Seen Today

Okay, so we all see random funny things that are picture-text worthy. For example, the other week I decided to venture into Desert Book (with the best of intentions), only to find a stack of these Liahonas on the wall and I had to whip out my phone:

Well today I had a double-win in the grocery store parking lot by my house. The first was this bumper sticker:
It probably isn’t all that funny to you. But my old roommate had a love affair with surfing, which included us watching The Endless Summer. So when I saw a Colorado plated car with this bumper sticker I couldn’t help but wish Hannah was there to laugh about it. I snapped the picture quickly but to my embarrassment the owner and her friend walked out of the store and said “oh I guess I have a cool license plate…” (calling me out on being a weirdo). I turned on my social skills and explained I was actually snapping a picture of her bumper sticker, and I explained my roommate surfing in California, and Endless Summer and how I was from Colorado so it was an inside joke and I wanted to share it (luckily by this point she got me and thought it was funny too) and told me about where she got it in Durango. Anyway…

And then, just a few minutes later when leaving the store to walk back home I passed this car and I think anyone could appreciate this picture (it’s the reason why I decided these pictures were blog worthy):


oh… and since we’re already on the topic of these phone pictures, I’ll just let you all know that I moved and once everything gets settled I’ll be posting pictures of my lovely new home for you all to see. For now, here is a sampler of my new IKEA dresser. I’ve never done Ikea furniture before and my inner child rediscovered how much fun it is to build things:

Mt. Olympus

On Saturday Tiffanee and I hiked Mt. Olympus… all the way to the top. And I couldn’t agree more with this drawing. It’s 6.4 miles with a 4,000 ft elevation gain and took us all day.


After a lot of hiking we sat down to snack on some grapefruit and crackers. At this point we were still feeling pretty good and were enjoying the view. To give you an idea of how far we had hiked, you can see the 215 belt loop down there. The trailhead is on Wasatch which is just a bit east of the the belt loop.


We continued on our way and took a lot of breaks. You might notice that I changed shirts. We were both surprised by how hot it was, and Tiffanee was kind enough to let me wear her light weight shirt which she didn’t need.


We saw this cool overturned tree and thought the network of roots was a pretty fantastic display. We made sure to climb on it and pose for pictures with it:


When we made it to the (almost) top, we had some gorgeous views. The air was a bit hazy and a science teacher, who we talked to on the way up, explained why the forest fire smoke is still lingering. It had something to do with moisture, but I’m ashamed to admit I can’t explain it to you because I wasn’t the most attentive listener. Tiffanee also pointed out vegetation changes, letting me enjoy hiking with an expert outdoors(wo)man.

Now, by this point we were pretty tired having conquered Blister Hill and crossed the saddle. But we still had the final climb to the summit ahead of us! In the first picture below you’ll see Tiffanee pointing to the scramble that lay ahead:



In the mailbox at the summit were pictures and messages written in notebooks. Most of the notes were people congratulating themselves on their accomplishment or dedicating their hike to a loved one. But there were a few unique ones. Among my favorites were the drawing which I posted up top and a note written earlier this summer by a woman who described how she chickened out again and couldn’t tell her guy friend that she has loved him for the past three years so she instead confessed in the notebook.


Another one of the messages in the notebook said “What happens on the mountain stays on the mountain” so I’ll spare us all the story about how tedious, dusty, sunny and never ending the hike back down was :/ I’ll only leave you with this picture capturing my view as we collapsed down in the shade for a rest (thirsty and exhausted) and say thank you hiker Kevin for giving us water and letting us follow you down and complain about how much longer we had to go.Tiffanee is one of my three new roommates. She’s adorable, funny, and an outdoor/recreation therapist. She just moved here from Cleveland (We’d all like to flee to ‘The Cleve’!). You can look forward to meeting my other two roommates, Mary Ann and Jerilyn in future posts.

Up to Speed: Estes Park

As you likely read below on previous posts, I have not blogged in awhile and am catching you up on some of the summer highlights that I have pictures of.

In July, the parentals, Russells, and I had a long weekend in Estes Park. The trip was a lot of fun and Rocky Mountain National Park was spectacular. Ashley published two blog posts about the trip, one capturing the wildlife and another capturing some of our adventures so I'll try to give you a slightly different take on the trip.

Playing in nature is always fun and leads to great family photo opportunities:


We did some short hikes with a lot of scenery payoff for energy expended. One being the Bear, Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lake hike. But I think, as this next picture shows, Louis has figured out the best way to maximize scenery while minimizing energy expended:
Nymph Lake is pretty awesome with its lily pads. We speculated whether moose would frequent Nymph lake for a tasty meal:
We chatted with a catch and release fisherman at Dream Lake on the way back down. Here’s Matt taking in Dream Lake:
I took off my shoes and walked around in the cold mountain water when we stopped for a snack at Emerald Lake:

The Alluvial Fan was probably the most fun because we got to scamper around on the rocks. Turns out we were there just days after the 30th anniversary of the Lawn Lake dam break. We even ran into a guy who was there the day it flooded the valley and Estes Park. I’m going to be a tattletale and tell you about how I saw Matt lean over and dunk his head in at the top of the falls:


And another must see is Sprague Lake, which you don't even have to hike to. It's really shallow in some places so I was able to wade out in the water pretty far. Check out the reflection:

Besides all the outdoor play and mountain life, my favorite part of the trip was Louis. I was really impressed with baby Lou. Matt and Ashley have his routine so well managed that he didn't have any problems with all the travel. He is always a happy guy and so much fun to play with.

Matt had to catch a flight to California for work, so Louis, Ashley, and I got a little extra time together in the airport before we went our separate ways. Lunch is a lot more entertaining with a baby. Always fun to see you Colorado.

Up to Speed: Family Gatherings

To continue along with my graduation post...

While Lorraine, Ashley, and Matt were in Provo, they helped me move out of my apartment. Here are some shots of us relaxing while Matt messed around on Hannah's guitar:

And we did some touring at the Great Salt Lake:


We had dinner with the Castles. Ashley and Lorraine haven’t seen them for awhile, but I get invited over pretty frequently. My aunt Leslie is always a superb hostess and makes the most delicious fancy food. Later in the summer I came over again for dinner when the Brookses were visiting from Switzerland, but didn’t have my camera on me.

And there was a big celebration on the Hyer side for Grandma’s 87th birthday. I am the youngest cousin so all the kids playing around are the next generation. Ashley's post about their trip has a lot more photos of both dinner parties.


Also, I couldn't resist posting this picture of my cousin Mike and Esti. Does anyone else think he looks like a movie star?? Haha it’s just too fitting because his movie Foxcatcher is coming together: