south fork and fall leaves

After seeing the gorgeous fall colors on the mountain, we decided to go for a little picnic  lunch up to South Fork with Codi last week.  Rylee loved her trees again- she just can't get enough of the leaves on the trees!  She definitely loves being outside and I couldn't love having a little hiking buddy more.    

She also loved the running water sounds and fell asleep for a little nap in her carrier while we hiked around.  When we stopped for lunch and put her on the picnic blanket, she squealed as she watched the leaves fall down from the trees up above.  Her whole body got into her excitement!  

She's also developed quite a pterodactyl scream lately.  It's high-pitched and she throws in a few raspberries here and there to mix it up every once in a while.  Toad and I couldn't stop laughing at Rylee's antics!

Aunt Misty also made the cutest pair of boots for Ry-Ry.  Adorable.  This girl is so spoiled by her aunties.  It's ridiculous. 

timp cave.

Today was our annual Timpanogos Cave hike.

This time, Dad actually got to go and so did Annette (a.k.a. my 2nd mother who helped raise me growing up)!

We were at the visitor center by 7:00 in the morning.  Say what?!  Apparently we really like hiking in the early morning hours.  Getting up before 6 during the summer is a big deal for me.  It usually does NOT happen.  Good thing I love my family or I would have stayed in bed and got my beauty sleep.

And so, the annual picture by the visitor center...

The sign right outside the cave entrance.

Trail lovin'.

Poor T.  Every time he went to eat his sandwich for lunch (at 8:30 in the morning) we were demanding another picture.  Which explains the following...

 {Me, Annette, T}

This one's a little better.  Though this time he was interrupted eating his Clif bar.  The "Carrot Cake" Clif Bar that he was incredibly excited about finding yesterday at Sprouts market while we were shopping for hiking snacks.

What a crack up.

For the first time, Dad beat us to the top.  He had a burst of energy during the hike up the switchbacks and never slowed down!  We were struggling to keep up with him and the mama this time around.  Apparently, the younger generation is getting lazy (said Ranger Brad at the top of the cave).

 Just one of the many faces of my father.  He gets pretty funny when we're in the mountains and camping.  This is the real Daddy.  This is where I get my love of funny faces.  I blame him.

Group picture inside the cave!

Such a fun tradition.  We saw a bajillion centipedes and a handful of lizards while hiking and saw the cave bacon, ice cream sundae, and the upside down chicken in the cave.

Oh how we love hiking Timp. Cave!

another day. another hike. another birthday.

My sister Misty is a pretty special person.  She's one of the best sisters and is always taking care of everyone else.  She is one of the hardest workers I've ever known and is consistently and constantly doing everything needed to make the charter school she works at to succeed.  Her abilities at working with people and being patient with them long enough to not strangle them amazes me.

I used to go down to her room and sprawl out on her bed and we'd talk for hours about life, the gospel, and eat lots of chocolate she stashed under her bed for me.  During the summer we'd choose a night to stay up all night long on the pull-out couch and play old school Nintendo into the wee hours of the night until we conquered every level.

She was also on her mission the day T and I were married.  I cried over the fact that she wouldn't be there with us.  She wrote both of us separate letters explaining how proud of us she was for being sealed in the temple and how badly she wanted to be with us.  But, she was doing the Lord's work and He needed her in Guatemala.

She's pretty special.

Today is her birthday.  We decided to spend the day with all the girls and start off by hiking the "Y."  

I forgot how steep those switchbacks are.  Good thing the Toad and I have been working out or my legs would have been dead.

{Me, Myst, Toad}

The mama went with us too!

{Mama, Myst}

We all made it to the top and the bottom of the hike!  Hallelujah!  We even saw some older men who were running up to the Y and back.  Seriously?!  Maybe I'll be that in shape one day.

One day.

After being healthy and hiking, we grabbed some Wendy's Kid Meals for lunch.  We even got some rockin' toys!  Grandma treated us all to lunch.

Deliciousness.

Junior Cheeseburgers with a frosty and fries are the perfect combo.  Perfect size for this little girl.

Happy birthday, Myst!  

summer thoughts.

The first week of summer break is always a favorite.  I get to sleep in (no more having to get to school by 7!), exercise in the morning, and actually plan out grocery shopping!  Usually I run around the grocery store with my head cut off in a hectic craze pulling things off of the shelves that hopefully go together for dinner.

Not anymore!  Now I can finally experiment and make those recipes I've been pinning for the past 8 months.  Goodbye Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, hello healthy-delicious-homemade-goodness!

First stop, was making some broccoli salad!  T's mom makes a killer broccoli salad that everyone always gobbles up so we decided to try our own version.

Going off of this recipe as a starting point, I tweaked it to be a little healthier.  We swapped out the mayo and sugar for greek yogurt and honey.  Then we added snow peas and cashews to the mix with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to top it off!

We liked it so much that we've made it twice in the past week!

With summer here (along with the hot heat) we've been trying to not use the oven.  We made a great stir-fry a couple of nights ago and it was delicious!  One of our best yet.  We marinaded chicken in teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon, and McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning.  After it marinaded for 5 hours, we cooked it up and then sauteed the veggies and mixed it all together!

This chicken was dang good! Moist.  Melt in your mouth.  Yum.

The other thing I've loved about summer so far is exercising in the morning!  I've never loved exercising at night and trying to exercise and then get to school by 7 in the morning is kind of impossible.  Especially if you're not a morning person (like yours truly).  

Enter summer vacation!

 The Toad and I have been exercising in the mornings together and man has it felt good!  For part of our exercise today, we decided to go hiking with mom, T, and Kimberly.  Our plan was to hike the "Y", but they had it closed off due to the fact they were bringing the body of the missing BYU student down from where he fell (super sad story, bytheway).  

Rather than head home defeated, we drove over to Rock Canyon and hiked around for about an hour!

The mama had major plans today, so in order to have her come with us, we had to start our adventure at 7 this morning.  Ick.  BUT we did see the gorgeous sunrise over the mountains while hiking.  That might have almost been worth it.

Kimberly is one of the Toad's friends from growing up.  She's also a good friend of the family- we even graduated in elementary education at the same time!  It's fun having her back from her mission!

And, of course, it's always fun hiking with this handsome hunk.  He's usually nice to have around.  We actually hiked up to one of the little caves around Rock Canyon this time.  Too bad there was a bunch of graffiti everywhere on the rock face.  

Although, for picture purposes, we did like the big heart down by T's feet!  

Can I just mention one more time how much I love this man of mine?  He sure does put up with a lot and does a lot for me.  He's one in a million!

Lady is starting to get old and isn't up for hiking as long as she used to.  I used to put her in my hiking backpack all the time when I was younger.  So it was only natural to stuff her in our backpack and let her chill out for awhile.  She eventually fell asleep for a few minutes.

Spoiled dog.

Is my mom not the most beautiful lady you've ever met?  She gets more tan than any of us (from working outside all of the time and getting her lawn to look perfect.)  She also passed on some pretty awesome genes to her daughters.

And what happens when sisters buy the same shirt?  They end up wearing it on the same day to go hiking... Great minds think alike!  Or maybe we've been hanging out way too much this week.

Seriously though.  This sister of mine has been one of my besties forever.  She's seen and done it all with me.  I'm pretty lucky to have her for a sister.   Not everyone can say that their sisters are some of their best friends!

Why is it we can never take a normal picture?

{Matchy-matchy!}

Summer is treating us well so far!  Though I do really miss some of my little monsters.   It's been hard adjusting to not seeing them everyday.  

However, I'm soaking up every bit of summer that I can before I start doing things for school again!

Gratefulness Overload

Today I am grateful.

I am grateful to be in love with the most dashing, lovable, and adorable man I could have ever married. He's changed my life for the better and makes me laugh and smile on a daily basis. He's my everything.

I'm grateful for sisters who are my best friends (one sister not pictured). I love how we can talk about anything and help each other out with life. My sisters are always there for me if anything goes wrong in life and are part of the amazing supportive family I come from.


I'm grateful for my parents.
My parents are some of the most compassionate, loving, and phenomenal people I know. they give and give and give and never expect anything in return. They know the definition of hard work and taught me and my sisters how to work and take pride in doing things with our hands. Ever since I married T, my already close relationship with my parents has escalated to another level. I can see their wisdom a lot more and I rely on their advice.


I'm grateful for T's side of the family.
I'm grateful that I finally get to experience life with both a younger and older brother. I love having younger sisters and two more amazing parents who are fun to be around and give sound advice. I have certainly been blessed to have married into quite the remarkable family!

I'm also extremely grateful to be working where I do with the children I get to teach. I have an incredible class who go above and beyond to learn and to please me. I love them like I would my own children and wish I could take them all home with me! I get to meet some amazing parents and work with top-notch educators.
(Due to privacy rights, I don't show picture of my students.)

I'm also grateful to one especially wonderful woman in my life. A woman who has shared stories, love, and laughter with me since I was born. A woman who bought me and T a beautiful picture of Christ for our living room. Not only is it beautiful, it invites the spirit into our home and lets those that enter it know that our life centers on Christ.
We love you, Becky.

Life is going so well and I love every moment of it. I love teaching- it is truly my passion and one of the major talents Heavenly Father blessed me with.

I am grateful.

Perfect.

The St. George Temple is breathtakingly beautiful.

I loved the intimate setting inside and the friendly temple workers.

The stark white exterior against the blue sky was phenomenal.

Don't you think?

Then throw a hot hubby into the mix who's a heart-stopping kisser and the day becomes perfect.


I had to stick the sister picture in too...

Yes, we're related.

And we're okay with that.

Speak no evil. Hear no evil. See no evil.


Thank you, St. George, for a wonderful weekend.

The Princess and The Frog

Except in this case it's The Brain and The Toad.
And they're married now.
The Toad really did look like a princess and the Brain didn't look too bad himself.
But seriously, my sister was beautiful!


Yep. They're awesome.
And it was kinda cool to basically handpick my brother-in-law.
I should set up a matchmaking business.
I'd make bank.

Oh, and guess what?
Today I had an interview with a government official.
I thought I was getting audited.
Turns out he was only doing a background check for a friend of mine.

Who knew that the government did that for anyone who works in the Department of Homeland Security?

That was a cool experience.

Update: Poem Form

There once was a girl who taught in the first grade

and many games she made.
Melinda was a great mentor
And was never a bore

This same girl celebrated one year
with her very sweet dear.
They stayed in a Castle room
and that weekend didn't even touch a broom.
(go here for pictures of our castle)

Misty finally landed back in the states
Thank goodness she wasn't late.
We made lots of pretty signs
and my man looked pretty fine.

Jay turned 22
"Woohoo!"
T spoiled her rotten
with a pair of lovely moccasins.

March and April have treated us well
And next week will be even more swell.
J finally graduates
isn't that so great?!