Delicate Arch

Utah is a BEAUTIFUL state. There is so much to explore here. The longer I have lived here, the more I have discovered and come to appreciate the beauty of this state. Sure... I miss the beach... ALL of the time. However, the mountains are quite beautiful too.

A MUST see while in Utah is the Delicate Arch. I mean... it's on our license plates for goodness sake. It is quite a site to be seen. Arches National Park is awesome and beautiful... and this last weekend it was also crowded.... but we road tripped ourselves to Moab anyway.

I had been here and seen this before, but it had been 9 years, so I was excited to go back. Plus, Quinette had lived in Utah her entire life and never been there, so Allison and I got to experience it with her for her first time.

It's a short hike. Uphill... but it's only a mile and a half. Not bad. We had to dodge a lot of families, but we made good time.

This is how you know you are on the right trail.

 And took some pictures and had a great time and headed back.

Gotta love Utah. We do!

First Camping of the Season

Many of you know, I got a bunch of new camping gear. I have been getting excited for warm weather so I can start camping.We went to Zion's last month, but it was still a little too cold to go camping. This month, Allison, Quinette and I decided we were going to Moab... and we were going to camp. We were excited about it. It is still a little chilly at night, but this was my chance to finally test out my new sleeping bag (since the Yurt trip I ended up sleeping on top of my sleeping bag).

We got a little of a late start on the road... but besides that, the trip started out so positive. We left after Quinette and I got off of work and we made good time to Moab, it was still light outside when we got there and had good tunes in the car. I knew right where we were going to camp. I camped there before with Monica 9 years ago (the last time I was there) along the Colorado River, it's beautiful. What we didn't anticipate, was that all the spots would be taken because it was the first weekend all of the camping spots were opened. We drove up and down the river looking for a spot to pitch our tent. As it got dark outside, we lost hope and decided we would try camp spot number two up on the other side of town. It was now hard to see the spots because it was dark, but from what we could see... all the spots were taken there as well.

But wait! We see an empty spot! We got excited, but then saw something in the parking spot.... what is that? We shined a flashlight on it to see what it was. It looked like chairs. Maybe the spot is being saved. Then we realize it was people sleeping on cots. Opps! We drove off fast. Great... that was a fail. Now what? We found one of those ghetto camp sites that is basically a parking spot and you can either pitch a tent or park a trailer. There were also little cabins. We can't find anything else and it is starting to get late, so we pay for a spot. When we got to our spot we see how ghetto it actually is. We can't even build our fire we came prepared for (we brought fire wood and fire starters), it was just a little bbq. We decided we would rather just stay in a Motel because it was late and we didn't feel like setting up a tent. We were tired and it wasn't a cool place to camp anyway. We already paid for the spot, but figure we could probably argue to get our money back if we had proof that we stayed somewhere else and because someone else was actually already camping in the spot we paid for... we decided to take a picture of the people staying in the spot we paid for, but when we tried to take the picture they were looking, so we drove around and tried again. Again they were looking, so we drove around one more time, it was starting to get awkward. Allison finally got the picture and told Quinette to peel away! Ha!  So we head back to the city and stop at a hotel that said it had vacancy's. They looked at us and said their cheapest room was over $100.

NEVER MIND! Back to the ghetto camping. At this point it is 10pm. We have been driving around since 8. So we get out the tent that we borrowed from Daniel (who was supposed to come with us but last minute had to take care of family stuff so he couldn't). We did the bare minimum of setting up the tent. We figure it won't fall over because we will be in it. Thank goodness that worked out in our favor. The tent was HUGE! It took all 3 of us to set it up (opposite of my new tent). We put our stuff inside and realize.... the zipper on the door is broken! Awkward for Allison that slept by the door. We created a system to kind of keep it closed. Hopefully there are no critters! Daniel failed to mention the broken door, maybe he didn't know.

We also discovered something else. A Band aide? Why? I mean.... like... why? Seriously. We try to ignore that that is there.

We brought all the stuff for a camp fire. We were determined to have a camp fire even if it was on a little bbq stand. Allison grabbed one of her pieces of firewood and some newspaper. I got out my two fire starters I made (toilet paper roll filled with dryer lint) and my lighter. I have no doubt this is going to work, we are 3 girls... but we got this. Everything caught fire except the wood. Therefore it quickly died out. We try again..... we got some big flames and almost caught the bush right by the pit on fire.

Again... it died out and the wood did not catch on fire. We decide to try to roast marshmallows on the tiny newspaper flames. Why not? We brought them to use them, so use them we shall! Those tiny flames barely warmed our marshmallows let alone cooked them. The smoke from the newspaper flames were starting to come out so I gently blew them away and..... it blew out the entire fire that we had going. Great.... well that was fun. We were over everything and tired so we laughed it off and went to bed.

The trip started out so positive, then I'm not sure went wrong, but it just got worse and worse. Hopefully this was not going to continue for the rest of our trip. At least I got to try out my new camping gear. LOVE IT! I'm also thankful for Allison and Quinette. Why? Because even though everything went wrong, we were all able to laugh about it and make the best out of the situation. They have such a great attitude which makes any trip more fun no matter what happens. :) Can't wait for our many adventures to come. :) Hopefully in the future they will run more smoothly.

Internet Funnies - Take 5

Every once in a while I like to post my favorite Internet Funnies that I come across. I think they are funny... so I have to share.

Bropunzel

Flashback Friday 162

Flashing back to February 2006. Nate and I were made Activities co-chairs together. Before that we were both teachers... so we were always going to the same meetings. The Bishopric must have thought Nate and I were really similar. I guess in a lot of ways we are. We were quite the team. We planned the most epic ward activities that everyone loved. One of the big activities that we planned that was suggested by the Bishop, was a formal Single Mingle. We combined with two other wards in our stake. It was a formal. We had fancy decorations and drinks and food.... we had a dance, but we also had get to know you games so that you actually got to know new people. We also had performances by talented people in the stake. It was a hit. Nate and I felt quite proud after this event was done.

Nate and I at our activity. Totally didn't match on purpose. Didn't even talk to each other about what we were wearing. I guess we really are alike!

Brad and I. We had him DJ. He likes being in charge of stuff like that.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 215

Today my Jr High BFF posted a pictures from our little group of friends for "Through back Thursday". I don't know why my Flashback Friday didn't catch on... but whatever. ha ha. Anyway... I got to reconnect with some old friends from the Jr High days. Gotta love facebook for that reason a lone.

I have been getting excited for Summer even though it's still kind of cold outside. I always get excited to plant my garden and make the back patio cute. My bench swing that I have had for many years is now trashed and no longer cute. It has got to go... so I'm looking for new ideas of how to put some cute seating back there and freshen up the patio. Any ideas?

April fools was the other day. Can you believe it is April? Goodness! Time goes by so fast. Anyway... April is the month last year that I started my diet. It is pathetic that I am still on it and still haven't reached my goal weight. I have been maintaining for months because I keep cheating. Anyway... I decided to really buckle down and be strict about my diet and exercise this month. So far so good (yes I know it has only been 3 days). I almost broke down on day one. My co-workers had bought donuts and they told me there was one left. It was even cut into 4 pieces. That is how my department roles because everyone likes to have a bite of everything. I went in to see what kind of donuts they were. I LOVE donuts, it is a weakness. Probably goes back to the days when my dad owned the bakery. Anyway... I came really close to taking a piece and then decided to stay strong and I went back to my desk. I guess Paula didn't take the donut either. When my co-workers came back they offered me the donut again, I said I was staying strict on my diet. They offered it to Paula and she said no. They were SO disappointed! Why? They had us both come look at the donut. It was covered in salt instead of sugar. Very funny guys... joke was on you that none of us took it. They had also bought good donuts, but I still resisted. They had to take the prank home to their kids since we didn't fall for it.

On Monday they put the Angel Moroni on top of the new/remodeled temple in Provo. Turns out we could see it from our building... so we all watched for a bit while the crane was putting it on top. Pretty cool. Nice that Novell has such a great view of most of Provo.

I fished watching "The Killing". I LOVED it. I loved all the twists in that show. I'm just dying for the 4th and final season to come out. I love a good intense show that keeps me on my toes. After I finished watching that, I started watching "Hoarders: Buried Alive". That show makes me sick to my stomach, I don't even know how I have watched as much of it as I have. I'm such a neat freak that it gives me anxiety to even watch people live  in houses with such filth and clutter and.... stuff.... everywhere. Although, I will say that I used to be a little bit of a pack rat. I wanted to keep anything and everything that had sentimental value to me. When I was younger, it made sense of why I couldn't give it up. I'm glad I got over that. Now I look at old boxes of stuff that I kept and think... why in the world did I want to keep that? I can relate to the mentality though a little bit.... A LITTLE bit. Watching that show always makes me want to clean and go through and organize my stuff.

We had a cheese tasting party at work. We each were supposed to bring some sort of fancy cheese and then my boss bought crackers and such. This was pre-being strict on my diet PS. So I went to Scary Allen's grocery store because I forgot until the night before and had to run to the closest store (which is scary Allen's) before work. So I just grabbed pretty much one of each of the only kinds of fancy cheese they have. One of them was a black pepper type cheese. It was the winner. Turns out it was everyone's favorite and none of us had ever heard of it before. I wish I could remember what exactly it was called. It was good though. I do love me some cheese and crackers #wallaceandgromit

It was Quarter end and it was my turn to stay at work late on Monday... the last night. It was THE WORST! I always get the short end of the stick when it comes to staying late and work load. I was so irritated all day because I was so busy I barely had time to breathe. It was non-stop for me from the moment I came in up until 4:30. The work then stopped... but I still had to stay at work until they told me I could go home. The Negotiator covering late with me works from home in Colorado... so I was the only one on my side of the building. They got me dinner from Carraba's which was nice, but guess how long I had to stay at work with only 1 contract that came in after 5?  They finally let me go home at 11pm. Yep! I was at work for 14 hours. Let me tell you what, it's not fun. Thank goodness for Netflix. Seriously.

The good thing that comes out of quarter end though is that we do get to see a movie for work. What did we see? "Non-stop". It was your typical unrealistic Liam Neeson movie, but I was entertained and thought it was fun to see once. Like "The Killing" the twist things around to make you think the bad guy is different people and have you guessing throughout the entire movie. I like that. Keeps you on your toes.

I think that about sums up my week. I know.... not very exciting. Oh well, I feel good about sticking to my health goals. I got this!

Photo of the Week 213

Another picture from the Festival of Colors. I loved the way the Hare Krishna Temple looked against the white mountains.

Saltwater Tank - Phase 3

So.... my tank has gotten a little out of hand. It's not completely my fault... I don't know what I'm doing! I thought my cousin would help me more, tell me what to do. Not that he isn't willing. Half of it is that I feel bad asking him to come down because I know he is busy with his family and he lives far enough away that it isn't convenient.

Good news my water levels are under control. I went to the fish store again tonight to get more water and had a heart to heart with the couple that runs the place. I explained the state of my tank. One thing I have learned is that the fish nerd community is a friendly one. They are more than willing to help me every time I come in and I think they find me a little bit amusing because I don't know what I'm doing or talking about. They also know my fish nerd cousin... probably because my cousin is the king of fish nerds. When I came in tonight, he started texting Dave and telling him he needs to drive down and help me. He just started laughing.

By the end of my time in the fish store, I not only got my water for more water changes, but I also left with a "cleaning crew" which is much needed in my tank. Hopefully they work fast. They also got my number and address and said they would come down to Provo next week to look at my tank and make sure I have everything that I need. SO NICE! I'm getting in with the owners of the fish store! ha ha. If that isn't good customer service, I don't know what is. I have also learned that fish nerds really want to help other armature fish nerds to succeed in the fish nerd community and are more than willing to help you so your tank thrives. It's great.

They could tell I was kind of stressed about it when I came in. I felt a lot better when I left. My new cleaning crew included this cool crab which is going to hopefully help eat the green grassy stuff.

Another shrimp to help eat the aiptasia. A bunch of snails that will help clean the sides of the tank and the sand.

This should be a good thing... they for sure have their work cut out for them. Hopefully it won't be long until I get to move on to bigger and better things... like coral and other fish. I'm not giving up. One day... I'm going to get this whole thing down and I'm going to have a rockin tank and I will make my fish nerd cousins (and new friends) proud. :)