Visit with JaLayne

I made a spontaneous to Rexburg this weekend. I am staying with Holly, but while here, I also HAD to see JaLayne. We were so close when we were in school together. I was so excited to see her.

When we were talking I figured out that the first and only other time I had been to Rexburg was for JaLayne's wedding. Well... that was 11 years ago. JaLayne and her husband now have 4 kids. Yikes! It's been too long. Our visit was SUPER short, but I would rather have a little time than no time.

We decided that it CAN NOT be that long until we see each other next. She invited me back to go horse back riding. I think I will take her up on that. Love this girl. We looked crappy... but we had to get a picture.

Here we are together 11 years ago.

And now.

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The fall colors are still looking beautiful, but they are changing fast and won't last for long. I have a feeling it is going to be a long and bad Winter. I'm not looking forward to it. I think I will plan some Winter vacations to somewhere warm.

So I just found out that Starbucks has a secret menu. On that secret menu you can order Butterbeer... it's supposed to taste similar to the Butterbeer you get at Harry Potter World. Yes Please! There is a cold version and a hot version. I think I will need to try both. You know... when I am not dieting.

Speaking of the diet. This last weigh in was A LOT better than my last one. I lost 4 pounds since last week. I am happy about that. So far I think I have lost 8 pounds and I have my last weigh in on Monday. I guess we will see how much I lost total in the 28 days. I'm pretty happy with it, so I am thinking I will take a week break and then start back up again.

I finished Blacklist. Well... am caught up on the show. It is still going. I took a tiny break before starting something else. Now that shows have started up again, I am now catching up on shows currently on the air. I also watched a documentary on Netflix called The Drop Box. A very sad and sweet and inspiring story about a religious man in Korea that started a drop box for people that would normally leave their babies in the street to die because they didn't want to take care of them... this man takes them in and cares for them. Most of them have disabilities. All I have to say is, there is a special place in heaven for this couple that dedicated their lives to caring for the unwanted babies. Now I am watching (don't judge) Pretty Little Liars. I've just started, but although it's cheesy and kind of dumb, I kind of like it. I have always been a sucker for drama's though. I needed a break from murder mystery shows. This one has 5 seasons and still going, so I'm sure it will keep me busy for a while.

General Conference was great. I didn't watch it all live... but I watched it all. I'm really thankful for the technology that we have that makes it so easy for me to watch at anytime. I love that we can just stream things to our tv. So easy. So great.

I had another couple of photo's that were featured on different instagram accounts this week. One on Utahexplored and one on Weutah. Both not big accounts, but it's still always feels good to have your photograph's be appreciated. I now have over 500 followers. It's a slow climb, but I'm getting there. I have noticed though that my friends that used to like my photo's don't anymore. They are liking other people's photo's and not mine. Me being the sensitive people that I am wonder if my instagram's have become annoying and that is why they stopped, or they see that I already have plenty of likes so they don't need to like it. I don't know. I try not to care, but I notice.

Stacey came to family dinner on Sunday. It was fun to have him there. I wasn't worried about my family being weird with him, but I was worried about my niece being starstruck. She had a freak out first reaction, but then she was really good. Thankfully. I wasn't worried about Stacey, he is good with people in general and handles his Utah fame very well. It was fun to have a friend at family dinner, I wish I could convince more to come with me. My family is great company AND feeds you well, not sure why anyone wouldn't want to come.

I did a little bit of fall shopping yesterday. Fall clothes are my favorite. I only need to go into one store too most of the time to find a bunch of cute new stuff that I love. Bohme. Every time someone compliments me on my clothes, 9 times out of 10 it's from Bohme. I love that store. Sometimes it is a miss for me... but most of the time I love a lot of what is in the store. I tried not to get too carried away, but I did feel like it had been forever since I bought new clothes. Probably because I was just getting fatter all summer. Now I'm trying to lose again... so I feel better buying clothes... or something like that. Anyway, I'm excited about my new purchases and the people that work there are always great to help me out when I can't decide if something looks good on me or whatever. ha ha.

Remember how I said people come to me to talk even when we don't know each other very well? Well, that happened again this week. This conversation was a lot longer and a lot harder. A guy that I met on facebook because he saw that I was friends with his brothers (brothers that I met on that Lake Powell trip a few years ago that I didn't know anyone but left with a bunch of great friends). We only went out once. I could tell he was just a little too wild for me, so although he begged me to hang out with him again, I chose not to. Anyway... he moved back to AZ to help out his recently divorced brother (one that I met at Lake Powell) and due to drugs... he died. Right in front of him. So you can only imagine how sad and messed up that situation is and how he is feeling especially since he was there and tried to bring him back to life and couldn't. We had not spoken in months. He had NEVER called me, but the other night he just called me. Knowing that his brother just died, I felt like I should talk to him. He really needed it. He cried to me and tried to talk through everything. It was a hard conversation to have, but I tried my hardest to be supportive and give some advice (#1 thing I told him was to start seeing a therapist). I'm really thankful that I have never had to experience something like that. That nobody that I am really close to struggles with drug addictions. This life is so precious and his brother went way too soon. It's crazy to think he is gone when he is my age and I was just hanging out with him at Lake Powell just a few years ago. Anyway, I'm glad I could be there for him and I always hope that I am helpful. If nothing else, I can be a good listener for people. People always need that. I need that a lot and sometimes that is hard to find.

Another week in the life of Tracy. I think I need to go spend some time outside soaking in more of the fall colors before they are gone.

Photo of the Week 290

Big Cottonwood Canyon was stunning on Saturday.

Brighton Lakes

Saturday, Jake and I hiked to all 3 of the Brighton Lakes. Lake Mary, Lake Martha & Lake Katherine. I had been to Lake Mary once before this summer, but didn't go past that. It's a beautiful hike, but it does start to get more steep the further up you climb. Thankfully it was an overcast day... which also was beautiful and brought out all of the fall colors very nicely. Got some great pictures. I wanted to go to the top of the hike that overlooks all 3 lakes, but as we were climbing up, we were getting colder and colder and realized the clouds were covering the view and I wouldn't be able to see anything when we got there, so we turned back and hiked back.

Lake Mary

Lake Martha

Lake Katherine

It was a nice and peaceful hike. Not too many people, which was great. Jake and I had a great time chatting and taking in the scenery. We had fun together, so hopefully this won't be our last adventure together.

Guardsman Pass

My good friend Becca decided it had been a while since we had gotten together, so we decided it was time. We both adore the fall foliage, so we went for a drive on Guardsman Pass up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We had both never been before, so we were excited to explore. It was gorgeous. 

We had fun catching up and planning future activities and trips while we drove and stopped every 5 minutes to get out and take pictures because it was so pretty. It was great. I love my adventures with Becca. Who knew we would become such good friends after meeting on the Channel Islands and bonding over a fox fight going on over our heads in the middle of the night. Many more adventures to come.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but that is a rainbow coming out of the cloud. It was so pretty.

Silver Lake - Big Cottonwood Canyon

I guess before I tell you about Silver Lake (in Big Cottonwood Canyon and NOT American Fork Canyon like the last Silver Lake I blogged about), not that there is much to tell, I need to tell you the story about how I met the guy I went to Silver Lake with.

Social Media is an interesting thing. It has opened up a world where you can interact and meet people  that you would have never come across otherwise. I think it's great.... but I am an extrovert that loves meeting new people all of the time. Probably why I think couch surfing is so great. Anyway, I was on my iPhone. I was browsing new apps. I came across a dating app, which being single, I am always curious about. I'm not sure anything could beat Tinder, but when it's free, I don't mind giving it a try. So I downloaded this new app to meet people called Clover. I thought it would be like Tinder and pull people from my area. It does do that, but it also makes it so anyone can... not just people in your area. This concluded a bunch of guys that were super far away talking to me. The app wasn't that exciting and didn't really do much for me and I didn't spend much time on it. I didn't delete it though. Every once in a while my phone notifies me to check Clover because there are a bunch of guys that liked my profile. So I go check. Like Tinder, you go through who liked you and if you both like each other then you are a match and you can talk... although they have changed it so anyone that finds me can talk to me and I don't like that. So I go through and like the guys I think are cute and then we match and then I never talk to them unless they talk to me because I don't care. So I matched with Jake. He started talking with me.

Although Jake is a bit younger than I am, he looks mature for his age, so I replied to him. We ended up enjoying conversation so he added me on Facebook so we could chat more from IM there. This was back at the begining of July. I never put much stalk in online dating. You are continually looking and so if you don't meet soon after you start talking, you usually forget about them and never end up meeting. When I found out that Jake was deployed with the Air Force in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, I figured he was just bored and wanting a pen pal and I would not talk to him long or ever meet him. Which was fine. However... Jake kept talking to me. So I kept talking back. We enjoyed conversation. Next we was England. We started chatting a little bit every day. I find out he is going to be stationed in Utah next. Even knowing that I still didn't think we would meet because he was going to be living on base in Ogden and that is kind of far away. Plus it was still going to be a while until he moved to Utah. After England he went home to Illinois for a little bit. We stopped talking for a while and I figured it was done. No big deal. Well, he moved to Utah a couple of weeks ago and started messaging me again telling me he was here. After talking on and off (mostly on) for 2 1/2 months, he was in Utah.

He text me earlier this week telling me that he wanted to meet me and he would drive down. So I said sure and invited him on a hike because I knew he wanted to explore beautiful Utah. He started following me on Instagram a while back and wanted me to show him all the best places in Utah. So what better place to meet? I guess he had even shown his mom my Instagram photo's to show her what Utah was like so she would want to move there. His mom loves my photo's and is now following me on Instagram.Weird? Maybe a little.  It wasn't weird meeting Jake at all. Maybe because we talked for so long beforehand, but we were instant friends and got along well. He claims he is super shy, but he wasn't with me. It was so fun to meet him and hang out for the day in the mountains exploring. I'm sure this will not be the last time we hang out. Who knew downloading a random app called Clover would bring me a cool new friend/ adventure buddy?

Now that you know Jake, Silver Lake isn't really a hike. We actually did another hike, which I will blog about later, but after that hike we got something to eat and then came to Silver Lake because there is a boardwalk around the entire lake and you can just walk around it. It's beautiful and easy. Such a great day. He fell in love with Utah instantly. Not hard to do... especially when you are moving here at this time of year.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 291

October! What? Time is just flying by. I do love October. Makes me want to go shopping for fall clothes. Fall clothes are my favorite.

Sunday morning I woke up to a text message. The text message from KSL guy that bought my fish tank. He sent me pictures of my fish to let me know they were doing well since the transfer. They are now happily living in Logan. I thought it was great that he text to update me. Cool guy. Made me happy that my tank is in good hands because it was a little sad to let go of it. Maybe in a little while I will text him again to see how the tank is looking. ha ha.

You know how you can send text messages to someone through an email address? Well... I got one from an email address from someone I didn't know that said "You must be tired. You've been running through my mind, all day loong." I asked who it was, but they never responded back. That was it. ha ha. It made me laugh, whoever it was.

I finished "Friday Night Lights". It was a cute show. I liked it. First 2 seasons were the best I think, but I enjoyed the entire show. Now I am watching "Blacklist". I don't know why I wasn't interested in watching it before, but I started it this week and am half way through the second season and am very into it. I will be caught up soon and can keep up with it week to week now that the 3rd season just started.

The diet is still going. I still haven't cheated. I was pretty ticked when I weighed in on Monday and didn't lose any weight because I have followed the rules and NOT CHEATED. I haven't had sugar or soda for 3 weeks. It might be because it was that time of the month, but I still feel like I should have lost a little bit. If I don't lose any when I weigh in on Monday I will cry and reevaluate if I want to do this again if it isn't working. Lisa promises me it is going to work but even though I feel good... I don't feel like I have lost any weight, which is frustrating. Why torture yourself if you aren't getting the reward. Ok... I'm not torturing myself... I do want to make these life changes with eating clean, but I wouldn't do it eating certain things on certain days. We will see. I still have a little over a week left before my 28 days are up. Regardless if it really speeds up my metabolism or not... I should have lost weight just by cutting out sugar and eating really healthy right?

I got my hair done on Monday. I went darker for fall. I feel like it has been forever since my hair was dark. I love it... it's such a rich and beautiful color. Nicole does such a great job. Only like 3 people have noticed that my hair is different, which is weird to me since it seems much darker, but oh well. Not everyone is very observant. I love it and that is what matters.

I had another date with Collin. This was our third date. We had a great time, as usual. It's frustrating because he says he likes me, I like him... but since he lives in Salt Lake, he doesn't seem to want to put in a lot of effort. Like, it was 2 months since our last date. We still text a lot in between, but still. How are you ever even going to know if you want it to go anywhere if you don't spend the time? Sometimes I tell myself to just forget it... I want a guy that is going to put forth the effort towards me. Then other times I think... but we both like each other and have things in common and get along so well. Ugh... so frustrating. I'll just keep dating other people until he decides something I guess.

We had our end of the summer free BBQ at work. They had a raffle with prizes at the table before getting our food. I wasn't even going to go down because I didn't think I would be able to eat anything... but I figured since it was free, I would go down and pick out what I could eat. The big prize for the raffle was a new GoPro. That is what I wanted) since I have the old version of the GoPro I can't justify buying a new one. I didn't win the GoPro, but I did win a $50 Amazon gift card! I never win anything... so that was pretty exciting. Everyone I knew was stopping me in the hall and sending me messages asking me how much the gift card was for and how lucky I was or how much they hated me for winning. Ha ha. There are a lot of people at Novell... chances are slim. They do gifts for 12 days of Christmas... your chances are higher because they are doing prizes everyday and I still have never won. So i'm happy I finally won something.

Speaking of food at work. I went down to the Cafe today to get a salad and the lady making my salad asked me if I was in Payson Canyon last weekend driving in a Jeep. I was surprised and said yes. Apparently she saw me drive by. I'm surprised she recognized me just driving by! If I would have seen her, I would have waved and said hello. Everyone that works in the cafe is super nice. I don't eat down there very often, but I have been at Novell for so long, they all know who I am I guess.

They changed our visiting teaching assignments.... AGAIN. Everyone was doing their visiting teach because it is the end of the month. Ha! I love my new companion... Becky. And I like the girls we visit teach. I was not a very good visiting teacher for a while, but going with Becky will make it easier. The second girl we visit taught lives at home with her sister. Becky's roommate, Lindsay visit teachers her sister, so we had a group visiting teaching appointment which was a lot of fun. They are sweet girls. Been in the ward a long time, but I never got to know them. Glad I am getting to know them now. As for my new visiting teachers, I'm bummed they got switched because I was just becoming friends with my other ones... my new ones will be interesting.

I went to a mid singles ward activity because they invited my ward. I SHOULD be going to those activities and be in the family ward with them. I went and looked around and it just made me not want to be a part of it. It made me want to be married before going into the family ward. Soo.... that needs to happen soon. ha ha. One can always hope.

I got together with my friend Lexi last night to catch up and to plan another fun party. She is the one that I put on that adorable Spring Tea Party with. Now we are working on a Fall picnic. I love it because I come to her with my ideas... and not only does she love them, but we collaborate together to put on an amazing event. She takes my ideas and makes them even better. I can't wait to put it on. Should be a lot of fun and very beautiful.

I bought my friend / co-worker lunch last Friday because somehow he forgot his wallet. Who does that? So yeah, he asked me if I would buy his lunch at the cafe... being the good friend that I am I did. I knew he would pay me back, but even if he didn't, 5 bucks isn't a big deal. Anyway... my boss had called me into the office to talk about some things which turned into stalking my blog which turned into her telling me I am now hosting a craft night for the girls at work.... and when I came out of her office and back to my desk... I saw my desk looked like this. It made me laugh out loud. Tyler is hilarious. Thanks for paying me back and making sure I got it in such a creative way.