Timpanogos Cave

(Then on Jakes birthday we did this...and then...Lagoon!...maybe a hike in between...or boating...we'll see!)


I've heard of it
I've driven past the exit numerous times
NOW I've hiked it!
It was so pretty.
I'll let the views speak for themselves. I don't know self control...if i load one photo, i have to load lots of them...hope you like them

you don't stop on the red lines cause of falling rocks, the whole path was really pretty to walk up...but worth a few stops along the way (mike and mary, maybe next time we'll take you up here...but you might have to hug the inside wall as we go. It's a bit steep looking down.

birthday boy posing for me...thanks babe







This was taken in "The Big Room"
for the most part though, jake was practically crawling through the cave.

it's green naturally because of the iron in the cave...cool i thought.



isn't he the cutest!

Jake and the Bull

My family went up to Snowbird as part of my Terri mom's brilliant end of summer blow out. They have a rock climbing wall, a mechanical bull, zip line and alpine slide. It was fun to be out and about...the place is good for kids and adults, at least i was enjoying my self to the fullest..although the zip line...is a little lame, but after sky diving, can there really be a thrill worthy?...
I thought you all might enjoy this video i shot of jake. His face was classic. but he got 'er done well enough.
.(..video won't load. i'll try to do it again..with just the video..we'll see if it works.)

For my turn, I asked the guy running the joy stick to take it easy....after going around and around a few times, i heard a small pop/crack in my neck. Being a bit of a control person i said...Okay, that's enough. and the polite gentleman stopped the ride and i made a graceful dismount.

here are a few other snaps.

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I almost made it to the tippy top of the hardest one! i was very proud of myself

Jake and Jojo riding the lift to the Alpine Slide..thanks for the courtesy smiles..sort of.

the pretty mountains of utah

Proof that i was faster than selah...she's the one on the right...

collection or obsession....who decides?

Hollywood just outside of Universal Studios

Los Angeles

Minneapolis

San Antonio

Dublin

I know this is long, but hopefully its easy on the eyes as you read....

As many of you know, i'm a big fan of Hard Rock Cafes. It's not really the museum portion or the food. I stumbled upon my first HRC in Houston, Tx about 7 years ago. I was visiting my Vickie mom while she was visiting Galveston (that's what we'll call it so that i don't use any foul language.) anyhoo, we ate at the HRC and i bought ( i think eric purchased it for me) my first shirt. Long sleeves, dark gray. it was a beauty.

I like to travel, and through the years I've also picked up to collecting things...bouncy balls, post cards, pictures, continents ( i have been to 6....i don't own them, but my goal is to touch all 7....antarctica here we come...right elizabeth?...smiles.
I decided that traveling and collecting things could go hand in hand. So when i would select destinations to travel i would try to see if they had HRC's nearby. The most outlandish decision that was made based around this "collection" of mine was my honeymoon. We had a lot of options, but settled on Cozumel and Grand Cayman because.....they had cafes in both ports....it was awesome.

The main reason for this blog at this moment is that over the past few summers i've gone a few places...australia, new zealand, chicago, minnesota.Rio Dejaneiro...and i've gotten HRC stuff from every one...HOWEVER, some dear friends of mine just returned from Beijing, and they asked me before they left if there was a Hard Rock there...and i told them yes...with an exciting smile on my face...and they agreed to get me a shirt. I gave them some money (cause they arent' the cheapest in the world...) anyhoo....the shirt(s) rock! the one from the actual cafe is blue and has fish and flowers on it...and it's awesome. then for fun they found a knock of "classic-t" on the street and bought that too.

Speaking of knock offs...a few other world traveling friends were in Cambodia and found one from PanomPhen (not sure how you spell that...forgive me for being too lazy to look it up.) anyhoo...i was so honored that they thought of me. It makes me giggle.

As i'm writing this so many other memories of HRC's come to mind.
The BEST surprise party ever thrown by my best friends shara, Charity's bridal shower and her goodbye dinner with me.
Susanna's birthday/1st drink when she turned 21 and then our going into Coyote Ugly...(we won't say anymore about THAT adventure),
Trying to GET to the HRC in Rio was a hoot. We didn't want to look like tourists, but when the bus system and Susanna's Portuguese (Thank you again for all your hard work) wasn't getting us there and I paid for us to take a taxi down to the mall it was in...

and Elizabeth rebecca and I's roadtrip to Louisiana and back, and my brilliant idea that on the way home we could stop by houston and san antonio because they "were RIGHT there..."

and the other road trip that summer with my parents,
and my Terri mom was so sweet to drive into Nashville for me so that I could do a run in and grab my Bob Marley commemorative shirt.
and Daddy for starting it all and getting my all access pass when he was in....New Orleans I think...

My latest story centered around Vegas. I had seen a poker chip set at various other Cafe's but decided because of the price, if i found myself in vegas...(cause what better place to get poker chips...) that i would splurge and get them. TO MY SURPRISe...when shara decided to have her wedding just outside of vegas...my time had come. . To my sadness when we got there...the guy working looked at we cross eyed and said they didn't sell any kind of poker set...i was soo sad and disappointed. i had traveled all over the world..and waited...(no impulse buying...) so we ran across the parking lot to the Hard Rock Hotel...to see if they might have it in their gift shop.....they didn't. I drove home wearing a bit of a pout.....but thought maybe i'd have to give in and just buy it online....but again...disappointment. they DIDN"T SELL it anymore....i was sad. but realized oh well.

THEN....I got a wild hair a few days ago, and thought i'd look online for no real reason..
AND THE POKER SET WAS THERE AGAIN...MIRACULOUSLY!!! (sorry mike..i know how you feel about using that word...) and it was $20 cheaper than before. I looked at jake, and he said...go ahead...and i pushed add to cart quicker than....well...really fast.

So that's why I wanted to type this. I know it's long, but the HRC's now sort of represent my world traveling bug. The next few on my list...Phoenix, San diego, La Jolla, TiJuana (again with the spelling??) and the list goes on.
If you are interested in knowing I have Paraphernalia from 32 different Hard Rocks around the world

thanks to Elizabeth for letting me help plan our trips around this silly facination of mine, Susanna for organizing our trip to Rio (and for the beautiful proposal site as well...) Casey and Lisa for driving to Cali with me, Jake for living in Minn and having gone to college in Chicago, Dad for going to Austin and stopping at the Cafe for me...and for navigating through atlanta..and all those Darn Peach street names, Susanna again for DC and Laura and doug for DC and Beijing, Jacob evans for being willing to traipse around london, balitimore and New york, mom and dad for niagra falls, probably the most unique shirt i have....the fam from our dublin trip (including paul) jojo for boston and paris...two places i have YET to visit...dad for my memphis pin..even though i lost it..(that darn purse...) mom terri again for driving to san Fran with me...and my loving husband for our honeymoon additions...and the mcneils for thinking of me while they were celebrating in cancun....and again for shara getting married in Vegas!!!

Rio DeJaneiro, Brasil

Las Vegas

Cozumel

Salt Lake City

Jackson Hole with the Family

Mom, Dad, Ang and the Kids, Jake and I all packed up the cars and drove some 5 hours through Idaho and into Wyoming to Alpine. Dad had arranged for us to stay in this cool cabin just a bit outside of Jackson Hole. It was refreshing to be out of Salt Lake, but I could always do without the mosquitoes, there never seems to be a perfect balance...then again, that's what bug repellent is for.

We went into town for a nice dinner and a few peeks into some of the gift shops they have there.
The purpose for this trip was river rafting down the Snake River. We did that the next day. It was a blast. Even the four kids took to liking the rapids...for the most part. The boat just in front of us went over what they call "the big kahuna" and everyone got dumped into the water. Seeing as that we were next in line for the dumping, our boat started to get a little nervous..."here it comes..hold on to me Gabriel" could be heard coming out of Myriah's mouth...it was cute...but still a bit nerve wracking as our guide yelled "all forward" we all managed to stay in the boat...no harm done. A few of us had gotten out of the boat before that to take a refreshing swim...most of the kids jumped out and them frantically waved their little arms in the air to be pulled back up. We had a good time. Thanks mom and dad for organizing everything.

Fun Hike with Fun Friends

Jake and I hooked up with Hatley and Alex to hike to Dog Lake last Sunday. The drive up to the tippy top of Millcreek was very very pretty. and the hike wasn't too bad either. It was challenging...I needed to stop quite a bit to catch my breath.

















I guess I like to talk while I hike, but those two things; talking and hiking, don't always work the best together. The view opened up at one point to this cool meadow of flowers over looking the mountains..as you can see with photos...the lake itself was okay...dogs were there, and they were
swimming....Jake and Alex were skipping rocks and Hatley was able to get her first ever rock to skip a bit.




It is nice how fellow hikers are courteous and pleasant...as apposed to fellow drivers or coworkers...I think it's something about being outdoors in the clean air enjoying the beauty that God made for us to experience first hand. Thanks again God.


























Mother Natures Pathways continues to Utah...who'd have thunk it?...(private joke)

breaking dawn

I didn't want to be one of those people (lets be honest ...mostly young girls) who ran out last night at midnight to get Stephanie Meyer's new release of the conclusion of the Twilight series. So I didnt', I waited until around noon today and went to borders and picked it up. I haven't started reading it yet, but there's something that's tugging on me to start. I didn't think i'd be so "into" this book series, but i find....frankly....i like it. so 15 bucks for a hard back book opening day...i thought why not. If you haven't read the series yet...I think it's fun...i don't necessarily think teenyboppers should be reading it..but that's not my decision now is it?

anyhoo...i'll let you know what i think...

PC tonight!

Jake has a gig tonight at a restaurant called Easy Street!!! Come one come all...from 7-10pm I'll be up there 8:30ish...(he looked so happy when he got the news....
and he's been practicing and working so hard towards this...
thanks Dad! and thanks God for having such wonderful opportunities available to us...you are faithful.



this was taken during a different gig in PC...my dad is such a good guy!