What a month!

Wow, what a month it has been since my last post. I'll see if I can catch up from the past few weeks. Well, the entire Rawson family was once again all together when everyone met in Utah for General Conference. It was really nice to all be together and we had a very happy weekend.
The following week, I had to go to The Netherlands for work. ManageFusion / Vision, our annual customer conference in Europe, was in The Hague this year. So I flew into Amsterdam, arriving Monday morning, and spent the entire week in Europe. It was mostly work, but I had a day to tour Amsterdam and my hotel was right on the coast of the North Sea so I got to spend some time walking on the beach. It was a great experience, although I wish Alan could have been there with me.

The day I got back, I went to a surprise Baby shower for my good friend, Sinikka and then Alan and I went to the BYU vs. New Mexico football game. Alan's Dad's friend got us down on the field for pre-game which was a blast!

Then, after being home for only one day, I got back on a plane to go to Orlando for another ManageFusion conference for a week. It was, again, mostly work but I got to stay in a beautiful hotel. This pic is the view from my window. And the customer party on Monday night was at Sea World. It was my first time at Sea World and we got to see the Shamu show and ride a sweet roller coaster! By the end of the week, I was just happy to be home and spend time relaxing with Alan and sleep in my own bed.

Life is good! We are keeping busy with work and school and loving life together.

New Bike!

I haven't gotten a new bike since I was very little, so that might explain my 7-year-old-like excitement over my recent purchase. I want to ride it every day! We have been able to try some fun trails near our house and I'm slowly catching up to Alan and getting into biking shape. This picture is on the Big Springs Trail. We went for a ride on Saturday to check out the beautiful fall colors. Love Utah!

Zion National Park

Further evidence that we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We spent Labor Day weekend camping and hiking in Zion National Park with Kyle & Krista (Kara's siblings) and Jake & Linsdey Hiller. We had a fantastic time hiking the river in The Narrows and cheating death on the precarious cliffs of Angel's Landing. And, of course, the highlight of any camping trip is sitting around the fire enjoying great conversation with friends and family.

The Narrows. Hiking in the water was a really fun experience, even if we all got blisters. =-)

Zion Canyon - from the top of Angel's Landing.

The whole group at the top of Angel's Landing. Lindsey (in the blue) hiked the whole thing 5 months pregnant! Go Lindsey!!

NFLDS

In celebration of the start of another Fantasy Football season, Alan made a cake to accompany the Live Fantasy Draft for his league - "NFLDS." I helped a little, but he was very proud of his handiwork. Yay Alan!

Work in progress. This is harder than it looks, it takes lots of concentration.

Finished product.

Well done, Alan!

Our First Cake!

Alan and I just started a weekly cake decorating class, offered by Wilton - the industry leader in cake decorating. Oh yeah, it's official. This is fulfilling a long-time dream of Alan's and helping me learn the skills that I hope will eventually contribute to our livelihood. This week, after only 2 classes, we completed our first cake! It's actually a lot harder than it looks. We gave it to our friends, Becky and Tom, who just had a baby boy last week, and it actually tasted pretty good! In case you can't tell, it's a teddy bear.

I can't figure out how to rotate this, so you'll have to just turn your head. =-)

On Top of the World!

Last weekend, we decided to abandon previous oaths to 'never do it again' and hike to the top of Mount Timpanogos. We hiked the Aspen Grove trail, a different trail than we used 3 years ago, and reached the 11,749 foot summit in about 5 hours, just in time for the sunrise! We went with our good friends, Steve and Crystal, and had a grand time laughing, snacking and enjoying unbeatable scenery. I can't get over what a beautiful place Utah is and how lucky we are to have places like this so close to home! And thanks to our regular Y mountain hikes and being in better general health than 3 years ago, this year's hike wasn't nearly as excruciating. We will definitely do this again. Enjoy the pictures!

Kara, Crystal & Steve - ready for the hike! (We set out at about 2:30 a.m.)

Those are mountain goats... and yes, Steve is 15 feet away from them!

Aw...

Sunrise at the summit.

From the top of the 'glacier' we slid down. So fun!

Unbelievable scenery.

The Aspen Grove Timpanogos Trail.

Supporting the Music Industry

This has been a week of fabulous Live music for the Bankheads. It's not very often that we get to see 3 concerts in 6 days! All at Usana Amphitheater, we got to see Steve Miller Band on Wednesday (lots of dancing hippies), Martina McBride on Friday (Kara's favorite - she got in free for passing out beer bands), and James Taylor on Monday (We had great seats with Byron and Heather and ran into old friends from Kansas - the Coopers and the Schulties!). All three put on a great show and we had an absolute BLAST! Will definitely go see Martina and JT again if they return.

James Taylor! That's actually him! (He was soooooo good!)

Kara and Korbie (a friend from work) passing out Beer Bands at Martina McBride.

Lawn seats with Jake & Sinikka Lee at Steve Miller Band.