Getting to know Utah

Joanna is from Utah and I am from California and Arizona. I've spent most of my life here and I think that's great.  It's wonderful to have both of our families close, and Utah is full of wonderful things to do and people to meet.  We both love to see and experience different parts of the world, but we're also grateful to live in a beautiful place like Utah.

What's funny is that after 15 years of living in Utah, I haven't done a lot of Utah things that people from around the world come to Utah to do.  We've started a Utah bucket list that includes wading in the Great Salt Lake, hiking Timpanogos, visiting the Leonardo Museum, the Hansen Planetarium, the Hill Air Force Base Museum, Monument Valley, and all of Utah's national parks.  By the end of February, I had only been to 2 of 5 of Utah's amazing national parks!  I was pretty ashamed.  Perhaps most shameful of all, I had never been to Arches National Park!  The Delicate Arch is probably the most well-known landmark of our state, and we had never seen it.  So, we decided to take a trip to Arches National Park just before beginning my full-time job.

Rich and Jen kindly agreed to watch Mason while we were gone for two and a half days, and we had SO.  MUCH.  FUN. We stayed in a cheap, but clean motel, and we hiked to the Delicate Arch on our first night.  It was a gorgeous hike!  We went at a perfect time--not too hot, not too cold, and we arrived at the Delicate Arch right in time for a spectacular sunset.  We took some pictures, and kissed under the Arch...then we ended the day by getting a burger and root beer at Moab Brewery. Well, I got a burger. Joanna got a salad (as usual).

The following day, we both tried mountain biking for the first time.  Little did I know that Joanna had previously rode on the X Games!  Seriously, though, she was awesome!  I would slow down whenever there was a narrow stretch, and she would just keep flying.  It was perfect weather, perfect scenery, and a very leisurely ride.  I was amazed how the bikes could climb up just about anything.  I was a little tentative on my first ride, but we both enjoyed it a lot.  We had delicious pizza for lunch at Zak's  We went to Slick Rock, probably the world's most famous (and difficult) mountain bike trail, but we weren't quite ready for that route quite yet.  It did give us something to look forward to :)

One of the highlights of the trip was stumbling upon a bunch of petroglyphs on our way to the Poison Spider trail.  The art on the walls of the mountains was well preserved.  Another highlight was that same evening, when we drove out a ways to gaze at the stars while enjoying a Frosty.  It was as if you could see every star in the universe that night.  It was spectacular.

We spent our final day driving around the Canyonlands.  We didn't go too far because the park is enormous, but we made it to the Grand View and Dead Horse Point.  Both offered amazing views.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  We loved just hiking and soaking up the sun.

We came back to Utah County refreshed and ready to take on the world.  Mason was glad to see us, especially his mom, who he now calls "Daddy."  I think it's pretty hilarious, but it drives Joanna nuts.  We can't help but wonder if he's doing it on purpose.

I've now visited 3 of our state's 5 national parks--only Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef are left on my list.

The month of love 2013

February has been a full month. For our Anniversary on February 5th we celebrated (while my sister-in-law Jennifer watched Mason..thank you Jen!). Nate bought me beautiful flowers and took me skiing for $10 at Alta (I LOVE skiing), then to a nice dinner. It was a really wonderful day. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, Nate surprised me by taking me to a little Sugar House street in Salt Lake City to visit our temple sealer - Brother Roland Wright. He is a veteran of WWII, former Mission President of the NYC Mission, in his late 80's or early 90's, and a good, wise, angelic man. It was so sweet to visit with him. It brought back a flood of memories of our temple sealing.

Some of my favorite flowers because of what they symbolize (purity and trust in God), the incredibly beautiful fragrant smell,  their price :), and how long they last!

For Valentine's Day I made Nate a breakfast and wrote him a love note. He was sick that day so instead of going out that night for dinner, we ordered pizza instead. I was sad we couldn't go out that night - but we still had fun. 

President's Day was wonderful. We went to xtreme sport in provo with Nate's family and had fun bouncing Mason around. He loved it!!

Nate also found out yesterday that he passed the 'Foreign Officer's Exam'. That means he will write a personal essay response, which then if he passes, will be invited to Washington DC to be personally interviewed. He was mostly taking it as a practice this time around since his plans are to go to law school in fall of 2014, but we will see what happens! If he passes, we will have some fun decisions to make!

This month Nate was also offered and accepted a full-time position to work at 'Fit Marketing', a company started by his very good friend Owen Fuller. We feel like our fasting and prayers, and those of our family members have been heard. Before now he has been working part-time with his brother at a Mexican Restaurant. Since Goldman Sachs, I could not have imagined the faith and patience and trust I would be given opportunity to learn. It has been a journey of faith, but I am so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to learn and grow in this way.

There is much much more in my heart, but maybe for another time. 

We are looking forward to Spring and sunshine! We love our family and friends!!!