Fall has...uh...fallen

The beautiful fall has arrived in Provo Utah.  The mountains are litered with beautiful colors.  This last Saturday Liz and I were able to go mountain biking in Provo Canyon up the north fork.  It was really fun.  The leaves had just started falling so we were riding our bikes on a nice layer of leaves.   We took some pictures so you could feel like you were right there with us:

The beautiful tree covered path with leaves on it

This is a part where you go through a grove and get a good view of the hill side.  Check out the colors.

Here is Liz, crusin' along.

Yours truly, dying of exhaustion.

So there ya go.  Now you know exactly what its like to go mountain biking in the Provo Canyon.  Its great exercise and the mountains are awe inspiring.  

Catch up time...

Here is a picture of Jenna and JD and I at the BYU vs UCLA game! It was a blast!
Guess what JD is eating...

So we decided not to wait a year and just eat this close to our 4 month anniversary while we were home for the weekend! Yes it was good, and no, JD should not have that much frosting.

So I realized that JD and I have been slacking on our blog- things have been crazy since school started. I keep busy with work, but I really should find more productive things to do with my days off than re-reading Harry Potter books. I am currently getting into scrap booking and trying to learn to cook better for my husband. If anyone is dying to share a recipe with me post it as a comment and I would very much appreciate it! JD keeps very busy with homework and work and makes me smile every day! We are really excited about something that our stake is doing. It is called 100% for 100 days. That means that until Christmas we will try to give 100% to our prayers (personal and family), scripture study (personal and family), family home evening, temple attendance, tithing, meeting attendance, visiting and home teaching, and try to give an act of service/love to our spouse every day. It has been really good for us to try harder to do those things that we should and give it as a gift to our Savior for Christmas this year. It is an amazing opportunity to give of ourselves the only thing that we really can give the Savior.

Jackson's Blessing!

Here are the lucky parents and JD and I chillin' after the blessing.
The end of a long exhausting day and the new grandma looks tired.

The proud uncle! JD is so excited for his nephew! Too bad they are now living in California :(

Here are most of the people in the blessing circle, I love Devin's tie :)
Here is me with Jackson!
Jackson is very content in Jenna's arms!
JD and I were very grateful to be able to go to Idaho for the blessing and wish Steve and Nicole the best of luck in raising their cute little boy! It was really neat to see them one more time before they left for California and hope all goes well for them! We love you Steve, Nicole and Jackson!

Today is the day!!!!

Brisingr is coming out tonight!!!  The third book of the Inheritance cycle is finally here.  If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the first two books (Eragon and Eldest) you should really do it.  These books are really enjoyable if you like the young adult fiction.  You should trust me on this one. The first video is of an interview of Christopher Paolini on the Today show. The second video is just an interview about Brisingr.  Its really interesting if you haven't seen it.  You should keep your eyes open for my review of the book in the next couple of weeks(depending on how buried in homework I am).

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle!

What a day to celebrate!  Nicole, my oldest sister, and her husband Steve just had their first baby on Friday the 5th!  So I am officially an uncle!  That cute little guy's name is Jackson, unless your talking to Nicole, then its Jack.  I unfortunately haven't been able to lay my own eyes on the little guy yet but we will be going up on the weekend of the 19th for the blessing.  So CONGRATS Nicole and Steve!  You guys will be great parents!

Sunday Sermon and CES Firesides...

Today was really neat. We had the privilege of having regional conference where President Packer and President Uchtdorf were in attendance then attending a CES fireside in the Marriot with Elder Jeffery R. Holland. It was definitely an opportunity to do some self assessment. I really appreciated what President Uchtdorf said about making goals in our lives to strengthen our faith and strengthen our marriages and families. Sister Dibbs spoke about finding true happiness and not Satan's counterfeit. I really enjoyed Elder Jensen's talk about how important that we treat others with kindness regardless of who they are or what differences there are between us. Tonight the CES fireside really touched me. Elder Holland talked about how Liberty Jail became a "prison temple" because Joseph Smith was able to receive profound revelation in the most inhumane circumstances. He talked about how each of us can receive profound personal revelation in any situation if we are humble and faithful. I am so grateful for amazing leaders in this church and so grateful for the Savior and his Atonement that makes all of this and each day possible. JD wanted me to say that as soon as the fireside is on the Internet we will put a link on the bottom of this blog so that everybody can read/watch it. It was so wonderful and I honestly think everyone should read it. The things he talked about if applied in our lives can help us through the most difficult moments in our lives, I really believe it.

Conquering Big Springs

Liz and I have really been enjoying Provo.  Its nice to be at the foot of such a beautiful mountain range.  About two weeks ago we bought Liz a mountain bike so she could ride it to work with the idea in mind we were going to try our hand at mountain biking!  So this last Saturday was our first go and it was a BLAST!  We had a ton of fun.  It was a trail called Big Springs trail.  It was in the south fork of Provo canyon and it was beautiful.  The website we got the directions from called it a "beginners" trail so we figured it would be pretty leisurely...WRONG!  It was definitely a work out!  

Here is a picture of a sweet pond thingy.  It was beautiful...and cold.

Here is Liz crossing a creek.

Here is Liz and I being artistic.  We are so tough we walk with our bikes on our shoulders somtimes... its for fun.

Liz and the Hickenloopers (Scott and Wendy) are kicking it at the sweet pond.

Liz again on her bike

Us taking a well deserved break

A beautiful creek that was running along a lot of the trail

I'm not sure how many vertical feet we climbed but it was a ton.  Here are two videos for your viewing pleasure.  The top one is Liz climbing up a very long hill.  It was tiring to say the least.  This just shows the very last part.  The bottom one is a video of me climbing up the steepest part of the trail.  It was a really good time!  Next time you see Liz and I our thighs are going to be as big as your neck so watch out!