Top 5 places I've been {Friday Five}

I'm a list person. One of the reasons I blog is to help me be a better writer and practice organizing my thoughts into paragraphs and complete sentences. It's a work in progress. :) 

Just for funsies, I decided to start a Friday list series on this little blog of mine to pander to my list obsession. Every Friday (At least, every Friday that I feel like it) I'm going to post a list of 5 things whether it is five favorite foods/movies/books/outfits/places/scriptures/songs/blogs/etc, five items on my ever-growing bucket list, five most awkward/awesome/happy/scary moments, or whatever else I come up with. 

Today's list is my top five favorite places I've traveled to. 

1. Russia

I was lucky enough to have the chance to be a volunteer English teacher in Voronezh, Russia for 4 months in 2011. I also spent a month there when I was 16 when my family adopted three of my younger siblings from northern Russia.

I love that country so much. It is full of beautiful places and things, and some of the nicest people I've met. Oh, I hope I can go back! Maybe when we're old we can serve a mission there. :)

2. Maui

Dallin and I went on our honeymoon to Hawaii, and I absolutely loved it! It's one of the most beautiful places I've been. My favorite parts were driving the road to Hana, hiking around waterfalls, snorkeling, and the black sand beach.

Perfect weather, perfect views, and a sweet new husband to enjoy it with... could it be any better? ;)

 3. Zion National Park

This place is amazing. We like to go here to canyoneer, but there is a lot of other things to do if you aren't into that.

Like... hike half a mile to see this incredible view.

The first time I went to Zion was the day after I managed to chop off the end of my thumb (maybe I should blog about that escapade sometime... haha!). This meant I didn't get to go canyoneering since I couldn't get my big ol' bandage wet, plus every time I got my heart rate up it would start bleeding again. On the bright side, I got to leisurely walk out here and take self-timer pictures of myself. Not as fun as canyoneering, but still awesome. :)

If you are coming from AZ, you get to drive through a mile long tunnel. Here's a picture from one of the windows. Cool, eh?

The second time, I got to join in the canyoneering fun! This was my favorite part of the 2 days we spent there and the 3 canyons we did... the rappel from Mystery Canyon into the Zion Narrows. The itty bitty people down below that cheered for us made it even better. ;)

The Zion Narrows from where we rappelled. Pretty flipping awesome. 

4. Leprechaun Canyon

This slot cuts through Navajo sandstone, which makes for a really photogenic canyon. We've done several similar canyons, and it was really hard to pick just one, but I really liked this canyon... partially because it was really easy. ;) Some of the ones we do are much more strenuous, although those do leave me feeling really beastly once I'm done. :P

5. Buckskin Gulch

This is a long but incredibly beautiful hike! The whole thing is about 20 miles (if you exit out Paria) which we split between 2 days. Buckskin in the longest slot canyon in the world. It's just miles and miles of awesome. 

That's why I'm about to post a boatload of pictures. You have been warned. 

Well, there you have it! And I can't wait to add Spain to this list next month! :)

Shimrock + Hogwarts Canyons

This weekend's canyoneering adventures took us to North Wash in Southern Utah. It's kind of become a tradition for us to do one of the Irish Canyons around St. Patrick's Day, hence the shirts and shamrock tattoo sleeves. ;) 

Ginger power!

The first canyon we did was one of the forks of Leprechaun Canyon, aptly named "Shimrock Canyon" due to the amount of shimmying required to get through. This is by far the narrowest canyon I have ever done. Most of the narrow sections were less than 2 feet wide and there were a couple places that were less than a foot wide. Also, these canyons are carved in Navajo sandstone which really rips up your clothes, packs, exposed skin... anything that rubs against it. I have a story about that I might share another day... Maybe. 

There was no way I was going to make it through with my pack on! 

This is where Dallin got stuck and had to back up and try again higher up.

Good thing I don't get too claustrophobic, although I did have a couple twinges of panic a few times. 

Enjoying a wide spot!

This part was really cool. I loved the striped walls. 

Finally through the narrows! Yippee! 

The next canyon we did, Hogwarts Canyon, was just a mile or two down the road. Unfortunately I forgot to wear my Gryffindor uniform. Darn. ;) 

This one was short and sweet. The highlight was this awesome arch. Check it out!

He's cute. :)

See me rappelling?

My favorite!

The final rappel

We spent Easter Sunday with my family and then headed home.

 All in all, it was a perfect weekend... except for the fact that I had to stay up last night working on my seminary lesson since for some reason I thought I already did it... Oops. Thankfully it turned out okay, despite the fact that my students were a little squirrelly. Typical manic Monday, I s'pose. :)

And just because this makes me happy, although it is unrelated...

Happy Monday! 

Delicious fruit dip! {Pin a week 13/52}

This isn't exactly a healthy snack, but it sure is delicious and easy! :) Original recipe here. 

It doesn't get much easier than this. Just mix one 8oz package of softened cream cheeese, one 7oz container marshmallow creme, a pinch of nutmeg, and 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon together and dip your choice of fruit in it. Enjoy! 

Escalante Epicness

Last weekend we went on a fun backpacking trip in Escalante National Monument with some friends and YSA peeps. This is the second time Dallin and I been here together; we went two years ago with the same YSA group. It was a lot more fun this time, probably because being married is fabulous... and single life? Well, it's good, not great. In my humble opinion. :)

Anyway.

This trip was awesome. We started out with Spooky and Peek-a-boo canyons. Lots of fun, much easier than most canyons we do, and non-technical (meaning no rappels) which is nice sometimes. Plus, they were absolutely, amazingly, incredibly beautiful. Check this out!

(Pictures by Dallin)

Limbo time! There were cool arches everywhere in Peek-a-boo!

Spooky Canyon was very, very narrow in parts. I'm pretty slim (although marriage is trying to change that...) but even I couldn't make it through without turning sideways sometimes. 

I wish you could tell how squished I am in the above picture... and this wasn't even the most narrow part!

I like to pretend I am beastly sometimes. ;)

After we played here for a while, we headed over to Coyote Gulch, the main part of our trip. We hiked in here, camped, hiked several miles the next day, camped, and then hiked out and headed home.

There's an amazing view from the place where we drop in. This picture doesn't come close to doing it justice.

We hiked out to this point near our campsite to see this sweet arch. So beautiful.

I love this man. I'm also happy he has trimmed his 'stache since we took this picture. ;)

Just after the sunrise the next morning. It was so beautiful we had to go back to this point one last time before heading up Coyote Gulch.

See the heart? ;)

There were lots of pretty waterfalls, and we took pictures at every one. Just be thankful I am not posting all of them. ;)

There were also lots of arches! This one was unique because the creek is still running through it and we had to walk through it to continue up the canyon. 

My favorite waterfall!

We camped right underneath this arch. This has to be the coolest place I've ever camped, both figuratively and literally. It was COLD, especially in the morning. Brrrr!

The canyon was really undercut right here. Cool, no?

Time for the steep climb out. It was quite the ordeal getting everyone up! It's pretty steep and there is a lot of exposure. Kind of intimidating. This part made me feel really proud of myself because the last time we did this hike I was pretty inexperienced and this scared me, a LOT. I needed a lot of help getting out. This time, however, I pretty much did it all by myself, and I did it with my pack on. BAM.

Hiking back to the truck! 

It was a great trip, but it sure felt good to get home, take a hot shower, and sleep in a warm, sand-free bed. 

P.S. This has nothing to do with Escalante, but this makes me happy.

 

Be a little kinder to someone today! This world needs it. :)

Five things you might not know about me

Because I love lists. And I've got writer's block. ;)

1. I love thrift stores. Some of my favorite articles of clothing, furniture, decorations, etc are from thrift stores. Oh, the things you can find! I might have to do a post on some of the best and worst things I've found. 

2. I have a secret dream of being a fashion designer. When I was little, I would draw pictures of dresses I wanted to make. One of the reasons I want to improve my sewing abilities is so I can create some of the visions I have in my head. I need lots of practice before then. :)

3. My favorite food of all time is Dallin's pizza margherita. It is perfection. Homemade crust with a little rosemary mixed in, sauce made from fresh tomatoes, and basil leaves on top... Mmmm. I think the fact that we pick the rosemary and basil from our own plants makes it even better. ;) I might have to post the recipe one of these days. It's making me hungry thinking about it so let's move on, shall we? 

Picture taken last summer. Looks amazing, right? And the pizza looks good too. ;)

4. I'm a little overly sensitive about the sounds some people make when they eat. I can handle a little bit of noise, but anything else is enough to make me nauseated. When dear Mother Nature is on her monthly rounds it is 10x worse, so I'm kind of worried that I will be eating in seclusion when I'm pregnant. ;)

5. I hate shaving. No really, I do. I've made a goal to do it once a week. We'll see how that goes. ;) When I was in Russia, I decided I wouldn't shave for the 4 months I spent there, and I stuck with that decision... even though towards the end even I was getting a little grossed out. (And that's saying something.)

So I jumped on the Bloglovin' bandwagon

And so far I really like it. If you haven't followed me yet, click on the button on sidebar on the right!




Stay tuned for a post about our backpacking adventures this weekend! :) Here's a sneak peek.