Adventures in CROATIA

My mom and I spent 2 weeks in Croatia. We did an REI adventure trip for 8 days which included days of hiking, biking and kyaking. Croatia is a beautiful country right on the Adriatic Sea with a variety of national parks. We spent days hiking around beautiful lakes and waterfalls, kyaking around islands and down river rapids, and biking around the countryside. The water is all crystal clear and an amazing blue color. The old cities were incredible, with the old city walls and cobblestone streets. We also spent a few days at the end relaxing and laying out in Split and Dubrovnik, enjoying a break from the group. I will post a slideshow of more pictures next since there were so many great ones. This is just a small sample...

The old city of Dubrovnik, looking from the wall over the city.

Kyaking down the river, and walking around the waterfall.

At the waterfalls in the national park near Trogir.

My mom and I on the wall in Dubrovnik... and yes sweating, as we were ALL week.

AZ, Yosemite and more

(I know I am so behind in catching up on my blog, and I don't have a good excuse at all)

The weekends following DC and Duck beach were my last 2 weeks for work! Now my plan was to quit my job, but when I went in to do so they wanted me to transfer to SD, since I told them I was moving there. But I told them that my plan was to take the summer off work... so they told me to take a leave of absence and then decide what I wanted to do. So technically I'm not "unemployed" right now... I'm just on a leave. And I sure have been living it up! But back then my last weekends were filled with a trip to AZ for Nathan's graduation and for Nate to meet the family... and then a weekend in Yosemite hiking half dome with a group of friends. We also had a fun saturday bbq out in Lake Elsinor at the Smart's house where friends from out of town came to visit. It was so fun to see everyone and to hang out in the inland empire!Nathan's HS graduation! This makes me feel old as my little brother is starting BYU in the fall!!

Nate and I at the speedway race track in AZ with Schuyler, Jason and Sean!

Schulyer and I at the gokart racetrack!

Nate and I about to head up the chains to get to the top... it was over an hour line just to start up the chains. And this picture makes it look easy when actually it was more like a 45 degree angle with sheer cliffs on either side.

My friends and I admiring the waterfall!

The view of the mist trail that goes right alongside the waterfall on the way to the top!

At the top of the cables about to head back down.

The whole group hanging out... ahh the good old belmont days

My favorite blondies... good memories from the days as roommies!

DC and Duck Beach!

Major need for an update!

So I haven't updated my blog in forever i know. So here is a maasive update all at once. Enjoy

So back in May Nate and I went to Washington DC for a week. We stayed with Lyndsay's family at casa de McDougal... which is always a blast! We had fun with them as we ventured around DC as tourists! It was so fun biking around the monuments, visiting the museums, experiencing the flight simulator, IMAX theater, eating, walking, and having a great time! We also got to hang out with Jenna, Giff and Maddox, which was tons of fun. Maddox is probably the cutest 2 year old ever! The best was when he rolled around in the mud puddles at Great Falls! (see below)

There were too many good photos from the trip so I made a slideshow instead of posting all of them!

Cleveland

So I've been so bad about writting on my blog i know. I actually wrote this entry and then somehow it got erased. So here I am, a month later, finally updating from my trip to Cleveland. This trip was so much fun hanging out with Debbie, Ben and of course PARKER! He's getting so big and more personality every day! He sits up and crawls around all the time!

We had a great time eating ice cream for dinner... going on long walks around the neighborhoods... eating all the samples at whole foods and then leaving without buying anything...making and eating lots of cookie dough... bath time and nap time and lots of play time...shopping...movies... and lots of Pman time! It was a great trip!!!

Latest and Greatest

So I haven't updated in awhile, but lots has been going on in my life. Work has finally slowed down and the countdown to when I quit is in full force! Of course, I haven't decided what I want to do with my life AFTER I quit... but that will work itself out. So for all of you that know me, and know how many clothes I have, you'll be happy to know that I had a garage sale a month ago and literally got rid of 1/3 of my closet! (Yes, that means, I still have a ton of clothes, but not as many) The ridiculous part is that as I was going through my closet I was finding clothes that I wore Freshman year of college... so like 6 years ago. Even worse I think there were a few items that were from high school. Yes, high school. Thats just ridiculous. First of all, I don't even wear them so I have no idea why I still have them. Then there was the whole section of "someday I'll fit in these again", I finally came to terms with the fact that not only might I never fit in them again but even if I could they aren't in style anymore anyway!! So as you can see from the picture, it was quite the garage sale. Sadly you can't tell from this picture but there are piles of clothes on the ground that you can't even see. I told you... RIDICULOUS. But it felt good to get rid of a lot of stuff and since then, I havne't gone shopping at all. These are big steps for me!

After the garage sale we had a bonfire on the beach for Lezlie (farthest left in pic) because she moved back to Utah. I miss Lezlie and am still sad that she left us... but I'm excited for her new adventures in Utah. BTW, it was FREEZING that night on the beach... but still so much fun.

For conference I went to Park City to try to get in a couple more times on the mountain. I didn't expect the snow to be that great because It's April. But there was actually a HUGE storm that weekend. It was AMAZING! There was so much snow! It snowed like 2 feet on Monday. The picture gives some depiction of the amount of powder. I went to PC on Sat, and it was pretty good, but Monday I went to Canyons with Kristen and the snow was amazing! Thiegh deep powder at some points! Our legs were dead from boarding through all of it. We had fresh tracks the entire way down. It was a great way to end the season!

This Pic shows the crazy amount of snow outside my Park City condo! And it kept dumping ALL DAY! So this is just the early morning shot! Besides that the weekend was great having friends up to hang out and watch conference. Lauren made an amazing breakfast and it was great having a bunch of friends up to hang out.

Since Utah I've had lots of fun adventures.... weekend in SD, beach time, Magic Mountain (which is sooo amazing, I LOVE the rollar coasters!), the Getty Museum (really cool up in LA), amazing Sushi and Thai food, lots of frozen yogurt, walks on the beach, and much more. Life is great. Finally, the last thing i've seemed to be reminded again lately is

The minute you try to plan you life and think you have it all figured out, something comes along to change everything!

But, I guess that's what keeps life exciting!

I LOVE MARCH MADDNESS

I have been meaning to write for awhile, but alas, work has been busy and other things have been occupying my time. But I wanted to share my excitement/obsession with the NCAA tournament currently going on. The following are reasons why this time of the year is so great. (And no, I'm not kidding...)

1. The NCAA tournament is one of the greatest sporting events, lasting 3 weeks!

2. I love college sports... they play with SO MUCH MORE HEART than the NBA players

3. The same team isn't always the best year after year, kids graduate, teams change.

4. Any team can win, there are always so many upsets with makes it SO EXCITING!

5. "The Dance" (aka the first 2 days of the tournament) is the greatest 2 days of sports...16 games on each day... which means total unproductively at work

6. On Demand plays all the games online! Meaning while working you can have half your screen work and the other half a BBall game ALL DAY LONG! (good think I'm good at multi-tasking)

7. Filling out a bracket with friends/coworkers provides entertainment, topic of conversation and lots of trash talking! (Yes I have 4 brackets) and am currently in 3rd place in one..

As most know, I love sports, and the NCAA tournament is up there as my favorite. This Sat is a big day being the Final Four and all... and of course I'm looking forward to it!

Even though BYU sadly lost YET AGAIN in the first round of the tournament... they played in Anaheim which was great because a group of us went to the game! Our seats were actually WAY up high (like 2nd row from the top) but we snuck down at the beginning of the game and ending up sitting 2nd row behind the press the entire game!! It was amazing to be so close and was so much fun! (Even though we lost) My friends were doing a good job of taunting the other team but BYU played so bad the first half of the game... So bad that my brother even sent me a gchat during the 1st half telling me "to do something to distract Texas A&M! Anything! Show them your boobs! BYU needs help!" Yes... it was desperate times... considering my older brother was telling me to flash Texas A&M. Since I wanted to stay and watch the whole game I kept my shirt on... I guess I'm not a true BYU fan... Maybe next year BYU will make it past round one... MAYBE.

Life Update

I realized that I haven't posted anything in awhile, and on top of that I've really only posted pictures so far. Which lets be honest, is way more interesting anyway than my ramblings. Life has been busy, as everyone knows, its busy season at work. Now most people think that's because it's "tax season" but in all reality that has nothing to do with why I'm busy. I'm an auditor, I have nothing to do with taxes really. It's busy for us right now because most companies close their books on 12/31 and they have to be audited before their can issue their financial statements. Ok, blah, no more accounting talk, I'm beginning to bore myself. Well if you haven't already stopped reading this, I've just decided to write down a few things that's been going on in my life or have been on my mind lately.

1. I gave up gum for lent. I know i'm not catholic, but it was a bet with someone who is. Why give up gym you might ask? Because I am a gum-o-holic, and i figured chewing a pack a day is unhealthy. I'm proud to say I havne't chewed in a month!

2. I've gone on a frozen yogurt diet. Ok not really because I eat other food too. But I think i went out to get fro yo 6 times this week. Yes that means some days more than once. But I've gone on the "Duck Beach diet" with my friend Kristen. In preperation for memorial weekend in Duck Beach we have given up treats; meaning all candy, cookies, cake, etc. The only thing we are allowed to have is fro yo. As you can see I am taking advantage of this, because it's sure hard not to eat candy at my work. But I've learned the hard way that eating crap all day and sitting on your butt for 12 hours a day doesn't get you ready to be in a swimsuit. So, its time, summer is around the cornor. Since that is 2 1/2 months away, this will be a hard bet. But we have $100 on the line to not cheat. WILLPOWER!

(yes that is a small size, and yes I can eat more than one of those a day)

3. I have the best roommates ever. It's so refreshing to have absolutly no drama in a house of 5 girls. In fact I think its part miracle. We decided that since we all have a some guy traits in us, we are not a typical house of girls. Sure going to miss Lezlie, because even though we "fight like guys",I sure love our late night talks! But we are crazy together and if the walls could talk... it's probably good for us that they can't, I'll leave it at that!

4. I learned a depressing thing on leap day. My salary is based on a 365 day year, so essentially I was working for free on that 366 day... and I worked a 17 hour day that day. Yes 17 hours, till 1:30 am sat morning. And no I don't get paid overtime. But hey, it's a great experience right??

5. I am SO looking forward to all my upcoming trips. I can't really stay in one place for a long time, as I've learned. I'm going to Mammoth this weekend for the first time ever with my friend Megan. Even though its beach weather down here, gotta hit the slopes a few more times! I can't wait for my trip to Utah over conference, to hang out with LAUREN and go snowboarding! I love being in Park City! Then it's Cleveland in May to go see my cute nephew Parker (adorable pic above) and hang out with Debbie! Oh yeah, and Ben of course :) Then, since I'm trying to use up all my PTO before I quit, I'm heading to DC for a week in May to see friends, make some life decisions, hopefully get the job I want, and go to Duck Beach with all the East Coast singles.... Oh then not to forget my trip to Croatia with my mom in June, Utah in July and hopefully Eastern europe in August. Oh and I'm trying to throw a hawaii trip to lezlie's house in there as well... busy months ahead!!! haha... I'm not complaining!

6. As many of you know, I'm making some life changes soon... quitting my job, taking some time off, maybe a move?? There are a lot of question marks in my life right now. But this week I actually think I have found some direction to my life and I'm kind of excited about it. I found a company that I really want to work for, it's pretty much my dream company from what I know so far. I've come to realize I need a change in my life, which might include a move. Yes this is crazy talk since I live 3 blocks from the beach in sunny orange county. Who would leave that??? But I think its time for something new... I'll be sure to keep everyone posted!

7. My best discovery in HB ever... Zen Foot Care Center. Yes this wonderful place where you can get an amazing hour massage for $25!!! I can't talk about it enough, you must experience it yourself. A chinese zen massage, from neck and back to arms, hands, head, feet and legs. I can't believe how many knots I have in my shoulders and back! Well with my job I guess I can. Anyway, its great, Love Rose who runs it. Don't worry I'm on the VIP list now for how many people I've told about it!

Ok I'm tired, and this post is getting long. So here is a quick wrap up of the past month...

WORK.

Just kidding, sort of...I try to do more than that....

Been loving spending time at home, watching American Idol (love the 17yr old!) Big Give (yes I bawled in the first episode) and Extreme Makeover home edition. (Also can't wait for The Office to return. Dancing at landmark with the peeps, BYU volleyball games, San Diego Wild Animal Park (still fun at age 25) Visiting SD and SC, laughing till it hurts, playing catch phrase at the villa, yogurtland and the aftermath, getting my butt out of bed to actually work out in the morning. Concerts with a big group of friends, mormon parties, sunday dessert parties, talking on the phone with Lo till late at night, oh and My love for GCHAT (saves me at work)! so much more... too tired... life is good/crazy/stressful/difficult/frustrating/awesome... all at the same time!!!

Always a bridesmaid....

This is my ode to weddings! How I love all my married friends! They are the best! I've probably been to over 30 weddings in my life, and a bridesmaid 8 times... ( I still need to see the movie 27 dresses, I know) But I love my friends, and I try to go to as many of their weddings as I can. Here are just a few pics from weddings I've been in and gone to. They were all really different and fun in different ways. All the girls looked amazenly beautiful and all I can say is by the time I get married, I think I'll have down how I want it! :)

Costa Rica- June 2007

Megan Shirey, Mike Allen, Mike Cox and i took an 8 day trip to Costa Rica. It was an incredible adventure. Even though we got stuck in a huge tropical rain storm, we still had a ton of fun! From the zip line, hiking the volcano, surfing, ATVs, hiking waterfalls barefoot, feeding monkeys, crocdile cruise, laying out, and more... it was a trip to remember!

Vancouver- June 2007

Family Trip to Vancouver last June. We rented a house outside the city and enjoyed the breathtaking sceanary. We spent some down town around our awesome rental house, took boats out, hiked in Whistler, Hike nearby waterfalls, saw black bears, went to Victory Island, Biked through Stanley park, and so much more. It was a great trip with the family. We even spent some time in Seattle on the way back!

Entering the blogging world

So I decided that I would start a blog. Not sure exactly why because I'm not married nor have pics of any kids to post on here. But I realized that I seem to travel a lot, and this is a great way to track my travels. So think of this as my travel blog. The adventures of Me, or Mia, whichever. Even if I'm the only on that looks at it, I guess I'll have it for memory sake. I might have to retroactivily go back and post some great memories from past trips, since there have been some really great ones. But since I'm planning on doing lost of travelling this summer, this will be my way of keeping record. Plus for all you really bored, might be entertaining to read now and again. Anyway, enjoy, could turn into an interesting hobby.