I'M ENGAGED!

Hey blogging friends! My family and I just returned from our trip to Idaho on Sunday night. We had a blast. I will definitely be posting some exciting pictures from this trip in the near future. But in the meantime...I have a great story to share...

This story took place on this very Idaho vacation and involved two very blessed, very cool, very good looking,...i mean, very humble, people. His name is Trevor Palmer, her name is Ashley Chapman. The met in December of 2008, fell in love, got engaged on July 7, 2009 and will be married on October 16th. How did this handsome lad pop the question, you might be asking?

Well he takes her up to the top of a huge mountain, called Sawtell... A place she loves to visit every year she's in idaho. They talked and laughed and tried to stay warm by sitting behind a rock that blocked the freezing cold wind. As the sun started to set, they made their way to the top of the mountain. This is where the magic happened. She requested a kiss to warm her up, he agreed :) Then knelt down and popped the famous "will you marry me?" question. She said YES!

These two have never been happier :)

Keeping warm behind the large rock. {please excuse the no makeup...it doesn't exist when you're in the mountains :)}

Trevor found a large rock to put in the spot where his knee landed so we can go back and visit it :)

This is the rock...in the spot! lol

Sunset silouette to top the night off... how romantic i know! lol

Back to Back: Havasupai & EFY

CAUTION! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK OF ENJOYMENT...

THIS POST IS LONG...but full of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The last two weeks have been non-stop. Two Monday's ago, I headed up with the Palmer's to hike Havasupai. We arrived Monday night, "slept" in the dirt parking lot so that we could wake up and start our hike early before the sun came out. We headed down the trail Tuesday at about 5:30am and it was actually chilly. We were blessed with the more perfect weather. It ended up being overcast all the way down! The 8 mile hike down wasn't too bad...it was more the distance carrying a heavy pack that was more difficult. We finally made it to the village, located the lodge, changed and hiked down to the falls. The water was cold and it was still over cast so we didn't swim much. After discovering all the falls, we hiked back to the lodge, cooked up some delicious Top Romen and made fun of each other as we gimped around because we were already sore from the day's hike totalling 16 miles. Wednesday we hiked down to the falls again and played in all of the them! What a gorgeus site to see. However, last summer a huge flood came through and re-routed the water so Navajo Falls is all dried up and no longer exsists. If you look up before picutres of this fall, you'll notice how much of a tropical cove it is...differing from the others. It was a bit sad. Anyways, after hiking back to the lodge, cooking up some yummy mountain man dinners, sleeping, we arose around 4:30am to start our hike back out. It took us just as long to hike out as it did to hike in...which was an amazing 4 hours! Not bad eh? The hike out was a little more grueling, especially the last mile of steep switchbacks. We all made it...but agreed a helicoptor ride down and out next time would be greatly enjoy :) After sitting in the car for an hour, we got out to use the restroom and none of us could walk properly. It was really hilarious how stiff we were!

Above: The Crew at the End (i need to locate the before picture...)

Below: The Crew at Havasu falls

Above: Mooney Falls (below Havasu)
Below: Me & Trev below Mooney Falls

Above: Rope swing below Mooney Falls
Below: The beginning of the instensely insanely freakishly scary desent down to Mooney Falls

Above & Below: Havasu Falls

Below: Dried up Navajo Falls

2 New waterfalls were created from this flood.
Above: New waterfall #2
Below: New Waterfall #1

We arrived home late Thursday night....

I was home Friday....and left Saturday for EFY!
This week was amazing! Definitely dubbed a week of miracles. My kids all got something out of the week and some even made drastic changes to their lives. I was over 10 girls, my co-counselor had 10 boys. Our company's name was THIS IS FOOLISHNESS from Alma 37:6. Great name for cheers and chants...everyone knew who we were! It was great! EFY is an awesome experience but exhausted me! I am grateful I was able to do one week...but that was enough for me...I missed Trev! Here are a few pictures of my group! Love them all!

Above: One of our girls got sick so she was quarentined to her room for a day. My other girls decided they wanted to heart attack her.

Below: Me and my co-counselor, BillyAbove: The whole company
Below: These two of my boys auditioned for the Variety show but didn't make it so they put a show on during free time

Above: Pizza Night
Below: "This is Foolishness" at banner and cheer night Below: most of my girls after breakfast on Tuesday

Schools out!... and it's time for the mountains!

Hey all! Sorry i've dropped off the face of the planet for a long time...but no worries...i'm back! :) I finished my spring semester since I last posted! I'm officially in my fourth year of college...i believe they call that a SENIOR! Holy freakin crap! I can't believe i'm almost done. I don't feel that old yet. (i know what all the "older" adults are thinking right now..."if you're that old, how do you think that makes us feel?") ha. Anyways, life is amazing as ever. I'm currently working for my dad and preparing for a few trips this summer. I will update you on those as they happen. Last weekend, I traveled up to Christopher Creek with Trevor and his family to their cabin for Memorial Day weekend. We had a BLAST!! Here's a few pictures to enjoy. (Although we still look marvelous... please don't judge us for our mountain shabbiness)

It rained almost all weekend. It was amazing! It was kind of foggy and the clouds were real low when we drove up the Rim. Woods Canyone lake looked amazing, and everything was crisp and clear for when we made it up to the Colcord Lookout tower.


I want to go back...

It made me antsy for Idaho...

The end.

Love you all! :)

Who's ridden the light rail?

Thank you Miss Katie Hawkes for the baseball game yesterday! Girls nights are always a blast...especially when you take an adventure on the light rail. We all met up at ASU, and rode the light rail to 7th St and Washington...right in front of Chase Field. It was SO nice...and quite exciting. It was almost as if we were boarding a Disneyland ride. We didn't have to worry about traffic, accidents, parking, or walking around downtown Phoenix without strong men at night. :)

We got to the game, found our seats, and much to our dismay, had the most hilarious men sitting next to us. Specifically Merriachi men. They were SOOO loud and yelled like donkey's. They even broke out into song and dance multiple times. I couldn't stop laughing. One time, Bonnie even made it on the jumbotron dancing with these four old men...some of which had no teeth!! We must have been a loud section, because they "featured" us on the jumbotron TWICE during the game! It's so odd to see yourself up there...especially because the reaction time is so delayed so you're watching yourself do something you've already done. Weird! But quite exciting. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with my camera to get a picture of us up there (honestly I was too intrigued with the delay in motion) but here's a couple pictures of us girls!
It was so so fun to spend some time with these girls! Katie Lee got a job in Utah next fall and Katie Hawkes will be in Provo all summer. We will miss you!

Conference Weekend

I absolutely love love love conference. This conference was no exception. Every since I went up for conference in the fall of 2007 for my first time, i've had a greater appreciation and love for our Prophet and apostles that the Lord has sent to lead us. They really are inspired men who speak to God. We didn't make it up to Utah this time...but hopefully in the fall. :)

While the men were at their Priesthood meeting Saturday night, I was able to round up a few of my girlfriends that were still in town to go out to dinner to GECKO GRILL! I love this place. However, it took almost an hour and a half to get in! ...they told me 20 min originally. Needless to say, I got quite impatient and ended up sitting on the concrete out front after going to talk to the hostess a couple of times. I've been working on becoming more patient, but I still have my breaking points...and this was one of them. The hostess opened the door to call another party and while I was still sitting on the ground I said, "Just call Ashley, we've been here for over an hour!" ...i'm sure that was good for their business. LOL But we got in a few minutes after that. It was worth the wait.Above: The five of us- me, Brooke, Desi, Shantell, and Sunny

Below: Remember School of Rock?...When the students wanted to get into Battle of the Bands so they acted like terminally ill kids from a hospital? It worked for them so why couldn't it work for us?? :)

This was the Friday of conference weekend. Trevor was able to score us sweet seats at a Spring training game! Thanks Pres. Palmer! I have never sat that close before...the players were lifesize and you could even see their faces. We were originally supposed to go with Trev's brother and his girlfriend but they were unable to go so my parents benefitted from the deal. Yay for a double!

American Cancer Society Relay for Life

Calling all you fellow bloggers!! :)

I'm participating in the ASU sector of Relay for Life this April 24th-25th (in 28 days to be exact :)). Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's signature activity. Each year it has about 3.5 million participants in a variety of locations walking or running for 12-hours to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer as well as to fight back and contribute to finding a cure. I have lost friends and loved ones to this disease. I also work along side people who are currently fighting cancer in addition to people who are cancer survivors who are living with the effects that this disease sometimes brings. I'm really excited to finally have an opportunity to contribute to this fight because I want to see a cure in my lifetime. If you would like to learn more about Relay for Life, visit http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/whatisrelay.

If you would like to donate to the cause, even the smallest amount helps, you can visit my Relay for Life homepage at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?px=8780197&pg=personal&fr_id=14861. Click "Donate" at the top of the page. You can also visit my Facebook profile page where you will find a "Relay for Life" box on the left hand side. Click "support me" to bring up the link to the American Cancer Society secure donation page.

I would like you thank you all in advance for your donations. There truly is strength in numbers. This is just one event that proves it. Love you all!

This one's for you Lauri...

So last Sunday Lauri had us all over for a wonderful dinner and during our chatting time, blogging came up and I got a little chastisement...okay we'll call it an encouragement...to blog more often. So this one's for you Lauri!! :)

A lot has happened since my last post. The semester is halfway over, yet i still have at least 2 exams in each of my classes left. I love how they seem to cram more in the end that at the beginning. My first round of tests turned out pretty well seeing as I had to take 4 in 3 days! Holy smokes that was terrible. But it stretched me and I came out on top. I feel like I can handle more and more with each semester.

Last week was spring break. As such, I decided to make a fun spring purse/ bag...whatever you want to call it. I'm happy with the way it turned out. :) I also got to workout with a good friend of mine that I haven't seen in at least a year! That was a lot of fun!





The beginning of spring break also brought miss Dawnee Ray Godfrey down from Utah for her younger sister's wedding and reception. I loved seeing her for a little while! I wish she lived closer :(



























After the reception, Brooke had a velcro wall at her house. How could we pass up that opportunity?? As such, Trev and I headed over and had some fun!














As if this post is not jumbled enough with random happenings in attempt to cover all that i've missed (ha! like that's even possible), here's another fun time... Trevor and I went hiking up Camelback yesterday after work and school. We had a blast! It felt so so good to get out and do something active ...and the company wasn't half bad either ;) We were just taking goofy pictures so here they are...