Snow!!!! And Lights!!!!

picture via

The holiday season is officially here!!  I couldn't be happier.  They have finally lit the Christmas lights downtown and I love to drive slowly on my way home so I can take in the lights and wreaths and city decorations.  Brian and I will be spend Christmas together in Salt Lake City again this year and I can't wait to start some holiday traditions.

Things I'm looking forward to the most this holiday season:

- Going to see the Nutcracker with a big group of friends this mid- December.  We are going out to eat before and I really can't wait.

-Thanksgiving over at the Kricks.  We just finalized our menu last night.

- My friend Jennilyn and I are going to have a Christmas baking day soon.  I want to get some mason jars and decorate them with the Christmas treats inside.  They will make great gifts!

- Seeing the lights at Temple Square.  Brian and I had planned on doing this last year, but never made it out, so we will do it this year.  

- Putting up our Christmas tree in our house and watching Love Actually together.

- Going ice skating! (Sarah are we going!?)

- Going home to Kansas City the day after Christmas and spending time with friends and family there.

- Making a Christmas wreath... I need to do this soon.

- Going the the Christmas Service at our church and singing carols.  

a lately post

At Amanda's house watching a movie with her adorable puppies.

 Hello blog, I missed you!  I was talking to a friend over coffee last night about blogs and my blog, and I realized I haven't been posting very much lately and need to start again!  I don't want to forget the fun things that are happening, and really love this little journal of our lives.  

 I love going over to my friend Amanda and her husband Martin's house.  They have two great big Dobermans and one of them, Tara, loves to cuddle.  She always waits until you tell her too, then she will leap up onto the couch and lay across your lap.  If I'm not scratching Tara's tummy enough, she either licks me in the face or bumps me with her nose.  I love that dog.  Also, Martin and Amanda's house is a lot like ours.  They live in the Avenues, and our houses are both really old with wood floors and a lot of charm.

We also went over to their house for dinner a few weeks ago.  We brought salad and Amanda made the best vegetarian enchiladas and homemade guacamole.

 Beautiful birthday flowers that Brian brought home for my birthday :)

 When Brian and I were living in Saipan, a few of my friend and I would have a girls night every single Friday night. We always ordered pizza (and had the same delivery guy) and we always watched Pretty Little Liars. (Some of my favorite memories from Saipan!) My friend Anna still sends me letters signed by "A" and the week before my birthday I got a mysterious birthday card with lots of little A's in it!  Hmm... wonder who it could have been from? :)

 Here's another girls night at Jamie's from about a month ago.  Our husbands went camping this night in the mountains and there was already snow on the ground.  They asked us to go to, but already knew the answer would be no.  I adore camping, but not when it's freezing cold temperatures.  I've only done that once, in Palo Dura Canyon, and was so miserable and freezing all night long, I went and got in the car and turned on the heat just to get some sleep!  I'm really glad Jamie and I stayed home and got to spend lots of time catching up and eating Starbucks pumpkin bread.

 Seriously, have you guys ever tried cheese and crackers and cucumber slices?  It's surprisingly the best food in the world and I ate like this whole plate.

Mom and Dad Visit!

My parents came to visit Salt Lake City for six days!  They stayed with us, and after they left our house felt a little empty for a while.  Samantha really loves my parents- she would not leave them alone while they were here and was always walking around, resting her head on their laps and wagging her tail.  After we took them to the airport to go home, she stood at the front door for 30 minutes, whining and pacing.

One of the best parts of their stay with us is that they were able to be here for my 28th birthday.  My mom and I went shopping together that morning and bought my new Lululemon yoga mat that I've been eyeing for almost a year now.  When Brian got home on the night of my birthday, we all went out to eat at my favorite restaurant and then headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for bday cheesecake.

My fave picture of me and my dad hiking, even though my mom's finger made it into a few of our pics!

The weather was gorgeous for the first three days they were here, so we made sure to get a lot of hiking trips in before it got colder.  I'm so glad we did.  They loved hiking in Utah and we got to take them on several beautiful hikes in Millcreek Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon (our hike near Alta was so pretty but so cold).

My parents also loved our little historic neighborhood in the Marmalade area.  A couple of mornings while they were here, I got up and went to yoga class while they took a walk around our neighborhood.   We love living right near downtown, so we can just take a quick drive and be right in the city. I also took my dad to my favorite used bookstore downtown, which is two stories and filled from floor to ceiling with books.

My family knew our family friends here in Utah even before we met them, so on Sunday we all went over to my our friend Jennilyn's house for a huge dinner. It was so fun to have everyone together and my parents really enjoyed getting together with old friends.  My dad and I really like cooking together, and we made this awesome Thai salad to bring- it was a little spicy and so good.  Thank so much for hosting, JL, it was such a great time!

Me and my mom over at JL's house! 

Here's proof of how much my dog adores my parents.

I took my parents to Cafe Rio on our way to Park City one afternoon, and they loved it as much as we do.  Brian also really wanted to take them to the Red Iguana (which we had never been to, but is a Salt Lake City fave), so we did on their last night here.  It was just as good as everyone says it is, and we will definitely be back for more amarillo mole!  

More hiking during their visit.  They missed the fall colors in the mountains by a couple of weeks, but were able to see the last of the beautiful colors down in the valley.  This was a hike at the base of Little Cottonwood, and you can still see some colors here.

Thanks for visiting us, mom and dad- we had such a great time!  Please come back soon!!!!

All the leaves are brown

This past Saturday, we went over to see some friends and roast some marshmallows.  Our friends bought a super cool new fire pit and we gave it it's first test drive that night.  Brian and I brought all the ingredients for s'mores (complete with dark chocolate Hershey's bars yum) and I succeeded in convincing one person that toasting your marshmallow until it's completely black and crispy is the best way to go. 

This was such a fun night.  To me, bonfires signify fall, and it was so much fun sitting around the fire and hanging out.  Then we went inside to watch Thursday the 12th, a gem of a homemade horror movie that Dave and his brothers made in the 90's.  Tessa and I were begging to watch it again because it is now our very favorite movie and we just about die laughing while watching it. Ha! Love them!

Me and Tess were so excited to be wearing our favorite fall boots again.  Also, I want her leggings.

 

 Uh oh, I spy short mailman shorts!  Samantha loves to sit right by you in the morning and stare you down until you give her some food.  She knows that I'm the one who usually gives it to her, so she will follow me around like a little shadow during my morning routine.  I think it's cute and like to drag it our as long as possible.

 I finally got my Utah driver's license and spent a considerable amount of time at the DMV doing so, so I rewarded myself with two Banbury Cross donuts.  They are so much better if you heat them up in the microwave for 5 seconds each, and then drink them with super cold milk.  Melt in your mouth good.

I cropped this picture because for some reason I chose to pose with my legs really wide apart and it looked super weird.

 My friend Sarah planned a really fun night at Wheeler Farm the other week.  We went on a wagon ride, did a corn maze, and did some pumpkin picking!  Fall activities are the best.  We also had two adorable babies in the group who thought that the wagon ride was the coolest thing ever, and it was really cute to watch their excited expressions.  

Right now I'm:
Reading:  Such a good book, "Life After Life," by Kate Atkinson.  It's a novel that is set during WWII and it involves the idea of deja vu and what it would be like to live your life over and over again; would you eventually get it just right? I got so attached to the characters and was really sad to finish it a few days ago.
Anticipating: My parents coming to visit next week!  Starting school in January.  Having a girls night with my friend Jamie while our husbands camp up in the mountains this weekend.  Possibly joining a women's Bible study at my church.  Getting better at the forearm stand that I discovered I can finally do.
Memorizing: "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken." -Psalm 55:22  I've had a couple of days this week and last when I've felt really down, and I have this verse on my phone and look at it several times daily.
Listening to: To Build a Home by The Cinema Orchestra

Elbow Fork in Millcreek Canyon

Brian got home from Texas on Friday night and I was so glad.  The house feels so empty without him and there is no one to watch Portlandia skits right before bed with (last night we were dying laughing over the "Mother's Sun" clip.  Brian goes, "I just love this show so much!" Ha!)  Honestly, this weekend was a rough one for me, emotionally, and I was just really glad that Brian was back to spend time with.  

On Saturday morning, we took a hike up in Milcreek Canyon to see the fall colors.

It kind of turned out to be a fall wonderland up there- Utah, seriously, you are a gorgeous babe! 

We wanted to drive all the way up Millcreek Canyon, but towards the top there were a bunch of cars that were slipping and sliding on the icy road.  We decided to park and walk up instead, but it was actually too slippery to even walk on.  We got back in the car and drove back down the canyon to the Elbow Fork trailhead.

The part of the Elbow Fork trail that we hiked went mainly along the top of one side of the canyon, so we had a great view while walking.  Samantha raced ahead, splashed in puddles, and found some other  dogs to play with along the trail.

The snow was melting along the sunny parts of the trail, but we could see a lot of snow up higher in the mountains.

Snow mixed with fall leaves along the shady banks of the trail

Muddy, stinky dog on the ride home, even with the windows open.  She loves it so much when we take her up into the mountains, though, so we don't really mind.

This week, I will be finishing up the admission steps for the rest of my nursing prerequisites.  I get to sign up for classes at the first of next month.  I finally have resident status now, after going last week to get my Utah drivers license and taking the Utah driving test (aughh) and living in Utah for one year.  As a non Utah resident, classes at the college I will be attending would have been twice as expensive as classes taken as a resident, so we decided to wait a year.  Now that I'm official, I can't wait to get this going.  It feels like I've been in the process of becoming a nurse forever, and I can't wait to finally do this!  I've been able to work with some great nurses while working as a CNA this year.  I have asked them tons of questions about nursing, and they also let me watch everything they do and teach me a little about it.  I already have an idea of what areas of nursing I might like to go into, and I wonder if I will choose one of those after I'm finished with school.

My parents are coming to visit at the end of this month and I can't wait.  Brian and I have so many places to show them!

I was a greeter for both am services at church this week and really loved it.  Actually, one of my favorite parts was getting to hear all of the worship songs three times (practice before church, plus two services).  Our church band is super loud and I love losing myself in the music and singing along.

Wir Lieben Oktoberfest!!

Yesterday, my friends and I drove the steep, winding road up Little Cottonwood Canyon to reach Snowbird Ski Resort for Oktoberfest.  Prima!  The mountainous drive to the resort was breathtaking: fall colors, snow, and pine trees against a bright blue sky.  I wanted to stop so many times to take a picture, but was following some friends up the mountain and didn't want to lose them.  

When we reached Oktoberfest (after a crazy 2 minutes of a man getting his arm stuck in the shuttle bus door that was about to start driving... yikes!) we were greeted with polka music, garlic fries, bratwurst, and plenty of lederhosen and suspenders.

It got cooler and windy towards the end, but most of our time there was pretty warm without a jacket, even though the surrounding mountains were already covered by a light dusting of snow.

We also saw lots of people riding the Alpine slide (I'm not scared of heights but that thing seriously freaks me out) and the ski lifts.  Brian and I had come to Oktoberfest last year when we were just Utah babies (we had our one year Utah anniversary at the first of this month!) and we rode the ski lift together.  Right now, Brian is in Texas visiting his family and so we wasn't able to come along yesterday.  Luckily, our friend Brian ate a bratwurst for my Brian.

Here's where we ate- right next to the big tent with polka dancers inside.  There were piles of snow on the ground around our table.  Someone told me that because we are already getting snow in mid-September, we are in for a long winter (but I don't really mind that).  My goal this year is to go skiing several times with my husband- he needs to get out on those slopes!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day- so festive!

Brian is really enjoying his time in Texas with his family right now. I've talked to him several times and always ask for in-depth details of everything they are doing.  I love spending time with his family in Texas and wish I could be there.  I have such sweet memories there from the time Brian and I were dating, then engaged, married, and then spending time in Texas right after we got back to the states last summer.  Brian's mom always makes her home feel so comforting and welcoming, and I love getting to spend time talking to all of Brian's family there and hanging out with them.  Can you tell I'm a little jealous that he is there? :)  Also, puppy Samantha is getting special privileges and getting to sleep in the bed while he is away.

Congratulations to our friends Ashley and Creighton who just had the most gorgeous baby girl!!!  She is so sweet!

Angels Landing in Zion makes your knees shake

I almost forgot the document our favorite hike in Zion here on the blog.  It was such a fun day.  Brian and I love to be outside.  We make it a priority during the workweek to spend time letting Samantha play outside and love to spend our weekends hiking beautiful Utah.  It's time for us to spend together and get away from the usual day to day routine.  Zion was right up our alley, and we purposely chose some of the more challenging hikes so that we could get some great pictures from high up in the mountains.

The hike starts out with this twisting, turning pathway straight up.  We stopped to look at a tarantula, take some pictures, talk to some people who were coming back down.  We kept passing the same people, then they would pass us, back and forth.  This part of the hike was actually better going up than going down.  On the way down it hurt my knees so bad and I kept having to walk backwards to make them feel better (Brian wanted to hold onto my arm when I did this so I wouldn't walk off the side of the mountain!). 

Brian wore his enormous mailman hat on the hike so of course I was obligated to make fun of him a couple of times :)

  The Angels Landing hike took us about 4 or 5 hours, I can't really remember but it seemed like a long time.  Everyone was warning us to take hats and tons of sunscreen, which we did, but this day was not super hot and we had some cloud cover while we were hiking most of the time.  We did make sure to drink tons of water/gatorade and we brought snacks for along the way.

Then we got to the part that I thought was the top

...Which turned out to not be the top at all, and the most treacherous part was still ahead.  It looks pretty scary before you start tackling it, but I saw some kids way off in the distance hiking the hardest part and then I knew I would probably be just fine.  Once you get going, you realize that it looks more difficult than it really is, but you really do need to be careful when doing this hike and hold onto the chains and rails that are built in to the rock.  We took it really slow during some parts just to be safe.  When we reached the top, I actually kind of felt sad that it was over because it was so exhilarating. 

 At the top, you are rewarded with the most beautiful view.

 Yep, this is the part that makes your legs shake.

 We did it!  Our plan was to reward ourselves with a huge dinner and lots of dessert when we got back down to the city.

The view from the top overlooking the entire canyon was well worth the hike.