these are a few of my favorite fall things

i'm just gonna say it: i'm not a big fan of fall. you'd think that i would be because 1) fall is beautiful, all the changing colors and leaves blah blah... 2) all the yummy food that goes along with fall (thanksgiving anyone?), not to mention cute fall clothes and new sweaters and 3) my birthday is on halloween. 

but i LOVE summer and HATE winter. so for me fall just means that summer is over and we're that much closer to winter. so every year around this time when starbucks comes out with its pumpkin caramel whipped frappuccinos, and the leaves turn brilliant shades of oranges and reds, and girls start wearing comfy sweaters and knitted scarves. i'm left grieving for the loss of hot sunny days at the pool, saturday farmers markets, blackcherry-coconut snow cones, breezy dresses, and sun-kissed skin.

but every year no matter how hard i fight it, fall comes anyway. so this time i've decided to embrace it. and here's how:

i made a fall wreath. it pretty much screams "welcome fall!"i even got kyle to make 3 of the little flowers.

halloween costumes.
 not mine. other people have such funny and creative ideas i love seeing what they come up with!

pumpkins! i love carving them them and seeing everyone else's.

mummy pumpkin

apple pie caramel apple from rocky mountain chocolate factory.
this was our fhe treat mon. night.
so good.

caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. you're drooling aren't you?

pumpkin pie white hot chocolate.
confession: i'm a tiny teensy bit excited for it to get just a little colder so i can make this!

as we go on we remember

all the times we had together. as our lives change come whatever we will still be friends forever.

haha i just had to throw in that shout out to vitamin c. anyone else remember singing that song while swaying in a circle and then crying and hugging everyone in junior high?

well one of my good friends left provo this week. staci was my roommate for 2 years, one of my bridesmaids, and one of the funniest girls i know. we had a going away dinner at pf changs and due to my new found food conscience kyle and i ate vegetable spring rolls and vegetable lo mein. and they were both delicious.

staci got me hooked on the bachelor and wearing cardigans. we spent so many late nights laughing in the nook with the other girls and eating cooks (cookies) and tasty morsels (choc. chips) and playing with clark and buttercup (im not gonna explain that one). we spent the best weekend together in california with a bunch of friends (oxnard hotties '09!) and another weekend in wales! (cardiff hotties '09?)  and when i started dating kyle she was always there to talk to and even helped set-up the proposal!

love you stac. good luck with all your new adventures in d.c.!

a few of us from the dinner: andrew, elisa, staci, me, kyle and staci's little bro

at my wedding, from left to right: amanda, lacey, me, staci, elisa and danielle
in just the past year all of these girls (my closest girl friends) have left provo
except for elisa!
luckily my best friend chels is back from her mission and i've made a couple other good friends, but overall i'm feeling a little too old for the provo scene these days.

call us hippies but...

we've gone organic. with our food that is. 

thanks to large amounts of free time, i've spent the last few weeks reading and learning about food. it all started with pinterest (a lot of things start there) i saw a yummy looking recipe and it brought me to this blog http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

the welcoming sign: 1 family. 2 kids. 0 processed foods.

 caught my attention and i started reading about this adorable family's journey to eat real foods. i was hooked. i think i read the entire blog in the next 3 days. this led me to other blogs about food, websites about real food, articles and studies about food.

 and as i read the light bulb came on and i realized i needed to make a change. everything i thought i knew about food was wrong. i had been feeding my body imitation food-like substances my whole life, and it wasn't doing me any favors.

 i was converted.

 after showing kyle the things i was reading and learning he jumped right on board too. it wasn't hard to accept , honestly, everything that i was reading and learning just sounded so right, it followed common sense, intuition, and the word of wisdom as listed in the doctrine and covenants.

 i understand how i got so lost though,

 with the marketing campaigns, the claims of the health industry, and the backing of the government, its easy to get confused these days. 

but eating real foods, as organically as possible--eating the way humans/our ancestors have eaten for the last 5,000 years is what's best for us. there's a reason why God placed all of the naturally occurring foods that we have on this earth for us, because they're good for us.

when it rains it pours.

 a few days after my discovery we went to a farm fundraiser at a local farm (we were lured there by the fact that 2 of the best restaurants in provo were going to be there cooking dinner for everyone--pizzeria 712 and communal). i learned that that these 2 restaurants get many of their ingredients from this farm and that they use local, organic food to make all their recipes. no wonder their food is so delicious. 

this was one of the best meals of my life.

it was so good. and it was real.

real, fresh fruits, ripened to perfection naturally.

real, delicious, organic vegetables.

they cooked up one of the pigs from the farm and some chickens and we had real, delicious pork loin and chicken stew.

we took a tour of the farm and saw that the animals had good living conditions, could actually see the sun, walk around, and eat what they are genetically designed to eat (and not gm processed corn feed).

a couple days after that i went to a relief society activity about being healthy. 

after some zumba and yoga, a couple girls from my ward introduced us to

  green smoothies.

aka the best way to get in all your raw, organic, leafy greens.

basically you mix together water, all kinds of greens (i use spinach, kale, chard, celery, cabbage, arugula, lettuce...) and some fruit to sweeten (i use bananas, peaches, mangos, pineapple, berries...) i also throw in some healthy add-ins depending on what i have on hand (ground flaxseed, coconut oil...) and mix it all together and drink!

mmm...so much goodness in one glass!

I read the green smoothies diet by robyn openshaw and it was really interesting and easy to read. I definitely recommend it. she's actually from utah and lds. but after reading her book i checked out her website and she's definitely become a little extreme crunchy-earth-mother-100% vegan. 

but i can literally say that since that relief society activity i have had a green smoothie every day. and so has kyle. he loves it! maybe even more than i do. its only been about two and a half weeks since we started eating more real foods and drinking green smoothies and we can definitely tell a difference. we feel so much better and have so much more energy!

and now whenever we have processed, high salt, high sugar foods we feel so gross and sluggish.

I am the queen of treats. but ever since we changed our eating habits my cravings for sweets and junk food has gone down a ton--something i never thought would be possible!

a few days after the relief society activity i checked out food inc from the library.

if you have not seen this movie--WATCH IT!!

it just cemented everything that i had learned about in the past week

and exposed how unethical, inhumane, and unhealthy the food industry in america is.

right now i'm reading in defense of food by michael pollan.

again really really good. and it sheds some light on why the american diet has evolved the way it has.

ok i know this blog post is turning into a small novel but one more word about organic food.

i always kinda thought organic food was for food snobs.

but no.

due to farming practices, organic foods typically contain more nutrition that their conventional counterparts. and they do not contain any pesticides. which is not just good for the environment (and i mean really good) but its good for us too. 

in fact: "Pesticide exposure has been shown to cause cancer, nervous-system and lung damage, reproductive dysfunction, and possibly dysfunction of the endocrine and immune systems. Research shows pesticide exposure may also heighten the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children."

"In May of 2010, the President’s Cancer Panel recommended food grown without pesticides (as well as chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones) to help decrease the risk of contracting cancer."

so yeah its a pretty big deal. 

i could say so much more on the subject, but so many people have already said it far better than i ever could so i''ll just list some resources for you:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/about/

http://www.stonyfield.com/why-organic

http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/about/

http://deliciouslyorganic.net/about/

http://www.thefutureisorganic.net/tenreasons.htm

and don't forget to watch food inc 

and read in defense of food and the green smoothies diet!!

couples retreat

ok this day was seriously so fun! way back in may i bought a groupon for this couples retreat at the provo ropes course (one of my best ideas to date) and a couple weeks ago kyle and i finally went. it was a blast! it was like being at camp again. we played fun games, did some rock climbing, went canoeing, took a ride on a giant swing, did the zipline, climbed a wire ladder and walked cables 40ft in the air, had yummy costa vida for dinner, hung out with some fun people, and had an awesome time.

this was our opening activity. using spaghetti noodles, marshmallows, a cup and a little tape we had to build the tallest free standing structure that we could. look at that teamwork.

getting taller.
 also note: the other hands you see in this picture belong to one of the other couples at our table, a lesbian couple. definitely a rarity in provo utah. but they were cool. almost all the other couples had been married for a while and had a ton of kids and then there was the couple that were on their first date--maybe a little awkward when we did the worksheets about our relationships??

what: tag where: inside a circle of rope object: tag your spouse while using everyone around you as shields/bumpers
best game ever? yes
(you can see me at the left and kyle in the middle)

trying to get untangled

walking along cables getting farther apart...

and farther...

and farther!!

right! left! right! left!....

using my spidey skills to scale the wall

and then i got to stare at this handsome man's tush:)

the giant swing. this was my favorite of the day. you got hauled way into the air on this swing and then they let it go! and you just dropped (like stomach in your throat rollercoaster feeling) and then flew into the air and swung back and forth. so fun.

no fear

what: tag where: inside a circle of rope with a big TREE in the middle object: guide the partner who is inside the circle (who is blindfolded) away from the person(s) who is it without running them into a tree or the other blindfolded people in the circle best game ever (again)? yes

protective shield

i was a little scared cuz i kept getting tagged it every other second! 

my second favorite of the day, zipline!

so cute. even in that helmet.

i was sore for days because of this little-tiny-my-hand-barely-fit-in-the-rungs wire ladder that we climbed 40ft in the air while clipped together!

we had to get close for this one

real close.
yup i would definitely say the couples retreat brought us closer together:)

rooftop concert

every first friday of the month there's a free rooftop concert in downtown provo. me and kyle have gone to the last two and they're pretty fun! and this past friday our friends krystal and jesse plus a few other friends joined us. the one we went to in august was really chill, everyone sat on blankets or camp chairs and listened to good music. the one we just went to on friday started off that way but was soon overrun by all the byu/uvu students who are now back in town for fall semester. the rooftop soon became overcrowded--no one was sitting anymore just chilling to the good music, nope there was crazy dancing, pushing, and crowd surfing. it was still fun but i definitely preferred the vibe of the first concert. but good friends, beuatiful weather and yummy burgers, sweet potato fries, and a peach cobbler milkshake from sammy's made it a great night!

at the beginning of the concert w/ our friends krystal + jesse

the rooftop

the happiest place on earth

we had a great week in california! danielle's wedding was beautiful, and it was so great to see so many of our friends all together. on our way down to california we spent a night with kyle's grandparents in st. george, it was fun to spend time with them and enjoy a yummy homemade meal. once in california it was time for the rehearsal dinner, we spent the evening with good friends and good food, we also enjoyed a slideshow of the bride and groom. and for the first time in our marriage kyle and i spent a night apart! i had a sleepover upstairs with danielle, chelsea, and megan. there were only 3 twin beds in the room, so even though i wasn't with kyle i was not sleeping alone--chelsea and i shared a twin bed haha (which was a great way to get close again after not seeing her in a year and a half!) kyle spent the night downstairs where he shared the living room with justin (kellys bf).

friday we woke up, got ready, and headed to the temple for the sealing. it was a beautiful ceremony and outside the weather was perfect, we took pictures and talked to the happy and beautiful bride and groom. after lunch we headed to the reception venue, which was BREATHTAKING!! it was on the roof of a beach club overlooking the ocean. first, we had a ring ceremony on the lawn, and then we headed upstairs for the recpetion, it was a beautiful, perfect night.

saturday kyle and i spent most of the day relaxing at the beach. we found a great patch of sand, got our tan on, waded in and out of the cold waves, and once again enjoyed perfect weather! then we headed up to anaheim and checked into our hotel.

on monday and tuesday we spent our time at the happiest place on earth--disneyland!! we had a blast hopping from disnyeland to california adventureland and riding the different rides. luckily the lines weren't too long so we were able to do a lot in those 2 days. one of the rides we went on was the tower of terror. i was terrified--it was dark and you never knew when they were gonna drop you--so scary!! afterwards i took a pic of the picture they take for you--check out my face haha!! other than that some of our faves include space mtn, california screamin, midway mania, splash mtn, soaring over california, and indiana jones.

we relaxed at the pool on wednesday and recovered from all the fun. and thursday morning it was time to head back to utah. overall we had a blast and really enjoyed our california vacation!

i loved all the palm trees!

he is the cutest mouse!

killing time in the starcade while we were waiting to use our star tours fastpass

california adventure land!

tower of terror pic. notice everyone else's faces and how they're having fun. then look at my face.

3-D glasses--they made for some fun rides!

outside newport temple

chelsea and liz reunited!!

right before the ring ceremony

the beautiful bride and her bridesmaids 

prettiest reception venue EVER!

anniversary

sunday was our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! it really has been a great year. a lot of people told us that the first year is hard and there's a lot of adjusting, but that was just NOT the case for us. so far being married has been nothing but wonderful! not to mention a ton of fun--its a blast living with your best friend!! ever since i was 19 i knew that kyle was my soul mate and that he was perfect for me, but it wasn't until this past year of being married that i realized just how perfect for me he is! i can honestly say that after a year of marriage we have never had a fight or even a real argument. we're both just too chill and easy-going for that, and in general we usually feel that same way about things. that's not to say we agree on everything--we have very different opinions about dogs, pickles, what to name our future children, and violence on tv to name a few, but nothing worth fighting over.

oh gosh i just love this boy, i could really go on forever about him and how great he is. he is so sweet to me, especially when i'm sick--he always takes such good care of me:) he helped me get through my most stressful year of school and BOARDS, and some pretty nasty sickness episodes this past year.

we have so much fun together playing tennis, golfing, mini-golfing, playing basketball, swimming, riding bikes, snowboarding, hiking, kicking the soccer ball around, playing the wii, puzzles, board games, playing volleyball, playing any game/sport really, cooking/eating yummy food, roadtrips, hanging out with friends, visiting family, reading good books, just cuddling & talking, and sharing our lives together.

so to celebrate our first year, we finally went back to salt lake! we went to the salt lake temple (where we were married) and did a live session. it was the first time for both us, and it was a really interesting experience. then we walked around the temple grounds for a while, checked out all the brides & grooms that had just gotten married and were taking pictures (that was us one year ago!) and took some pictures ourselves. then we had dinner reservations at 7pm for the roof resturaunt at the JS memorial building. it was a gourmet buffet and it did not disappoint! i enjoyed a warm lion house roll w/ honey butter followed by salad, salmon, potato salad, fruit, fruit salad, cheeses, then delicious french onion soup, and then some chicken cordon bleu, ham, and one of my favorites of the night: marinated flank steak mmm...but that was all before dessert. after all that i had some fruit brioche, cheesecake, carrot cake, CHOCOLATE CREME BRULEE, chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse, caramel flan, white mousse cake, and regular creme brulee...can you say heaven??!! of course i had fairly small portions of each of these, but i think its no surprise that i was not hungry again until about 3pm the next day!!

i guess i should mention that we did all this celebrating on saturday, on sunday (our actual anniversary) kyle went to meetings in the morning, then we both went to church, then i did my visiting teaching, then we had a romantic dinner of chilli dogs, then we talked to our families on the phone...it was pretty much a typical sunday. but a little later in the evening we pulled up itunes and put on the song that we danced to at our reception "lucky" and danced around the bedroom, then we celebrated in a more intimate way...

later, we talked about this past year, some of our favorite moments and what we're hoping for our second year of marriage. overall it was a great anniversary to celebrate a great year of marriage. and i can't wait to celebrate our anniversary together every year, over and over again for the rest of eternity! i love you kyle!!

and the party will continue later this week as we head to california...!!

outside the salt lake temple

my sexy husband!

one year ago we were here, taking pictures, wearing much different outfits!

i tried to get a picture of us holding a picture from our wedding day but it didn't really  work, you can just barely make us out in the picture....

ONE YEAR!!!

where we had our delicious dinner!

our view at dinner