"it is the quality of our relationships that most determines our legacy."

I think y'all might get a little sick of me posting these pictures. But once again can I just say how AWESOME the senators are?

These people are rockstars and I'm grateful for them. It's going to be a fantastic year.

My Favorite SUU Tradition

Yesterday I had the opportunity to lead this years freshman class to the Carter Carillon Bell Tower where they officially started their journey at SUU.

This is my all time favorite SUU tradition. As I walked behind the bagpipe band, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that I have the opportunity to be in the position I'm in to serve SUU students. If you told me four years ago I would be doing this, I probably would have laughed.

"This is so cool!" Was basically the only thing Jeff and I could say to each other as we led the walk to the bell tower. It will definitely be an SUU memory I won't ever forget.

Here's to a new school year and many new adventures!

Best Friends Think Alike.

I'm missing Courtney quite a lot tonight. 

Then I opened up my mailbox and found this:

I'm fairly certain we still read each others minds from two states away. Why? Because I sent her a "Greetings from Montana" postcard on the same day she sent this one to me.

Just in time, Sister Dumont. Miss you like crazy!

oh what a beautiful morning!

It's been 4 days since getting home from the cabin and I'm still not totally recovered. We had a lot of fun times!

One of the most memorable parts of this particular trip was what I'll call the "early morning escapades" of my Dad, Brynn and myself. One of the biggest items on my "unofficial official Hebgen Lake bucket list" was to watch the sunrise. For the past couple of years, I've told myself I would get up early and watch the sun rise over the lake, but it never happens. So this year, I recruited my Dad and Brynn for a bit more motivation.

The night before,  I looked up the exact time the sun was to rise in West Yellowstone--6:09 AM. That's not too bad, huh? Well...we had to wake up at 5:00 AM to drive (remember I have a broken ankle?) to the perfect spot to watch the sun rise. THAT was a little rough. But we made it through. On the way to Horse Butte Lookout, we saw probably about 10 deer, lots of cool birds and a fox. The fog was really thick down on the lake bottom, but the higher up we got, the less fog there was.

Then the sun came up.

It was BEAUTIFUL! We turned up the Carole King music, ate granola bars and took a million pictures.

Lots of fog!

Broken ankle...and that rock was the U.S. Department of Earthquake Research or something crazy like that.

Cue the Beatles Music...

Here comes the sun!

That's a Bald Eagle, folks!

On our way back we decided to drive down the road a little bit more and explore. We were right next to the lake now and it was so pretty! Fortunately and somewhat unfortunately, the road never ended and never really looped around the lake. After an hour or so of exploring, we decided to turn around and head back to the cabin. 

This was definitely one of my all time favorite things I've ever done at the cabin! It was a blast--worth waking up at 5 AM for. I'd definitely do it again. Maybe we could even recruit a few more of my family members to do it with us next time? (hint hint)