My memories.

Ah, tonight was a wonderful night!  Joseph and I watched the documentary on President Thomas S. Monson (President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) which was so inspiring!  It really makes me want to be more involved in doing service for others.  He's done so much to serve everyone around him and it makes me feel like I've done nothing!  Even when I know that's not true.  I think it's a very good goal to try to be more like him though.  Very selfless with all that he does.  After the video was over we were sort of just sitting around being bored when Joseph started talking to me a little bit about the fun things they would do on his mission, one of them being "a Tim-Tam Slam."  For those of you who are unfamiliar with a Tim-Tam Slam, I'll inform you, apparently it's the "best."  You make hot chocolate (why they even drank hot chocolate in the blistering heat of Taiwan is crazy to me, but whatever) and set the cup on the floor, they would then take a Tim-Tam (a little chocolate square with some nuget inside) bite off the two opposite corners and drink as quickly as they could the hot chocolate through the straw they made with the Tim-Tam.  All this while laying on your stomach on the floor.  I can only suppose they did that because you felt like barfing afterward and could easily lay down and die a little.  Once he told me this story it became perfectly clear what we needed to do next.  Go buy some Tim-Tams and slam them like they've never been slammed before.  Alas, we couldn't find them.  So we came home and had some hot chocolate anyway.

  

Now I could pretend this is a photograph of my own creation... actually, yes, that's what I'll do.  I MADE THIS.  Doesn't it look wonderful?  I love hot chocolate.  Tonight, while drinking the scalding hot liquid as fast as I could (as it is apparently tradition to burn every inch of my mouth when I have the opportunity) I was reminded of the wonderful days of my youth.  The days where I had no cares.  When I would go and sled outside for hours not realizing I was starving, dead tired and half frozen. I would stand on the porch while my mom (pretty violently) broomed me off to avoid getting snow in the house.  And I would sit in my clean dry clothes slowly defrosting and drink some hot chocolate, burning my tongue, but completely at peace.  

My thoughts. Yes I'm venting.

TOLERANCE.  I've found something interesting.  I always thought the word tolerance really coincided with the political team the Liberals (I'm talking about the tolerance Liberals preach for).  However, over the past few days I've gained a knowledge and an understanding that I hadn't before seen.

A definition of Tolerance : 2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
But lets get a little more, a little deeper shall we?
Another definition of Tolerance : 1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc.,differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry

It is not toleration to have (for example) 10 gay friends when you believe in gay marriage/gay rights.  It is not toleration to be pro-choice.  This is not toleration even if you aren't gay or would never get an abortion.  However, this is the kind of "toleration" that many preach for.   But it will never be toleration until you actually accept someone even when you don't agree with them.  Many people preach tolerance especially in the United States where you are free to be whoever you want to be.  People preach tolerance - but those same people are hypocrites.  They won't accept someone if they disagree with them.

Anyway, all this comes down to my discovery, as a fairly conservative person, I am more tolerant than the most "tolerant" Liberal.  Huh, weird.


This might not make sense or have come together in the most poetic way but venting feels soo good.

Our little not-so secret

Ah, a nice Sunday is calming down into a rain storm.  The amount of rain that Utah is getting these days is unheard of.  I'm assuming this is the "rainy season," as in, it rains once about every week or so.  Even the rain seems kind of bored though.  There's no personality, no "oomph."  But heck, I'll take what I can get.

My life right now has suddenly taken a turn!  I may or may not have expected such a turn.  But it's been pretty rough.  I'm starving all the time.  Which is a pleasant change from not wanting food near me or in me.  Apple Chips and I were good friends though for about a week.  They taste like tree-bark but boy they did wonders for the nausea.  I have also noticed that I have immediately aged about 60 years.  I NEED to be in bed by 10 (even though I would prefer about 6ish, but I consider that unnecessary), if that for some reason does not happen the next day is ruined.  AND if I do not succeed in taking a nap in the middle of the day the next day still might be ruined, it's a little less of a surety though.  What could all of this MEAN?!  By golly, if you haven't gotten it yet, you silly, then I MUST RESORT to photographic thing!

This blurry picture is of "Answer."  That's not the name I gave it HOWEVER, it does provide me with the UTMOST helpful answer to the burning question "what the heck is wrong with me?"  Yes, after looking back and forth between this pee stick and the box it turns out that I am PREGNANT!  Hmmm... that didn't take very long.  And heck, it was a LOT easier than I expected it to be.

It's so weird to think that Joseph and I will be parents.  It's still sort of blowing my mind.  The nausea and uncomfortableness is a constant reminder that I am growing a baby inside of me.  It makes me wonder how in the world someone could not want a thing like this.  It's a miracle.  It testifies to me even more the greatness of our Heavenly Father.  What a gift He has given us to bring children into the world.  What a responsibility!  But I'm happy.  I keep looking at Joseph imagining him with our baby who will then be our toddler and so on.  I can see him running around with our kid like a crazy person just trying to get a laugh or a giggle out.  I look forward to our baby pooping on Joseph while I get the bath water ready because he took the baby out of his diaper too soon.  Ha!  That'll be hilarious.  All in all, I look forward to watching our children grow and watching them grow with Joseph and I.  

My bad.

I failed at hard-boiling eggs today.  You literally JUST have to put eggs into boiling water.  What the heck?    I've reached new heights of chef in my house.

Our Mount Timpanogos hike

I realize that it looks like all we do is go on hikes.  That's not really the case.  However, I don't mind people assuming that I'm a physically active person.  : /

The top of Mount Timpanogos is something like 12,000 ft.  We began our hike the evening of Thursday the 22nd.

DAY 1

Mt. Timpanogos.

Joseph's pack was bigger than he was.  Unfortunately (for Joseph) we only have one pack... so he carried both of our stuff.  I carried a little backpack of a couple water bottles and food.  He did a super good job though.  It really worked out though, Joseph carrying 60 lbs of stuff and me 10 lbs made it so we needed breaks at the same time.

So for the first couple of miles of the hike there were a load of little waterfalls the crossed the trail.  It was really neat and very pretty.  AND when we were running low on water on our way back down we stopped and filled up at one of the falls.  The water was freezing and it only had a little bit of dirt.

For one of our breaks we stopped in Stuart Falls.  It was a cool, we got to sit behind the waterfall and eat some snacks.  BUT in order to get there we had to climb up this..

...a rock slide.  We were pretty sure we were following the trail, but this thing was really difficult to climb up, not to mention really long.  I guess it was a nice detour.  Nice in the sense that I was tired and ended up rock climbing for no reason.  Fortunately the actual trail was near by.

The sun was going down, and we weren't anywhere near our camp site.  

DAY 2

By the time we got to our camp site the sun was completely down.  But the moon was SO bright!  We didn't even use flashlights because everything was so lit up.  I've never been so happy in my LIFE to see a little rocky meadow.  However I also don't remember ever seeing a rocky meadow before.

After meeting up with our friends, we set up our tent, ate dinner and went to sleep.  As you can see by this picture of Joseph, the caterpillar look really helped out because it was freezing!

Number one, this was the view from our tent.  Number two, yes that's snow.

Ah, our little hill in the meadow.  It was really pretty at night, but EVEN better in the daylight.  

Our original plan was to hike 5 1/2 miles the first day and do the 2.1 miles the second day to the summit. But on our start of day 2, we both realized just how much pain we were both in.  And we decided that getting all the way down the mountain was more important than actually completing the hike.  GOOD THING TOO, because when we FINALLY got to the car I could barely move my legs.  And when we got home my hip hurt so much that even laying down hurt.  And the next day we were to sit in the car for 17 hours!  Ah, that was a memorably painful time.  But a good hike nonetheless.  I learned just how hard I can push myself.  

Maybe next time I'll get all the way to the top.

Our lazy days

First, I will be posting soon our hike up Timp and our vacation out to the mid-west.  The title of this post is completely appropriate to my mood in posting those things.  There are a lot of pictures I need to go through and witty commentary I need to think of.

Second, I love this movie,

I'm going to watch it and it will be magical.  I found on the back of the movie case that (the genius) Bosley Crowther from The New York Times said it's "a ginger-peachy show."  Mr. Crowther, you stole the words right out of my mouth.

Third, I love this movie,

Even if Adam makes me want to punch him in the face with his arrogance and stubbornness I do love a good 'ole fashioned musical (with amazing choreography mind you).  What better movie is there when there's an entire scene of choreography featuring the massively useful tool, the axe?  I'll tell you what, there is no better movie.  I could probably watch this every day.  If you haven't seen it, you're a fool.  But it's okay, I own the movie, and I'm willing to help a brotha out.


By the bye, (Joseph's mom) Deya made me some salsa and I'm pretty sure I could bathe in the stuff.  But I don't suggest actually doing that..

Our fluff sitting adventures. My obsession.

So I'm waiting for Joseph to come back home from his "meeting" with the boys.  They're all planning their hiking and camping trip for the end of the summer.  It's been hard for me (being that I have an obsession with Joseph that I can't begin to describe) to imagine him gone for three days.  Need I remind you that I haven't been away from him for longer than about 6 hours straight since we got married.  It kind of tears me up thinking I'll have to go to bed alone, wake up alone and eat alone.  The thought that he could get hurt somewhere in the forest or drown in that stupid river makes me want to shrivel up and die.  Even though I'm completely aware that he's done more dangerous things and survived, it scares me to think I won't have him here.  But amongst the fears there is a glimmer of happiness, I know that even if something did happen to him that we have been sealed together in the temple.  I know that we will be together for all time (a time that is much longer than this 80 or so years of life we have here).  I'm also aware that hiking and camping are the things that make Joseph the happiest and I want nothing more than for him to be happy.  It seems like an easy thing  - let him go on his trip - he'll be happy and I'll be happy, we'll be together forever, what's the problem?  I suppose there isn't one.  Perhaps the separation anxiety I have is one that will decrease once we're actually separated for a time, even though I know it will probably never really go away.

Eh, it'll give me some time to watch a season or two of M*A*S*H.  Oh how I love that show.  And I can eat what I want - and that will include meals that contain a box of stuffing mix and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  Yes.  That sounds nice.  Yay for ice cream!  While I digress to a single lifestyle for a few days I might as well whip out a tea party with my stuffed animals.

Our fluff sitting adventures. Part four.

The fourth of July started out a cold one.  We went to church and came home to take a LONG nap.  After eating breakfast at about 4 in the afternoon, Heather and Silas called to see if we wanted to take a hike to go see some waterfalls.  A perfect Sunday adventure!  Going to see Heavenly Fathers creation was pretty amazing.  I say, more hikes on Sundays!

The very beginning of our hike.  This was where we parked our car.  We were somewhere around the foot of Mt. Timpanogos. 

Silas was soo ready.  Little Tesla looks less than excited.

Posing, for a candid photo.  Very candid indeed.

We, slowly, were making our way up the side of some mountain.  Occasionally the forest would clear making visible the beauty of God's creation.  It made me want to go camping.  And little Fluff did such a good job!

Don't mind the back of my head, but this was what a majority of the hike looked like.  I believe I remember Joseph calling this part Jurassic?  I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean, I can only assume there was a ferocious beast with teeth the size of my leg watching us from amongst the trees.  

Okay, seriously, just pretend the back of my head isn't there.  Again, the trees cleared revealing quite a view!  I was pretty sure I was going to see a nun running around on the hill singing to herself.

I'm not sure how long ago this happened but I was told there was an avalanche, so all of the trees were bent or broken.  There were a lot of trees in the background that were all at 90 degree angles.  Fortunately we were almost to our destination so turning back wasn't really an option - I just had to live with the fact that I might have gotten stoned to death.

 

We made it!  The hike wasn't so bad.  Here is husband enjoying his rest, and looking rather suave I might add.  Fluff was having a really good time being out in NATURE

(goulet).

On  our way back the sun was setting behind the mountains.  A very good trip.

By the time we got back little Sophie fluff dog was soo brown!  Not to mention smelly too.  So upon our return to the apartment we gave her a nice bath.  She didn't like it much and kept shaking dirty water off in both Joseph's and my face.  But it was obvious she was happy to be clean, once we roughed her up a bit in the towel she ran at top speeds around the apartment weaving around things.  A very good way to celebrate the fourth.  I am grateful to live in a country with the rights and freedoms we have.  I think it's important to protect them so future generations can live in the place we know and love.  This land of opportunity is a special and chosen land of our Heavenly Father.  A place of religious freedom - a place that the gospel had an opportunity to be restored to its fullness.  

Our fluff sitting adventures. Part three.

Joseph and I decided to take a walk today into Slate Canyon which happens to be just down the road from where we're staying.  We brought Sophie with us to put a little variety in her life.  She did pretty well.  She was apparently hot, trying to find any and all shade possible, even if it was the shadow Joseph was creating from his body.  

Check out my sweet shades.  They have UV protection.

But Joseph pulls them of better than me by far.  He's so sassy.

During our adventure we happened upon a door in the ground that apparently had been tried several times to open. 

It came included with pried open corners and bullet holes.  And it was still closed?

I guess the homeless guy found a way in... 

I found all of his stuff too.  Pretty nice place.  It was furnished with a football, garbage and some of the owners fine artwork - like that abstract one on the pole there.

AND we found a hen.  We named it Frodo because it totally had the hairiest feet.  It was awesome and after chasing it around for a while we left it alone, mainly because Sophie completely failed her dogly duties.

Ah, yet another wonderful day had with my loverly husband.  Tonight we are continuing the adventure to J-Dawgs - great American food for watching some fireworks on the roof.  Yay 3rd of July!  

Our fluff sitting adventures. Part two.

Babysitting Sophie has been fun.  She's been pretty cute.  Yesterday while I was perusing the internet, Sophie started running around and desperately wanting to go into the back rooms (there is a door separating the living room and the hallway to the back two bedrooms which are the little boys rooms).  I thought she was trying to be sneaky and relieve her bowels back there, so I took her outside.  But upon our return inside she went straight back to that door again.  I decided to let her back there (following her) to see what she wanted (perhaps a toy of hers or something).  Once allowed into the hallway she ran straight to the oldest boys room, I let her in.  She paced quickly around the room looking under the bed and all over until she finally jumped on top of the bed looking around for something.  I realized that she was looking for the oldest boy!  We left the room and she went directly to the master bedroom door, I'm sure still looking for the boy.  It was pretty cute.  She does it every once in a while still, but fortunately Joseph has been more than helpful keeping her occupied.  If he's not throwing her toy around for her then he's chasing her around Sophie-ing her which is more than entertaining for me.  All in all, a pretty good time.

I forgot to mention why we're fluff sitting.  Our friends Robin and Neal are in the midwest spending time with both of their families.  In just a few days they'll also be attending Robin's grandma's baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!  It's such exciting news for the entire family.  What a great blessing for her.  Her grandma will then be able to be sealed to her family for time and all eternity - what an incredible blessing to be with the people you love forever!  I feel truly blessed everyday when I wake up next to Joseph, and I know that no matter what happens, we will be together for the rest of forever because we were sealed in the temple.