Two for One!

Welcome back, friends! It's time to catch up on the last two weeks in one post (two for one!). You all have important and good things going on in your lives (which is why I LOVE reading other blogs!), so it means a lot to me that you check in! :)

Guess who comes home this week... Matt! FINALLY! We're not sure if it'll be Wednesday, Thursday, or later when he gets in... Due to travel complications, he  + his buddies suddenly have a 30 HOUR layover in Istanbul, Turkey, and then several other flights. THEN he'll be on his way home! That's life!:) I'm hoping he gets to get out of the airport in Istanbul. How exciting to visit that city?!

The last weeks have been a learning experience. I love a good challenge, and his is one. For him it's been a service and career oportunity, too. So despite a little 'weirdness' at first, I wouldn't change anything. :)

Hard at work!

Since we've been planing this trip for months, I've made sure to have interesting things going on. Between regular work and teaching yoga and grooving into my new job this week, I've had time to fit in extra activities.
I made time to visit the temple each week. Last week was the Jordan River Temple in South Jordan,  a city close to Salt Lake!

The Provo and Draper temples were both closed at that point for summer cleanings, so it was busy. Lots of people must have had the same idea as I did. A busy temple is a beautiful thing though!

View from the front doors. Busy and beautiful!

I hadn't visited Jordan River in a long time, so it was cool to go back. But unfortunately, typical Utah traffic had me white-knuckling the steering wheel all the way there and back! Utah traffic is something I don't think I'll ever get used to!! Ah!

To offset the stress, later in the week I got to spend time with Heather, which was really nice becasue she'll be moving away from Provo later this month. Although it'll be sad to have her far away, she's moving on with life and her career, and no one can complain about that! I also continued to help Bethany get settled in, and she's doing great. :)  Friends are coming and going!

As for me, I'm still putting down roots right here! I kept working at the Rec Center and this week things finally got going. :)  I got to start leading exercise groups and do personal training this week. Next up will be to teach classroom-style wellness education classes and swim groups, etc. It's a great compliment to my other job, which is also in the wellness field (corporate health) but has me sitting at a computer for long periods of time. It's good to balance that with work that has me standing up and moving!

This week was more work-intensive than last week but I still squeezed in a few other activites. I visited the Provo Temple, because it reopened last weekend! Horray!! That meant I got to WALK there which is huge. Less traffic = happier everyone.
A friend from my ward came with me, which made it even better. For those of you interested in the new video, it is as fantastic as everyone is saying!

welcome to my backyard :)

(borrowed image)

I kept up with half marathon training. We're less than one month out. :) I'm pumped!

I got to Skype with this handsome man almost every day. It's pretty cool what we can do from a continent apart... Technology is amazing!

And our campaing equipment arrived! 

We're planning a camping trip to Zion NP for later this month - our first time camping together and only my second time camping EVER... it'll be an adventure! Matt has enough camping experience for the both of us though, being an eagle scout and army cadet!

Also... I don't want to be the world's most boring person, but one of the most motivational parts of the last couple weeks has been finishing a book called The Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens! The author is one of my heros - someone I admire and try to emulate. His book is already one of my FAVORITES - like top 5 ever. It's about his experiences as a Navy SEAL and in humanitarian work, SEAL training, and active duty. The theme is that people are capable of WAY more than most of us EVER realize! It has inspired me more than... pretty much anything, actually! People are amazing, and there's incredible opportunity all around us to test and prove ourselves! This a must-read. :)

Guess what: this book even has a trailer. Watch it by clicking HERE.

Let's wrap this up on a fun note: SHOPPING!

I've taken advantage of extra time by putting finishing touches on our apartment and my fall wardrobe. :D Pictures!!

I found this gorgeous table this week and LOVE it! It adds elegance and maturity to our apartment, and marks my first furniture splurge... that's gotta be some rite of passage, haha :D Thank you to everyone involved with getting it up 3 flights of stairs....

And as far as I'm concerned, it's fall! :) I saw leaves on the ground so that's enough evidence, right? Nevermind that it's still 100 degrees out ;) 

So obviously it's time for a new fall coat!

...and a dress!
This is an option for my bridesmaid dress for a wedding I'll be in NEXT month! 

There's SO much more in the works that I'm excited about!