Trips for work - Part 1

In September, my work sent me on two different work trips back to back. I went to Scottsdale, Arizona from September 12 to September 15th. This trip was for a Sustainability conference as I am my company's "Green" Coordinator. I have learned alot about being "Green" and what that entails for the last year especially focusing on recycling and composting programs.

While I was in Scottsdale, I was able to drive to the Pheonix Arizona Temple. It was really beautiful and nothing like what I thought it would look like. It reminded me of the Mayan or Inca Ruins down in Mexico.

I also got the coolest rental car to drive around...A jeep wrangler, which was Orange, but it definitely helped me from not losing it in the parking lot.

The conference was also at a beautiful resort. My room was gorgeous and huge. Best place I have ever probably stayed.

I also went out one night to try and go hiking, but the hiking area closed at sunset, which is the time I arrived. So I couldn't go hiking, but I got a great picture of a sunset and where I could have gone hiking.

I was glad to come home and see Matt for a day before I had to leave for my second business trip.

Girls Camp - July 2011

We had Stake Girls Camp for the Young Women in the Stake. The Stake leaders are in charge of this camp. They ask for volunteer leaders to come to camp and supervise a group of girls. The girls are mixed together from other wards, so they can get to know each other.

I volunteered this year to be a camp leader. I also volunteered Matt to come up and be the priesthood during the camp. Before camp started, I was informed who my girls would be in my group. We got together before camp 2 or 3 times. We did this in order to get to know each other, come up with a group name, and to practice our skit.

The girls ended up picking "Funky Monkey Mormon Mafia" for our name.

For our skit, we based it off of the TV Show, America Best Dance Company. All of us performed and at the end of the skit, we got the whole crowd dancing the "Funky Monkey" or as you might know it the "Chicken Dance" done at weddings. We came up with our own "monkey" moves instead of the "chicken" moves.

Here are a couple of pictures from the skit.

The night of the skits, the Bishops and Young Women Leaders could come up and visit. Here is a group photo of all the members from my ward at camp. I had 11 Young Women at camp. It was fun watching them learn new things.

I am so glad that Matt was able to come with me even though he had school during the summer. Here is a picture of us together in our "Funky Monkey Mormon Mafia" shirts. Matt drew on the monkey.

Summer of Hiking

We love being outdoors. This past summer we went hiking with our friends, Laura and Charlie. It is quite funny as we introduce Laura (she grew up in California) to the great outdoors of Utah last year with a couple of small hikes, Ensign Peak and Donut Falls.


This year, we went hiking up to Dog Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon and the the Brighton Lakes also up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Our last hike was up to Timpanogos Cave. All the hikes were a blast and the mountains were absolutely beautiful. Dog Lake Hike Pictures:

Timpanogos Cave Hike:

Happy Birthday Matt

Matt turned the big 30 on September 19th while I was away in Atlanta, Georgia for a work conference. I was kinda bummed about missing his birthday, so I decided to have a small surprise birthday party for him on Sunday, October 9th.

For his cake I decided to make him a Mad Hatter cake. Lets just say I have never made a cake besides a Betty Crocker cake in a pan and I don't like frosting it, so Matt usually frost its.

First was the baking of the cakes, then freezing them, so they would be easier to frost.

My sister, Kali, the cake expert told me how to make butter cream frosting. So I started with that. Lets just say, she forgot to tell me it is really think and I was suppose to thin it out to get the consistency I wanted. Well, my mom and I finally got the icing to be manageable. So we put the cake together, added some icing, and I added the final touches. See the steps and how it turned out.

Let me know how I did on my first cake....and probably last as it took forever!