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. 

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