Bryce Canyon National Park

What a great visit we had at Bryce Canyon! We stopped there on our way home from St. George on the Monday of President's Day. I didn't realize quite how far it was from the freeway, but Greg handled all the driving like a champ while I went in and out on naps. Which is unfortunate because I missed a nice pass through the Dixie National Forest.

I went to Bryce Canyon with a college art group during the summer before my senior year. We had a group of students with us from an art college in Liverpool. They had never seen anything like this before and it was really neat to watch their reactions to the landscape. But going with Greg was even better. This was his first time at Bryce, and he was real giddy about it. I wish I would have filmed his "first look" because he literally dropped his jaw and was in shock about how beautiful the amphitheater is. He kept saying things like, "This is magical! This is awe-inspiring!"

We drove around to a few different points around the park, but most of the trails were covered in snow and it was rather wet so we opted to stay out of the dirt this time. But that Navajo Trail from Sunset Point looks like a great little jaunt, so hopefully we'll be back before the year's end!

Zion National Park

The year of the national parks! Greg has been watching a lot of adventures shows on YouTube. They are usually shows about a bunch of dudes driving around in the wilderness on all sorts of transportation vehicles and then they get in a bind and they have to rig up some solution to get out of the mud or something. He loves it! Ha. So he's been itching for more outdoor adventures. He came up with a great plan for the year to get to some areas in the U.S. he's been wanting to visit. And he knows how much I love a plan, so he typed it all out for me in calendar format :)

We're going on a week long road trip in a couple of weeks and so we planned to have a low key month to gear up for that. But this past weekend, the pollution was so bad in Salt Lake and we were tired of the cold, foggy days. So we headed down to southern Utah with my parents and little sister, Lizzy. My mood improved the closer we got to seeing the sun as we drove away from the pollution. More on that in a future post...

The first night we were there, we had a lovely supper of grilled chicken fajitas and sat in the hot tub. The next day we spent some time off-roading. My parents have a Razr so we packed in that and followed Greg around on his dirt bike on some trails near Gunlock reservoir, by Veyo. Poor Greg had to turn around when his tires kept getting stuck in snow, but it was a great day nonetheless.

The next day was Valentine's day! We went to church in the morning, then came back and packed up a lunch and took the truck for a long drive to Zion National Park. (The last picture shows the truck with the Zion sign!) They aren't running the shuttle this time of year, so we had quite a long wait to enter the park, probably 30 minutes parked or going 1 MPH. But once we got the front, we bought an annual pass to the national parks. Most parks cost $30/car and the pass is only $80/ year so if you plan on going to at least 3 parks, you've already saved money!

We drove all around, through the tunnels, on the steep curves, and marveled at the canyon and red rock. It was pretty crowded, especially being a holiday, President's Day weekend, and a Sunday. But it was still lovely. We actually kind of appreciated how slow it was because that meant we could drive slow and take it all in.

We drove to the end of the park and did the 2 mile path to the entrance of the Narrows. It's lovely and paved and the weather was so perfect. Then we filled our water bottles with fresh spring water at the end of the walk.

It's amazing to have grown up in a state that is so beautiful and has so many natural wonders near the places I live. Hoping to see a lot more this year!

Star Wars Episode 7!

Greg loves Star Wars! He is probably a better candidate to write this post, but I'm the one who loves documenting - so here I go! 

On our honeymoon (Nov 2014) the first teaser for the new Star Wars came out. At this point, I knew that Greg really loved Star Wars. I had seen the lego collections in his room and he made sure we watched the entire series before we got married. But when the teaser came out, I saw a whole new side of him. We watched the teaser clip several, several times. I didn't mind, but I knew that I probably needed to get on board with Star Wars and learn to love it as much as him. I mean, I know that I'll never match his level of enjoyment- just check out this video I took of him when he watched the official trailer of Episode 7 for the first time. 

After this, we got serious. We bought tons of tickets that night, and began our marathon the next day. We watched every free moment we had and we even enjoyed a few meals as a "picnic on a blanket" in front of the T.V. We cut it real close. We finished episode 6 on Thursday night with only an hour to spare until we needed to leave to the movie theatre to catch the premiere of episode 7. 

Here is a little video of us on our way to the theater for the premiere!

We loved it! Greg was especially giddy and I had to keep reminding him to breathe while we were watching. It was really fun. So this was all on Thursday night. The two of us just went alone to an 8:30 PM showing. 

But then we also bought 13 tickets for Saturday morning so that both of our entire families could enjoy it together. We all met up at the Jordan Commons megaplex where we had reserved the entire row for the fam. It was pretty fun to all be together. My little sister hadn't seen any of the other movies, so Greg gave her a quick recap on the phone while she was driving to the theater. Ha! 

Here we have Michelle, John, and Logan. Michelle is Greg's aunt. They came all the way from Tooele!

Here's Greg with his dad, Megan (his sister), and mom. Sadly Megan's husband had to work so he couldn't come. 

Woolston clan!

Snyder clan! 

Snowy Drives

Last weekend, we traveled down to Lehi on a Sunday morning. We wanted to change it up a little bit so instead of going on the freeway, we went down Redwood Road and then up past Camp David and the new security data center (I now know what that big building is thanks to Edward Snowden!). It was crazy foggy as we got into the mountains. As in, we could barely see 100 yards ahead of us. We went to Greg's uncle's church in Lehi because he was giving a talk. And then our extended family all gathered at his house for a luncheon because he is going to be working in China for the next year. They decided to have a Mexican themed meal- and it was delicious! I made this tres leches cake, from Smitten Kitchen and I must say, it was really really good. She serves hers with maraschino cherries, but I added strawberry slices instead and it really was a crowd pleaser. Sadly, I only took one picture right before our last bite. So I guess that's just an excuse to make it again so I can take a better photo! 

After the family dinner, we went on a little drive near Fairfield, Utah. This area might be one of Greg's very favorites in the world. His favorite place to dirtbike is a little more south of here at a place called 5-mile pass. It is just open dirt and hills and trails for as long as you can see- a dirtbiker's dream! He goes there all the time but I had never been out there, so it was good to see where he loves to ride. 

I made Greg stop the car so I could take some of these pictures on the snowy road. It was just so beautiful with the lake, the mountains, the foggy sky. It looked like someone had taking a paintbrush mixed with white and blue and just covered the canvas in long, wide strokes. I love the snow. I love how magical it makes everything feel. It's like putting a big, beautiful white formal tablecloth on the whole valley. 

I'm also loving the truck. Greg has always loved the truck, of course. But the more we spend time outside and get to go to places that we could only visit with a truck or AWD, it makes me more and more grateful for this car he loves. 

New Years Cabin Trip

One perk of marrying Greg has been becoming friends with his friends. He has a group of high school friends that get together every Thursday night for dinner and games. They've kindly welcomed me into their fold, even though I didn't go to Olympus High. :)

Over New Years, we all went to Ashley's cabin at Bitner Ranch near Park City. They don't plow the roads up there, so we had to rent cross country skis and ski in. And goodness, what a workout! I have had only been cross country skiing once before, and I forget how difficult it is- especially going downhill! We fell quite a bit, but it was worth the fabulous views (even when we were buried in snow)!

We had a lovely time playing games and chatting. In the morning, Michael and Sarah made the most amazing breakfast. Bacon, hashbrowns, homemade biscuits, and a lovely vegetable egg scramble packed with vegetables and avocados. I'm a big fan of a big breakfast and this one was top notch!

Good times all around! So glad we live in such a beautiful place that we can really experience all of the four seasons.