This One is for August

August was an adventurous month. Here are a few pieces of my memory that I'd like to share with you.

The Ogden Temple is currently being remodeled and the Brigham City Temple is under construction. This means that the next closest temple to my parents home is in Logan. Madre and Pops are both called as teachers for the Young Men and Young Women programs in their ward, so when it's time to do ward baptisms, it means they get to come up and visit our way for a few hours!

Being only nine-years-old, Marie is the only one at home who isn't currently in mutual. So I met my family at the Logan Temple to pick up Marie and take her home to visit with Bill and I while everyone went and did baptisms for the dead.

We ate ice cream, watched "I Love Lucy," played with blocks, and made up a Rap for our block creation. Combining both mine and Bill's name, Marie's and I's rap went something like this: 

Billica and Jill. 

Billica and Jill.  

Billa, Billa, Billa, Billa, 

Billica and Jill.

We are up and coming lyricists, doncha know?  :)

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our going to Bear Lake with Bill's family, but we did in fact go together!

Judy, Greg, and Ben went up to Grandma and Grandpa Schroader's cabin for a weekend and we came up to join them one night. We went out to eat at a delicious restaurant hidden by all the cabins of Bear Lake West. We ate some tasty food and listened to the live band singing on the patio right outside.

Greg was telling us of one time when Bill was little how he fell asleep face first in a plate of spaghetti. "He leaned over like this...and Sploosh!" Greg said! Right then the waitress was walking up to us and Judy was completely oblivious to the story. All she hears is Greg making some gargley "Sploosh!" sound and turns away from the waitress to look at Greg with a look of complete embarrassment on her face. "Bless you!" she says to Greg, and turns right back to the waitress. Greg looks at Bill and I with a look of utter confusion upon his face. "Whaaaaa?" Bill and I started laughing our heads off! We laughed and laughed and laughed! We had to explain to Judy what was so funny, and realizing her mistake for thinking Greg's sound effects for a belch, she began laughing too! Oh my sides hurt!

Of course while in Bear Lake, one must stop at LeBeau's and pick up shakes!

We returned to the cabin and watched "Galaxy Quest." I fell asleep. But then Bill woke me up and we put our bed together.

We brought up our air mattress and sleeping bags to use so that we could sleep out in the living room of the cabin. In the morning when we woke up, Bill and I were laying on the mattress simply talking, enjoying the early morning sunshine through the windows. I noticed a wasp flying around up above, repeatedly hitting the window, but I didn't think much of it. A few minutes later, Bill moves and suddenly he begins throwing off the sleeping bags shrieking "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He tossed and he flailed and I couldn't tell what was going on! He sat up in the bed and looked down at his calves. There wasn't much there except for little tiny red marks, indicating that a wasp had just bit him and stung him a few times! We figure the wasp must have been crawling on Bill's leg and when Bill moved, he squashed the wasp between his legs and ticked the little guy off!

Throughout the course of the day, Bill's calves swelled up and itched like crazy! It was absolutely ridiculous and it made going to sleep that evening a complete nightmare! Out of nowhere...minding or own business...and a wasp dive bombs us. What de Heck?!?

While on this trip, the Kiefer's rented a wave-runner for a few hours. Greg, Ben, Bill, and I went down to the lake and took turns riding out on the water while Judy decided to stay behind and clean up the cabin. Ben was exhausted after 45 minutes or so, so Greg decided to take him back to the cabin. That meant Bill and I had the wave-runner for another 3 hours. We rode around...and rode around...and took turns driving one another, but there is really only so much one can do on a wave-runner. We were tired after 2 hours and brought the watercraft in early. Unfortunately, the rent policy was "use it or lose it," so although we returned it early, we didn't get our money back for the unused hours.

Spending the weekend with Judy, Greg, and Ben was a lot of fun! I certainly look forward to similar summer vacations in the future!

Our ever-lovely-roommate, Melissa, also got married this summer! Melissa and Jarod have been dating for a few years and finally made the decision to tie the knot. After many late night talks with Melissa, I can assure you: These two are so good for each other. :)

The morning of their wedding, I got all dressed up!...and went down to the Driver's License Department to change my last name on my license. As soon as that task was complete, I drove down to Layton and picked up the ever-lovely-Hilary! It was so good to see her and catch up on our drive down to Salt Lake, where Melissa and Jarod were getting sealed.

We parked behind the Conference Center and I successfully completed my first-ever parallel parking job! It is a well known fact that I almost failed my driver's test because I couldn't parallel park. I bumped a cone. Also, I stopped in the middle of a U-turn, but that is beside the point. What really matters is that this parking job was beautiful. All I could think was, "Bill would be so proud." :)

Hilary and Wedding-Word Bananargrams

Hilary and I meandered over to the Salt Lake Temple with the perfect amount of time to spare while we waited for Melissa and Jarod to come out after their sealing. I brought Bananagrams to play with to kill some time. Hilary is brilliant at this game. Of course, we were not playing it according to the instructions, but we made a giant interconnecting crossword with "wedding-related" words. I assure you, every word could be justified through further explanation.

Jarod and Melissa with Melissa's siblings

We went outside to wait for the couple to come through the doors, and we found the ever-lovely Shanna and Michelle! :) We were all coming to support Melissa in the biggest day of her LIFE.

Jarod and Melissa were beaming when they came out the doors and into the arms of family and friends. What a beautiful bride and groom!

Hilary and Taylor at the luncheon

Michelle and Shananaba
 

There was a wedding luncheon in West Jordan at a Senior Citizen Community home. It was really beautiful! We stuffed our faces with hundreds of mints and good food. And this is the point in the day where Taylor met up with us! It was a B1 Roommate reunion! :)

After the luncheon, Taylor, Hilary, and I went to Hilary's house. It was on this drive back that Hilary and I rediscovered the goodness that is Radio Disney. A flood of memories came rushing back and we laughed and laughed at the cheesy things elementary school children would call in and say. Oh such good times!

 

Party at Hilary's house!

Taylor presented Hilary with a belated birthday present that included many wondrous things. A Peace backpack, sillybands, a popsicle mold, and window crayons! Everything we did from that point on involved playing with Hilary's birthday present. 

  

We made popsicles!

 

 Fishy Faces

And decorated Taylor's car with the window crayons!

Then we went to Wal-mart to pick up wedding gifts for Melissa and Jarod.

When we arrived at the reception in Layton, Taylor's car may have caused some confusion as to who's car was that of the bride and groom.

The Bride and Groom

 

   

Me with Melissa!

 Cake time!

Michelle, Shananaba, Hil, and Tay

 

The couple's first dance

Amazing lanterns...it's almost like the lanterns in Tangled!

The outdoor reception was beautiful! I loved the colors and the simplistic nature of it all. Melissa worked really hard to make it her ideal wedding with the budget she was given, and I applaud her and her taste! It was so charming!

We stayed until the reception was over and then made our way back to Hilary's house to enjoy our popsicles before Taylor and I left in separate directions.

And Hilary has some slides that go off her deck! It's like a park all the time! What joy it brought my heart. ;)

That my friends, was the end of a very wonderful day full of happiness and fun.

Fighting off the weeds

We went shooting. Yes. Yes, we did. Bill gave Ben a couple of boxes of clay pigeons for his birthday last year, and it was about time that we got around to using them!

So me and the Kiefer men went to "Little Fallujah", as it is affectionately called, to shoot some flying targets.

Greg was still in recovery mode after having had knee replacements in both knees only a few months earlier. It amazes me to see the mobility he had and his willingness to hike over to "Little Fallujah." We had to lug all our equipment through thorny weeds and over precariously placed rocks, but we made it! And that's where the fun began!

Bill - a good shot

Greg - a good shot
(Did you note how Bill and his dad hold a gun the exact same way 
and how both wear phone holsters on their right hip?)

Me - a not-so-good shot

Ben - also a good shot

I will be completely honest. I was scared out of my mind to shoot a gun. The gun I shot certainly had a kick that surprised me more than anything and I quickly learned that I'm not cut-out for shooting things. Yet secretly, I did have fun. I think the most enjoyment I got was from taking pictures of the guys with those big smiles on their faces. :)

A shot of the railroad tracks we were nearby.

Waiting by the roadside for Greg to come and pick us up.

I do love being a Kiefer!

 

Blessed day! The equipment arrived!

Look how happy the kiddo is! ;)

August also happens to be the month when Bill received the equipment to begin moving The Wifi Guys (his internet service provider business) forward! This man was as excited as a six-year-old on Christmas!

Have I ever told you have the great things that come to Logan? Perhaps a few times. Our favorite grocery store in town, Lee's, had the world's largest grape display! I received an ad in the mail a few days before to remind everyone of the upcoming event. School was getting ready to start and people were moving back into town. I invited Michelle to come with me to witness this LIFE-altering event.

I had no idea what to expect. I just knew it had to be something big. Something grand! And it was...but just not on the scale of biggness and grandness that I was expecting. :) It was still cool though.

Hooray for grapes.

Naturally, grapes were really cheap, and Michelle splurged and bought a bag. ;) I was proud.

And during this final week of August, school began. Was I excited? Yes! And no.

This summer was really fantastic due to the fact that Bill and I got to spend so much time together. We worked very similar hours at USU Housing and spent our evenings making dinner and trying out new meals! We watched movies and went on quite a few mini vacations. I think I can speak for both of us and say that this was a great first summer spent together. :)