Almost Done

Hmm... Well, clearly I didn't do all that great at blogging this summer. Yet another failed attempt. I have three blogs now, and none of them are especially vibrant. I am mostly posting this just to make myself feel better. Yeah, that's pretty much the only reason. I think I'm just going to retire this blog. Keep it online for memories, but no more updates. I want a fresh start to see if I do any better. Ok. Bye.

Another Week in Zion

The thunder is rolling outside and the rain is falling again. And just on Friday I could see the stars so well!

This week has flown by. It feels like just a week since I last went to church, but it's been two weeks. Last Sunday I was working Kid's Camp all day. It was really fun, but it took a while. I don't mind helping out there. Especially that time. I actually get tips when I work Kid's Camp. Plus spending the whole day with a little kid is fun! I'm just glad I don't have to do it all summer. I'm not really sure how to work with kids that long.

Monday night the staff had a bonfire. We loaded about 23 of us into an 18 passenger van and rode out to the Ridge firepit. It's a huge stone ring with a firepit in the middle out on Zion Ridge. Massage Darren told us spooky stories about the area and we ate s'mores. It was a great evening.

Tuesday some friends from Provo got down here to spend the night. I took them out to the Ridge and told them the story of Old Man Jolly that Darren told us the night before. It was daytime, so not quite as creepy, but I did my best. We played on the rock wall, the zipline, and Katie even did the bungee trampoline! Turns out that Clarke and my partner Tasia are super good friends. So she joined us for dinner in Hurricane. We went to Wendy's and felt so cool! It's amazing how awesome even a fast food joint becomes after being stuck up here. That night we went hot tubbing and then headed to bed. In the morning, I hung with my Provo buddies until they took off.

After telling the ghost stories on Tuesday.

Work-wise, I made a lot of phone calls and emails to big groups that are coming in these next few weeks. I couldn't get in touch with everyone, but I made a first and second attempt for all of them. Third attempts for that group start tomorrow.

On Friday, we had a group of writers for various big magazines arrive on site. They were out here for a marketing visit, which means that I was there to pamper them. I decided that I really like doing that as a marketing intern. Tasia and I each connected especially closely to one writer. Tasia and Caron were really good friends and Nicole got along really well with me. We talked about all sorts of thing - related to the resort, religion, and more. It was super fun! Tasia even gave Caron a Book of Mormon. I didn't have an opportunity to offer one to Nicole. Or at least not without feeling really awkward.

I think I should probably learn to get over that fear. I'll need to offer things to people at strange times as a business person. You can't wait for the topic to just show up - you have to make the opportunity.

That evening we had a campfire with the writers. Phillip, Jessica, Darren, and Tiago came as well. Darren is our massage therapist, Tiago is another intern, and Jessica and Phillip are wranglers. Phillip rode Cactus - his beautiful horse - right up to the site. He managed to show up just in time to be a cowboy silhouette against the sunset. It was cool. A bit cheesy, but it definitely made a great impact. We ended the night with stories about Butch Cassidy and one of my cowboy poems. Actually, it was Martin's Haven. The next morning Nicole and I took a ride and the other writers did various activities on-site and then they took off. I felt really good about that first experience.

Sunday was really nice. I took most of the day off and went to church. The ward is really friendly and really hick. It's pretty funny some of the things they say. A town this small and this rural gets some interesting experiences. Lots of farm stories and fun Southern Utah accents.

Well, that's it for this week. All the best, and I'll keep you updated each week. :-)

My First Email

Well, ok, second. But this is just an easy way to catch up. I'll be recording my summer here on the blog. It will be a great way to keep track of my life. :) This was just a letter to my extended family. The rest of the posts will be a bit more polished with some photos even!

So this weekend has been fun. I was thrown in charge of kid's camp until the actual councelor gets here. Along the way, I burned pretty thoroughly. I included a picture. I didn't even realize I was pink until dinner when one of my friends pointed it out. I couldn't feel it at all. I thought it was just a little warm and it would brown by today. Then I took a hike before bed. Then it hurt like nothing else!! Luckily I found my tube of Aloe. 

Kid's camp is fun but a bit crazy. Today I was keeping a 4 year old, a 5 year old, a 7 year old, and a 9 year old in tow and happy. The 4 year old was from Switzerland and spoke no English. But she just loved the 5 year old, who is from Wales. And the two boys were brothers from Boston. It was a pretty international group I had with me.

I took a hike up to Emerald Pools on Wednesday when I had my day off. It was really pretty. I've got some pictures up on Flickr. I'll get around to putting up pics from last night's hike a bit later. But what I've got will go up on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/62744757@N04/ should get you to everything.

I've now gone on two hikes. One in the park and one on site. They have very different views, but were both so beautiful. This world that God created is just so amazing! I love the sky and clouds and little shrubby trees and rocks and everything!!!! Earlier this week I was just out by our tent sites and I looked out and there were white clouds in a bright blue sky and I wished I could capture the beauty somehow. The horizon spread out forever and the sky seemed endless above it. It was the cleanest, most amazing view ever! I could see up towards Bryce and down right into Zion. And everything between it was so wide and big! I wish everyone could have a moment like that. 

I knew right then that the reason I am here at this job is because of those views. I'm here to share the love of Zion with guests and all those around me. It's not only the mission statement of the resort, it's something I'm good at. I remember my freshman year, Ben said he'd never really thought about how amazing the mountains were because he'd always lived there. He knew they were beautiful, but he didn't understand why I'd suddenly just stop and stare or spin in circles to see everything at once. Ari says that one of her favorite things about him is that he notices things like that just when walking around or whenever. I was able to not only tell him about the beauty, I was able to help him notice it more. And I just love it so much that I can't help but tell people to stop and look when it's that amazing. So that's why I'm here. I'm so excited!

I love you all. Enjoy the week. Take 5 minutes one day and look at something you've seen a hundred million times and notice how beautiful it is.