Battle Creek Falls

Some pics of our hike yesterday-we're gonna try and hike a lot this summer-it's so much fun and I love being out in nature + hikers are very happy/friendly people...very rarely do you meet a grumpy hiker so it's always a pleasant time.

Hmmmm

So today was AWESOME!
After sleeping in (whoopsie) and quickly doing my jobs for cleaning checks I went to the bank to deposit some checks, got gas in frida, and then tried unsuccessfully to find my fav kind of microwave popcorn. Neither smith's, macey's, nor walmart carried it.....did I just use neither/nor in the correct way?

shrug, anywho. Then the great part of the day started-me and Cody went on a hike-i can't remember what it's called now, but it was way easy with some nice waterfalls (and no, it wasn't bridal veil falls). Pics to come on that. Then it was dinner at applebee's then home where I read a lil of crime and punishment/took a short nap. I'm really liking this book so far-can tell that I might be able to really get into it.

So the reason for my title tonight- we watched avatar tonight. And really that's all I have to say...hmmm......I dunno, I just don't feel strongly either way- I didn't LOVE it, but I didn't HATE it. Obviously this movie got the press and attention it did because of the technology put in to it. The story just...didn't really do it for me-it was predictable and cliche (as many people have pointed out to me, it really was just fern gully mixed with pocahontas (sp?) I mean, yes there is blatant propaganda in it, and yes there was some obvious manipulation of the audience's feelings with camera angles/effects etc....but that's just it, I STILL didn't really feel anything. During the battle, sure I knew who I was supposed to want to win-the natives but I just wasn't emotionally invested in them. Maybe I'm heartless, shrug, but it was more like watching a national geographic special. Sure it's sad when the lion catches the gazelle-and you kinda want to see it evade the lion just to be different, but either way...it's nature, whatever happens is the circle of life and you move on.
Strangely I really don't feel a desire to see it again either. I think what bugs me when it boils down to it is the extreme depiction of both sides. Yes I realize it's easier to make a clearer point when you deal in absolutes (man=evil, nature=good) but it's just not realistic and we don't walk away from this movie knowing how to apply the principles in the real world cause we're not crazy gun slinging macho guys who want to cut down trees. We're normal people who most likekly enjoy nature. I'd appreciate a more balanced and realistic view of things because our world is not in absolutes-thus the solutions to environmental problems are not easy. I mean, if we went with this movie's philosophy we'd stop any further development, abandon our society, and go live on berries in the jungle-sure a nice sentiment but not realistic or helpful.

whatever, i can see the merit in it but will prolly not watch it again.

yay for impulse shopping

I have discovered a new and amazing type of M&M-they are really catering to women's cravings now. So this totally fulfills your desire for chocolate/salty...yeah...it's pretty much amazing-and i think these are even better than the crispy M&Ms that they had in the blue bag before.

in other news-last night we actually kinda had a cool storm-lightening, a lil thunder-just a lil, and freezing rain (there is snow up around the Y) crazy crazy summer...

Weekend activities

Well other than Cody falling deathly ill Friday it was a pretty fun weekend. I knew it was bad when he had me come and get him from his internship-i guess we went to tucano's one too many times. After an enormous ammount of sleep and of course my nusing abilities, cody was back on his feet Saturday for our friend eric and heidi's wedding 8) They got married in the Provo temple and had a beautiful luncheon and reception afterwards. We lovingly decorated their car which turned out being more complicated than you'd think. Me and code went to get balloons and got helium ones cause-come on...those are just funner. So as we tried to muscle them into the backseat a bunch of them popped-our money dissolving into thin air literally cause the car was so hot. That was tense drive home let me tell you-just waiting for that loud pop in your ear. So with our balloons and an offical car decorating kit, some white shoe polish and a six pack of full rootbeer cans-yes, that's right, FULL root beer cans we set them up with a car to wisk them off to their new future.

ladies and gentleman the ring!

It came!

So we were pleasantly surprised when my ring came in today-a whole 5 days before they said it would. It's absolutely beautiful and I'm so proud of it-everyone loves it and oooo's and aaahh's accordingly, but they are sincere ooo's and aaa's not the pity ooo's and aaa's. 8)
The funny thing is, is that I suck at taking pics of a ring on my hand-i can never get a good focused shot that really shows how cool it is....soo....sorry? haha more motivation to come to the reception 8) (don't worry mom i'll get on skype with you so you can see it tomorrow 8)
We had tucanos tonight-soooo good and yet I am always sooo bloated after that place-i don't think my system knows how to break down that much protein.

anywho, i can NOT wait to find a job-getting a lil stir crazy here and I can't do tons of wedding stuff during the day like dress shopping cause the few friends i have here are functioning members of society with 8-5 type jobs and I can't go alone to do that stuff cause than it becomes a chore and it's not fun anymore...it's like being alone on your birthday (i wouldn't know, but I'm sure it sucks).

Here's to the phone ringing off the hook...ya know....if it had a hook....

Amazing 24!

What a great birthday!

It started out pretty low key. I got some errands done, watched some Gilmore Girls, and did my hair. Sadly my package from mom didn't get here in time but that's ok-it'll just be a lil extension of my bday tomorrow I guess 8)
Then Cody got home from work and we went to eat at Zuppa's (yes it's a chick place but it's still good food + i knew we would be going to the manliest of manly restaurants-tacanos tomorrow with nate and drea so I thought this would be a good balance.
It was good as usual and after we drove up to Rock Canyon Park where he gave me a card that was good for one free nice picture frame for our future home which I thought was nice yet random and especially when it specifically said: a picture frame, a really big one, like 24x36 or something.....yeah, interesting detail. So I thanked him and then he said: now, what should we put in the frame? Maybe we could put whatever is in the car.
By this point I was kinda lost i won't lie but we went back to the car and in the trunk was a tube. We took it back to the bench and I opened and unrolled it wondering if it could actually be what I was beginning to think it was. Believe it or not it was one of my favorite paintings of all time and by far favorite painting in the MoA on campus:
Fallen Monarchs by William Bliss Baker


That's right, Cody hired an artist in Salt Lake City to recreate this painting and it looks awesome! I can't wait to get it mounted in a nice frame. I'm just so blown away...I mean I'd sit forever just looking at this painting in the MoA thinkin of how cool it would be to own something like that and now I do. I can't wait to put it up in our home, to continue to collect and learn about art throughout my life and make my home a place of culture where my kids can be exposed to different styles and ways of expressing yourself-it's just really cool. Anywho, I was completely blown away and still can't believe it. Here's a pic of ours but it has a protective plastic sheet over the canvas until we get it mounted so you can't tell as well from the pic, but it looks great!


After that we came back to our apartment and were greeted by my best friends- f6 and r22 that were in the area, natasha malinina and her husband jordan (my trainer from the mish), and nate and drea. We had some cake and ice cream (i blew out the candles in one breath thank you very much) and then played some werewolves. I also got an itunes gift card,a chinese finger trap, a jumpy frog, a kazoo, and my favorite- the parachute man.
It was a great day and I'm so grateful for loving friends and a fiance who loves and supports me in my interests and passions!
more pics to come on a later date
thanks everyone!!!

stages

It's been so interesting interacting with all the different people I have around me lately. I'm suddenly noticing more the different stages we are all at. I have some friends who are younger-just starting college, a brother who is just starting a mission, a brother who is married with 4 kids, current friends who are engaged-soon to be married (this sat), friends who are recently married, friends who have been married a year or two, newly expecting for the first time friends, friends who are retired and empty nesters, all at different stages and what's the constant over-lapping theme? Their best friend/companion/spouse/however you wanna say it.

It's just real cool to see where I've been and a sneak peek at what's coming down the road knowing that I'll have a constant too. It's hard to think of any situation or problem that would REALLY make me panic as long as I knew code would be with me. Whatever happens we'll cope and deal with it together and it's just really....cool for lack of a better word. Also, it just reinforces to me the need to truly enjoy every step of every stage-all stages have difficulties, it's just a given cause otherwise we'd get bored and lazy, but there's ALWAYS joy to be derived even if it's just from the fact that we're together.

so many people have mentioned that they wished they had just eloped or not cared so much about little details when it came to their wedding and I am grateful for the reminder. I really want to enjoy every part of this wedding process and feel confident that I will-sure there will be stressful times but as long as I keep focused on what's REALLY important than I won't care about the little stuff and everything that works out will just be an added perk.

8)

today was a good day. Had an interview that resulted in me getting an internship at the springville museum of art for the fall/winter semesters which I'm pretty excited about-can finally get some experience and learn what skills i need etc 8)
then it was off to pull weeds at President's. Still no job yet but i've managed to start working for President again until I do find something. Went walking around center street with the Louders and ran into some friends and ended up talking on a street corner for awhile-fun stuff. (i know i sound sarcastic but it was fun). Tomorrow is the temple in Ogden for one of Cody's cousins and then wedding planning with drea and dinner with the louders/and games. Sunday we're gonna go have dinner with Kris' family-can't wait! haven't seen them FOREVER 8)
....hmmm.....I've just now remembered why I should not write blog posts when I'm tired-it turns into an itenerary....oh well, i started well enough.
g'night

It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that....ring!

Yes, it is now officially official! and yes, I was COMPLETELY blown away-not that he asked, after all I knew that the Texas trip was so he could talk to dad and we had been ring shopping and even had scheduled the temple already (August 21st), but I knew that my ring wouldn't be here for awhile. Because of the design of the ring, they couldn't size it down + apparently someone came in and bought the ring we loved an hour before Cody came to buy it (yes people, I am a trend setter). So since I have a miniscule size 4 ring finger they had to make a fresh brand new one in my size which is great since I know no one else has ever worn it but it takes 3 weeks to get back. Because of all this I figured I had some time before the question was popped-apparently not!
So I got back Thursday evening from texas-had dinner with Cody and his good friend Wayne who told us the incredible story of his engagement/meeting his wife etc. Friday night we watched our cousin Jeff and Sally's kids with Nate and Drea which was way fun and then came yesterday.
I had thought of a fun secret activity we could do in the afternoon- (we had always talked about going to IKEA and looking around and playing house.) In Hind sight I guess I sort of noticed that Cody seemed nervous about it and kept asking when we would be back etc. and emphasized that we needed to be back here at 4 for something he was planning. Though this wasn't very suspect to me cause we always will plan secret somethings for each other and so it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary.
We had fun at IKEA (according to Cody he was acting squirrely and nervous all day but I didn't notice it). Then we came back and had a few minutes until 4 so he drove to our favorite spot that we have to go and talk. Again, not totally out of the ordinary though normally we tend to go there in the evening than the middle of the day but whatever, i was still clueless.
We sat and talked about our favorite memories that we had at this spot-for me one was one particular night when we walked up there (a hill up near the base of the Y where there's a church) and just talked for hours and it was really fun to learn about each other, another was when it was my year anniversary of being home from the mission and we went out there with hot cocoa and sweet potatoes ( it's an inside thing) and he just sat and listened to me talk about my mission.
After we had talked about that for awhile I unknowingly gave him the perfect opportunity when I said: I can't wait for all of this wedding stuff to feel real and then he asked: when do you think that'll be? I unknowingly said: oh, probably when there's a ring on my finger.
As he reached for his pocket he said: I can help with that. My eyes got huge, my heart started pounding and the following romantic conversation took place: You do not have a ring! Yes I do. No you don't!Yes I do... haha
warning me that it was a substitute until my ring would get in he opened the box and the above ring was there and he asked me. As a girl you never know how you're going to react in this moment-you see in movies all sorts of reactions:
the huge smile and huge eyes
the crying reaction
the screaming and jumping up and down reaction
there are many, and I always wondered how it would feel and how I would react. My reaction was completely dazed with some tears thrown in. It's just hard to describe the touching feeling when someone you love declares their love for you and wants you-all of you, the good,bad, and the ugly for all of eternity. I feel so lucky and oh yeah, of course I said yes, though I had to repeat myself cause I think Cody was so nervous/dazed himself that he didn't hear me the first time, haha.

After that we changed and went to dinner at The Roof-a way nice restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building that overlooks the Salt Lake temple which is where we'll be sealed for time and all eternity August 21st, at 9:00 am by my grandpa Richards. We are sooo excited and can't wait to now officially start planning (even though we have the date saved, locations and dates for both receptions, the colors, and an overall look/style for the wedding-pictures to be posted on that subject at another time. AFter dinner we walked around the temple took some pics (as seen below) and then stopped by Grandpa and Grandma Richards' to tell them the good news. It was so fun and sitting and talking with them, seeing where they are in life and how their family has grown and seeing where we're starting out and all that we have to look forward to.
I feel so lucky to be marrying the love of my life and best friend-it's gonna be awesome! and I canNOT get used to the sparkle coming from my left hand-I must have ADD cause I keep getting distracted and thinking: ooo! shiny!