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

New Favorite Place

Could I have found the prettiest place in Utah Valley?

After discovering gorgeous running trails a little ways from the hubub of main Provo, I wanted to bring friends out by the busload! It was too good to keep to myself ;)

One of my room mates, Camille, was a good sport and came :) We took some great pictures, walked around in the explosion of colors and breathed in the fresh, autumney air. It felt so good NOT to be on concrete any more! And hearing river noises instead of traffic was a fabulous break. We just loved it out there!

A day or two later Kelsey, Makenzie and I put on hiking clothes and set out to explore more of the trails!

Sorry for accidentally cutting you out Kels!!

It was all wonderful and beautiful... UNTIL we got lost. This is me at the moment I realized we were not on the right trail:

{"guys, we NEVER passed a LAKE on the way out"}

Five minues of desperately running through underbrush in a single-file line got us back to the trail. Gotta love how those girls kept their cool!

After that I decided to play it safe and stuck to the main park.

It is a great place to get work done :)

Eventually I did go adventuring into the trails again. But this time was with Matt, so I figured everything would be great :) It was. Our only regret was that we didn't bring a camera.

Parts of it actually reminded us of Corvallis!

Does anyone know of other great hiking/biking/take-in-the-beauty places near Provo? I'd love to hear your suggestions :)

I'm also really looking forward to this coming weekend - my parents plus two good friends from OSU are coming out for different events, and a group and I have tickets to General Conference! Loving life :) 

HAPPY OCTOBER!

Good Morning September!

SEPTEMBER started with thunder and lightning at 5:30am, which made this morning's run crisp and clean :) The rain cooled everything off and created a fresh, autmney smell in the air.

Here are some pics from my run:

Clouds

Autmney colors on the hills

Pretty BYU campus (empty at 8:00am on a Saturday)

teaching yoga here would be great 

Now it's time to pull out the coats and boots! Fall is here!! :D

Weekend with HEATHER!!

Look who came to visit this weekend!

Heather is one of my very BEST friends from high school. I love that we're still so close after so long!

We had two and a half days together and wanted to make THE MOST out of it, since we only see each other like once a year. 

And man, there was A LOT to do. Not only did I need help getting situated in my NEW HOME, but we had a lot of exploring to do. 

Friday night we made delicious teriakki chicken in a crock-pot from Pinterest. The house smelled heavenly, and after Heather drove 4+ hours (from Rexburg) she was in need of a yummy treat. Mmmm. 

After chatting and letting our tummies become less stuffed Krystal was nice enough to take us on a guided tour of the BYU campus! Wow, is it beautiful. This picture does not do it justice, so you'll have to take my word for it:)

The next morning Heather and I got up early to take a big hike: we walked up to the Y on a mountainside near the edge of the valley

The views were breathtaking. The altitude and incline were, too ;)

It felt soooo good to get to the top. There were a lot of other people on the trails too, givng encouragement and assuring each other that we had to be close. It was a fun place to be on a weekend morning :) 

We made it!

Back at home we rested up and  hung out. Heather found ways to be helpful, and anyone who knows her will understand why this is so funny:

 

Heather has a wonderful intolerance for things that are less clean than they could be. It is soo funny :) Thanks Pookie!

Next stop: lunch...

Then we explored around town.

In the evening we found an outdoor concert in a beautiful shopping center. There was good music, excellent people watching, and THIS PUPPY: 

Its owner let me hold it. It felt like a warm fluff ball!!!

Eventually Heather confiscated my camera because I think I took 12 pictures of it. But I wasn't the only one who was enjoying it... isn't this little girl precious??

We loved sitting in the shade on a perfect evening, surrounded by happy people, listening to music and continuing to catch up. Turns out, there's a lot you miss when you live so far away from someone. 

This is a local band called VanLadyLove. They were really, really good

It was a perfect way to spend the evening. The concert ended as the sun was setting and turning those mountains all pink and purple. The dry air was nice and warm, even after dark. It all made hanging out with such a good friend even better. 

On Sunday Heather came to church with us and we met my NEW WARD. It felt a little like the first day of school, but I was amazed by my ward member's friendliness. I'm so glad Krystal was there to introduce me to {almost} everyone. 

In the afternoon Heather met Jake over Skype as she and I made disgustingly delicious treats to snack on {thanks again Pinterest!} It was super fun to have two people, who are both SO SO important to me, get to know each other :D

And then it was time for Heather to go! The weekend ended way too soon. 

Tomorrow it's back to job-hunting, but for now, I'm enjoying soaking up what a WONDERFUL weekend it's been. 

How does one girl get so lucky?

Wonder Wall

Isn't getting mail great? Especially when it’s something FUN like invitations, announcements, or post cards... they’re so bright and happy that I have a REALLY hard time throwing them away.

So I  put them on my wall.

...all of them.

I’m actually getting proud of my wall of announcements :) I’ve been working on it all school year, and it’s inspiring to see all the exciting things that friends and family are doing. And plus, it’s hard not to feel happy when there are like 100 faces smiling back at you :)

Do you see yourself? If not, send me something of you, and I’ll put it up :) Fun mail is ALWAYS welcome! 

The best part is that it’s always changing. Even since taking this picture a few days ago there are already things to be added. And that means I get to be all creative and move things around :)

So now the question is, how to take this masterpiece across state lines and onto a NEW wall..? :)


And pretty soon my OWN graduation announcement could go up there.  Can you believe it??

Graduation / Early Birthday / Goodbye BRUNCH!

On Saturday I met up with friends for a graduation / early birthday / goodbye  brunch! 

Our plan was to go to The Broken Yolk - the most popular breakfast spot in Corvallis - but on a Saturday morning it was totally crowded. 

So we improvised and got pastries from Great Harvest! They have delicious pasteries and bread. And it's hard to resist their endless samples... especially when they're given away by a 9-year-old :)

We took our pasteries across the street to the Willamette River waterfront. It runs right past downtown so it was perfect :)

The parade of dog-walkers, bikers, and Farmers' Market goers made for fun sightseeing as we enjoyed cinnamon rolls, muffins, and good conversation.

A little later we followed the crowd to the market and took in the colors, smells, and... samples :) Hah

Can't you just smell these fresh veggies?? Loved it

These cute girls were selling poetry - you give the topic, they write the poem!

Even though we wanted to take everything home, we headed out with just one thing: a gorgeous RHUBARB pie. But it needs a little explanation. Growing up, a lot of years I would ask for a rhubarb upside-down cake for my birthday cake (different, right? It's because my mom's are sooo good) So, we got a mini one to continue the tradition!

Here's a close-up of that baby:

On the way back the guys even got to help this family push their stalled-out car to the side of the road. Look at them go! :):)

Moving Away

In just over a week, I'm moving to Utah. I have been planning this for a little while and I am really EXCITED! 

Except for one thing... 

it means I have to leave Oregon. And even though I’m excited, I’m going to miss Oregon.  A LOT.

I’m going to miss sunsets like THIS, taken recently while hiking with a best friend:

I’ll miss those wintertime frozen-solid mornings when all the rain that falls the rest of the year turns into gorgeous frost:

I’ll miss being less than an hour from the beautiful Oregon coast:

(that's me!)

And of course I will never stop missing the Portland LDS Temple. It feels like home to me. 

{not my picture. Thanks Google!}

But I'm ESPECIALLY going to miss this:

and everyone else I’ve known and loved here. I will REALLY miss you!

My heart hurts just thinking about leaving all of this behind.