What I've Been Up To Lately

   I've been a little MIA on my little blog lately. I hate that! Here is a little of what I've been up to lately. 

I was going to go here:

But, my dad got sick again. He had to have surgery #5. 

A little pre-surgery Sudoku

I've been reading off and on:

Enjoying the beautiful Autumn scenery around me. {Probably the prettiest I've ever seen!}:

Hanging out with this cutie:

Listening to this awesomess:

Spending a couple of hours with my dream man:

And, the other day I was listening to the show "The Little House on the Prairie." There were a couple of things the characters said that caught my attention:

 ~ Pa told Laura, "You know we have a lot of funny notions born inside of us, Half-Pint. The funniest is that we're supposed to hide the way we feel about people. Let me tell you, everybody wants to know that they are loved, or needed, or cared about. Anybody who doesn't want to know that has something wrong with them."

~ Laura told Mary, "You know Mary, life sure was a lot easier when we didn't like boys."

So true, Laura, so true! :)

A Day in the Wilderness

     This weekend I went hiking with a few people in my Sunday school group at Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve. Check off #24 on my 30 Before 30 List!!! Actually, that thought did not even enter my mind until I got back yesterday. The real reason I wanted to go was to hang out with some new people and to have something fun and different to do. This hike was harder than I thought it would be, mainly because I got a really bad headache about an hour into it. But make no mistake about it, I'm a really tough girl and I powered through it to the end!!! There were quite a few inclines and lots of rough terrain to cover. We saw some absolutely beautiful scenes and very unique berries and flowers! We saw a couple of caterpillars and even a turtle. Thank goodness we did not encounter any snakes! My favorite part was probably the Blue Hole where the water was a really pretty transparent bluish color.  I enjoyed the challenge and am only slightly sore today! {We hiked approximately 6.6 miles.}

The waterfall was just a trickle this day...

As close to the edge as I could get!

So pretty!

I was a little braver here :)

Nice little cave area

Beautiful vibrant purple berries of some sort

The most unique flower/berry I have ever seen. Wish I knew what it was!

Close up

Pretty flowers

Cane Creek

I took this picture beside a section they roped off to protect a rare species of butterflies. {The swamp metalmark}
We all know just how much I love butterflies!

Beaver dam

Blue Hole. So so so pretty!

Reflection on the water