Beautiful Day

Fall is by far my favorite season. Nothing can compare. Don't get me wrong, the other seasons have their place it's just that Fall is such a beautiful time of year. It represents crispy weather, family gatherings, and the start of a wonderful succession of favorite holidays, beginning with my birthday.

I know it's not officially Fall yet, but it is to me and here's why. Last week, I had to turn the air conditioning off in the car because I was so chilly. Yesterday, I noticed the Halloween decorations popping up in the grocery store. And on the way home, I spotted pink and red hued trees on the mountains. I can't help but get excited.

Today, Dave and I took advantage of the beautiful outdoors. We drove up the canyon to Bridal Veil Park. We skipped rocks and dipped our toes in the freezing snow melted water. We ate turkey sandwiches, carrots, and apples. Finally, with our bellies full, we laid on our sleeping bag and enjoyed doing nothing. Romantic picnics along Provo River are the best.







On the way home, we drove past my favorite fruit stand, which is now open for business. Driving home with an overflowing bag of fresh peaches definitely marks the start of Fall for me. :)

Freezer Burn

I had a little accident with a can of Diet Coke. In an upscale boutique in Park City, these pictures might be considered art. Maybe I'll keep it up for a while. ;)

Romantic Graffiti

Dave and I took a romantic vacation over Memorial Day Weekend. We decided somewhat last minute to pack up the "green bean" and head south to Zion's National Park. We felt so spontaneous.

It was so fun to just pack up and go on our first little road trip. As I am an experienced road tripper, I made sure we had plenty of fun snacks and treats for the road and organized our little backseat hotel. We jammed to The Carpenters and Elton John and only stopped for a bathroom break five times. We even made fresh butter in a jar on the way.

We finally got to Zion's around nine that night so we had to set up camp in the dark which was an exciting adventure. Dave got a stern talking to from a park ranger and some park wood confiscated. Because our trip was so spur of the moment, we were unable to reserve a tent campsite but we got a last minute opening in the RV section of the park. It was funny to see RVS fully equipped with hot showers, swamp coolers, and generators. We much preferred the cozy trunk of our minivan minus some seats.

The next morning, despite some warnings from some pampered RV campers and one sissy park ranger, we decided we were going to at least look at the Narrows. It was the reason we drove down. It took a 45 minute bus ride to get there. The park was beautiful in the daytime. The canyon was stunning against the dark clouds and the breeze on the bus was quite refreshing.

When we got to the Narrows, I wanted so badly to just get my feet in the water. We had come so far to see it after all. The water was freezing and the current rushed by at a scary pace. I promised Dave I would only walk around for a few feet and then come back. I really wanted to keep going so after promising Dave we'd hike for at least half an hour, he reluctantly got in.

We ended up hiking for at least a couple of miles, through rushing water up to our chests and passing groups in wet suits who looked at us like we were insane. The scenery and adventure made it well worth it though. I felt like an explorer and I couldn't believe how fun it was to hike in cold, rocky water in a pair of bad shoes.

One of my favorite parts was watching "Ranger Dave" guide group after group over a tricky ledge through the deepest portion of the river. My feet were bleeding and my legs had gone numb hours earlier but I just smiled with pride as I watched him help others cross. People were asking how many times he had hiked the tricky Narrows as it was obvious that he was an expert. "Yeah, that's my husband," I thought.

After a soaking wet one mile hike from the river bed and a forty five minute ride with a possibly slightly intoxicated group of college freshmen, we finally made it back to our little van. We spent the afternoon napping, eating foil dinners, and drinking Diet Cokes.

The next day, we set off to our second destination. The Foote Family was kind enough to let us join their family weekend at their ranch a few miles away. The ranch was beautiful. It was like a privately owned piece of the park. When we got there, we all decided to go for a hike I'm not a big outdoors person to begin with. Remember, a two mile hike in a river was an adventure to me. But, I thought, I love to walk and hiking is really just glorified walking, right? Besides, the beauty of the surroundings could make anyone crave the outdoors.

We all hopped onto the four wheelers and drove off to a little canyon. We started walking through brush and rocks. Not a good sign. Eventually we made it to a huge rock with a slippery slope. "Okay," I thought, "Too bad. The hike is over." My stomach turned as I watched everyone, one by one, hop up the rock as if there were some invisible staircase that everyone could see but me. I was highly impressed to say the least. However, I was not about to be the party pooper so, with help from Dave, I slowly made my way up and across the rock.

So, we kept hiking until we made it to an even larger rock, no boulder and I saw a rope hanging from the top. My first thought was, "How did a rope get up there?" my second, "I'm going to die here." I seriously considered turning around and running. I also considered locking my knees and fainting so someone could carry me back over the slippery rock. It took me a good fifteen minutes to make my decision.

Maybe it was my river adventure from the day before. Maybe it was the encouragement from everyone else. Perhaps I mustered courage from my stubborn pride. In any event, I decided to attempt but with tons of help from people above and below, I tearfully made my way to the top.

After a thrilling moment of sheer accomplishment, I came to the horrible realization that I must somehow get down. My heart literally sank. I wanted to get it over with. I had made it to the top, not to continue with the hike, but to say that I did it. Now, it was time to get down. So once, again with the help of others and once again, tearfully, I slowly made my way down, smashing poor Dave's pinkie against the rock.



Finally, down the rock, and done with hiking forever, Dave and I made our way back to the four wheelers. I think I could be on a four wheeler forever. I don't care for driving them but I don't really care for driving cars either. I love the feel of the wind and the beauty of the scenery sitting behind Dave.

I don't think I could trust anyone but Dave on a four wheeler. They kind of scare me to be honest. But with Dave, everything was okay. I was safe and secure and taken care of. Since its too loud to talk on a four wheeler, I spent a lot of quiet time thinking about this. It really wasn't just the four wheeler that made me feel that sense of security. I realized just how much I had taken that feeling for granted. I feel it whenever I see Dave walk into a room or hear his voice on the phone. I love it. I knew this post is a travelogue and not a tribute to Dave but I'm just recording my thoughts.

So, the last night at the ranch, I drove one of the Rhinos to a cave like sandstone tunnel that went under the highway. It was dark and scary and the sand felt cool between my toes and under my feet. The whole interior was covered in carvings. So Dave and I found some rocks and began to make our own mark on the graffiti mural.




We also found this random hole that looked like a pig nose.

The weekend was wonderful. We had such a great time at the ranch and we were so grateful that the Foote's shared their weekend fun. They were so generous and welcoming. It made our spontaneous weekend even better.

I guess I should wrap up this horrendously long post before it gets any more verbose. Unfortunately it's feast or famine when it comes to blogging for me. I'm working on achieving a more balanced approach.

Plant Babies!

I've never been much of a greenthumb. I never could get into gardening, not even on tv. I am captivated by the lowest of budget cooking shows and I often even find myself glued to the tv during the carpentry shows that follow the low budget cooking shows. PBS lost me, however, when it came to the gardening. It looked like dirt and sweat and hard work for not much payoff.

I guess I should start from the beginning. Dave and I threw a pizza party one Friday night. We invited our friends and set off to Macey's with a $25 gift card to buy the fanciest pizza toppings we could find. I headed straight for the pesto only to find shock and horror when I read the price tag. No three once jar of pesto should cost $7, I thought. The culinary cost of living in Provo, I guess. No big deal, I could make my own. Homemade always beats store bought anyway. I had a full bottle of nice extra virgin olive oil at home and all I only needed pine nuts and basil. The cost of those two ingredients alone added up to more than the cost of the jarred pesto. Sadly, the pizza party had to go on without the pesto.

Throughout the next few months, there were several times I wanted to cook with fresh herbs but could not stomach the cost. So, I decided to start my own herb garden. Seeds were cheap and with a small initial investment, I would soon be harvesting my own fresh aromatics, right? Well, not exactly.







Dave and I carefully planted our little seeds and measured the plant food to make sure the seedlings were well fed. Then, we put them inside to protect them from frost and we never touched them for weeks. I warned you I wasn't really a greenthumb.

Assuming the seeds were dead, I put them outside to throw the dirt away later. Little did I know how close they were to the sprinkler system our neighbors would soon activate.



A few days later, our little seedlings sprouted and our beautiful plant babies began to grow. Now I look at them every day. I finally understand why people can become so involved in gardening. Don't worry, I'm not talking to the plants or treating them like little people, but I feel fulfilled when I see how big they are getting. Who knows, a few more years and maybe they'll even be big enough to use in the kitchen! :)

Nerent

To everyone who kept getting on my back about blogging (and you know who you are), "NERENT!" and "RAAR!" Yes I am blogging again. Seriously though, life has been very very busy. Getting married, student teaching, and graduating are all very important things. However, now that student teaching is done I have had more time to peruse other blogs, I am somewhat saddened by the fact that all those memories that could have been recorded are now blurred by the haze of forgetfulness. As I find it extremely difficult to maintain a journal or diary and scrapbooking is too expensive, I have a new found respect for blogging and a renewed commitment to at least electronically record some memories. In an attempt to make up for time lost, I will periodically post events from the past three and half months as I try to keep the blog updated. Pictures to come soon... And by soon I don't mean three months. :)

Happy New Year!

2009 is finally here and I'm really excited about it. First of all, I have a strange fondness for odd numbers, so 2009 is good. I'll be moving into a new apartment to start the year and will be making a considerable upgrade in my living accommodations. On January 6, I change from Geography student to Geography teacher. Oh yes, I also graduate with the Brigham Young University Class of 2009. I remember, as a freshman, thinking that I would be Class of '09 and feeling that 2009 would never come. This means never having to take an Economics test again, which makes me giddy with excitement. But really, in all honesty, I am most excited to be getting married. :)

With the wedding almost two weeks away, we have been very busy with preparations. The latest accomplishment was mailing the announcements. My mom and I bought some invitations that we could print and assemble ourselves. We knew they would be a bit more labor-intensive than most but we severely underestimated how much time and effort would go into making them. We started Tuesday evening at around three in the afternoon, knowing that we would probably be up past midnight. So, we set up a very efficient assembly line (Dad even stuffed envelopes) and got to work. Thirteen hours and ten Diet Pepsis later, we had printed, assembled, stuffed, licked, sealed, and stamped over 150 announcements. It was a lot of work but we had fun and it was exciting to be sending out announcements.



This was at about five in the morning when we were finally finishing.



Yay! Announcements! Yay!

I am so excited to be getting married. It was nice to get the announcement done and in the mail. I also can't wait to get back to Dave on Monday. It's been difficult to be apart during the holidays and I miss him a lot. :(