Peak of the Season

I was watching the Today show this morning, just as I always do while I am getting ready for work, and they showed a map of the United States. This map showed the areas where fall colors and foliage are at the peak, or past the peak, and not quite to the peak of the season.

 Guess what, Utah is just about at the peak of the season for all the beautiful fall colors! This got me thinking........ I want to go on a hike! A nice, easy, hike to see some of the beautiful scenery before it is all covered in snow!! I googled {autumn in utah} and {fall colors in utah} and look at some of the amazing things I found:

SO pretty huh?!?! I was searching the web for hikes in Utah and I found one called {Brighton Lakes Trail}. It sounds like a pretty easy hike {2.6 miles, in and out} with lots of pretty views!! It sounds like you see three lakes while you are hiking, with Lake Catherine being your final destination! The trail head is near the Brighton Ski Resort!! Any one want to go with me some time soon??? Before the peak color season is over!! 

You know what else this got me thinking about?? The fact that I have still not posted about the awesome hike I didn't with my friend Nicole {months} ago!! Post about that coming soon!!!

My Favorite Time

I LOVE autumn!! It's my most favorite season of all!! The only thing is that here in Utah you never know how long it will last!! It will go from being summer temperatures to nice, wonderful fall weather to freezing cold blizzards.............. all in a matter of days!! Not even kidding about that!!
But here are some of the reasons I LOVE autumn so much:

Yes, autumn is the best season!! And it is finally, officially here!! PLEASE say awhile this year! Until at least December 1st!! That would make me a happy camper!!

P.S. I still need help on how to upload videos to a post!! I am completely lame and can not get it to work for the life of me!!

Here are the first of a few posts on the my recent birthday trip to California with my friends Miranda and Stacy!!! There are more posts and pictures to come soon!!I do have a question though.............. How do I upload video to my post?? I click on the little video thing and it says they are uploaded, but when I try to watch them it says there is an error and to try back later!So, so confused!!!

Let The Road Trip Begin

Our trip started with an 11 hour drive to California!! It really wasn't that bad though!! We had lots of junk food to eat and Disney music to listen too!! We also listened to lots of Glee music!! I have never watched the show, but the music is great!! We only had to make a few stops, including a stop in Barstow for gas and this sweet 16 oz Dr Pepper!!

We spent the night at Miranda's uncles house in Whittier. Cutest little house ever!! It's on the fun little lane, surrounded by lots of trees and bushes so it's hidden from the main rode! And they have a lemon tree and peach tree in the front yard!! Her uncle was SO nice and took us out to dinner that night at a really good Mexican restaurant called El Cholo!! Yum!!! We had a lot of fun staying there!! The next morning we woke up and went shopping in downtown Whittier!! I haven't been to many places around Los Angeles............... we usually spend most of our time in the Anaheim area around Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach, so I wasn't sure what to expect from Whittier! I loved it though!! I didn't see tons of the city, but what I saw was really cute!!

I got a lot of fun stuff that day including some Madden Girl shoes for only $20 and a really cute belt from a store I know we don't have here!!

After lunch at Chili's we headed down to Huntington Beach! I was REALLY hoping to make it to the Santa Monica Pier, since I have never been........... but I was out voted. It's okay though because I LOVE Huntington Beach and it's wonderful pier!! It was too bad that we already ate or I would have loved to eat at Rubys!! Best fries ever!! We mostly just walked along the pier and sat on a bench and watched the surfers! We never actually made it down the the sand and water........ another thing I was pretty sad about since I seriously love to walk along the beach, look for shells, and put my feet in the water!!

But I did get to stop at my favorite surf shop to buy a pair of my most favorite flip flops!!!

After that, it was just a short drive to Anaheim to check into the awesome Disneyland Hotel!! I lost my keys the first 5 minutes we were there, so I got to go on an awesome adventure to the basement to check out the lost and found!! Don't worry, they totally had my keys!! THANK GOODNESS!!

Mickey Mouse Was Everywhere!!

We stayed here for the rest of our trip!! It was my first time there so I was pretty excited to see what the rooms were like! Even though it was fun to stay there, I don't know that I would ever pay the price to stay again. It is pretty dang expensive and when you are basically only sleeping there it's not really worth it!

It was really close to the park, which was nice........... and we could take the monorail right into Tomorrow Land, which was awesome........... and we were able to take a break during the middle of the day and head back to our room to rest our feet............but there was no free breakfast and the beds were not any softer than the ones at Best Western!!

Still, It was fun to take some pictures of our sweet hotel room!! We were in this room:

which was on the 7th floor!! If only we had been one room down.......... I would have been sleeping in room 2525, on my 25th birthday on the 25th of August!! Haha!!

Mickey Mouse was seriously everywhere from the moment you walk in the doors!!

The center picture is a huge mural on the wall right when you enter the hotel!! And the cute little Mickey and Minne statues are on either side of it!!

Once you get to the room, you can find Mickey.................

On the bed:

In the bathroom:

There was also this really cute Tinker Bell border on the wall!!! Her trail on pixie dust glowed in the dark!!! Cool huh!?! And I totally forgot to take a picture of it!! Shoot!!

The best part about the room though was our wonderful view!! If I stepped out onto our mini balcony, this is what I saw:

The Neverland swimming pool!! It was really pretty with all the awesome palm trees!! Miranda and I even decided to swim one day because it was SO hot!! And I totally rode the water slide that comes out of skull rock!!

Coming Soon!!

Lots of stories and pictures from my trip to California and Disneyland!!!

Oh Nuts!

I used to think I hated peanut butter! WHAT was I thinking?!? Haha! Actually, sometime I still wish I didn't like the stuff because it can be WAY to addicting!! Especially when mixed with chocolate!! I am not afraid to dip an Oreo is peanut butter!! And Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (especially the holiday kind).... ummm, FANTASTIC!! But they are SO fattening (probably why they taste so delicious)!!

So one of my new roommates told me about this stuff: It is called almond butter!! Looks pretty gross, huh?!?! She got a container of it out of her cupboard and this first thing I thought was "Oh my gosh that stuff looks nasty!!" Now of course, because she is my new roommate, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings, I told her it looked pretty good! She told me that I was more than welcome to try it and my next thought was "There is NO WAY on earth I am eating that stuff!!" She told me it might be something I had to get used to and that the texture was kind of interesting............ but she is a fellow Reese's lover too and she said she could eat almond butter by the spoonful now! I told her I would have to try some....... sometime........ and NEVER planned on tasting it! Well, I went grocery shopping that day and found a little packet of Justin's Almond Butter for a $1.00 (yeah.... I thought that was a good price too......... until I went to another store and found the same stupid packet for .59) and thought, what the heck, I might as well try it for a dollar!

The next day before I work I was in a big hurry! I needed something fast and easy for breakfast! So I got out my fun little packet of almond butter, grab these from the fridge:

And then I sliced up one of these:

I put it all together to make a little sandwich!! Like I said, I was in a hurry so I didn't even have time to taste it before I left the house! I was still not sure about it even as I was driving to work! I was prepared to taste something truly nasty and was certain I was going to end up throwing the whole thing away!! So I was SHOCKED when I found that I really kind of liked it!! My roommate was right about it having an interesting texture, but it really wasn't that bad (trust me! I am a total texture eater, and if it has a weird texture, I usually will not eat it)!! In fact, I had another almond butter sandwich the next day with sliced up strawberries (another giant food step for me)!!

So, the moral of this story?? You should totally go nuts and try some almond butter the next time you are craving a PB&J sandwich!! You can buy the cute little packet at Harmon's for only .59 (or you could go to Target and pay $1.00)!!! It really is pretty good and will be a decent substitute for the peanut kind!!!

P.S. As good as it is............. I don't think I will be dipping my Oreo's in it any time soon!! Only the real stuff for that indulgence!!