My Happy Place

 Tonight and last Sunday I went to the mountains to see the changing leaves.  I'm so grateful I've been able to go twice already.  Usually I don't make time for it, but this year I simply had to.  I've been craving the mountains.  It's my happy place.  I wish I could go sit in the trees every night.

Isn't this a beautiful happy place?

I could stay there forever.

*These beautiful pictures were taken by my lovely little sister, Jessica.  Thanks Jess!

Oh what are men to rocks and mountains?

Not really. 

I think men are pretty great, but whenever I'm in the mountains I think of that Jane Austen quote. 

Do you like my Mary Jane shoes that doubled as my hiking shoes when I first got here?  (My tennis shoes were coming down later with a friend)

Surprisingly, they did very well (even though they got very dirty, and my socks are stained orange from it). I've loved these Merrell shoes. Unfortunately they don't make them anymore and mine are starting to feel a little worn.

Here are some pictures from the hiking I've done while I've been in Cedar City:

Zions National Park

Most of these are at the upper Emerald Pools.  It was so beautiful.  I love the contrast of the red rock and the greenery.

Red Cliffs
At Red Cliffs there were Anasazi ruins and dinosaur prints as well as a fun hike.  It was a delight to go with people who had never seen dinosaur footprints or ancient ruins.  I take this sort of stuff for granted and it's nice to be reminded how some people may never see things like this.  I am a lucky girl indeed.  And the hike was awesome.  We followed a river up to this place where there were pools of water and a natural water slide in the red rock.  It was gorgeous.  People were swimming in it and have a grand ol' time (I wasn't adequately prepared to swim.)
 

Dinosaur Footprints

A glimpse of the pools

The water slide is in the back of this picture.  You could go over this little ledge to more procarious hiking, but I was a chicken with my little mary jane shoes and the ledge above water, so I stayed behind and watched people's stuff.  After my roommate Shelby came back she told me it was probably a good thing I didn't go, because she didn't know how someone with short legs could do it.  (She's 5' 11'' and has long legs to match).

 Anasazi Ruins

The hiking group

Back at Zions

Some of my Bountiful friends came to visit me, and we went to Zions and enjoyed the lovely rocks.

MaryAnn and I by the rock I affectionately called, "the ham rock"

The hike on Watchman's Trail.  Beautiful isn't it?  There were surprisingly few people on this trail, which I enjoyed.

This was taken on our scenic drive through Kolob, the northern part of Zions.  My it was beautiful.  I'd love to go back someday for some hiking.  But seriously, the view was breath taking.

This actually isn't from hiking.  This was just a beautiful trail we found on the outskirts of Cedar as we were letter boxing.  It was gorgeous.  If I had a car, I'd come here to go running.

So, I've done some great hiking while I've been here.  Nothing too crazy, like Angel's Landing, but I've enjoyed it none the less.  I love hiking and being in nature.  I love the red rock, but I'm ready to see a bit more green.  I have a soft spot in my heart for greenery and trees.  Perhaps it's my childhood in Washington coming out.  In a week I'll be back north again, perhaps there will be a bit more green there. 

Things in Cedar

I haven't said much about how things are in Cedar, so here are a few random thoughts.

One.  I think my love for food and cooking grows every time I've move out of the house.  My parents have spoiled me with really good, fresh food and I find myself craving it all the time.  Unfortunately, I don't have bucket loads of money to spend on food.  But I still eat very well : )  Like today for instance.  My roommate made enchiladas and slow cooked re-fried beans that were delicious.  I don't think I can ever go back to canned again.

Here's an approximate recipe:

Slow Cooked Re-fried Beans 
Dry pinto beans (however much you want)
Water (cover the beans)
1 Onion, cut in chunks
1 Jalapeno, chopped with seeds
Garlic to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Put in the crock pot for 8 hours.  Drain off extra water.  Mash together with an electric mixer.  Eat to your hearts content.

You might be finding more recipes on my blog.  I've been spending way too much time drooling over cooking blogs and you'll be sure to hear of my successful recipe attempts.

Today when we were at the store, my roommate and I ran into some of our co-workers.  One of them laughed because I was the smallest and my cart was the biggest - over flowing with produce.  What can I say?  I like good food.  And I like to cook.

Two.  My ward seems really great.  I love my bishopric - really all the bishopric.  They've already got me involved in the ward, since I spoke and lead the music in sacrament meeting last Sunday.  I was surprised they'd ask me since I'm here such a short time, but I was/am grateful for the opportunity.  It made me feel wanted in the ward and gave purpose to my scripture study.

Three.  Cedar City is beautiful.  Sometimes during my afternoon break at work, I just walk around taking in the beautiful nature around me.  Here's a picture of one of my favorite streets to walk down.  I love the canopy of trees.  There are also so many adorable houses around.  A lot of them are Bed and Breakfast places, but some of them are actually homes.  They are so fun to look at.  Perhaps I'll have to take pictures of some of them.

 Four.  I've started running again.  Hurray!  In the past year I've been super bad about running - any I did was short and far between.  I did yoga more consistently, but even then I was super great about that.  So I determined that while I was down here and just working, I needed to start being more active again.  I'm a really slow runner and pretty much mentally sabotage myself into thinking I can't go very far.  And not running recently made me even more intimidated of running.  But I found this free podcast from http://runningmatemedia.com that is awesome!  It's helps you increase your endurance and prepares you to run a 5k (which I've decided to run the Freedom Run on the 4th of July in Provo as my goal).  And it's great because I can turn it on and there's now someone in my ear telling me to keep going or when I'm half-way there.  I'm a fan.  Plus I feel great, because, well, running makes you feel great!

 

Sometimes this is what happens in the costume shop.

Lastly.   Work is busy, and we certainly work hard, but we have time for moments of fun.  Like dressing up Valerie today after lunch.  I made this blue skirt (dress on me) and then we ended up changing the color of the ball gown, so I'm making a new one.  We were having fun trying it on.  On my friends, Jack and Shelby, it was actually a skirt.  For me it was a cape, and then a dress.  

Then we belted it, because we've got a theme in the Les Mis neck of the woods, "belt it."  That's our solution for a lot of the dirty peasant looks that don't quite fit (half joking).

And last of all, the bonnet.  I am actually quite fond of that bonnet.  I wore it most of yesterday.  It was quite perfect since I wore a matching pink shirt.  I felt ready to pick strawberries.  Can someone tell me why we don't wear bonnets today?  They are absolutely charming.

So there you have it.  Just a few snapshots of life here in Cedar.  Nothing epic or profound, but life is good - very good.  How can you complain when work is a 2 minute walk from your apartment, the weather is perfect, and you have greenery and red rock?

Mesa/Mexico Adventures: Part 2

On Sunday we went to church at one of the wards Jen served in.  It was so fun to see how excited people were to see her.  She was introducing us to people right and left.  It was so nice to finally put faces to these people I'd heard so much about.

After a delicious dinner by the family that took us to Mexico, we took off for Rocky Point, Mexico!  It was a little longer drive than I expected, but highly pleasant.  We didn't get to the border until after dark, so I was naturally a littler nervous after all the stories I've heard about northern Mexico, but the family we went with go to Mexico all the time and thought we were safe so I trusted them.  So with trust in hand the car ride was awesome. There was much laughter and silly things said.  I was was loving it so much I took to being the family historian and recorded some of my favorite things said.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple quotes from the car ride.  You may have had to be there, but regardless of that I'm posting them.

Michael – "Dad, did you know there are extended versions of Lord of the Rings?  So instead of the trilogy being 9 hours, it’s like 14 hours!”

Dad – "Oh really!"

Michael –" I feel a father’s day gift coming on next February!"

Valerie – "Wait why February?  Father’s Day is in June!"

Michael – "Oh right!  I had no clue when Father's Day was so I just said February."

----

Dad – "This road keeps getting narrower and narrower."

          (This was in Mexico.)

Michael – "Pretty soon it’s going to become one lane -"

Valerie – "With both lanes of traffic coming on each other."

Michael – "That’s an extreme version of chicken!"

Jen – "At 90 miles per hour!"

----

Michael and I were having a grand ol' time laughing and come to find out we might have annoyed the wee one in our family just a bit (and normally she's the one laughing hysterically!).  Whoops!  

When we finally reached the house, this is what greeted us:

(Though these pictures were taken after we arrived).

The sinks were painted so beautifully.

This was in my shower.  It was awesome.

I fell in love with all the beautiful mosaics.  It makes me want some in my home someday.

And you just stepped outside and there was the beach.  They were on a beautiful private beach that was nicknamed, "Shell Beach," which is no exaggeration as you'll see from the pictures.  Both the house and the beach were absolutely beautiful.

I was practicing my photo-taking skills if you can't tell. Some pictures were definitely better than others, but I thought I got some interesting shots. But the place was beautiful, so it was hard to mess up.

What better place to take a family photo than on the beach?  P.S. I love that there's a little rainbow in the bottom left corner.  P.P.S. I feel like I look like I'm 14 in this picture.  I'm missing my smart little bob.  Maybe if my hair looked like the picture below, people might actually think I'm in my 20's instead of a teenager...

And to end today's post.  Michael on the computer, in Mexico, somehow managing to look grumpy.

 

  

More to come!

P.S. I was trying to figure out how to format pictures on this thing so they weren't all in a straight line, but I didn't succeed.  If anyone knows how to, you should let me know!