Spring Break: The Pictures that Present our Personality Post

Pictures of me throwing my arms out in the "ROY!! INVINCIBLE!!!!!" pose:

Pictures of Aaron "interacting with the environment:"

Us desecrating and climbing all over stuff ancient Fremont Indians created:

Pictures that showcase us as x-treme, hard-core hikers:

This is looking down from the rim.

Next time, we're going by mule.

The view from Cedar Ridge

Climbing back up was the worst!

Weeping Rock at Zion National Park - bending with the wind

We thought we were cool for making it to Weeping rock, so we continued on the river path toward the Narrows. It was snowing.

The clay-mud behind the waterfall was simultaneously sticky and slippery.

And the only way to get it off our shoes was to walk in the newly fallen wet snow.

I caught the waterfall.

Can't get cooler than that.

See? More snow!

Proof we made it to the top waterfall!

As you can tell from the extreme weather conditions, the intensity of the hikes, and the general backcountry look... We are two very hard core hikers.

But we decided to prove it again the next day at Kolob Canyon. Actually, when we arrived, we weren't allowed up the canyon because of snow. But as we mulled around the visitor's center, the ranger suddenly got a phone call and down came the plow. We booked it and were the very first ones up the newly cleaned canyon so we could be the first ones....

...hiking in 6 inches of freshly fallen snow!

We were not prepared with boots or anything, so Aaron's feet got the most wet while I walked in his footsteps.

But we were rewarded gorgeously.

Proof we made it back down in one piece! We seriously are rock awesome hikers!

Married People Are No Fun

So tonight I am writing my blog because I have thoughts on my mind. (Imagine!) A couple of friends have recently blogged about being single. I've really enjoyed reading the thoughts on their minds. So here I go!

Married people are no fun. --- My younger brother

Because I decided not to go to a movie with him tonight even though I wasn't really doing much because my husband went to hang out with his friends and I went to a ward potluck dinner where not many people attended but it was my responsibility to set up and plan it and clean up so when I came home and realized I had to wash the dishes and finish the laundry and iron our clothes for tomorrow and wet-swiffer the kitchen floor and scrub mold off the bathroom ceiling (hey, the rent's affordable), I knew I couldn't go out and play more when most of the day we spend doing "entertainment" activities (actually really awesome ones) like going to a falconry competition and seeing a musical at the Hale and definitely NOT spending our Saturday getting things ready for Sunday.

So yeah, married people are no fun.

"Marriage is the tomb of friendship. It appears to me a very selfish state. Why do people, in general, as soon as they are married, centre all their cares, their concerns, and pleasures in their own families? Former acquaintances are neglected or forgotten. The tenderest ties between friends are weakened, or dissolved; and benevolence itself moves in a very limited sphere." ---Hannah Foster, "The Coquette"

It's from a book I read in a Women Writers of the 19th Century class I took while pursuing my English degree at USU. Basically it's a moral tale where a girl is too too flirty and gets her tragic comeuppance while her best friend gets married the proper way and gains the desired reward. So after she says this her friend writes back:

"It is the glory of the marriage state to refine by circumscribing our enjoyments. Here we can repose in safety."

I cannot deny that I have felt the glory of the marriage state, refining my enjoyments, reposing in the safety and company of my husband. I have reveled in the realization that if I don't want to go out, I don't have to go out - I can sit at home in a sweatshirt, wrapped up in a blanket, watch a mediocre chick flick, and it's totally fine. Reposing in safety.

But neither can I deny that some of the tenderest ties I have had with my friends have become weakened. Former acquaintances are neglected and yes, even forgotten. Of course I will hang out with my little brother soon - that's not the point. Friends are different from family, in this case because I probably won't be running into them at the next Sunday dinner. In fact, I'll probably only be running into them when we reach out to each other and make a plan to do such.

Which suddenly has become a difficult feat whilst I'm reposing here in safety.

So, the obligatory obvious cavet: Marriage is happy and I love it and I love my husband and I would never go back and change things, because I'm super positive that this is the right and best thing, and I mean it! (If you know me at all you know I actually do feel this way, and that I'm just throwing it in for balance....)

Still, my gain has come with some loss, some grief, and some pain. The companionship and closeness of froomates - you know, friends+roommates; the energy and excitement from living in a cute little house with 6 women and 6 times the trauma/drama; and the tender ties of hearts knit together in Relief Society in singles wards, bonds forged from the shared trial of singledom, a sisterhood of which I feel no longer a part.

In all the awesomeness that has been my newlywed-ness, I haven't yet dealt with, though I have felt the pain, of the "leaving behind" of treasured parts of my life.

So I grieve for these losses.

Summer Recap: in PHOTOS!

The snow today made me want to remember all the awesome summer things I did, not but a few short months ago.

Let me explain.

No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

First, there was this flock of geese that stayed in my neighbor's yard for two days.

Somewhere in July, Lisa went with us to see fireworks.

The Cabin Johnson's visited Utah, and just as I predicted, Aaron and Greg were Brothers from Another Mother. Here we caught them both wearing old-school arcade game T-shirts.

We pretended we were single and went with the single's ward to a Bee's game.

Oh, and we Moabed.

We played a free game of mini-golf at the Salt Lake Arts Center --- on a course of "art" miniature golf holes.

One Par 3 even gave you a free game of Donkey Kong when you made it in the hole. Aaron was excited to see the real thing instead of just the one on his T-shirt.

Right before school started we road-tripped to California for a wedding reception of one of Aaron's friends. We enjoyed the nicer part of town....

...as well as the lesser-known Hicksville side of Malibu.

On the way home, we found the Hoover Dam has been eclipsed by its gargantuan neighbor bridge.

The Ethel M Chocolate Factory outside Vegas was nice, but the cactus and rock garden outside was much more entertaining. Lisa and I pretended to be Saguaros....

....while Aaron tried to pretend to be another. Didn't work, buddy.

We visited The Strip, but the best part was a little splurge to see the Shark Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

It was like ...walking through an aquarium!

The spiky Spinefish were my favorite.

Back in Utah, we had a very windy afternoon trip to Dugway with the Bills. It was too windy to even shoot off rockets.

But we did gather for some intense ping-pong back at the Bills homestead.

Austin had to be all gross and find a freaking huge bug. And of course none of us could resist looking at it.

Aaron's family goes to the Sheepdog Trials in Heber every year. We fittingly watched "Babe" on the portable DVD player during the drive up.

It was less like a rodeo than I expected - much more civilized.

Finally, the summer culminated in our triumphant ascent of Mount Timpanogos. Seriously, who built a house at the top!?

Coming back down... we couldn't believe we were just at the top of that.

END of super-long, probably-boring post. But guess what? END OF SUMMER, TOO. Thanks, snow!!!

A Blog About Food (Because Everyone Seems To Be Doing It)

I don't know how I feel anymore. I used to be so in love. It used to be like, "it's a special occasion where we get all fancy and make ourselves pretty and spend a lot of time together but then we go our separate ways." But now it's more like, "here we are again, just like yesterday and the day before, you and me, nothing special but still too important to overlook, so whaddaya say?"

Of course I'm not talking about my husband. I love him dearly, in a much more real way than I ever did while we were just dating. (Cheese warning!! Comin' right atcha! Oh, sorry, too late.) No, I'm talking about DINNER.

You can ask my mom - I cooked before. I did. Or, ask my roommates. We had this each-person-cooks-once-a-week thing going for a good while, and it worked out great. See, when you have a week to plan, and it feels special, you can cook pretty much anything.

But now that we need dinner every day? It's terrifically difficult. It's terrificult!

(Dang...that sounds a little wrong. Like a terrible cult or something.)

I really don't mind preparing food - I've been watching a lot of this overproduced competition cooking show "Master Chef" on Hulu.com lately, so the actual preparation isn't dreadful. It's sort of fun, especially pretending I'm an expert and know what I'm doing.

But the hardest part is deciding. Blankly staring at the stove like it's a piece of paper and I have writer's block. Opening the fridge and everything delicious I remember buying suddenly scurries behind a nearly-empty milk carton or bottle of pickles like a cockroach hides from the light. Canvassing the countertops for anything but that moldy tomato or wilted piece of lettuce. Searching the shelves when all I can see is ramen, peanut butter, and Instant Quaker Oatmeal. I want T-shirts that say "WHAT SHOULD WE EAT".

I know, I know - I need to plan my meals ahead of time. Once I get a good repertoire of recipes I'll be better at performing on-demand. Practice practice practice!

Still, ideas can't hurt. Allow me to pick your collective brains: What did you have for dinner tonight? What do you wish you had for dinner tonight?