The Great Outdoors

It's midnight now and I am not a bit tired 

(probably has something to do with the 4 hour long nap I took today)

So I thought I would just blog a little bit...

I went camping with my family this past weekend. I've always loved camping and being out in the woods. I was only up there for one night, but it was nice and so beautiful. 

This is the car ride up there with my dad, Emma (my little sister), and the dog hanging his head over our shoulders the whole time :)

Luckily for us the big storm that we were driving up there in all cleared up by the time we got to the campsite. Unluckily for us though, my dad forgot the keys to the camper TWICE. The first time we were only about 20 minutes from home, so we headed back and grabbed a bag of keys. Then once we got up there my dad realized that the keys weren't in the bag and had to go back home again to get them, only this time it was a 2 hour drive back. We stayed positive though :)

The meadow across from our campsite

Meanwhile, when my dad went back to get the keys, we were able to get a fire started after a whole lot of TLC. We didn't even have matches or a lighter because everything was in the camper, so we went to another campsite and borrowed some. All the wood was wet all around, but after an hour or two it started to burn and we got a lovely fire going!

Our hard earned fire

The camper and the canoe... we're old fashioned campers

My cute niece, Addi

My little sister, Emma

We didn't get dinner till pretty late that night, but when we did it was super yummy! Taco salad. After that we roasted smores and sat by the fire until bedtime. I had to leave early the next morning, so that's pretty much it for my little adventure.

Preston always wonders how people actually like going camping. But I'd have to say, besides all the setbacks we experienced this time, camping is so refreshing. It's refreshing to be cut off from the world with no phone service and no internet. It's refreshing to smell pine trees and smoky fires all around, and it's refreshing to just kind of do things the old fashioned way!

Independence Day

Oh my goodness, I really have been in the middle of posting about this for like two weeks now. I can't not write about our wonderful 4th of July, which is our favorite holiday besides Christmas. (but christmas doesn't really count because I think that's everyone's favorite)

My husband is a real patriot and loves 4th of July in Provo, so he came up from Arizona to spend the week celebrating. We did a lot of fun activities with his family during the week and Preston was able to golf every day. I really wish I had taken more pictures of things we did, but at least I have some.

The night before July 4th we got our scooter and went and drove around University Avenue so we could be a part of the fun without spending the night on the sidewalk. It was so fun, people are so festive around here and make it a fun town to be in on the fourth.

The next morning we woke up early and went and ran the Freedom Run 5k, and then went up to Sundance with Preston's family for breakfast.It was so gorgeous up there, just thinking about it makes me want to go drive up there again!

After breakfast we came back home and Preston and I went over to the little carnival in downtown Provo. I had wanted to look at the booths there, but I ended up waiting for my food from a little taco stand for the majority of the time we were there. The other part was spent walking up and down the food stands deciding what we wanted.

From there we went back up the Provo canyon to go on the zip line! I had heard that there was a zip line up there, but hadn't heard of anyone who had gone on it. Preston's dad thought it would be a fun activity for the 4th, so we all went up and turned out to be really cool! There were five different zip lines I think and you just go from one to the other and they're actually pretty fast!

The whole crew

Prest swinging through the trees

So happy

We came back from ziplining and had a BBQ at the house and then Preston and I went off on our scooter to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We ended up in the football stadium parking lot. We had a good view of the fireworks- we just laid right on the ground and watched the fireworks above us!

He is one good looking guy :)

Happy 4th of July!!! 

(now that its almost August)

Books

I always love good book recommendations, and since I've been reading a ton these last couple months, I thought I'd do a mini book review so here goes...

(sorry about the poor organization, I just pulled pictures off of google and they weren't aligning very well)

I love this author! Both books were incredible! I'm probably going to read every book he's written now. The Walk was about a man (an advertising agency owner) who lost his wife and his job and decided to walk across the country to Key West Florida. The Sunflower is about two girls who go on a humanitarian trip to Peru and end up falling in love :)

The Goose Girl was not one of my favorites... it is a good book I guess, but it had too much fantasy and imagination for me, but it was interesting and I finished the whole thing.. so that's good!

I think these were the last Nicholas Sparks books that I still needed to read and luckily my grandma had them on her bookshelf and I was able to read them! They are both romance novels, or course, and are easy reads. I enjoyed them.

 I LOVE Chicken Soup for the Soul. I've never actually read the entire book all the way through, but I did this summer! I decided to take this book from my grandma's house and keep it in case I feel like crying and feeling motivated to be a better person! But seriously the stories are really touching.

 

This is what I am currently reading and so far it is hilarious!! It's not really a novel, it's just kind of random, but I am loving it. Ellen is so entertaining and clever, and you should read this for a good laugh!

Picnic up the Canyon

Last week we went on a nice picnic up the Provo Canyon with Preston's family. Preston's mom made us a yummy dinner and then we played frisbee and football, took pictures of Sophie, talked and hung out, and had a push-up contest. It was the perfect evening for a picnic and we were loving the weather after coming back from Arizona!

I caught Sophie dumping out her water, and it kind of reminded me of a cartoon strip :)

A Wedding and a Job

These last two weeks have been amazing! I was so excited to fly back to Utah just in time for one of my best friends' weddings. Heidi, who I've worked with and lived with at BYU, married one of Preston's best friends, Greg.

P.S. We set them up... so we're pretty proud that they ended up getting married :)

Here's a few pictures from their wedding day: (preston was still in arizona so he couldn't be there)

Freshly married! Coming out of the Timpanogos temple

Their reception was gorgeous!!

Ring ceremony before the reception

Me and some of the bridesmaids, Katherine and Chelsea. It was so much fun hanging out with them all night!

Heidi and her cute grandpa dancing :)

The night before, at the wedding dinner, Heidi was opening some lingerie behind the table and looked up to see her dad standing there! It was hilarious!

After all the wedding festivities were over I set out to find a job. I already have a job on campus, but it's only part time, so I needed another part time job in addition to that to keep me busy and make us some money! I found a job at a new restaurant opening up on center street in Provo. It's called Old Towne Grill and I am a hostess! It's really great food and a really cool atmosphere, so come by!

Photography Blog

Hey! To anyone who follows my blog, I am starting a photography blog. I am not a computer wiz so it's a little rough right now, but that is where I am going to be putting the pictures I take, and then on this blog I will have more personal stuff about Preston and I. Also I'm not a photography wiz yet either :) so hopefully I will be learning and improving continually.

I just posted some pictures of Kristine and Brenton so go check it out!

lanephillipsphotography.blogspot.com

P.s. it's seriously kinda messy right now, and I haven't entirely figured out the tabs so don't worry, it will get better!

P.s.s. I have TONS to blog about and I feel so far behind that I get stressed even starting, but I will soon!!!