Cascade Falls

Todd has heard a lot about swimming holes here in Virginia so we made another stop on our way backpacking.  (Yes, it took 2 days to get to our final destination of Grayson Highland State Park!)  We stopped at Cascade Falls.  As we were hiking up to the waterfall, people thought we were crazy seeing us in our swimsuits and towels wrapped around a necks.  And I would agree.  The water was freezing.  But it didn't stop us.  The boys just jumped in, whereas Natalie and I slowly lowered ourselves in which probably made it worse.
The waterfall and the hike was beautiful.  Everything was so green!

Sorry Natalie- I had to post this picture!

Virginia Safari Park

About a month ago, we went on a backpacking trip with Matt and Natalie.  As we were driving there, we saw a sign for the Virginia Safari Park.  We decided to stop and soon found out that it was definitely worth every penny.  We had no idea what to expect and enjoyed every minute of it.  You drive through this park with a bucket of food and animals are literally coming in every window of your car.  It was so funny, scary, and awesome all at the same time.  They had thousands of animals just waiting to stick their head in our car. We spent the whole time laughing and screaming.  Even the boys we're screaming!  It was so hard to take pictures because the animals were coming at us in every direction.

 

Soon after we entered the park, we came upon the camels.  We saw this sign but still decided to feed them anyways.  Not long after, the camel below stole our bucket of food from Matt.  It was so funny.  The camel was definitely experienced at stealing buckets.  

  This is pretty much what your car is like... animals coming in every window.     Or they would just stand in the middle of the road waiting for you.    Yes, this guy even stuck his face in our car.  Surprisingly, our car didn't have any scratches when we were done.  Just a lot of slobber! 

This is how most of my pictures turned out. Either an eye or a nose because they were way too close!! 

 They also had a little zoo you could walk around.  This tiger was awesome to watch.  A peacock (you can see some of it's feathers in the corner of this picture) was walking by and the tiger was trying to catch it.  Too bad there was a fence between them! 

We recommend this place to everyone! It was awesome.

Colter Bay, 2012

July 19th- July 30th

Once Todd got back from his trip to Utah, we had 5 days together in Richmond before I left.  One of the main reasons for my trip was my family's annual vacation to Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park.  This is one of my favorite places and I love going every year.  It's so fun to be there with the whole family.  Thanks to my grandma and grandpa Kapple for making it happen every year.     

I love this place.  It is so beautiful and has the best views in the world.  I love these mountains! 

We spent the week boating on Jackson Lake.  The water is freezing but it didn't stop us from getting in.      

 

My sister and her cute family.  The kids loved tubing!

 

I loved hanging out with these two! 

Henry liked me a little more then Lenna did this time.  She had too many cousins to play with and I apparently wasn't that cool.  One day at the beach, I told her to come here so I could tell her something. She turned to me and said "No, I have to go talk to my friends."

Henry turned 1 while we were there! He loved his cake until he realized that everyone was watching him and laughing at him!  He's very tenderhearted and didn't like all the attention apparently. 

One of my favorite things there is all the trails to go hiking and running on.  This year, my dad planned a hike to Holly Lake.  It was so pretty and on the way back down we literally ran into a bear.  We were running back down to the parking lot and the bear was right on the trail.  He didn't seem to mind us though, he was busy eating all the huckleberries.  

(Me and my cousin, Paige)

After the hike, we meet the rest of the family at Moose Falls.  Each year we come here to jump off the rocks.    

It's always sad to see this trip come to an end.  The week goes by way too fast.

(Me, my mom, and my sister)

The last day :(
Next year, we'll hopefully have more people in our family there!

Mt Hood

This summer, Todd and I took separate trips home due to school and work schedules.  Todd flew home the day after we got back from St Kitts.  He had his whole trip planned with everything he loves to do.  He didn't waste one minute and played hard the whole time.  If he wasn't biking he was climbing, if he wasn't boating he was golfing, and the list goes on.  While he was there, he planned a bike trip to Oregon with his brothers and some friends and loved every minute of it.  They also climbed Mt Hood, the highest peak in Oregon.  These are the only pictures he took of his whole trip.  I guess the rest of the time, he was having way too much fun!

Pre Hike
Cole, Logan, Brandon, Devin, Taylor, Cameron, Todd

 

Todd and his brothers on the summit and a view from the top.

He's done!

August 15th, 2012

Todd finally completed Step 1 Boards!  We are both so happy it's over.  He had to take them in Newport News because the testing center in Richmond was full that day so he drove down with Kurt, who was also taking it.  I spent the whole day at work looking at the weather!  Of course, that afternoon there was severe thunderstorm warnings right where he was taking it.  I was so nervous and just wanted him to finish!! Luckily, we had no tornados or power outages that day.  I was so relieve when he called to tell me he was done.  To celebrate, Paige and I drove to Williamsburg to meet the guys at Busch Gardens.  We were all so excited and happy to finally have that test behind us.

Todd's last day of studying. Goodbye First Aid! 

Busch Gardens with the Olson's (and the Church's!)  They even had a firework show to end our night of celebrating!

Todd has now officially started his 3rd year of medical school.  His first rotation is Family Med and he started it Monday.  So far he is loving it and comes home everyday with so many things to tell me.  It's nice that I can finally relate to things he's doing and understand what he's talking about.