Rocky Mountain High

Hey everyone, 

I just wanted to show you some pictures from the camp that I went to last week. It is called Rocky Mountain High and is located in Spring Canyon, Colorado. My grandparents on my mother's side, being the wonderful and generous people that they are, offered to pay to send me to this camp. Mama went to this camp when she was 22 and thought that it would be something that I would enjoy; she was right!

 This is our group, minus our two girl guides. We took this right before we went rock climbing and repelling. It was very fun. 

 This river was at our base camp. The water was so cold! 35 degrees in fact

 The Rocky Mountains.

This is me and Rick, our devo leader. How weird is it that we got to have a snowball fight in August???

The week I went to RMH was their internationals weeks. So we had one guy (Osamu, on the left) from Japan and another guy (Choe, on the right) from South Korea) It was such a blessing to have them go with us. I learned so many new things about other cultures and how they view God. I also got to learn a little Japanese too. 

On the day that we peaked Mount Yale (14,197 ft) we woke at 4am and hiked the 2.5 miles up in the freezing cold. But the view was absolutely breath-taking. I felt so small and weak in comparison to the mighty mountains that God created. The fresh air and the sound of the wind made me so joyful and I could feel that the presence of the Lord of the universe, was among us.

Still climbing up the peak. 

These are called boulder fields. The path disappears and you just have to climb up these giant boulders and created your own path to the summit. 

The early hours.

Some of us were very strange haha. This is Austin, a rising junior at The Naval Academy in Maryland. He is awesome.

Me and Osamu. He is going to school at the National Defense Academy of Japan.

Me and our guide, Kristine. She is going to be a nurse, like me. 

It rained every night. But the sun did come out every morning to warm us up. 

Rick (left) me, Osamu and Choe (right) all hiking together. Good times.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa, 

I thank you so much for the money that you gave in order for me to go here. I had a wonderful time and grew tremendously in my faith and I learned so much about God's character and what He has done for me. I even got to see mama's name (Sara Anderson, not Bard haha) on a plack in the main RMH hall. I that you again for your generosity. Love, 

Beckah

I think that I begin every post on this blog with an apology of not posting for so long. So, I am very sorry for not posting since winter time. 

The summer has been going by so quickly! Its already august; it seems summer is just beginning, but sadly, it is almost over. 

Esther (8) and Hunter (13, but soon to be 14) have been spending much of their summer at the Yacht Club pool not far from our house. Their hair is turning blond and their skin is tanner every day. They have fun fighting, swimming and splashing the adults. But here they are by the pool side, enjoying the toasty weather we have been having (average is probably 80 degrees.) 

Hunter (left) Anya (Esther's friend, middle) and Ester (right)

Esther playing with a water gun. 

Anya (left) and Esther (right) they are BFFs haha

Sam came back from Tennessee for the summer, but sadly she is leaving in about two weeks. She has been     working a lot this summer. She works at Caribou Coffee Shop and babysits Anya and Esther quite a bit. 

Lydia just left for Summit Ministry camp this morning. It is a christian worldviews camp in Wisconsin (it is also held elsewhere.) Lydia works at a pastry shop near our house as well, called Bit of Swiss. She also just got her driver's license. She has spent quite a bit of her time this summer practicing on her new guitar, she's really good. 

Mama cleans the house, takes care of the dogs, works out, drives people everywhere, works as a nurse, feeds us and cooks our meals...and much more. She is amazing. 

Papa has done a lot of biking. He and I are doing the Steelhead Triathlon this weekend (1.2 mile swim, bike 56 miles and run 13.) We are doing it as a team; I am the swimmer and he is the biker and a man someone papa knows is the runner.

Well that's the Bard family for now, 

Rebekah