It's hard to believe that September is upon us. Monday is the unofficial end of summer. Within a few days...






football will take over every weekend,






everyone who hasn't started school will start,







days will grow shorter,











the temperature will slowly drop,


 










the leaves will start to turn colors and fall,













and then, depending on where you are in the country, either snow or miserable cold rain will fall.






With the end of summer so close, I thought I would share the fun things I was able to do this summer.

The hands down most exciting part of my summer was flying home to Virginia to cater my sister Amelia's wedding.





At home for a week, I catered the wedding reception,







saw as many DC landmarks as I could in a day and a half,


























spent time with family, and all in all had a great time.








I saw so many things in DC that, without a map, I couldn't begin to tell you just how many places we actually saw. I can tell you, however, that my dad and I had a fun time over at the Air and Space Smithsonian in a flight simulator.







Down in Southern Utah, I did as much as I could. I hiked many of the hikes in Zion National Park, including the treacherous and renowned Angel's Landing. The picture on the right, which I did not photograph, is a view from up on Angel's Landing.









In Zion, I also went canyoneering through Echo Canyon. The portion of the slot canyon we went through included 4 or 5 repels, a little bit of down climbing, wet suits, echo chambers, and a whole lot of fun. You can see how narrow Echo Canyon can get on the right. 






At the ranch I played many rounds on this mini golf course,





did some four wheeling,







and spent many hot days and cool nights in the double-decker, gravity edge pool and hot tubs.















For my birthday, I went jet skiing on a 250hp, 65 mph top-speed beast of a machine...it was amazing!