Fourth of July Weekend

So... I lost my camera. I'm not really sure where it is and I've looked in my house, I've asked the property manager 3 times if he seen it, I even looked through the car of one of my friends (sorry Emily), hoping I would find it. I have no clue! Anyways, so I decided to depict our 3 day weekend in the form of stick figures. You'll see....

We went down to Goblin Valley Friday night.

The sunset behind the plateau and hills was absolutely beautiful! I felt like I was looking at a water color.

Saturday morning we decided to hike Little White Horse Canyon which looped into Bells Canyon. It was a slot canyon which provided a lot of shade for us and it was fun to explore. Below on the left is a picture I took off of Google and the picture on the right is Matt in a similar scene. (Love my art skills?!)

However at one point we got out to the open and it was pretty scorching hot. When we were done with that, we thought to do another hike but thought we should cool down first and so we sat for a while and played some card games.... however we never really cooled down. The shade was even hot!

Chillin' by the fire.

On Sunday morning we packed up and headed off to church in Hanksville and then off to the Capitol Reef to a little town called Fruitas. Can you guess how it got it's name?

The Mormon settlers planted fruit trees here! They'll let you can eat right off the tree, but unlike my picture there were no fruit on the trees yet. It was too early in the season. Fruitas is hands down one of the cutest small towns in Utah I have ever seen. If it wasn't in a national park (they wouldn't let me live there) I'd want to move here---especially with fruit trees on every corner.

In Capitol Reef we hiked up Sulfur Creek. This reminded me of my Right Fork Canyon experience in Zion's during Labor day , except the sun was out, the creek was warm, and I had complete confidence I'd be out of there before night fall. (3 hour hike) (Click here to read about that trip.) There were mini water falls we got to climb around and the water wasn't even chilly!

Again, I have the picture ont he right of what it really looks like and my depiction of Matt & I. :)

My dad is in town and so we thought we'd come back for July 4th to spend time with him. When my dad comes to Utah there is nothing more he wants to do than to hike or to go camping. He loves hiking. We let him choose the place and we were off. When we started he said, oh by the way the first 700 feet is pretty much directly up hill. Well... yes the first 700 feet were directly up hill, but then the parts after it weren't that much easier either. Although Matt and I had been hiking Saturday and Sunday, we weren't ready for the 90 degree up hill hike. On the other hand, my dad couldn't have been happier.

Regardless of the strenuous climb, hiking with my dad is one of my favorite past times. He helped me look for some igneous and metamorphic rocks for my classroom and taught me a few things about rocks that I didn't know before.

Later that night we bough some fireworks and decided to hang out at home and just light our own fireworks in the street. We wanted to see if any of our neighbors were home so they could do it with us, but alas, it was just us two. It was fun for me, I'd never did fireworks before!

After seeing Matt throw a firework into the air and having it land on our lawn, turning the surrounding grass black and then trying it again only to have it come inches a way from catching our neighbors american flag on fire.... I can see why my parents never bought us fireworks.

Happy July 4th!

Ira Glass

Last night we saw the one and only Ira Glass. He's the creator and host of NPR, This American Life. It's the number on podcast in the nation and it's FREE. If you have iTunes, download it and listen to it faithfully, you won't be sorry. I love to save up episodes so I can listen to them on long drives and when I'm doing some busy work around the house. I feel enlightened and touched by the stories they share. I also love this man's voice. It's totally appropriate for the radio.

The show begins with the lights going out as Ira enters on stage. The only thing you can see is the iPad that he is carrying and once he places it on a stand you can barely see the contours of his face. He talks into the microphone and I feel like I am listening to yet another episode of This American Life. It's him, it's his voice, every muscle in my body is tensed up because of the built up excitement of this moment in my life. I'm sitting at the edge of my seat listening to this voice in the darkness. Eventually the lights come on and I see the very face that the voice belongs to. It's a bit surreal because I have created my own image of what Ira Glass looks like-- it's almost like meeting a character from a book or seeing a character from a book in the movies, there's disparity in what you thought the character looked like to what is being presented to you.

Ira Glass is BRILLIANT. In short, I was in love.

I also couldn't help to think of something that Aline and I have been talking a lot about recently, and that's living up to your passions. The most effective people out there are those that are living up to their passions. They're not just doing things that they're interested in doing, they're living The Dream. When I meet people like this I can't help but feel inspired and want to be more than I already am. Ira is an example of someone who is living The Dream.

Dear Ira Glass,

You're amazing! Thanks for coming to Salt Lake.

Sincerely,

Rhiannon

Ps. I love you voice!

"Hazzah", I say "Hazzah!"

Tomorrow will be the official half way point to my grad program. One more year to go! Sometimes I can't even believe I am doing this. I'd have to thank Matt for him making me do it. He knew I wanted to do it eventually and I told him that "one day..." I was going to get my Masters, and he made sure that "one day" was sooner than later. It would be a lie if I didn't tell you I'm really glad he made me do it, maybe more on some days than others. ;) I'm grateful, thanks Matt.

Since it's the end of May I've had a class every night from 430 to 7, (it was awful while teaching!) and tomorrow the summer semester will be over and I will be finally alone, free, available, liberated, at peace... to work on my own list of "To Do!" Yes, I have already committed (I sell Italian Ice!) to doing a few things, but I feel like you need some type of commitment in your schedule. You can promise yourself that tomorrow at 7pm MST, I'll be grinning from ear to ear. "Hazzah" I say, "Hazzah!"

Gardening

Last Saturday we set out on little adventure that was suppose to be a 4 hour thing but ended up going for 12 hours. I've made an event list for you. :)

1. Start at 1045 digging up the sod.

2. Find millions of little pebbles under the sod, making digging almost impossible.

3. Rent a bobcat, that will dig a hole for us!

Matt loves this part!

4. Break a sprinkler with the bobcat.

5. Go to the city dump to get rid of the sod we dug up and picked up a truck load of compost.

6. Dig up sprinkler trenches because they're too close to the surface (hence the reason why we broke it.)

7. Buy new sprinkler parts.

8. Dig out more rocks before we lay down the new compost.

9. Unload the truck.

Much harder than it looks.

10. Wash out the truck.

11. Project completion.... 1045pm 

12. Decide to put in plants another day.

This is what it looked like today!

We are still thinking about what else to add.

Support Local Artists!

Bianca Merkley

I worked with her a couple of summers ago at Brighton Girls Camp. I think she's a pretty awesome person and... has a pretty talented voice. Click here if you would like to listen to one of her newest songs (it's a free download too!) She's trying to raise money for her 2nd album. We should support the local artists! If you think she's good enough to support, pledge a dollar to her cause Click here to donate. 

Funerals

I like going to funerals. I love to hear what people say about those that have passed on. I feel like I learn the most about life when I am listening about the lives of others. (Maybe that's why I like blogs ?) Tears came to my eyes when I saw Tiffanie standing next to the casket of her husband. When I went to greet her I didn't know what to say but "Im sorry."So many words I felt were floating in the air but nothing seemed suitable enough to voice to her. What should you say to someone who's lost the love the of their life?

The service was wonderful! So many beautiful things were said about him and his accomplishments. He spoke at his graduation last year from BYU. His speech was replaying in the lobby of the church when I arrived. His speech was about living up to your own personal potential and doing everything you can with what time you have been alloted here on earth. I thought the topic was all too appropriate for a funeral, which I think is the common theme of most funerals. What do we do now in our lives, that are assisting us to be everything we can be, so when the good Lord takes us away, we can leave in peace knowing we did everything we wanted to, or at least tried to do it all.

In other news, we've done a lot of fun things the past couple of weeks, go to Memphis, have a birthday, plant a garden, graduation parties, etc.... I'll have write about that later.

Tiffanie

My heart is heavy. Blogs fulfill many purposes. It's nice to read and to catch up on the lives of our friends and to share in their joys of life. Last year I taught with a girl named Tiffanie. She got married February 13, 2010 and her husband died yesterday.

He was suffering with cancer and according to doctors should have died years ago, but outlived all predictions. My love and heart go out to her. Although I only worked with Tiffanie for a year I enjoyed working with her and it was easy to see then that she is a fighter and a women of faith. She always  believed that things would get better. She lived by faith.

Moments like this cause me to reflect of the blessings I have in my own life, and make me feel guilty for the moments that I may take advantage of things/people. I think because Tiffanie was unsure of the end, she was more aware of how to live up to every moment she had with her husband.

My heart and prayers go out to you Tiffanie.