Planting Flowers at Martha's

Corey and I went and visited my dad today to have him help Corey put a volt-meter on his motorcycle so he can monitor his battery power while he is driving. While they were doing that, Lexi and I went to Home Depot and flower shopped with Martha. Since a good amount of plants grew back from last year, including our lilies :), we didn’t have to buy as many this year. We did get our share of petunias and found matching flowers for ones that died off from last year. Lexi even picked out some flowers to plant, they were these interesting triangle-shaped red and orange flowers. We also bought two peony plants to place on either side of her climbing rose in the front to add height to the flower bed :) 

After we got back from Home Depot, Lexi helped Martha and I plant all of the flowers :) Martha recently bought this great flower pot from an auction, it is huge and has purple grapes carved into it, so we bought those cool pointy green plants that are in the middle of a lot of flower pots and smaller flowers to put around the edges. It was a lot of fun again this year and the flower beds turned out great :)

Hike to Timpanogos Cave

Today Corey and I hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. To get there, we rode his motorcycle up American Fork canyon, which was a lot of fun :) I love going on motorcycle rides with him, its one of our favorite things to do together. After we got to the station at the bottom of the trail to Timp Cave, we picked up our tickets and we had about 50 minutes to hike up to the cave. They usually suggest leaving about an hour to hike up, but Corey and I made it a challenge to walk up quickly :) The trail gains 1065 feet in altitude in 1.5 miles... So its pretty steep. Some parts of the trail were more steep than others, but it was definitely manageable, and wouldn’t be a problem for anyone, even children were hiking up and there are a lot of benches along the way to stop and take breaks. Corey and I only stopped once to situate my pack a little better. We made it up to the cave in 45 minutes :) At the top we snacked on cliff bars before going into the cave.

The cave was a lot of fun because we had a really energetic guide, a ranger named Molly. Timp Cave is made up of 3 different caves, which were all discovered at different times. The first cave was discovered by a man who was logging up AF canyon... something Corey and I decided would be really difficult because of how steep the mountains are. So this guy found the first cave, which was later mined and isn’t very pretty anymore. The second cave is cool because there is a really skinny part in which the original discoverers came down through and there is still a ladder that you can see way up above in the crevice. The third cave is my favorite though because it is the one with the most formations and has been preserved the best. There are a lot of stalactites and stalagmites, some that look like straws and others that look like popcorn. There was also an interesting formation that had a green tint to it because it contained Iron... So cool :) Corey and I were both impressed with the formations and found it really interesting watching the stalactites drip water onto the stalagmites below them, which will eventually form more of the rock/mineral compound and will eventually touch. There was a formation shaped like a huge heart and another shaped like the face and ears of a dog. We were definitely impressed with the cave and loved our guide because she answered all of our questions and told us neat stories. One of the stories include one day when a ranger found an old ticket stub from the 1920s in the cave but when they brought it outside of the cave it just disintegrated. 

After our tour of the cave, we hiked back down to the bike to head home. The hike down was much faster than the hike up because it was all downhill :) Overall, it was a very fun day for both of us and a great activity for a beautiful Friday afternoon in the summer :) 

Paul’s Birthday

Today we went out to dinner to celebrate Paul’s birthday :) Bonnie took us all to La Caille. Once we got there, we all found the menu humorous because under some of the dishes where the pricing usually goes there were comments such as “Financing available” and the description for the lamb that I ordered had a funny saying about wolves. Overall, it was a very nice dinner and we all enjoyed our dinners :) 

After dinner we went back to Paul and Bonnie’s house for cake and presents. Corey bought Paul these really nice horse books and I made Paul a cake from scratch and decorated it with frosting roses :) The chocolate cake recipe I found makes a more fudge-like thicker cake and I thought it was great because it was much easier to layer than the crumbly cakes :) I’m getting a lot better at decorating also and can make roses look really nice now and I am really glad that Paul loved the cake :) 

Bonnie's cat Zoey the "bitchy kitty" meows/complains a lot when you're not petting her right... Well she decided she needed a piece of cake too and came right up to my plate :)

Corey’s Olympic Weightlifting Competition

This weekend Corey and I went down to Cedar City together because he was competing in an Olympic Weightlifting Tournament. He recently has been lifting with the Praxis gym in Salt Lake and this was his first competition :) There are two lifts that he competes in: The Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. 

Last night we weren’t able to leave until late because I went to my cousin Lauren’s wedding reception and said hi to all of my family members for an hour or so and then Corey and I were off. The drive down was a LOT darker than I was expecting... Once we left the larger cities and were past Payson, it was pretty much pitch black and our headlights were the only lights helping us see until we reached Cedar City. Our directions got us lost for about a half hour and then we finally reached our hotel at like 12:30 in the morning.. Needless to say we were both pretty tired. 

In the morning we were excited and ready for his competition. He was competing in a local junior high gymnasium, but once we got there we were informed that we had to go to a building in SUU to register and then come back for the competition... So we got into the car and raced to register him to compete. It all went pretty smoothly in the end and we got back in time for him to weigh in and warm up. I was really excited to watch him lift because I don’t normally get to see him when he’s lifting. I thought he did GREAT! and I was really impressed with his lifting abilities because the lifts he did were really hard. 

The Snatch was first. With this lift, you pick the bar up from the ground to straight overhead and then stand up. It is a really difficult lift because the technique has to be practically perfect. He did great! His first lift of 45 kilograms had Perfect form and was Amazing! I was super impressed :) With the Snatch his highest in this competition was 48 kilograms :)

The Clean and Jerk was next. This lift is all about picking up the weight to shoulder height, standing, and pressing it overhead until the arms are straight. Corey was great at this lift :) His highest was 72 kilograms which is his bodyweight. I was WAY impressed because not many people can press their bodyweight over their heads. Corey did GREAT! :) 

After he competed we got lunch at Cafe Rio, which is our FAVORITE restaurant, and went back to support everyone else from team Praxis. Overall it was a great trip and I was really glad I got to see Corey lift :)

And of course on our way back we had to stop at the Chevron in Beaver :) We stopped here the last time we came to Southern Utah... in like 2009... for my birthday where we spent the weekend in St. George :) Except last time I was too chicken to sit on the oversized chair right in front of the convenience store... but this time I had the guts to do it :)

Dinner at Bohemian Brewery

Tonight Paul and Bonnie took us with them to the Bohemian Brewery on 7200 South. This place was really neat because they brew their own beer and it had an old pub feel to it with wooden paneling and green ivy around the bar. The waiter we had was actually the manager of the store and he was Awesome and very friendly :) He helped us decide which of the specials to order by describing them in detail and stating that there was a competition between the two chefs to see who could sell the most dishes that night. Corey and I both got the past special, which was AMAZING!! :) Definitely one of the best dishes I’ve ever had. Bonnie had the other house special which was a salad and Paul ordered the meatloaf because it was his favorite dish there. BUT... we all know that a brewery isn’t just about the food... They had an amazing little sampler of all of the types of beer that they serve given in nine mini mugs of the BEST beer ranging from very light to very VERY dark. Corey and I both agreed that the chocolate dark beer was the best :)  It was a great dinner and we had a Great time eating there with Paul and Bonnie thanks to the wonderful food, company, and entertaining waiter. 

Grandpa and Grandma Richard’s 50th Anniversary Party

Today, Corey and I went and celebrated my grandparent’s 50th anniversary at the Scera Park in Orem. My grandpa reserved a small picnic area and invited my Mom’s family. It was a lot of fun because Corey and I were able to visit with all of my Mom’s brothers and sister’s who we don’t get to see very often. Randy and Susan and their kids were there, Roxanne flew in from Minnesota with her family, and Ray and Cindy drove up from Vernal. It was really nice to get to see everyone again :) A week before the party, I went to my aunt Rickelle’s house to help her, Lexi and my mom decorate a replica wedding cake for my grandparents. It was a lot of fun because I have recently been learning how to decorate cakes and was able to make a bunch of frosting roses and mix color dyes to get the correct peach and rust colors to match their original cake. It ended up looking great! At the party, Marcio cooked the chicken and everyone brought a salad or side dish to share. Corey and I enjoyed talking to Grandpa about future careers and the economy while we were waiting on everyone to get there. Overall, I think it was great and Rickelle, my Mom, and Roxanne did a great job decorating and putting together pictures and displaying Grandma’s handmade wedding dress. It was a very nice occasion to celebrate and visit with everyone again :)

 

Today Martha and I went horseback riding up Provo Canyon with Twig. He was in town and Martha knows that I like to ride horses so she set up a time for us to go with him :) So Martha, Twig and I loaded up the horses and drove down to Provo. We rode up South Fork in Provo Canyon. It was SO pretty up in the mountains! :) Martha and I met Twig and helped him load up the horses, the horse I rode was named Dude, and then we were off. We unloaded the horses at the base of the trail and then rode for the next few hours. We went up muddy trails, through trees and out into an open meadow area. It was beautiful :) the trees were so green and there was still snow on the mountains :) We went up and down and I learned how to sit right in the saddle and lean different ways when going up and down hills. It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun to take a break and enjoy the beauty of nature on a majestic creature :) Thanks Martha for taking me with you! I took a lot a pictures, enjoy: