HELLO from the Sierra!

I have internet!! I have been in the High Sierra all summer, so sorry it's been so long since I talked to you... I have been, what they say, "roughin' it". I've been taking out horseback rides into the backcountry, getting fed 3 meals a day at the resort's cafe, and living in a 10'x12' cabin. I am only indoors to sleep, and any sitting I do is in a saddle. I never have much time to write, so instead I will just post some pictures of my time so far....

Mammoth Mountain

Sotcher Lake, a mile from my cabin

Rainbow Falls, our 2-hour horseback ride

Bear paws on Bryce's truck

Garrett and me at Shadow Lake Lookout

A ride in the woods

Exhausted Bella

Minaret Lake

The John Muir Trail

Shadow Lake

Ediza

Oregon and the Latest

Ok, I suppose it's time for an update... Seems like Garrett and I go on a new adventure every weekend, so I rarely have time to update my blog! So sorry...

In the last month and a half we have been to St. George, UT (southern Utah where it nice and warm compared to the mountainous area I'm living in near Salt Lake), Oregon, and have done a lot of new little adventures around here as well.

A few weeks ago G and I went to Oregon so I could show him around the rainy state and visit my family. He has already met my mom when she came out to Utah a couple months ago (and she LOVES him), but had not meet anyone else in the fam. I was a little nervous about it (because family can be embarrassing!), but he had a great time and they all reeeally liked him. No matter how much embarrassing home videos my mom had to play and stories they had to tell, he came out feeling more love for me than before. We did a lot of sight-seeing--all my favorite places growing up around the area. We hit up Newport, OR, where I lived for 6 months and studied gray whales, climbed the lighthouse and went tide-pooling, ate local clam chowder and watched the sea lions.

The next day we went to Silver Falls State Park and checked out a lot of the big waterfalls (and with snow melt coming down, there was a ton of water! We got soaked!). We attended church on Sunday and took a drive to Portland. What was so great about it (other than spending every second of the 5 days together... haha), was that it was supposed to rain all weekend, but every time we would step outside the house or a car, the sky would open up for us and the sun would come out. Amazing. We had a great trip, great road trip conversation, and next time we'll have to hit up southern Oregon and see Crater Lake, the Oregon Caves, among other things.

Recently here back in Utah, we also attended the Festival of Colors together, which is always a fun experience. We got chalkified and colorful as ever. The weather here is so bipolar we didn't know what that day was going to be like (last year was freezing and a little snowy) but it was about 75 degrees and sunny!
[Let me tell you about this Utah weather... Seriously every time we have an 80-degree day in the spring, we know that we will have SNOW and freezing weather again in just a few days... it's been inevitable. The other day I went running in the sunshine, 80 degrees, and the next day it snowed 4 inches and was a high of 44 degrees. What the heck. I can't wait for summer.]

Speaking of summer... Great news! Garrett is no longer going out to do summer sales in Chicago like he was. Instead he is going to be staying around the Salt Lake area, working with BOTH his window washing company and sell pest control out here. We are both very happy with this decision. We still have not gone a day apart since New Years when he was on his cruise, and we'd like to keep it that way. Things are continuing to progress, and we are happier every day. I had no idea I could be this happy with someone. Seriously.

The Story

Ok, ok. I suppose it's time for me to update you and tell you about Garrett, and how we met, because he's pretty much the best thing ever, (and I'm thinkin' he's a keeper...).

We met at a ward activity corn maze night around Halloween, and it was completely by chance. One of his friends (Gabe) in my ward invited him to come to the corn maze with the whole group, and all of us met at the church. There were two girls I hadn't met, and I was talking to them, and we decided we'd carpool up to Syracuse together. We yelled out to the large group of people left that we could take two more people in our car, and these two boys, Gabe and Garrett, said "ok!" and hopped in our car. (I mean who wouldn't pass up this fine opportunity to take a ride with 3 cute blondes?) The five of us drove up the 25 minutes to Syracuse getting to know each other. I thought the boys were goofy. The girls mainly talked about their teaching backgrounds, so the boys assumed I was a teacher as well, although I wasn't saying anything. Garrett eventually asked "So Holly, are you a teacher too?" and I said no, I work at the Living Planet Aquarium, and he was like "no way". He was impressed and wanted to hear more about it, and when I told him my LAST job was working at Farmington Bay, he freaked out even more and just thought I was the coolest thing ever (because he loves Farmington Bay, thought it was cool I had worked there and know duck species (since he enjoys duck hunting), and he lives in Farmington). I could tell he wanted to know more about me, but we got to the corn maze and started our adventure.

Through the maze he was so goofy. He reminded me a lot of Chandler on Friends actually. (Who just happens to be my favorite character on my favorite show, I'll have you know.) We ran around the maze, took short cuts through the field, and he was getting cuter and funnier to me as the night went on, falling through the corn. He caught up with me a few times and kept asking me more questions about what I like to do, and when I told him I love the outdoors and backpacking and horseback riding he was like "shut up now!" because he's into all the same stuff. We hit it off pretty good. He told me later that he was really interested in me at the time and that I was being very hesitant with him (I'm not a huge flirt). But he liked that.

Afterward the five of us decided to go to Kaity's house for a movie. When the movie was over, he and Gabe left while I was getting Bella (my dog) out of the backyard. I was super bummed I hadn't had a chance to give him my number or something, because I didn't think I'd ever see him again! But later I found out that he had been good friends with my friend Artie, so I asked Artie if he'd give him my number. He did, and Garrett called me within a day. Our first date was a winter hike up a canyon, something we both had been really wanting to do. It's also a perfect time to talk without sitting awkwardly at a dinner table or watching a movie where we don't even get to talk. It was so fun and we got to know more about each other. He's 6 months older than me, loves the outdoors, animals, and is very much into business, building houses, and green energy. He sells pest control in the summer, and in the winter does construction/remodeling jobs here and there, and works with his brother in their business called Insight Window Cleaning, washing windows, cleaning gutters, and debris, etc. for people. He's very much into service for people, and always finds jobs here and there. He'd love to own a pest control company, since they make really good money, and have a ranch in the country, while continuing to do service jobs for people.

We told each other our life stories, and how I ended up in Utah. How I am a convert of the church, and about his mission in Louisiana. We talked about our families and our parents' divorces, and about animals and backpacking trips. Since that first date, we started doing something every week, and eventually we became inseparable, seeing each other every single day. I can't remember the last day we had that we didn't see each other.

Every day we spend together we get closer and closer and we are very happy with how things are going and the pace that we are taking our relationship. He has a big heart, and we have the best communication. We feel exactly the same about each other, which is so nice! I feel like my other relationships were always more one-sided. But not at all with Garrett. He is also so thoughtful. Last night he surprised me with a dozen red roses for Valentine's Day, and took me to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho (a two-hour drive). It was fantastic and we had a lot of fun and great conversation, as always. Our outings are always an adventure. Last week we went backpacking overnight and snow camped on the mountain, and we go hiking frequently in the snow. I'm so happy we have what we have and am excited every day to see what new adventure we have in store for us.

Another Wild Adventure

So me and G (ok, his name is Garrett, and yes, we are officially "dating seriously") both love to try new things, especially when it comes to outdoor fun. We decided to go cross-country skiing last Wednesday up Millcreek Canyon outside of Salt Lake. It had just snowed in the mountains and it snowed on us the whole way up the canyon. It was a little more difficult than I remembered from when I did it last--at 5 years old! It was pretty easy trekking up the steady sloping hill, and we went a little over 3 miles up the canyon. But when it came time to come back down, haha I SUCKED! I couldn't get "the wedge" down to a stop and fell about 5 times, haha. Not to mention the trail wasn't in the best cross-country skiing condition... But it was super fun and I want to continue to do it. Just takes practice, right?

On the way down, we were about a mile from the car, when the trail got thick with trees ahead and there was a curve. As we approached the curve we were both kind of looking down at our skis, and in a moment, we looked ahead and saw two huge dark figures with big antlers the size of a dining room chair. They were two BULL MOOSE!!! Oh my gosh. I had never seen bull moose before, and to see them this close (about 40 yards) was a little unnerving!! We both saw them at the same time and were just in shock and stood there looking at them. We were on skis so couldn't exactly move away fast without going TOWARD them down the hill. We saw they were getting nervous (other skiers were coming UP the trail, cornering them, so they had to either go up or go down, and we figured they'd go up, toward us, because the people down had a dog barking at them). They were even butting their antlers together. My survival mode kicked in, as I remembered the stories of people getting attacked by these massive animals (they were about as big as draft horses (about 1,000 pounds)) and knew it was best to not stand there staring and to turn around and move away from them. So we awkwardly turned around with our skis on (it seriously takes like 10 minutes to turn around in those things) and starting trekking back up the hill. We kept looking back to see what they were up to, and noticed they certainly seemed less nervous when we we moving away from them. But they did start walking up the trail in our direction. We ditched the skis and jumped into the thick of the woods off the trail and crouched down to watch them. They crossed the creek away from us and headed up the slope, and that's when I got this picture of one of them (sorry for the poor quality, it was my little point-and-shoot!).

We were thankful they left the trail, but when we got back on the trail and joined the people that had come up the trail, we watched them and could tell they really wanted back on the trail where we were. So after watching them in awe for a few more minutes, we started moving back down the trail and were back to falling and sliding all over the place (ok so just me, although G did fall a couple times, much to my amusement). Of course after my laughter subsided, he pushed me into a pile of snow, and thankfully the car was in sight, because I was laughing so hard and was so sore from falling that I probably would have just walked the rest of the way down, ha!

We had a good time, and will always remember the two huge bull moose that caught us by surprise.

This is how I feel right now...

Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for this year:

1) Family and how much they have given me over the years.

2) Friendships I have made that have helped to shape the person I am today.

3) A big comfy warm bed in my freezing basement room.

4) Space heaters.

5) A hound that wakes me up every morning with her big wet nose in my face.

6) The church and the amazing gospel that it brings.

7) Fat baby animals.

8) New crushes when trying to get over someone.

9) Sushi.

10) The beauty of the earth.

11) A car that I have had for 10 years that has kept me from ever getting into an accident.

12) My job.

13) All of the amazing opportunities I have had in my life, and the opportunities yet to come.

14) LOVE.

15) Music and the few talents I have involved.

16) Cowboy boots.

17) Burt's Bees Chapstick, especially in the winter.

18) Seasons and the variety of activities we can do outdoors.

19) My DSLR camera.

20) Stars and the many wonders I have when looking up at them.

My Latest Adventure

So I have been dating this guy who really keeps me on my toes. Last night we decided to go on a night hike. I love night hikes. This boy, we'll call him "G", wanted to go where the snow was pretty packed down already, so we wouldn't have a hard time hiking through deep powdery snow that we get here in Utah. So where else has packed down snow right now than a ski slope?!

We went to Snowbasin Resort, and arrived at the mountain around 6:30pm, already pretty pitch dark in the mountains at that time. We had all of our many layers on, and headlamps, as well as our "survival food": jerky, Cheetos and gatorade. We started up the mountain with the dogs running loose, and saw the massive mountain in front of us, glowing in the light of the stars. It looked a little intimidating but we sucked it up and started up the slope.

(daylight photo)

The hike was surprisingly not horrible, even though the slope was a good 45 degree angle the first 200 yards. We made it on top of the steepest part in about 20 minutes and took a break and sat down overlooking the valley below. If it was daytime it would have looked like this...

We had a good rest, and as we were getting up, noticed the snowmobilers were out... Which means..... BUSTED!!! Pretty sure we were trespassing.... They were coming straight for us and stopped about 30 yards away from us, with their lights shining bright near us, and got off. They walked over to some contraption, messed with it for a few seconds, and were off! They didn't even notice us! Their lights must have been too bright, that their eyes were adjusted to it, and it was pitch black everywhere else around them. We were standing right there, and the dogs were with us too, haha. So we got off ok and after they left (up the mountain) we continued to hike up as well, to see just how high we could get. Along the way we passed moose tracks... pretty large ones at that, but no moose.... yet...
We hiked another half-hour or so up the mountain, and arrived at a chair lift. At this point we had hiked maybe 1500 feet elevation gain, straight up, so the thought of a dry comfy chair was quite inviting. It was closed of course, but we opted to take a chance and sit on the chair! Convenient, yes? We sat there and talked for a good half hour, and again the snowmobilers whizzed right by us, headed back down the mountain, not noticing us at all, or the dogs running around. We continued to sit and talk a while longer, and again, the snowmobilers whizz by us, up the mountain again! Never seeing us sitting there on the chair lift. We thought this was a good time to head back down.

So of course being down-hill the whole way down, we ran down the first half, and when we got to the steepest part of the slope at the beginning of the hike, the only way we could really get down was so slide on our butts! So we did. A good 200 yards at least. And it was awesome. And the dogs were hilarious chasing and jumping on us.

On the drive down the mountain after the hike, a moose ran right across the road in front of us, and 'G' yelled "deer!".... but then by the time I looked ahead and noticed, we were like "that was a moose!" It was a large juvinile, and it dodged into the woods where by the time he pulled over to see it, it was long gone. It was pretty cool though.

We later found out that opening day for the season was today, so we were the first ones on the slope! I wondered why it was so clean and perfect... no ski marks in the snow or anything. Haha hopefully we didn't mess it up too bad with our walking all over it and sledding down on our butts! Haha good times.