and we danced and we cried and we laughed and had a really really really good time

could not have said it better myself Macklemore!

 

so after four months of day dreaming

and a week or two of planning

and a lot of last minute rearrangements

I finally made it to Zions. 

it was such a great weekend.

we headed out on Friday around 8,

stopped at these wonderful hot pots on the way--

because you might as well start off your camping trip

covered in motor oil water. 

who is the idiot who poured rainbow-colored flammable liquid in

these lovely hot pots?! they need to die. 

probably. 

but it didn't stop us for swimming for a hour or two

I will definitely be coming back

once it rains

I was afraid for a moment that we weren't going to be able to 

find a camping spot. everything was full. 

but we finally decided to drive out to Gunlock 

(which, BTW is NOT overflowing right now)

and we found a spot there.

We went over to Snow Canyon and hiked to the lava tubes

and broke open 100+ glow sticks

and had the incredible surreal experience of being 

down in a cave in complete darkness

besides the splatter of glow stick paint all over everything.

I felt like I was standing in the center of the universe! 

it was seriously one of the neatest things I have EVER done.  

in Snow Canyon that is :)

it was hard to take adequate pictures down in that dark 

corner of the universe. but here is carter's knife 

glowing in the dark. and a group of us under the flash.

that was a really stupid decisions to attempt that picture, let me tell you.

back at the camp site we cooked hot dogs for dinner

and listened to Adam serenade us on the guitar.

it was nice for the most part because no one was really there

and the only other couple camping near us spent

more time screaming at each other in a language I would like to call

"use the F word as many times as possible while accusing your boyfriend of cheating very very loudly"

than complaining about how annoying we were.

It was definitely an adventure! 

it was cloudy but i still saw 15 shooting stars.

I love sleeping outside more than anything!

then we got up early and had a quick breakfast

and stuffed everything in the tent

and spent the day in 

ZIONS!!

which is seriously one of my favorite places

especially when you are with friends.

and especially when a lot of those friends

have never been there before.

WOW.

this place is pretty dang amazing!

about as candid as I get right here:

the whole group.

1/3 of the way up angel's landing

Adam likes to make things a competition.

I will never complain though because I love a good challenge.

this is the victory picture for those of us who successfully

made it to the top without using hands or chains.

#thrillofalifetime

But we all made it to the top!

so proud of everyone.

except me . . . i misplaced the sandwiches.

sorry guys . . .

we played around at the bottom of the trail for a while

and then took the shuttle up to the narrows trailhead.

it started raining a little bit but for the most part

everything about the weather was perfect

this is tony peter parker

and he let us pet him

Saturday night some of us grabbed dinner and went hot tubing

and some of us went to a concert for school

but we all ended up having a HUGE cuddle fest

and stayed up laughing until the wee hours of the night.

it was a lot clearer and the moon was bright.

and Adam and Carly wrote a song called

"she's got balls"

which was thoroughly enjoyable!

Sunday we got up, threw everything in the car

and watched conference at my granny's house.

in between sessions we went and 

explored dixie rock for a while.

it was a beautiful day!

conference was awesome too!

I cannot wait to go back and re-watch everything!

then we packed up the car and headed home.

so over all it was a good trip!!

I think I have the best friends in the whole world.

so many good times and inside jokes.

and so many snapchats and chocolate-covered almonds

and singing "i bruise easily" at the top of our lungs

friends were made.

fights were had.

angels were landed.

fires were burned.

shooting stars fell.

marshmallows were roasted.

good times were toasted.

and lessons were learned.

and all is well in zion.

C