engaged!

i am officially an engaged woman.... wooo weeeee!

i couldn't be happier! 

two thursdays ago i was working on a wedding with audrey and had plans to hang out with andy after i got off work. he was hoping to go rock climbing after i got off but as soon as i was off i realized it had turned into a tornado outside. he was set on going even with the storm brewing. i kept telling him that it was too windy but he was adamant that we went up and at least did one pitch and if weather permitted, we'd get two pitches in. so we drove up to the mouth of rock canyon and as soon as we got there, the wind stopped...completely. 

we hiked up to where i did my first multi-pitch and began the climb. i did the first pitch and as andy was making his way up the second pitch the glow of the sunset behind me started to blaze across the mountainside. andy hurried up and i began the climb after him. about half way up andy started yelling at me to hurry and get up to him or i would miss the sunset. i was going about as fast as i could and he kept yelling at me to climb faster! as soon as i got to the top where he was, he told me to grab the camera out of the backpack. i moved as fast as i could to capture one of the most amazing sunsets i've ever seen!

little did i know that that was merely a distraction for andy to get the ring out of his pocket. he started telling me a lot of mushy gushy lovey stuff and i caught on. then he asked me if i would marry him. i didn't even look at the ring! i just threw my arms around him and started crying like a baby! i honestly don't think i've ever been as happy as i was in that moment.

i calmed myself and said, "yes!" and he put my beautiful ring on my finger! 

get excited for october people!

fireworks are fun

after a fantastic day of climbing down in maple canyon, 

a few of us headed over to the orem summerfest to partake in the summer fun. 

i have lived in orem all my life. 

except for my time in provo as a co-ed, which, provo is basically the same place in as orem so maybe that doesn't count as leaving orem.and then there was that mission of mine for my lovely church 

where i actually packed up and left the state and lived more than 20 minutes away from my parents for a year and a half in the great southern state of georgia. that totals up to being about 18 months, out of 25 years, of living away from home. 

so, needless to say, i have lived in orem/provo, utah for a very long, long time.

because of all that time in utah valley, i have been able to attend the orem summerfest carnival and firework show on many occasions. i must say that i love things like this. unfortunately, andy hates them... too many people he says. but oh well, i'm still going to go anyways. people watching is one of my favorite pastimes. and somehow i convinced him of tagging along with me to the fireworks this year.

he didn't want to go, and to be frank, not too many of my friends were super pumped on it, but there really wasn't too much else to do besides going to a dollar movie. 

i convinced them that fireworks were much more entertaining.

we grabbed our blankets and parked forever away from the park and made the trek through millions of people to the park and met up with my mom and sister. somehow we ended up in the v.i.p. section with plenty of room to spread out and lounge and get a front row viewing of the show. we're just cool like that.before the show started a friend on mine said something to the affect, "it amazes me that all firework shows are basically the same. you'd think after all these years that they'd invent something really great."

boy was he eating his words by the end of the extravaganza! 

(notice i used the word "extravaganza" instead of "show." that's because "show" does not describe what ensued shortly after my friend's comment and "extravaganza" seems to suffice a little better.)

we just couldn't contain how stoked we were on what had just occured

so, to sum this up right quick, it was insanely awesome. 

the beginning of the extravaganza was like any other firework show.

then the magic happened. in fact, there was so much magic that i would venture to say that it was even better than the show disneyland somehow has the funds to put on EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. 

words cannot even begin to describe the pure joy that exuded from my face as the finale started. i had the biggest, goofiest, grin slathered all over my visage. i just couldn't contain it and i was not the only person who was freaking out about it! the whole crowd of hundreds, maybe a thousands, were out of control cheering for how awesome it suddenly became. the pictures above are merely trying to recreate the happiness that we experienced. it doesn't do it justice. 

so, my friend ate his words. in fact, after the extravaganza, i did hear him say, 

"that was legit."

the annual maple canyon trip

our friend's chase and emily mcmillan invited us to go down to maple canyon again to meet up with them and some other friends to have a quick little camping/climbing trip.
once we got there we realized that it was just two weeks and a year before that that we had all been down there together camping and climbing! we want to make this an annual thing now.
there were three people missing from the last trip but this time there were two new people, my sister and jann's brother hitched a ride down with us.

maple canyon is just such a rad little place with so many opportunities for every level of climber. it's fun knowing that we know the guy who put up most of the routes down there too. that guy would be           darren knezek who owns the climbing shop, mountain works at the quarry. he is such and incredible climber and one of the things i admire most about him, is his willingness to share his talent and knowledge with everyone from beginner to pro. everyone can learn something about him.

Anyways, that is off the subject....

it was pretty crowded this last weekend but we still got some fun and challenging climbs in and it was so nice to break away from the recent gloom of the rainy season up north and catch a few rays.

greg had the COOLEST belay glasses. makes it so you don't get a crick in your neck from looking up at your climber!

climbing with the roomies

my roommates have climbed off and on for a few years and thankfully they're picking it up again! i need more girls that i can just run up the mountain with and get some good climbing in! they are rad.

a couple weeks ago, andy and i went up with my little sister, my two roommates, jann and alicia and we brought our friend zeke who was looking to get into it. zeke had bouldered few times in the gym but had never sport climbed outdoors so it was fun teaching him the ropes... literally. 

it was a fantastic evening with some fun climbs, good laughs and good company. 

my first multi-pitch

for some reason when i plug my phone in at night to get charged, it doesn't allow it to vibrate or ring when i have incoming calls or texts. i have tried understanding this and fixing it, but to no avail. 

a few weeks ago it was my day off and i didn't turn my alarm on because i wanted a most deserved morning to sleep in. i had stayed up REALLY late with my roommates the night before just chattin' away so when morning time came i sorta kinda forgot andy had wanted to go climbing and i had ALL of his gear in the back of my car! i was just a sleepin' away and he called and called and called and texted a me a million times trying to either get me up to come or to at least get me up to get his stuff out of my car because several people were waiting him and us to head up to rock canyon to attack another multi-pitch called cosmic space dust lasers.

he came to my house and pounded on my door a lot, but being a little tired i barely heard the pounding in the back of my little dreams. finally it hit me that that pounding was going on for a long time and i figured one of my roommates would get it but they didn't. 

so i finally comprehended that someone really wanted in. i flew out of bed like a crazy person and ran downstairs in a mess. 

andy and parker were standing there a little frustrated from trying to get me up and not being successful. 

poor guys... i didn't blame them. i hate when i try to get a hold of someone and i know they have their phone and they just don't notice their phone is exploding with my name on it and they're just too oblivious to notice!  so frustrating! 

i was so tired but i decided to throw some real clothes on and run out the door with them. 

and boy am i glad i did! i did my first multi-pitch and it was AWESOME! 

we met up with blake nyman and jeff larson who did a little multi right next to us.

 i love how many little jewels rock canyon has to offer. too bad it's soooooo busy most days!

the wee little meera graduated

my parent's officially no longer have any kids in grade school.

they are OLD. 

meera will always, perpetually be my little "little" sister in my mind. 

i cannot believe she is on her way to uvu!

it has been interesting watching her grow into her own young woman. 

i am actually pretty envious of her. she completely kills it at anything she attempts to put her mind to.

she basically taught herself to play the guitar, is an amazingly creative, funky artist, 

was one of the best lacrosse players on her team and has recently picked up rock climbing 

and is most likely better than me. 

she makes me sick.

miss my gramps

william ralph andersen is one of the best men i have ever known. 

i love him and miss him tremendously. 

he was a rad dude.

to explain this headstone a bit, my grandpa was a plant geneticist and taught genetics at byu for a long time. one of his greatest heroes was gregor mendel who was the father of genetics and he mapped the genome for the pea plant and paved the way for so many geneticists... my grandfather included. because of mendel's pioneering research, my grandpa was the first to map the genome of corn.
 hence the reason for the pea plant engraved around the outside of the stone and a gene strand in between my grandma and grandpa's names.
also, if any of you have heard the hymn "if you could hie to kolob" you may recognize the inscription "there is no end to spirit." my grandpa passed away from cancer and the weeks leading up to his death, he was pretty much unconscious from all of the pain killers he was on. there were a few times that he would come to and most of the time he would say things that made no sense. my mom and i knew that this hymn was one of his favorite hymns so we sang it to him every now and then. the last time that i was able to talk to him, and hear his voice, he lifted his head and looked up at me and said, "there is no end to spirit..."
like i said, he was a cool dude.