My birthday: I turned twenty-seven. I don't particularly care for the increase. However it was an enjoyable day. The Sunday before, my sister invited me to have a birthday dinner with her family. It was a lot of fun! My nephews and nieces made a cool Happy Birthday sign, which is currently still on my wall. My birthday fell on a Monday this year so after work, my friend took me out to dinner at this Texas steakhouse. The food was really good! They announced my birthday and made me sit on a saddle while other restaurant patrons shouted, "yeehaw!" A little embarrassing, but I'll never see any of those people again... haha After the restaurant we headed up to Salt Lake City and stopped at this awesome little hole-in-the-wall type cookie shop. Mmmmmm. Then we went to see the Temple Square Christmas lights display and walked around in the freezing cold, taking pictures and sipping hot chocolate. I'm not the type of person that throws huge birthday parties. I would rather enjoy a relaxing fun evening with a few friends or family and this was more than I could have asked for. It was a great birthday!
Christmas: It was on a Sunday this year and I was lucky enough to have both the Friday before and Monday after off from work. I was also lucky enough to be able to get decently priced round trip plane tickets for the exact times that I needed to leave and return in order to fully maximize my time in Oregon. I was able to visit with a few friends, spend some time outdoors, take lots of pictures, celebrate Christmas, and see all my family in Oregon. It was great! One of my nieces had apparently not heard that I was flying in and when she arrived at my parents house I came out of a room and received an unexpected running pounce of a hug! She didn't want to let go :) It was an excellent Christmas vacation weekend! And also weird in a way, being the first Christmas where I was "just visiting". I hope that I can always make it for Christmas.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Year after year, I have always wanted to go see them perform live but for many different reasons it has never worked out. But finally, on December 28th, I was able to go! Many thanks go to my good friend who got me a ticket as part of a combined Birthday/Christmas present. It was phenomenal! Their own rock opera act opened the first half of the show and then they finished with an all out epic firestorm of hard rock holiday songs! I will definitely go again sometime, hopefully next year.
New Years: I was unfortunately feeling kinda crummy with a cold that hit me right after the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and I didn't really have any huge new years eve plans anyhow so I just stayed home. However, one of my friends from back home called me and said he had just moved into his new apartment that day, which was coincidentally almost across the street from my duplex. Both my roommates were out so I was just watching movies and eating junk food until my friend came over and then we just hung out and caught up on life and things. For the countdown we couldn't think of anything more awesome to do than to run outside and go down the slide upside down and backwards at exactly midnight. But it was good times. Then we walked over to his place and watched a Futurama marathon on tv until 2am. I've certainly had more and less exciting new years eves, but since being kinda sick I had expected very little and therefore was not disappointed.
On New Years Day, I carried on the tradition of a new years hike or adventure but without the usual company since they were all still in Oregon. Instead I went to Rock Canyon for just a little bit by myself to take a few pictures since I hadn't been there since fall. Shortly thereafter I picked up my friend and her and I went up to American Fork Canyon just for a little drive. We stopped at a few places and took lots of pictures. In one spot we found a small, steeply cascading stream that was entirely frozen. I was able to walk up it like stairs. It was really cool! And cold. So we headed back and had some hot cocoa. That wrapped up my successful traditional New Years adventure.
Visitors from out of state: In January my closest sister and brother in-law finally were able to move down here. Their house in Oregon had been on the market for over a year and due to economic conditions and market trends they weren't able to sell. However, they chose to rent it out instead and were able to continue on their game plan and move out here. Their purpose in moving here is similar to mine. Working and getting more education, while making new life experiences. I am so glad to have them here because now I have more people to go on awesome little adventures with, which we have already successfully done! They needed a break from job applications one day so I took them up to Pleasant Grove where we hiked to Battle Creek Falls and did some exploring.
Wild & Wacky Willies: A while back I had heard about this food invention from a guy I know at church. His brother invented it while serving an LDS mission. It consists of an egg, a pancake, cheese and sausage all wrapped up into one thing. There are actually three types. The "One-Eyed Willy", reference to The Goonies, is where you take an egg and start cooking it, then pour pancake batter over it. Fried egg in a pancake. The "Wild Willy" is an egg on side of the pancake and cheese that gets fried and crispy into the other side of the pancake. The "Wild and Wacky Willy" is the same as the previous but in addition to cheese, you add sausage chunks that get fried into the flipside of the pancake. He prefers it served with fresh sliced tomatoes and salt on top. Last week we got a small group together Sunday morning before church and we made these for breakfast. It is surprisingly delicious and I'm excited to try some variations on it including hashbrowned potatoes and syrup. We talked about possibly making this happen every other week at different locations and inviting more people.
Lava Hot Springs: Most recently, I ventured up to Lava Hot Springs at the request of some friends from Idaho. It's about a two and a half hour drive north for me and a one and a half hour drive south for them. We split a room five ways in this old hotel which had originally been built roughly 90 years ago as the town's original hospital. There were about 6 different pools with varying temperatures and we tried them all. It was indeed, relaxing! We spent Friday night and most of Saturday there. We came into contact with all kinds of interesting people, visitors and locals, as we relaxed at the hotel, soaked in the pools, walked around the town and perused various shops, restaurants and a museum. It was a short but awesome little adventure with some fun friends!
And that pretty much sums up the last two months. I had forgotten my blogger password and also have been pretty busy with work and these adventures, so that is my excuse for not updating sooner. But don't worry, I'll be back again soon.
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