2 months of happiness plus an adventure in the mountains

Hey guys! How are all y'all?!

Last night Soldier Boy and I celebrated 2 months of happiness. I love being his girlfriend. It makes me so happy to do girlfriend-like things for him. I make dinner for us several nights a week and it is one of my favorite things to be able to do that. Soldier Boy loves it (what boy wouldn't?!) and is so appreciative it just makes me want to keep on doing it! sigh. Life is good in our little world.

So on Friday night this last weekend I told Soldier Boy that I wanted to go on an adventure. Well, his suggestion was that we go up Spanish Fork canyon and try out the natural hot springs that are up there. We've tried the ones in Saratoga Springs and the ones in Ogden, but not these particular ones. We'd heard good things about them and decided to give it a go. After looking up some information we decided to head on down. Now, we prepared to go on a little hike - but also knew that there would be close to a full moon so we thought we could do this hike without a flashlight. This was not a brilliant idea. Luckily, some kind samaritans saw our plight as they were hiking OUT of the canyon and gave us their almost dead flashlight. It gave us just enough light to get to the hot pots and back completely dying out right as we got to our car.

Now, we knew from our little googling before hand that this hike wouldn't be super strenuous and would be about 2.25 miles one way....well, what we didn't really think about is the fact that hiking at night takes longer because it is dark and even with a flashlight it's hard to see. So....our little adventure of hiking and soaking in the hot pots and the hiking back took WAY longer than either of us anticipated BUT it was a TOTAL success and was SO MUCH FUN.

One thing to note if you ever go these hot springs - the sulfur content is higher than any other hot springs Soldier Boy and I have been to in Utah. It turned my sterling silver CTR ring black. Granted, cleaning said ring with jewelry cleaner or silver cleaner will clean it right up. For now I'm leaving it because my ring looks SUPER awesome black. But I wouldn't wear any other jewelry in the future.

Just as a side note, Soldier Boy and I decided that our favorite hot springs are the ones in Ogden. I don't know if we'll ever go to the ones in Spanish Fork again. That long of a hike sort of defeats the purpose of relaxing...but it was absolutely beautiful up there. The view of the night sky was absolutely incredible. :o) 

Words on Wednesday

so many words in my head right now.

Life is insane. Not that I would want to lead a boring life, mind you. BUT sometimes I wish it would be not so crazy and would just be....normal. Or something. But what is normal? Is there such a thing as normal? Probably not. Whoever tries to define normal is probably crazy. ;)

Life is hard. Yet again, I wouldn't have it any other way. An easy life? nah. How would one grow with an easy life? So when it comes down to it, a hard life is better than an easy one. In the long run. I'd rather be someone with lots of growth and change in my life then someone who is static and the same for a bazillion years. HOWEVER, this does not mean that I always enjoy the hard life. In fact right now? Right now it sucks.

Life is an adventure. Every day there is something new. Every day there are new things to try, new emotions to feel, new knowledge to internalize. I love this about life. I love adventure and the fact that MY life is an adventure brings me joy.

I need to remember that while life is all of these things - I don't have to go through all of these things by myself. IN FACT Heavenly Father has given me an INCREDIBLE family, the best friends in the world and a future boyfriend that I hope to make my everything.

Yes, life is insane, hard and an adventure, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

BRING LIFE ON!

Top of 2011

okay guys. Here's the deal. Busy is my middle name right now. Part of me loves it and part of me hates it. However, I just don't feel like I can move on and post other things (one of the reasons why I missed Tender Mercy Tuesday yesterday) until I get this out. It just....needs to get done. ;)

So, without further ado, the top 12 posts (one for each month. give or take) of 2011. I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for 2012's word of the year, a New Year's Eve recap and a few lovely things I've seen lately. see ya on the flip side!

January - What a busy month! I was all over the place, but the thing I remember the most was being brave. :o) What a great way to start off a new year!

February - February always tends to just fly by in my little world. I think part of that is because it is a shorter month (although not by much this year!). I had a few favorite moments from this month, but performing definitely tops the list. Seriously, it was EXACTLY what I needed.

March - Always my favorite month of they year seeing as it hosts my own personal holiday - MY BIRTHDAY! While that's always a highlight in my life, the best thing was definitely the big surprise I had for my sister late in the month. That rocked.

April - Wow, I was really, really busy in April. Ha. I sort of forgot about April MINUS this one little event. :o) Definitely the highlight of my month. ;)

May - May was a good little beginning to my summer of fun in the (non-existent) sun. May was pretty hum-drum but this post pretty much sums up my entire month.


June - I'm pretty sure all hell broke loose in June. I had, hands down, the busiest week of the year that month. Whew. But through-out all the craziness, this little gem popped up.

July - Well....a lot of my summer plans went to pot when I was casted in Aida, but that was one of the funnest things I did during the summer. Add that to the LOADS of confusion from dating multiple people and you have one intense month. Plus I had to host a funeral.

August - This month was, by far, my "bloggiest" month. Meaning, I blogged the most in August. :o) Mostly I think this was because of the 21-day challenge that in which I participated. August was also full of performances and praying I didn't die from sitting.


September - Definitely a month full of me trying to figure out what I wanted in a relationship. That and my self-imposed challenge that has done good things for my life. ;)


October - The most important thing that I remember happening this month was something that has affected my life in a way I didn't think could happen again. :o)


November - November always feels like the beginning of the end to me. Best thing about November? Being twitterpated. (still am btw)


December - Always an insane month around here. Work is crazy, dance is crazy, life is crazy. EVERYONE is CRAZY! Basically, it was a normal month with lots of festivities and what not. :o)

Anyways. 2011 was a rocking year. I definitely feel like I lived up to my word of the year. :o) Have a great day y'all and I'll see you in the VERY near future with loads of THINGS to share with you!!! ciao!

Dating Battle Stories: A girly story about Surfer Boy

 

The title is not meant to meant that Surfer Boy is girly. No, what it means is that I am very girly and what I am about to post is full of me being a girly girl and reading into every little thing that happened this weekend with Surfer Boy. Okay, maybe not EVERY little thing, but close. :o)

Okay. Starting at the beginning - Friday. Movie night. Hosted by Home Teacher (a boy who is my home teacher and will be referenced as such) he invited several people to his house to watch a movie that we would vote on. Movie night was slated to start at 7 pm. I texted Home Teacher to let him know that I would be late...I don't get done teaching until 5:45, and I had run earlier and so I needed to shower and such. I get to his house at 7:30p. This is who was there: Home Teacher (sitting on a 2-person couch on the left side of the living room) Mr. Toad (a guy in the ward, he's a nice guy, but just a friend and he was sitting in a lazy boy chair) and then Surfer Boy (sitting on a 2-person couch on the right side of the living room). So yeah, me and 3 guys. Awesome. I was still a little sore from my workout and so I sat in the middle of the floor and stretched and such. Shortly into our movie (The Incredibles) I scooched towards Surfer Boy's couch and put my back up against it. About 20 minutes after that, I jumped up into the couch. Next to Surfer Boy. and more next to Surfer Boy then not next to Surfer Boy if you get my drift. ;)

the movie continues. Surfer Boy leans into me and whispers "touch my shirt" okay, then. Don’t have to ask ME twice! I touch it. SOFTEST SHIRT EVER. Surfer Boy tells me it's Egyptian cotton. I swoon. I touch him again. Several times. (Throughout the movie of course. he laughs at me) Surfer Boy and I both get up at different times during the movie to grab a drink, or use the bathroom, or get a treat or whatever. Every time we come back, we sit next to each other. Like our whole sides were touching, but we weren't holding hands or anything. I was trying to mirror him. At one point he had his hand on his knee, very much open for hand holding. HOWEVER, I wasn't going to make that first move. But, I sat very similarly to him. ;) (I like to think that if it had been just the two of us and there hadn't been two other boys in the room he might have held my hand.)Also, he put his hand on my knee at one point to just pat it in regards to something I said. I’m pretty sure I swooned in that moment too. ANYWAYS, it was good times. I liked it. We got to talking about weekend plans, and I mentioned how much I wanted to go to the zoo...and so it was decided we would go to the zoo on Monday. Probably followed by a shooting expedition (since I’d never been. plus they claimed it to be fun.)

So that was Friday. Moving on to Sunday.

After Ward Prayer a bunch of us always gets together for a game night. I sat by Surfer Boy and played with him. This is when I discovered that Surfer Boy is VERY ticklish. Like, just as ticklish as me. So, I had fun with that and he promised to get me back on Monday at the zoo.

Monday - the zoo. With Grizzly Bear and Surfer Boy (and others). Not going to lie, I probably ignored Grizzly Bear a little bit more than I should have. He tried to pay for my ticket to get into the zoo, but I wasn't about to let him make it into a date. It would have been just awkward to have him pay for me. So I told him no. Probably hurt his feelings, especially when I didn't really hang out by him so much at the zoo. The zoo was me, Surfer Boy, Home Teacher, Mr. Toad S and Grizzly Bear. so...yeah. Definitely walked more by Surfer Boy than anybody, but overall just had a blast. We went to lunch and then Cabela's and THEN the boys took me shooting. Well, first we had to go get Surfer Boy's truck and guns and so he asked if anyone wanted to ride with him and I said, (after waiting a few seconds) "I will!" so...I did. LOVED that I got that little bit of alone time with Surfer Boy. We drove down to Springville and went up the canyon and I learned how to shoot a pistol and a shotgun (2 different kinds) I have a bruise on my shoulder forming from the shotguns, but it was SO FUN. Also, Surfer Boy kind of did the whole, hold my arms and help me thing. It was cute. I sat by Surfer Boy at FHE, but that was it. My plan: to not worry about him. I will flirt with him on Sunday, but I know he has some family coming into town this weekend and his roommate is getting married. So basically I'm just going to chill and hopefully he'll ask me out sometime in the future. I know we'll have some more movie nights (there are so many movies I haven't seen that he wants me to see). I'm just hoping we get to watch a movie again but just with the two of us. Heaven knows I need to not ask him out again for a while though. I really hope things sort of go somewhere so I can feel okay about asking him to go to the ballet with me at the end of October. :o)

so there you go....my weekend of adventures. I REALLY like Surfer Boy. LIKE A LOT. I just hope he has taken note of my flirty nature with him (cause it's mostly different compared to my flirty nature with other boys.)

Oh thank goodness...

I am so extraordinarily happy that it is Friday. Life has been crazy, but I've been able to live and let live and not complain too much. :o) I'm just excited that I get a 3-day weekend, a 3-day work week and then another 3-day weekend. Go me! ha ha ha.

It's day 19 of the 21 Day challenge dear friends. Today's challenge is to wear somethign on your head. Now, Kayla told us it could be absolutely anything - even a flower clip! However, I wear ribbons, flowers and headbands on a very regular basis, but I have two hats that I just don't wear that often. I decided to bust out one of the hats and push my comfort zone a little bit. I have a hat I love that my mom gave me for Christmas that I don't wear very often, at all, BUT my hair wasn't going to cooperate with that hat. So instead, I went with this:

{hat: Target}

cute, huh?! I paired it with this new top and jeans:

{sweater shirt: JC Penney, tank: DownEast jeans w/belt: JC Penney}

I couldn't get the colors to come out right on my iPod touch w/instagram...but the sweater shirt is a really pretty cider orange kind of color. And my new jeans? Love them. They are so comfy! and I love a good dark wash jean. :o)

It's Labor Day weekend y'all. Officially the end of summer, or something like that. It's starting to feel like fall a little bit around here. The weather has definitely been cooler in the mornings and evenings, and I love it.  Here are just a few things that I'm doing this weekend:

• Going to the gym and running tonight - meeting with my trainer tomorrow morning. I'll probably be dead by the end of it.

• Watching a movie with friends and then going to a dance party tonight. I think.

• Teaching choreography tomorrow morning.

• Cleaning the church building tomorrow morning.

• Watching my BYU Cougars. Oh how I am excited to see them on the field again. They make my heart happy.

• Helping my roommate sort out kitchen stuff. It will be fun times, I'm certain of it. :P

• Hopefully making some good headway on Sister B's wedding gift. I want to get it finished.

• Teach my Relief Society lesson. Here's hoping it goes well....

• Watching the CES Fireside. love.

• an adventure of some sort on Monday - maybe the zoo?

Should be a busy weekend. I'm rather excited. Have a great weekend y'all!!

Summer Mottos

So. I have plans to have the BEST summer ever guys. Seriously, I'm going to go hiking , camping, visit random sites around Utah, attend the Tuachan and see the Little Mermaid and so much more!

Anyways, to remind myself to not get all uptight and to let loose and have fun and continue living up to my word of the year, I have found a few prints that are the driving force behind my summer plans. I hope you enjoy.

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Sunshiney Adventures!!

Hi guys! It's Friday AND it's my day off! ALSO it is SUNSHINEY and supposed to be absolutely GORGEOUS today. :o) The plan is to clean my house a little bit (the kitchen and bathroom especially) and then go on a sunshiney adventure. Maybe a picnic in the park? A hike up a local canyon that is not too intense? Regardless of the adventure it will be fun; especially because Leviticus offered to join me when we were talking last night. So...there you go.

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Speaking of last night, I went to Blue Tango like I do sometimes on Thursday nights and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!! I loved it. I came home exhausted, sweaty and tired, but I can think of no better way to fall asleep then after having danced the night away.

Anywho, I'm here to leave you with just a little thought for the weekend. I hope all y'all have a most splendid one!!

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Dating Battle Stories: a boy named Leviticus

PREFACE

Last Sunday, the 24th of April was our 2nd Sunday as a "new"-ish ward. (this is the Sunday after Fryman kissed me) I was standing in the hall after church talking to my friend Rocky (who was new to the ward, but we grew up together) and there were a few guys standing there too. Some from the ward from before and some new peeps. One of the guys, Leviticus, was there (he's new) and he was a friend of Rocky's. Anyways, we got to know each other a little bit and as I left the group (because i was SO hungry and i needed lunch) Leviticus shakes my hand and says, "Alishka, you have the cutest personality, it was great to meet you have a great Sunday." I thanked him and went home. Then the whole Fryman thing went down.

FAST FORWARD….

Saturday, April 30th. I had no plans that evening. In fact, I had just gotten home from visiting a friend and her newborn in the hospital and was cleaning my kitchen. I decided I wanted to do fun things so I texted some of my guy friends asking if anyone wanted to go out and do something exciting. Well, no one wanted to, in fact I got ignored and rejected. It was sad times. So then, fast forward like 20 minutes and I'm sitting on my couch checking facebook when I get a message from Leviticus - and it says "Hi!"

I respond in kind and then proceeds the FUNNIEST conversation ever. There was mention of secret training, secret bowling alleys, and covert signals for seeing each other. It was awesome.

So yeah, THAT happened. We went bowling and I had the best time ever. It was a blast. :o) THEN we were just sitting in the bowling alley talking and we somehow got talking about moose and elk and which was bigger and why and we decided that we should go find out...without the internet. So off on adventures we went...we ended up at the BYU HBLL (the ONLY library still open at 9pm at night on a Saturday...ha ha UVU was closed because they just had graduation) So we decide to try not to use the computers to look anything up. We make our way to the science section and find some encyclopedias and look up stuff on moose and elk. It was hilarious. Then Leviticus decided we should do yoga in between the shelves. So...we did yoga in the HBLL. Then he gave me an assignment to find a book on a subject to learn something, and I did the same to him. We both ended up with books, sat in a collaborative area in the HBLL and learned new things together. It was awesome. After that we went and got taco bell and sat in the parking lot talking until 2 am. It was awesome.

THE NEXT DAY

Sunday, May 1st. It was so hard for me to get up that morning. We have church at 9 am...and I had a meeting before church...so I only got like 5 hours of sleep. I got ready and went to church. Now, because we're still transitioning, I've been doing my calling AND leading the music in sacrament meeting (I volunteered to help them out). SoI'm sitting up on the stand and while leading the music I don't see Leviticus. Well, after church I’m out in the hall and Leviticus is there! He slept in, but he was there to catch the tail end of our meetings and then was going to a different ward that afternoon. So we’re standing there talking and he asks how I had slept. I hadn't slept extremely well, about 30 minutes before my alarm went off that morning my smoke detector’s battery started to die and started beeping every 2 minutes. I have 12ft ceilings in my apt and could BARELY reach the smoke detector while standing on a chair and books to get the battery out. So I tell him this and how I don't have a battery and he's all, "Alishka! What if your house catches on fire and your smoke alarm doesn't work!? You need a battery! And a ladder!" So then he proceeds to tell me he thinks he has a battery.

Later that afternoon I wake up from a really deep sleep of a nap and look at facebook (trying to wake up) and I see this facebook message from Leviticus: "I have a battery that may or may not have power. Do you want a battery change service?" I respond in the affirmative and he comes over after saying "we'll send a technician right over." He came over, changed the battery effortlessly and then stayed to chat. Then he left because he had something else to do that evening, but he accidentally left his phone (it escaped his pocket) so I sent him a message and 30 minutes later he comes back and STAYS until 11p or so. We had the best time chatting and such. Also, on Saturday I told him about how I'm working on family history and on Sunday he asked me to show him what I have and what I'm looking for right now. So we spent a couple of hours together, on the couch just looking up stuff on my laptop for family history. Amazing.

AND MOST RECENTLY….

Monday night for FHE we had a ward BBQ. It was awesome. Leviticus sat at our table, along with a whole slew of other guys. It was awesome. I floated around, met new people, talked, played volleyball and ended up back at the table Leviticus was then sitting at.

It was decided to go to my place to watch a movie (my roommate, a good friend and major flirt of mine and I decided this) I convinced Leviticus to come.

We hung out and colored in coloring books. It was awesome.

My flirty friend left about after the movie. I was a zombie at this point because of my fried brain from work. Leviticus stayed until 11:30 or so...and at one point played with my hair (he did that Saturday too now that I think about it). We just hung out and talked and stuff. It was very nice.

So there you go. My very long story about a boy named Leviticus. I think we shall have many an adventure this summer. :o)

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