Fresh Salmon!

Last night I was invited to enjoy a home cooked meal with fresh salmon! It was so amazing and was truly made with love. Such a difference! It was like a salmon buffet of goodness: salmon sushi rolls, breaded salmon, salmon quesadillas, and a great salmon chip dip. It was such a beautiful meal and I feel very grateful to have been a part of it. Fantastic food and company!
So thanks to all of those who prepared the delicious food and made it such a great night!
Since I had to switch schedules with a co-worker for the week, I was off yesterday and today is my "Sunday" and I'll have to work this weekend for the 4th of July. But the weather is so beautiful right now that I can't wait to take advantage of it. Yesterday Allison and I went for a small hike and laid out in the sun next to Riley Creek for three hours. It was so nice and surprisingly I didn't get burnt at all! So I think I'm going to do it again today. Why not!?

Scholarship - 2nd Place

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work I got an email from a woman who works in UVU's International Center. She said she had received notification that I was awarded a scholarship in France through another program and congratulated me on the scholarship and asked for information as to why I chose the program I did. I was so surprised by this email because I had no idea that I won second place for the scholarship I applied for! I would be lying if I didn't admit I started squealing like a little girl and jumping around my room. I now have $2000 for my study abroad program and feel so blessed to have this extra help. If you're interested in reading my paper, I'll attach the link.
http://www.gowithcea.com/services/financing/scholarships/scholarship_essays.html?Item=Scholarship_Fall_FinacialNeed2
Thanks to all for your love and support. I look forward to sharing this journey with all of you.

Moose Chase!

So lately I've decided to stop taking the shuttle to work completely and walk every day now. This morning when I woke up and it was still raining I was less than enthusiastic about the walk, but I grabbed my umbrella and set off for work at 6:25 a.m. I put in my skullcandy earphones (love them) and listened to my shuffle as I enjoyed the scenery around me. Then just as I was nearing work, I saw a moose crossing the Park Road ahead of me. It was far enough ahead that I didn't worry about it and continued walking on the trail. Just seconds later the moose came running back, recrossing the street with a grizzly bear at its heels! I quickly yanked my earphones out in astonishment, as if my sight had been impaired by sound. I mumbled some choice words to myself, in shock by what I'd seen. It's crazy living in the wild like this! And I have to say that I'm grateful that I didn't leave for work a minute earlier because I would have been on the path where the bear came from. That would have been really scary!!!

Hiking to the Healy Overlook

Wednesday I got off work at 3:30 and decided I would take a nap and skip out on yoga because I was just too tired. After I woke up and grabbed some dinner my friend Julie invited me to hike Healy with her. Since I didn't have anything else going on, I jumped at the opportunity. I've been wanting to hike Healy since I've been here and still hadn't gotten around to it. It was probably the hardest hike I did last summer so I guess I've been procrastinating it this year. So we grabbed our cameras and set up the trail. As I mentioned in my last post - hiking with boys and girls is completely different. This hike is a strenuous hike and I think we worked even harder trying to talk the entire time. :-)
It was a really fun hike and was so rewarding when we made it to the top of the overlook. Some day I would really love to continue on the trail and hike all the way to Healy and just hitchhike back but we'll see! Anyway, thanks to Julie for inviting me! It was the perfect weather and such a great time!


On the way back down we were so busy talking we nearly walked into two moose. They just looked at us and we slowly backed up and then just sat in the grass waiting for them to leave to we could continue down. It was really fun and they eventually headed off the trail so we could head home. My hips and butt were sore yesterday from the great work out. I need to do it more often!

Horseshoe Lake

A few nights ago, I went on a little hike with my two friends David and Jeff. Something I learned last summer up here, going on hikes with girls and guys are two completely different things. In general, when girls go on hikes we tend to stick with trails and go at a slower pace. Hiking with guys is a whole other story, it's much more adventurous.. trails aren't really involved. If they see a rock that they want to climb, they will climb it. So what usually is a relaxing hike around Horseshoe Lake was a little more vigorous for me, but I had a blast. We went late at night so keep in mind that these pictures were taken around 11:00 pm to midnight. I love Alaskan daylight!

First time in the park this year...

The other night my friend Jason and I drove out into the park together. It was a fun drive, very relaxing and we saw a few animals along the way. Here are some of the photos I snapped.

An Eventful Week!

(Hanging out with friends on my b-day)

Well my job at the Mercantile is off to an interesting start. My Manager has already been fired and they're looking for a replacement without much luck. So with that happening the work schedule has changed and now my days off are Thursday, Friday and they have me closing the store three days in a row which sucks because the shift is 3:00 - 11:30. By the time I get off work I am completely exhausted but it is nice to sleep in so late. But I just don't want the closing shift so I'm going to try and switch and work mornings instead. (6:45 - 3:30) Hopefully I will get it approved!
Other than work I've had a really fun week! Wednesday night was a Chili Cook-Off at Creekside (about 10 miles away) and I was able to hitch a ride with some friends. It was such a fun experience! They had a band playing, bon fire, and like 16 different types of chili's that you could try - all for free! There was one chili in particular that was really good. It was a green curry chili that had some kick to it and was delicious! I would love to have the recipe to that one...
(pic of the band playing at the cook-off)

I will say I really do miss good food! The Aramark food is just awful, it truly is. Everything seems to be soaked in fake butter and is just so unhealthy. I've been depending upon the salad bar mainly but I would like to enjoy a good meal here and there.
If I had kept up with the raw food diet, I wouldn't be able to eat anything! Well, at least I wouldn't have any sort of variety. The salad bar is always the same: lettuce, spinach, onions, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts and occasionally cottage cheese. And the fruit is usually just apples and sometimes oranges, and bananas when you get really lucky! But all the fruit/vegetables have been frozen before - I'm pretty sure because they don't have any flavor to them! Oh well...
Friday was my 24th birthday, and it was a pretty great day! I had the day off and was able to sleep in and just be lazy. I went to a yoga class with some friends and it was so relaxing. I really want to try and get into the schedule of doing yoga every day again. My body needs it!
The weather here has been so beautiful. I hope that it keeps up and we don't have a repeat of last year when it rained for 30 days straight!
Anyway, life is good. I'm grateful to be here and experiencing a different side of life. The people here are amazing. I'm so blessed to have made such fantastic friends! But I do miss my family, especially my nephews!!! Seeing pictures of them makes me a little sad. :-)
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! You all helped make it such a fun day!
Love you all.