i like hikes: a cecret failure. and a reunion, which is completely unrelated.

i don't know if i'm quite ready to tackle what will be the longest disneyland post ever right now, so instead i will blog about halloween day and do that tomorrow.

ryan doesn't have class until 1 on mondays and since the weather was so nice we decided to go on a little halloween hike! we knew hiking to cecret lake wouldn't take long so we decided to go there.



when we got there the road to get to the trailhead was gated so we parked outside of it and just started walking. as you can see from this picture it was so bright we had no idea what was really in front of us.

after the sun decided to calm down we came across this little stream!

we loved the moss and water running under the ice. for some reason any time i see mossy rocks like this i feel like i'm in lotr or narnia or some other magical film. and i like that.

looking up to see this was a real treat.

and i love ryan's face to my reaction.

it was like "what? why would me laying on this rock, in this way, be weird?" haha

once we remembered we were there to go on a hike and not just play at this stream we continued on. after looking at the map on ryan's phone we realized we were going in the opposite direction so we turned around and got on the right path and then realized because we couldn't drive to the trailhead we were still a mile away from it. so our little hike turned into four miles which we definitely didn't have time for which was so sad! but we tried to make the most of it.

snow! and snow maker! which i had a hard time believing was really a snow maker.

 which i guess makes the fact that i'm not a skiier or snowboarder very obvious.

baby christmas trees!

it would have been nicer if a lake was behind us! but this will do.

ryan was so happy to see the snow. he can hardly wait for ski season to begin

aaaand let's all give him a round of applause because he is going to be a park city ski instructor this year!

i was just happy it was still pretty

because as you can see all the leaves are gone!

i was not expecting that and was so sad.

i guess naked quakies are still nice looking though

to make our walk back down to the car festive, ryan turned on some halloween pandora

and then we had an impromptu dance party

(i really turned around and this was happening)

which we loved.

and then sang along to the new coldplay album as we drove back down the canyon with the sunroof open because the weather was still so nice.  

(ps ryan really was singing - just not at this particular moment and hey there permanent retainer!)

it wasn't exactly the morning we had planned but we had a great time together anyway

aaaand i was so happy we did it because 24 hours later snow was falling!

afterwards i went with rachel to meet up with kelly and lauren for lunch.

i'm so glad we missed the 4th south exit and got off the 6th north exit instead just so we could witness this happening! halloween right before our very eyes!

i was sad to see this though. what the heck happened to snelgrove ice cream? and why is it fine for jimmy to just paint the ice cream cone black?

anyway. we saw ashley's husband at zupa's so he called her and she joined too!

it was a delightful reunion and i was really happy that it worked out. i don't think we have all been together at the same time since lauren and kelly came to sleep over at our apartment freshman year!

i've never been one to take the initiative and make get togethers happen but i did this halloween afternoon and i was so pleased with the results! making the effort to see old friends is nice.

annnnd i got to finally meet baby olivia!

this is going to seem super creepy but one day i had a dream about her as told about here:

and i have been obsessed with her and that hair ever since!

and let me say that lauren was right, holding the real olivia was quite a treat and she is just as cute as lauren portrays her to be on her blog! and so itty-bitty! yes. itty-bitty.

after lunch i went grocery shopping with rachel to help with her two little guys (who are just as cute as baby olivia) and that was a treat as well. by the time evening hit it felt like halloween had already been happening for the last thirty days and was so successful that i didn't feel like doing anything that night and so i didn't. and i felt great about it.  ..and that is when you know you are getting older haha.