Engaged in Moab!!!

I'm ENGAGED!!! And I couldn't have asked for a better proposal then in Moab! Travis and I and a bunch of our friends went to Moab for about 4 days. We went mountain biking, watched the jeeps since it was jeep week, hiked Arches, hiked more arches and watched more jeeps. :) It was a really fun trip, besides the fact that I got a horrible sunburn on the first day! Gotta remember to use that sunscreen!

Sunday was our last day. Everyone else had left by then, so we got up, packed the truck and went to church (Easter Sunday). We were dressed up nice, as nice as you can get for being on a camp out and decided to go out and take some scenic pictures on the rocks. I wasn't a big fan of the idea since I was wearing a skirt and flip flops, and didn't have any sunscreen on. But Travis insisted so I went a long with it. We finally found a spot all tucked away from everyone (there were jeeps everywhere) and hiked out a little ways to take some pictures. On the mini-hike out to the rocks, Travis mentioned that he forgot to give me my moab present. Lately he had been giving me little presents the last few weeks like flowers and a portable camping toilet, so the idea of him having another little present for me wasn't a surprise. He ran back to the truck to get it while I withered away in the sun.

He came back and gave me my present, which was a sporty watch to use doing outdoorsy stuff. It is really cute and was a nice thoughtful gift. So I put it on and of course had to set the time. Then he asks, "What time is it?" and I said, "1:15" and he said, "Good. Because I never wanted you to forget the time I gave you this" and pulled out the ring! I WAS IN SHOCK! I had no idea and didn't know whether to cry or scream or pass out. He was a little nervous as he got down on one knee and proposed. I was crying by then and of course said yes. I had so many thoughts and feelings rush through me and was overwhelmed by the whole experience. He couldn't have done it better-cute idea, in Moab, just the two of us. The ring is beautiful, 3 diamonds on a gorgeous setting equaling to about 1 carate with 2 mini diamonds on the sides. I love it! On the drive home I had so many questions about when and how and just everything! I had so many feelings rush through me all day that by the time the day was over, I was exhausted!

I'm sure you all want to know where and when. Tentatively we're thinking September-ish possibly in Las Vegas-in the temple of course! :)

Black Diamonds?

The Canyons Ski Resort

Valentines Day Adventure

Diamond Fork Hot Springs Utah. It was a 4.5mi out and back hike in the dark for our Valentine's Day Adventure. We weren't the only ones there, but surprisingly it wasn't crowded either. I loved reminicing about our first "date" to the Gold Strike Hot Springs while on this hot springs hike. It was the perfect alone time that we love to have when we finally get to be together.

Snowshoeing

The other event of the 3 day weekend (besides skiing) was snowshoeing! Becca, Lindsey, Tenley, Dave and I all went up to Aspen Grove. We decided to take the trail marked for snowshoeing up this hill that looked pretty hike-able. So we started out all determined to make it to the top and excited to be in the snow. Of course we didn't make it very far before we had to have a snowshoeing race. So Dave videotaped us 4 racing in our snowshoes, falling all over each other to make it to the finish line. I won! Ya! That's only because the other 3 tripped each other while I barely escaped the dog pile! hehehe...

After exerting all of that energy, we decided to try for the top to get a good view. Lindsey was our leader and plowed a nice path for the rest of us to follow up the steep mountainous-hill. It was hilarious to watch from behind Lindsey and Becca trying to get up the hills and falling to their stomach, sliding down the trail they had just made. We got to the dense part of the brush and were really having problems trying to find our way through the shrubs and sticks and trees. So, sadly, we gave up and went back down to go take pictures and play in the snow. I love these types of trips where all you do is laugh the whole time! Fun fun!

SKIING!

My first ski of the season was a night ski!--I've never done that before. I totally thought that I'd be way hard to see and ski well, but it turned out to be ok. Theresa, Lisa, Jesse, and I headed up to Brighton to take advantage of the cheap $14 ski trip. I was way excited to go for basically 3 reasons:

1.)to go with my friends, since I haven't been skiing with them in so long,
2.)to get some practice in before I went with Travis in a few weeks,
3.) and TO SKI!
So basically I am really really rusty! I was all stiff and just didn't feel like pushing myself and going super fast nor doing hard stuff. So Tee and I hung out the whole night since we have similar ski styles. I had a blast and enjoying doing something that I hadn't done in so long!

Shooting With the Kiddos

As part of my Christmas vacation I of course had to plan some sort of event to do with my siblings. This time it was shooting. Travis brought his guns and we trespassed on some private property, because there seems to be no where close to go shooting. It was really fun for me to watch my brothers and sisters have a good time doing something that they don't get to do too often. They all were a pretty good shot, especially Sarah, which I was surprised about. She totally knocked down the clay pigeons while all I could say for myself is that the gun kicked back too hard for me to shoot at them accurately. Well she definitely made me look dumb! :P Of course, Joe and Jordan were good and hit a lot of the clay pigeons, and Emily and Claire had fun with the .22, my favorite too. I guess I'm just at 10 year old shooting level. :) So, not only was it really fun to spend time with the fam, I realized that I have some target shooting practice to get to!

More Coyotes?

Home for the holidays! And Travis came to visit. So of course we set out to go call some coyotes. Well, that wasn't the main purpose of the day, we also went site seeing and hiking and wanted to find a place to go shooting the next day. But we of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to call some coyotes. So we set out to Jeffco Open Space, all decked out in camo. Travis was having a blast honking on his calls while I'm sitting in the brush freezing. I'm convinced that this coyote calling business doesn't really exist. We still haven't seen a single coyote! But I continue to go and hide in the weeds scouting out these ferocious animals. (By the way, we can't shoot on Jeffco Open Space so basically we were calling this wolf-like animal to come charging at us without anything to kill them with! Sounds like fun, huh?)

Since there weren't any coyotes to be found, I decided it was time to take some pictures and roll around in the weeds with Travis...Ok, not like THAT. ;) While we were taking pictures, Travis decides to take a video of me trying to use the calling thingy. I'm not very good at it. It sounded more like a kazoo than a howl or dead rabbit. It's a pretty funny video. So yet again, we returned home without seeing a single coyote, all safe and sound.