Ensign Peak -- 9/11

Matt and I got engaged on Ensign Peak on September 11, 2006.  This year we hiked it as the sun was going down and relived the wonderful memory!  I look terrible and I barely made it to the top without having an asthma attack...and I don't even have asthma... but I just wanted to post a quick note of how glad I am that I said YES! to this man four years ago!!  Love you honey!

Another Matt and Tay Field Trip

Matt came with me on my trip to Vancouver last weekend.  We had 30 hours to play up there so we rented a car and spent the morning have breakfast at Granville Island Farmers Market and then drove to Whistler and hiked/took in the breathtaking scenery for the afternoon.  We both loved Vancouver so much already and Whistler is just one more reason to love it even more.  The pics do not do this place justice.

Weekend in Seattle

Matt came with me on my overnight this weekend and we spent it in Seattle.  We caught it on a perfect weather day and took advantage of it.  

We spent some time downtown at the Farmer's Market where we saw flying fish, beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers, rows an rows of fresh produce and much more!  I could spend all day in a farmers market but we only stayed for a couple of hours.   

 

We then headed out of the city about 20 miles to a county park (I can't remember the name of it, but if you go, it is the #1 recommended Puget Sound Park/Hike).  From the county park we hiked downhill to the beaches of the Puget Sound.  By the time we got there the sun was setting and it was so beautiful and peaceful.  We just sat there on a log and chatted for a while. We love to find fun hikes in every city we visit and this has been one of the best ones yet!

After the hike we drove around the University of Washington (Matt has a thing for college campuses) and then drove around the space needle and back through downtown to our hotel.  

We had a great time -- Work is much more fun if you take your hubby with you, especially when he is this cute:

All these pics are off our iPhones.

My 25th Birthday in San Francisco

For my birthday this year Matt surprised me by planning a weekend trip to San Francisco (one of my fave U.S. cities) to see Ben Folds (one of my fave musicians) in concert.   The trip was a success (obviously)!!! 
The first day we rented a car and drove all around the bay area.  We drove to Golden Gate Park then across the Golden Gate Bridge to Muir Woods to hike around some beautiful California Red Woods and then we drove on to check out UC Berkeley (I fell in love immediately and totally want to Matt to go to school there.  The area it's in is like a Sugar House area on steroids...so many fun shops and boutiques and restaurants.) We stopped at Trader Joe's (a must) and stocked up on kettle corn and other goodies and then ate at a Thai restaurant over there then headed back to SF via the bay bridge.  We drove through downtown and headed up to Coit Tower to see the city at night and then went to check into our hotel. 
The next morning we drove out to Half Moon Bay before we had to return the rental car.  The drive on CA 1 was so incredibly beautiful.  I sooooooo want to live in a pastel colored house in a coastal city near a vineyard with a year round farmers market down the street. Life would be pretty swell.
We dropped the car off and then headed downtown to hang out before the concert.  We spent some time at the mall shopping, then we grabbed a quick lunch at Blondie's Pizza.  We went back to our hotel to shower, watch unsolved mysteries and get ready for Ben.  We headed out for dinner and dessert at Cheesecake (my fave) on top of Macy's with a great view of downtown while we ate and then headed off to the concert.  Ben was amazing (of course), I just love him.  We both had a blast.  The weekend was a perfect getaway and a perfect 25th birthday.  Thanks honey!

Mt. Timpanogos

WE DID IT!!

Matt, Myself and Drama hiked Timp yesterday...all 15 miles of it!

(and we are all hobbling around like 80 year olds today)

It was such a beautiful hike and the view from the top was so breathtaking! This time of the year is the best! The colors are amazing! We didn't have our camera or cell phones so the only proof that we made it is our names signed at the top! You should go see it for yourself! It is so worth it! If you do go, tell the 68 year old guy named Ben Woolsey (the one who hikes it everyday) that I made it all the way!!

Zions

We spent this week camping and hiking in Zions National Park in Southern Utah. We have been wanting to get down there for a while to take advantage of all the parks "beauty and grandure" (Matt's word choice). Anyway, we went to St. George the first night and stayed in a hotel and had one last shower before we camped in the park for the next three days/ two nights.
We hiked Angels Landing, The Narrows, Emerald Pools, Weeping Rock and the Three Patriarchs. We had a good time and got a great workout! Angels landing and the Narrows were our favorites Angels landing is a 2000 foot vertical climb in 2 miles and the last 1/2 mile of trail is only 3-4 feet wide with plunging cliffs on both sides of you! The narrows was a flatter hike but it was in the water (Virgin River) most of the time between two sandstone cliffs. It was pretty crazy but a lot of fun. Here are some pics of the hikes.


Matt using the chain to hike up the Angels Landing cliffs


Karate Kid (I was seriously so scared while I was taking this pic...if he would have fallen, I would be a widow)


Meditating at the top of Angels Landing (you can see how high up he is by how small the bottom of the canyon roads look...I was scared!)


Me with the 3 foot wide Angels Landing trail behind me. Woot! We did it!


You know you are impressed!!


Both of us on top of AL


Matt in the Narrows


On the way up to AL ...I was beat at this point!


Me in the Narrows


Posing for a pics by the Emerald Pools (We were not too impressed by the EP...they were more like Emerald Puddles)


It was a great little vacation...next stop Oahu, Hawaii. Apparently I don't think "outside of the box" enough when it comes to vacations since I am dragging Matt to Hawaii for the third time now but our neighbors wanted to go and I just jumped at the chance to head back over there so we will be taking off in a couple weeks for the islands. At least this time we are trying out a different island right?

PS...this is my 100th post! Blogging Rocks My Socks!!

Hiking

On Sunday we wanted to do something fun so we drove up Provo Canyon and hiked Stuart Falls. It was such a pretty hike and so refreshing to be outside in the beautiful weather! Have I mentioned that I love this time of year?
We even took Drama with us and we fully expected to have to carry her for at least part of it since she is still so young, but we didn't! She loved frolicking in the mountains with us, it was a good time! We jogged parts of the trail and she kept up with us. We all slept like babies when we got home though! It was a good work out and hopefully we will be able to do many more day hikes like that one this summer cause we loved every minute of it!