BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

this week we celebrated our niece whitney's first birthday, and last week we said goodbye to jared's grandmother. in mormon country, the two events feel strangely similar. both are celebrated as a beginning of one adventure, and the end of another. "a change of clothes," as the dalai lama put it. and both are, of course, surrounded by desserts, potatoes, and family. and apparently in this case, they also include photo ops at the park.

so...happy 1st birthday, cute little whitney. we love you so much and can't wait to see all the cool, interesting, adventurous things you are going to do with your life.

park pics #2 - since everyone was already getting together for memorial weekend and funeral preparations, jared's family decided to coordinate some family photos. 

a lot of the rest of the weekend we just spent roaming around in snow canyon and checking out the new virgin river walk (which strangely enough, is not located by the virgin river).

i guess saying goodbye is never easy, but it's usually the beginning of something new. godspeed to all of us.

MOAB: CANYONLANDS & ARCHES

for months we've been trying to make it down to moab. finally, after weeks of planning (and a beautiful stop in capital reef), we made our way over to the awesome area of arches and canyonlands. we were tenting it at a campground in town, and pretty much the only thing on the agenda was hiking, so we found ourselves setting out on a lot more hikes than we planned. After we counted up all of the miles of red rock trails, we were surprised to find that we'd actually hiked over 25 miles! i'm not sure i knew we had it in us!

here's a few highlights from our amazing adventure. and further proof that utah really is the prettiest state in the union. 

i have to say a huge thank you to mother nature for the fabulous cool, but not too cool, weather. and another thanks to jared, for humoring this desert rat by going on a few extra trails. best weekend of 2015 so far. can't wait to top it with more summer loving.

ROAD TRIPPING: CAPITAL REEF

we started our weekend roadtrip a little hesitant- still debating until the night before if we should go out of town this weekend or wait for a better time. to begin with, we'd both picked up a cold somewhere earlier in the week, and were feeling pretty lousy by the time the weekend rolled around. plus, we've been worried about jared's grandmother's health and wanted to be there for her and the family. it just didn't seem like a good time. on top of all that, the forecast was predicting rain... and who wants to sleep in a tent in the cold rain with a sinus infection?

still...i knew i would kick myself for weeks if we didn't go, besides jared was convinced we HAD to go since we'd already paid for the campground. so we decided to take our chances and head down to red rock country.

here are a couple photos from our first stop, capital reef. we were basically planning to kill some time in capital reef on our way to arches and canyonlands since moab was expected to get their majority of rain on saturday. what started as a quick sightseeing trip through capital reef turned into a 7.5 mile hike through one of the most beautiful canyons i have ever seen. we hiked almost the entire way to the golden thrown without seeing another person. it was just gorgeous.

we also made a quick stop at my great great grandfather, elijah behunin's cabin. i would totally love to live here, lij. tiny home with amazing scenery? count me in.

THE CRATER: MIDWAY'S GEOTHERMAL HOT SPRINGS

in our effort to experience everything cool within an hour drive of salt lake city, we discovered this little gem- the crater. the crater is a 10,000 year old geothermal hot spring in midway, ut. the spring is surrounded by a rock dome with an opening in the top for light to filter through. you can visit year round because the water is always a nice warm 92 degrees. plus... it's the swimming hole from 127 hours!

it was cool and rainy outside but the crater was still hot and steamy. we soaked for about an hour and, i have to admit, by the end i was a little motion sick. the warm water bubbles up from the middle of the crater, creating a current which constantly pushes you toward the edges. we tried to fight it at first, but eventually we gave in and floated on our backs over to the rock walls.

it was fun watching everyone bobbing around in the foggy scene, looking like they are about to climb aboard hercules' boat on the river styx. have i mentioned that utah is the coolest?

thanks to this guy for making every saturday a memorable saturday. i hope you are all having a great weekend and are opening the windows and listening to the thunder and rain. love ya lots!

A COOL, RAINY, TULIP KIND OF DAY

jared's parents were in town for the weekend, so we all met up at thanksgiving point for lunch and spring tulips. we had a great time walking through the gardens chatting, and watching jared's dad wear out the grandkids (i think he has more energy than the rest of us combined),

jen, looking lovely in the tulips.

these guys are all snacking on the kid's peanuts. yep. stealing peanuts from babies. as you can see, jared is still holding the evidence ;-)

can you believe laurie is already halfway through her pregnancy!?! they'll be having a little baby girl sometime in september and then are planning to ditch us all and move to a foreign country in october! not cool, jake & laurie. not cool. we'll miss em' but i'm sure they'll have lots of great adventures and maybe we'll come out and stay at their new digs. 

just hanging out with the fam

we had a great time exploring the gardens, and partying it up at jen's house afterwards. thanks for the good times and the crazy conversations. love ya lots!

DAFFODILS AND APRIL HAPPENINGS

the last few weekends, jared and i have been spending lots of time at the park or out on the trails. sometimes sitting in an office all week gets a little dreary, so when the weekend comes it's nice to break away.

we've finally reached some amazing spring weather in slc (which i think is finally sticking around!), and the blossoms are all in bloom...it's one of my favorite times of year.

this weekend we visited red butte for the bulbs and blooms festival. even though the entire garden was buried in snow 3 days ago, by saturday things had already warmed up to 70 degrees and 220,000+ daffodils were back to their golden radiance.

the children's garden has really blossomed- i love to see all of the cute and creative flowerbeds all in bloom. plus, it's fun to climb around and act like a kid again (notice jared in the little garden house).

we've made a few hikes up to the "living room" in the last few weeks (one of salt lake's busiest hikes) mostly because it's a lower elevation hike and isn't covered in snow, but also for the beautiful views of the valley and the lovely vibrant wildflowers.

-wildflowers along the trail-

our fellow hikers enjoying their rock chairs. gotta love meeting all of the other people and dogs on the trail. everyone is just happier and friendlier in the great outdoors. i wish we could bring lola out with us...one of the benefits of having a dog instead of a cat.

plus, we're working on getting in shape before our 16 mile backpacking trip in Zion next month! it might kill us, but at least it'll be an adventure.

i hope you've having a wonderful spring and spending some time outside in this beautiful weather! love ya lots!

HAPPY EASTER, PEEPS!

i hope you've all had the loveliest easter weekend with lots of yummy food, and a little extra time spent with family and friends. we were planning a trip to southern utah to celebrate easter with our families, and watch my mom blow out candles on her birthday cake. but, after an unexpected hit-and-run in my work parking lot (which smashed up the front end of my car), we decided to stick around the salt lake area and celebrate with our salt lake city family. we were lucky enough to color eggs with my siblings, and watch a little easter sunday general conference with jared's siblings and grandparents. it was a relaxing easter weekend, and a wonderful excuse to celebrate family, life, spring - and remember the divinity all around us.

happy easter, my friends! eat some peeps and spread some love. love ya lots!