sunny

i'm a little late posting about this, but it's better late than never, right?

i'd first like to thank presidents day for being an important enough holiday to get me out of school. without that day, i wouldn't have been able to meet up with my amazing family i haven't seen in four months in sunny st. george!

it was nice to be able to escape the bitter cold for a few days and get some sun on my face. but even better, i got to play with my completely rad niece and nephew every second of every day for a full three days. it was heaven. 

day one: at the dunes

we spent a good chunk of our saturday at the sand dunes. the weather was perfect and navi and rome were in heaven!

from making sand angels to finding treasure (hiding the same dollar bill in the sand until they dug it up) it was the perfect day! 

we later found the most perfect sunset location. 

day two: hike to the white rocks

this hike was new to all of us, and is definitely a place i want to go back to! these huge white rocks were amazinnggg. i could climb around them all day long!

hey aust.

hey pretty momma.

 one little girl full of adventure.

 the happiest little boy.

that night jare, ceebee, austy, and i went out explorin'. i don't ever really remember a time i drove around the town of santa clara, but it's just so cute! 

we also hit the jack-pot on an amazing garage sale. i wish mom was there to buy everything! because everything there was truly needed. okay fine, just wanted. a lot. 

sis and i had fun running through this field at top speed jumping over all the bushes and crazy stuff. it was a thrill. 

day three: park+the narrows

in the morning i woke up and asked the littles what they wanted to go do. i suggested we go to the park and all they said back was: "we want to go on an adventure!" they've been raised well. but sadly, we ended up at the park anyways. it was still lots of fun!

 

we ended our day at the narrows (aka "the crack") before we had to say our goodbyes. i've been through the crack so many times, but i still never fail to get anxiety about getting stuck. haha.

i sure am grateful for the weekend i got to spend away. and the time i got to spend with my awesome family. we always have the best times together.

bye family. bye sunshine. i hope to see you both very soon!

dancin' around

my last sweethearts dance 2013

was

awesome.

the day date:

resided at the belgium waffle house. aka my most favorite breakfasting club of all. but who knew that place was jumpin on a saturday morning? i guess i didn't because the only time i'm there is early in the AM. 

here's austin drinking syrup. things got weird

the dance:

A. we went to brio for dinner

B. we were suppose to take pictures before dinner but the roads were so bad it didn't happen. we were still a half hour late to our reservation! stupid snow. and did i mention i was the one driving? yep, the one driving 20 under the speed limit. 

C. We tried to get pictures at dinner but we were acting crazy. also known as the most blurry, un-photogenic, terribly terrible, not even looking at the camera with a smile photos. 

we're fun thats all that matters.

 BATHROOM BREAK--

--was a little longer than expected. but we just had to get those mirror pics in. good thing i don't believe in facebook these days.

i sure do love these ladies

the after date:

we went to big city bowl in absolute ghetto town. we pulled up and nobody (including the men) wanted to get out of the car. but we did and had a really great time. 

this bowling alley played non stop music videos on large screens. you can also request any song. i thought it was awesome until the country music loving couple wouldn't stop the country and austin was requesting songs like "grandma got ran over by a reindeer"

and to add, i suck at bowling. BUT i'm proud to blog that i never lost a game. AND i got a few spares and strikes. 

megan caught me and austin on camera mid "you got a strike!" handshake

i've got to say robby's feather boa was rockin. (found at the school dance and was adopted for the rest of the night)

it was an overall F-A-N-tastic day of dating. 

from two to five

a daddly daughterly hike:

listen carefully as i proudly announce that i went from doing a 2 mile hike last week to a 5 mile hike this week!

now i know it doesn't sound like much. and i know it looks like all fun and games, but its hard work my friends. (at least for me, who does zero cardio related activities) i get all red in the face, and i'm continually shedding layers until my body temperature is no longer the same as the sun. 

some highlights:

five minutes into the hike, i lost my phone. (while taking off my first layer-coat) but its okay, my dad ran down the mountain and rescued it as i sat under a nicely shaded tree. 

in the middle of our hike my dad pointed out some mountain goats on the rocky mountain next to us. there were eight to be exact. but to be honest, i could only see six. they blended in with the snow so well, i was getting confused. 

do do do ya see em? 

ya, me neither. 

but for my last highlight i'd just like to say that i am grateful my dad was ahead of me on the way down. he still doesn't know that while quickly trying to skate down the mountain my feet completely came out from underneath me and i fell straight onto my bum. it also may or may not have happened three times, but who knows. thank you boots that have negative seven percent grip. my bum has bruises thanks to you. 

i had never been on a hike with just me and my dad before, but it was so great. it made me laugh to see him notice when i was falling behind. he'd casually look up at the pine tree next to him and pretend he was "taking in all the nature" until the second i was on his tail again. he kept reassuring me, "its just past that big patch of snow" or "around this bend and past the big pine tree." 

there's also something even more rewarding about making it to your destination when you aren't a talented hiker at all. 

thoughts: ames equals super woman

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.