We Went Hiking

Yesterday, Greg and I decided to go on a hike up in the Uinta's, kind of in between Heber City and Mt. Timpanogos. It was beautiful! In total, we probably hiked about 5 miles, round trip. We hiked up to a gorgeous ridge and up to the summit of the mountain. It overlooked Heber Valley and gave such an incredible view of Mt. Timp and the gorgeous other mountains nearby. It was a tough hike though! The last part (the hike to the summit) was pretty vertical, and it took a lot of effort. But it was totally worth it! Here are some pictures!

We were ready for our hike!

The beautiful view of Mount Timpanogos

On our way up, we encountered a HUGE rockslide! It was nuts!

Walking through the Aspens

There were TONS of trees. It was amazing.

We finally made it up to the ridge (before our ascent up to the summit) and this was our view of Heber Valley!

Oddly enough, even though the weather has been SO HOT here in the Provo area lately, we found a little patch of snow (notice the snowball Greg is throwing in this picture).

Now it was time to start the vertical hike up to the top of the peak. 

I was DYING.

We eventually made it up to a huge rock pile (not the top peak yet, but close!)

All over that huge rock pile were THOUSANDS of ladybugs! It was a ladybug colony. It was pretty disgusting if you ask me. Greg kept saying, "Look how cute they are!" and I kept replying, "Yeah, if you get one ladybug on you, it's cute, but if there are hundreds swarming you, I don't think so." Needless to say, it was nasty, but Greg wanted to get a bunch of "cool" pictures of them.

This picture is deceiving; this wasn't the top yet. I wished it was, but unfortunately, no.

THIS is the top! We made it! It sure was tough, but we totally made it! Next to these rocks, we found a container that had a pad of paper and a pen with a bunch of names of people who had made it up there in the past. We added our names, of course! It was an accomplishment.

Coming back down was pretty scary. We found an avalanche shoot that just gave me the creeps (I am deathly afraid of heights). We actually hiked down to the right of what this picture is showing.

On our way down, we saw some really pretty flowers.

This was the trail. I'm telling you, it was like straight up one way, and straight down going back to the car THE ENTIRE TIME.

As we were walking down, I slipped on a rock and landed straight on my hip (I have a pretty big bruise there now) and as I tried to break my fall, my arm landed on the ground and slid right into a Stinging Nettle. It was not a pleasant experience, and my arm was covered with blisters. It went away later that night, but still, it did not feel good!

Greg and I had such a great time on our hike! It was tough, but completely worth it. We are so glad to live in an area that allows us to see and do such beautiful things!

Birthday Boy!

On Wednesday, we got the pleasure of celebrating Greg's 23rd birthday. It was so much fun! I really wanted his day to be special for him. But, let's rewind first. Last Saturday, Greg's family came down to Provo to take Greg (and me) out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (which is one of the best restaurants out there, let me just say). We spent some time with them afterward at our apartment as well. It was really nice to be with them, and I know Greg really appreciated it.

Then, on Tuesday night, I prepped for the next morning: I made the dough for homemade cinnamon rolls and spent a while trying to prepare for his birthday. On Wednesday morning, I got up a little earlier than Greg and cooked the cinnamon rolls, made the frosting, blew up some balloons, and hung up a "Happy Birthday" sign. 

They may not look as good as they tasted. They were soooo yummy!

I got quite a few presents for Greg; they weren't necessarily the most expensive things I could find, but I wanted him to be able to open a lot of different things, not just one thing.

Earlier in the week, I let him open one of the gifts, which was the game "Taboo." On the morning of his birthday, I let him open another one (he kind of requested that he wanted to open most of his presents after dinner). I had previously gone to D.I. and gotten some video cassettes: Forrest Gump, Lord of the Rings #1, and True Grit (with John Wayne). They were super cheap, and I figured we could go get a really cheap video cassette player at D.I. as well. Who cares if it's a DVD right?

After we had breakfast, we both had class and didn't get home until about 3:15 pm. As soon as we got home, I started making dinner. I made Spinach-Chicken Stromboli, which has tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, spinach, chicken, and italian seasoning all inside some dough/bread and you dip it in pizza sauce. It is one of our favorites. We also drank some sparkling cider, and had dinner by candlelight (and partially the light from the sun).

 After dinner, we were soooo stuffed! We decided it was time for presents, and that we would wait on dessert. During present-opening time, I took so many pictures, and Greg was getting slightly annoyed (all in good fun), but I didn't really care. I wanted to have pictures to look at when we get older, and also that we can show our kids. I really value taking pictures; I think it is very important and jogs our memories when we see them.

Greg got some money from his grandparents and parents. He was thrilled. It was very thoughtful of all of them to send him something on his birthday. Then he opened all of the presents from me. He got a couple more board games, "Scattergories" and "Rummikub," a new teal plain shirt, a plaid teal and cream colored dress shirt, and some new cream-colored Vans. It was so fun watching him open all of those gifts!

By the end, he was done taking pictures.

But fear not! I took even more after the presents were opened! I had made Greg a cake- chocolate with cream cheese frosting. So, I lit the candles and brought out the cake while singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He made his wish, and we enjoyed our slices of delicious cake!

After we finished eating, we decided to finish our 1000 piece puzzle that we had been working on for about a week. It was very tough, let me just tell you. But here is our finished product!

I really loved being able to celebrate my sweetheart's birthday on Wednesday. He deserves the best. I love my husband so much! Happy 23rd Birthday, best friend!

California... Home Sweet Home

Recently, Greg and I got to go down to California for a couple of weeks. I realllllly miss that place. We had so much fun with my family. We drove down (hoping we would surprise my parents with our arrival) but Ann Marie spilled the beans, so they knew we were coming. It was all good though, a nice reunion. While we were in Garden Grove, we spent lots of time with my family, went to Knott's Berry Farm (Greg's first time there), went on a bike ride down at the beach with my dad, and ran a lot of errands for and with my mom. We just loved being with our family.

After about a week in Garden Grove, we went up with my family to Leo Carillo State Beach to go beach camping (it's up by Malibu, CA if you know where that is). The first couple of days were kind of windy and not so pleasant. But as the rest of the week unfolded, the weather was great and it was beautiful! Greg even got me to go surfing, which was a real surprise to all of us because I was dead set on not going in the freezing cold water. But with a wetsuit, it wasn't too bad. I loved surfing, caught a lot of waves, and really enjoyed being out in the water with everyone. Greg surfed every single day, and became really good! He was tearing it up out there (when we got back home to Utah, he even said, "Man, if i could just surf everyday... that would be awesome." Hopefully that means he wants to live in California...) We also had a lot of fun playing cards with all the moms and my dad, and chit chatting with people we hadn't seen in a while. We rode bikes everywhere, we even found a bike trail next to the campground. We also hiked up a creek that was near our campsite, and climbed on a bunch of rocks. Greg found a frog and brought it back to our camp. It was jumping all over everything and everyone. It was pretty humorous. We went and sat at the beach a lot too. One day at the beach, Greg got Kole Brodowski and Scott Hicken to lay down under a towel, while we put chips and food on top of them. Then we watched as the hungry seagulls stepped onto the towel they were laying under, and Kole and Scott would try to grab the bird. It was hilarious! We tried so many times to grab the birds, but it never really worked. It was close, but didn't totally work. Another day, back at our campsite, Greg constructed a squirrel trap, and we really tried to catch one. Like the seagulls, we ALMOST had a squirrel a couple of times, but the trap just didn't work well enough. It was a lot of fun though.

We really enjoyed our time in California, and like every other time we go down there, it was really hard to leave my family. I just love them so much! Luckily we get to see them in July, so it won't be long until we see them again!

Finally Updating After 3 Months

Hey all, Lots of things have been going on in our lives lately. To make it easier on everyone, I'll just bullet point all of the exciting things that have happened in the past 3 months.

 -Greg and I found jobs in Park City (we were going to work at Park City Mountain Resort, but the season wasn't doing well, so they couldn't offer us jobs). I have worked at a tourist retail store called Otto Parts on Main Street and Greg has worked at a ski rental shop up at the Hyatt Escala at the Canyons Resort. Both of these jobs have been really good for both of us, but it has been a long winter. 

-Greg and I both got into BYU for the Spring Term!!! This is probably the best news we have gotten all winter. We seriously are SO excited. The night we found out, we were jumping for joy and screaming and celebrating. Our dream has come true!

 -Greg thought he was going to have to wait for a year and a half to get into the Business program at BYU because his counsellor told him he wouldn't be able to finish his prereques in time for the deadline to apply for the Fall 2012 or Winter 2013 semesters. It was really sad and such a bummer for him. But, we ended up finding out that his counsellor was COMPLETELY wrong and didn't know what he was talking about, and fortunately Greg can apply to get into the Fall 2012 semester for the Mariott School of Business. As for me, I'm still doing Elementary Ed, and I'll start my program in the Winter 2013 semester. Greg and I will graduate around the same time (he might graduate a semester or so earlier than me).

 -We found a really cheap apartment in Provo. I know this sounds like not that cool of a thing, but finding apartments that are actually available for a cheap price is harder than it seems. Those of you who have had to do this, you know what I'm talking about. Those of you who haven't, just you wait. We actually move into it on Saturday from our current apartment in Heber, Utah. So, that's pretty exciting!

 -Greg's brother Shaun came home from his mission the day before my birthday. It was such an exciting reunion for his brothers and sisters and parents, and it was great meeting him for the first time at the airport. He is such a great guy. He's really solid in the gospel and loves to have fun. Greg, Shaun, and I have been playing soccer together on Wednesday nights at an indoor soccer park since he's been home. It's been really fun hanging out together, all of us.

 -For my birthday, Greg got me a flight to go to California to visit my family whenever I want. That was such an awesome present- I really miss my family, and he definitely knows that (considering I tell him all the time). I haven't used it yet, but I will, don't worry. In a few days, we are driving down to California together to visit my family and go beach camping at Leo Carillo! We are both SUPER stoked! It's going to be so much fun!

 -A month or two ago, Greg and I went camping. I can't remember the name of the lake we camped at, but it is really close to Park City, probably like 15 minutes east. We were the only campers there, I guess because it is too cold for everyone. But we are hardcore campers, so we set up our tent, made some hot dogs, roasted some marshmellows, and just had a really great time together. Unfortunately it was really windy, but it didn't bother us too much. We still had fun!

 We have had a lot of fun this winter, despite the terrible snow we have received (or lack thereof). We have gotten to go skiing in the bad snow, but it was really fun. We've gone on lots of hikes, gone to the hot springs in Spanish Fork, hung out with Greg's family a lot, and just have enjoyed each other and being married. We love it!

 P.S. Sorry there aren't any pictures! I'll try to post some later.

Christmas Fun

Greg and I had the chance to come to California for Christmas Break. It was so nice to take a nice break and have a vacation in my beautiful hometown. We slaved away all semester up at BYU Idaho, and all our hard work paid off: Greg got 5 A's and a B+, and I got all A's. We definitely worked our butts off. But, during finals week, we decided that we wanted to take a break from studying for a little bit, so we had our very first Christmas together (early) and exchanged gifts.

We made ourselves a candlelight dinner too. We had to sit on the ground and eat next to our tree before we opened presents because we were packing everything up to move, and we had no table.

After dinner, we opened our gifts to each other.

Greg got me an iPod Touch. I was stoked! I had lost my old one back in April, so it was a pleasant surprise to get such an awesome present.

I got Greg a nice watch. He always wears a silver one, which isn't bad because it does really look good, but I decided to get him a brown leather strapped watch. He loves it.

After our last final, and packing up all of our stuff so we could move to Heber, Utah (which was no easy feat), we went down to Park City for a few days before we headed down to California. We had a wonderful early Christmas with Greg's family. Greg and I scored a lot of awesome things from his family, and we all just really had a great time together. We love being in Park City, but mostly, we just love being with Greg's family. They are so wonderful.

We got Sam a sled. He was so excited to open his present.

After our great time in Park City, we went down to good old Garden Grove, California to spend a couple of weeks with my family, and be there for Christmas and the New Year. It took us about 11 hours to get down there, and right when we got there, we went to Naples with my family and Parker and Grace. Naples is down in Long Beach in a harbor where all the expensive houses are lit up and decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful. Parker was so cute with all his questions and excitement to see all the decorations, and Grace was just adorable while we pushed her around in the stroller. We had a lot of fun.

Christmas Day was so great. Greg, Karina, and Savannah got to be here too. Savannah is such a cutie! She has the most beautiful big blue eyes. We all had so much fun being around the tree in the morning and joking and laughing with each other. I love being with my family.

A couple of days after Christmas, Greg, Dad, and I headed out to the desert to go dirtbiking. Kyle Brodowski, Ellis, Kole, and the Levert's were out there camping with us as well. Greg amazed all of us with how well he did. The first day we got there, he got on a YZ 250 and zoomed off. He went up this super steep sand hill and did it like a champ. My dad and I looked at the hill and were both thinking, "Oh my goodness, I don't even want to go up that thing, but now that Greg (the novice) did, I have to now." Greg was just tearing it up the whole four days we were there. He is a natural. We loved being out there, and no one got hurt. I fell a couple times, Greg fell here and there, but it wasn't bad at all. We had a lot of fun around the campfire every night, played games, watched movies, just like the old times in the desert. It was great.

When we got back from the desert, we got to rest. The next day we went to the beach to at least be able to say that we went. It was chilly, but still beautiful. The beach is always beautiful. I was really lucky to have grown up in such a great place. I'd say it's the best place in the world, but I am a little biased.

While I was at home, I got to play the piano a bit. I miss the piano so much, since there really isn't one to play on when I'm at school. I love to play.

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun as well. We had a lot of people over for a party, mostly adults, and played some games. But Scotty and Addison Hicken came over. They loved Greg. He was their best friend! I love those little boys. They are so cute.

I just love being at home with my family. It was such a fun couple of weeks, and I wish I could be down in California with them all the time. But soon Greg and I are going back up to Utah to work at the Park City Mountain Ski Resort. It will be a lot of fun to be able to ski and spend time with Greg's family. Heber will be a nice place to live too. I know that I will always have awesome memories with my family, no matter how long it is before I see them again, which makes me happy when I am not with them. I just love them so much! I love my husband, and I love my life. I sure do have a great one.

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (not really)

Greg and I decorated our apartment for Christmas for FHE the other night. His mom lent us some lights, decorations, and a christmas tree (can I just say that I love her and she is amazing?) It was pretty fun! It's so nice to come home after a long day and turn on the lights to see a beautiful tree with wonderful lights glowing in our living room. We took a few pictures too!

The beginnings of the process

Love

Finishing up

Our masterpiece