NAU Graduation 2012

On May 12th, 2012, I graduated for 

the very last time.

I have aimed for this goal ever since I was an eighth grader.  

I knew what I wanted.  

And I got it. 

I am so excited!

"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done."

-Richard G. Scott

Thanks to all those who have helped me obtain this goal.

Thanks to my family and friends who were there to celebrate with me.

I am so relieved to be 

FINISHED!

However, I have learned...

It's never really finished.

I graduated on Saturday and started my internship that very next Monday.

Fossil Springs 2

During my last week in Flagstaff, I crammed in so many fun activities.  One of them included going back to Fossil Springs.  This time, we parked at the top and hiked down.  We didn't have a lot of time so we ran down, enjoyed it, and then ran back.  We didn't even get to the portion I saw last time.

It was absolutely beautiful! 

Once we (Jaime and I) got down there, there was NO water in sight.  We kept going and suddenly there was millions of gallons of water spilling down the canyon (one million per hour to be exact).  It is incredible to think that this is a natural spring and the water is truly just springing up from the ground.

Start of the springs in the distance

A cool-almost-scary cave we saw that I'm sure would be fun to swim in...

I love waterfalls!  

I love everything about them!  And I love how clear and fresh this water looks. 

I think I could live down there...

Camping with Girls

Thursday night, we decided to go camping.  This is how it went....

    5 girls
 + 4 cars
 + 3 hours of driving around quite aimlessly
 + 2 kind strangers to help us find a free campsite that permitted campfires
 + 1 super moon
 + 0 tent
___________________________________________________
= One very memorable camping experience!

• Yes, we took 4 cars... well, we all had different places to go the next morning
• No, we did not have a plan for where to camp before we left at 8:45pm to find a place (spontaneity is way more exciting!)
• Yes, we were able to ask for directions... because we didn't have any men with us to feel as if their man-card would be condemned for asking
• Yes, it was the brightest moon in like 5 years
• No, we didn't forget a tent... we took the tent box, but it was missing the tent (Ok, maybe the box did seem a bit light for a 3-room tent when packing it)
• Yes, we circled our cars up and attached our tarp to each car so that the rodents couldn't crawl on us while we slept... we called it "the boat"
• No, we didn't take wood with us... that would have required remembering it,  I mean, been too easy.  Instead, we gathered our own wood - and we all have scrapes to prove it! 
• Yes, we made the worlds best campfire... so good that it took all our water to drown the next morning
• Yes, we woke up to find thousands of massive fire ants ALL around our "boat," but only 2 ever actually found their way in

Candace, Melissa, Kaitlin, Cami, & I

 "The Boat"

The thousands of ants!

 Campfire + Biscuit Smores = Heaven on a stick!

Best camping trip ever!  Good times ladies, good times!