8th Year Blogiversary

It's that time of year again! It's my 8th year blogiversary where I review my year and what I have accomplished. I really can't believe I have been consistent with this for 8 years. The years pass by WAY too quickly. Here is my summary of last year. Now let's see what I have done this year.


1 - Was released from being Activities Co-Chair
2 - Continued to take all of my nieces and nephews out for their birthdays (If they are around)
3 - Watched the Lunar Eclipse
4 - Went home to Santa Barbara to hang out with my sister Lori and family
5 - My niece Leila was born
6 - Drove Highway 1 for the first time (most beautiful road trip EVER)
7 - Met up with my friend James and explored Big Sur
8 -  Went skeet shooting for work
9 - Helped put on the most magical tea party with some of my girl friends
10 - Went to the Tulip Festival
11 - Hosted some couch surfers from Switzerland which became good friends.
12 - Played The Lost Boy in my friends "Shake it Off Disney Style" music video that went viral. Also made a lot of friends from it.
13 - Went to the Payson Temple open house
14 - Went to the Philippines
15 - Went scuba diving with Whale Sharks (coolest. thing. ever)
16 - Got a massage on the beach
17 - Took a tour of the Underground River (which is one of the new 7 wonders of the natural world)
18 - Went to Bali
19 - Did my first ship wreck dive (coolest dive I have done to date)
20 - Stayed in a bungalow overlooking a rice field (Maybe one of the coolest places I have ever stayed in)
21 - Got to go to my niece, Sierra's, dance recital
22 - Went on a lot of dates (good and bad)
23 - Went on a TON of new hikes
24 - Accomplished my goal of exploring the outdoors every weekend (whether I went a lone or not)
25 - Watched Reanne perform in the Payson Temple Cultural celebration
26 - Made some new crafts
27 - Went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo again (pretty much the only rodeo I go to)
28 - Fell in love with Paddle Boarding (now planning on getting one of my own)
29 - Road tripped to Wyoming with a few friends
30 - Went White Water Rafting down the Snake River twice
31 - Sang in church a couple of times
32 - Slept in a Tipi (Teepee) for the first time
33 - Camped and explored Bryce Canyon with my friends
34 - Went to Calf Creek Falls for the first time (Awesome waterfall)
35 - First family trip  in a LONG time to the Grand Canyon
36 - Went to Horseshoe Bend for the first time
37 - Played the Eveil Queen from Snow White and the Huntsman in my friends "Bad Blood" Parody music video
38 - Tried new recipes
39 - Threw more dinner parties
40 - Hung out and hiked with my Anderson cousins
41 - Went to Sand Hallow for the first time, did some paddle boarding
42 - Went to Zions, hiked the Narrows for the first time
43 - Attended my third salmon supper in Payson
44 - Helped my friend Sarah at her both at Craft Lake City (awesome event, totally want to go again)
45 - Hung out with my friend Rick in Chicago
46 - Hung out with my old pal Monica in Indiana
47 - Visited my cousin Trav in Indiana / Michigan (lots of lake time)
48 - Went fishing
49 - Camped at / explored Goblin Valley for the first time
50 - Hiked through my first slot canyons (Bell & Little Wild Horse)
51 - Attended the Rooftop Concert in Provo
52 - Bought my hammock (fell in love with it instantly)
53 - Played human bubble ball at work
54 - Lots of Jeeping with my friend Amber
55 - Attended Utah's first Lantern Festival (it was pretty magical)
56 - Broke down and sold my salt water fish tank
57 - Camped/ explored Moab with my friends
58 - Visited Canyonlands National Park for the first time
59 - Visited Deadhorse Point State Park for the first time
60 - Road tripped to Rexburg for the first time in 11 years (Stayed with my friend Holly)
61 - Hung out with my friend JaLayne from Massage Therapy school that I hadn't seen since her wedding 11 years earlier.
62 - Hiked/ Explored Grand Teton National Park
63 - Helped throw the cutest Fall/ Plaid party with some girl friends
64 - Played Maleficent in my friend's music video "I Can't Feel My Face" Parody featuring Disney Villains in the Thanksgiving Point Corn Maze
65 - For the first time in maybe my entire life I didn't dress up or do anything for Halloween (sad)
66 - Visited my sister Jamie in Arizona
67 - Surprised Stacey and saw him perform in Jesterz in AZ
68 - After 4 1/2 years, my Beta Fish (Purple Rain) died :(
69 - My awesome cousin Dave bought me a new Beta Fish from a local Breader (Luna)
70 - Novell became Micro Focus, I got a new boss & new team & a lot of my old team got let go and I got kicked out of my office and put in a cubicle :(
71 - The ENTIRE Mills/Anderson Family got together for Thanksgiving to all be with Grandma one last time. A day we will never forget.
72 - Started doing Photo shoots with my BFF Neighbor again
73 - Went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights again
74 - Went to Brazil
75 - Spent my birthday hiking in Florianopolis, Brazil with my friend Stacey and partied with strangers at our hostel. It was epic!
76 - Went to Argentina (It counts, even if it was right over the border)
77 - Went to Iguazu Falls on the Brazil side & Argentina Side (It is also one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World)
78 - Spent Christmas Morning at the Christ Redeemer Statue in Rio, Brazil (one of the 7 Wonders of the World)
79 - Went to a couple of Humor U shows to see my friend Ian perform
80 - Spent a lot of time with my sweet Grandma, including New Years Eve. No party this year, just quality time with my Grandma.
81 - Grandma Mills passed away :(
82 - Went snowshoeing
83 - Third Annual yurt trip (this time in the Uinta's)
84 - Went to the Provo City Center open house and dedication
85 - Met up with my couch surfer friend from Switzerland in Northern California to Roadtrip together
86 - Went to Yosemite for the firs time
87 - Went to Burney Falls for the first time
88 - Went to the Redwoods State Park for the first time
89 - Went to San Clemente for my Grandma's Memorial Service
90 - Went to Santa Barbara to hang out with Lori and family
91 - Went to Knapps Castle with Veda
92 - Went to the Mystic Hot Springs
93 - Attended my first Paint Nite (Loved it, want to go again)
94 - Celebrated 7 Years working at Novell/Micro Focus
95 - Went to Florida to visit Kirsten
96 - Went to Everglades National Park for the first time
97 - Visited Monument Valley for the first time
98 - Back to explore Moab/Arches for the I don't know how many times it has been at least 5 or 6
99 - Started my weight loss journey all over again with my cousin Lisa, this time... Fast Metabolism Diet
100 - I have 71 Followers (went down a few... probably because people don't blog anymore) and my blog has been viewed 193,890 times and was mentioned in LDS living... which brought me some new viewers apparently)

So that is a wrap... it was a great year. Here's to another great year.

Monticello, Utah Temple

There are currently 16 Temples in Utah. I have now been to 13 of them!

On our way to Monument Valley, we stayed in Monticello, Utah. I totally thought of my friend Logan. That is where he is from. While we were there, we checked out the temple. Cute little temple right in the neighborhood.

Utah Dining - Take 6

You may think you are about to get a list of restaurants... but really, I'm only going to talk about 1. Why? Because for being an hour away, I have eaten there more than a lot of other places that are minutes away from me.

The Main Street Grill

This restaurant is located in Price, Utah. You may be asking why I have been there 5 times since July. Well, it started on our way to Goblin Valley. We had started our road trip, but everyone was hungry for dinner. We said we would find a place to stop and eat on the way. We got to Price and looked up The Main Street Grill and thought that sounded like a great place to stop. It was! It was surprisingly delicious. So we decided that we would stop on our way back as well. We even asked for the same waitress, Mandy. We thought, Oh... Mandy will remember us and make a comment that we were back the next day. We were disappointed when she didn't react at all and we are pretty sure she didn't remember us. ha ha. Oh well, the food is still good.

The third time we went was on our way to Moab. We were excited to go eat there again. We didn't get Mandy this time, but we didn't care. The new people we took were not quite as impressed by it as we were, but I am convinced it is because they didn't order the right things. My food has always been great. there. We didn't stop on our way back.

My fourth time was tonight. Amber and I stopped there on our way to Monument Valley. Amber was hungry and wanted to stop... I told her I knew the perfect place and I hoped she would like it. She loved it. So we will be stopping on our way back from our weekend trip. Oh and guess what? We even got Mandy again as our waitress. ha ha. Small town, great food. I of course text the rest of my friends letting them know that I was there and they got a kick out of it.

If you are ever in Price and need a bite to eat... I suggest the Main Street Grill.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 315

Happy St. Patricks Day! We are so close to Spring. I'm thrilled about it. I am just planning all of my adventures for the Spring and Summer.

I haven't been doing much since getting back from Florida. Just trying to get things done. That is what you have to do after vacation, get all the things done that you would have done if you were not on vacation. Go grocery shopping, water my plants, take care of my cute little Beta Fish, clean, laundry.... all of that good stuff.

I got back on Monday and went straight to work, so I was pretty exhausted. My flight left Florida at 6am which meant I had to get there at 5am which meant I had to get up a little after 4am which is really 1am Utah time and I didn't go to bed until after midnight. So after being up since the early hours of the morning, traveling, then going straight to work and working until 5... I was pretty excited to go home and get some rest. It made me not want to do much the next couple of days as well... so really, I didn't. ha ha... well, besides go to work.

Speaking of work, today we had a party celebrating 2 birthday's and St. Patrick's day. This has been our first food party since I started back up on my diet. It is SOOOOO hard to stay away from all the food that is 2 cubicles down from me that I pass by every time I get up to do anything. I did really well the first half of the day and stayed away.... but after I got back from the gym and had lunch, those treats were calling my name hard core. So.... I broke down and cheated and had a cookie and a rice crispy treat. I felt great and terrible about it at the same time. I just hope that one cheat doesn't stop my weight loss, otherwise I will be made at myself. If I am going to keep this up for long term though... I mean... I have to live right? Let myself enjoy food every once in a while. I am going to try not to obsess over it, I just can't let myself get carried away. I didn't weigh in this week because all of the traveling never does well for my number on the scale, so I just figured I will wait until next week. Until then, I am back on track and made my confession to my cousin and I'm back to being good. I was really good in Florida. I didn't cheat at all. I was proud of myself because when you are on vacation, it is the hardest to stay on track because you are off of your normal schedule, at least that is how I feel.

While I was in Florida, Kirsten got me to watch  "Naked and Afraid". I was pretty interested after watching a couple of episodes, so when I got home, I decided to watch a season of it.... So I watched Naked and Afraid XL... where the entire season was about the same group of 12 surviving for 40 days instead of 2 people surviving for 21 days. Very Interesting. I got into it, but It didn't take me very long to finish it. Stacey came over on Tuesday night too and we watched the Bachelor Finale. Ben was by far my favorite Bachelor so far. We all have fun watching it together. Now I will probably catch up on other current shows and then I will need to find a new show to watch.

Sad news. My BFF Tech guy at work is no longer going to be my tech guy. He personally came to tell me the other day. I was super bummed because he helps me out so much... I mean, for like over the past year he has been helping me with my work computer and personal computer. The good news is, he got a new job within Micro Focus, so he will still be around. He told me I can still ask him questions online and if it is something he can tell me or quick fix by taking over my computer, he will still do it for me. What a great friend. I already miss him as my tech guy though. It's just not going to be the same.

I was contacted on Instagram by a restaurant in Salt Lake City. They told me they would give me a gift card to eat there for free if I would post about them on my Instagram account. You better believe I said absolutely. I will take free anything. I don't know why they contacted me since my account is all about nature and hikes and traveling... I NEVER post about food, but maybe I can make it appeal to my followers if I post the food outside somewhere. Anyway, I am excited to try it. It is Mediterranean Street Food. Yes please! Stacey is going to go with me. Should be fun. Instagram has brought me some pretty cool opportunities and free stuff. I hope it keeps going in that direction.

Today after work I watched the sunset at Utah Lake with my friend Amber. We decided we are going to go on a road trip tomorrow. I love that she is spontaneous. I would love to be that way more, but I feel like not very many of my friends are like that. We were chatting at the lake and she said, do you have plans this weekend? I said no. She said, want to go somewhere? I said, yeah, that would be fun. Where should we go? I said I have always wanted to go to Monument Valley, but nobody will go with me because they think it is too far of a drive. She says, ok, lets go. And that is that. we leave tomorrow after work. It will be awesome.

Photo of the Week 313

I found a new spot to watch the sunset right up the street from where I live. I'm pretty excited about it.

Double Chin

So I just had to share this story because I am still laughing over it.

I'm at work. I have walked by my co-worker's desk a several times and noticed that she has a mirror right under her computer monitors. I never asked why. I thought it was weird because I certainly wouldn't want to stare at myself all day while I worked, but that's just me.

I kind of forgot about it until today when another one of my co-workers was decorating her desk after she left for her birthday. I saw it again and was reminded and made a comment on how weird I thought it was that she placed her mirror there. I mean... I get having one in your purse in case you need to see if there is anything stuck in your teeth or what not, but I not have one on your desk so you can stare at yourself all day. This co-worker had apparently asked about it already.

You want to know the reason she said? Absolutely I replied.

Apparently, she placed it there to remind herself that she has a double chin. If she has a visual constant reminder of her double chin, THEN she will remember to do her chin exercises. Say what? Yes, CHIN EXERCISES.

When she told me that I started laughing SO hard. I couldn't decide if I should be the one to tell her that the only way to get rid of a double chin was to lose weight... or if I should let her keep believe that so that I could someday catch her doing her "chin exercises" whatever those entail. I heard one of them involves sticking out your tongue.

I'm going to just let that sink in and have you picture it. I don't know about you, but I laughed for a long time. If ANYONE ever makes a comment to me about them having a double chin... I will be asking them if they are doing their chin exercises. Or that they need to do them. It's just too funny.

Lowdermilk Beach

Saturday Kirsten's husband, Dallas, took Daxton.... so Kirsten and I got a girls day. We went to another beach. Fort Lauderdale, you only get sunrises, not sunsets... we wanted to see a sunset, so we drove an hour to Lowderdale Beach.

It was the cutest beach with these straw umbrella's... so we found an empty one and we parked ourselves underneath. We chatted, we people watched and we took pictures and took in what a beautiful day it was.

When the sunset got closer, we moved our chairs by the ocean so that nobody would be in our view of the sunset. That almost happened until a couple sat down right in front of me and started making our and ruined the moment. Maybe a part of me is jealous that I don't have someone to do that with... but even if I did, I wouldn't make it a show in front of everyone, just not my style.

Anyway, great beach. Great day. Florida is a beautiful state.