30 Before 30 // Midway Ice Castles

#8) Visit the Ice Castles in Midway.

It's been too long since I checked another item off my 30 Before 30 bucket list (let's blame the pandemic, shall we?) but I've finally managed to do one! Earlier this week, we packed up the snow gear and headed through Provo Canyon to the eastern side of the Wasatch Mountains to visit the Ice Castles in Midway. I first heard about them a whole decade ago as a freshman in college (dang) so it took me a while, but I finally made it over there!

- It was rather cold, but very pretty.

- Autumn didn't like walking in the snow, so Doug's arms got quite the workout from carrying her around most of the time.

- The older kids loved going down the big ice slide.

- It's beautiful to see the ice light up in a rainbow of colors as evening falls.

- We just so happened to go on the coldest day of the week (high temperature in the 20s... oops) but we managed to stay pretty warm, although Autumn's hands and feet got chilly.

^^I pulled this photo from a Pinterest board and could not find original photographer.

Doug's eyelashes started accumulating frost!

The castle glows as it gets dark outside!

We rounded off our family night by popping over to Heber City to eat at the highly recommended "Dairy Keen" fast food joint. Thick milkshakes. Good social distancing measures. (The booths have tall dividers added to them for extra precaution. We got a booth in a corner of the back room of the restaurant, and it felt like we were by ourselves.) The kids loved watching the little train that travels around the restaurant on a track placed up high near the ceiling. Surprisingly, nobody fell asleep on the ride home... but that may have been due to a combination of sugar from the milkshakes, and the swelling music of John Williams from the Harry Potter soundtrack that Nicole insisted on listening to. Am I proud of her music choice? Yes. Yes, I am. Am I proud that she sings along to the various themes? Also yes. We're on book 3 in the series, currently. She claims to love Harry Potter more than anyone. Hmm.

Hooray for bucket list items and family time! And for getting away from home for a bit during a pandemic!

30 Before 30 // Family Bike Rides

#5) Get a bike, along with a bike trailer to put the kids in, and go on family bike rides.

It's been a while, hasn't it? But I can finally check another item off my list! I have several other items in progress currently, one of which was going to be checked off next Friday, but is now postponed indefinitely thanks to the pandemic. Michael Buble, I'll wait for your concert as long as I need to!!!

Moving on.

I got a bike somewhere around the time I got pregnant with Autumn, and it was so exhilarating to go on that first ride on the trail by my house after years of being bike-less. I had forgotten how wonderful it felt to be on a bike, although I didn't get to use it much as my pregnancy progressed.

While Doug's dad was living with us last summer, Doug and I got to escape the house in the evenings once the kids were in bed to go on bike rides together (when it wasn't boiling hot). Fast forward to currently, and we have a bike trailer to put the 2 older kids in (it took some time to find one that would support up to 100 lbs between 2 kids, but didn't break the bank) along with a seat that attaches to the frame of my bike for Autumn to sit in. Hooray for family bike rides!

If the city/state decides to open splash pads this summer, then we'll be able to bike to the one closest to us! We also want to work up to biking into Provo Canyon. I've done that on my own before, but if we bring children along, I would want to be capable of biking at a faster pace so that we can get into the canyon before the kids get restless. Let them out to play and explore, then bike back home!

^^^ Sometimes, Autumn lucks out and gets to ride in the trailer. Also, I can't figure out why this picture is pixelated while the other one isn't... I'll see if I can fix that later.

You can find my entire "30 Before 30" bucket list by clicking here.

30 Before 30 // Ice Skating!

#11) Take the kids ice skating.

This happened three weeks ago now (whoops) but we went to Peaks Ice Arena to give the kids their first experience on the ice! I hadn't planned on fulfilling this particular bucket list item for another year or two (once the kids got a bit older) but...we went to watch Doug's hockey game on June 20th and Nicole had been begging to go ice skating ever since. On the last day of June, we gave it a go!

Austin wasn't big enough to fit in the smallest skates yet, so he walked around on the ice in his shoes for a bit while the rest of us skated. Nicole was very wobbly, as was expected, but once she got her hands on a walker she didn't want us to help her at all. "I can do it myself!" she proclaimed. We didn't last long, but even skating for a short time is tiring work when you're not accustomed to it! Doug could skate circles around all of us all day, haha. Oh, those hockey players.

Nicole asked to go skating again the very next day, and has asked several more times since then, so we'll definitely have to give this another whirl. Perhaps in half a year once Austin's feet are big enough for those little skates.

^^^Ice arena lighting makes my hair look so yellow! Haha...

My "30 Before 30" bucket list can be found here.

30 Before 30 // New Hair Color!

#16: Get the courage to finally dye my hair.

I did it! Well, it was bleaching rather than dying (I got a balayage, to be exact) but the point was to make a change to my hair color. I didn't really take any before/after pictures, but pictures in past posts can show you my original hair color. It was fun to change things up, but bleaching reeeeally destroys your hair (go figure) so I think next time I'll go brunette. That won't be for a while though.

Another item of my bucket list checked off! Whoo!

One Year

"To love another person is to see the face of God"

While everyone was off having picnics and barbecues and going swimming, Doug and I were celebrating our first anniversary. It was a wonderful weekend, and I really needed the break from Provo and school. It was hard to come back to classes today. Especially after the VIP treatment we got at the hotel we stayed at. They gave us "welcome cookies". Yep, you read that correctly. Freshly-baked welcome cookies!

Park City is a beautiful place to get away to during May. Rolling green hills, temperatures in the high 60s/low 70s, and the cutest Main Street you could imagine.

And I basically died when I saw this painted piano mural. It just sits outside with a sign on it that says "Play me". I love these piano mural projects. I've only ever seen them in pictures, so I was excited when Doug pointed this one out.

We went over to the Olympic Park where they did the ski jump competitions during the Olympics in 2002. We got to ride the chair lifts up to the top and then take a huge zipline down to the bottom.

For the Extreme Zipline, you start at the very top of the K120 jump and go all the way down to the parking lot at the bottom. It's one of the steepest ziplines in the world, and you can reach up to 50 mph. (Want to know a secret? It's not as adrenaline-pumping as I thought it would be. My stomach didn't even drop at all! What's the point of going on an extreme zipline if you don't get those adrenaline rushes?!)

Well, I can check that off my bucket list.

Park City was beautiful. Our anniversary was wonderful and relaxing. Now I'm back in the real world, and there's only 3 weeks until the last day of spring term. Opening night for A Wrinkle in Time is on Tuesday.

I can do it!

Douglas, I love you so much! This first year has been awesome, and I look forward to the years to come. How did I ever get so lucky? Marrying you was the best decision ever. Thanks for loving and supporting me!

Book Collecting

I had long forgotten about the fact that Barnes & Nobles has "Collector's Edition" books. That is... until I made the fateful decision to walk in that store on Friday evening.

When I emerged from the book aisles an hour later, I had this beautiful specimen in my hands and a newly-realized ambition to create a home library filled with Collector's Edition novels.

My camera doesn't do it justice, I promise. This little beauty is more gorgeous in person.

Yes. Yes, it took me a whole hour to decide on one book. I was going back and forth between the Sherlock Holmes collection or getting Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden. I had to keep reminding myself that I already have copies of those two books... but these were Collector's Edition.... gah!

Now I know what I can tell people to get me for Christmas and my birthday. Whoo, books!

It was so satisfying to stick that Sherlock Holmes collection right next to my other Collector's Edition book - Jane Austen's novels, of course - and envision the day when the whole shelf would be covered in pretty novels with embossed covers and gold-leaf pages.

Book collecting. I can add this to my bucket list now.

And check this out! Collector's Edition, gold-leafed, beautiful, gorgeous Harry Potter novels. I'm gonna die. Really. It's too bad that this one book is 55 buckaroos. I'd have to dish out $400 for the whole collection. Not gonna happen.

source

In other news, I've spent my Saturday and Sunday watching General Conference. I watch it every April and October, and I always look forward to it. You still have a chance to tune in for the Sunday afternoon session! It starts at 2:00 MST... I'd recommend checking it out, especially if you've been wondering what Mormons are all about.

The time I met Tad R. Callister

Today, instead of regular church, we had a special stake conference.
(For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mormon lingo: a "ward" is just another word for a congregation, and a "stake" is a collection of wards that exist in the same area. It's kind of like how a school district is a collection of schools in the same area.)

My stake got to listen to Tad R. Callister, who is currently a member of the Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka... the Mormon church).

Elder Callister is one of my favorites. He has already made an appearance on my blog when he came to BYU almost a year ago to give a Devotional address, and I posted about what he talked about.

I had the privilege of singing in a choir that was seated up on the stand where Elder Callister, his wife, and others were sitting. After the conference was over, I went up to Elder Callister. I got to shake his hand. He asked for my name. I got to thank him for speaking to us, and tell him that I absolutely loved his book The Infinite Atonement. Because... I do. I really love that book. He thanked me for taking the time to ponder it.

It was so great to personally speak to him! Even if it was only briefly. His wife is very nice too. Bucket list item... check!


The focus of his talk was on the relationship between husbands and wives. He gave several different ways to make your marriage a celestial one:

1. Adopt the attitude "I will make it work." Be committed, and make the effort to do all you can to make your marriage work.
2. Adopt the "Is it I?" attitude. When there are problems, look for ways you could change instead of trying to find ways that your spouse should change.
3. Pray with your spouse every morning and evening.
4. Make you spouse happy. Love each other with all your heart.
5. Avoid pornography at all costs.
6. There are no secrets between spouses. Confide in each other about everything so that you will have that sure foundation of trust.
7. Multiply and replenish the earth. Yeah... have babies. Do not let worries about schooling and money be detrimental. Where sacrifices are made, the Lord will bless us.
8. Do not neglect daily scripture study. Both individual and with your spouse/family.
9. Stay out of debt.
10. Speak in soft, kind voices.

Can I just say... Elder Callister is a wonderfully straight-forward speaker. Not in the same way that Elder Holland is straight-forward (there's no beating-around-the-bush with Elder Holland!) but in a gentle way. I've noticed that he really likes using lists in his talks... and that makes it easier to take notes and get the main idea, in my opinion.

I love being at a University where I can have the opportunity to hear apostles and prophets of the Lord. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to personally meet and talk to one of my favorite General Authorities. And to top it all off, we gained an hour. I got to sleep in. It's been a magical Sunday.

WICKED {and stuff}

So... please bear with me as I enter all-caps mode...

I GOT TO SEE WICKED LAST NIGHT!!!!!

There. I said it.
I have been waiting for years to see this musical, and I was not disappointed!

If you haven't seen it yet, put it on your bucket list.

Doug and I went up to Salt Lake City to see it.
The cast was wonderful!
And the girl who played Glinda was marvelous! No joke, she sounded almost exactly like Kristen Chenoweth.

Confession: My dream role is Glinda. Not that I'll ever BE Glinda... which is why it's a dream role.

I wish.

I just now noticed you can see the street in the reflection of the glass. Boo. Now Elphaba looks like a floating head.

Ah. Maze. Ing.

Next on the Theatre Bucket List: Newsies.

That's right people. They turned Newsies into a Broadway musical. I'm dying to see it...

In other news... I have now been nominated for the Liebster Award by more than one blog, so I figure it's finally time to give in and accept it.

The latest nomination came from Kelli at Tales of the Younger Twin.

So... here we go.

Liebster Award

LIEBSTER - The meaning: 

A German word meaning sweet, kind, nice, dear, beloved, lovely, valued and welcome.

Here are the rules for the Liebster: 
*Post 11 random facts about yourself. 

*Answer 11 questions the tagger has asked you, and give 11 questions to the people you’ve tagged.
*Choose 11 deserving bloggers and tag them in your post. (REMEMBER! The people that you tag HAVE to have less than 200 followers)
*Tell them you’ve tagged them.
  *No tag backs.
*Snag this button and proudly display it on your blog! 

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I cannot handle spicy food. Some Californian I am...

2. I am a (slight) adrenaline junkie.

3. My 4th grade teacher called me "Kitty". Sure, it was outside of class hours, but it was still weird. Yes, I might have been a bit of a teacher's pet in elementary school.

4. I originally entered college as a Psychology major.

5. I speak German. Not completely fluently, but well enough that I could survive if I were thrown into the middle of Germany.

6. I love dogs, but... I am more of a cat person. Maybe that's why my 4th grade teacher called me kitty...

7. I am obsessed with my husband's scent. Call me strange, but it's true.

8. I love clam chowder. Feed me that, and I will love you forever.

9. I love listening to Adam Lambert. You could call it my guilty pleasure...

10. I have never broken a bone or sprained anything. Fingers crossed it won't ever happen.

11. I have ridden a camel.

11 Questions From Kelli For Ashley:

1. Why did you start your blog?

     Time to let the cat out of the bag. I started this blog back in September because I discovered that Doug had a blog that he kept pretty updated. (I was crushing on him from the moment I met him haha). I had started blogs before, but had never stuck with them, and he inspired me to give blogging more effort, and... look at me now! (Yes, I'm a stalker. And he knows that. He just didn't know this, so it'll be news for him!)

2. What kind of music could you not live without?

     That's a hard one... pop/rock. Jazz. And showtunes. Interesting combo, I know.

3. What always makes you laugh and cheers you up when you are down? 

    Kid History. Or music. Or a good friend.

4. Significant other: looks or personality more important? 

    Personality, for sure. I mean, I think my hubby is pretty hunky, but I love his personality. If his personality was not the way it is, I probably would not be married to him.

5. What life lesson did you learn the hard way? 

    I learned that... I haven't learned anything the hard way. That I can think of. I'll come back and edit this part of my post later. Heh.

6. What are some things on your bucket list?

     Go skydiving. Play with baby tigers. Visit Ireland and Italy. Go on the LDS Church History Tour. (From Palmyra New York to Independence Missouri, baby!) Go scuba diving in a coral reef. Go to a "legit" haunted house.

7. Favorite nail polish color? 

    Fushia/pink.

8. What's one thing you CANNOT live without? 

     Cop-out answers: Chocolate, Doug, and the Gospel. Not necessarily in that order. And yes, I know that's more than one thing. I couldn't choose.

9. What was the last book you read? 

     Great Expectations by Charles Dickens I just realized I read The Great Gatsby by F.S. Fitzgerald more recently than I read Great Expectations. Oops.

10. What was the last thing you ate? 

      A bagel. With cream cheese on it. Yum.

11. What is something not many people know about you? 

      I don't get scared easily, but one thing that does scare me is dying a painful death.

Tag 11 Bloggers:

Lora from Raising Steppe Sisters

Whitney and Nicole from Something Brought You Here

Amber from Tiny Turtles

Madison from Tale Tales at Tea Time

Olivia from Color Coordinated

Wendy from Saved Sister

Kathryn from Kathryn Laine

Ali from Our Happily Ever After

Lesley from By the Porchlight

Tiffany from My Makeup Boxes

Jasmine from Hello, Good Morning Sunshine

Here are my 11 questions for the people I tagged to answer:

1. If you could be a superhero, what would your name be and what would be your superpower(s)?

2. What is your favorite hobby?

3. If you were an animagus (could transform into an animal at will) what would you change into?

4. Where is the last place you went on vacation to?

5. If you had to choose one tv show to watch the rest of your life, what would it be?

6. Milk chocolate or dark chocolate?

7. If you could go back in time and change something in your past, what would it be?

8. If you could trade lives with a famous person for a day, who would it be?

9. Do you have any phobias? What are they?

10. Can you rub your tummy and pat your head/ rub your head and pat your tummy?

11. What is your favorite place to go when you need to think or be alone?

Have fun with this, ladies!

The Time I Was In A Music Video

Wow, talk about being MIA blog-wise... but I'm back!
And it's been a busy week!

I love to dance. Love love love.

On Thursday, I got to dance my heart out. From 9 in the morning until 8:30 at night, I was helping with the filming of a music video that will be shown at the end of the Homecoming Spectacular for my college (BYU) in October.

I discovered that 11.5 hours is a long time to dance. Especially when there's only a one hour break for lunch and then you get right back to practicing choreography. And it's humid outside. But it's an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. I got to spend time with members of the Cougarette Dance Team, The Young Ambassadors, some cheerleaders, and musical theatre dancers... and we all worked to create a great production!

Song: "Come So Far (Got So Far To Go)" From Hairspray
Location: The Maeser Honors Building... the oldest building on the BYU campus

Scene one: Lecture Hall

Scene two: big staircase

Scene three: The main hallway

Scene 4-end: Outside the building

We had some extras come join us at 5:30 and taught them some simple choreography. People as young as 10 and as old as 70-ish came to join us!

The Maeser Building is celebrating it's 100th Birthday this year. So... we made it the focus of Homecoming this year. After all, it is the cornerstone of this campus. The first building... and we've come so far since then! But we still have so far to go!

For those of you not familiar with the song... here it is (except we used the original broadway version). I'll put the music video up in a couple months once homecoming is done and we have access to it on YouTube.

Now I can check off a bucket list item... "Be in a music video".

Check!

If any of you have completed any bucket list items recently, I would love to hear about them!