Alpine Loop

Amanda, Megan, and I had never driven the Alpine Loop before. It starts up in Highland and winds it's way down and around and up and back and finally lets you out in Provo Canyon. It was a perfect day for the drive and we couldn't have been happier just taking in the sunshine and seeing all the colors.

The colors are so much brighter in person. We have been oohing and awwing at them from afar all month long....finally we got to see them up close!

 

 Megan really wanted to stop and smell the leaves.

We took a little detour and hit up Cascade Springs

 All the colors!

 I wish I could always drive through trees of beautiful shades of yellow!

Thank you Utah for not snowing just yet and allowing us to make it up to the mountains to see all of the amazing leaves changing colors. 

Lucky Us!

Cowboys and Indians

Some of my wonderful friends through a Cowboys and Indians party to celebrate Native American Awareness Day. It was a great way to get to see some old friends and to dress up pre Halloween! There was painting, sitting around the campfire, bow and arrow shooting, rain stick dancing, food, and lots of laughing! 

Amanda, Melanie and I making our grand entrance!

 Debbi's awesome KILL SHOT!

 Some of the many cowboys and indians

 Cowboys decided to take over!

I am looking forward to next year already!

Happy Birthday Old Man!

I've always been a Daddy's girl! There was never any question to that. If Dad had a road trip to take I was always jumping in along side of him. Summer League I would sit behind the bench and draw out "plays" that of course would help the team. I would sing Steve Miller Band at the top of my lungs not having a clue as to what the words actually meant. I did it all because that's what my Dad was doing. In high school I had the best softball coach...my Dad. I think some people would have hated it, but I just saw it as more time with the coolest guy. He had coached all my sports teams growing up so why not in high school. I still love hearing him tell some of his stories about our teams those two years and how proud he was of me.  I've moved away from home, but I'm still a Daddy's girl. In college when I couldn't figure out a math problem I would still call up my Dad and have him help me out. When something is broken I still call and try to describe it to him in hopes that he can tell me how to fix it. Even recently when I hurt my knee I called my Mom and said I JUST NEED DAD! I don't think I could fully describe our friendship. We are the biggest goof balls and love to drive my Mom crazy! We laugh at each other's jokes and finish each other's sentences. We both love DUKE! We can talk for hours while driving in the car or hiking up a mountain. We enjoy the same TV shows like Shark Wranglers. We make great golf buddies. We are known for our love of chocolate dip top cones (don't tell Mom)! We both have a great appreciation for hole in the wall diners. We just are kind of two peas in a pod. 

I love my Dad. 

I don't know what I would do without him. 

Hands down the greatest man I know.

Back in the day...

 He loves family photo sessions!

 He is a trooper and will ride the lady bug "tea cups" with Haddley. And yes he is pretending to flash a gang sign!

 He is never too old to cimb onto a donkey statue and ride it...in public.

He rocked this 10K even when we thought we were just going to do a 5K.

 He is the greatest Grandpa!

He loves every present you give him!

 Yet again my Dad willing to climb on a bull and ride it... in public!

 Greatest camping buddy a girl could ask for!

I wish I could spend the day golfing and eating dip tops, but I'm stuck in Utah and he is in California. So from far way...I LOVE YOU and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love,

Your NOT Favorite Daughter

Brigham City Temple Dedication

There are a few perks to living in Utah. One we have lots of temples. Two there are always some being built. Three they cancel church so that you can watch the broadcast of the temple dedication! We got up early this morning and were able to go watch and listen to the dedication. I think we all agreed it was very sweet to hear the people who love Brigham City so much talk about this wonderful temple and all that it means to the people. Sister Packer was especially enjoyable to listen to. I'm grateful we had the chance to go be part of such a wonderful day. Temple #139..pretty amazing!

Our Bishop's wife was sweet enough to embroider a handkerchief for each of us to remember the day.

Fall = Apples!

The A team has been really looking forward to fall! We love the weather, the food, the changing colors, EVERYTHING about it. We made a fun fall list and are trying to cross a few things off here and there. One of the big things was that we wanted to go apple picking. I went a few years ago with some friends in Boston and it was a blast. We found a place in Sandy on Saturday and enjoyed doing a little picking. We couldn't pass up the .75 a lb offer they had and went to town!

I was loving these adorable little apples!

 The A Team

 I came straight from volleyball...please excuse me looking gross!

Getting my pick on!

 Not only were there apples, but we found some super yummy peaches too!

 For about $12 we scored all of this and had a really fun time!

Well now that I had all of these apples I needed something to do with them. Well don't you worry...I have PINTEREST! I have been pinning apple stuff for awhile now in preparation. I decided on making some mini apple pies which just looked too cute to not make and super easy!

Thank goodness Amanda has this awesome corer!

 Pretty sure this bad boy saved me at least an hour of chopping!

 Mason Jar lid used for a cookie cutter!

 End result! Yummy mini apple pies with some vanilla ice cream!

I still have tons of apples. Not sure what I will do next, but it was a successful weekend of Fall!

I'm not 22 anymore...

I'm starting to realize I'm not as young as I use to be. I grew up playing sports, hiking, camping, doing what the boys could do. I'm starting to feel it a little more every day. My chiropractor laughs at me as he has to adjust my neck, back, lower back, knees, and ankles every visit. (Kyle will be teaching me stretches and techniques so I won't have to go see him as much.) Well last Tuesday I had my first flag football game. It was about 5 minutes in and I ran to grab someone's flag. I planted my foot and must have turned my knee because I had immediate pain shooting through my knee. Now being me I of course just "walked it off" and kept playing. Probably not the smartest idea, but I wasn't going to show anyone I was hurt. I quickly called my Dad afterwards and I'll admit, cried a little. He said that it didn't sound good so maybe I should just run to the instant care and get it checked out. I hate doctors and hospitals and everything that has to do with that. I avoid it as much as possible. The doctor just kind of looked at me like really? your knee hurts...poor baby. She barely tested it at all and sent me to x-rays. My x-rays were fine (I knew I hadn't broken a bone) and I was sent on my way with a brace that made it hurt worse. I did my best to ice and elevate, stay off of it, and relax, but I'm not really good at most of those things. I tried playing volleyball that Thursday. I basically just set for everyone. I tried again on Saturday with a little more success and a lot more pain afterwards. I finally called the sports medicine doctor on Monday to have him take a look at it. I sent Kyle the picture of my knee and his response was "NO knee should ever look like that!" The sports medicine doctor was awesome. He was super nice and really knew what he was doing seeing how that is his specialty. He quickly realized I just had way too much fluid in my knee and it needed to be drained. NASTY!!!!! I do pretty well with needles, shots, pain, etc. but sick yellow fluid coming out of my knee was a little more than I could handle. He still wasn't sure what was wrong because it could be a few things, but he gave me some pain medicine and said that if it's not better by Monday to call and he will schedule an MRI. I still had a lot of discomfort yesterday, but slept well and it feels a little better this morning. I have more movement in my knee, but still some pain. I'd really like to get back to normal activities sooner than later so I'm praying for a tiny miracle!

Here is my knee on Tuesday night:

Much needed Happy

This weekend I just needed to escape a little bit and be happy! Lucky for me I got a couple opportunities to do just that.

I recently sent Claudia a Facebook message that said, "I miss you and Asher and Dave's cooking!" Well she got the hint and decided to have Amanda and I over to see their new adorable house, dinner, and BYU football. It was the perfect night. There house is in Woodland Hills. I might just have to move there. Such a beautiful place right up against the mountains. Dave cooked AMAZING food as always and we ate while talking in the backyard. We watched the BYU vs Utah game. When I say watched I mean the guys watched while the girls talked about Grey's Anatomy, weddings, babies, etc. Dave told us during halftime that the second half would be much more exciting so we can't talk about Grey's! It was a perfect Saturday night! I hope to have a few more soon with them!

Isn't this beautiful!

 Asher loving his new backyard and showing off his tongue!

Sunday was a great day at church. We had some really great talks and lessons and it was one of those this is exactly what I was suppose to hear days. Well after home teachers left and a nap was had I was sitting around being bored so I decided to head up to Salt Lake. I figured I would take the ensign and my journal and just sit on the grass and enjoy. I ended up walking around Temple Square and the visitor center for over an hour. Then I realized they were showing the Joseph Smith movie and I thought I would watch it since it's been about 7 years since I have seen it. It is amazing. I sat there, covering my eyes as some points, realizing what a truly amazing and inspired man Joseph Smith was. I kept thinking about how I just don't know if I could have been that strong during those times. It was an excellent reminder of the things I should be doing and how I should be living my life.

 I love the Salt Lake Temple!

 It amazes me every time I see it.

It was nice to escape both on Saturday and Sunday this week. I was able to find two moments of much needed HAPPY during a very busy week. 

Utah State Fair

Some of us got together on Friday night to hit up the State Fair! I have never been to the Utah State Fair so I was pretty excited to check it out. Of course we had a blast and of course there are pictures to prove it!

We started it off right by posing with our first of many cut outs!

 Peaches and Cream $1 cones!

 For some reason this cut out was super sideways and the hair is straight up???

 We had to watch the divers!!!

 Clearly Katie and I are a little more excited than Amanda about the foot long corn dogs.

About 20 minutes later my face looked more like Amanda's!

 There was a free country concert! Super fun! Plus I saw my future husband in the audience.

 Megan riding a tractor.

 WHERE'S THE BUTTER COW???

My old roommate told me I had to make sure to see the butter cow. We finally were near the buildings where it was suppose to be. Megan walks into the super crowded building and yells WHERE'S THE BUTTER COW? Well some nice people turned around and told us if we went straight out those doors it would be in the other building.

 The butter cow was Hunger Games Themed and super impressive! So much BUTTER!

Katie won a fish, but Megan and I went to go pick him up. Megan really wanted to yell SUCKER at everyone else who didn't have a fish!

 Katie and Meagan riding the BIG SLIDE!

 Apparently this sign is suppose to tell me I'm HERE! 

Megan also was excited to take this picture because she could get the moon in it...the moon being that bright light in the background!

 The Gang!

We had a lot of fun. I came home with a tummy ache and not even getting to eat all the food that I wanted, but it was a great way to spend a Friday night with friends!