Another beginning

Well, this summer has just whizzed by! It has been a bit unvevetful, and at the same time, the best summer of our lives! I know that sounds a little strange, but it is the honest truth. We counted up the weeks and it looks like we spent about a month and a half together total this summer. With me going to Peru for 12 days, and Justin in Oregon for 5 weeks our summer sort of slipped by. But we did manage to have a great time when we were together.

The Nielsen's had a reunion the second week of August. We spent Friday water skiing at Blacktail and had a blast! I acutally got up on the skis this year and made it through a turn around the lake! I've been trying to do that for three Summers now. :) Don't tell, but I screamed the whole time! :) Then Saturday we went to Jackson Hole, WY and took a ferry across Jenny lake and hiked to the top of Inspiration Point. The picture above was at one of the waterfalls along the way. The hike took most of the day, and when we were finished, we headed to the Bar J Ranch for dinner and a show featuring the Bar J Wranglers! We LOVE them!!! It is tradition that we play Liar's Dice while waiting for the show to start and this year it came down to me, Randy and Tony. well, randy duped me and I took third. Bummer!!! I am proud I lasted that long though!!
For those of you who don't know who the Bar J Wranglers are, it is a singing group of 4 men. Two play guitar, one the bass and one the fiddle. The bass yodels, and the fiddler is the all time fiddlin' champion in something like 5 states around here. They sing old cowboy songs. Songs like you would hear on a cattle drive (not popular country songs). And don't snigger at the yodeling part, this guy is amazing!! In fact, a song he wrote is one of our favorites. It's called, "A Long Night's Ride". Well, the Wranglers serve you dinner at the show, and as we went through his line, Justin piped up and said, "Honey, let's sing him ' A Long Night's Ride'". Brian (that's the Wrangler's name) asked if we knew that song and we, of course, do. We told him it was our favorite and Justin burst into a verse just to prove his point. Brian was flattered and we went on with dinner. Then during the show it came to the point where they do a song in which Brian yodels. They have several, but this year they joked a little about what song they were going to do, and then Brian said, "Let's do A Long Night's Ride". Justin and I screamed. You'd have thought we were at a rock concert!! The song was great and Justin was convinced that Brian had sung it just for him. I was a little skeptical but we went to talk to Brian after the show and thanked him for the song. Then he told us it was just for us! We were so excited! What a way to role!! Best reunion!

We also decided to grow up this summer and we bought our first couch and recliner. We have graduated from the futon, FINALLY! Justin teased that I waited three years for a couch and I deserved a good one. Well, I got it! We love our couch and recliner. We have been joking that our little apartment finally feels and looks like a home. Wahoo!!!

Well, the summer is all but over and school starts on Monday. Life is bound to become a little hectic and we have been teasing that I'll kiss Justin goodbye on Monday and not see him until Christmas. It's going to be hard this year, but I am 9 months from graduation and thrilled as I can get! Wish us luck on our toughest school year yet!