Since school got out in mid-May, I have been working on my research project. My work so far has been getting the project planned and getting it approved by the IRB (Institutional Review Board) at MSU. The IRB is in place to make sure the research done by MSU affiliates is ethical. My research is fairly straight forward because it is interview with an adult population. Some of the exercise physiologists in our department do research on exercise in pregnant women or obesity in youth; obviously the scrutiny and safeguards in that type of research is a little more intense than in mine but the process is the same. At the moment, all the paperwork is filed and now I'm waiting to hear back. I also agreed to help clean up and organize the equipment closet/storage for our department which, surprisingly, nobody else jumped at.
Mikel has been working, golfing, and enjoying the sun (when we have it). I tried to convince him to help me with cleaning up the closet but shockingly, he was busy!
The next month and a half are going to be pretty crazy. I am starting volleyball camps with Mike (my old coach from ISU) and will be all over the place. My advisor does know about the camps but doesn't really want to make a big deal that I'm doing them so, for all of you who are talking to people at MSU (yea, probably not!) keep it on the DL (that's the 'down low')!
Here's the schedule:
July 6-8 Oakdale, CA
July 13-15 Idaho Falls, ID
July 16-17 Upton, WY
July 18-20 Dayton, WY
July 28-30 Jackson Hole, WY
August 3-5 Boise, ID
August 6-8 Homer, AK (although I'm staying until the 10th)
August 12-14 Chatsworth, CA
August 18 **back to MI
The whole time I will be working on my project as well, hopefully conducting some interviews along the way. School starts on September 2 and orientation before that-- should be a crazy summer!!
Mikel will be, sadly, in Michigan most of the time although he is going to make a trip to Idaho from July 14-22 so he will get to visit some family and friends (and see me). He will be working and golfing and hanging out with some of the guys from work I'm sure. We're hoping there are some activity classes in the fall that need a teacher so Mikel can get some teaching along with his other work!
That's all I can think of for now so that's the update!
It was BEAUTIFUL on the way up! We had some nice cloud cover to save us from being to hot and we enjoyed a little break after the 3 miles up.
Right as our friends were taking this picture on the way down, we saw some lightning and started hurrying down. With about 2 miles to go, it was POURING rain and soon started hailing! 
We were absolutely soaked by the time we got in the car to drive back down the mountain. This is our wet group right before we got in the car...
It was a wet, squishy ride home but we'll definitely have a story to tell for awhile!
