Temple Square, Bethany + FALL!

Welome back to the blog! I hope your week was productive and fun - it has been around here!

On Monday evening BETHANY arrived! She came with her bro who volunteered to make the whole drive from Oregon with her. That's love!

During the week it was fun to help her get acclimated and find an apartment. It reminds me of when I was in her position, a little over a year ago. It helps to have a friend during transitions like that. :)

Tuesday evening we headed to the farmers' market outside the BYU football stadium! We shopped around before heading to yoga. :)

The class was one of five yoga sessions I taught this week. By the last class it's safe to say I was burnt out. But fortunately, when class #5 started, I was encouraged by the 31 students who had made it out! It was one of my biggest classes (the room can't hold many more than that) and some students were stacked sideways in front so we'd all fit. We had a super fun and sweaty session, and it felt GREAT! Teaching yoga is a blast!

Work at my other/new job - Senior Wellness Programmer at the Rec Center - is coming along really well too. We're still in the planning stages, but I'm enthusiastic about leading the walking + swim clubs, wellness education classes, and more that we have planned. They'll be up and running in the next few weeks!

While most of this week was spent working and teaching, plus helping Bethany with moving chores, we managed to have fun. :) By Friday afternoon we were ready to get out, so we headed to Salt Lake for shopping and temple-ing!

On the way up north, we stopped at a craft store that I'd heard had autumn decorations... the rumors were true! Walking into the store was like jumping into real-life Pinterest. :D

After checking out probably every single fall decoration the store offered, we selected a few key items. They're already hanging in my apartment. The fall theme is making me so excited! The holidays, General Conference, cool temps, and of course the fall trips that Matt and I have planned, are coming right up. :) Yay!

The next stop was the Salt Lake Temple! We went in and each had a great time. The temple helped us feel uplifted, optimistic, and sparkly. I love this picture that a passer-by took of us after we came out. It captures some of the peace and strength of the temple. :)

Temple Square never fails to amaze. We met a wonderful Scottish couple visiting for the first time and their enthusiasm about seeing the temple was contagious!

flowers on temple square

After the temple we spent time at City Creek Mall.

Nordstrom has their fall boots out already! :)

Later we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

and had dinner at The Garden, the restaurant on the top floor. This was our view!

Nowhere quite like it. We had a wonderful evening!

Saturday morning was more yoga, a tough run, and a long Skype sesh with Matt. Here's a pic I got off FB of him on an outing with his group and Kosovar soldiers. The Americans are in grey-er uniforms and the Kosovars are in the green-er ones. 

Of course their group is a lot bigger than that. That's just some of them. 

Matt's CULP group is continuing to do service, education, and foreign relations along with training. Matt is working hard and loving it! Hard to believe the trip is half way through - I'm missing this handsome man, but so happy about what he's doing! :)

Saturday evening Bethany, Heather and I made dinner together. We got to eat outside in the perfect late summer air.

Lovely! I know Heather from high school and Bethany from college, so it's fun to be together to enjoy this next phase of life. 

And now I'm so glad it's Sunday! This week I'm especially grateful for a "day of rest."

Today is my ward's first day on the new fall schedule: 8am church. I'm so pumped! Starting church early in the day seems more deliberate. It also frees up the rest of the day for service, fun, and rest. After my ward's meetings I'll be off to accompany B to her new ward for her first Sunday in Provo. :) Yay!

That's it for now! Have a great week, friends! :)