Red Butte Garden on a rainy day

It has been rainy here in Utah on and off for an entire week. Some days have been constant rain, and others have been rain, then sun, and then rain again.

Today has been one of those days where it goes from clouds and wind, to sun, and then to rain in minutes. In fact, right now, it is pouring outside. E decided to take the day off work because he was traveling last weekend and a bit of this weekend. We didn't want the entire day to go to waste, so despite the cloudy skies and wind, we decided to head up to Red Butte Garden for a little walk.

As soon as we got there the rain started, but didn't last. E and I sat under a wisteria vine and waited for the rain to pass while we watched a Mama Robin feed her babies. Within minutes we were walking through the almost deserted garden. All the herbs in the herb garden were wet, giving off their wonderful scent. All the roses looked like they had been kissed by the rain, and of course led to some beautiful photos.

We walked through most of the gardens and along all of our favorite paths looking for birds and animals. As we left the rain clouds were getting darker, and me, being pregnant, was thinking about how hungry I had become. I suggested we stop for coffee and a snack in one of our favorite Utah restaurants. While we were there the sky opened up. It rained and rained. We sat inside eating soup, pie and hot coffee. It was wonderful.

Here is where we sat, under the wisteria vine, waiting for the rain to pass.
A few minutes later the sky was blue and clear. The herb garden after the rain smelled wonderful!
The roses looked so perfect with the fresh raindrops on them.

And a peony, one of my favorite flowers of all.

Alex is home!

The real reason for this post is to say that my dear husband is home from a week-long trip to Taiwan. E and a coworker went to Taipei Taiwan to visit a trade show and meet with laptop and cell phone companies. I tried to convince E to take Violet along, she is always up for an international trip, but E opted for Alex instead, she is a little easier to carry in your pocket.

Alex also joined E last year when he went to Tokyo the first time. She has also joined us for other small trips and big trips around the world.

Well just today Alex arrived home from Taiwan. Mostly she stayed in E's bag, but on the last day she joined him for a walk around the Hsing Tien Temple in Taipei.

Here are a few photos:

Here is the Hsing Tien Temple that Alex and E visited. E said it was really different from Japanese temples. Looks beautiful.
Here are the beautiful huge red doors. Can you see tiny Alex at the bottom of the doors?
Here she is, enjoying the temple. Thanks E for taking all of these photos. I love them.

And here she is at the base of the stone lions. So neat.
Click here to see the rest of E's great Taipei photos.

Going to the cabin

Today my Grandma, Aunt Laura, Mom and I decided to open the cabin for the season. Opening the cabin just means going up there for the first time in the spring and cleaning off the porch, uncovering all the outdoor furniture, and doing a general clean-up.

We arrived at about ten, and after cleaning for a little while decided to go on a walk. We took a nice walk to the meadow with the spring. There are hundreds of meadows throughout the Utah woods, and we've named all the ones near us, there is Our Meadow, Moose Meadow, the Meadow Over the Hill, and the Meadow with the Spring.

We chatted and had a great time walking with the dogs. After awhile we headed back to the cabin and made a big lunch of sandwiches, fruit, pretzels and even homemade pie. We were about to sit down outside on the porch for lunch when the rain started. Lightly at first, and then heavier. We ate indoors and by the time we were done with lunch we were all freezing. My Grandma heated up some water and made everyone coffee or hot chocolate. We sat in the living room for awhile sipping our drinks joking and talking. After awhile we got too cold to sit still anymore and decided to call it a day.

Next time I go to the cabin, I'm hoping for sun. On the drive home we decided to go a different way than the way we came. We ended up having to reverse the car back up the mountain because the road was still covered with a snow bank! We turned around and traveled down the other canyon safely.

Only a few things have started to bloom. The tree's leaves are tiny and new. These yellow flowers seemed quite happy blooming in Our Meadow. They were the only ones in sight.

My Grandma, Mom and Laura walk through Meadow with the Spring.
After the rain I went out with Violet and snapped a few photos, I love this one of a tiny wildflower covered in raindrops.
And Willow, my Grandma's dog, is so silly. He loves water, it doesn't matter that this water is newly melted snow, he needed to lay down in it.

Rainbow Garden

Two years ago around this time of year I went over to my Grandma's garden and marveled at the flowers. I decided to do a blog post about some of the flowers I saw, and I called it rainbow garden. Today I want to repeat the post with new photos of my Grandma's garden that I took today.

My Grandma's garden is awe inspiring, just lovely. In June all her roses bloom and it is a site to see. She has roses from all over the world, in all colors. In addition to the roses, there are peonies, impatiens, poppies, ferns, and everything else you can imagine.

I hope you can enjoy the garden and smell the roses, if even through your computer screen.

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue/purple

Pink

White

Logan's big day

Our friend for about eight years, Logan, married his fiance Brooke on Friday. We met Logan through Ben, and have been great friends ever since. Logan is a great friend, and he is always willing to hike or bike with us, or just hang out on a Saturday night. He met Brooke about two years ago and they have been inseparable ever since. Logan asked Brooke to marry him right before Christmas last year during one of the worst snowstorms we had all winter. Logan said they didn't know if they were going to make it to the restaurant do to the snow, but he was determined, since he'd already dropped off a beautiful bouquet of flowers a few hours earlier and the plan was already in place.

So, last Friday, after months of planning, Logan and Brooke tied the knot. E and I were there along with most of our friends. Ben and Jo, unfortunately couldn't make it. The ceremony was great and Brooke looked awesome. After that we enjoyed the patio while the wedding party was whisked off to take pictures. Dinner was fantastic, we had sole in hollandaise sauce, roasted potatoes, ravioli, yummy rolls and a great salad. After awhile, the reception started and more guests started to show up, along with a lot more food. E and I snaked on chocolate dipped strawberries, mini pizzas and fruit while we chatted with friends, danced, and tracked down the happy couple to tell them congrats. It was a great night.

The excited groom only moments before he will be wed.
Awe.
Dining room. Aren't the centerpieces and black tablecloths elegant?
Here is some of our group. Left to right - E, me, Becky, Justin and Mike.
Newly married couple. And E and I, who will be married three years come July.
After I finished this post, I got started thinking about all the fun things we've done with Logan and Brooke over the years. Here are a few of them:
Lots of parties at our house. Dinner, drinks and games too.
Hanging out with Ben whenever he is in town.
Joining Logan and Brooke for their annual Halloween murder mystery.
Biking Deer Valley.
Backpacking Southern Utah.
Biking Moab quite a few times (here, here and and even here).

Happy Wedding!

Wedding season

As I mentioned in an earlier post, today is the kick off for the season of weddings for E and I. We know quite a few people getting married, and each event is so special.

We also are lucky enough to be really close to lots of the people that are getting married, which of course means, I get to be a bridesmaid! I've been a bridesmaid once before in Naina's wedding, and really enjoyed it.

So, although I'm not a maid tonight in Logan's and Brooke's wedding, I have a lot of maid duties to look forward to. And also a lot of dress shopping.

In August, I'm a bridesmaid in Jo and Ben's wedding.
In September I'm a bridesmaid in my Mom's wedding.
In October I'm a bridesmaid in Allison's wedding.
And next June (June 2010) I'm the maid of honor in Chelsea's wedding!

Here are some of the things I might wear. Jo and Chelsea haven't made a final choice yet, but my Mom and Allison have. So two of these are still yet to be decided.

Ben and Jo are home from Korea!

For years Ben and Jo have been talking about going to Korea to visit Jo's family and also visit special places in Jo's life. In early May they flew first class to Seoul where Ben met Jo's dad for the first time. Jo's sister Sunny flew into Korea also from London, where she is studying, and the entire family took a trip out to some coastal islands, explored around the city, and got to know each other.

Ben flew home a couple of weeks ago, and Jo stayed to spend a couple additional weeks with her family in her country. Just on Monday she returned home. She said they had such a fantastic time there. Her father loved Ben, which is wonderful news, since they are getting married in two months.

Here is a photo from their travels. Here is Ben, Yoonki Cho, Hyekyung Kim, Sunny and Jo all enjoying the Korean coastline. Love it.

I can almost smell the lilacs

I know I've already posted three times today (yea for a new record), but I just need to post a few more photos of the amazing lilacs that were in bloom over the weekend. I swear, I can smell their perfect scent just looking at these photos.

Memorial Day weekend at the farmhouse

After E and I were done with our awesome hot springs hike we headed to Mount Pleasant to enjoy the farmhouse and the company of E's family. We arrived at dinner time on Saturday and went directly to dinner. Nobody was very hungry, except for me, but being the pregnant woman, I got to decide. We headed to the pizza restaurant and had a great evening.

The next day the weather was more of the same, more rain. We slept in, had a yummy farmhouse breakfast hash, and pretty much spent the entire day relaxing. At one point E and I went on a little drive looking for interesting birds, but didn't see much. Later we drove up the the Fairview Cemetery to put flowers on E's grandparent's graves. We headed back while Chelsea and Joe decided to investigate a kitten lead. Chelsea and Joe have been wanting to adopt a kitten for about three months, but hadn't found a litter of kittens. About an hour later Joe and Chelsea arrive back at the farmhouse with the most adorable gray kitten you've ever seen. Nobody is sure if it is a boy or girl, so a final name has yet to be decided. However, spending the rainy afternoon playing with a tiny gray fur ball was great fun.
That night E decided to make his famous Dutch Oven Goulash, which sounded really good to all of us. What's better on a cold rainy night than baked pasta covered in cheese? After dinner E whooped my butt in a game of checkers.

Here are E and David outside working on dinner. Didn't I take this exact same picture last year? As I remember, it was a cold rainy May last year too.
On Monday we woke up to sunny skies (why does it only rain on the weekend?) so E and I decided to take a little walk. The weather was PERFECT, warm but not hot, beautiful, and clear. All the lilacs were in bloom so the entire town smelled of a perfect spring. Later that day we took a little drive with David to one of our favorite spots where we walked around looking for birds and such. David and E spotted two snakes in the grass, so that was neat. Back at the farmhouse we had a hot dog BBQ before cleaning up and heading home. Overall, it was a great weekend.

My mom picked a date and a location!

My mom and her boyfriend Chuck have wanted to get married for as long as they've know each other. They started dating in March 2007 and have been happy in love ever since. About a year ago they started talking about getting married in earnest, and over the weekend they made a decision: they want to take the entire family down to Lake Powell over Labor Day weekend and have the wedding on a desert beach. My mom has always loved the idea of having a wedding after dark, under the starlight. She wants a lot of candles, including floating candles, fantastic food, and a beautiful location. She's even rented a houseboat!

So, come September 5th, my Mom and Chuck will tie the knot in a beautiful location and I'll be getting a new step father. Can't wait!

And boy, talk about the summer of weddings! We kick off the summer of weddings with Logan's and Brooke's this Friday!

Fifth Water Hot Springs

Above, E in a field of wildflowers on the way up. Yes, dandelions are wildflowers.
Below, me in the hot springs. Don't I look relaxed? The water was deliciously warm!
E and I decided not to go camping over the long weekend, but instead head to the farmhouse for Memorial Day. On Saturday, before arriving in Sanpete County, we decided to do a hike that I haven't done for years, up to Fifth Water Hot Springs in Diamond Fork Canyon. Diamond Fork Canyon is on our route to the farmhouse, however, we've never stopped in all the years we've been going down there.

Well on Saturday I finally convinced E to join me on this hike I've loved since I was a little girl. We arrived at the trail head around 1:00 to gray skies and spitting rain. We decided to go for it, and headed up the trail. Luckily, I was feeling energized, because ever since I've been pregnant, some days I'm totally drained. We conquered the 2.25 mile trail in no time and were soon at the springs. I held up a towel while E changed and he did the same for me.

We slipped into the hot water at the base of a raging waterfall. The main river is not warm at all, but the hot springs mix with the cold mountain water and make wonderful tubs varying in temperature from quite hot to lukewarm. Being pregnant, I never got in the super hot water, instead enjoyed water that was the temperature of a nice bath. E and I relaxed there for awhile and the rain started to pick up, it was so fun being in the middle of the woods with a ranging waterfall next to you, sitting in some natural hot tubs all while it was raining.

After awhile E and I got out, dried off and changed back into our clothes. The 2.25 mile hike back was rain free and great. The time flew by because E and I talked about or favorite subject of all: travel.

Check out the lower pools. Don't these look amazing?