Summer Fun, Finally

Okay so great news, I finished my thesis project and paper. (Granted the race is still coming up, but all the work for the school project is done and finished.)

It was sooooo much more work than I thought, I am lucky I didn't have to take on a job during the summer because between setting up the event and everything which was required for the class and the research paper, I literally felt like I had no time on my hands.

In fact the last 3 weeks of the class I did virtually nothing but write and edit that paper over and over...
However, great news besides the happy dance of being done. The professor gave me an A.
On my paper portion, I was given 99 out of 100 points, which is pretty fantastic and so rare that I am still jaw-dropping awe!

I literally was only aiming for a passing grade, but this was beyond my expectations! Which also helps since I have returned to school I have so far successfully only earned A's....  Yeah, that's a pat on my own back LOL

Okay, so what does a girl do after she spends several weeks glued to her laptop, sacrificing all camping and hiking opportunities, becoming addicted to caffeine in the process of many long days and nights working on a paper?

She spends a two-week vacation with family. I went up to Bear Lake, which is basically Utah's little Carribean. This lake because of its unique two underground sea's that filter into it, and the white sands and clear waters produce amazing colors when the sun is out and literally, looks like the waters in the Carribean! (As you can see in the images.)

Depending on the sun and clouds the lake water is various shades of different colors, and pictures seriously cannot do this beauty justice! You can literally see visibility from the surface about 30 feet down to the bottom, possibly more but thats as far as I've tried.

I had so much fun paddle boarding, literally daily most of the day LOL
Then I taught my nieces and nephews to paddle board, I had the 4-year-olds up on it. I had my 6-year-old niece paddle me around while I just kicked back lay down and relaxed and let her do all the work.

I have also mastered the double standing (me and a kid) both standing and paddling. LOL
I didn't fall the entire trip until my nephew swam up under me and tipped me over when I wasn't paying attention, LOL Gotta love kids.

My sister can do hand stands on the boards, I am seriously amazed at it. She claims a yoga class she took which showed her correct technique to get into a hand stand helped.
I am not as coordinated, but I'm going to start practicing LOL (FYI it's a good thing my sister doesn't read my blog, she'd literally kill me for posting this image, LOL)

I even tried wakeboarding for my first time ever. I did get up the first time for a few seconds, but while my legs were super strong for it, my arm strength needs some work.
I thought it would be like waterskiing, which I can do even if I'm not great at it. But wakeboarding to get up takes loads of arm strength.

My nephew and my sister did pretty awesome though. Next time I go, I will be better for sure!!

We also took an afternoon and went over to an area called Tony Grove, hadn't been before it is a beautiful little mountain lake, we did the short hike around it for fun.

I started classes back up today, and I'm looking forward to another heavy semester. 16 credits this semester, but I think because I won't have to deal with the thesis that took me the past entire year I can hopefully enjoy it more and not have quite as much work (in theory LOL).