The Tates: The Summer: Vacations, Moving, and Floods

Well its September, so I guess its about time I updated my blog. June was fun I was finishing up spring semester at UVU and Nathan was working. We were both stressing about moving. It worked out though and we were even able to enjoy a mini vacation of boating with Nathan's family before we left. We also swung by Zions National park and the St. George temple with Jared (Nathan's brother) on our way to Las Vegas/Lake Mead.

St. George temple.

Beginning our hike up to Angel's Peak.

Beautiful Zions.

Beginning the steepest, scariest, and dangerous part of the trail.

The rock in front of us is what we had to climb.

The view of the trail from the top looking down.

The beautiful finish line.

On our way back down

Boating was way fun. It was my first time trying water skiing, wake boarding, and tubing. I didn't get any pictures, but here are a few from Facebook; thanks Miranda and Bethany for taking them! Unfortunately I don't think we got any photos of Nathan...

Such an awesome artistic pic. Bethany is so talented.

After all this fun came the stress. The morning of our move our motor scooter got a gas leak and our review mirror fell off. This is stuff we had to worry about that morning in addition to picking up and loading our truck, and deep cleaning the apartment. Finally around noon we were able to leave thanks to wonderful people in our ward helping us out. It was a little sad locking up the empty studio apartment that had been our home for ten months and walking away. Our little apartment had treated us well here is a photo as a memoir.

Then we got in our separate vehicles and began the long drive over the Rockies to Boulder, Colorado. Upon arriving another group of wonderful volunteers from our new ward helped us unload everything into our new apartment. The next week was hectic trying to find a place for everything, but we did and I have to say I really like our new apartment.

Boulder took some getting used to. The traffic scared me at first, but after being here a few months I've realized its not that bad. There are bikers everywhere, and a lot of hippies too. We randomly get whiffs of pot every now and then. They charge you ten cents for grocery bags. Everyone buys organic/natural, and are extremely outdoorsy, and I have never met so many vegetarians. The whole foods market (expensive) is more busy than King Soopers (cheaper but less natural). Lets see what else... I'm not sure. All and all it has a very different feel from Provo. Its fun though, but I'm not sure that I will ever be a true Boulderite. I will probably remain that strange conservative woman that enjoys processed food, meat, and sitting at home even when its sunny outside. But hey its kind of fun being the one to bring some diversity to a city.

Boulder has treated us well though. Nathan has been able to get lots of work here and it has kept him busy. He has even gotten enough work to expand his company and hire an employee! It has been fun watching him grow in his business as he works with clients. I'm so grateful to have a talented husband that makes me feel secure through his hard work.

We had another mini vacation at the end of August. We flew out to Boston to see Nathan's long time friend Brandon get married in the Boston temple. It was a beautiful experience, and the bride and groom were so happy. I'm glad we were able to fly out for it. We also had two days that we were able to explore Boston. We checked out Harvard, the Boston Museum of Fine arts, and walked along the Freedom Trail.

Nathan in his bow tie outside the temple

The beautiful Boston temple.

Downtown Boston.

Hopping on the red brick freedom trail.

The Old Ironsides ship.

Old boats are always fun.

Bunker Hill monument we had to climb up a cramped spiral staircase up to the top. 294 steps... more than you would think.

Pews in the Old North Church where Paul Revere lit the candles to let people know the British were coming.

Statue of Paul Revere. That's the Old North Church in the background.

Faneuil Hall where the debate of taxation without representation was brought up.

Where the Boston Massacre happened.

Harvard! A statue of John Harvard who founded the school.

Random bean bag tossing game on campus.

The mess hall... I'm so jealous Harvard students get to eat lunch in such a beautiful place.

Old graveyard by Harvard campus.

Now its September and the only thing to note is we have been flooding here in Colorado. Its been scary seeing water rushing down streets. Creeks swelling into turbulent rivers, and unceasing rain adding more and more water to the equation. We have been fine though being on a hill and being on the second floor helped immensely. A lot around us haven't fared as well, but it has slowed down now. The sun has been shining and water has turned to dry mud. It was weird being at the site of a disaster and having family and friends calling us to see if we're alright, but I'm glad because now we are close enough to help. Here are the pictures of the creek next to our apartment during the worse day. Its usually a trickle of a stream I barely even knew existed.