break time

The time finally came for me to say goodbye to this home

with this

and more of this

so I drove past this

and my favorite Logan tree

to get to my next favorite tree

and this

It finally feels like Christmas time.

I'm so happy to be home!

done

I finally finished my final projects!! Now I just have two final tests to take before I'm done with this semester for good. After these projects though.. taking tests seems like a such a relief. I've been living in the Landscape Architecture studio for the past month.. and I am ready for Christmas break! Here's the 40 acre recreational park I just designed for North Logan City.. if you're interested:

And this is the same park but with a detailed planting schedule for my planting design class:

(click to enlarge...but the quality might be really crappy...its a 1.2 gigabyte photoshop file.. so down saving it enough to upload it decreases the quality)

tonight

my old school

vs.

my new school

Who will I root for?! In my opinion, both schools are pretty great. I probably didn't have as much school spirit at BYU as I do at USU (ironic?). So I would gladly cheer for the Aggies, the only problem is that USU fans are pretty rude and annoying, at pretty much every game. Which I'm ashamed of. So part of me wants to cheer for the Cougs.. but I might get beat up if I go to the game in my Y shirt. Perhaps I'll just wear solid navy blue, and secretly cheer for both teams. Go Cougs! Go Aggies! May the best team win.

thank you, mom

for introducing me to one of my best friends, so many years ago...

What is it? A vintage hair dryer.
Do I dry my hair with it? No.
However,

• it heats up my sheets for me before I get in bed
• it humms me to sleep every night
  
• it drowns out all the worldly noise and chaos
  
• when I come inside after a gloomy day, its at home waiting to warm me up
• it comforts me when I'm sad or stressed
• I know I could not survive a Logan winter without it.
  

But there is one problem.. these hair dryers are becoming scarce. They usually die or lose their warmth after a few years of loyal service, and need to be replaced. My mom and sisters are stocking up, and no one is very willing to part with one these days. Therefore, you may not buy one and try it for yourself after I've told you how wonderful it is. You may, however, surprise me for Christmas or my birthday or any other holiday with a gift like this. I promise I would love you for it.

13.1

I did it! After months of training and anticipation, Saturday, Nov. 7 finally came and I ran the Snow Canyon half marathon in St. George. It was an amazing weekend.. spent in warm weather with some of my favorite people. And the run went a lot better than I expected! Not too hot (or cold.. which is what I'm used to in Logan), not too tiring, not too stressful or too much of anything. It was beautiful, and I loved it. I don't know if I'll ever do a full marathon, but I definitely plan on doing more races in the future! There is plenty of room for improvement. Here are some photos from my weekend:

Some of the favorite people I mentioned, carbo loading at Olive Garden

Marinda and I right after the race

The 3 of us with our victory medals

Katie Lewis came down to see us!! Oh how we miss her

The only bad thing about the weekend was that I lost my camera in all the rushing and traveling. Therefore, all of the pictures you see are stolen from Tasha's camera. This meant that I didn't get any pictures of me crossing the finish line. But fortunately, the news crews were taking pictures, and (don't ask me why) I happened to be the picture they chose for the newspaper article. It was kind of a shock when I clicked on the link and saw a close up picture of me at the top of the article! Its a pretty embarrassing picture. haha

good day

today

Taylor

brought

up

our

snowboards

and

we

purchased

our

Beaver

resort

season

passes!!

counting down until the day we can use them!!

yay.

my life

In case anyone was wondering, this is what I've been doing non-stop since Monday morning, taking breaks only for classes, and food. Its a 3 acre site in west Logan that we're designing demonstration gardens for.. with examples of formal, informal, postmodern, wetland, and native gardens throughout. I spent 7 hours Monday after classes (which don't end until 5:30 p.m. by the way), 13 hours Tuesday after class (which ended at 3), and 11 today. No one warned me that applying to the landscape architecture program meant I was signing away my life! Oh how I love it though...

(click on the image if you want to see it bigger)

P.S. Don't worry if this doesn't make any sense to you.. it only makes sense to me about half of the time.

change

I already made a post about the changing leaves.. but the leaves are not the only thing that are changing. I’ve been thinking a lot about change lately. Not in an Obama-ish “let’s change all of America’s core values” kind of way. But rather, in a President Monson-ish “the only constant is change” kind of way.


Change has always been difficult for me.. I remember my mom saying I was her only child who wanted to go back to elementary school after going to jr. high.. or back to jr. high after starting high school. But I realize that change is an inevitable part of life.

Many noticeable changes are occurring right now that I can’t ignore, as much as I want to. I’m getting older. Life cannot be as carefree as it once was. School is not just about grades anymore, because it is more than just school, it is my soon to be profession. Religion is no longer just something to strengthen myself, its something I need to share with others.. and hopefully a year from now I will be sharing it full time :). My best friends are getting married and our group that has been basically the same since the 6th grade will never be the same. But none of these are bad things, they are just different things. The hardest part about change is that it makes me nostalgic. It makes me think about the people and things I miss the most:

-I miss the mountains in Alpine
-I miss laughing with Becca
-I miss sharing clothes and hot soup and meaningless dreams with Mandy every day
-I miss having deep conversations with Annie Stapp
-I miss sleepovers at Maddi’s
-I miss Katie Lewis’s voice
-I miss doing everything with and telling everything to Cody
-I miss going up the canyon with Braden and Kody
-I miss working on projects and getting lunch with Molly
-I miss playing with my nieces and nephews
-I miss golfing with Dad and seeing Mom every day
-I miss running and going on bike rides with Annie
-I miss going to Indie shows in Salt Lake
-I miss Mom’s dinners
-I miss dressing up for high school dances
-I miss math!!

And this is definitely not everything I miss. But my point is not to have a pity party, or feel bad about all the things I miss. Even though good memories make me miss the past and sometimes dread the future, I would never take any of them back. And I don’t think I would ever choose to go back in time either. Because as much as I love the past, I love now too. Now is good. I’m learning to appreciate the changes that come.. and look forward to changes the future brings. I love school, I love Logan, I love my roommates, I love fall. I’m looking forward to a St. George trip this weekend, Halloween, running a half marathon in November, Christmas, and snowboarding! Bring it on life...

autumn in utah

"O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall"

-Robert Frost

I thought I'd share a collection of some of my favorite canyon photos...because its that beautiful time of year again. I just really love fall. On Sunday we went for a family drive up and around the Alpine loop.. and it snowed!!

I took these up American Fork Canyon two years ago...probably my favorite place in the world.

Last fall Chrissy and I jumped on her scooter in Dumb and Dumber style and meandered up Logan canyon.. we got lots of funny looks for some reason..I think its time for another one of these rides. Chrissy?

oh how i love..

weddings, friends, dresses, flowers

Heather's wedding was almost a month ago, but when I saw this photo I just loved it too much to not share. Heather made such a beautiful bride, and all my friends are such lovely friends.
  

Yeasayer

Been kinda obsessed with this song lately:

Angel Tree

"This... is my favorite tree.  And I like trees." -Claire from Elizabethtown

The Angel Tree on John's Island, South Carolina, is my favorite tree.  And I like trees.  This oak tree is over 1400 years old, the oldest living thing east of the Rockies.  I've been keeping its picture selfishly on my desktop background, and I decided it was time to share. If you ever happen to be in this area of the country,  I advise you to go see it!  It's even more amazing in person. 

Logan, UT

One of my favorite places I've ever lived. 

Ok, I've only lived in three different places in my twenty years.  But this is definitely one of my favorites.  I'm back in Logan, and loving it! If there is a lack of posts it is because I have friends again, I have assignments again, I have a life again! haha

thank you alaska

for showing me your waterfalls...

and rivers...

and flowers...

and glaciers...

for taking my breath away at the top of the tram...

for letting me hike and frisbee golf in your forest...

for letting me fish for salmon (or sometimes just watch the guys fish)...

for letting me play with this little guy..

each time I come visit. 

But most especially for letting me spend time with my brother Ben and his wife, Michelle.   I love you guys so so much. You are in my thoughts and prayers... always.

summer hobby

There's a sport I've become quite accustomed to this summer:

Its called golf.  I've always liked it, but I've never cared about it enough (or practiced enough) to get good at it.  This summer I decided it was time. 

This is what I like most about this sport:

1. The landscape.  So peaceful.  So relaxing. So perfect after a long day of work. 

2. Spending time with Dad.. and occasionally Tay.  And learning from both of their skills.

3. Getting a farmer tan, and a sock tan.   And wearing baseball caps for the first time in my life.

4. Not having to keep score.  I refuse to keep score until my score is work keeping. 

5. One day I will be so terrible, and the next day I will drive straight onto the greens (from par 3's of course)

6.  The fact (or hope) that some day, I will get to design a golf course of my very own--being a Landscape Architecture major has its benefits.

Here is a short video of my swing.  I'm still working on it.  Also, I think that all the self confidence I have acquired throughout my life has come from Dad's (kind, but not necessarily truthful) compliments.  Listen to what he says at the end of this clip. 

he he.  That's all!

show and tell

Since I've seen a bit of quality live music lately, I just thought I'd be generous and share a little.

This is Jenny Lewis playing at the twilight concert series last week:

Here is Andrew Bird. Notice he is whistling (like a songbird sent from above), playing violin, guitar, and singing all in one song. This man's got some real talent:

And here is the always wonderful Death Cab playing at Red Butte Gardens. This was the third time I've seen them, and I don't think I'll ever get sick of them. They have really perfected their sound and stage presence. And they played a lot of their old stuff, which made me happy. Ben Gibbard is much more confident (and skinny) than he used to be:

Skinny Ben still sounds good, but I think I might have preferred chubby Ben.


*sorry about the poor quality of these recordings, they really don't do the artists any justice at all*

counting down

20 days from now, I will be in Alaska

visiting these guys:

and 30 days from now I will be in Connecticut

with my best friend:

... I have so much to look forward to!

good show

Jenny Lewis
+
Bon Iver
=
Good Show!!

(and I do like that they are both kind of red heads)

The twilight concert series is free and great.

Upcoming artists that I'm excited to see : M. Ward, Iron & Wine, Okkervil River :)

i do like

One thing I admire about my dad is how certain he is about what he does and does not like. He is the most decisive person I know. The other day as I was trying to convince my dad to miss a day of work and come boating with the family, he promptly responded,

"No, I do not want to come boating. I do not like boating, I never really have. If I liked boating, I'd have a boat."

Although I respect his opinion, and agree with my dad on most subjects, I have to disagree here.

I really do like boating. I'm lucky I've had so many friends, and now a sister, who invite me to come boating with them every summer.

My niece Violet really likes boating too. I had a great family fourth full of camping, boating, golfing, food, and fireworks. I'm sad its over.