Today is already the last day of August. Time flies. I'm always sad for the end of summer, but luckily I love fall. The only thing about fall that I don't like is that winter comes right after. Also, it sometimes snows in the fall here. Boo. But here are some of our last adventures of summer.

Bram is home, and he had a birthday. To celebrate his birthday, I made him dinner and a pie.

Are you not impressed by my pie? Best pie I ever made. Although all the juices like sank to the bottom, so it was like a bunch of apples floating in soup. Is that normal?

We also hiked Mt. Timpanogos yesterday. I did a lot of research before going, because there are two ways you can hike it and we were debating between this and Mt. Nebo. Anyways, from all the website reviews I learned two things. 1) It was soo hard. Extreme difficulty, according to some websites. 2) Nothing was mentioned about high cliffs/ledges/dropoffs.

Here is what actually happened. It was a lot easier than all the websites made it sound. It was difficult, I'm not like laughing at everyone who thought it was so hard, but it was not nearly as bad as all the websites said. I woke up sore the next day, I slept a lot (although, on Friday I took two naps after school, so I sleep a lot anyways), but I've been on more difficult hikes. I was way more tired during a hike we did at Bryce Canyon, and Mt. Rainier has more difficult hikes. Mt. Timp is like 11,749 feet high. We took the Timpooneke trail, which was almost 15 miles long and had an elevation gain of over 4,000 feet. Even though we didn't think it was difficult, we didn't summit. Because of this: it was scary. It may seem ridiculous that I didn't expect the heights, but the thing is I'm fine as long as there's plenty of room. Plus somebody kept telling me that it was a scary hike.... I won't name names.... Anyways we ended up getting to a place called the Saddle. It's about a half mile from the top, and it's the first place that you can see Utah Valley, so you're standing on a ridge looking at the Wasatch mountains on one side and the valley on the other. And it was high up. I mean the elevation is over 11,500 feet, and the valley elevation is about 4,500 so we were way up there. After leaving the Saddle, the trail becomes gravel and narrow, with a cliff going up on one side and a steep slope right off the mountain on the other. I decided that I did not feel the need to go on, I would just wait for Tyler and Bram. But they decided they didn't want to do it this time either because it was 30 degrees and some members of our hiking party did not bring jackets because "Utah is soooo hot." It also rained some. Anyways, not that it matters, but I know multiple other hikers stopped at the Saddle too because it was so cold, and also because it was scary, so we weren't alone. Anyways, I don't feel bad about not making it to the top. I figured an anxiety attack wasn't worth it.

But here's some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

We saw two moose, which are pictured below. They are the little dark spots. They were slightly more impressive in real life. Except talk about lazy, they were still there when we were on our way down hours later. What the heck do they do all day? Apparently nothing.

  

This is where we stopped. You can see the trail going off to the right. It doesn't look so bad in pictures, but it was pretty bad in real life. It also doesn't look so cold in pictures, but my fingers were numb.

 Here's Bram with some goats. There was a pretty big herd of them there, and they were kicking good sized rocks down the cliff where the hikers were. 

 Here is a cute baby goat. Pretty impressive photography skills on my part, I think. So cute.

So that was it. My calves are sore today, which I thought was weird. But we're planning on going again in the fall once all the leaves have changed colors. We will see if I'm brave enough to summit then. Not likely.

I've never really liked setting goals. It's so dejecting when you don't finish them and it creates so much extra pressure. I've always been one to just know what I want to do and then do it. No goals, no pressure. I feel the same way about bucket lists. I mean, how morbid?  A list of things to do before you die? What if you die before you have a chance to do them all? What if you dreams happen to be to travel to some far away country that you likely won't ever be able to afford? Then you just have these dreams that can't happen. But then I read that bucket lists were actually supposed to improve mental health and give life meaning and blahblahblah so I tried it. My bucket list is very modest, limited to places nearby and easily attainable goals (for the most part). And I am proud to say that this summer I knocked six things off my bucket list! And true to form, four of the things weren't even on my official bucket list, but it still counts.

Here they are.

Tennessee

My inherited homeland, which you know is true because I have their area code in my phone number. Also, I have eaten fried okra twice and if that's not southern, I don't know what is. Tyler also uses the phrase "might could" on a regular basis so I live with a real southerner. I'll be speaking with an accent myself soon, calling everyone "y'all," even if it's just one person.

Bonneville Salt Flats
Where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, and I love those movies so much. The Salt Flats were actually very cool. You could see for miles, just pure white salt. It was kind of surreal. But who knew they were so far away? We had to drive for hours. I kind of thought it would be right by the lake, but boy was I wrong. We were almost in Nevada.

Swim in the Great Salt Lake
This one gave me conflicting feelings. I figured since I was living in Utah, I should swim in one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth, right? It's a unique experience. And it was crazy how much you float. I mean, I've swum in the ocean (is that even a real word? Swum?) but this was so much saltier. And the water was soo warm. It's such a shallow lake that the sun really heats it up. But I think I'll stick to the ocean. The ocean is gorgeous. The Great Salt Lake is fine, but there were like literally millions of gnats and there were brine shrimp. I do not like brine shrimp. They were everywhere, these tiny little floaty things, they would stick in your swimsuit and they were gross. Just gross. 

Timpanogos Cave
Timp Cave was another one of the things I thought I should do just because I'm in Utah. It was interesting. For some reason I thought it was weird that the cave was on top of a mountain, I guess I associate caves with ground level. I'm also not too good with tours. People are so chatty. I could have been in and out of that cave in five minutes. I also thought it'd be bigger. But it was interesting to learn about the cave's history (like people exploring it with candles and just picnicing on top of mountains) and I'm glad I got to go.

 For the record, that is not the cave. That's just the hike up to the cave.

Zion
This one wasn't on my bucket list. Maybe because I knew we were going already when I made the list. But I loved it. I feel like I made a real breakthrough on overcoming my fear of heights on that trip. It is gorgeous there. Definitely worth a trip, although I feel like you could get more out of it if you were like an rock climber or thrill seeker instead of just a hiker. But I'd go back.

Bryce Canyon
This one was cool because it was our first real vacation alone, not counting our honeymoon (and also if you count a one night camping trip as a vacation). We were almost all the way prepared (the one thing we forgot was money, oops) although we had to borrow like everything from Tyler's family.

So those were our summer time adventures and bucket list completions. I'm pretty impressed with them myself. If we're lucky and really prepare, we may try to know some more things off our bucket list (I mean, my bucket list) during Labor day.

Recently a personal trainer/author came to Tyler's work and gave a motivational speech about being healthy. Tyler bought the book, which I quickly read, and then we were both so inspired to change our lives. And by that, I mean in moderation. I already know that if I tried to cut all sugar out of my life, I'd fail in like the first day. So here's what we're doing. Eating more vegetables and fruits, having more healthy dinners (e.g. no more of the types of dinners where you mix up chicken with cream cheese and stick it in rolls that are drenched with butter), cutting out white flour products, cutting out unhealthy snacks like chips and delicious, processed, sugary foods, and cutting back on sugar. Mostly, it is a lifestyle of more moderation. Try to be as healthy as possible, but don't go healthy crazy because that never seems to work. And really, when it does work, how happy can the people be? No ice cream and happiness just don't work out together.

It's only been about a week, but we already both think we're in better shape, because we're eating so healthy it feels like we have to be healthy. Although  a lot of eating healthy feels like being hungry. Anyways there's two issues I've run into already. The first is that I love eating. It's like honestly one of my favorite things to do. (In my defense, just so people don't think I'm a disgusting pig, I follow the eat less and often rule. I don't like feeling full, so I don't generally overeat, but then I also get hungry like every three hours at which point I have to eat again. It works well for me.) And the thing is, I love eating junk food. Hamburgers, ice cream, cookies, cake, cereal, white bread, candy, donuts, pie . . . and things like broccoli don't have the same appeal. So that's been difficult. Again, we're trying to eat more healthy foods and limit unhealthy foods, not stop eating them altogether (except for chips which almost always make me feel gross anyways). My solution has been to try to find healthy substitutes for my favorites foods, and wait for days that we can cheat, which include birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions. So far, my healthy solutions have been inedible. First off, I made brownies, which were actually really healthy. They included a cup of zucchini, a banana, unsweetened applesauce, 100% whole wheat flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and less than a cup of sugar. I happen to like my baked goods slightly undercooked, and unfortunately that is disgusting when  you're eating healthy. So the brownies were kinda weird. I ended up sticking them in the freezer and they're slightly better frozen but I think they don't have enough sugar.

The next thing I tried were these healthy "cookie dough" balls. Yeah, that was a lie. Supposedly if you mix almond meal, honey, butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips, it will taste like cookie dough. Well that is a big fatty lie. Or maybe the author of the recipe just doesn't actually know what cookie dough tastes like. They looked like cookie dough. I will admit, I altered the recipe slightly. Almond meal is over ten dollars for a little tiny bag (yeah, don't tell me you can eat healthy and cheap at the same time) so of course I didn't buy it. Instead I used my 100% whole wheat flour (which I totally love because I feel like as long as I use it instead of white flour, the food turns out healthy. Don't ruin my happy bubble of ignorance) and let me tell you, either you can't substitute whole wheat flour for almond meal or you just can't substitute healthy foods at all and expect to get a delicious food. So those were a failure.

In a last desperate move to keep from breaking down and buying ice cream, I made oatmeal cookies. How bad can those be, they have three cups of oats, and everyone is always going on about how healthy oatmeal is. Plus I used 100% whole wheat flour (health points!) and semi-sweet chocolate chips (anti-oxidants!). They are delicious.

The second major issue we have with healthy eating is that I am not a good cook. If you ask Tyler, he will lie because he always looks for the best in everyone, which includes thinking I'm a good cook. (In case you're wondering, here are some examples which show otherwise: putting a metal bowl in the microwave, making cupcakes without eggs and wondering why there was so little batter, wearing protective glasses while cooking anything on the stove which could spatter, overcooking chicken every time because I'm so afraid of raw chicken, leaving an entire pan of lasagna out overnight, making numerous meals so gross that I refused to eat it at all, etc.) What I've learned is that cooking healthy is even harder than cooking normally. Yesterday I made almond chicken, which is supposedly as simple as grinding up almonds, putting them on chicken, and cooking them in coconut oil. What a disaster. The almonds ended up literally everywhere except the chicken. When I began cooking the chicken, the almonds began to burn while the chicken stayed raw, and then all the almonds fell off anyways. I ended up sticking the chicken in the oven instead. Again, Tyler said he liked it.

So this is the beginning of our journey towards healthiness. I will try to keep updates on it to ensure that we don't give up after the next month. Suggestions and advice are welcome as long as it's not stop eating sugar because that's not going to happen. However I am open to healthy dessert recipes, and dinner recipes. Wish us luck! I'll need it.

This happened a couple months ago, but I guess I should still share. I went to Tennessee for the first time in June! It was for a wedding, but it was still fun. Maybe I will save my wedding rants for later.

I loved seeing where Tyler grew up. Just for fun, here is a picture of little Tyler. So cute!

 

We got to spend the first day exploring Nashville. 

Yes, there is a fake Parthenon randomly sitting in the middle of the city. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to the real thing though, so I'm glad I got to see it. (Fun fact, it was made of gravel. Pretty sure the Greeks didn't do that.)

 Matching shoes. So cute.

 Of course, the only music on the radio was country.

We saw James Polk's grave. 

  

Here's the capitol building. 

 The capitol had all these old columns artistically lying around.

  

Went to the Grand Ol Opry. Or just Opryland? Opryland hotel? Where is the Grand Ol Opry? I'm confused. Here's me photobombing Travis and Jordyn's picture. Oops.

 

 I don't understand what Opryland is, but here is a picture of Tyler being Shrek, because they just happened to have Shrek's home there.

 Here's another picture of Opryland. Oh wait, Opryland must be the amusement park. Oh well, this is inside the hotel. It was actually pretty cool. The ceilings were all glass so it's like you never even have to go outside. You could pay $10 to ride around this moat in a little boat. Guess who didn't get a boat ride.

 This train track was just at a park where they used to hang out. I got two mosquito bites on my face here. On my face. Plus one on my arm that swelled up so big people asked me what I did to my arm.

 

This is the road Tyler's grandma lives on. 

 This is the house that is on his grandma's property. I am fairly certain it is haunted.

This is the only Civil War site we went to. I know, kind of embarrassing that  we only made it to one, but we were short on time and money and all the other sites were like $15-20. Anyways this here is the Battle of Franklin. It was kind of interesting because there were so many Confederate flags there. I should have expected it, but I didn't really think it happened. 

Downtown Franklin in the rain. 

 Here is the wedding reception location. All those perfectly tied bows? That was me. Well a good portion of them anyways. For the record, I am not in any way a good decorator as I learned when people literally cringed as I tried to set things up. So to all my brothers, listen up. If you want a nice looking reception, probably don't ask me. Probably rely on whoever marries into the family to help with that. Or mom's friends, who did such a spectacular job at my wedding.

Here is the Nashville Temple. It is teeny tiny. You can't really tell, but it's like half the size of the Columbia River Temple, and that one is small too. 

 

And here's Tyler on a bridge. 

I loved Tennessee. Although here's my question. Where are the sidewalks/shoulders/where do people run? There were not safe running conditions there.
Anyways if we go back, I want to go back in the fall, and I want to go to the Smokey Mountains.

At the request of my mom, I have decided to start blogging again. I also thought that it would be a good way to relieve stress and take a chance to reflect on all the good in the world. Especially since lately, all of the awful things happening have kind of been bringing me down. There are so many bad things happening that it makes me feel sick. And what can I really do to help? I've been trying to do good in my own little sphere because I think it's hypocritical to want to help people in far away places and not help those near you, but that's been hard as well.

Anyways here's some things that have been going on in our lives. Our two year anniversary was last Sunday. We spent Saturday and Sunday camping at Bryce Canyon, which was amazing. Here is our anniversary selfie. Because what are we, teenagers? Just kidding. We just didn't have anyone to take our picture. Clearly our selfie game needs some work.

But we loved Bryce Canyon. We went on some incredible hikes. I was exhausted after the first one, I guess I've gotten pretty out of shape (it's the knee pain. I've had to resort to things like biking and walking and attempting to run to stay in shape and apparently it's not working. I'm actually a really terrible biker, that's probably why it hasn't been benefiting me). Anyways we were hiking around in the canyon and I was like having to stop every half mile to catch my breath. And I was like what is wrong with me? I can't be that out of shape yet. So I checked the map and found out that we were at about 8,000 feet elevation and who knew that it could have such a huge effect? Well Tyler was fine, but I have small lungs. Here are some pictures because it was gorgeous. Even Jett would love it because there were no cliffs.

Since we're on the topic of southern Utah, I would just like to say that that whole general geographical area is one of my favorite places on earth. It's breath-taking. And since I'm so lucky, we got to go to Zion this summer also!

 This is us hiking the Narrows.

 This is the best selfie of Tyler and my dad. Well also the only one, but if there were more it'd still be the best.

 Us hiking Angel's Landing! JK. I wouldn't do that if you paid me. We hiked above Angel's Landing which was much more beautiful. And it really was stunning.

 Cutest picture of Jett ever.

 The Subway, sooo cool. We got so lucky to get in that hike.

So that was our southern Utah adventures. Stay tuned for more summertime excitement.