LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT...NO, WAIT...PLEASE STOP!

It's been snowing nonstop since Sunday. I'm glad we're going to have a white Christmas and I love looking at the snow, but when I opened my door up this morning, I thought, "Ok, that's plenty. It can stop now." There was so much snow that it was higher than my car. Good thing school was cancelled today, because there was no way I would have been able to get there. I'm literally snowed in. Plus the power was out, and I didn't want to go anywhere with wet hair.

I think the snow is about 3 feet here at our house. Or at least it's getting close to it. It was past my knees.

On Saturday, we went to Temple Square with my younger sister, Michaela, to look at the lights.

They were so beautiful.

There were tons of people everywhere. We chose the wrong weekend to go. The choir was putting on a Christmas concert with David Archuletta, so it was packed and no parking for blocks. That's ok, we had a nice, extra long walk to get to the temple.

It was super cold, but we were wearing a lot of layers and bundled up nicely. There were beautiful nativity scenes up from all over the world. They also had really pretty luminaries lining all the walkways.

If you get a chance to go see the lights, then do. Temple Square is a beautiful reminder of what Christmas is really about.

HAVE YOU BEEN WONDERING...

What we've been up to the past month and a half? I figured the answer was probably a "no," but I'll tell you anyway.

Back in the beginning of October, we hiked to the Grotto up Payson Canyon. It was so beautiful! It actually wasn't really a hike, it was more like a 10-15 minute stroll.

Then later in the month, we met up Provo Canyon with a bunch of our friends from our old ward in Orem, and got together to have a BBQ. We had a blast!

It was so nice to see everyone.

We went to the Red Barn in Santaquin to go for a hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins with my family. We went to the Red Barn to get some of their famous apple cider donuts, and other good treats. All of my nieces and nephews loved it.

Manny and I happen to have a few days off work during one weekend in October, so we went fishing...a lot! Below is a video of Manny catching a fish at Strawberry...and then it got away. I think that it was probably the biggest of the day, but we'll never know. So sad for Manny.

We also saw the salmon spawning while we were at Strawberry. It was kind of weird to watch. There were hundreds of them all up and down the river.

During this weekend, I finally caught my 100th fish, and even surpassed it by 6. That was my goal for the year, and I got it. Manny just about doubled what I had though. Here he is holding one of my big fish at Strawberry, 20 3/4".

October has one of my favorite holidays; HALLOWEEN. I love Halloween, I love dressing up, and I love carving pumpkins. We found some HUGE pumpkins to carve. They were so big that we could hear all the kids comment on how big they were as they were at our doorstep. They were big enough, that I couldn't even pick them up and carry them (these are not pumpkins that I'm holding in the picture above). Manny's pumpkins is on the left, and mine is on the right.

Since Thanksgiving is coming up in just a few days, hopefully I'll get around to posting it before November is over.

PINETOP, AZ

Last week we went to Pinetop, AZ. I hung out with my cousin Gina at her parents' cabin for the week, and Manny went hunting with her husband, Kameron. They were so excited hunt! One of the nights, we orderes some pizza's and went to where they were camping to hang out for a while. It was nice to see Manny for a little while on "our vacation."
They were hunting in Alpine, which is an hour away. It's such a beautiful place.

During the week, Gina and I did a lot of being lazy, shopping, watching movies and shows, and eating out at a yummy Mexican restaurant.

I happen to capture the perfect picture of Anastyn (Gina's daughter) right after she bit into a lemon.

Here we are enjoying our food with her son, Porter.

Meanwhile, Manny, Kameron, and my Uncle Freddy were busy getting dirty, stinky, and shooting an elk. This hunts was for Kameron's tag. Everyone was so excited that he shot it Saturday morning, because that was the day that Manny and my Uncle Fred were going to come back to the cabin. I really wanted Manny to be there when he shot it since we drove such a long way (through UT, CO, NM, and AZ).

Uncle Fred and Manny.

I hear the elk was one MAJOR stinky, rancid beast.

Manny, Uncle Fred, Kameron, and Kevin (Kameron's dad).

Once Manny got to the cabin, I didn't let him get close to me until he took a shower. It had been about 4 days since he showered.

I didn't sleep a wink the whole trip. I looked pretty hammered by the end of the trip, as you can see below.

We took a different route on our way home and went past the Grand Canyon. It's so beautiful this time of year.

We had such a great time. Thank you so much, Gina and Kameron, for inviting us! This will be one of those memories that we will never forget!

7 YEARS AND COUNTING...

And loving every minute of it.
09/06/03

TIMP CAVE AND THE MUSIC OF LED ZEPPELIN

Manny is over the 11 year old scouts and for the past few months, he's been without a partner, so I've had to step in and help him out. So, on Friday, we took the scouts to hike Timpanogos Cave. We have both been quite a few times and we love it. None of the scouts had ever been before, and they were excited...until we actually started to hike. They are quite the complainers, but I told them it would be well worth it once we got inside the caves. Manny and I must be in WAY better shape than we thought because we were completely fine the whole entire hike. Those 11 year olds had a very hard time keeping up with us. I told them that they needed to stop playing video games and get more exercise. They said this was the most exercise they'd had all summer long. I could tell. They were actually pretty good though. They're very goofy (looking) at that age and we had a lot of fun. I was glad that they were able to really enjoy a new experience.

Just about to the halfway point.

Finally made it to the top.


Tight squeezes and low ceilings.

This is a big cavern in part of the cave.


The heart of Timpanogos.




On Saturday night we went to the Snow Lodge Amphitheater at Deer Valley to listen to the music of Led Zeppelin with the UT Symphony. I thought it was the best of both worlds because I like to go to the symphony and Manny LOVES Led Zeppelin.

Here we are hanging out waiting for the show to begin. Can you tell that Manny is annoyed that I want to take a picture of us. This is usually how our pictures turn out.

We took a picnic with us and spread some blankets out and enjoyed the show. The man that was singing did a pretty good job. It was such an awesome show with beautiful surroundings. We ended up having so much fun (and with all the Zeppelin fans, I was surprised that there wasn't a smoky haze around us).

IN THE PAST MONTH AND A HALF...

The sky seems to have looked like this quite a bit. It hasn't rained much, but there sure is a lot of thunder and lightning and it's been overcast a lot...

I've gone to Spokane, WA to visit my mother's side of the family (the white side of my family)...

And visited a beautiful park...

And hung out with my little sister, Michaela while we were there...

And when I got home, I wore a necklace that was given to me by my grandparents that was made by some Marshallese people. My grandparents serve in a Marshallese ward in Spokane. And need to learn how to take better pictures...

And Manny wore his Marshallese tie long enough for me to take a picture. All the men wear these to ties to church each week. They're very pretty.

And in the past month and a half we have gone 4-wheeling and seen some pretty views...

And we've gone fishing...

And sadly, I've had to say goodbye to my good friend and next door neighbor who moved to CT. They were crying and didn't want to say goodbye.

And I've won a healthy employee competition at work. I won a $75 credit at a sporting goods store for a new pair of shoes...

And am 20 pounds lighter.