October is...

almost gone...

Some things I have loved about this month...

GENERAL CONFERENCE

President Thomas S. Monson

There was so much goodness and truth shared with the world about families, choices, faith,

LOVE, service, CHARITY, hope, virtue, GOD, and Jesus Christ. All can be viewed, listened to and read again and again in so many languages right online!

http://lds.org/conference/languages/0,6353,310-1,00.html

The beautiful leaves changing colors!! I observed some youth doing a project where they used rocks to pound leaf prints into fabric squares... very cool- I will try this!

SUHAILA reunion + HONG KONG friends + Emily Hillstrom's wedding= HAPPY

Suhaila came to town! It has been 1 year ++ since we parted in Macau! It was so fun to have her around and all the friends that were gathered for dear Emily's wedding!

Suhaila denies trampling some youngins to be the winner of this prize! (She should deny it, because she didn't really, but sort of... she made an exerted effort at least! And we all celebrated with her!)

The Harvest

My friend Matt and I carved this last year... we made up our own stencil.. Guess who?

Driving around the neighborhood, I am reminded of the approaching season with all the Pumpkins I see popping up! I could have caused an accident by the way I was startled by the size of one of these pumpkins on my drive home from church the other day.


I have also been so fortunate to live back in the Steele neighborhood. They have been very generous with peaches and tomatoes! And others have imparted squash and zucchini and Asian pears! I love it all and I am so grateful! I will have garden when I grow up and learn the art of canning! Hooray for the Harvest and General Conference this weekend!

Home on the Wasatch Front

After my D.C send off,

my friend Bee from Thailand at my apartment complex in D.C brought back some pastries to share from her trip to NYC the night before my bus to Hershey, PA

I spent a week with Nancy, Anne and Scott at their apartment doing baby things and job searching...

Nancy and Anne took me to the airport in Baltimore, MD so we checked out the Inner Harbor before my flight to UT. It was a HOT day. Little Anne got to sport her hat and we waited a little bit for the fountains to come on, but they had some technical difficulties and we had to head out by the time they got them working.

I flew to UT on good 'ole Southwest

Sometimes its the small things that really do it for me.... the honey roasted peanuts have been a staple flight snack that sadly disappeared for a time. Another great thing about this trip-Julia Olson was on my connecting flight! What a joy to share a flight with a friend! We did the Jumpsart program together in D.C.

My first weekend back I got to hike Mt. Timpanogos with some friends from a former ward and Jesikaa.

Jensen, Danny & J.J.

We started our hike in the middle of the night so we could catch the sunrise from the peak. It was fantastic.

We had some great little finds while descending from that giant peak...

THIS photo gets me every time I look at it. 100%Miracle, 50% chance, 30% camera, 10% my finger (obviously those don't add up).. just enjoy...

The daylight added some amazing sites to our long hike.

I tried to think like these pro-hikers, " I am a mountain goat...".

Natural Design

Jesikaa and I naturally collapsed after 13 hours on the mountain.

My knees were in slight disrepair for the next week, but they got the hang of walking again and have even agreed to help me give tap dance another go.

Lovely Things

from the garden next to the Hirshorn Museum in DC

The Palmyra, NY Temple

A lonely flower on a rock at Niagara Falls, NY

Berries near the falls.... yum!

Another flower near the Hirshorn Museum

Bug Bites and Metro Losses

I don't mean for this post to be depressing, but I just wanted to share with the world some of the small inconveniences that I have met while in D.C.  (I find them humorous). My first week here I left a blue sweatshirt on the Metro and have yet to find it. I figured it was gone for good. One less thing to pack around with me at the end of the summer. I did however spot a lost and found sign at the end of one of the lines on my way to the temple last week.... maybe I will look into the possibilities of finding it if I have extra time... 

I got some mysterious bug bites on the tops of my feet the other night. I noticed a bunch of red spots on them the next morning. I had spent some time in a park in the rain with open topped shoes on that night so I think it was some ant or chigger or something? Any anti-ich remedy suggestions? Thanks for sharing. 

Life is wonderful.. really I'm not just saying that. It is.

I LOVE to see the temple

This last weekend I road the metro and a bus to meet Nancy and Scott at the D.C. Temple. It was so wonderful! The area was breath taking. The bus driver let me off just a short walk down a winding tree lined road. I came around a corner and finally knew for sure I was headed in the right direction.

Painting

I have discovered that I enjoy painting. I have only done a couple over the past 4 years or so, but I find it rewarding, relaxing and rejuvenating! 
This is the latest work in progress inspired by my Southeast Asia sail boat experiences. I loved the orange sail in this picture and it was so fun to paint the water. I think I will add more green and touch up some things and call it good.
This is a painting of a picture of my cousin Trevor on a bridge in Yosemite. I would love to go back to Yosemite! What a gorgeous place! I started and finished this one about 3 years ago. 

I 

My Delayed Blogging Life- Purging

Please excuse the title... Although, I think its a pretty accurate description of my blogging habits... The following are a pinch of the fun I've been having post Winter semester-Spring!

This is a picture of my Winter Semester roommates at Ashley's (the glowing one in white) wedding reception! How I adore these girls! We really know how to have a good time plus Ashley's reception was super classy and very much an Ashley + Larson celebration! They had a super sweet candy bar as a thank you gift too. 

                                girls from the moon

The following are photos of a couple of my cousins' darling kids- they seemed pretty comfortable with photo shoots so while we waited for Blake and Michelle to emerge from the Salt Lake City Temple as husband and wife we took a few shots among the flowers-

Cute cousins- Lauren and Jordan- "princesses" really- according to Lauren. I imagine Lauren is a princess whenever she pleases-except when she is a "step-mother". She and Jordan snagged a coveted bench where couples were snapping photos. After they had been there for some time, I suggested they let others have a turn on that particular bench. I commented that a princess would be kind and share the bench with others. She replied in her sweet little proper voice that she was a "step-mother" now and that they were there first and there were other benches. I didn't mess with step-mother Lauren after that. funny girls :)

This Cannon man was just happy to get up and try his walking skills on all the different textures around the temple- the grass, the cobble stone... 

Will found his own orange flower to pose by after he saw his sister Lauren do a similar shot. 

Hooray for hikes! Adrianne and I hiked to the Y! We had planned on a hike with some other friends but plans changed as things got pushed back so we did our own hike up the switchback mountain. We had a genuinely hilarious time! Plus we didn't talk ourselves out of going all the way even with a few sprinkles and ominous clouds. The overcast weather made it quite nice!

REFUND 100% + Babysitting

Just got a 100% refund on an Amtrak ticket I don't need anymore. I was very pleased! Also, I am available to babysit for you... Yes you with children and a need for a break... you can call me or email me. I am pretty flexible. Also, I can be hired for cooking, cleaning, and yard work. 

Graduation Walk

Last week I walked for my graduation at BYU! My mom stayed out in Utah after we sent Gordon off so she could be there. We had fun spending time together. Adrianne, Brad, and so many other friends walked as well. I enjoyed meeting everyone's family members who came out to support them. I still have some classes that I will finish up by December- instead of this Spring because I got an internship with Jumpstart in D.C!! Hooray! It all happened so fast and I am very excited for the opportunity!

Missionary brother

Gordon > ELDER STEELE---Gordon is a missionary now! My Dad and Mom both came to town and we were able to take him to the Missionary Training Center on April 15th. He will serve in the Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission. We are so excited for him. He came out a couple of days before he went in so we enjoyed some JDawgs

and Smart Cookie, a pizza night with the Steele family

 and some good old Skype bonding with Nancy and Scott! What a send off !

Onion Plant

One of my roommates (no one will fess up, and to be honest, I may be the responsible party) kept a yellow onion out on our counter top for a couple weeks which began sprouting into a plant:I found it fascinating! It was a special little experiment to have an onion plant growing taller each day right in your kitchen. Well, sadly one roommate did not share my sentiments, so photographs are the only remains of this beauty.

Peanut, Peanut Butter, and Jelly!

Last night, Brad and I dressed up as peanut butter and jelly with bread capes for his friend Cassie's 22 birthday party! Her party was full of cleverness and delight! It was a doubles, twins, pairs, couples theme. Her invitations included copies of her glasses for us to cut out and wear to match her! Brad assembled our glasses-they look pretty real... My sister, Nancy, gave me the peanut butter and jelly idea, and we ran with it. We had fun making our labels together and taking fun pictures. Brad introduced me to this fun PB&J rap on YouTube. What fun we have!

Dinner Group

So I am a huge fan of dinner groups! At school at least, they are definitely the way to go for good, inexpensive meals, and great company! Four nights a week-- Monday-Thursday-- dinner is ready around 6PM. We take turns cooking. I cook Thursday nights every other week. I enjoy cooking anyway, but this way it is really exciting to get to think up a dish to serve and get ideas from group members. Tonight, I made a Thai Peanut Chicken Recipe I found online, and it turned out pretty well! I DOUBLED the recipe served it with rice and broccoli for some balance. I put some of my numbers together and with all the parts of ingredients I used I was able to feed 4 grown men and 4 grown ladies with about a meal and a half left over.. so lets make it about 10 servings (because some had seconds) for less than $1.50 a person... I like that! I like that very much!  

Birthday fun

So Todd turned 23 yesterday and we got to do some exciting things to celebrate. To start off, some of his mission buddies came over for a good surprise on his birthday eve (because we had planned to be in St. George on his birthday over the long weekend). I got him over to my house under the pretense of watching a movie and the party crew camped out in the kitchen. He got here and wasn't thirsty like I had hoped and so I went to get myself a drink and he finally decided to follow me in... We had lit the candles around the time we thought he would be there... but when the wax started getting super dwarfed we decided to blow all 23 candles spelling Todd out and light one candle that we stuck in the "o" when he knocked. Well, he says he was surprised. Then on his real birthday we went up to Soldier's Hollow where we tried cross country skiing! It was a beautiful day and we had a blast... even when we fell down :) luckily there were just enough people around who we could spy some tricks of the sport from, tricks like how to connect your boots to the skis! It was a great work out with some fun rides in between. We had a blast too! And we got a free water bottle for filling out a survey of our Wasatch recreation experience... For dinner we picked up mighty tasty ribs and whipped up some more of Todd's favorites mashed potatoes and salad. To top it off we went to another birthday celebration for my friend Audrey where we played Mafia. I was a pretty sneaky mafia and Todd was a pretty effective last word investigator. What a Happy birthday!