Beauty of Being Human: Quarter of a Century (LOTS of pictures...)

I turned 25 this month. That is quarter of a century, as Dallin likes to call the ripe age, which really just makes it sound old. However, for some reason when someone is 50 or 100, it has more of a milestone sound, "You are half a century! Wow." or "A century old, amazing." Quarter of a century kind of just sounds as though you no longer are a child, but not quite an adult still; keep truckin' young-old one. Either way, I had a wonderful birthday with close friends out here in Utah, "The Chocolate Cake" included. Thank you to all who celebrated physically as well as through their love with phone calls and generous gifts.

My Nook is now protected from any future water mishaps

One of the free things I got for my birthday. This sub from Firehouse Subs along with an ice cream cone from Ben & Jerry's, a taco from Rubios, a bowl of noodles from Noodles and Company and a bagel with cream cheese from Einstein Bagels. Seriously, make your birthday that much better by cashing in on all the free stuff!

Welcomed home by this smiling face, singing and dancing

What was left of "The Chocolate Cake" after celebrating

Mother's Day weekend we celebrated our moms by planting our garden; you know, creating life... maybe a stretch, but that is what we did Mother's Day weekend. We now have growing, yes actually growing, beans, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, basil and cilantro. I must say, when our first little lettuce sprouts came poking through the ground, I almost cried with excitement that we successfully planted a seed. Then, the beans started to come all strong and gorgeous along with the precious yellow blossoms on the tomato plants. Now we just need to keep them alive long enough to actually give us something we can eat.

All planted

The abandoned bird's nest in the backyard apple tree. We must have scared her away

Oh glorious day!

The flower from the ward on Mother's Day

Pepper plant going strong

Wonderful tomato blossom

Look at those strong beans grow!

With the warm weather upon us (disregarding this past weekend full of rain and chilly winds), we have been motivated to get out and move. First, we went rock climbing at a rock climbing gym which was quite fun despite that fact that little girl scouts were showing us up all night. However, by the end of the night we were doing the same difficulty walls they were. Take that little girl scouts!

Awesome climbing shoes

The next day, we went hiking up Millcreek Canyon by our house on a trail called the Elbow Bend Trail. We only got lost once when the trail switch-backed but we kept going straight. Oops. Eventually, after climbing over, under and through much foliage, we turned around to find the trail we were supposed to be on.

gorgeous

Finding our trail

Starting out

This past weekend one of my best friends, the beautiful Jamie, got married. I was lucky enough to be in the wedding party and celebrate all day with her and her new hubby, Matt. Lexi came down just in time for the reception which included lots of dancing (excluding Dallin-party pooper), some apple stealing from the center pieces on Dallin and Lexi's behalf, as well as party favor snatching, same culprits. All in all, it was a great way to start off the Memorial Day weekend. So happy for Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Glenn!

Jamie and Matt

With the gorgeous bride

Little sis towering over big sis

Apple thief

We ended the week with a visit to the City Creek Center, finally, in downtown Salt Lake where Lexi got to try on her "dream ring," a $60,000 ring from Tiffany's, and we found AWESOME headbands at Nordstrom's...