I admit: it was on his line, on his cast, in his spot.

Can you believe that my amazing fisherman of a boyfriend has YET to teach me to fish??? Well, he quickly corrected that after I pointed it out.... so last Sunday we escaped for the afternoon and he took me fishing.

On the way up (and back) we spotted tons of deer and turkeys. Of course he had to pull over and use the scope to check things out thoroughly.....


He was a sweet heart and gave in and did all the 'gross' stuff.... I'm getting there. I still don't want to bait my own hook, let alone clean my own fish. So he let me do the fun stuff: hook them and reel them in!!!

It's gorgeous up there... at our new favorite spot. The same place we went hunting last week..... We plan on going back often.

Here's the catch.... six total, not bad for a quick day on the lake. Notice the BROOK TROUT in the middle?? The pretty one with the orange belly.... Sam says brook trout are a native fish around here and usually stay quite small, this guy was a good size!! He says he has never caught a brook trout and was quite impressed that we got one!! I reeled him in, but Sam made no hesitation to point out it was on HIS LINE, ON HIS CAST, IN HIS SPOT!!

He's a master fisherman.... and taught me well. I can't complain about fishing, I had a GREAT time!! I got to spend an afternoon at a gorgeous lake, with my man and the baby girl.... didn't have to do anything gross and got all the excitement of reeling these suckers in!!

It was great!

Hiking with Sam

Today I went hiking with Sam. We wore orange. He carried a gun.

Some may refer to this as hunting.

We went out for grouse, little chicken looking birds that live around these parts. We took Max (Sam's hunting dog) with us... but between the three of us we got skunked. Nothing. We saw grouse poop... that's it.

I've decided that maybe I'm bad luck. We didn't see a single bird today when I was there. In the past when I've gone fishing with Sam he dosen't do so hot... then when I'm not there he catches 19 fish in 3 hours.... Maybe it's me.

I told him he should to out tomorrow without me. See if he has any better luck. For his sake I hope he gets a few birds; but I kind of want him to strike out again... that way we could prove I'm NOT bad luck and I will get to go again.

I'll admit it. I had a really good time today.

I got to hike through the GORGEOUS lands of Utah with my favorite man... we laughed, talked, walked in silence, smiled at eachother across open meadows and stumbled upon this beautiful little pond.


This was my view for most of the day.... :)

So it's official. I'm a fan of hunting. Who would have thought?

Day of Rest..... Day of Forgetfulness

Today I was looking forward to a relaxing Sunday at home.

Me, Sam, the baby girl... make some zucchini bread, watch some football, play in the leaves.....

I woke up to my boss calling me wondering why I wasn't at work.

I jumped up, proclaimed that I'm an idiot, and was out the door in less than three minutes.

So much for my day of rest.

Fact for the day

Did you know a lab's coat is waterproof??

Sam taught me that while we were watching Max swimming and splashing through the creek today.

By the way, Hobble Creek Canyon is GORGEOUS right now.

Pictures = 1000 Words

Pictures are worth 1000 words... I'll let them speak for themselves, but I'll give you some explinations.

I've always wanted a picture in a huge chair.... we got one the other night at CornBelly's!

We spent the day at the "pumpkin fest", it was a lot of fun....

They had a whole area where you could play dress up!

The day before we went up the canyon while Sam hosted his kid's fishing clinic....

The baby girl loves to take pictures... I happen to really like this one! LOL

When lost...

Yesterday we took the baby girl to CornBelly's... a "pumpkin festival" that easily rivaled the state fair in activities, excitement and cost. We had a really fun time, even though we froze our tails off!!! I will admit there was actually a time when all three of us crawled into the little kid's straw bale maze so that we could bask in the warmth (out of the wind)... I'm STILL finding straw in my purse.

At the end of the day Sam drug us into the corn maze. I had tried to avoid it all day, but he was insistant and finally we went. Soon after we entered the corn maze we found ourselves up on a tower to "scope out" the corn maze. We were up top next to a fun looking guy with a couple kids around him.

We jokingly asked, "is that the way out?"

His boisterous reply, "who knows! I brought a Mexican kid, he'll find the way out," he said as he ran down the tower with his kids and nonchalantly poked a joking finger at the darker skinned kid in the group. They all giggled and ran down the stairs from the tower.

I looked back at Sam (who is darker skinned himself) and said, "Babe, will that work for me?" We both just laughed; at which point the guy and his kids turned around to see what I was referring to. His kids busted up in laughter, he mumbled out "oh crap."

I had clearly embarrassed him, although I didn't mean to. Sam and I just got a kick out of it!! Now the running joke is that apparently Sam can find his way through anything because of his family heritage....

Although, the reality is he SUCKS at corn mazes, and so do I.

We didn't do well at all. Sam kept finding dead end after dead end. The baby girl was on Sam's shoulders (and on mine for a little while as well) and kept asking repeatedly, "HOW DO WE GET OUT OF HERE?"

Sam admitted after about 25 minutes, "I just remembered I hate corn mazes."

My reply, "I do too!! Why did we do this in the first place?"

Sam concluded, "I don't know... but we won't do it again..."

We finally cheated and found our way out (or maybe it was the entrance, we aren't quite sure).

Overall we had a great day. We laughed and screamed, got a fantastic face painting, paid wayyy too much for a couple pumpkins, played dress up, mined for gem stones, froze our tails off, walked through a sea of corn kernels, rode in a carriage with a princess and ate some AMAZING food....

CornBelly's, at Thanksgiving Point. I highly recommend it.... but take a jacket and a lot of cash. :)

Date Night

I woke up this morning and instantly got a smile on my face.....

Tonight is DATE NIGHT!!

Sam is taking me to a dance performance of THRILLER. A halloween based dance show done by a professional dance troupe here in Utah. It's a lot of fun and a good way to get Sam introduced to watching professional dance.

I'm excited, to say the least.

He's a good sport. His girl is one that grew up with dance, danced all through college and is now suggesting we make a special trip to San Francisco in December for the sole purpose of seeing the best ballet company on earth perform the Nutcracker. I warned him that I watch dance on the edge of my seat, my neck outstretched and a smile ear to ear. He told me that he is excited to see the show; not only on the stage, but me acting like such a love struck kid.

We are making a date of it... getting all dolled up, getting gelato after....

The thought of watching dance makes me smile like a school girl. The thought of walking hand in hand with the best-looking-man-on-earth while we stroll over to get gelato at 11:00 pm makes me sigh a long relaxing breath.

It's going to be great.

A letter a week...

I've written a lot of missionaries in my day... Today I went through an old box of letters/cards/etc I had saved and cleared out things I didn't want or need anymore.

One of those piles was letters from missionaries.

Sure, at the time they meant something and I'm sure I enjoyed every single one of them; but now, I was ready to part with them. The stack was easily about 10 inches tall....

All sorts of missionaries, from all corners of the world. Some with good handwriting, some I had to get others opinions on to decipher. Some I really cared about, some that were mere acquaintances.

Never the less, writing a missionary is always fun... and I did it. A lot.

In that box were also countless cards and notes from friends and family. It made me feel good to remember how much those loving words meant at the time I received them and it made me smile to see that they still haven't lost their charm. I felt a lot of love today....

I have great friends and TREMENDOUS family.

I saved some special ones. Saved ones that touched my heart or held some personality.... but the box is a lot emptier now. Waiting to be filled back up.