Day 10 & 11: Nature/Seasons and America

Day 10: Nature and Seasons

Growing up in Utah you can't help to be appreciate of the wonders of nature and how different each of the seasons are. I can't imagine not living by our mountains and being able to drive a few short hours and being in the heat of the red rock desert. I love the hot summers to the cold winters. It gives us so much to do that other states can't experience without traveling thousands of miles. I was driving to work a couple weeks ago and it was an absolute blizzard. Now as much as I love the snow on the ground I hate having to drive in it. Frankly, scares the daylights out of me. As I was driving I was thinking of how wonderful the weather had been a couple weeks prior. We had 80 sunny degree weather and it was fantastic. Its crazy how our weather can change so quickly to such extremes. Its one of the amazing things of this planet, especially here in Utah.

My favorite time of year is fall with all the leaves changing

Jeff's heaven on Earth= Lake Powell

Utah County Mountains

I seriously seriously seriously miss skiing

 This year I won't be able to go up to the ski resorts, but I am going to make it a point that we go next year a couple of times. That is something Jeff and I have talked about through our 7 years of dating and have never done. I have never been to Moab and that is also something we plan to do (not in the middle of the summer ... fall time sounds good). There are so many backpacking trips that Jeff has lined up for us for years to come. This summer I will experience fishing and backpacking for the first time in my life. I can't wait for all the experiences this next year brings and the opportunities to spend some quality time away from our busy lives and in the outdoors.

Day 11: America the Beautiful

Since I was a little kid I have had these deep sense of American pride. The first cd I ever owned as a kid wasn't Brittney Spears or Backstreet Boys it was a Lee Greenwood. Who is that you ask? He sings I am Proud to be an American, I was probably the only kid that knew all the words to that song at such a young age. Jeff always teases me because when I try to come up with color schemes somehow it always ends up with variations of red, white, and blue. Our engagement pictures and even our wedding colors were a variation. When I was on pinterest the other day one of my friends had this pinned to their wall. 

 I think this really puts things in to perspective. We complain about how hard this economy is and how hard our lives are, but the majority of the world is far worse off. We have so easy here and yet all we can do is complain about how things can be better. I don't want to forget this message when times get tough. When having to stretch our money to the next pay check I will think back that I am richer than 75 percent of the world. That is mind boggling to think about. Not only does this make me want to appreciate what I have, but want to help those less fortunate than myself. 

We have the freedom to choose where we live, what we do, what job we have, who we marry, who we vote for, and where we want to go and do with our lives. Millions of people don't have these same opportunities and choices we have. Remember where our country came from and what others have been through for us to have our freedoms. If you don't like how something is done, then stop complaining and do something about it. If you want things to change do your part and a step towards that is get educated and vote. I will be there next year and I will make sure that I know where I stand and who I want to represent me. We can't make things change without making it start with ourselves.

Love Always,