Hiking Timpanogos Peak!

My friend Kelli Arnesen, a friend from nursing school, asked me to hike Mount Timpanogos with her Monday. I had never hiked Timp and so I was thrilled for the opportunity to do so with Kelli. Yet, words of advice, don't hike Timp after running the Dirty Dash 10K race 2 days prior, without training. I'm sore sore sore!

Timp is the second highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. Timp rises to an elevation of 11,749 feet. It is a 14-mile round trip hike with a mile of elevation gain. The fall colors were beautiful and I was excited to take a few pictures!

The weather was forecasted to be 50-60% chance of rain/thunderstorms, so Kelli and I were prepared to turn around before the summit. These clouds hung on the back side of Timp as we continued to climb.

This shack sits by Emerald Lake, Kelli is showing off the luxery of its walls!

Kelli hiking up ahead, preparing to cross the lengthy land of "Mordor", aka rock field! It was so hard to cross and just as difficult to maintain our trail.

View of Provo and Utah Lake from Timpanogos Peak! Luckily for us the clouds cleared giving us a view of the valley.

The shack, marking the summit of Timpanogos Peak. I wanted to cry at this point, seriously! My thighs were so sore, tight and couldn't bare to move upwards any longer. Kelli supplied me with pep talks and slowly but surely I summitted!

Fall colors, so vibrant and beautiful!

The trail coming out to Aspen Grove, so pretty with the yellow leaves!

Dirty Dash September 2012

Bryce and I ran the Dirty Dash on Saturday, September 22nd at Soldier Hollow, Midway. It was my second time and just as great! I dressed up with my co-worker as "Mud Medics"! My mini jacket said "Mud Medic #1 with a red cross! We got pretty muddy, yah! My face had so much mud that had hardened that when I tried to laugh or smile, it hurt. We loved every minute of it!

Temple, petting zoo, and Moab...all in one day!

I completed my goal! I attended an endowment session in all open Utah temples before my one year anniversary of receiving my own endowment, which is September 10, 2012! Monticello, UT was my last stop. My roommate Angela joined me on a journey down to Monticello, waking up at 5:30am to make the noon session. If we missed it, the next session isn't until 5pm, 5 hours later! We arrived an hour early but we made it.

Monticello Utah Temple!

I found beautiful flowers/plants to take pictures of on the temple grounds!

 Beautiful!

 The view leaving Monticello...now onto "Hole N" the Rock"!

What a site, huh! They have the most random stuff, including a petting zoo!

Angela loves Elephants!

We discovered this cute "hole" had a petting zoo and we had to do it! Tickets $3.75 plus we shared a $5 bucket of oats and carrots to feed the animals. We were so excited!

Meet Cramer! He's the camel we were told we could get a kiss from if we held a carrot between our teeth. On my first try, I ducked away right before he bit on the other end of the carrot. I was so nervous! But I finally got the guts up and was BRAVE! Results below...

First base with Cramer...the Camel! Yes, only an inch of carrot between me and my camel.

Angela tempting Cramer with another carrot. He was so greedy, he wanted our whole bucket!

Caution! Alpaca spitting zone!

I'm feeding the minature horse and donkey! El burro! :)

Angela loved this Zebra, too bad there were 2 fences between them!

 Cramer, struttin' his stuff!

I loved this sign...I may as well be a part of their exhibit!

A cactus made out of bowling balls! It's ginormous!

After our adventure at the petting zoo we drove into Moab and hiked Delicate Arch! Angela had never seen it before and so we had to do it with being in the area. We cruised up the trail and inbetween Asians and their cameras we were finally able to get a shot with the arch with no one in it!

I love Delicate Arch, I'm so proud to be a Utahan! All in all, we drove 9 hours, enjoyed a 2 hour endowment session, fed zoo animals, was almost kissed by a camel, and hiked 3 miles to the most scenic arch in Utah! What a day!

Lemon Yodels at Swiss Days!

I was hesitant of the idea, candy canes in a lemon, but for $1 Angela and I had to try it! I am an official Lemon Yodeller! My lips might have pursed a few times! Sour :)

Utah LDS Temples!

I have had a goal since September 10, 2011 to attend an endowment session in all the Utah LDS functioning temples within my first year of being endowed! I have one more temple to attend to complete my goal before September 10, 2012...Monticello, UT! I'm going to make a day trip of it with my roommate on September 5, 2012.

I'm so excited to accomplish my goal! Above I'm at the Provo, Utah Temple, August 21, 2012.

A snip shot of the Word Document I use to keep track of all the temples I've attended and have yet to attend!

I attended the Manti, Utah and Oquirrh Mountain Temples with my brother Neal before he left on his mission.

This picture was taken last year at the Salt Lake City, UT Temple after I received my endowments!

 I attended the Logan, Utah Temple with 2 of my roommates, Lindsay Smith and Allyson Merrell

My mom's side of the family had their family reunion in Vernal, Utah this year since that is where my Grandpa Hardy grew up. We decided to do a session in the Vernal Temple while we were there because my Grandpa and his Dad used to clean the Tabernacle (as it was then until 1997). The temple is beautiful!

Salt Lake City, Utah...September 10, 2011, my own endowment!
Bountiful, Utah...September 12, 2011
Mt. Timpanogos, Utah...October 12, 2011
Jordan River, Utah...October 28, 2011
Draper, Utah...January 12, 2012
Manti, Utah...April 7, 2012
Oquirrh Mountain, Utah...April 10, 2012
Logan, Utah...May 29, 2012
St. George, Utah...June 9, 2012
Vernal, Utah...July 21, 2012
Provo, Utah...August 21, 2012

and Monticello, Utah...will be September 5, 2012.

Costco & Uhaul!

So my new place needed a sofa and my roommate, Angela, bought one from Costco! Yet, how do we get it home...rent a Uhaul. This was my first trip using a Uhaul, but Angela had the pleasure of driving it. Let's just say, it was quite an adventure!

Pushing 1 of 3 boxes out of Costco! The third box, the ottoman, luckily was small enough to fit in Angela's car.

Angela and I were told we could ask for a Costco workers help to load the boxes into our truck, yet as we exited the store, none were to be found. So we decided to be the strong women we are and load them into the van ourselves!

We rested and posed for a photo op before we loaded the second one in. We did it!

Once the boxes were loaded up, we hit the road, driving much slower than usual. We both have sympathy now for people driving Uhaul trucks. The blind spots are bad! I was her eyes so she could change lanes. All went well!

I loved this sign inside the truck! We were the muscle...Uhaul didn't provide us with anything. And if they did I'm sure it would've come with a small price. :)

We love our new sofa! It fits in our place great and now our bodies have a place to rest after all that lifting.

Philmont Scout Ranch + Mesa Verde!

July 28 - August 4, 2012. Philmont is home to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), located in Cimarron, New Mexico! Where is that you might be asking?! Yes, New Mexico, not a typpo! Philmont has 137,500 acres of wilderness that was donated in 1938 to the BSA. The ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips and now that of the Boy Scouts of America, is a National High Adventure Base in which crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities. It is the largest youth camp in the world by size and number of participants. It's also a dream of my dad's, he always wanted to take us there when we were young and he finally got his invitation, just a few years too late. I was the only "kid" able to go, so I kept mom company and had a great time enjoying the outdoors.

The Villa, originally built and lived in by Waite Phillips and his family, but when the land was donated to the BSA, the home went with it too. The villa was beautiful!

My home for the next 5 nights...ugh!

Inside my lovely tent! It was so stuffy during the day you could barely stand to be in there, good thing I didn't want to be. And at night it was relatively cool and a nice temp, but that invited all sorts of insects to venture in. I never knew what I'd wake up with! Let's just say we didn't look forward to going to bed! My dad's mattress was so squeaky it was painful to hear. Luckily I thought I'd be on the floor in their tent so I brought my camping pad, but since I was assigned my own tent, I put my pad on the mattress and never had to feel the coils.

My mom and dad at Philmont!

My mom and I were labled "Silverados". A Silverado does whatever they please while their father or husband is off in classes. We signed up for pretty much every hike they had to offer. However, I haven't been able to hike much this summer and my muscles were feeling it but it was great! We hiked about 25 miles total, took a dutch oven cooking class, and went horseback riding! Here my mom and I are at Cathedral Rock, on our way to Window Rock.

It's a passion of mine! I love photography! Beautiful wildflowers right!?!

One of our many hikes was a 4:30am hike to Lover's Leap. Crazy, I know!!! I wanted to sleep but the parentals were going so I pulled myself out of bed, plus it was the last night and the less time in the tent the better! We were able to watch the sunrise and had a great time. Here are 3 Philmont employees watching the sunrise.

My mom and I horseback riding! We were told to tuck in our shirts, which we thought was dumb, but whatever! So we look nerdy but the horses were great.

My horse...Pretty Boy!

We had a great ride, I just wished it was longer and I had hoped to try a few things like trotting, but all we did was walk. It was kind of boring but the chance to ride a horse was great and I took it!

Mesa Verde National Park was on the drive home and so we stopped by. It turned into a 6 hour stop but I enjoyed it! A crazy storm was blowing in when we were starting our tour of Balcony House but luckily I never felt one rain drop. I love this picture, the clouds are so cool!

Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between AD 600 to 1300, though there is evidence they left before the turn of the century. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi are famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is as famous as their baskets; their artifacts are highly prized. The Anasazi kept no written records.

If you look close, under the wooden beam running left to right is a painting from the Anasazi. Really cool!

The only one we saw, awesome that it still is there.

The perilous ladders to get to Balcony House. There were quite a few people going so sloooowwww! Scared, ok, but once it was my turn, I flew!

I had a riot capturing the beauty of Mesa Verde, Cliff Palace.

 

Stopping to say "cheese" on the ladder!

Mesa Verde, I last came here when I was 12. I had vague memories about climbing ladders and going down in a Kiva. This side trip was awesome, I was able to fully enjoy the experience and capture it with my camera!