Robyn made me write a blog entry for once because our friend Tracie told her that she likes hearing from a guy's perspective once in a while, so here goes nothing. Thanks a lot Tracie! jk. This summer has been abnormally hot for Denver. I can't even think of the last time that it was under 90 degrees or when it rained. We've been able to do quite a few fun things in the past two months. Robyn was the big boss at girls camp and I was able to spend the last night there. She had a good time with the girls, but more than anything was just relieved that it went okay and that all of the preparation and stress was finally over. However that relief did not last more than 24 hours. She must have impressed the bishop so much that the next day he called her as the young women's president!
Speaking of Robyn's sweet skills, she was just promoted to Assistant Supervisor at Craig Hospital over the occupational therapists in the brain injury department. She was by far the least experienced candidate for the position, so I was quite impressed (but not surprised) that she was selected. Between having the new position, new calling, and helping with a lot of baby showers, she has been busy to say the least. I try to help her where I can, however I am much busier than I'd like to be with my own job.
Yesterday my brother and I went tubing down the Boulder Creek. That should be a requirement for anyone living not too far from Denver or Boulder. I know it's not the most wild river ever, but it has enough rapids and drops to get your heart going at times (mostly because you are afraid the huge sharp rocks beneath you are going to peel a layer off your bum). Somehow my hand got under the tube and got a good scrape. The water level is lower than average right now, which makes the river slower, yet a little scarier at times because of all of the rocks that poke out everywhere.
I went tubing and rope swinging a few weeks ago with the scouts in our ward (I am in the young men's presidency). Some of these kids hadn't ever been on a boat, yet alone been in water that is over their head. Our friend Tyler has a lake that his family owns and has exclusive rights to (I admit, I'm a little jealous). He took us out on his boat and did some sweet tubing action. The big question- can you not smile while tubing? When the tubes get whipping around a bend and you hit some crazy waves, it's impossible to not laugh your head off. Of course laughing makes it even harder to hold on, which makes it even funnier because you are hanging on by a thread, about to do flips on the surface of the water once your last finger can't hold on anymore. I love wakeboarding and skiing, but I think I may actually have more fun doing some extreme tubing. Anyone agree?
The rope swing was equally as fun. Only one of the scouts had the guts to try it. The rest didn't want to, besides we didn't trust their safety on it. The rope was tied to a huge wood pole and the ladder to get up to the top must was built far too long ago. Every step creaked as if the board was going to rip through the metal screws. The top was super wobbly and it suddenly looked much further down than it did looking up at the thing. Tyler set the standard by climbing to the very top ladder step. Once I saw that, of course Bill (a priest) and I had to try it as well. There were no rails to hold onto, so we just had to rely on our own balance. The top of the pole was extremely high, which made the rope super long, which in turn made for a ton of momentum while swinging down into the water. There was a good gap between the top of the rope swing and the water, which made it that much more nerve racking. Once letting go of the rope, the momentum would chuck us a little higher and about 20 feet further. Once we tried it, we were hooked and went for about another hour. It makes me want to find a higher and crazier rope swing, but I doubt there are any in this area. I saw some huge ones on youtube that I can only dream of doing. I couldn't stop perseverating about the rope swing for the next few days. There are some pictures of it below.
Robyn has done a few other big things this summer, but I didn't go and couldn't give you any good details. I'll leave the next blog for Robyn so that she could talk about them. So I wrote my first blog, I'm so proud of myself. Don't plan on my writing one for quite some time- unless I'm given an encore by several people. jk.
Then, on July 24th...we became Aunt Robyn and Uncle Aaron to the cutest little blonde haired asian girl on earth (well...not really blonde, but what's wrong with hoping right?!). Not that I'm a biased Aunt or something, but she has to be the cutest thing on earth. Sorry, this is the brand new (10 hours old pic).
Troy teaching Aaron how to hold a newborn...precious picture moment!
