Celebration Season

YAY! It's October, which means it's the HOLDAY SEASON! General Conference, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, HERE WE COME!

To me, General Conference is basically like a holiday and a perfect way kick off all the celebrating.  Bring on the cinnamon rolls and gather 'round the TV!! { click here to learn why Conference matters }

I got to 'gather 'round' with two of my very best college friends: Erika and Janae! They drove all the way from Portland and Corvallis to take in GC, Utah style.

It started off a weekend too full of goodness to even pause to take more than a picture or two :)

After exploring and playing in Provo all Friday, Saturday's GC sessions were enjoyed from the comfort of our own couch. We took breaks for a 5-mile run at The Canyons and an essential trip to J-Dawgs.

The fun continued because Erika and Janae came with six tickets to see it live on Sunday! :) We had a perfect weekend for it and I LOVED being surrounded by THOUSANDS of happy, beautiful people. The spirit there is so wonderful. We had an easy drive in and even got to watch a recording of Music and the Spoken Word before meeting up with the rest of our group and settling in for two hours of inspiration.

Later that day Matt and I said goodbye to the other four in our group and went to the last session just the two of us. Thanks to my thoughtful bishop, we had tickets for that too! Thanks Bishop Bailey!

As if that wasn't enough activity, earlier that weekend my mom and dad flew out from Walnut Creek to meet us for a football game! USC was playing the U in SLC, and we got to watch the Trojans beat the Utes. Fight on!

{ No pictures with the other half of the group :(  }
The following day, Mom, Dad and I went to PARK CITY to explore and ohh- and -aah at the scenery.  I don't have pictures of that either, so imagine in your mind my parents and me surrounded by autumn colored trees, super-tall mountains, a quaint main street with souvenirs and tourist shops, and massive ski lodges that were mostly empty - for now. At Christmas that place will be CRAYzee. We were glad to check it out off-season.


After all of the weekend's visitors headed to their homes and Monday rolled around, it was back to  work, teaching yoga, and other adventures: experimenting with recipies from Pinterest
{ click meeeee } with my wonderful room mates as taste-testers; an unexpected trip to hay rides and a corn maze with girls in my ward; an amazing OSU football game right here in Provo! Yaaay Beavs!; and more!

It seems like everything is passing SO fast. Better cuddle up with a big cup of candy cane hot chocolate and take it all in. Life is great :)

this is the best hot chocolate ever to come out of a can