Fall is Here

Fall is here and I am loving it.  Honestly, the only thing I have against fall is the fact that it's too short and it leads into winter.  In Utah, as soon as winter hits you don't see spring until about May, if that.  I love the crunchy leaves on the ground, the red mountains, the cooler weather and the anticipation of the holidays.  It's actually nice being really busy again too.  Danny and I are both in school full time and working 20 hours.  I'm still at Helaman, and Danny is working at Scottrade (he was also working at the MTC until just a couple of days ago, but that's a long story).  Danny's on an intramural football team and basketball team, and I'm on an intramural soccer team.  I also just started doing some volunteer work five hours a week for one of my classes.  Our weeks have been pretty packed but we've managed to make time to see friends and family as well.  Here are some pictures from this semester!

We tied this game, but it seriously felt like we won.  The score was 3-3--they scored 3 goals in the first half, and we came back to tie it in the second half (with our wonderful goalie Kara missing I might add).  I even played goalie for part of the time which is always an awful experience as you can see from the second picture down. And yes, to answer your question, that ball did go in.  I seem to forget that I can use my hands in goal.  We've had an interesting season so far, but  I love the girls on the team and it's so nice to be playing soccer again! I swear, when you graduate high school you really don't realize that it is so much harder to find somewhere to play.

On a Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago we decided to go exploring.  We stopped by Bridal Veil falls, but it was way too crowded to go up.  So instead we kept driving up the canyon and eventually found this adorable park hidden back in the canyon.  There were so many famillies there, all barbecuing, playing games, playing in the creak, etc.  I just loved how hidden it was.

Danny's dad is from New Zealand, hence my new last name.  Because of this, I have been completely exposed to a new culture since meeting Danny and it has been so fun.  Right now, the Rugby World Cup is going on and since the NZ All Blacks were playing Australia (huge rivals) in the semi finals, everyone got together at Danny's Uncle Vaughny's house to watch the game..... at 2 o'clock in the morning. I almost made it the whole game. It was actually really fun to watch--much easier to follow than high school or even college rugby.

My sister is pregnant! And she has been... for the past nine months.  But I still am that excited about it and the baby is due in just a couple of weeks! Anyway, we did a baby shower for her mid September and it was so fun!

We were also able to go to Danny's  little brother Lawson's football game last weekend. Little kid flag football is so cute, and they were surprisingly good!

And finally, here is an exciting sneak peak at my volunteer hours with Wasatch Mental Health--color and play games with the children in the waiting room while watching Disney movies.  Some hard stuff right there!

Have a lovely day!