Thursday, July 31, 2008

Deer!

So... the other day when I got home and I was about to park behind our place, I saw two does and two fauns playing and eating in the trees! I see deer at my house all the time... and I'm just thinking who needs to go camping to see deer when you can just look out your window?? :) Okay okay I know they aren't majestic bucks, but still... very cute!


(This was for you Shawn and Jana) :)

Monday, July 28, 2008

A'Camping We Will Go!

For Pioneer Day weekend we decided to take a few days to go camping with some friends. We took off Thursday evening from Payson with Shawn, Jana in their truck and Trevor, Me, Dave, and Heidi stuffed in Trevor's little Honda Civic!

We got there pretty late that night and had to set up camp in the dark using flashlights. Dave and Heidi brought a tent that was built with two bars that hold together by tension... and it took us about 20 tries before we realized there was something to go OVER these bars to hold them together so the tent would stay up... whew! What an adventure!

Well, the next morning, Shawn and Jana broke out their camping grill and cooked us all breakfast. Here's lovely Jana cooking away! :)After eating, we sat around and talked for a bit. This picture is Dave and Heidi and now would probably be a good time to mention that they got ENGAGED over the weekend! :) Dave took her up the mountain on a four-wheeler at sunset and asked her officially to marry him-- they had already been planning it for a couple weeks, she just didn't know he had a ring!!
This is also right after breakfast ... and Dave was talking about something and got excited and made a loud noise and this gesture-- and I caught it on camera. I don't think he has any idea that he makes faces like that all the time! :)
Soo we had some leftover eggs and hashbrowns and as we left them sitting on the table, a big fly found the food and went and told all of his other big fly friends, and before we knew it -- yes this is gross -- there were big flies all over the food! Those little black spots aren't burned things!
While we were eating breakfast the first day (Friday) one of our neighbors from across the field came over on his four-wheeler to say hello. He shot the breeze with us for a moment then commented that it was a shame that we only had one four-wheeler (Shawn's) and 3 couples. So... he proceded to offer us the use of two of their four-wheelers that they wouldn't be using. Of course, we graciously accepted the offer! What a nice man! This trusting gesture made our camping trip twice as fun as it would have been! So, the first day we hopped on and took a ride up the mountain to see some scenery! Here's me and Trevor with some pretty scenery in the background. Little did we know it would only get better! :)
About halfway through our first ride, Shawn and Jana stopped at a little path that you had to climb. It was just a short little hill on the left, but as you reached the top, scenery like this next picture was suddenly unfolded! I remember gasping from the hugeness and beauty of the rock formations.
And of course, as boys usually do, they got bored of looking at the scenery so they started throwing things down the gorge... little rocks... bigger rocks... whole trees, etc. Needless to say, they are crazy and could have easily slipped down that ledge on the right that you can sort of see in the picture. I was not condoning the activities... but of course there's no way to stop them when they get together! Oh dear! Heidi is videoing in this picture as well!
We got back on the four-wheelers and drove all the way up to the end of the trail and the highest point you can get where we were camping. It's called the pink cliffs... and it's no question why. They are gorgeous and very steep! Of course I made Trevor pose for the camera :)
Another posed shot from above -- nice creativity Dave! :)
Our second day into the camping trip, all of us had hair so dirty it was a little redder than usual from the red dirt on the four-wheeler trails. I couldn't stand it anymore so Heidi and I washed our hair. I'll admit, it was pretty pointless because we just went on another four-wheeler drive and got dirty all over again, but it sure felt good for the hour that it was clean!
This is a shot of some scenery from the second day of four-wheeler riding -- I think it's another angle of the pink cliffs.
Our four-wheeler ride the second day was SO incredibly fun because we found a trail that was really skinny, rocky, steep, and curvy. While going up the hill, Trevor had to gun it the whole way or we wouldn't have had enough momentum to get up some of the paths. It was SO much fun... and I had to cling to Trevor for dear life. After the ride, my arms were sore from holding on so tight! Going back down, it was so steep that you had to brake the whole way or you'd fly off a turn and wreck the four-wheeler. Dave almost did that on the very first turn.. it was SUPER steep and had very loose dirt, so that's a recipe for disaster. The rest of us had to get off our four-wheelers and manually turn them or we wouldn't have made it! It was intense! And so fun!

Our first day at camp, Trevor Dave and Shawn started up a fire in the fire pit and our neighbors came over to inform us that fire restrictions were up, and if we were caught making a fire it would cost us $5,000! So... we put our fire out and pouted because what's camping without a campfire and s'mores? :( We went to town to eat dinner that night...

Fortunately, we learned there was a designated camp site about 30 minutes down the dirt road where we could build a fire in the main fire pit as long as we occupied it before any other group did. It was free, too, instead of having a campsite... so that was nice. So, the second night we drove down to this place and there was no one there yet, so we started a fire to make tin foil dinners! Dave and Heidi cut up all the veggies and we all made our dinners and stuck them in the fire for a while, then ate to our heart's content. Here's Trevor taking out his meal:Later, Dave and Heidi made a delicious peach cobbler in their little dutch oven! It was also incredible! Here are Heidi, Dave, and Trevor with our wonderful campfire right after engorging themselves with cobbler -- they look so happy!
When it finally got dark, we ate s'mores and talked. And of course, the boys being the pyros that they are made the fire HUGE and then started drenching any leftover food that we didn't want in starter fluid and burning it. Oh... boys! :)

That night, when we got back to camp it had POURED where our campsite was. It was dark and muddy as we had to tiptoe across the field to our tents. The tents were stinky and muggy but somehow we all managed to fall asleep for the last night. I can't tell you how excited I was to get home and shower and sleep in a warm bed! Hooray!

Well, this last picture is a shot of a cool manmade tunnel bridge thing that we drove through on the 4 hour drive back. We thought it was cool, so we took a picture!
The trip was way fun and we had a fantastic time with friends, but Trevor and I both agree that we are all "camped out" for now. Maybe we'll go on another in a few months! :)

For now I'll enjoy my warm bed, clean shower, and bug-less home!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Sunday's Celebration

On Sunday, Jana was SOOO sweet and made a birthday cake for me! To my request, she made a funfetti cake with funfetti icing AND chocolate icing with sprinkles! Talk about spoiling me! :) Not to mention she got neapolitan ice cream as well! Yum yum yum! Here's everything on the table looking nice!Shawn and Jana's new condo was brand new and gorgeous! And Jana did a fantastic job decorating! You can see just a few of the decorations in this picture. We took a group picture before Dave and Heidi arrived. So it goes Meghan, Cole, Trevor, Me, Jenny, Randy, Shawn, and Jana! I was smart this time and used my camera timer! Too bad Trevor isn't smiling. Silly :)
Here is Shawn lighting the 21 candles on my birthday cake! I guess I'm not quite old enough to burn down a house with my candles :)
And here is a lovely posed picture of me pretending to blow out my candles. :) I wished for a house and I blew out all the candles... so I'm just waiting for this house to show up! Haha.
And here's a picture of the cake with a piece cut out... I don't know why I wanted to include this one!
Well it was a very fun evening. One of my favorite parts was watching their two cute kitties chase after the laser pointer on the floor! We played Phase 10 and Cranium, and, as usual things got out of control. I must admit I was probably half the problem... and it's really embarrassing to think back to how competitive I am. Honestly, the group got so loud (and not necessarily in a good way) that I think lots of people left thinking "wow... how long is this going to last?". So anyway, I know that I can do my part to bring down the arguing and competiveness. Hopefully game night can only improve :)

Here's a quick update on what else has been going on in life:
1) Trevor's battery in his car keeps dying every time he shuts it off... so he's gone to get that fixed today.
2) We're going to join costco so we can get ready for the camping trip we're going on this weekend!
3) School, for me, is past the halfway point and I have lots of tests and stressful stuff coming up.
4) Work at the Buckle is going better for me - I'm having a lot more fun with the job!
5) Last week we finally got a new apartment for the fall and winter! It's in South Wymount, which is a little bit ghetto compared to the one we have now, but it will still be wonderful and we'll have two bedrooms to use! Trevor can't wait to have an office and a desk! We get to move in Aug. 7th and don't have to move out of our current place until the 26th of August... so we get about 20 days to move and buy furniture! Hooray! ;)

Life is good!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me! :)

So today is my 21st birthday and we've been celebrating like crazy this weekend! On Friday, Trevor and I went to 7 peaks water park and it was SO fun! Then yesterday, we went and saw "The Dark Knight" in theaters and that was pretty crazy as well! So today I woke up... feeling not any older, but still different somehow! Trevor gave me seeds to plant and some soil to plant them in and a puzzle to do because I love puzzles! His mom gave me a cute card with a check, and my parents gave me a cute picture frame with a quote about family in it! This is my first birthday away from my parents EVER! So it's a fun new adventure! Life is just wonderful... :)

Monday, July 14, 2008

Friends + Treats + Games = A Fun Sunday Night!

As I mentioned in our previous post, Trevor and I invited a bunch of our friends over last night for game night! Here's a picture of everybody (except me because I was taking it!) while playing Phase 10:From left to right are Trevor, Dave and Heidi, Jana and Shawn (recently married!) and Randy and Jenny (soon to be married!).

Well, when Phase 10 got boring (which happened after about 3 rounds), we broke out a game of Clue... which was much rowdier than it should have ever been! Haha... needless to say it was a good time. We also made frozen hot chocolate and Jenny brought over a homemade coffee cake! Yum! We're going to try to make it a tradition on Sunday nights! It always feels good to have friends and be social!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Our Fantastic Weekend!

Our weekend has been busy, but full of fun! On Friday night, Trevor and I went rock climbing with our friends Christina, Travis, Chris, and Victoria. It was my first time in a long time, so I was really excited! After a pretty quick debriefing of how to operate the ropes and harnesses correctly, I had my very first experience belaying! It was fun, but kind of scary to think that your husband's life is in your hands. If he slips and you aren't doing your job, it could be really bad! :( Fortunately, I was a good belayer and kept him safe. As you can see here, it was a tough job because he had to keep taking breaks! :)

Here's a fun picture where you can see him climbing and me belaying at the same time! He picked a pretty tricky wall with overhangs and small rocks! Go him! The first wall we both climbed was a beginner wall, and that got us pretty warmed up for the harder stuff. My very second wall was intense! It had very small rocks which were spaced farther and farther apart as I ascended! Talk about challenging! But I did it, and it helped me improve my rock climbing skills! This next one is of Trevor being my belayer. I was climbing a fairly hard wall, but it was my third or fourth so my arms were sore and my legs were shaky! It's quite funny when my leg starts shaking, and it's too bad we didn't get a video of that! They were making fun of me, but I tell ya... rock climbing is a work out! Afterward our forearms and fingers were awfully sore, and I thought for sure they'd be killing me the next day, but surprisingly they weren't! Apparently our arms shouldn't hurt that bad if we're climbing right (more with our legs and feet for leverage)... so I guess we'll have to work on our technique!

Then, on Saturday morning, Trevor and I woke up a bit early to help the ward clean the church building. After, I showered and hurried over to my friend Becca Meservy's baby shower! She's due any minute now... and sometimes I'm concerned she may just POP! :) Look at that belly!
Her baby shower was also a scrapbooking party, and we all used our talents to make her some pages that she can put pictures on after the baby is born! Well, I also used this opportunity to start a little wedding scrapbooking of my own. Here's the cover of the album I have:
And here is the first page in the album (not bad for a first page!)...
So I'm just getting warmed up, and today I did two more pages. One is of us coming out of the temple and the other is family! Slowly and surely I'll make it cute! :)
Well anyway, it's been a great weekend so far. Tonight, in about an hour we're having a few friends over for desserts and game night! I love Sunday game night! :) Maybe I'll remember to take pictures and post them next time!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Fourth (and Fifth) of July!

Well Trevor and I had a fantastic holiday weekend! The fourth started off very early in the morning (6:15) to see the hot air balloons in Provo! We went with our friends Becca and Matt Meservy, who were sweet and baked us muffins so we wouldn't be hungry in the morning! Even though it was SOO early when we got there, the balloons had already been blown up (which I was bummed about) and were about to take off! Here's what it looked like when we first arrived!
And here we are in front of some of the balloons! We both have serious morning eyes haha!
They all started taking off and some were bumping into each other. Is that even safe?? Haha
Up....up.....
and AWAY! I like the pig and Smokey the Bear! (can you spot them?)
The sun finally peeked through Rock Canyon at about 7 in the morning! It made for a really cool shot! :)
Later, after a quick morning nap for Trevor, we walked down to the Provo parade at 10. Even though our spot wasn't ideal, we still had a ton of fun! Who really goes to a parade to SEE the parade? We just wanted to see family! :) Here's my brother-in-law Steve and his two A-DORABLE kids Kanyon and Scarlett!
After the parade, Trevor and I stopped to get lunch and ate at Yoasis... a new yogurt place in Provo. It was pretty good, although I was surprised with my first bite which was a whole lot more bitter than I was expecting!! I guess that's what they meant by "real" yogurt :)

On the walk back to our house, we saw this tank round the corner. I had to laugh and take a picture because the parade (for us) had ended 40 minutes before, but they had probably just made it to the end and were driving back to.... well... wherever the tanks go after the parade. Anyway, I thought it funny that a random tank rounded the bend with everyone still in position and the flag raised! :D
Later that night, after I had to work for 7 hours, we went over to Meg and Steve's house for fireworks with all my nieces and nephews! This is pretty much how exciting it was:
There's something about being a kid that makes those little ones a lot more spectacular :)

After the booming had died down, Trevor got bored so he started playing "fetch" with Scarlett. It was pretty much hilarious that she WOULD go get the ball and bring it back to him!
Trevor was getting a kick out of it! And I'm sure Scarlett was too because Meg said this is probably the first time she's ever been up late enough to see darkness! :)
This one doesn't make much sense, but I took it right after Trevor pretended to throw the ball and Scarlett got really confused and turned around with a look on her face like "Huh? Where did it go?" Very entertaining!
And this is my other brother-in-law, Ryan. He's shooting bottle rockets from his hand. Err... that's dangerous :) Oh yeah and did we mention he blew up some empty coke cans which landed on a few cars? Oops!
The next day, Saturday, Trevor and I spent some lazy time around the house, but then we went to the Cummings Family reunion in Heber City for the afternoon. We thoroughly enjoyed eating hot dogs and hamburgers, and dessert! Then the kids (and a few unlucky adults) got soaked with water balloons! Trevor, Ryan, Trent, and I and a couple kids all played in the field for a while. I even was given the chance to play broom ball... and I slowly improved :) Haha... it's a tough thing! Brooms are not the most accurate bats!

This picture is of Grandma and Grandpa Cummings with all the grandkids! Wow! There are so many of them! I was honestly surprised... :) What a posterity!
It's fun to think that my married life has only begun. I have so many things to look forward to in life! A house, kids, minivans (haha), school, teenagers, college, kids get married, kids have kids... it seems so far away! And it is! I love how life is constantly changing and I want to take each day a step at a time and enjoy what life brings me!

So far I have a wonderful hubby and a nice place to live... I can't even imagine what's next!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Baseball and Ice Cream!

On Saturday night, after I got off work, Trevor and I decided we wanted to go to a baseball game, so we did! We went to the Orem Owlz game for our kickoff of summer adventures! They were playing the Casper Ghosts... which I couldn't help but think is a funny name for a baseball team :) Here is the field at dusk!And these next few pictures are the failed attempts at getting a good picture of the two of us. I said, "Trevor! My battery is dying! We have to take a good one so I'll have some battery left!" and this is what he did:
Well... I laughed and then said "Really... let's try again" and these next few are what happened:


Oh dear... well at least they still make me laugh. And my camera died after that last one. :( Haha. Well, we had to leave the game early because Trevor had to take a boot off a car, but when we left the Owlz were winning by 1. However, I just checked the score and they ended up losing 7-10. Sad! :(
After we took off the boot, Trevor and I went to our FAVORITE ice cream place EVER: Sub Zero ice cream! I was really sad my camera was dead because I wanted to take pictures to post! So I will next time we go! But anyway, you should try it. If you haven't been, I'm not going to tell you the secret of the amazingness just yet... you go see for yourself! :)