Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon

A few weeks ago my family went down to Cedar City, Utah for the Shakespeare festival. As nerdy as it sounds I really do enjoy the plays and the other festival activities. This summer we got a chance to spend a day in Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon to do some hiking. 

First up was Cedar Breaks. 

How beautiful are these views??

The path we walked along had tons of amazing wildflowers.

   

Toward the end of the hike we found a huge pile of rocks to climb on.

Grandma Ellen and I decided to go even higher.

Next up was Bryce Canyon - which is very different from Cedar Breaks but just as beautiful.

I love the bright red rocks in the crazy formations.

One thing I do like about Utah is the variety of outdoor beauties.  It was really fun checking out some of Southern Utah's gifts with my family.

Pardon the Interruption

I have seriously been struggling with the blogging this summer. This latest break was because I didn't have a computer...but now I'm blogging from a brand new macbook pro and I love it. I sent my old macbook pro back to apple for their recycling program and got a nice little gift card to use on the purchase of this new toy. It was a pretty sweet deal but it left me without a computer for a while.

Then after the new computer situation was taken care of I got caught up in something else. Here is a hint.

Yep...moving.  I really hate moving. I don't know why I decide I need to do it every year. This year was especially difficult because I pretty much did it by myself and even though my new apartment is pretty close to the old one, loading and unloading my car by myself takes a while...especially when I have to do it multiple times. I probably have too much stuff...but I amazed myself with how much I threw out.

The living room of my new place...covered in my stuff. Sadly it got way worse than this. I couldn't even sit on my couches by the end. Luckily my roommates were all gone during my moving in process so I didn't disturb anyone with my mess. 

But it is all put away now. I hung the last things on my walls today and cleaned everything up. I like it...it's small and very much like my old room but it's me (okay maybe a little more three-years-ago-me, but still).

The new room...

     

        

These bins might be my favorite part.  They are super cute and let me store a ton of stuff under my bed without making it a million feet tall and impossible to get onto.

The new kitchen...I imagine we will decorate a little more once everyone gets here but it looks decent right now...

And the living room...without all of my crap piled into it. 

So there it is. I kinda like it and I'm excited about finishing up my BYU experience here.

Meet Carson

This is Carson Dennis Flake (and me of course).

Ever since we were set up by Ryan (Carson's brother) and Jess a few months ago, we have been spending quite a lot of time together. 

At the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California.

At his sister Elaine's wedding. 

Some fun facts about Carson...

...he is 24

...he was born in Idaho but his family currently lives in Springville

...he loves pizookies

(he made this one all by himself...which is why it overflowed haha)

...he loves sports...especially football

...he is the biggest BYU football fan I know

...he hates mustard

...his favorite dessert is lemon meringue pie

...he loves lasagna (and most things I make for him)

...there are eight kids in his family...he is number seven

...he works harder than anyone I know with two jobs that keep him busy Mon-Fri from 6-9

...he has a great testimony

...he loves his macbook

...he is super organized and more of a neat freak than I am

...he is majoring in manufacturing engineering

...he loves teasing his nieces and nephews

...he loves snowboarding

...he doesn't like most fruit

...his birthday is exactly two weeks after mine (May 30)

...he listens really well

...and he is super fun to be around! 

I'm a lucky girl to be able to spend so much with him.

Life Lately

I promise I'm not dead...and I haven't suffered a severe injury that keeps me from blogging. For some reason the time just gets away from me in the summer. Maybe it's the whole not-having-a-routine-thing. Maybe it's the sunshine and the unlimited time I have to spend with friends. Either way...I'm back with summer updates.

When I'm not on vacation this summer I'm living in my little college town. I've started taking a microbiology class online through BYU independent study. I'm also working on my PA school application, spending time at the pool and Seven Peaks, training for my September marathon, eating lunch with Carson when he is on break from his impossibly long work days, and cooking a lot. I love the time I have to do what I want to do, but I'm getting ready to go back to school (remind me I said that in a few months).   I'm excited to have some structure back into my life and to knock out these last two semesters of college. Until then...I'm sitting back and enjoying the summer because, living in Utah, I know it's not going to last much longer.

Jamaica

For my brother's senior trip he decide to take the family down to Jamaica. We stayed at the Beaches family resort just outside of Ocho Rios. It is an all inclusive resort with a huge pool (that included a swim-up bar much to Matt's delight), waterslides, and tons of activities. The weather was mostly cooperative, the food was excellent, the island was beautiful, and we all had a blast. 

This was the view out the front door of our rooms. The beach was right in front of us and we had a huge porch to lay out on. Lovely. 

Daily activities included...

snorkeling...

scuba diving...

late night shuffleboard...

lawn chess (I would lose to anyone but Matthew)...

sailboat rides...

unlimited pina coladas...

water slides...

playing with sting rays...

dolphin rides (yes in the second picture there are two dolphins under my feet pushing me up - amazing)...

and kissing dolphins!

Thanks family for making this trip fantastic and thanks to Drew for choosing such an amazing place to spend a week.

Hobble Creek Canyon Date

A few weeks ago Carson took me on a great date up Hobble Creek Canyon.  We met up with Jess and Ryan, Collin (Carson's other brother) and his fiance Jess, and her cousin and his wife at their Uncle's house.  Here we rode horses, played around on the huge rope swing, cooked hot dogs and smores, and had a really great time.

Horseback riding...crossing the creek was a lot of fun and the colts were so cute!

Carson was much better at it than I was...but he has a lot more experience. 

Seriously...check out this rope swing. I thought I was going to die the first time i jumped on. It was so fun though. After I got past the initial scariness of getting on the stupid thing, I had a blast!

An evening outside isn't complete without a campfire meal.

Thanks Carson (and Uncle Lawrence) for a great night!

September 18, 2010...

...my first MARATHON - the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan, Utah!

Yep...it's official. I've been talking about doing it for a while but I finally signed up for the race today...payment and all. After a family friend (and old running partner) offered a free stay at his place the night before the race and I bought some sweet new running shoes today, I have no excuse.

My new shoes...I ran in them today and I already love them.

I've always wanted to do a marathon (the half I ran two months ago made me want to do it even more) and I figure now is a great time to do it. I have all summer to train and I'm already in decent shape. Saturday is exactly 12 weeks away from the race...so on Monday I'm starting a 12 week training plan. Hopefully if I talk about my workouts here I will be able to stick with them. One slight problem - I will be in Jamaica for my first week of marathon training...but hopefully I will still find it in me to workout. 

Hopefully I will be able to train injury free. My biggest fear right now is that my hip problems from high school will come back while I'm training. I just have to be really smart about my running...I need to get in plenty of cross-training and I can't overdo it. 

I don't plan on going too fast...finishing is definitely my goal. I'm aiming to hold my half marathon pace from a few months ago for the entire marathon. I can do it! I'm super excited about this huge goal. If anyone is looking for a little vacation around (or on) September 18, come up to Logan because I can definitely use all of the support I can get. I can't do this alone!