First Hike

On Friday I came home from Target with a new baby carrier that has 4 different carrying styles, including on the back. Doug immediately suggested that this warranted a short hike to test it out, so we went on our very first hike with Nicole on Saturday. She was as quiet as a clam the whole time.

Then she fell asleep on the way back down.

What a life... being carried up and down a mountain while you snooze leisurely. Babies have got it made!

Man, it's been a long time since I've gone hiking. I forget how awesome it is to be in nature.

I am once again stunned by the beauty of the Wasatch mountain front. It's kinda crazy that I really get to live in a place that's this gorgeous. On the way home from our hike today, I (semi)jokingly said to Doug that once he's graduated he could go get a job anywhere and we could move out of Utah. The moment the words were out of my mouth, I felt a little pang of sadness.

You guys. I think Utah has claimed my soul. I really do enjoy living here. The only huge downside I can think of is that I'm so far away from my family.

And look at that view. Man. And it takes barely any time to get up here.

^^^I spy a sleeping baby!

Yeah. I do like it here. If we ever move out of the state, we'd better move somewhere that gives this place a run for it's money.

Sherlock Holmes has it right

This little trip from Wednesday evening was a literal breath of fresh air. Mountain air. I always enjoy going up to Provo Canyon, especially when the weather is so perfect. I even needed a jacket just for good measure! Autumn officially begins in 9 days, people. We must be ready.

Plus, nature is just so dang gorgeous.

I came across this quote while I was reading a short story out of my complete Sherlock Holmes collection last night. Sherlock comments on the beauty of a rose, and I think he makes a beautiful observation:

"Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."

Just as Sherlock does, I receive assurance in the existence (and goodness) of God just by looking at the flowers and the beauty around me. Something so beautiful can't just... happen. The hand of God is evident in the design of this earth. Those flowers give us hope in something greater.

happy yellow flowers

I'm sticking with my goal to figure out how to use my phone's camera better.
Here are some of my favorite (albeit low-quality) shots as I walked along the BYU River Trail today.

Those mountains. Gorgeous.

I'm still amazed at how beautiful this campus is. And have any of you BYU peeps been by the new Life Sciences building? The grounds are not done yet, but there will be waterfalls flowing right down the hill by that building. It is going to be so pretty.

Sometimes, all I need are some happy yellow flowers, a beautiful college campus (which I really miss sometimes) and the perfect, sunny, slightly warm and windy summer day to remind me that I have a very good life. I really enjoyed my walk to campus today (even though it was crawling with high-school-aged EFY kids) and it was just good for my soul.

I truly am blessed. I need to be sure to remember that more often.

Piano, Parades, and Such

First of all, Seussical is done with! It was a successful show, and it received a lot of praise. I had tons of fun rocking out on the piano in my little corner of the backstage area. It was a LOT of piano time for me. I even developed a blister on my thumb from all the times I had to glissando.

My next project is being the music director for a production of the musical Little Women. Auditions are coming up at the end of this month, and the show is in February. It very well might be my very last theatre project while I'm at BYU!

Why? Because I'm graduating in April! And I just applied for graduation yesterday. AH! How strange to think about!

Saturday marked the day of the Homecoming Parade in preparation for BYU's Homecoming Game that night. Performing in the parade as part of the BYU Ballroom Dance Company was awesome, even though by the end of it all my energy was gone. It was so fun to have all the little kids on the parade route reaching out their hands to get high fives and to see the adult ballroom fans call out things like "you guys look great" or "you're all so good" or "I love you guys!" Surprisingly, I had plenty of energy the rest of the day and my legs didn't really hurt much. Instead, I was sore in my shoulder area. I think it's because of all the big arm movements I had to do. My legs were prepared but my arms were not, which was not what I was expecting with Triple Swing.

Here's a random picture shot on the parade route. Polka dot dresses, curly ponytails, keds, bobby socks, and all. I'm on the left side of the picture at the very front of that pack of 4 girls. We had to run to catch up to the group before us because when we stopped to do our dance, we would never travel far enough to keep up. So when we weren't dancing, we were running. It was a workout.

On a separate note, I found an opportunity between classes last Wednesday to wander along the BYU South Campus River Trail, and it was lovely. That pathway is always gorgeous, especially in the fall. Many of the trees haven't truly started changing color yet though... shame on them.

^^^^^ I'm always in my Latin skirt and flip flops/sandals on M/W/F because I have to go from class to class, and half of them are ballroom. Yes, even when it's cold, I wear my skirt. I'm sure I will choose warmth over convenience once the snow comes.

I'm so lucky to attend such a beautiful campus.
I'm so thankful I have a body that allows me to move and dance.
I'm so glad I have an appreciation and talent for music and theatre.
I'm just an artsy gal.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.

About those weekly wishes...

I know, I know. I missed the Weekly Wishes link-up this week. I suppose it's high time I take a break from that link-up, just to keep things fresh, but I'll still report on my goals! This is how my 3 goals from the past week turned out:

• I've kept my apartment comparatively tidy (especially because I had a lot of time this weekend to work on it)
• All homework was done in a timely manner
• I bought 3 big, fat cans of pure pumpkin! Bring on the pumpkin cookies! They are #1 on my To-Make list :)

In other news, Doug and I knocked another one of our fall date items off the list this weekend by taking a scenic drive through Provo Canyon. We even brought homemade hot cocoa along in a big thermos and got out of the car to explore the beautiful fall landscape.

The sun was bright. Pictures were few and in between (which is fine because it was so bright and I was in a moving vehicle, which makes for less-than-excellent pictures). The temperature was perfect. And the whole outing was simply lovely.

This was one of the least blurry/pixelated shots that I got. Wouldn't this lane be great to drive down in the early evening just before dusk? It would be perfect, in my opinion. And I probably would have made Doug take me in the evening if we hadn't been expecting a visit from my grandparents and uncle :) It was great to visit with them.

This week marks the end of Seussical the Musical and a good 1 month break from any theater production projects. It is also Homecoming Week here at BYU, and I will be doing my very first Ballroom Team performance this Saturday at the Homecoming Parade. Yes, I've mentioned this a million times, but I'm excited, okay?! Today I went and (finally) bought some fishnet tights, along with fake eyelashes, dangling rhinestone earrings, and keds/bobby socks for the parade this weekend, since we'll be dancing on the road and we don't want to tear up our latin heels. Besides, swing dancing looks good with keds.

Looking at all I have right now and all the opportunities I'm blessed with, I can't help but feel so happy. I'm at a really great place in life. It makes me giddy to know that things will only get better! Sure, trials will come, but I am willing to face whatever life throws at me if it means that I can keep living through gorgeous autumn weather each year, cuddle with my handsome ginger husband, and eat ice cream far too often. Yeah. Life is good.

Dear Mother Nature

I can't wait for summer sunsets.

Warm evenings.

Not seeing my breath every time I walk outside.

Picnics.

Afternoon walks on a crisp Spring day.

Seeing colors other than brown and white.

Flowers. Bird singing. Rain.

I can't wait.

(Plus... the BYU Campus is so pretty during the non-winter seasons)

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Yeah. I really can't wait.

Lots and LOTS of snow!

I came home on Friday around lunch time with barely any snow on the ground.

I woke up the next morning to see several inches - probably around 5 or 6.

The snow made a lot of trees break.

Our power went out due to an accident.

I missed the opening night of Springville High's musical on Friday because it was snowing all day and I have no experience driving in snow.

Some people had fun with it.

Captain Moroni, anyone? This really made me laugh!

Sure, it ruined my shopping plans.

Yeah, I have a cold, and did not need it to be freezing when I walked to work.

But... it definitely made my world into a winter wonderland!

I kinda want it to snow some more!

Final picture courtesy of my neighbor Scott Ellingson

How do you feel about snow?

To the Top of Timp

I died this weekend.

Okay, maybe not literally... but my body is mad at me. I guess hiking 15 miles can do that to you.

Doug and I hiked up Mount Timpanogos with a couple friends.

That's this mountain right here, only minus the snow cuz it's summer.

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We left at midnight on Friday/Saturday to drive to the trail head.

We accidentally started hiking on the wrong trail, so we had to turn around and it was probably about 2:00 AM when we actually started on the Mt. Timp trail.

It took 4 hours to get up there, and I basically died.

But getting over the saddle to see a view like this was worth it.

Sorry for the blurry pic... and that city is where I live!

I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation...

Haha.

More blurry pics

And we got to watch the sun rise over a distant mountain

The backside of Timp that nobody from the outside world sees...

This is the wilderness, peeps. Ya gotta hike to get here.

I'm totally standing on a slope here... he's taller than me, I promise...

It wore me out. It tore me down.

But it was so worth it!

15 miles! I'm proud of myself.

Now I just have to hike Half Dome in Yosemite. It's about the same length...

Someday.

3 For Friday

Just 3 things for you all today...

First... this is why I want to visit the east coast during autumn. Gorgeous! You don't really see bright red trees on the west coast, or in the mid-west.

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Second, I want to make a fall wreath.

Like this one.

Or 29 other fall wreaths shown on this site.

Third, you should all go vote for me at the first annual Livi Awards held at Color Coordinated!

Vote for Ashley for Best Role Model!

And why don't you follow Livi's blog while you're at it? Okay? Thanks.

Autumn Time!

My favorite season is FINALLY officially here!
I cannot begin to tell you how happy that is making me feel. There's just something about fall time that is... ooooh, I honestly don't know how to describe it! Just the colors, the feel of the air, the smell and look of the sky... and a little something that I don't quite know how to put into words. It just FEELS wonderful. Ya know what I mean??!

I never planned on people reading this blog, but I just now decided that it would at least be a good way for my mom and the rest of my family to keep up with what I do at college. It's super fun for me (I can slowly feel myself becoming addicted to blogging) and it'll be informative for them. So now that I know for sure that there will be other people reading my blog, I need to write for them as well as for me. But this IS a blog, after all... somewhat like an on-line journal that others can read. So it is still going to be primarily for my sake. And I'm loving it already!

And now I'm thinking I can let friends read it too. I just want to share the love!

Today was just a good day.
Nothing more to it.
The moment I woke up, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was that it was the first day of fall. Does that say something about how much I love fall if it's the first thing I think about when I wake up on a Friday morning?
Classes went well.
I got my New Testament test taken care of.
I took the looong way home and walked along the river pathway that runs below the south of campus and then up the western side. The path was finished last semester, and I had never walked down it before.

Gorgeous!

I have a feeling that it will become a favorite spot of mine to sit and think/study/read. Waterfalls and trees and two of my favorite sources of visual/auditory relaxation that nature has to offer me.

Here's a few shots of my new favorite campus location.

It is sure to be even more lovely once fall really sets in!

That building DOES have windows... they just reflect the sky very well...

Like I said... GORGEOUS! I'm so glad I live on a campus where they make it so beautiful for the students! And you can see why I'm excited for fall to really set it. Imagine this pathway laden with hues of red and orange and yellow... I'm practically bursting with anticipation!