two reasons my arms are so sore:

1. i spent all day friday and saturday climbing with my dad in maple canyon. i haven't climbed outdoors since july (we went once in the alps and i only climbed two routes), and have barely managed to climb indoors since then due to lack of a partner. the result? no skills. i belayed my dad as he flew up 5.11's, while i panted up 9's and 10's (screaming take! take! far too many times along the way)...ah well. there have been times when i've been really good, i swear.

regardless, it was alot of fun being outside.

-we camped in the canyon and froze our butts off at night (i cant recall any other time in my life when i've needed to include a beanie, wool socks and a fleece jacket as part of my pyjamas, and that was inside my heavy duty sleeping bag)
-we saw deer
-we sampled the culinary offerings of mt. pleasant and fountain green.
-we had a really amusing chance meeting that is an added testimony to the small world theory.
here's a recap:
flash back to last spring, my dad and i are climbing in red rocks, just outside of vegas, and find ourselves on a multi-pitch route stuck behind a group of two or three other climbers. so we do the only thing we really can do as we cling to the rock at the belay stations: chat it up!
flash forward to this past weekend, my dad and i are parked on the side of the small dirt road in the canyon, and start pulling out our backpacks and gear. an escalade drives past, decked out with life is good stickers and various climbing logos. the cadillac stops about 30 feet past us, backs up, one of the windows rolls down and a guy sticks his head out and exclaims:
"you're a byu student, and your dad's from france! we climbed together at red rocks!" though we are somewhat taken aback, we respond with laughter and some "good to see you again" type things.
i wonder where we'll run into them next.

in the meantime, here are some photos




2. last night, i decided that i really wanted to try making pasta from scratch; ravioli, to be specific.

so i did, and let me tell you, it was laborious.

we don't have a pasta dough flattening machine yet, so me and that rolling pin i mentioned in my last post had ourselves a party. i feel like that was just as good a workout as climbing, but now i am seriously coveting one of these babies:

the red dress

i'm going to be a bridesmaid in my friend linda's wedding this december. i'm also going to be the photographer. that will be super fun. i've never been a bridesmaid before, so it's pretty exciting.

does my marital status make me a bridesmatron?
doesn't that sound like i should be carrying a ladle or a rolling pin as an accessory?

anyways, linda picked these really pretty bridesmaid dresses:
however, they're from target (good for price, bad for sizing) and they don't have them in our local store, so i had to order mine offline. since their return policy sucks more than anything in the world and i want to avoid having to deal with customer service and returns/exchanges at any cost, i whipped out the measuring tape and tried to place myself accurately on their sizing chart (which, by the way, turns size 2's into size 8's), ordered the dress four sizes larger than my normal size, and hoped for the best.

it arrived yesterday. it's very pretty. the color is great and the fabric is thick and smooth.

i tried it on. first i tried stepping into it. i couldn't get it three inches past my knees, let alone my thighs, so i tried the other approach: pulling it over my head. that worked alright.

andy zipped me up and i looked in the mirror. it was...baggy? how could this be? the skirt and waist fit alright, but the whole top section was big and billowy and puckering out in odd ways. does this mean that i'm a grossly disproportionate pear shaped woman? i thought to myself:

sigh
i guess i'll order the size underneath and see which one fits better, maybe find someone with a sewing machine and make it work?

then i tried to take the dress off.

i couldnt.

i was stuck

forever

in a red dress.

after a somewhat violent wrestling match with the red dress, the exploit ended with me sitting cross legged on the floor with my arms over my head (little kid style) and andy pulling as hard as he could. it eventually came off, and i was able to wear normal clothes to our dinner date with my dad.

what an adventure.

thank you!

so...it's been almost four months since our wedding, and we have yet to send out any thank you cards.
the guilt comes and goes...but i haven't been able to find any good thank you cards (not really a valid excuse, i know). i wish stationery were a bit less expensive, or that we just had a [several hundred dollar] stationery slot in the budget.

i really like this card, but i feel like it emphasizes the stuff we got rather than the help and support and kind wishes. would someone who hadn't bought anything for us, but who had been amazingly kind and helpful feel bad receiving a thank you card with measuring cups, cutlery, and oven mitts on it? am i thinking about this too much?

i also really like these.

in the meantime i would like to offer a sincere thank you to all of you who were so wonderful and generous... i'll put that on some stationery and mail it off to you soon!

speaking of cards, if you appreciate good design and a healthy dose of humor as much as i do, here are some things to look at:

uncooked cards
line upon line cards
mr. letters press

really really pumpkin soup weather

it's currently 28 degrees outside. the high is 46.

i packed myself a [hopefully] leak proof tupperware full of pumkin soup in my little brown bag lunch.

today definitely calls for a scarf and jacket. unfortunately, all my scarves and jackets are buried in boxes underneath our stairs. i've got to choose between hoodies and my long wool coat...

pumpkin soup weather

today has been the first truly restful and relaxing sunday andy and i have had in weeks. it's been great.

i don't know if the (freezing) weather has anything to do with it, but all we've wanted to do all day is just stay in our pj's and hang out in our warm little apartment.

here's what we did:

-sleep in until 11 or so
-i chatted it up with my dad, who's coming tuesday for our annual fall climbing trip (maple canyon this time if the weather holds out!)
-talked to my grandma in france, who just had knee surgery that will hopefully allow her to keep hiking all over the place
-got ready for church
-got to church 20 minutes late, nothing out of the ordinary there
-enjoyed all three hours of it (a big step after bordering on inactivity for months*)
-came home
-laundry
-nap for andy
-made pumpkin soup (recipe coming soon)
-baked wheat bread (recipe coming as soon as i find a good one)
-currently sitting around reading, listening to ray lamontagne, looking at other people's photographs, and being perfectly content

you just need days like this.


*we haven't really been inactive, just traveling or being sick or only going to sacrament meeting.

tragedy

i broke another glass today.

st. george weekend

andy and i went down to st. george this weekend for general conference. we got to meet our niece arvilla for the first time, and of course i took some pictures.