The Dreaded Car Update...(eh, it's not that bad)

So what would you like to hear first, the good news or the bad news? Bad news first you say? Well on Monday, after my amazing dad towed my car up to the shop, we found out we had blown the engine...how much does that bite? The estimated cost to recover such craziness? $3200! After much debate and going over and over numbers Matt and I decided that it would probably be better to try and sale the car and just buy a new one, not the ideal situation since we had my car all paid off but what are you going to do?

We started the search on Monday (which leads to the good news portion of this post) and by Wednesday we had a new car, how insane is that?! It's a 2004 Nissan Sentra and it only has 50k miles, not too bad if I say so myself! Plus we were able to get a killer deal on it! One downside (which hopefully soon enough will be an upside) it's a manual and ya I've never driven a manual. Matt is in the process of teaching me and though it a little more frustrating then I thought I am pretty excited to become the master of a clutch!

Yesterday I was able to sell my car and I have to admit it was a little sad turning my car over to a new owner. My grandpa and I bought the car together 4 years ago this month and I know there would be no way I could have afforded such a great car without his help. My grandpa was such an amazing man and had such a huge heart, doing this for me was more then I could ask for! No longer owning the car we bought together really does leave me a little depressed. I remember him taking me to the car dealership and looking over this car and that car and finally finding the one that was the perfect fit. I remember the test drive and how much my grandpa wanted me to be able to enjoy my new car. With all the adventures and road trips Matt and I have gone on in this car I know my grandpa would be so happy!

Moab Get-A-Way and a Broken Car *sigh*

What a crazy/wonderful/stressful weekend! We experienced such a roller coaster of highs and lows in such a short time, what's up with that?!

We started off the weekend having a blast in Moab! We took off after work on Friday and got down there around 9ish, checked in to our hotel, relaxed, and got ready for a little hiking the next day. On Saturday we decided to hike up to Corona Arch. The hike too about 2 hours and we got some pretty fun photos along the way...

The hike was perfect! It wasn't too long, it wasn't too hot, and I got take Matt somewhere he had never been before, how freakin cool is that?! I absolutely love being able to share my love for Moab and the surrounding area with Matt and it made the get-a-way that much more wonderful for me!! For the rest of the day on Saturday we relaxed, went swimming, got some food (and ice cream!), took a nap, and just enjoyed our vacation.

After sleeping in Sunday morning and getting a quick bite we took off. The drive home is about 3 1/2 hours and all seemed fine until we were about 1 hour from home. Suddenly my car started making this really weird grinding noise and then the oil light came on. What is strange is that my oil change isn't even due yet! So we pulled over put some oil in it but the noise continued. We were in Nephi (about 50 miles from our house) when all of a sudden the engine died! My mom was amazing enough to come and rescue us but now my poor little car is stuck in Nephi until I can figure out how to get it back up here. I am really hoping it's not going to cost a fortunate to fix it but who knows. It was definitely not the ideal way to end our vacation. On the plus side we were able to enjoy the weekend together without work and we're both safe, sometimes you just need to count your blessings right?!

Is that "Specialized"?

On Wednesday I purchased one of the most expensive items I've purchased in a long time (only to be trumped by the washer and dryer we got a couple of months ago) and I couldn't be more excited! With a little help from savings and working many, many Saturday's I purchased my first bike in a long time...a black 'Specialized Hardrock' from Bingham Cyclery and boy does it ride nice! It's a front suspension, all-terrain bike that I hope to put many miles on...

One of the main reasons I wanted to get a bike is so I can ride to work everyday. I live exactly 2.1 miles from my work and how can I not just ride a bike to work, it's so close! Plus the exercise and getting a little sun is definitely a motivating factor. I think it's a good deal all around! I think I've also convinced a friend to go biking with me a little here and there and since we live so close to Provo and American Fork Canyon we're bound to find a bunch of neat trails to explore!

Timpanogos Cave and the Alpine Loop!

So this past weekend Matt had Saturday and Sunday off so we decided to take advantage of it! It's rare that Matt would have either days off so when we found out he had both we decided to get out of the house and enjoy the great outdoors!

On Saturday we went to the Timpanongos Cave up American Fork Canyon and can I just tell you how beautiful it was outside! The weather was perfect! It wasn't too hot but not too cold, such an ideal day to take a hike. The hike up to the cave was about 1 1/2 miles but we climbed over 1,000 feet in elevation so it was pretty steep and kind of kicked our butt! By the time we got to the top we were beat! Luckily the caves were pretty cool and walking through them was quite relaxing. The whole hike and tour of the caves took about 3 hours and was definitely well worth it!

Matt getting ready to head up

You can see how high we have to hike, crazy!

A pretty neat little tunnel they carved out for the trail, good thing we are kind short!

This was taken about 3/4 of the way up the trail and you can see where the cave tours begin. It was pretty insane to think we had to hike that high up but pretty amazing once we got to the top!

We made it!!

Matt inside the cave, what a freakin cute hubby I have!

This is called "The heart of Timpanogos" intense!

A couple stalactites and stalagmites (stalactities grow on the roof the cave downward and stalagmites grow on the floor of the cave upward, when they meet it's called a column).

Another neat feature on the trail is this cut-away they did to the side of the mountian. I didn't realize how freakin steep it was up there until looking at this picture, scary!

Amazing views of Utah Valley, breathtaking!

Here you can see the tiny little parking lot below, we were so high!!

The next day we decided to go on a drive and get out of the house again. We wanted to drive the Alpine Loop (which goes up through American Fork canyon and then out of Provo canyon) but it was closed half-way up. We went up as far as we could then took some photos and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and tranquility of the canyon. It's been years since I have been up American Fork canyon and it really is one of the most gorgeous, lush, breathtaking canyons I've been up!

The back side of Timpanogos Mountian.

XOXO

After our attempt at the Alpine Loop we took a quick trip to Draper through the point of the mountain instead of around it (on I-15) on this little scenic back road and the views from on top were amazing! From one side of the road you could see all of Utah Valley and on the other side all of Salt Lake Valley...I can totally see how so many people want to build houses up there, crazy beautiful!

Utah Valley! (You can see Utah Lake to the right)

Salt Lake Valley! (You can see the Draper Temple in the bottom right corner)