Adventures in Idaho!

I have explored Eastern Idaho this weekend! Friday, Gary took me to South Butte for the first time ever. It was absolutely beautiful. We saw a snake, lots of butterflies, flowers, seagulls that looked like penguins, and the first dragonflies of the season! Plus, we had a little fan club of bugs that followed us over our heads (I think they wanted some of his tootsie rolls), and a pretty dog that followed us back to the car. Then of course there was the view of the entire valley that we had from the top! It was so much fun, we ended up staying for about four hours without even realizing it. Hooray! Oh, and I played about two bars from Come Come Ye Saints on the harmonica. I think I've found my newest hobby!

On Saturday, my roommate Jenny, her sister Kayla, her cousin Josslin, and I went on a family history road trip! We drove over to Aberdeen and took pictures of her ancestor's gravesites. I also happened to find some graves that I think fit into my family somewhere! (A whole little family section with the last name Savage. Coincidence? I think not! Only PAF will tell. lol)

By Monday, only two of my roommates were still in town. Rather than going camping, we decided to go on a hike! Megan's from around here, and took us to one of her favorite trails, in Driggs, Idaho. It was be-awesome! Here are some amazing pics for you: (Megan gave me batteries, so my camera finally worked again! Tragically, they died before we got home. lol.)


Jenny, Megan, and me at the trailhead.


Halfway there!


I love these girls!

We got to the top of the trail, and decided we wanted a better view. So we climbed UP the side of a mountain. It was pretty steep though, so after lunch we had to slide down it!! It was X-treme Sledding, minus the sled! lol


Here's me trying to slow down before going over a rock... Yeah, that didn't work. I went right over it, and Jenny's convinced I even got some air. Go me! haha. Luckily I was numb.


After sliding the first half, and bracing ourselves for the longer stretch (Jenny wisely decided to navigate the rock patch on foot, rather than... posterior).


The victors! (And their dirty pants...)


On the way back, we were pumped full of energy (adrenaline?) and decided to make a little snowman while we were already numb from all of our "Butt Slaloming," as Jenny called it. Ta-da!


It was a beautiful day, our feet were muddy, and the creek looked falsely alluring. It was FREEZING, but we got clean! (Jenny and I called it quits on our who-can-stay-in-the-longest contest after about 40 seconds.)

Now we're getting ready to make popcorn and watch an old movie, so we can rest our tired bones. =]

But the most amazing news of all: I have not been sunburned ONCE this weekend, even though I've spent quite a bit of time outdoors. Ohhhhh snap. Tomorrow's agenda: hit the books. Homework time!

Believing in Magic

Hello you happy people!

Okay, so maybe not all of you are happy, after seeing the election results. I didn't vote for Obama, but actually I'm feeling pretty okay with everything. Neither of the candidates were a great choice to begin with. And I really respect Obama as a person. But seriously-- what's the worst that can happen with the democrats in charge? Answer: The world will end, and the Second Coming is that much closer!!! ha ha. Totally kidding, folks.

No, but seriously. There are plenty of reasons to be happy.

1. It's snowing!
2. My Christmas tree is definitely up and decorated!
3. Today's devotional was amazing!
4. I finally have somewhat of an idea of what my creative writing teacher expects from me
5. I can forget all of his advice once the semester is over
6. I just have a little Russian homework tonight
7. A random friend of my roommate's just got engaged!
8. Today I got a really sweet letter from Todd in the MTC!
9. The roommates and I made an emergency trip to Coldstone
10. We think we might finally understand why we've all had this crazy sleeping sickness and random chronic headaches. Turns out our water heater is gas-powered and it's in an unsealed closet in my bedroom... and it's leaking gas. You just have to laugh at a story like that.

So yes. Those are my [strange] reasons for being happy tonight! Find some of your own. =]

Happy Tuesday, folks.

Happy Sunday!

Well everybody, you've made your way over to my new blog. I suppose you want to hear about my weekend?

Well, I had a really good one! Friday was spent mostly relaxing, cleaning up my personal space, working on family history and the Holladay blog, making a scarf, talking with roomies, etc.

Saturday morning I go up at the crack of 5:45 and got ready to go babysitting! I went on over to my sister Isabelle's house to watch her 4 kids so she and Chris could go to the temple. It was really fun! The kids woke up one by one, and we just sat around with blankets and pillows, talking, eating breakfast, and watching Barbie movies. =D Once 2 month old Joshua woke up we were mostly employed with making him smile, which is actually not too hard to do!

Then Izzy took me grocery shopping (SO incredibly sweet of her) and let me borrow a big stack of fun movies. (The Court Jester, Here Comes the Groom, Singin' in the Rain, etc! Come watch them with me!) It started snowing these huge flakes on the way home! I've been bracing myself for the winter to come, but somehow it was still a surprise. Oh well. I've accepted it now. =D

Then later on that evening I went on a really fun date with Gary! We went to the Natalie MacMaster concert, and ohhhh man! Those YouTube clips in the right column don't really do it justice. My favorite was probably Volcanic Jig. It's too bad the same band we saw her perform with isn't on YouTube. I highly recommend seeing her live if you ever get the chance! She was clogging and dancing and fiddling at top speed, all while 5 months pregnant. Wow. So afterwards we went and got ice cream cones at DQ and drove around just talking. The snow was sooooo pretty! Anyway, when we got back to my apartment he offered to help me with my Russian homework, which he did! It was lots of fun, plus educational! (lol)

And now today it is fast sunday. We had excellent meetings, as usual! I learned a lot, and made a new goal! I want to write an essay about human trials; how we always ask "Why?" and how that compares with the Savior's response to the Atonement.

And to cap off this weekend's excitement, I found eleven new names on my maternal grandfather's side while working on my family history today! And discovered that one of my great-grandfathers that I was looking to prep for temple work has already had his ordinances done... several times over. =] So I guess he's covered, eh?

Anyways! Life is pretttttty great. Now I'm looking forward to this new week of school in the snow. *yay!*

-Stacy