The 7th Wonder of Provo: After Gym Adventures

Came home from the gym last night.  Just mindin' my own business.  Until Gabi asks if I want to go see the "7th Wonder of Provo."

Okay. Is it scary? No. Will it take long? No. Can i go in my gym clothes? Yes.
So I went.:)  Let me just say: it did not disappoint. Here's the thing: you can't know what it is until you go see it for your first time. So sorry, but I'll have to be shady on the deets here. If you want to know, you'll just have to ask me to take you. ;)

And after we went to Wendy's.  It just seemed appropriate.

Driving out to the "site"

Liberation!

Like many things of its "kind," it doesn't take to being photographed.

Post exposure

Can't beat Wendy's.

It's great, even late.  Is that the slogan? Well, it's definitely true.

Wow, they're not even a couple, but they look so beautiful...

Bluegrassy

So it was recently our ward talent show and the Spare Tires had another chance to grace society with our unpolished and slightly out-of-tune bluesy licks. :)

Just gettin' warmed up:)

We decided to do "Man of Constant Sorrow," from O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (and yes, that's the crowd reaction we got, too;).

Mando.

Please check out beck's beard! (And of course, his and Phill's Manpris.:)

Beck on vocals, Chris and I on harmonies, guitar and mando. Steph on violin, Phil on banjo and Steve on drums. I looove me some bluegrass!

Jack-o-Lanterns!

My cute roommates

Halloween is upon us and my rommates wanted to have an "apartment date night" and carve Jack-o-Lanterns!  It was more work than I remember as a kid....and a little less exciting;)  Lots of guts, and I happened to choose a pumpkin with remarkably thick veggie. That was kind of hard to cut through with our butter knives. 

I don't know why we didn't win the competition...

BUT...it was still fun!  There's something satisfying about participating in holiday traditions.  The smell of the pumpkin guts spread all over newspaper brought back memories of elementary school competitions and my determination to create the PERFECT pumpkin.  I would walk into the gym after school and see all our pumpkins lined up on the stairs of the stage and hope that mine had a ribbon pinned to it!  Being roommates with Molly and Mikayla, ("Always go for the W!!! (Which is the 'win' for those of you who don't know...)) alas, we didn't win this competition judged by our helpful next door neighbor.

Jack.

Which, I don't know why because our Jack-o-Lantern was the epitome of Halloween-y traditionalism.  

Happy Halloween!!!

Mount Timpanogos

So, we hiked Mount Timpanogos.  I had assured everyone it was just a long stroll, nothing to worry about:)  Yeah.  It was harder than I remembered.  We were taking our sweet time and ended up being up there for about 10 hours.  The last hour down we were all quite tired and sore.  Don't even worry, because we definitely hit up two wedding receptions later that night!  #yousleepwhenyou'redead

Us on top of Mount Timp!  Exhilarating.  Looking over into a valley on both sides of us was breathtaking.

On the trail.  I love the variety of nature.  I looove pine trees.

Going through a meadow.

Tree hugging.

Such beautiful vistas the whole way!

There were so many beautiful wildflowers in bloom. 

One Year Later...

Okay.  It's actually been 13 months.  But I'm slow at posting my thoughts.

April 20th, 2013 I graduated from Brigham Young University with my Bachelor's degree in public health.  It feels like it could have been yesterday.  Time FLEW this past year.  But as I look back, I realize a lot has changed too.  I've made new friends, been new places and had a lot of new experiences.

I think the weirdest part was that there weren't semesters to break up my routine.  Every week is basically the same schedule.  It's nice, and I have plenty of opportunities to do fun and different things, but it makes time fly by so much faster.  There's nothing with which to measure it.

I wonder if this is why time seems to go faster and faster as people get older.  There's less and less deviation from the schedule.  Someone once told me that after you graduate, it's important to make every year special and different.  So you can look back and say, "2013, that's the year I...."
I think it's really good advice.

Looking back on this last year, it's been a whirlwind of events, emotions and people. I wonder what this year will bring???

Party Hearty: Mormon Style

Harry and Ron are disappointed, because they've been told you can't have a fun party as a Mormon.

"My name is Michelle and I like to party." 

No really, though, I do, just minus the drugs and alcohol:)  At BYU some people think you can't have fun without drugs and alcohol.  Why do they attend this school?  I don't know.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone says a variation of the following:

"I hate Provo, there's nothing to do."

"I hate Utah, there's nothing to do."

"It won't be fun if we're not drunk."

"My hometown was waaay cooler than anything here because..."

Maybe I have a little Utah pride? Yes. If you're not a boring person, there is plenty to do here. I love having fun and I don't like it when people try to rain on my parade.  Also: call me Molly Mormon, but I personally have more fun when I'm in an environment where I am comfortable and don't have to constantly be on my guard.

Let's be real. People have known balloons were fun since the 1800's.

VIRGIN Jello shots:) Still fun. Don't knock it till you try it.

Who needs drugs and alcohol when you have this face?:)

Silly string is CLASSIC fun.  There's no denying it.

Dancing whilst totally sober. Fun.

ROOTbeer pong. Challenging. Competitive. Fun.

"Red Solo Cup. I fill you up (with a nonalcoholic beverage). It's time to party."

Food and drink.  Always fun.

These people look like they're having fun.