Mirror Mirror on the wall

I really like nature and spending time outdoors; partly because I enjoy the beauty of God’s creations, and partly because it reminds me to be grateful for all my modern day conveniences. I always enjoy a good camping trip, but I also come back with a renewed appreciation for hot showers, a soft bed, no bugs, and a flushing toilet free from onlookers.

This weekend Carver and I decided to branch out from our usual campsites and headed up to Mirror Lake. I went camping there with some friends a few years ago and remember thinking it was a beautiful place. It seemed like the perfect time to check it out once again.

Sadly we aren't able to leave whenever we want since we are keen on keeping our jobs. This meant that we didn't reach Mirror Lake until around 9 p.m. Friday night. I married an Idaho boy which means that he feels it is fundamentally wrong to pay for camping.  This also means that we have fight and scavenge with all the other campers who strongly feel this way. We ended up on about 10 square feet in a small meadow surrounded by tons of  other weekend campers. Carver dubbed it the gypsy camp and it is where we spent our evening.

I am grateful that I married an outdoor manly man. It makes the camping experience much more enjoyable. After setting up camp Carver treated me to a dinner of steak with grilled onions and peppers cooked in his awesome new cast iron skillets. It was much better than the dessert I was in charge of. Both rounds of my Pintrest smores experiment ended up looking like torched waffles cones, which is basically what they were.

Carver warming up the pans for breakfast

 The rest of the evening was really peaceful and enjoyable, minus the sound of all our neighboring campers having their own peaceful and enjoyable time. That evening we climbed into the tent and were able to use our awesome new sleeping bags. I have spent the last few years firmly believing that being freezing cold while you sleep was just a part of camping. My friends usually make fun as me because even in July I am dressed for a trip to the arctic; yoga pants, sweats, at least two or three shirts, wool socks, maybe a beanie, a few blankets piled here and there, and then  if it seems really chilly I bust out my denim quilt. Even then I still spend most of the night shivering. With these new bags I was so warm and toasty that I had to remove layers! I didn't have to feel like the marshmallow man all large and puffy. I am so thankful for good sleeping bags.

Our new tent and SUPER warm sleeping bags

A scenic lookout on the way to Mirror Lake, behind me is our gypsy camp

The next morning we drove the last few miles to Mirror Lake and enjoyed the view for a while. On the way back we also stopped at Provo Falls which I didn't even know existed. 

Provo Falls

 It was nice to see the great outdoors and visit some new sights in Utah. I’m thankful for this area that I live in and for the ability to take off and enjoy them at this time in my life.

Giddy up little doggies

So I married a wannabe cowboy. Carver really should have been born a few hundred years ago; he was made for the Wild West. He loves guns, horses, John Wayne and anything else related to cowboys really. When we first started dating I let it slip that I had never actually seen a movie starring The Duke. He was shocked and appalled, our relationship almost ended right there. Luckily Carver took pity on me and instead of breaking up he instituted John Wayne Appreciation Evening, or as we now call it, Cowboy Night. Last Friday night we honored John Wayne once again with a rootin’ tootin’ good time.

Cowboy Night has three important elements. Part one is the food which consists of your basic cowboy grub; chili, bbq chicken, potato salad, etc. 

On this particular night Carver made an awesome cowboy pizza complete with a homemade tomato/bbq hybrid sauce. The pizza itself was delicious but the fact that I came home and didn't have to do anything made it excellent. 

Cowboy pizza and a frosty mug of root beer, what more do you need?

The second aspect of cowboy night is the activity. We busted out the cards and played a few rounds of Go Fish and Egyptian Rat Killer. Carver killed me at both games, so like anyone else in my family I decided I didn't want to play anymore and that we should move on to the crowning event of the evening......the John Wayne movie. Carver has selected each Cowboy Night movie with great care, only showing the films he felt I was prepared to see. Well I must have done something right because we got to watch the ultimate cowboy flick, what some would consider THE John Wayne movie-True Grit.

                                                     

                                                   

It was a pretty entertaining movie, one of my favorites so far. It was an excellent ending to another Cowboy Night. Carver on the other hand was still in the western spirit and proceeded to watch The Shadow Riders on Netflix. Who knew Tom Selleck was a cowboy? All in all it was a successful event and I'm really grateful that we can have fun evenings like this. They are inexpensive and a wonderful way to make good memories.

Auntie Erica

My new niece Claire got baptized last weekend. We spent most of our time Saturday hanging out with family and I realized that I really like being an aunt. My family is really new to the whole getting married and starting a family routine, so when I married Carver I went from zero to 8.5 in the niece and nephew department. So far I have loved being an aunt. It helps that my new nieces and nephews are some of the cutest kids ever, I love them already.  I don’t think they are so sure about me though. Some days all I can get is a shy smile before they run out of the room. But then there are days like Saturday where they warm up quite a bit and I get to hear “Aunt Erica come play with me!”  It’s a pretty awesome feeling because unlike my younger siblings, these guys don’t have to like me. I’m excited to watch these kids grow up and to meet the other ones who come along. Between Carver’s family and mine who knows how many we’ll end up with!

Welcome back

I decided to start blogging again. A year and a half ago I made it a goal to blog about something I was grateful for every day for an entire year. It got a little tiring towards the end, but constantly thinking about the blessings in my life made me a much happier person overall. Recent events have reminded me that I need to have that thankful attitude once again. Being on the lookout for things that I am thankful for helps me see how blessed I am and makes life challenges easier to deal with. Plus, entering this new phase of my life introduces many new things that I can be thankful for. This time I am waiving the required one post a day, but I would like to try and find a few things each week that I can be grateful for.

So, starting off with this new blog, I am very very grateful for Savings Accounts. This sounds obvious but they really do save you. Last week we had to fork out quite a bit of money for car repairs. In a few short days Carver and I saw a big chunk of our savings leave us and take up residence with the annoying Pep Boys down the street. No offence to those in the auto world, but I hate car repairs and everything that goes along with it. I don’t understand what they are doing and feel like all I can do is helplessly sit by while they take all my money.

 But back to being thankful, I am so glad we had money in our savings account to cover the cost. It’s not what I imagined spending that money on, but I was glad to have it available. I am so grateful to all the friends and family who helped contribute to that account over the last few months. We were blessed with a lot of generous gifts for our wedding and it definitely helped to cover the cost. It feels really nice to have the resources to pay for unexpected expenses. I’m glad that we have made it a priority to save money and  hope that we can continue to be blessed in this area.