2013

I used to think I was too cool for two holiday traditions: wearing green on St. Patricks Day and setting New Years Resolutions.  Time has passed and I've become a not-so-cool math teacher and got over my New Years Resolution thing (I still refuse to wear green on St. Patty's Day).  I actually put some serious thought into what I wanted to accomplish and wrote some pretty good resolutions, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I only kept one - travel somewhere once a month.  To be completely honesty, I really didn't even do that because I didn't take a trip in January, but February through December were good.

Without further ado, here is my 2013 vacation year in review:

February - Las Vegas - Hoover Dam

March - Utah - Easter Sunrise

April - Denver, Colorado - "Before I die" wall

May - The Grand Canyon

June - Lake Powell

July - Carlsbad, California - Rachel's wedding

August - Utah - Tracy's wedding

September - San Diego, California

October - Austin, Texa

November - Utah - Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

November - Utah - lights at Temple Square

December - Utah - Annual Romantic Breakfast/Kimball's 25th Birthday

December - Utah - Christmas Day at Snowbird

Summer So Far

Guess what, I finished my first year teaching!  I can't believe it's already over.  It was probably the most difficult, disappointing, overwhelming, and stressful year of my life, but it was also definitely the most rewarding.  That doesn't mean I'm excited for it to start all over in four weeks.  Especially with this new class I'm teaching that I know about this much about.  The plan was to be super productive this summer and have a bunch of great things ready for the upcoming school year, but instead it's been a summer of playing and relaxing.  

I left school after submitting my grades and cleaning my classroom and went straight to the Grand Canyon for a weekend of hiking and biking.  On the way to the Grand Canyon cousin Jane called to tell me that her wedding in Switzerland had to be pushed back a few months until after the honeymoon, so they had decided to get married in Salt Lake in 6 days.  When I got home from the Grand Canyon I threw my stuff in boxes, everything else in my car, and took off Thursday morning to make it to the temple in Salt Lake by Thursday evening.

Mrs. Lewis!

The rest of this will pretty much just be an overload of pictures that I actually took this summer (I'm not the best at taking pictures).  

The next week was Lake Powell, my favorite week of the summer.  After 11 years we are selling the family boat.  A moment of silence...

Summer also included camping, lots of the Beckstrom boys, biking, rock climbing, swimming, hiking, fireworks, and REAL games.

Beehive State

Utah, people working together.  Utah, what a great place to be!

Nope, I'm not rambling random rambles about the great state.  I'm actually singing thee Utah state song.  Bet you didn't know it!  Unfortunately that's all I know and I owe that much to Canyon View Chorus.  Speaking of Utah, that's where I went for spring break and it was wonderful.  I love Utah.  Seriously.  I love it more than I ever could have imagined.  Living outside of Utah reminds me of why I love it so much.

The trip included Dad's birthday dinner, shopping with Mom, date night with sister Whit, gluten free goodness, Easter eggs, sugar cookies, kaladescopes, mummies, more shopping, lunch dates, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, nephews, Grandparents, and sunrise Easter devotional at Snowbird.

Check it out.