Backpacking the Grand Canyon

At the beginning of the trip down

Look at those views....

Beautiful as the sun is setting on the canyon!

We found this cave at the bottom. Aren't we cool.

Eating our Mountain house meal. I accidentally brought a FAMILY-SIZE (feeds 5) meal by accident. Good thing it was relatively LIGHT!

One of my favorite photos from the trip - my new signature hiking pose (& Angela's too??)

We hiked along the Colorado River for a lot of the trip & it was breathtaking!

One of the only photos of Angie & I as we were hiking out

Angela as we were hiking out in the morning

We stayed at the "Bright Angel Campsite" and hiked in on S. Kaibab Trail (7 miles downhill) and then out on the "Bright Angel Trail" (9 miles uphill)

Seriously tho- look at that view!! You can kind of see the sun coming in on the canyons behind me!

I loved the minty-green desert vegetation!

As we were hiking out. It was pretty warm for most of the trip.

Angela (7 months prego) about 1/3 of the way up!

I was surprised at how beautiful and lush some of the Grand Canyon was - for January!

About half way done (mileage-wise) but not elevation-wise! ;)

Resting on a rock.

Near the end of the hike out

 After our hike, we picked up the kiddos and drove back to Moab (trip completed all in 48 hours). We also made the most beautiful bathroom stops in the world...

January 2015.

It’s a new year! And I’m excited for a fresh start. It’s been a rough month but I’m coming out of it feeling insanely grateful for a few things.

1. agency. The ability to determine your destiny and change who you are. I am not defined by my past and can choose who I want to be tomorrow, regardless of mistakes I made today. Super empowering and helps me not dwell on mistakes but move forward and take control of my attitude. It is the blessing that can never be taken away from me, no matter what circumstance I am in. I will always have the ability to choose my own attitude tomorrow. 

2. repentance. Again, I am not defined by mistakes I have made or by my shortcomings. I am defined by what I do with them. Allows me to start over and try again. Huge source of relief and comfort knowing that I have this option  every day. I am grateful that Jesus Christ makes this possible for me, and even after I give my all to follow him, He will make up for the rest that I can not do.

3. nature. I feel more peace hiking up a mountain than almost anywhere else. Refocuses me and helps me feel God’s hand in my life and love for me. So glad I have the health to do that and enjoy that aspect of life!

4. family. I have an amazing, supportive family. Siblings that cry and pray and fast for me. That actually care deeply about my struggles and are willing to forgive me over and over and deal with my bouts of craziness. Parents that cry when I cry, and are understanding and loving when I need it most. They think of me and always pick up the phone if I call. I can’t imagine my life and struggles without them. I really can’t.

5. being an aunt. I love my nieces and nephews A TON and feel a special bond with them. They bring so much light and happiness into my life. I am so lucky to have them and to love them! I felt this blessing especially strong in the temple last week and consider it to be a great blessing in my life.

November: a month of hobbies & goodness

Lately the months have flown and before I know it, I've lapsed in posting for over a month! What? So then what happens is I usually look through my phone and figure out what I've done the past month.

One time I got "sick" and was so bored all day that I spent the entire day on Pinterest searching for new hair ideas.

Also saw a bird on the steering wheel at Walmart.

In November I got a new hobbie called "acrylic painting that takes 10 minutes"

Also started rock climbing with these awesome girls in my ward :)

And then I came back to Utah where I enjoyed the beautiful sunsets, as usual.

And converted boyfriend to ginger tea.

Got a haircut & dye

And then someone told me I looked exactly like this (famous 80's) movie star! 

My hands have been getting lots of nice calluses from climbing...

And I have felt like this often after many hard days at work.

I bought some $87 celery at Walmart! 

Celebrated one of my bestie's birthday.

And spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with M in Utah (hike to Bell Lake).

Ate dinner with the Gramps!

And went  snow shoeing!

Up Little Cottonwood Canyon - this is beautiful, no!?

Other than that, I have gone shopping at Smith's & enjoyed it.

My October Opus

October is one of my favorite months. I have fallen in love with it recently, on my many excursions to enjoy her beauty. It has been a full, busy, and wonderful month, with the occasional stresses.

Work has been stressful and tiring as usual. I stay sane, of course by going on runs and trying to wind down every day. I took this picture while on one of my runs on the Bonneville Shoreline trail, my favorite place ever.

 And THIS: Emigration canyon, my new hidden solace. This view is amazing year-round.

 Other than work and enjoying nature, I've been doing a lot of this: facetime-ing with M while he stirs peanut butter. Sound glorious? You have no idea.

 And taking my friends out to lunch for their birthday at the best waffle place I know. #bruges

 And celebrating Halloween Lindsey-style (newly created traditions guys!) by carving pumpkins with my roommates, making/eating the most delicious apple crisp ever, and watching a nice Hitchcock film.

 This year, I was feeling unmotivated about finding a really cool costume. So I found some spandex, a black running long-sleeve shirt, and another shirt to double as a ninja mask and WHOOLA. I was hoping the kids wouldn't realize that my costume took $0 to make and less than 2 minutes to create. Luckily, the energy they [the boys at least] expended upon seeing my awesome ninja costume exceeded the amount of energy I put into making it. #winwinwin #score #besthalloweencostumeever

 After Halloween, I also started another personal Halloween tradition of painting a pumpkin. It was the most windy, beautiful Friday afternoon, and it felt like it was fall's last goodbye to me.

 Painting this was so therapeutic that I decided I'm going to by a canvas and paint a picture. I've also started going to weekly yoga classes with my coworkers/roommate. I love them. Great way to de-stress. The girls I visit teach also expressed that they wanted to start rock-climbing so we're all buying memberships to the climbing gym and we will go weekly. So you can follow up with me on those three new goals for November.