Hiking a Mountain...

Tyler and I decided that it would be fun to hike Mount Timpanogos with a group of people from our old ward (the 22nd ward). So... we left at 12:30 am on Saturday and returned home very exhausted at 9:30 am on Saturday. We hiked over glaciers, streams, and rocks. There were many waterfalls and such. It was a very pretty hike. At night we couldn't see nearly as well as on the hike back down during the day. We made it to the top at about 5:30 am and stayed almost long enough to see the sunrise.
This picture is what it looked like at the top before we started hiking down...


We decided that we could be able to see the sun rise on our hike down just as well as sitting there waiting for it. We got some beautiful pictures! I think it was a pretty cool experience, but one that is the kind of thing that I would only do once in my lifetime.



The sun was just barely starting to come up... It was really very pretty.



If you look closely at the top of this picture you can see a little peak in the middle... we were in the basin to the right of it. I took this picture when we were about 3/4 of the way down the mountain... so you can kind of get an idea of how far we hiked. It was a total of about 12 miles.


This is a pretty waterfall on our way down... the sun was kind of in our eyes. It started getting very hot at this point. During the night when we were hiking it was the perfect temperature. We were able to just wear short sleeves and pants. However, when we got to the top it was a bit windy and we had to put our sweatshirts on.



These are mountain goats that we saw on our way down. There were baby mountain goats too. You probably can't see them very well, but they are the white specks in the picture. I think we should have rode them down the mountain. It would have been much easier on our legs!


Another waterfall along the hike. This one was probably a mile and half or so from the beginning of the trail. Very pretty!

It was a great hike! We are still recovering from it, but I guess that just shows how out of shape we are.

4th of July

We had a fun 4th this year! Neither one of us had to work so we really did have a nice 3-day weekend! It was so nice to have extra time together. In the morning we got up kind of early and went to the parade in Provo. It is supposedly the largest parade in Utah. People are so crazy! Many camp out overnight to save their spot for the parade. We went the morning of and got a fairly decent spot. Xan and Jeremy accompanied us to the parade. We had fun!



Here are a few pictures from the parade. Some of the floats were really cool! Tyler was pretty excited because he got a picture of Glen Beck(he's a radio talk show guy)! After the parade we went home to relax for a little bit. We got ready for our cook out and ice blocking at Rock Canyon Park. It was super windy up there, but still lots of fun! We have tons of pictures from this part, so I will just post a few...


Me and Tyler! =)


My sister and me!


Barbequing at Rock Canyon!


Ice blocking train!
Very Dangerous!

Me Ice Blocking!

Sparklers!!!!

So, this is it! It was a really nice time! I did miss shooting off our own fireworks, but this year was pretty good as well.

Birthday Time and Kite Flying!!

Birthday!
I am kind of behind on this, but I figured better late than never. We celebrated our first birthday being married on June 13th. It just so happened that this year our birthday was on Friday the 13th. I got home from school and Tyler had put up streamers around the apartment and decorated with balloons. It was really cool! You can see some of the streamers in the background. For my birthday Tyler got me a cute "flirty apron", a gift certificate for tanning, and a sewing machine! These were all great gifts! He picked the perfect presents for me!













For his birthday I got him Mario Kart for the Wii, socks, Yorks, a Mika piano book, and the 3rd Pirates movie.











We went out to Chili's for dinner and then watched Surfs Up! It was nice to go on a date and just spend time together.
On Saturday we had a little party with friends. We went to 7 Peaks Water Park. It was great weather! A very hot day and it was fun to spend the day in the sun! After the water park we came home and had pizza, played Mario Kart, played a few other games, and watched Enchanted. It was a great day and so fun that some of our friends came and celebrated with us!

Kite Flying

A weekend before we decided to go buy kites from Wal-Mart and fly them in the park. Our friends Spencer, Emily, Sam, and Tamsen came with us. It was super fun! However, my kite did not fly super well even though it was cute. Oh well. We need to try again when it is windier.

<--This is Spencer trying to fly my kite.





<-- This is Emily and Tamsen! Emily is winding her kite.


<-- This is Sam with his new friend!


<-- This is Tyler and Spencer with Tyler's Spider Man kite!


<-- And of course this is us.

To hybrid, or not to hybrid... not such an easy question.

It seems that lately everyone has been turning to hybrids and subcompact cars to help with the cost of gas. That seems like the most logical thing to do in the face of $4/gal gas. It seems like a no brainer, right? Wrong! You have to look at all sides of it. Hybrids do save some people thousands of $$$ in gas every year vs. driving an SUV, but it's not the best solution for everyone. I was talking to my parents about a week ago about how they're handling the high gas prices. They seem rather indifferent towards the price even though my mom drives a Chevy Tahoe. I asked if she was going to trade it in for a smaller car. She says, "No way." The Tahoe is already paid off and a new car would just add another car payment. Besides, SUV's are very undervalued. So it's either pay $600/month for a new hybrid, or save $70/month on gas. I know toyotas are great and everything, but hybrids can't haul trailers. But what about the impact on the environment? SUV's pollute so much! While true, I don't think adding a hybrid to the streets is going to help. They don't exactly excrete roses out the tailpipe. If my parents sell their SUV, someone else will be driving the polluting hog. So, while you may brag about your 35 mpg hybrid, just look at your monthly car payment and that should bring you back to reality.

Disclaimer: I don't drive an SUV. My little 4 banger gets about 33 mpg on the freeway. Almost as good as a hybrid :) This is the article that got me thinking about this topic. My favorite quote is, "...She gets tired of the glares she gets from hybrid owners."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/06/12/suv.irpt/index.html

Our Honeymoon

As many of you know, we went to Disneyland for our honeymoon. We really had a blast and did not want to leave to come back to Provo. We got there on Wednesday night, checked into our hotel and then headed off to the happiest place on earth! Since it was a Wednesday no one was there. We got to ride so many rides all in the 3 hours or so that we were there. We rode Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Matterhorn to name a few. It was so nice to pretty much have free reign of the park and wait only 5 or 10 minutes in every line. Thursday we got up early and headed to the park. We rode some more rides and just had a blast. We were able to go back to our hotel for lunch and a nap. It was nice to go to our hotel and rest so we didn't wear ourselves out. We went back to the park at about 6 pm and rode some more rides. We got to ride the teacups, which was Tyler's favorite and Dumbo! Dumbo is apparently one the most favorite rides at Disneyland that everyone has to ride. We rode Dumbo on our Magical Morning when we got to go in early to the park. There was no line and I'm glad we were able to ride it. On Friday we went to California Adventure. This had rides geared more towards older people, like us! Our most favorite ride here was California Screamer! We rode in the very front every time, except once. After riding in the very front you could not go to the back. While we were riding it our eyes would tear up from the wind in our faces. One of first times on the ride they were having "technical difficulties" so they had to stop the ride. We were almost to where they let us off, but not quite. So, we had to sit on the track in the little car for about 10 mins. They came and let us off right where we were so we got to go behind the scenes of the ride to get out. It was pretty cool! Plus they gave us a free fastpass for any ride we wanted. This is one of our favorite pictures from the trip. You can see the outline of the California Screamer on the left side, the Ferris Wheel, and the orange (on the right) has swings inside. Plus the picture was taken at sunset. It's beautiful.

These are some of our favorite pictures from the California Screamer. We liked to make faces at the camera. Sometimes we made the same face on accident, it was kind of weird. We took pictures of the pictures so we wouldn't have to buy them. Sneaky! :) We rode the Hollywood Tower of Terror a couple of times. One time when we went on it there was a little boy about 5 or 6 and he did it! I was amazed! A man was nice enough to take our picture in front of it and he did a great job! Friday night we watched the parade at Disneyland. It was really neat! I enjoyed it and I think Tyler did as well. We forgot our camera that night, so we don't have any pictures of it. After the parade we were going to go back over to California Adventure so we could ride some more rides. We decided to get a fastpass for Indiana Jones before we left and come back to Disneyland during that time. I sent Tyler by himself and waited for him on a bench (big mistake!). He did indeed come back with fastpasses for Indiana Jones, however, these fastpasses were for 11:20-12:00 pm. We were planning on leaving the park at 10 at the latest. So, we laughed pretty hard about it and he know has a new nickname of "Fastpass". It was very entertaining. We were able to watch Fantasmic while we were there. It was an amazing water show that they do with Mickey and it's themed around the different Disney Princesses. It was really neat! The effects were amazing! We also watched the fireworks, which were sooo cool! I am just amazed at how extravegant they are. We decided that we had to get something to remember our trip to Disneyland. We got this really neat wooden picture frame. It will look great in our living room. We still need to develop a picture to put in it. We also got a Christmas tree ornament that has a bride (Minnie) and groom (Mickey) sitting on an engagement ring. It's cute. We were tempted to buy the bride and groom ears becaues they were so cute. However, we were practical and thought about how often we would wear them. Probably never after this trip. So, we just took a picture with them on instead. Which is all we really needed.

We also went to Huntington Beach for a day. It was great weather! The sand was hot to walk on, but the water was freezing. We took our cooler full of snacks and drinks. We enjoyed being in the warm 90 degree weather while knowing it was snowing in Provo. Tyler played in the water a little bit, but it was a little too cold for me. I went a little bit in, but not far. We played in the sand and I made Tyler into a mermaid! Doesn't he make a great mermaid?! hehehe Here are a few pictures.

We came home on Monday. Nothing too exciting about that. On the way home we did see a huge dessert tornado. It crossed the freeway right in front of us! It was scary. But luckily, we survived.

New Blog

We decided to start a blog so our friends and family can keep up with us! Just a little information about what we are currently doing. Tyler has been accepted to OSHU Dental School in Portland, OR. We will be moving there in the middle of August. Tyler is working full-time at the corporate APEX Office here in Provo. I am going to school, taking a lot of credits so I can graduate before we leave in August! We are excited to go to Portland and get out of Utah!
We just went on our honeymoon at the end of April. We went to Disneyland! It was such a blast! We got 5-day park-hopper passes and so we were able to come and go to Disneyland and California Adventure. We would go in the morning and then go back to hotel for lunch and rest time. We would then go back at night. It was in the 90's the whole time we were there! It was such a nice change from being in Provo. We went to Huntington Beach for a day and got a little sunburned. It was a great honeymoon! We are lucky to have been able to go.