The Last of Summer, The First of Fall

It's official, Summer is over and the new school semester has started. McKay has a second job as a security guard and WOW, does that man look good in uniform. ;) Not only has McKay gotten himself a second job, he is also volunteering in a lab on campus for around 10 hours a week. Can I take a moment and mention how hard working and amazing my husband is? He's working two jobs, half of his security shifts are dead in the night, he's volunteering during the day to get experience, ALL while going to school full time.  Despite all his sacrifice, he still finds time to do things for me, he doesn't ever let me forget just how much he loves me. Before all the crazy changes in our lives, we did still have some fun summer adventures I want to mention!

Beach, Beach, Let's go to the Beach -Katelyn & Vanessa

The beach! We got to spent a few days on a small beach in California called Dillon Beach. There wasn't any cell reception, and the town is tiny, perfect for a relaxing vacation. We spent a day in San Francisco, ran around the beach, poked weird sea creatures, had a bon fire, ate our weight in fruit snacks, played some halo, and browsed some outlets. here, have a look:

Mmmm... Salt.... 

Here we are, up exploring the San Fran hills by the Golden Gate Bridge!

The Golden Gate Bridge, corn dogs we were WAY to excited about, and these crazy water massage machine things ...Which were more like 10 minutes of tickle torture devices. Apparently you could hear my screams/laughs (scrafs? Leams?) from outside the store.

Look at those hills!! Plus we thoroughly enjoyed a street performance by 3 people who are in acrobatic school, the unicycle man took the cake.

Can you see Alcatraz back there?? Also Vanessa was upset she couldn't go to the bathroom in the porta-potty on the bridge.

Yes, that's me feeding bacon to Andy and McKay while they're playing halo. I will gladly accept my wife of the year award now, thank you. We played lots of games and enjoyed beautiful sunsets!

While at the beach, we were planning to go to the Redwoods at one point, but turns out that contrary to popular belief (or at least those of us that have seen Planet of the Apes) The redwood forest is NOT near San Francisco. Not even remotely, they're actually 5 hours away. So we cancelled those plans and just had a lovely relaxing day doing whatever we wanted. Basically, our brief trip to California was wonderful. I especially love being around my family, plus I don't have to cook dinner, BONUS. Honestly, one thing I love most about being with my family is the Portuguese! I never realized how much I love speaking with my mom especially. My Portuguese has slipped a little since I moved out, and now speaking with my family feels refreshing. McKay is learning, and just to be clear I am NOT the best teacher. But I love his willingness to learn. His Spanish helps a lot, and he even remembers to speak Portuguese more often than I do. When he was asked to say a prayer once when we were with my family, he prayed in Portuguese, and boy were they surprised!


IDAHO
After being home for 2 days, we hit the road again and spent our last precious weekend before school started up in Rexburg  for some Coffey family time. Di is such a trooper! 9 hour trip to get up and down and she's driving like a charm. It was like a half-Coffey family reunion of sorts. McKay's parents brought Kristi out for school and Melissa and Katie's family are already there in Rexburg. Here's some pictures of the fun weekend!

This cow bell game was so funny, it's a spinning see-saw and you have to try and whack the bell. McKay won with 5 rings!

Go karts! We rode these at least 12 times, and I'll never forget how fast the red and green go karts were. Also Chris is rocking the white Glitzn' cart haha.

And of course, we couldn't leave without trying to *nicely beat each other up. Wayne was the winner there.

I married an amazing man, you know. And I know he's amazing because of his parents and his family. I absolutely LOVE the family I have become a part of and I couldn't be more grateful for their love and kindness. Whenever we go up to Idaho we have such a great time. I loved being there hearing family stories, watching McKay's dad give father's blessings, and playing with all the kids. It's no wonder McKay is so wonderful to me, I can definitely see where he gets his loving and supportive nature.

This semester is a busy one, but so far I've been enjoying myself. My Exercise Physiology class is fascinating, it's the first class where I've actually enjoyed the textbook reading. Plus the lab portion of that class is a blast! Just last week we took heart rate and blood pressure measurements at different levels of exercise. It was a workout! Plus taking someone's blood pressure makes you feel all professional. My Kinesiology class is a bit rough, Physics has never been my strong point, so I'm pretty sure sure I'm going to get to know the TA for that class rather well haha. Lastly I want to mention my New Testament class, which I adore! In most religion classes you can just talk about your feelings and you're pretty much set, and I've always used that to my advantage, but this class is totally different. It's basically a history class, and my first thought was oh no not history! But just to add another first to my list of firsts this semester I'm actually really enjoying all the history! My professor is an archaeologist, and a rather happy one too. He get SO excited teaching about the world at and around Christ's life. And I've found everything so fascinating! I understand SO much more about Matthew and his gospel than I ever thought I could, and it's only been three weeks. This semester's going to be a great one.