Sunny St. George

We started the Christmas season off right with a trip to downtown Salt Lake to see Ballet West perform the Nutrcracker. My coworker's husband was given tickets from his work and she kindly offered two of them to us. I was so excited! It was held at the beautiful Capitol Theatre and the sets and special effects were amazing! Jeff wasn't sure if he would enjoy a ballet, but even he was impressed. Those ballet dancers are super strong and athletic. Seeing the show put us right in the holiday spirit. I've been humming the songs ever since : )

This weekend we took a break from winter and made a quick trip down to St. George. Our friends Caden and Shikeyah Rutter have a family house there and they invited us to join them for little getaway. They have a cute two year old named Makai, who they call Muk for short. They were super easy-going travel companions and we had a fun time together. Every time I go to St. George I like it more. The house styles are so cute and everything just looks like summer. We were able to spend Saturday morning in Zion National Park where we hiked the Canyon Overlook Trail. It's a short hike but the views are stunning. We even saw some mountain goats up close! When we got back to St. George we stopped at a cool vintage shop that was full of antiques and Christmas goods. We also climbed up the Dixie rock which is a big red rock that overlooks the town. After relaxing at the house for a bit we went out for dinner and had dessert at Neilsen's Frozen custard, which was de-lish. We also took a drive around some of the best Christmas decorated houses in the state.

Canyon Overlook Trail, Zion National Park

The next day when we headed out of St. George we stopped near La Verkin to walk around the Red Cliffs Recreation area. I thought it was going to be a short stroll through the desert, but it turned out to be much more! The path started out looking like landscape in Back to the Future III when Marty McFly is drives the Delorean over the sagebrush and red dirt. But then it led through some really unique rock formations which tuned into slot canyons with a beautiful clear river running through it! 

It did not feel like December as we climbed over the orange rocks that were bathed in sunlight. Sunshine and warm temperatures can be so rejuvenating in the winter! It had been in the low 20's and 30's all week in Pleasant Grove, so the 60 degree weather felt amazing. There was one part of the hike where we had to scale a wall using a rope to reach the backside of the canyon. We felt a little bit like Indiana Jones! 

This was certainly one of the coolest places I've ever hiked. It was AWESOME. After a couple of hours we headed out and began the scenic drive home. We enjoyed the time with our friends and being outdoors. So thankful for weekends and for our proximity to such magnificent landscapes!

Now we are home, have our Christmas lights on, are watching holiday movies, and feeling like it's winter again. We will be heading up to snowy McCall for Christmas to spend the break with my side of the family this year and are looking forward to it!

The Mountains Are Calling

I started a mountain biking class a couple of weeks ago and its been awesome! We meet as a class one evening per week and ride a local trail together, get coached, and practice various riding techniques. We also are assigned to complete one additional ride each week on our own. So far I've ridden at Lambert Park in Alpine, South Fork in Provo Canyon, and some trails at Corner Canyon, Draper. It's a beautiful time of year to ride in the mountains!

Lambert Park, Alpine UT

Riding up Clark's Trail before heading down Rush at Corner Canyon.

My favorite ride so far has been up Big Springs Hollow in Provo Canyon. Nice even trails for the most part, a steady but manageable climb, fun ride down the second half of the loop, and fantastic scenery!

This trail was fantastic. I had to stop every so often just to take in the gorgeous scenery and fall atmosphere!

Football Season Again

Disclaimer: I promise to upload a post about our trip to Europe, but I'm still editing photos.

It's starting to feel like fall again, and I love it! The start of a new football season always helps add to that sense of the seasons changing. This year BYU has a whole new coaching staff and we are excited to see how they fare. To start things off with a bang BYU faced Utah in another round of rivalry football. In preparation for this all of the statues on BYU campus were saran wrapped (apparently Ute fans vandalized a statue or two years ago and the campus police take this precaution every year now). It adds to the intensified atmosphere that precedes every BYU/Utah face-off.

Jeff's work put on an awesome tailgate the night before the game. They had dozens of food trucks, bouncy houses, live music, a flag football tournament, prizes, and fireworks. It was fun to try a little bit from all of the vendors we wanted and to hang out with Jeff's coworkers. He works with a fun bunch! 

The cornmeal battered corn dogs were my favorite!

Here's to a good season ahead!

DOMOPALOOZA

Jeff's company had its second annual user conference this month and it was quite the spectacle. The company announced their official branding moving forward: DOMO is the business cloud. What does that mean, you ask? It means users can now access every piece of data needed to run their business better, and access that data from the cloud. Over the years "the cloud" has become a place to store various data whether it be photos, music, documents, statistics, etc. But there has never been one source that enables people to access all of that data at the same time and make sense of it. DOMO does just that. It accesses thousands of data sources and brings all the information together in meaningful, visual ways.

The purpose of this 2nd annual user conference (aka #DP16) was to hit home just how groundbreaking this announcement was and to show its users how to take advantage of all that DOMO has to offer. With that came celebrations. And there is no better description for these celebrations than PALOOZA. It was a wild, crazy, and extravagant party for three days. As an employee, Jeff was invited to the conference after-party where Walk the Moon and Nelly were performing at the Grand America Ballroom. One of my coworkers attended the conference workshops but didn't want to stay in Salt Lake all night for the concert. She offered me her all-access pass, so I got to join in the palooza-ing!

Every nook and cranny of the Grand America had been paloozafied.

They handed out fun light up foam sticks for the party.

We were right at the front of the stage during Walk the Moon's performance, and decided to take a break from the crazy crowd and loud speakers during the second concert. I had no idea there were so many Nelly fans in SLC : ) The day after the conference, Jeff's department held a "Finance Kickoff" and Domopalooza recap meeting at the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird Ski Resort. After the meeting, we were invited to take advantage of the gorgeous slopes surrounding us. There were so many runs! It was a fun couple of days! Ain't no party like a DOMO party.

We're Here For RSL!

It was a typical wednesday afternoon, I had just returned from a meeting and was getting back into my desk-work when I saw that Jeff had texted me, "call me when you can, I have a fun activity for tonight". My curiosity sparked, I stepped outside to call him back. He proceeded to tell me the best news you can receive on a typical Wednesday -- we had box seat tickets to the Real Salt Lake CONCACAF Cup match! Jeff's CEO has season tickets and offered them to his finance department for this exciting match. I was thrilled! Jeff and I met at home after work and headed to Rio Tinto stadium as quickly as we could.

This stadium is awesome. It's a soccer specific stadium based off of European designs and it has such a cool atmosphere. I had intentions to attend a game here all through my college years but never made it for one reason or another. I'm SO glad we were given the chance this year! And what an introduction to the place. Box seats at mid-field, with a suite filled with catered food and drinks! It was so cool!

Jeff and I were the first ones to show up of his coworkers, so we had time to enjoy the suite all to ourselves and to walk around the stadium a bit. We were headed to the team store but didn't make it far when Jeff spotted a vendor selling last year's jerseys and gear at a major discount. We can now say we are official Real Salt Lake fans : )

As kickoff time approached we headed back to our seats, and Jeff's coworkers and their plus ones began to arrive. The match was an exciting one and it was so fun to watch players like Rimando, Beckerman, and Plata up close. Even though the game ended in a 1-1 tie RSL lost the match-up overall, due to their loss in the first leg of the tournament. Regardless of the outcome we had a fantastic time and are proud to call ourselves supporters of RSL.

The supporters section at Rio Tinto are known as the RioT, and they start the cheers and chants that go around the stadium. They have some great songs that were catchy and fun to sing along with. One of the chants we sing when RSL scores or does something good is:

If you believe then just stand up on your feet. 

and shout it loud, REAL! 

Here at the RioT the battle hymn's begun. 

We're here for RSL!

So thank you to DOMO for giving us this fun mid-week outing. We loved it! Go RSL!

Here's to 27

I have to say that turning 27 feels like a big deal. It seems so much older than wee 26. It's just a few years from 30 which is almost too weird to wrap my head around. But what a merry birthday it was! Mom came to visit for the weekend and we kicked off the celebrations early! Just a few of the highlights from the weekend:

Birthday Cake (times two):

Mom made a delicious Chocolate Orange cake from scratch.

It was heavenly!

And we got the biggest ice cream cake Dairy Queen had. Because, why not?

Lunch at Spicy Thai:

This place is so good!

Lovely winter hike in Provo Canyon:

My actual birthday was on a Tuesday this year and therefore a workday. But my coworkers, family, and friends (near and far) made it feel like a party all day! I arrived at my office to find my desk decorated and a dozen donuts waiting for me. It seemed like every time I left and came back to my desk a new surprise had been delivered! Cookies from my sister, Flowers from my family, an edible arrangement from my dear friend Mary, along with birthday cards and sweets! I have the most wonderful people in my life and I sure feel loved!

Thanks, Mary!!

That evening Jeff took me to dinner at La Costa, a Mexican restaurant near our home that we've been wanting to try. It was really good and the service was very personable. The waiters even sang me a lovely birthday song in Spanish! Caitie and Trey (sans Nate since he is in the thick of busy season accounting) joined us and it made for a very nice birthday night! We went to our apartment afterward to enjoy the still only half eaten ice cream cake, and I opened presents.

Thanks for the cute bamboo plant, Caitie. I love it!

Thanks to all who made it such a special day for me!