My 21st Birthday, the Best So Far!

Anyone who knows me well, particularly Jacob, knows how much I love birthdays. It's a bit ridiculous really but I tend to celebrate the whole month rather than just the day of. I would do the same for Jacob if he let me but he is pretty much the opposite of me on birthdays, which I'll talk more about when his rolls along. Anyway, as I was saying birthdays for me are a big deal. I'm not quite sure how that got started but from a young age I began planning and throwing myself big parties. In my house the rule was you got to have a big party with friends every 4 years, for example when you turned 4, 8, 12, and 16. Conveniently that system meant parties always fell on the big years anyway. But, being the persuasive young child I was I convinced my mom to let me have a big party every year so long as I planned it, paid for it, and made it happen all by myself, and so I did. Almost every year since I've turned 8 I threw parties for myself, except for the couple years my friends threw me surprise parties. I loved it so much I started planning birthday parties for my siblings as well. They were fairly elaborate too, from tea parties to jungle safaris, I even planned one for Melanie that involved constructing a fake airplane so that I could fly her friends to destinations all over the world and end with a slumber party in a "5 star hotel." The point is I love birthdays.

This year for my birthday I just wanted to spend the whole thing with Jacob. Probably a newlywed thing. And since besides birthdays I also have a love for nice hotels, for my big present we booked a room at the Little America hotel in Salt Lake City.

Saturday morning, September 29, I woke up to additional presents from Jacob, including new clothes and some new books for my fancy leather bound Classics set. Katelyn also stopped by with some delicious cinnamon rolls. Then Jacob and I headed to the Timpanogos temple to do a session before heading up to Salt Lake City. Once we arrived in Salt Lake we checked into our hotel and then headed out to wander around downtown.

View from our Hotel room

I never realized how many amazing historic buildings there were in the city's center. We also stopped by the public library there and found all these great original artwork pieces for sale. We had a great time looking at them. Later on we found a used book store and had to take a peak inside. I love all the little shops you can find in big cities.

Later on that evening we went to red robin for dinner and then rented a movie from redbox to take back to the hotel. It was the perfect birthday and exactly what I wanted.

Sunday morning we walked from our hotel to Temple Square. It was so beautiful with the many flowers surrounding it still in bloom, and of course the Salt Lake temple itself is always awe inspiring. Now it is even more fun for Jacob and I to visit it as it brings back all the wonderful memories of our wedding there.

Sorry I don't have more photos of Jacob, he tends to like being the photographer

Well that's the end of my birthday post. I am now 21, an official adult in every way, accept for renting cars. Whooho!

Scenic Camping in Idaho

Our first big adventure of the new school year was to go camping up in one of my favorite spots in Idaho, near Lake Palisades. The place is beautiful year round but I especially love the fall when all the leaves are changing colors. For this trip we brought two of Jacob's sisters with us. On Friday we left after school bringing Katelyn with us from Provo. We stopped in Brigham City to fill up the back of our truck with boxes of peaches to bring home to my mom. She uses them to make bottled and freezer peaches, delicious. After dropping of the peaches at my house and grabbing some supplies we drove to Rexburg to pick up Brooke. Then we were on our way to Palisades campground, only 1 1/2 hours away.

We set up camp in a nice spot and Jacob got to work building us a fire. We lucked out to have the campground mostly to ourselves, probably because the weather was beginning to cool down and school had started.

That evening Jacob made us a yummy dinner out of few supplies. He's the expert at rustic camping. I had fun playing with our camera and capturing the colorful leaves.

On Saturday morning we woke up with the light to get an early start on our hike. This particular hike is a long time favorite of mine. I have good memories of hiking it with my family and at girls' camp in the past. It is just so gorgeous! About 8 miles round trip it is the level of difficulty to be both enjoyable and a good workout. Plus it has fun little bridges that cross back and forth over a stream, and it ends at a beautiful lake. The trail actually continues on to a higher lake but that is more of a full day trip.

After finishing the hike we packed up and headed back to Idaho Falls. Katelyn returned to Rexburg to spent the rest of the weekend with her while Jacob and I spent the remaining time with my family. It was a great break from school and we were happy to have snuck in some camping before the winter weather starts rolling in.

Our New Home

This school year we are living with Jacob's grandparent's in Alpine. They have a great basement apartment that is perfect for us. We even have our own washer and dryer which is almost impossible to find in an apartment in Provo. But even better then that we live right by the American Fork Canyon, it's less than a 10 minute drive away and it's completely gorgeous. We find ourselves up there all the time, whether it is to hike, take pictures, or drive the beautiful Alpine Loop. We both feel so lucky to live here. When we step out of the house we can already smell the fresh mountain air and being nestled into the corner of two mountains we have a fantastic view from the driveway. It feels like our own little peaceful retreat from the stresses of school.

First Day of School

Time to go back to classes and studying and jacket weather (I love fall). Both Jacob and I will be starting our Junior year at Brigham Young University. Jacob is working on his finance degree with an emphasis on investment banking. He is also continuing to take classes for an economics minor. I am in my second year of the nursing program and will be doing med/surg clinical rotations at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. Living in Alpine we have a bit of a commute to get to school, about 35 minutes. However, I don't mind to much as it gives Jacob and I some time to catch up amongst our otherwise busy schedules.

Back to School Photos :)