Busy August!!

It's been a while...which means there has been a lot going on!

Shortly after our move in, my younger brother Jonathan came out from Utah to visit with us.  He had just finished his summer semester at BYU so he decided to squeeze in a visit before fall semester started for me at KSU.  It was SO FUN to have him.  

My aunt Cathy invited us to come boating and swimming with her and her daughters Kendall and Carley. We went out to Lake Lanier and then went swimming at a neighborhood pool. After work, Matt came over and my uncle Don returned from work travel. We had a wonderful dinner and played some games. Laughing and fun is always abundant when we are with the Ralph's.

Jonathan, Matt and I played some tennis together one morning.  It was brutally hot and humid, but we had a great time.  We took Jonathan to Waffle House for his first time, and then headed out to Stone Mountain Park to ride the tram to the top and watch the laser show.  We had fun taking photos at the top; the view was awesome.  

Stone Mountain is quite the attraction here in ATL.  It is a large granite "mountain" that is surrounded by beautiful trees.  One one side of the mountain, there is a carving the size of a football field of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis.  To give you an idea of scale, a horse's nose is the length of a school bus.  At night they have show with music, lasers, and a projector that tells about some aspects of the South.  We enjoyed experiencing that together for the first time.  

 

                                             
We went to church together and showed Jonathan the Atlanta Temple, which is right next to our church building.  For a relaxing Sunday afternoon, we watched Tangled together.  We LOVE Disney movies, so it was fun to do together.  Later we went over to Chad and Hillery's house to visit and enjoy some Bluebell Ice Cream.  

On Jonathan's last day here we spent some time in the city.  We walked around Centennial Olympic Park and ate lunch there.  Then we went to the Georgia Aquarium.  Since school had already started here, it wasn't crazy busy so we got to see a lot of cool things.  We saw many of the animals be fed, including the huge Whale Sharks, octopus, california sea otters, cownose sting rays, and others.  We also walked to the new dolphin exhibit and saw them.  After the aquarium, we went and got some food at The Varsity, Atlanta's famous burger joint.  Jonathan loved the hats and the "Whaddya have, whaddya have, whaddya have."  Jonathan's visit when so fast, but we had a ton of fun.  Love him!!

A couple days after Jonathan left, I went out to Utah for my best friend Amy's wedding.  She had a beautiful event in her parent's lawn and garden area the night before the wedding.  The wedding day was wonderful.  She and Spencer were married and sealed in the Provo Utah Temple.  I was so happy I could be there for it.  I also got to see my good friend and past roommate Soleil.  Love her! After the wedding and photos, we had the wedding luncheon at Magleby's Restaurant.  The food was delicious!  It was great to get to know Spencer and his family, as well as see Amy and her family that I have grown up with.  

After we sent them off in their decorated car, my parents and I went home to prepare the backyard for a BBQ with some extended family members.  I really enjoyed getting to see my parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  We all went to Sundance (a resort in the canyon about 20 minutes away from my parent's house) for an outdoor production of The Sound of Music.  We had so much fun.  Matt's parents were actually there as well so that was great I got to see them on such a short trip.  Matt wasn't able to come so we are looking forward to spending time out there together at Christmas.

(me and three of the brothers)

 (my dad, me, and my grandparents)

Now I am back in the swing of school.  Man, the day it started I felt behind, haha.  So much reading and preparation for clinicals.  Matt and I took a little time from the business to head up to the Pigs and Peaches Festival in Kennesaw that we attended last year.  We invited some friends, Eli and Whittney, to come with us.  We enjoyed spending the afternoon eating good BBQ and hanging out.