I Made Some Jelly...and NOT KY Jelly!

Plum tree growing in my landlords back yard! Do you want to talk about a sight...to bad nobody got the chance to watch me almost fall from the tree. I had a few close calls. I'm not the young and agile kid I once used to be.

The plethora of plums that came off that tree. Aren't they so pretty - love the colors!

The outcome of the plums turned into JELLY! I made this jelly all by myself...except for several phone calls to my sweet Aunt Rosalie, who is a master canner. I had to keep calling for help, and bless her heart she was happy to help. Yes, she even got a jar of jelly in the end, and LOVED IT!

Tasting the tart, sweet plum jelly. Mmmm...so good, and I made it myself!!! I really am enjoying the fruits (no pun intended) of my labor - it was just a long day so I kind of look tired...

Summer Time Fun (A Recap)

The Beginning of the summer began with free tickets to the Utah Summer Games. Since I work on the Grounds Crew I get two free tickets. I took the York Family with me and we enjoyed a great evening. The fireworks were amazing, and made our whole night.

Another little fun summer activity was attending the St. George Roadrunner Baseball Game. My dear friend Lisa even found love at the baseball game! :) :) :)

Miss Audra B. and I attended our umpteenth viewing of Eclipse at the Zion's Imax which was absolutely amazing!!! That's the only way to see that super cool movie!

Bless my sweet sister Jessie for sending me and several of my friends to many of the Tuachan plays this summer. They have been very enjoyable and amazing...minus the Hellish Heat! (If you want to see more people I took to the play visit my cousin Thayne and Jenny's blog.)

Jessie, Princess Aubrey, and Me! I just love Aubrey - she's a mini me! Lord help us all....

It wouldn't be summer without our annual Griffin/Williams family trip. We spent 4 days in a beautiful cabin on Boulder Mountain (in Utah). We had some beautiful weather, and not so good weather. It was great to eat lot's of food, sleep, go hiking, relax, and read. The Griffins are my favorite family and I look forward to these trips each year!!!

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Kolob and stayed with some friends, Jared (Rat), his wife Kate, their cute baby girl Cambria, and my friend Jeremy, in their cabin. It was nice to get away for the weekend, go four wheeling, zip-lining, and eating lot's of good food.

The end of the summer is bittersweet because that means the end of my awesome gardening job. So sad! I had the best little co-worker this summer named Lindsay. I absolutely enjoyed going to work because I got to work with her. It makes a HUGE difference when you get along so great with your co-workers. Lindsay and I became great friends, and I am grateful for her friendship.

The summer ended with a baby shower for my sweet as can be friend Jeanni. I'm so excited for her little peanut that's soon to arrive. It was so good to see her, and spend the evening with her. She just glows with that pregnant beauty!!!

Oh how my summer was full of FUN! And, oh how the summer has to come to an end. It's back to reality, and life in school. So excited for that!!!!

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

On a lighter note...my friend at work told me about the latest video on Mormon Messages found on YouTube. I watched this video, and have a VERY long way to go in life. Anyway, I loved this video so much that I just had to post it so that others can see it and feel the same feelings I felt as I watched. Get a box of tissues!!!

OH GAG ME!!!

I'm ready to stick my finger down my throat and gag myself! Oh dearest sister, Jessie - please enjoy! This is for you and any of you who are Twilight fans. You won't see me watching this, but I may be seeing Eclipse again. THIRD TIME BABY!!!!

So Far, I'm Surviving 30!

Turning 30 isn't so bad.

My friend Jeremy and I ran away for the weekend - kind of? We took a small town Utah road trip, ended up all over the place with no plan, but a good time was had.

We started out Saturday morning from K-town and headed north on back highways. On our way to Minersville we saw The Parowan Gap. Checked out the Gap, and then headed north to the small town of Minersville, took a left and headed towards Beaver where we ate at a yummy little burger joint. On to the cheese factory, then north bound for Manti. On our way to Manti we decided to see Cove Fort (it's been a long time). We had a cute little senior couple sister missionary take us through the tour. Bless her heart, she had a farting problem, so it was hard to keep a straight face. However, the spirit was there, and that's all that really matters.

When the tour was over it was on to Manti to do a live session for our first time. It was pretty cool, and at times put a smile on my face. Wow those temple workers are amazing. When we were all finished they showed us the amazing stair case (only three in the United States and Manti Temple has two of them).

After the temple we went to Ephraim, found a yummy pizza joint, and then saw that not very far from Ephraim in the town Fountain Green they were having a festival for sheep. Just so happened that they were doing a firework show that night. So, we drove to the small town watched the fireworks then back to Ephraim.

(Rained in Ephraim and caught a beautiful rainbow.)

The next morning we drove through lots of small towns, over the Manti/La Sal Mountains, and into the armpit town of Price. I know! Neither one of us had ever been to Price and I don't think either one of us will ever go back to Price. But, now we can say we've been to Price. We did eat at a really good Cafe in town called Ty's Cafe which was amazing, and super cheap. After our filling lunch it was time to head south for home. We drove through more small towns, took the scenic Highway 89, up over Panguitch Lake, and down Cedar Mountain.

(Some lake going over Manti/La Sal Mountains...)

(Not sure what I'm doing here...this was in Helper Utah.)

Amongst the drive down Highway 89 I got a little heavy on the gas and got pulled over. ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Luckily, the Highway Patrol Man was nice enough to just give me a warning. Woosh. That would've been very, very, very bad if I would've gotten a ticket.

On Monday my friends (in Cedar) took me to my new favorite restaurant in Cedar City called Sweet Basil (Thai food). After eating some tasty food we went out shooting - totally random, but lots of fun. Let's just say I will never shoot a gun again. I hate guns, guns scare me, guns are bad, and I hate guns. I did do a little bit of shooting but was so shaky that it wasn't very enjoyable for me. Although, I did enjoy watching everyone else shoot the guns, and there was the most beautiful sunset.

(Kyle and Camaree trying to show me how to shoot.)

Dang - what a mouth full of Birthday fun. Thanks everyone for making my 30th so memorable and enjoyable. I really appreciate all the texts, phone calls, emails, and Facebook comments. And, Sydney thanks so much for the "30 Sucks" gift. I took it to work and everyone got a kick out of it, and enjoyed all the suckers.

30 does not suck, and so far, it's been a great week of being 30!!!!! Here's to 30 more wonderful years!

A Little Freaked Out

I'M TURNING 30, AND I'M FREAKING OUT!!! I have my good days and I have my bad days. I'm really trying not to think about it, but each day it gets closer and closer. (I mean really...I live with my brother, I can't pass chemistry, I'm still working on my FREAKING bachelors, (and yes, I have heard the joke many times about how I've been in school so long I should have my P - H - D!!!!!!) I'm not married and live in Utah which makes me an Old Maid, I work in the dirt - soon back to part time in the fall, my car is all broken, and I just feel like I can never catch a break! AND, yesterday I made a huge batch of salsa that turned out like baby poop! That was a mouth full of depression! Wink, Wink! As you can tell today is a "bad day.")

A few weeks ago, on one of my "good days," I had this idea to jump out of plane the day before I turned the big 3 OH! Really ring in this momentous age turning day. However, last week, because of few recent events, a few things have changed. As I was getting ready to make the date to jump out of a plane I had to get my car estimated, due to the DEER INCIDENT, after getting my estimate and realizing that my car was a tiny bit more important I still was staying strong on jumping. About an hour after I got my car estimated I broke a tooth on ONE little freaking Hot Tamale. "Seriously, that's IT, I've had it with life..." then I spit out the tooth fragments? I'm being a little overdramatic...just a tad. That tooth was the final straw! I looked to the sky and said, "FINE, I guess I won't be jumping - my tooth and car are a lot more important!!!" I looked to the sky because I felt that it was God telling me not to jump because my parachute possibly wasn't going to open...YOU NEVER KNOW!

So, since I'm not jumping I have decided to drive to the Manti Temple, do a live endowment, reflect on my last 29 years, and TRY to figure out the next 30 years. The Lord knows I have some major figuring out to do! Yes, I realize that Plan B could cause a car accident on my drive to and from, but since I'm going to the temple I hope that I will have a little bit of protection. Again, YOU NEVER KNOW. Maybe I was only suppose to be here on earth for 29 years...let me say it one more time cause it's not annoying...YOU NEVER KNOW!

As for the "defying gravity" I have decided that I will just go buy a really good expensive bra!!!