Why do we always wait until we're moving to find out how amazing our town is?

Sunday afternoon, Tyler and I decided to scope out camp sites up Payson Canyon for next weekend. We grabbed some geocaches from the internet and headed up. As usual, the geocaches pointed us to some really cool places we never would have found otherwise. Only about 30 minutes from our house, we came to this trail that lead to grotto falls.

The whole trail was filled with bridges made of large tree trunks.

Grotto Falls! Amazing. How could something so cool be so close to our house, and we didn't know about it?!?!

Mmmmm

I think I look particularly skimmy here. YEAH WEIGHT WATCHERS!!

That tree behind Tyler is a bridge.

See?

Tyler, trying to get the gps to register the local caches.

There were cows EVERYWHERE!!! So much for cattle guards.

Payson lakes! Seriously, we've been missing ALL of this!!!

Further up the canyon. This place is SO gorgeous!

New Hair

I only cut my hair about once a year because it's so expensive. Also because I do such drastic things when I do cut it, that I have to wait a year before there's enough there to cut again. Anyway, it's that time again! I used my starving student card, which made it FREE!!! Minor detail that it was at a hair college. Only the newest girls are very scary. Yes I have bangs again! I haven't had bangs for a few years. The reason is, while I think I look a ton better with bangs, I also can't stand to have hair in my face. I've been very patient since I got it cut, but I'm not sure how long that will last. The other plus for everyone around me is that when I cut my hair, I tend to leave it down more often. When my hair is up, I look hideous, but I'm comfortable. When I like my new hair cut, I tend to brush comfort aside for cuteness.

Bad lighting. Only look at the hair please...

Tyler made me do a silly pose, but I don't think it looks that bad actually, so you get to see it.

I realize these all look the same, pretty much, but I only cut it a day or two ago, so this is all I have to work with. More to come!

Just for contrast, here's a couple of pictures of me with my old hair. I had to look FOREVER to find a semi-recent one of me with my hair down. This just proves my previous point.

John Schmidt

While my brother John was in town, he told us about a John Schmidt concert that he was going to. I LOVE piano music, and John Schmidt is pretty much my all time favorite pianist. When I heard he was having a concert at an amphitheater in Sandy, I had to go. We laid a blanket out, and had a wonderful time listening to the music as the sun set over the valley. He was actually pretty funny, and put on a great show. What a fun date!!

Jon Schmidt Song

Fouth of July

So I haven't been to a "real" parade ( I mean like a big one that takes more that 30 minutes) since I was a little girl in Hawaii. All my family went to the parade in Provo this year, and when I got there, the adults offered to let me sit by them. In the back. No freaking way was I gonna give up my front row seat with the little kids. So I sat in the middle of the street, on the edge of the parade.

The balloons were really cool

I just really thought it was neat that the band had this girl in a wheelchair participate with them.

The family, ALL the way back on the grass. Amateurs.

They were spinning the balloon. They would only spin the balloon if you made LOTS of noise as they passed. We got ALL the balloons to spin!!!!

How many places can you go where missionaries get their own float?

I liked this: "over 1000000 have served"

Here are the missionaries running down the street. The kids all got to give them high-fives, so it was pretty much their favorite part of the parade.

Gotta give this guy some props (just watched Clueless)

Now these guys are pretty much the reason for the parade. It was so cool when they all came by. I love my country and get teary-eyed whenever I think about the sacrifices these guys make for us every day.

This guy was walking by with his gun. My cousin asked if he could touch it. It said, "no, of course not" and the guys was like, "yeah, sure, here you go." Huh.

Does this remind you of Indiana Jones or what?

This made me laugh so hard. It made me think of Emperors New Groove and I thought to myself, "llama-face"

How cool is this? If I could play one instrument without all the pain of actually learning it, it would DEFINITELY be the fiddle!!!

This float was for a restaurant that is about to open. They took over one of the local dollar theaters. If this isn't the coolest restaurant ever, I will be SO disappointed!!

Acrobatics on the back of a horse. WOW.

This was for a local theater. Disney princesses were hugging EVERYONE!!

This guys got the coolest video ever!

A plane in the parade!!

They actually set this cannon off!! It was SO loud!

A garbage truck. Seriously. In a parade.

This is my uncle who lives in a home on Center street. After my grandma left (she had watched the parade with him) I found him in his kitchen, still watching the festivities.

Here he is from the outside.