Mi Bicicleta

So most of you know that when I left Provo over a year ago, I left almost everything here in an effort to make a quick getaway. Included in those dismissed possessions was my beloved baby blue bike. It was left here, exposed to 4 seasons worth of elements, lonesomely chained to the stairs at Josh's old apartment complex. When I returned to Provo last month, much to my surprise, I found that my bike was still there, shackled to that iron railing. Needless to say, it was in a pretty pathetic state, covered in rust with worn out tires and disintegrating handle bar pads.
Regardless of it's conditions, one Wednesday I brought the bike to my new apartment and showed it to Dennis. He talked of grand plans to fix it up and restore it to it's original beauty. I thought that was a lovely idea, but really didn't think it would happen, at least not any time soon. The next day Dennis came over as usual, but this day he kept talking about how he needed to head back to Salt Lake early because he wasn't feeling well and really wanted a good nights sleep. So we watched Return To Me and he headed home around 10:00. The next day (Friday) after class I headed down to Salt Lake to go to a work party/movie with Dennis, but upon arrival he suggested we stop by his brother's house first because there was something he wanted to show him before the movie. So we pulled into his brother's, walked inside and headed over to garage at which point Dennis put his hands over my eyes and told me he had something to show ME...Not his brother. I hesitantly took blind steps into the dark garage, followed closely by Jade and Brinley (Dennis' little nieces) when Dennis took his hand off my eyes and this is what I saw!



A beautifully restored bike with a bell just like on Return To Me. I was SOOOO surprised, I turned and gave him a huge hug as his nieces exclaimed "She likes it! She likes it!"
Apparently Dennis had stolen my bike without me realizing it the night before, telling me he wanted to go home early cause he "wasn't feeling well" but really he stayed up until 4:00 in the morning beautifying my bike, then got up 2 hours later and went to work.... He's the freaking best. Thanks Dennis, you rock.

(Please excuse the sister missionary outfit, I had an interview at the MTC that day!)


(Apparently this bike also has magical powers that force us to make fools of ourselves whenever we get on it)

Stewart Falls.... yes, another Hike

Yes, we went again. But this time it was a real hike, not a nature walk. By the end of the summer we hope to hit up all of these http://www.utah.com/provo/hiking_trails.htm

So yesterday's hike started out like any other, but ended with much different results.

We hiked along an absolutely BEAUTIFUL trail for a couple of hours, until we finally arrived at Stewart Falls.



At which point we took a bunch of pictures...




Then we noticed that to the east of the falls, back around the corner, on top of a snowy mountainside, there was yet another gorgeous cascade. And of course, we decided to climb up the slushy precipice.


It was tough going all the way up. We had to dig our feet and hands deep into the snow so that we didn't slide right back down to where we came from. My hands were FREEZING! But with much effort we finally made it to the top. And it was totally worth it, especially to see how the water from the falls was flowing underneath the 5 or so feet of snow. Gorgeous.



Now everything up to this point was just peachy, but then we decided it was time to start heading back. Now earlier we had seen another guy up on the blanket of snow that just slid on hit butt back down down to the trail. We figured we would do the same. Unfortunately we didn't factor in the fact that he had started sliding down at a much lower point on the incline than we did. Slippery wet snow, high incline, and traction-less shoes = UNHEALTHY...again!

Once we got sliding, there was no turning back, and with every second we gained momentum. We started going faster and faster and faster! My life flashed before my eyes as Dennis was FRANTICALLY yelling at me, "DIG YOUR HEELS IN, DIG YOUR HEELS IN!!" We were trying desperatly to wedge our hands and/or heels far enough into the snow to slow us down, but instead of decreasing our speed, our hands were just shredded with pinecones and rocks.

A million ideas rushed through my head as I was trying to figure out how I was going to stop before I hit the tree bank, and then I saw a large rock ahead and I thought if I can just get my feet to hit that rock, it should slow me down enough to use my hands to stop. As the rock fast approached I put my feet out, and BAM! my knees buckled, and the rock went right underneath me slashing and bruising my leg. I was still going just as fast as ever. At that point I looked up and saw that Dennis had successfully slowed himself down, but I still had no hope, I toppled right over the top of him and was only able to finally come to a stop by grabbing on to a large log, right before the tree bank. In the end we both survived. Scary but Fun. Totally worth it.

The Bean Museum

Tonight we experienced BYU's Monte L. Bean Museum. I can't believe I have been at BYU for almost 12 years now and just now visited this place for the first time. I was astounded by what I saw.

First of all.... What the HECK is this! Apparently Toucan Sam was eaten by a unicorn.


Secondly.... what kind of sick motivation was used for this little display, "Come on guys, I need a little more sadistic revenge in his eyes."

The evening continued with Dennis and I making fools of ourselves as usual...



...and concluded with me finding a replacement baby "Joey"...


...and playing with a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

We even got to take a special trip to the basement to hold an 8 ft. long boa constrictor.
Needless to say, the night was a success. Thanks Monte.

Bridal Veil Falls

Dennis and I went "hiking/nature walking" yesterday to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. When we made it to the waterfall, we saw that there were a few people that had hiked up pretty high on the falls, so we were like, if they can do it, we can do it. So we started off, hiking right along the water, in slippery, sandy, not stable dirt. I almost died at least 3 times... Needless to say, we finally made it to the top and upon arrival, we looked to our left and lo and behold, there was a well beaten path leading all the way up to the top. We took the road less traveled by and have battle wounds to prove it.
We followed our hike with a bike ride accompanied by Dennis' adorable nieces on my AMAZINGLY refurbished bike (check back soon for a post about that!) and then decided to get dinner. Now Dennis has never been to Red Robin before, which is pure blasphemy so we looked up the nearest restaurant online and set off to find it.... Our plan was foiled. Instead of finding Red Robin we spent a half hour in the car, lost, rocking out full voiced to the radio. At which point we decided we were soooo hungry that instead of Red Robin, we were craving Chuck A Rama, and we were craving it something bad. So plans changed and the first Chuck A Rama we saw was to be our final destination. Another half hour goes by and all we've seen is Robertos Taqueria, Martas Taco Shop, and Betos Fine Mexican Dining. We were getting desperate. Lost on empty stomachs = Unhealthy. Then finally after an hour of driving around West Valley or better said La Valle del Oeste, we go through a stop light and in the distance we can see the neon red light circling the hunter green roof.... IT WAS A CHUCK A RAMA!! Dennis is thrown into Hysterics, literally. Shrill shrieking squills pierced my ears as he expressed his overwhelming joy to have found our favorite High Quality Buffet. It was well worth the wait.

The Good Weird Bad

I'm officially back in Utah... it has been weird, but good.
Weird:
-My favorite Mexican Restaurant (Las Torascas) has been changed to "NOW Nails!"
- At any hour of the day you will see slews of people running...
- We have no TV
- I'm now BFF's with the ex's brothers' ex.... which really deserves a post all it's own

Good:
-Roommates are awesome, they are clean and love Gilly just as much as I do!
- Dennis is here to keep me company and take me on adventures
- School is easy.

Bad:
- I DON'T HAVE A JOB!!!!