today i've been looking through old pictures and wishing i were at the beach. 

.the mountains.

let me just start off by saying that the mountains have been amazing lately. it's so nice to get out of the inversion. if you only just hiked a few minutes you would see that the sky in the valley is literally gray. it makes me sick. so the feeling of being above it all is just so lovely. 

i'm also so happy that i'm not sick anymore! austin has been going on hikes by himself, (even though he doesn't mind, it was making me depressed) so it feels good to get back into the swing of things. 

this was from our recent adventure. the lighting above the mountains was absolutely amazing. i just wish pictures did more justice. it's one of those things you just had to be there for. 

everything was so frosted. i literally felt like i was in some exotic snow land. haha lol. 

AND THIS IS MY FRONT YARD.

when i say everything was so frosted, i mean it. the tree branches literally looked like rock candy. probably not as tasty but we still tried them to find out wink wink

as you can tell, he's always way far ahead of me. good thing no one else is there to witness me. that'd be embarrassing.

this is the part of the hike that i literally felt like i was in Antarctica. 1)my body was fa fa freezing, but 2)we explored through these amazing field of rocks covered in pillows of snow. (it was kinda scary knowing that your next step could be in between rocks and your foot could possibly be stuck, so i'm glad austin was there to go ahead of me.. i just followed in his footsteps)

and we found a place for a fire. 

(don't be fooled, i just collected the sticks)

i'd like to take credit in suggesting that we bring marshmallows and hot chocolate though, thank you. 

this fire was literally the greatest marshmallow making fire i've ever encountered. hello perfectly golden brown mallows that taste so divine. hi.

it's funny how the hike up takes so long. and your legs feel like jello. and your hands, well you can't feel them. but the hike down is like five seconds and it's over.

i realized it was coming to an end a few minutes down and tried so hard to slow down my steps. i'd just like to be up there all day. that is if my body were a heat source and always warm. but it's not. although that would be nice because this whole three pairs of socks is still not doing anything for my frozen toes.

the lighting was so amazing coming down. the snow was literally sparkling! 

annnndddd now i sound like my mom.

i'm so lucky to call this place home. as much as i complain about utah and dream of living in California soon, it really is so pretty. as we were stopped taking pictures at one point austin added, "think of how many people wish they were where we are right now." and it's true. so i'm lucky i get to have the adventures i do!

more adventures to come.

until then, 

i have no idea. 

later.

a quick trip.

this week jess invited me to tag along with her family for a quick trip to arizona. and it was lots of fun.

mainly because i got to spend it with my most favorite people on this planet earth. Spence, Kenz, and Ki (the arizona crew) and of course my best friends Coley, and Jess. i wish hanging out with them every day was an option because this whole distance thing is unacceptable. 

on new year's eve we got to join in on kiley's family tradition of making floating lanterns and letting them go.

i couldn't think of anything to write on my lantern, so i un-creatively filled it with, "this is my floating lantern. that's all." how original of me, right?

our first day in Gilbert we took the long boards and went for a fast picture taking venture. let me tell you, these silos were happening. haha but really, it was so much fun. 

i don't know if you know this but arizona has the most amazing trees. 

so there you go, you know now. 

our other time was spent at the hotel enjoying the hot tub or wondering around its pretty grounds. we also took up some shopping (arizona is great for that too.)

i got to go to my first last chance. i found some amazingly good things for amazingly good prices. good thing i didn't have a lot of money. 

we had lots of fun exploring the desert. especially in the nice weather. it was fun to get away from freezing cold snowy utah for a bit. 

we may or may not have stolen some oranges from the hotel's cute orange trees. okay fine we did, but it was worth it because they were amazingly delicious. 

i'm so happy i got to finally visit my friends in arizona! i absolutely love it there. and i'm planning on going back real soon. 

'till then, stay good gilbert.