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?