MOAB

So two weekends ago, Kurt and I met James and Camille in beautiful Moab for a fun filled weekend. The only thing is, it didn't start out very fun. We camped that first night (with intentions of camping both nights) which was a mistake. First, our camp site was on top of the very large hills surrounding Moab. Second, it was comprised of slick rock and lots and lots of sand. Third, it was windy. Gusty. I'm talking 30 mph gusts! And we braved it through the whole night, but barely anyone got any sleep. Between the sand blowing all around us and forcing us to sleep in our sleeping bags like cocoons, the particularly strong gusts that made the tent nearly collapse on top of us dozens of times, and the rain flap making all kinds of noise as it fluttered in the wind (on second thought, fluttered is completely the wrong verb, too peaceful) we got a combined sleep of about 2 hours. The next morning we were very tired but determined to bike. We headed over to the (in)famous Slick Rock trail only to discover that there was no way in hell that I could do it (it being my first mountain biking experience). Camille had the same idea, and so while the boys took off, we headed into town. And promptly booked a hotel for the night, where we promptly showered and passed out until Kurt and James returned from their slick rock adventure. Now it was my turn! We found a nice beginner's trail 15 minutes out of town, and James, Kurt and I went off for more biking adventures while Camille enjoyed more sleeping adventures. I have to say this about mountain biking: I LOVE IT. At first I couldn't decide if I liked it or snowboarding better (but I have since decided snowboarding). So fun. We saw some people four-wheelin' and I have to say that I'd rather have to work for my fun and work up a sweat rather than just change gears and pulling on the throttle (although I very much enjoy four-wheelin' too). There's just something about physical exertion that I love. That night we ate at the Moab Diner (home of their famous green chile, which is quite scrumptious), ran to the grocery store for some ice cream, watched some movie with The Rock, and went to sleep at 9:30. After 12 hours of sleep, we woke up fresh and early to check out of the hotel. On our way out of town, we stopped at Arches Nat'l Park where we saw some arches, some fins, some balancing rocks, and the best part of all, SWEET CARS! Those were definitely the highlight of our visit to the park. Afterwards we said goodbye to Moab and parted ways with our wonderful friends the Winfields (who will be joining us in Denver next year, woohoo!).
I have to say, Moab is quite the experience. I've never seen one area of the country attract granolas, rednecks, punk skaters, and meatheads at the same time. It was quite the experience. We didn't hike Delicate Arch because a) we were freaking pooped! and b) we're already planning a return trip before long. :)

Kurt and James do Slick Rock trail (successfully, without any broken bones, which is quite a feat; of course, they recognized their limits and walked parts of the trail they couldn't handle):


Kurt's bike chain broke 4 times. Sweet.



That green stuff is Moab. It's really amazing to see this green, green valley in the middle of red desert.

My first biking adventure (sounds like a scrapbook for a baby):

It was a beginner trail but it had some sweet views.

Arches:

Balancing rocks: check.

The North Window: check.

The South Window: check.

SWEET CARS: DOUBLE CHECK.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano: HELL FREAKING YEAH CHECK!


Sweet Maserati car: check!

Ferrari F430: Check check!!

Lamborghini Murcielago: CHECK!!

Although I'm sure our next Moab trip will exceed our first in many ways (I'll be able to do more biking, we'll hopefully get more sleep and less sand) I'm sure overall it will not hold up to the Canadian car club that graced us with its presence and made our day.

Some more Cali pictures!

I was getting our pictures for the Moab post and I realized I forgot to post some from California! These are from Monterey and San Fran:

What a funny idea! I loved it!

I always hug giant stuffed animals. It's a quirk I have.

Ghirardelli Square. Aka chocolate sundae heaven.

Whenever we're at a museum or something similar, Kurt reads every informative poster.

A beautiful day in San Francisco.


A segway tour!


When we realized what time it was, we zipped over to a sports bar and cheered our Cougars onto victory against Washington State!

It's All Coming Together

A preview of the Atkins house:

Our apartment is coming together, including festive Halloween decorations. :D For those of you who want an apartment photo tour (and for Jill, who tagged me) that will have to wait until our mattress is on a proper bed. Indulge me. (But don't worry, that should be the end of this week when I finish painting our bed and we buy a box spring!)

Funny Sights from this Last Weekend

We saw the following funny things last weekend:

A rental at the Red Box. You know I read the summary (I always read the summaries of particularly bad looking movies).

Bowling Day is a special day, it's the day we get ready for ... bowl...ing...

Mmm... old man crack... delicious.

A really weird--hey, that's me! What the...

Freudian Slip

Our current grocery list:

Strangely, Kurt has been acting suspicious of me all day.

Moab, a preview

We went to Moab last weekend. I'm still looking for our video camera (which has the majority of the pictures we took). For now, a preview:

Yikes

Does this scare the pants off anyone besides me?

All Dolled Up

I've got holiday (i.e. Christmas) parties on my mind recently (and apparently center justification as well) because Kurt got an email from his company announcing that the company Christmas party's theme is going to be Black and White. Is it just me, or does every girl (err, woman) dream of having a chance to get all dressed and made up again, just like high school prom? There actually are quite a few pretty modest dresses out there (even though if some styles repeat quite often) but not many that are within my budget, which is $100. So far I've looked at a bridal shop (Abella), Macy's, Nordstrom's, Dillard's, and JC Penny's. Any other ideas?

Actually under my budget:

You'll actually see this dress again in the expensive area. The reason I included it is because I like the more expensive color more. Figures. But I love the buttons and wide belt on this dress.

You'll see lots of blue and black. That's because those are the most dominant colors for winter cocktail dresses. Figures.

Out of my Budget: and I like most of these dresses more than the cheap ones. Figures.

Love the color! Love the tulle under skirt!

I think this is my favorite of the Abella dresses. I like it in just the black and cream.

This dress is positively gorgeous in dark red; it has a black over-sheen to it.

This dress is so freaking fun!

I don't know if it's really party worthy but I'd love this dress for the office!

Yet another shirt wrap dress. Good thing I like them.

Mmm, red.

See, here's that first dress is this dreamy navy blue. Love it.

This dress is actually a bit low in the back, but you could remedy that with a cute camisole.

If all else fails, I'll just take this girl's outfit for inspiration and wearing a trash bag. Apparently looking derelict is in vogue once again...

Actually, the other day while shopping at Express I found this skirt in red and thought it would very cute with a sleek black turtle neck (maybe short sleeves), black hose, black pumps, and some dynamite earrings. The skirt will probably go on sale before Christmas and black turtlenecks aren't difficult to find for cheap. What do y'all think?

Time Keeps on Slippin', Slippin', Slippin'

20 years ago.....

1. I was almost four.
2. I wanted to be a pediatrician.
3. I was the youngest kid in the family.
4. My parents could barely get swimmies on me when we went to the pool before I jumped into the deep end.

10 years ago.....

1. I was in 8th grade.
2. I was just starting to come out of my nerdy, geeky phase (thank goodness).
3. I was best friends with Megan Stutsman, Jessie Brenton, and Katherine Bonner.
4. I started dancing.

5 years ago....

1. I was a brand new freshman at BYU.
2. I was still taking dance classes and going dancing with my sister and friends.
3. Alisse T, Punkin, and I simultaneously lost our minds together (this is not redundant).
4. I refused to date RMs.

3 years ago....

1. I was a junior at BYU.
2. I was living at Windsor Park with Steph and Jamie-butt!
3. We stayed up very late on a regular basis with Russell Gourlie, Mike Stentzel, and Kyle Johanson.
4. I was about to discover my new love: linguistics.

1 year ago...

1. I was starting my last semester at BYU!
2. I'd been married for about 5 months.
3. I was president of LOL, going to school full time, and working part time.
4. I started blogging.

This Year....

1. I graduated from BYU!
2. I started writing again.
3. I went to California for the first time.
4. I moved to Denver, CO.

Yesterday...

1. I got hired at Axa Advisors!
2. I started on our food storage.
3. I bought cute new business casual clothes for work.
4. I drank a celebratory Coke at my celebratory lunch with Kurt downtown.

Today...

1. I finally surrendered my SC driver's license for a CO one. :(
2. I am having a good hair day.
3. I'm excited for the internet guy to come and install our internet (so I don't have to go to the library for internet anymore).
4. I'm going to clean the kitchen and bathroom when I get home.

Tomorrow....

1. I start work!
2. We're getting our carpets cleaned to remove the stench of cigarette smoke.
3. I'm going to organize our apartment further, the bookshelf especially.
4. I will try not to bother Kurt as he studies for the third part of the CPA which he takes on Tuesday.

Next Year....

1. We will possibly buy a house, townhome, or condo of our very own!
2. We will get a dog!!
3. I may possibly be able to buy a piano!!!
4. I might be able to start trying to get pregnant ... :D!!!!
5. I will get better at snowboarding and mountain biking.
6. I will start to get treatment again for my TMJ disorder... that will be very lovely.

Lost in Translation

Some humor to brighten up your day:
Deb sent these to me, and they are hilarious.
Being the word nerd that I am, I sure do love things like this. Enjoy!

I love Kurt.

[Last night Kurt and I got our FHE refreshment at Fuddrucker's -- milkshakes, mmm. This Fuddrucker's is like every other Fuddrucker's, i.e. it's filled with lots of American memorabilia. One corner was dedicated to the King, Elvis Presly.]
Me: I'm not a huge fan of Elvis Presly. I like some of his songs, but I'm not in love with him, like so many people. I don't think he's handsome at all. And I don't think he's still alive.
Kurt: I don't think many people do.
Me: [I see a bed that has the words, "Ronald Reagan slept her."] "Ronald Reagan Slept Here."
Kurt: [Turns back around to look at the bed] I wonder if he did.
Me: [I'm back on the topic of Elvis Presly.] I wonder how he died.
Kurt: [Unaware of my topic change] I think it was alzheimer's or something like that.
Me: [Unaware that he hasn't changed topics with me] I thought he OD'ed!
Kurt: Ronald Reagan?!

Isn't It About Time?

I love General Conference. Kurt and I voted to go to the library and listen to it online today instead of watching it at the Church and I'm really glad we did because I wasn't distracted by
uncomfortable pews or other people coughing. I was seated in a comfortable chair and with the earphones, I couldn't hear anything else and it allowed me to be more focused during Conference than I ever have been.
I just got back (on Thursday) from visiting my family. While Kurt was gone for training, I was able to go visit my sister, Steph, in Atlanta for 6 days, then go down to Charleston to be with my parents, Caroline, and Collin (and Steph too) for 3 days. It was so nice to just be there with my family and not be concerned with going places and doing things, but just being with them.
Today, during the first two sessions of Conference, I thought of my family constantly, especially during certain talks. President Uchtdorf's, Elder Wirthlin's, Elder Holland's, and Elder Bednar's talks were strengthening to me and I thought of my family constantly during their talks. I sincerely hope that my family got the same comfort out of them that I did.
I am extremely grateful for the Gospel, for Jesus Christ, for the Plan of Salvation, for Joseph Smith, for the Book of Mormon, for president Thomas S. Monson, and today especially for General Conference.

Fall is Here

Mmmm, I love fall.
Leaves changing to red, orange, and gold.
A crisp chill in the wind.
Scarves, hot chocolate, football, Halloween, and pumpkin anything.
Crunchy leaves to step on.
It's a good season.

Happy Autumn :)