sequoia national park.

ricks and i decided that for summer break part ii - the part between the internship ending and school starting - we would head to sequoia national park. the drive along 99 was dotted with fast food joints and wineries, we listened to the last several weeks' worth of "wait, wait, dont tell me" and snacked on summer sausage and cheese. it was pretty dreamy.

we pulled into the park right as the sun went down. despite the fact that it was dark and we couldnt see much of the park driving in, i could still see some the giant trees that loomed at us roadside. and that is when i started freaking out. in a good way.

these sequoia trees are the biggest trees in the world and every time we went around a bend and saw one, i would hyperventilate just slightly.

we got to our campsite and ate brats and banana boats and set up our teensy tent and then tried to fall asleep to our camp neighbors' fiesta music that played until about 1 or 2am.

the next morning we set out first thing to check out general sherman, the biggest tree in the world, and guys, he did not disappoint. and.... i took pictures!!!

heres a few of gen. sherman and the other trees along congress trail. im not joking when i say i was freaking out with every tree i saw. i was so excited that i could not stop saying things like "seriously!!" and "oh my gosh" and "NO WAY!"

gen. sherman.

holy cow.

tree hugger.

ricks entering the senate.

awkward pose in the senate.

the high sierras.

husband and wifey at the top of moro rock.

thats a momma bear. with 2 babies, not pictured. we found her and then left. scary/cool.

sequoia park was one of my more favorite things that we have done in CA. im extremely glad we went and im excited to go back someday.

utah - august 2012.

i went to utah again this month to hang out with my mom and sisters. we had such a fun time. we did a little shopping and went to the salt lake and park city home shows and my mom and i browsed appliances. we ate lots of good food and held lots of cute babies. it was a really good time.

i know that some of those things probably sound a little weird... like going to 2 home shows? and browsing appliances? what? but... we love checking out house stuff and my mom and dad are looking into building a new home so we had a lot of fun checking out what is new and trendy in new homes, even if nothing comes of it.

and, since im on such a picture taking kick, here are some from this most recent trip:

stefan and paulina.

a cute mom with a cute son.

adriane being her architect-self in the home that was decorated our favorite.

triplets to-go.

grandma being grandma.

back to school!

ive been accepted to wayne state's master of library and information science graduate program. the program starts about 3 weeks from now and will be 100% online. i am so excited to have this opportunity to gain more education, i am excited that i will be gaining practical training for a real job, i am excited that my one-day job will revolve around books and information resources, and i am excited that my kids will know that i made education a priority in my life.

this will be a great start to a new school year for both ricks and i. its also pretty exciting that by starting my program immediately, i should be on track to graduate at the same time as ricks from our respective graduate studies.

its funny, i had never heard of wayne state university before starting the application process for my mlis, but wayne state is actually 1 of the 30 largest universities in the united states. based out of detroit, their libary system (which consists of 6 separate libraries) has the 68th largest collection in the united states and is ranked as one of the best libraries by the association for research libraries.

i am so blessed to have this opportunity to progress and i cant wait to start!