bell's canyon.

Today, Peter got out of school early so we decided to hike up Bell's Canyon. We only made it to the first reservoir (steep hike + no water + heat + bad shoes) but it was still so beautiful. I'm glad I brought my new camera along for the adventure. I had fun taking pictures (as you can probably tell). I followed Peter around the lake as he fished, soaking in the sun and loving the scenery. Whoever hates on Utah has clearly not been to the mountains, or looked out their window for that matter.  

Ah, springtime in the mountains. Everything is so green and new and I love the sound of water rushing over the rocks. The only sad thing about this little adventure was realizing that once I leave on my mission, I won't see Peter for over 3 years. He's leaving on his mission next summer. This is lame. I'm gonna miss singing to the radio in the car with him and laughing about some silly little thing together. 

Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a few more fun times before I leave. I asked Peter what we should do before that and he said "hike and bake something." Cool. I think we can figure something out. 

life is beautiful.

Joy is what happens to us 

when we allow ourselves to recognize 

how good things really are. 

~Marianne Williamson 

Yay for happy weekends! They typically consist of food, family, sunshine, and babies. :) Yesterday, my cousin Jann's beautiful baby Eva was blessed. She is an adorable, happy baby with a tight grip. ;) She didn't make a peep when I held her, so that's a good sign. Seriously, though, babies are the best. I think it would do everyone in the world some good to hold a baby for twenty minutes a day. After the blessing, I got to see my cousins who came all the way from California. It was great to catch up with them.

Temple Square was beautiful on Saturday. The tulips were blooming and the grass is now officially green. I wanted to run around barefoot, but I restrained myself.

Easter arrived with a beautiful church service and then a scrumptious ham dinner. I thought a lot about Jerusalem. Oh, and there was plenty of Easter candy--chocolate bunnies, French and Belgium chocolates, tangerine jelly beans, dark chocolate eggs, cadbury eggs, and peeps.

P.S. peeps, in my personal opinion, are nasty. But my brother loves them, so what can we do? :) The way I see it is, it's all sugar, but if you're going to get fat eating it, the stuff better taste pretty darn good. And peeps are just like eating straight-up sugar with no flavoring. So I'll stick with my European chocolate thank you very much.

P.S.S. When we were little, my mom hid Easter baskets around the house for us to find in the morning. And we always had a huge Easter egg hunt in the afternoon. I loved racing around my grandparents house in St. George looking for the eggs. I always got less than my brothers, though. They are legit Easter egg finders.
My mom didn't like the Easter Bunny idea when we were little, so we always knew the Easter Bunny didn't exist. Which is funny because we still believed in Santa and fairies. Go figure. Anyway. The Easter Bunny still kind of creeps me out. And I think I have some solid reasons to back up this fear.

Exhibit A:

Seriously? That is the creepiest bunny suit
I have ever seen. It's like the killer bunny
from Mounty Python. (source.)

Exhibit B:

Yeah, kid. I would be trying to get away
too. I'm so glad my mom didn't make
me go through that. (source.)

Exhibit C:

And finally, the Easter Bunny at the White House. Don't be fooled by their
smiles. Look closely at Natasha--she's giving the bunny a worried look.
And Malia looks a little scared too. Plus, notice the wide gap between
the family and the Easter Bunny. Need I say more? (source.)

Happy Monday!

memo to mother nature.

Not cool, Mother Nature. Not cool.

To start off, I like snow. Because it means things like skiing and hot chocolate and snowball fights and sledding and snow days and Christmas. In fact, I'd rather any day be slightly colder than hotter. Yes, I'm a sit-in-the-shade-over-the-sun kind of person.

But, I like Spring. No, I LOVE SPRING. It's my second favorite season, right up there with Fall. Spring is that beautiful transition from dark wintry days to the hot sticky days of summer. Spring, with its 60 degree weather and slight breezes, its week of Easter and Cadburry eggs, its budding tulips and promise of new life, yes Spring is what gets me through the other months.

I will trudge through the knee-deep snow and blizzards and hail. I will freeze my nose and ears off running up to campus. I will let my shirt paste itself to my back as I walk in the sweltering heat. I will deal with the blinding sun and the 100 degree weather of August's dog days.

I will do all this if you just give me Spring. Sweet, uninterrupted, beautiful Spring. Preferably six straight weeks of it. I don't think I'm asking too much.

And the snow that's frosting the world at this very moment?

Yeah--it needs to disappear. April Fools was last week, remember?

So, I'll just be getting my capris and sweaters and sandals ready. And waiting.

Sincerely,

Charlotte