Back in the Great State of Texas

Well it's time for confessions. The last post I posted was completely false and I made it up so that my siblings and friends wouldn't get suspicious when my blogging stopped. So I made up a false story (pretty convincing I might add) to hold them over until I got home on Saturday. I made many surprise appearances and it was a whole lot of fun.

My trip was so fantastic and I need to thank some people for it. Thanks to Memaw and Papaw who took me with them in the summer of 2015. That is when the wonder began and I have gone back every summer since. Thanks to my family, because I know it was hard to let me go for that long but you did so valiantly and kept me updated on life in Woden. Thank you to my church family and friends and family who read my blog and made comments. It really was encouraging to see how many people really cared about how I was doing. I appreciate that.

Oh my goodness and of course thank you to my amazing aunt who let me live with her for five weeks and made my experience absolutely fantastic!

Well that's a wrap for my summer in the Tetons...maybe I'll go back next year :)

Emma Kay Terrell (one last time)

Wacky Wednesday and Thrilling (Not Really) Thursday

Sorry my posts are getting more spread out but I was too tired last night to post about my day. Aunt Susie and I, being the only ones in the house because Sarah is working on the farm and Catherine is in California, decided to get out of the house yesterday so we went on a little road trip to a city south of Jackson called Pinedale. We ate some awesome BBQ there for lunch where I got a pulled pork sandwich which was amazing. They serve sweet potato fries there that are out of this world. Aunt Susie got a nice grilled sandwich because she doesn't eat pork...or beef...what kinda life is she living???!! Jk jk she is a lot healthier than me and in a lot better shape than me...I know (Aaron and Gareth and like my whole soccer team...) you think that isn't saying much...and maybe it isn't... 😂...but the point is she's really fit and athletic and she's my GREAT aunt. I don't think any of you have a great aunt as beast as mine. Any way...moving on...we also went shopping around some but because I spent nearly all my money on souvenirs, I didn't buy anything. When we got home we just relaxed and then watched a movie called Country Crush. Oh my goodness do not watch it! We thought it would be a cute chick flick but it was the cheesiest thing I have ever seen. Aunt Susie and I laughed at loud at some things that shouldn't have been funny, like when characters would break into song in what should have been a serious moment. Don't ask me why we watched the whole thing...honestly I don't know.

Well today we just chilled at the house and cleaned and stuff. Aunt Susie has had to work a lot in preparation for us leaving in a couple weeks so today was just one of those days where she spent the day working and I spent the day entertaining myself in whatever ways I could. I think we might try to go fishing again tomorrow to see if we have some more luck at the river but we might also go on a hike. I guess we'll see when that time comes.

Well ta ta for now,
EMMA KAY T.

Typical Tuesday

Hello everyone. Today was very normal and not exciting at all compared to the adventures of yesterday. We cleaned quite a bit and I did laundry and I went into town to get some more souvenirs (I think I'm done with those now). You may be thinking it's a little early to get all of my souvenirs but I like to be prepared and I love buying gifts so I couldn't really wait any longer to get them. Well...I'm extremely sore from our hike up Snow King and I felt like (and I'm sure looked like) an old woman walking around the house today. But there is a weird satisfying feeling associated with being sore. Like "I did something productive and awesome to be in this much pain!" No regrets though. It was worth the pain and old lady-ness. Also my wisdom teeth are coming in and to be honest I'm low key freaking out about it so I'm sure I will be visiting Dr. Powers as soon as I get home. Yay...

Well that's a summary of what my day has been like today.

Catch you later,
Emma K.

Starting to Wrap up my JH Bucket List

Another quick reminder that JH stands for Jackson Hole...not junior high or Jake Hill *cough* Grace *cough* :). This morning Aunt Susie and I woke up at 7:00 to hike up Snow King because it is something that I have been wanting to do and dreading at the same time. I knew it would be hard but I knew I would regret not doing it...and I do my best to avoid regret...and running...and social interaction with people I don't know...and running...and eating chicken pot pie...and running...but that's totally beside the point. So we went on the hike and it was pretty awful going up to be honest. It never once leveled out, and the continuous incline made my legs feel like fire...and jelly...at the same time...like jalapeno jelly...which is a thing...I don't know why actually...it seems like a *insert poetic term that I can't remember right now*...(minus like 50 points for using ellipses way too many times in a sentence). The view from the top was definitely worth the pain it took to get there though. We could see the entire town of Jackson Hole which was pretty awesome, as well as the Tetons and surrounding mountain ranges and buttes. It was amazing. And very humbling too actually: To look out on such a vast landscape and realize the greatness and immensity of the earth and our littleness in the face of it. Our worries and cares are nothing, we live just for a little while and then we are forgotten by the world, discarded with the billions of others who have gone before us. So let's all just slow down. Life is meant to be lived. And it is short. So live it well.

After we got back from our hike, I just sat down for about two hours and when I would stand up, I found that my legs were more tired than I think they have ever been in my life. And they have stayed that way all day. I am not exaggerating at all when I say I literally crawled up the stairs to my room earlier. Aunt Susie had to do some work so she went to the office and I stayed home and cleaned the cabinets, washed dishes, and folded laundry (and there may have been some Netflix mixed in there at some point). Then we she got home we went to Jackson Lake Dam to fly fish (which I learned how to do yesterday). Aunt Susie told me I'm a natural (not to brag or anything...okay kinda to brag) but with the wind blowing hard and the fish not biting, the excursion didn't seem promising. After about an hour or so of casting and recasting I told Aunt Susie I would be ready to go after just one more cast. And what do you know? I caught a cutthroat trout on my last cast!! It was so exciting! It was pretty small but Aunt Susie got a picture that made it look bigger than it actually was :). We left the dam pretty dam happy (pun intended) and I commented that the only thing that could make the day better would be to see a bear (something that has been on my JH bucket list since the first year I came here in 2015). We headed out and we went by the boat dock at Signal Mountain to get another view of the Tetons in the setting sun. As we pulled out of the driveway we both freaked out because there, across the road from us, was a bear!!! An adorable black bear! (I'm sure they're not as adorable when they're hungry but there wasn't an immediate threat so it looked pretty darn cute to me. We snapped some pictures and were on our way home, as excited as pigs in a mud puddle ( I may have just laughed out loud at that one...).

Any way today was an extremely exciting and tiring day and it's about to hit midnight here and I'm kind of EXHAUSTED so it's time for me to get some zzzzzzs. I love writing about my adventures for y'all to read and I really hope you enjoy reading them.

Lots of Love!
ET

Me dying on the Snow King trail...

Action shot

The view from the top of Snow King. Elevation: 7,808 ft.

My fish! His name is Carl

Picturesque

My friend the bear. His name is Norman

String Lake With No Strings Attached (It's Dumb I Know)

We spent the whole entire day at String Lake in Grand Teton National Park today. And by whole day I mean 10 straight hours. We rented paddle boards and spent the day paddling them all over the place, lazying around in hammocks (apparently today was national hammock day...who knew?), and listening to children through tantrums around us. It was an amazing day and instead of trying to describe to you exactly how it was, I will just include quite a few pictures. It was absolutely beautiful and the water was really cold. Oh, and Nathan must have been there (or some likeness of him) because someone was flying a drone over the lake full of people in their swim suits (I really hope he or one of his family members reads this but if not the Alders know what I am referencing). Anywho...we also made a quick run to the farmer's market this morning before we left so that I could get a few more souvenirs. Getting that souvenir shopping knocked out a little at a time :). Alrighty well here are the pictures that were promised.

I'm exhausted by the way. Good night fam.

Emma T.

Hanging in a hammock is ENOugh for me

When you pose like a model without even knowing it...that's the Grand in the background

The Two B's

I'm sure you are wondering what the two B's are. Are they bread and butter, boxes and basters, the birds and the bees?? What on earth could they possibly be?? Oh Emma pleeeeease tell us! Alright. Bartok and Brahms. Two of my favorite composers and the two who also wreaked havoc on my life during senior year. Let me just say, Brahms is just magnificent and Bartok is underrated. (Now you are probably wondering why I am talking about composers, just as I am sure you were wondering why on earth I write like an epic nerd). The reason is this. Tonight we went to an orchestra performance which was part of the Grand Teton Music Festival and which featured the extremely talented pianist, Yefim Bronfman. As you can probably guess, the orchestra played a concerto by Bela Bartok and after the intermission they were joined by Bronfman, who played alongside the orchestra a piano concerto by Johannes Brahms. It was A B S O L U T E L Y fabulous. Aunt Susie and I both enjoyed it a lot and when it was all over she told me she felt a lot more relaxed. I confidently asserted that her relaxation was indeed a result of the classical music, my confidence backed by the 21 pages of research I did concerning the topic. It was a proud moment for me. 

Other than that, we dropped off Catherine at the airport today because she is going to San Diego to go to a Comic-Con with her dad (super jealous). Then we came home and cleaned for quite a while because Sarah and the other intern at the farm, Alex, are here and the house needed some attention in preparation for company. The other Sarah (who I had the convo with yesterday) hasn't shown up at the house today even though all of her stuff is still here so...I don't know what's happening with her. We'll see I guess. 

Well, tomorrow we are going to the farmer's market and then to the Park so it should be a pretty fun day. 

Bye Bye (two b's...get it? 😂)

et_the_extra_awesome

When it Rains it Pours (without hail this time)

Well right now I'm sitting on the couch watching rain fall on Snow King and hoping the aspen tree in the front yard that is coming uprooted won't fall and hit the window where I'm sitting. I love rain so much. It's one of my very favorite things. And I also feel like it is great for creative inspiration (though what I am about to write isn't very creative :)). But you get my point: it's perfect blogging weather.

So yesterday we didn't do all that much but we went on a bike ride around town in the afternoon. Catherine and I were supposed to go to a free concert last night but we didn't know we had to have tickets to it and it ended up being sold out so she promised to take me to dinner. Fran joined us and we went to Hatch (a Mexican food place). I think it was one of those places where you have to order the right thing or else you will be really unsatisfied, and Catherine and Fran did not order the right thing. So they were quite disappointed with their food and I was satisfied-ish with mine. Then we sneaked (apparently snuck actually isn't a word) into a gala for the Dancer's Workshop at the Center for the Arts that we didn't have tickets to. Thankfully because Fran and Catherine are both on the staff we were able to get into the show, which was really cool. They had a fundraiser in the middle of the show in which they took donations from the people in the crowd and they raised over $100,000 in 5 minutes. It was insane. There are so many rich people who live here.

This morning I woke up thinking I was at my house and Ruby was barking and I spent a few seconds trying to think of what dog would be barking at my house because we don't have a dog and neither do the Bertkes. I thought maybe it was Dirk...then I realized I wasn't at home. It was a really weird feeling. Aunt Susie worked today some and Catherine went to ballet and then to hang out with her friend Sarah so I was at home by myself for a little while. I washed some dishes and painted and cleaned Aunt Susie's refrigerator so I felt pretty productive actually. Catherine brought me home a rice crispy treat which was really sweet and she just left for a doctor's appointment with her mom so Sarah and I just had a talk about my future (I just met this girl today and I really like her :)). Aunt Susie and I are supposed to go to Music on Main today in Victor, Idaho but it is raining so I don't know if we're still going to do that. We'll see.

Sorry for the long post full of play by plays but now you know exactly what I've been up to.

Also one more thought: I really miss my piano. I've been thinking about it a lot today and I can't wait to play it when I get back home. I'm afraid I won't remember how to...but realistically I don't think 13 years of piano lessons can actually be wiped out by 6 weeks of absence.

Okay bye now,
ET