Sam came to town!

Sam is on his much-needed, month-long summer vacation from culinary school. He came to Provo to visit me a little over a week ago... and it was, of course, a great time. I hadn't seen Sam since Christmas, and sadly, this might be the only time I see him until next Christmas (or at least in the fall sometime), since we live on opposite sides of the country and are both in school!

Anyhow, he was able to catch up with some of his friends who are still in Utah... old mission buddies, old roommates and ward friends, etc. Also, I had a chance to introduce him to some of my friends, too. We got to go to my friend Tiffani's house in Fruit Heights, UT and her family was full of questions for Sam about his experiences in culinary school and his future plans. With a little prodding, he even baked us an impromptu cake, which was awesome! Tiffani's mom tried to get us to come over again to let Sam wow us with more cooking, but alas, there just wasn't enough time!

Another highlight of the trip was floating the Provo River. Although originally we were going to try to invite some friends to join us in floating down the river, in Provo Canyon, on inner tubes, it ended up being Sam and I, which was a lot of fun since we had some good brother/sister bonding time. Although the water was a bit cold (the small rapids definitely surprised us a few times) and I got a couple of scratches from branches, it was well worth it! The view from the river, with the mountains on both sides of us, was amazing.

The final interesting highlight was that Sam got to stay with some friends of mine in, yes, his old house in Provo! Although he was staying on the top floor instead of the basement apartment (affectionately called "the pipes"), he got to relive his BYU 162nd Ward memories a bit. I live in some apartments that are a part of his old ward... and weirdly enough, he said he home-taught some girls who lived in my current apartment! Small world.

Unfortunately, I don't have any more pictures (what was I thinking?!) but we both agreed that the trip went too fast! Hopefully I can make it out to NY before he packs up and leaves the CIA in February!