Nature at its finest

I like it when the storm lets up enough to allow for a most glorious sunset.

(Most of these pictures were taken from my car while driving down the interstate. One day they'll make a law against that as well.)

We got three or four inches of heavy, wet snow/hail last night.

It's May. I know.

By afternoon,

the weather warmed enough to melt it all off the roof.

This is what my April 30th looks like

My sister, Casey, lives about 35 minutes from me on the other side of the Oquirrh Mountains. We live in two different valleys both affected by the lake effect snow of the Great Salt Lake. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, I might get dumped with inches of snow while she gets nothing or very little. Or vice versa. Yesterday, she posted what her April 29th looked like. Although I was experiencing the same cold weather, she got the bits of snow, and I did not. However, I wasn't so lucky this morning. This is what my April 30th looks like.

What does your April 30th look like?

I think I'll go for a walk outside now

We had a good rain yesterday evening and night.

This morning, the air was clear and fresh and the world was new, so I headed out for a walk.

I only took a few steps at a time, because there were ever so many worms to save!

These are just a few of my new friends that I could tell weren't ready to dry out and die.

At least not yet.

I'll be digging these friends back up soon, because I have a good feeling they'll bait me some beautiful fish.

This post is inspired by Communal Global. Do you want to see what the world looks like to other people? Check out the site and see daily pictures from amazing women all over the world.

A mighty change of heart

I must be experiencing a might change of heart.
It's snowing right now. I opened the blinds so that I could enjoy it. I can barely see the field across the street from my school, but I'm loving it. It is so peaceful. I even considered walking outside to let the flakes fall on my face. Alas, I must stay inside so that I don't lose my job.
Speaking of work...

You light up my life

It was just after midnight. I was sitting on my couch using my laptop to prepare some things for school. All of the sudden, there was a bright light outside my window. The light resembled that of fire, but there was no way a fire that large could flare up that fast. Within moments, it was gone. A few minutes later, I heard a low rumbling sound much like the roar of an engine and my floor vibrated slowly. Admittedly, I was scared. I didn't know what caused the light or the noise. Of course, I turned to facebook for comfort. I posted, "There is something strange happening in my backyard. I don't know if I dare look outside."

Moments later, my sister, Casey, posted that she had just seen the most amazing meteor in her entire life on her drive home. She said, "It looked like Superman shot across the sky. It was so bright; I was blinking the image for several minutes."

I was a little jealous of Casey, having spent almost an hour the night before in the bitter cold watching for meteors as brilliant as the one Casey just reported seeing. I commented on her post, "I hope you made the ultimate wish."

I, never knowing what caused the strange light in my backyard, went to sleep.

The next morning, I checked facebook as part of my morning routine. A friend of mine, Brian, who works as a reporter for The Spectrum, commented on my post saying, "You aren't the only one to report such an incident." He left the link for the newscast on KSL.

I watched the newscast and got really excited. That bright light I saw was in fact the light from the meteor Casey had seen while driving in Salt Lake. I was thrilled. I couldn't wait to get to school to talk to others about it.

I hadn't missed out (entirely) on the greatest astronomical event of my life.

Three months in review

I can't even remember the last time I clicked on my Blogger bookmark. My last post was in mid-August. I miss blogging. I miss writing in my journal. So many things have happened, but I haven't taken the time to stop to record them. I'll have to refer back to my facebook status updates to try and remember the noteworthy things that have happened in my life recently to begin recording them. Until then, I'll generate a list of some important points. I can't promise that they'll be chronological, nor will I promise that they will make sense to everyone.

I stayed home sick today from work. I have a cold, although part of me wishes it was swine flu. I still don't believe that disease exists (despite the number of confirmed cases in Tooele County).
Speaking of Tooele County, I'm officially a resident.

I didn't vote this year which makes me very sad. It's the first election I've ever missed in all my voting years. I never took the time to familiarize myself with the candidates and proposals for this county. I didn't want to go to the polls uneducated and pick the name that sounded the best. I was ashamed that I neglected my patriotic duty to be informed and to share my voice.

I really like Tooele. Or at least I did until it started to snow.

My car broke. The transmission gave out. That wasn't the only thing wrong with it. It would've cost more to fix than it's worth. It was a blessing in disguise. Well, actually it wasn't even disguised all that well. I was certain to die in the car I used to drive if I were to have driven it in the snow.

That means I bought a new (to me) car. It's number one selling point for me was traction control. I told myself if I ever lived in the snow again then I wanted a car with traction control. I was sold on that feature years ago when I lived in Provo and dated a boy who drove a car with traction control. I was never scared when I drove his car, but I was always scared when I drove my car.

So far, I love my car.

Second only to traction control is my other favorite feature. It has a tape deck. That's right. I can listen to cassette tapes any time I want in my car. The only problem is, I don't have any cassette tapes. So I'm adding that to my Christmas List. As a matter of fact, it's the only thing on my Christmas List (since the last item was satisfied a little over a month ago). I want a mix tape from each and every one of you. PLEASE. And make this wish come true faster than my wish for a Snuggie.

Speaking of Snuggies, I got one! YAY! My life is complete now. My younger sister, Casey, got one for me. I'm using it right now. To show my appreciation for her wonderful gift, I created this photo album of me enjoying my Snuggie. View the album here. You'll be ever so grateful you did. (Of course, I have to thank Casey again for taking the pictures for this gratitude photo album.)

I'm the in the Relief Society Presidency of my ward. I was a little, make that a lot, intimidated by the calling. I've never felt like I was the woman that I imagined all members of Relief Society Presidencies to be. As always, the Lord has helped me to grow into my calling. This calling has been the source of great happiness and countless blessings these past couple months. I look forward with great anticipation to the tremendous blessings that will continue to occur in my life as I serve diligently.

I really like my ward. It's smaller than I would like, but there are new people and visitors every week. We'll be busting at the seams before you know it.

I've made some really great friends in my ward as well. I have something to do every night of the week. We go on amazing adventures. Click here, here, here, here, and here for some photos of the great things we do.

I like teaching. Teaching is fun. The rest of my job isn't as fun. Well, I take the back. The social part of my job is fun. I have made some really good friends in my colleagues. One of the other fifth grade teachers has become one of my favorite friends. We went to St. George together during UEA and hiked in Zion and caught a couple shows. We went to The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and to Aida at Tuacahn.
Gosh, I miss St. George. I almost drove there last night. I just didn't want to drive back today. Oh, well. Thanksgiving will be here in a week-ish. I can hardly wait.

My students are amazing. They are adorable. They are smart. They work really hard. They make me giggle all the time. I had a student say to me the other day, "You laugh more than anyone I know." I took that as the highest compliment. I like them, and they like me. They like me so much, that they want me to have the finer things in life...including a dreamy boyfriend. They invented a boyfriend for me a couple weeks ago named Chad Hotpants. He has been the source of many a conversation since then. I even had a student bring in a picture from a magazine of Chad Hotpants. He clipped out the cartoon of a man climbing a ladder with the seat of his pants on fire. Hahahaha! They had a heyday the one time I ever let them write on the white board. Enjoy these photos of their graffiti.

Well, this post is entirely too long. I'll have to save some other random information for another day, but I wanted to get these posts under way so that I could post a few days worth of "I'm thankful for..." posts. I really enjoyed that last year.

An adventure at Bear Lake

What does an alfalfa field have to do with my adventure to Bear Lake?
Everything.

My adventure started with this status update.
Having scored an invite, I was set to go. I didn't bother with finding out any more details than what time my sister, Casey, and I should meet them.
It turns out this was a singles stake activity. Our link to the stake was Karl, but he didn't even know what ward he was in or the names of his Bishopric. (He's new to the ward.)
Having waited for Nic to get off work, we didn't get to Bear Lake until after dinner had been scheduled to be served, so we stopped at a pizza joint.
We arrived at the stake campsite just in time for the rest of a concert.

Wanting to leave the crowded campsite behind to enjoy a peaceful night under the stars, we went in search of a place to camp on the shore. Karl told us that a former Bishop of his owned some property up on the Idaho side that had beach access. He assured us that it would be okay for us to stay there.
We trusted him.
We pulled off the road onto an alfalfa farm. He promised us that a short hike would lead to the beach.
We trusted him.
We piled all our stuff on our backs and started walking through the field. Before we knew it, we hit muddy, marshy patches. We kept going, because Karl insisted that the beach was just ahead.
We trusted him.
At one dry point, we set our stuff down and sent Karl through the next wet patch. Our trust in him was fading. He soon reached a barbed wire fence.
We decided to set up camp right there.
Nic brought a tent which he shared with Michelle. Casey and I didn't have a tent, but had planned to sleep under the stars anyway. Karl brought a tent but didn't want to use it.
Michelle had borrowed a tarp which turned out to be ginormous. How big was it? Large enough for three tacos and a tent. (You had to be there, although I will attempt to explain in just a bit.)




The forecast had stated a chance of rain showers in the area. Those of us who were sleeping under the stars staged our sleeping quarters so that we could roll the tarp over us if it started to rain. Sometime, someone called this tarp covering a taco. From then on, we referred to covering ourselves with the tarp tacoing in.
Less than an hour after falling asleep, I awoke, because I was certain that someone was walking on our tarp. It turns out I was crazy, but it still proved beneficial.
The stars were no longer visible and the air was moist. It was ready to rain. My sister woke up to me making some noise. She asked me what I was doing. I casually stated that I was going to taco in, because I suspected it would rain any minute. Nic and Michelle hadn't yet fallen asleep and erupted in laughter at the use of the new phrase. Karl awoke to their laughter; he tacoed in as well.
The rain did come. Although never a heavy rain, it was a consistent rain. The tarp amplified the drips of the small raindrops keeping me from falling into a deep sleep.
Morning soon came to our excitement. We all desperately wanted to see where we had spent the night.
(This photo was not staged. These were the real expressions on their faces shortly after waking up and looking around.)

We packed in a hurry, because we didn't want confrontation with a farmer. (I still can't believe it. We camped in the middle of a recently harvested alfalfa field. Ahhh hahahahaha!)
Below is one of the wet, marshy areas we trudged through because we trusted Karl.

The rain continued throughout the morning. Finally, we decided to pack up and head home. We didn't want to wait to see if the rain would stop so that we could go out on the lake.

Since neither Michelle, Casey, nor I had ever been to Bear Lake, we were determined to make it to the shore. We stopped near the stake campsite to view the lake. Not knowing that we could've accessed the beach much easier down the road, we three girls started trudging through the mud and river reeds to get to the water. Nic hollered at us after we had already gone halfway to tell us there was an easier way. However, we were committed (and no longer foreign to getting our pants soaked and muddy). We enjoyed the little bit of the lake we got to experience.


Although different than I ever would've imagined, my adventure at Bear Lake was wonderful...wonderfully memorable. I can't wait until next time when I can enjoy it like any normal person would.

These are real

I was delighted to walk outside on my way to work one morning to find this lovely scene.


I happened to walk outside a few minutes ago, barefoot, to find a gift from God. My feet could only endure the cold cement so long, otherwise I would've stayed outside until the light left for the night.

Here she comes...

My parents set up a play date on Saturday. There's a new family in the ward. They have a son who is single. His parents and my mother have talked about setting Casey up with him.
Well, they set up a picnic in Zion on Saturday. The new couple brought their son, and my parents brought their two single daughters. Talk about old-fashioned.
Despite the potential awkwardness of this meeting, Casey and I had a lot of fun in Zion. While we were sitting across from one another at the picnic table, I took a picture of her. I then divulged my secret goal which was to take at least 27 pictures of her that day. I'm calling the album 27 Pictures: Zion National Park. You can see the album on Facebook, and I'll post them on here later.
In the mean time, I will share my favorite picture. Our first stop in the park was at Weeping Rock. On the trail upwards, I stopped at every informative sign and read them out loud until Casey and Adam (the boy) got sick of it and asked me to stop.
On the way back down, one sign caught Casey's eye. It was in front of a tree. Casey hollered up to me, "Doesn't this one sound like an insult?"
'Here she comes...Bigtooth Maple!'
I laughed at that so many times that afternoon. I'm laughing at it right now as I view the picture beside this text.
Casey is so ridiculously funny!
Thanks, Maple, for a delightsome afternoon. You are the bestest little sister a girl like me could ever hope for.

Afternoon drive

My mother applied for a job that would place her in a regional position that would require she communicate with the hospitals in Southwestern Utah. She has been to Valley View in Cedar but hadn't been to the hospital in Garfield County. She asked me to go with her to Panguitch to check it out. I had never been to Panguitch, but I told her I'd only go if we could take the scenic route.
We went through Zion National Park, up 89 through Orderville, Glendale, and Hatch to Panguitch. We toured the bite-size hospital and then stopped by her coworkers home in Panguitch. On the way home we took 143 passed Panguitch Lake to Cedar Breaks. We saw quite a bit of deer and were even stopped by hundreds of sheep crossing the road. There was a sheep dog and a shepherd with them.
We admired Cedar Breaks at 10,460 feet. We continued down Cedar Mountain into Cedar City. It got dark just as we entered Cedar City so we took I-15 back to St. George.
I enjoyed the drive so much, that I repeated it with a couple friends a few days later. The only difference was that we stopped at Panguitch Lake for some fishing.
Speaking of fishing, I've been on several fishing trips in the last few weeks. My friend complained, because he didn't catch anything no matter where we went. I didn't either, because I didn't fish. I'm about to change that. My sister's friend, Jared, the one who can lift cheerleaders over his head, is going to teach me how to fish. I'm excited. I anticipate spending most every weekend out fishing. Hopefully, I'll catch a fish or two.

This is Zion National Park. I actually took this picture in December when my aunt and cousins were here from Florida.

Kane County takes patrolling seriously in Orderville. I noticed this Sheriff's vehicle on the first trip with my mother. I looked a little closer when I was driving my friends. My friend insisted the deputy was asleep. I said it was too thin to be a person. We turned around to discover a mannequin in the front seat.
Keep Orderville safe by slowing down, but don't worry about getting pulled over by this particular deputy.
She's hard to see, but she was very pretty.

Panguitch Lake was slow blue. It glimmered in the Southern Utah sunlight. Upon closer inspection, there were a few areas that were green with growth. I suspect those parts were the only parts of the lake that were a decent temperature.

The sheep were busy crossing the street. We had to wait a few minutes for a break in the sheep to drive through.

Cedar Breaks is always a surprise. I never remember how majestic it is until I get there.

This was my view as I peed on the side of the road.

These were some of the Cedar trees that broke so as to reveal the desert painted rock.

This shot is from a recent fishing trip to Kolob Reservoir.