i see your true colors

The first Friday in October we drove down to Alpine to drive the Alpine Loop.  It had snowed for the first time and we were scared we would miss the color changes.  Though the colors weren't quite as saturated as they were last year (when we didn't own a nice camera, of course), it was still beautiful and our first time driving the loop all the way through from Alpine to Provo.  I'm kind of into sun spots lately, so forgive the amateur photography.

Fall in Utah is the best season.  

september lately

most of the pictures on my phone consist of either food or beautiful utah mountain skies, and this month was no exception.  

downtown farmer's market

almuerzo

oh you know, just driving.

8-hour power outage. 

city creek with the sunset in the glass's reflection

i chopped 8 inches off my hair - not a huge fan.

hannah and matt go to cheer on utah

stacks on stacks - of conference tickets.

favorite snapchats

our nephew ben busted his lip BAD, but if you don't know him it's hard to tell from the pictures.

food. again.  couscous salad for the week - amazing!

watching nashville with hannah

when the hills behind my work turn yellow they always remind me of livermore.  :)

our current obsession.

ducks! at the park by our apartment.

lds women's broadcast with the sisters.

homemade nutella hot chocolate

apples to apples, cookies, + hot chocolate

my friend cris convinced me to do a pilates class with her 3 times a week at 6:30 in the MORNING this semester.  if you know me, you also know i am NOT a morning person.  but i do enjoy leaving class to see a beautiful new day has started.

i am so grateful for the wonderful summer we have had and look forward to what fall has in store.  

have you seen the little pieces of the people we have been?

I get so nostalgic every time I'm in LA.  I'm nostalgic for the past, but also for the present and the future, if that's possible.  Old friends and acquaintances lurk in corners at the airport terminal, outside the library on campus, the parking spot outside my old apartment, by the fountain.  I long to go back to those days, but I also long to stay in the present moments even while I'm there.  While we're laughing in line at Bay City's deli, driving on an empty LA freeway in the middle of the night, in Myka and Shiloh's living room, taking the Overland exit straight towards the temple, dancing in the middle of a dance floor with my friends and our beautiful old roommate, now a bride and a wife to someone who loves her immensely.  We long for the future of reunions, professional jobs, unborn children, potential relationships, possibilities and uncertainties.  When I lived there I would sometimes sit in a car as we drove along a highway, in awe that I was actually living there, that this was my real life.  I am still struck by that awe and wonder every time I visit.

As my plane took off and soared over the California coast as it has so many times before, all I could do was thank God with tears in my eyes for the opportunity I had to live there, to love there, to be truly blessed in my own city of angels, to give my heart to a city and a people and never ask for it back.  Life is beautiful and I'm so grateful for the chance I've had and have to truly live it.  My hope is that my heart continues to expand with every new place I live.

be still my heart

And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.
- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

we have been loving summer.  at the request of my one reader (hannah), i will post a few updates.  i won't attempt to catch up, and i won't make any promises to be better at this, because let's be real.  

the last two months i feel like we've rarely had a weekend at home, which probably isn't true but it still makes you value sleeping in on saturday mornings and weekend errands.  we've had weekend visitors and week long visitors, and would like to remind everyone that our spare bedroom is always up for grabs.  most of our guests have commented that it is a comfortable bed.  :)  

favorite summer trips this year have included austin, la, and jackson.  i'm going to la again this weekend for a friend's nuptials so the fun continues.

1. baby sister and sole blog reader graduates and looks adorable as ever in austin, tx.   we get to enjoy some time with family and friends, as well as swimming at barton springs and kayaking on town lake.

2. matt and i drive to la for my old roommate natalie's engagement party.  we visit usc, eat at our la favorites, go to an outdoor screening of fight club, and most importantly spend time with some of my favorite people in the world.

3. we enjoy salt lake and our wonderful friends here, the 4th of july, and get a last-minute invitation to jackson with our utah family, the reisers. we see deer, bison, and a moose.  no bears.

4. last night we went to see the postal service perform at the grand saltair.  it was amazing.  we love some ben & jenny.

there's your update, hannah.  xoxo