Midvale 5K

Last year my two sisters convinced me to run the Midvale 5K with them. I am not a fan of running. In fact, I don't enjoy it much at all. I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I wanted to be in better shape. So I talked to Ryan who said he'd love to do it and the four of us, including my dad, signed up. This year my dad (he walked the entire thing in 41 minutes) wanted to do it again. My two sisters said they would, along with another sister of mine (she wanted to walk it with our dad this year). Ryan said he'd do it and that left me...rolling my eyes, hemming and hawing. It was fun last year, but I was in MUCH better shape last year. I had 2-3 months to prepare for it then, this year I'd only have three weeks! I really didn't want to do it, but at the same time, I did want to be part of the experience the rest of my family would be having. And as much as I hate running, I knew I would feel like I accomplished something important. I also knew I wouldn't be able to run the entire thing but that I could do the best I could. So, I agreed to sign up again. And in the process I convinced my 11 year old nephew to sign up with me!

Last Saturday (August 11th) was race day. As promised, Ryan, myself, my three sisters, my dad and my nephew were all there ready to race. My three week training hadn't gone so well and I was still about 3-4 minutes slower than my time last year. But I tried not to focus on that and just tried to enjoy the experience. I figured I wouldn't be able to go as fast with my nephew trying to keep up anyway. This year it was more about helping him succeed then trying to run my fastest race.

We lined up at the starting line and we were off! Tricia, Valerie and Derek (Tricia's husband) were off like lightning. They could run the entire thing so we knew they'd always be in front of us. Pam and Dad were walking the whole thing so we knew they'd always be behind us. That left the three of us (me, Ryan and nephew) somewhere in the middle. We starting with running and we managed to run about 1.1 miles before I had to stop. About half a mile in my nephew was already complaining of a side ache but no matter how many times I asked him if he needed to stop, he said no. He kept running along as best he could. When we'd stop to walk, I would walk at a furious pace (almost as fast as my slow run) and Ryan and nephew would lag a little behind. But then we'd all start running again and I would end up lagging behind them. One thing I did notice though was that my nephew never left Ryan's side. Those two were practically glued together! And he never stopped jabbering either. The entire three miles was non-stop talking. They'd skip, they'd run backwards...they just had a great time together as I would struggle with even being able to breathe.

Once we reached the final stretch we decided to sprint in. I noticed the time on the clock ahead of us and realized I was just about at my time last year so I yelled at them to run faster. My nephew crossed the finish line first at 36:01. Ryan then crossed with me right at his heels and it turns out, we tied at 36:02!

Ryan could have run a lot faster than me and probably finished under 30 minutes. But he is such a great moral support to me by sticking with me and helping me finish. We were both so proud of my nephew though. He did an amazing job for not having trained at all. He only had to ask to stop once to catch his breath and other than that he walked or ran as fast as we did. Everyone in my family did great! After the race we had a big breakfast and just enjoyed our success. It turns out that I finished three seconds ahead of my time last year! It was the fastest I have walked/run 3.1 miles all year long (and in the last 3 weeks I was training). There really is something fulfilling about setting a goal and working hard to achieve it. Maybe I can do this again next year after all!

The three amigos after the race:

Family Vacation 2012 - Part II

Day Five:
We left Independence early this day but before we made it to Illinois we stopped in a little town called Jamesport. It's an Amish town. We drove through their country, admiring their hard work and labor and then stopped in a little store (run by two Amish women) to buy some bread and other goods. They seemed little overwhelmed at first when we all walked in, but after most of us left, they began talking and talking with my sister-in-law and told her all about their livelihood. They've worked in that little store baking bread for 20 years. It used to be a real happening place but now everyone is moving out and there aren't a lot of people left. Some people refuse to leave their farms but they can't make a living that way so they weave baskets and then bring them to the store to sell them, just to earn a little extra money. It was sad and inspiring at the same time. I love learning about different cultures and beliefs so I was glad we made the stop in Jamesport, Missouri and bought several loaves of bread (at $2 a loaf) and learned a little more about the Amish. Oh, and for the record, they do drive horse and buggies but they aren't opposed to drinking Dr. Pepper (we found some in the cup holders in the buggies if you can tell in this picture).

We made it to Nauvoo, Illinois that evening and went to a play put on by some service missionaries for the LDS church. It was fun - though hot and muggy.

Days Six and Seven:

These three days we spent in Nauvoo. What a cute, quaint town! Some of the sites are owned by the LDS Church and others by the Community of Christ church so it was fun to tour all the old homes and buildings and learn a little more about the early saints. They were so industrious! I was absolutely amazed at some of the things they created to help them multi-task (like a baby rocker/butter churner for example)

I think my two favorite experiences from this part of the trip was 1) The Trail of Hope and 2) the Nauvoo Temple. The Trail of Hope is a trail people can walk down Parley's Street. Every few feet there is a plaque with a quote on it. These quotes all come from journals of the early saints and reading them really gave me a greater appreciation for their sacrifices. It was significant that this trail went down Parley's street which is the street the saints took when they left Nauvoo for good. I couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for them to spend four years building a community (everything built with their own hands) just to be asked to leave it all behind and walk away. When I got to the end of Parley's Street (the end of the trail) I turned around and looked back and it was almost as if I could see the saints in their loaded wagons walking towards me, leaving Nauvoo for the last time. That was probably the most spiritual experience I had. It was definitely one I hope to never forget.

This plaque made me pause. This particular day I had not been feeling well (cramps) and was being a complete baby about it. I read this sign and was immediately put to shame. If a woman can deliver a baby in a wagon after having just left her home and nearly all her possessions behind, then I can easily walk this trail with a few cramps. I am such a whimp!

We also did a session in the Nauvoo Temple. We didn't get to go into all the temples we visited, but we made a special effort to do this one. It was such a great experience as well. They even offered to take us down to see the baptistry (it's the biggest baptistry in any LDS Temple) and it was gorgeous! It was amazing how much time and effort went into re-recreating this temple to look EXACTLY like the original (the original was burned to the ground after the Saints fled Nauvoo). They even have the "Martyrdom line" on it - which is the line that shows how far the temple had been built up to the point of Joseph Smith's martyrdom.

Day Eight:
Our last stop before leaving Illinois was to Carthage to visit Carthage Jail. This was where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob. They were in the upper room of the jail (in the jailers bedroom, in fact) when an angry mob burst through and began firing guns. Hyrum tried to hold the bedroom door shut to keep them out and he ended up with a bullet right through his face. Joseph then ran for the window but was shot upon reaching it and ended up falling to the ground below. Both were dead within minutes. Two others (John Taylor and Willard Richards) in the room survived and were witnesses of the event until the day they died. This was a somber experience and Ryan pointed out how weird it felt to be standing by a bullet laden door and the window the prophet fell from smiling for pictures. It was weird, but...we did it anyway. Unfortunately I don't have any of those pictures (Ryan took them on his camera), but I have one of us standing outside the jail. The top window is the one Joseph fell from, landing just by the well.

Nauvoo was simply amazing. I would recommend a visit to Nauvoo for anyone interested in Church history (or American history, for that matter). We showed our pictures and told our stories to Ryan's dad (who isn't LDS) and he was just as fascinated as we were. There is a LOT of history here and I wouldn't pass up on this trip if the opportunity presents itself for you to go.

But the trip still didn't end here! More to come in part III.

Family Vacation 2012 - Part I

My family went on a big vacation this year! In the past we have gone to Disneyland, but this year in order to accommodate those living out of state we decided to do something different. My brother and his wife (they live in Texas) organized a trip for us to Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois. I have always wanted to go there so I was super excited! We opted to go during the week of July 4th which was fabulous, expect for one thing: the heat. Several days were well over 100 degrees and with the heat index (heat + humidity) we were looking at about 113. We were never dry, always sticky and it was hard to breathe. I'll never complain about the dry heat again! Here are just some of the highlights:

Day One & Two: We drove. And drove. And drove. I won't say this was the worst part of the trip (the medal for that goes to the heat!) but it was definitely a LONG drive. We stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming our first night and then from there traveled on to Missouri.

By that point it was about a 19 hour drive, I believe. And that doesn't count stopping for meals and bathroom breaks. We spent 2 days in Independence though and that was a LOT of fun!

Day Three: we went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Haun's Mill and Far West.

There wasn't much to see at any of these places, other than a lot of land. But it is such pretty country there and if you know the stories of what occurred there with the early LDS saints then you can definitely feel a special spirit there. I am excited that the Church bought the Haun's Mill site from the Community of Christ church because now hopefully they will turn it into a nice historic site with more to see than just a little post that says "Haun's Mill". Far West has the temple site marked with the original cornerstones of the temple encased in glass. That temple never got built but it's amazing to see the cornerstones and the monument that now stands where the temple should have been.

Day Four:
We went to the Independence Visitor's Center and the Community of Christ temple. I swear, that temple looks like it came out of a science fiction movie, but it was very pretty.

We took a tour of it and that was also very interesting. We all walked out though feeling rather confused. Confused mainly over what they believe, exactly. Even the girl who took us on a tour couldn't tell us exactly. She just kept saying members believe certain things but "officially" they believe __________ (fill in the blank). They believe in Joseph Smith and consider him their prophet but they don't believe in the first vision. They profess to believe in Christ (hence the name "Community of Christ church) but he wasn't mentioned once during the entire tour. I personally felt very confused after walking out of there. It was a stark contrast between that and the LDS visitor's center, that's for sure! Definitely a unique experience.

Our last stop this day was to Liberty Jail and the Kansas City, Missouri Temple.

It was such a neat experience to visit all these historical sites and learn more about LDS Church history. It didn't end here though! The next morning, Tuesday July 3rd, we packed up, said goodbye to Independence and headed for Nauvoo, Illiois.

Updates and Stuff...

Hi Guys!

I have finally made my way back to the world of blogging (for a day, at least). I've put two other posts below this one (the first of my sister's wedding, the other of funny conversations with my nephew) so don't forget to scroll down and check them out!

Life has been a ton of fun lately. We've been so busy but still try and squeeze in a little fun. Saturday night we went with four other couples from our branch up to Silver Lake to roast up some hotdogs, eat some grub and take a leisurely stroll around the lake. It was so fun! Ryan took some pictures of the group on his camera but unfortunately I don't have them with me...sorry! :(

The adventure was a lot of fun for us. On July 3rd it will be two years ago that Ryan and I went there on our first "date". I say "date" because we weren't technically dating then...it was the first time we hung out. We decided to try and get up there every year on the anniversary of our first "date", but we won't be able to this year since we are going to be out of town. So when the invitation came to go up last Saturday, we could not pass it up. We absolutely love it up there!

In fact, here is a picture of it that I took two years ago:



And in other news...we'll be going on our second vacation as a married couple this coming weekend. We are going with my family (24 out of 33 of us) on a road trip to Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois. We are all really looking forward to it. We'll be gone about 10 days, and in the car for four of those days so we're hoping we don't kill each other in the process. But hopefully when we get back, I'll have some more fabulous posts for you!

I apologize that my blog is still the same old design I've had for the past two years. I tried to update it this morning but the new blogger really drives me crazy. So until I find time to fiddle with it without it completely screwing up what I already have, you're stuck with this. :)

4th of July Adventures...

My friend Kenzi invited a couple of us to go to her parent's house on Saturday to do a little 4-wheeling. It was awesome!!

Mastering the machine:


The last time I was on a big machine was when I crashed a snowmobile down a 100 foot cliff (don't worry, it was covered in snow, not rocks). I was a little nervous to drive but overall I did a good job and it was a lot of fun. I shouldn't mention the trail we went down where I had to make a life altering choice...make the sharp turn or go over the ledge. Luckily I made the turn...but then instantly threw that thing into park and made Jason drive the rest of the way down the steep incline.

This is the pond where we stopped for lunch:


The end of our trip. We were all so dirty and tired. But it was still worth it!


And this is how freakish I looked afterwards. The shower never felt so good!


After we all got home and showered we met up with a few other people for the fireworks!


What a great way to celebrate the 4th...by enjoying our freedoms with great friends. I am so blessed to live in this great country!

The Bees...

Some friends and I went to the Salt Lake Bees game last night. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bees... they are a baseball team. Though I am not a huge fan of baseball and though I barely paid any attention to the game last night, my friends and I had a great time just the same.

We took pictures of ourselves:



And we were even nice and included the guy in the orange shirt who kept staring at us. I'm pretty sure he was feeling left out.


We had a pretty good view from where we were sitting and saw some good lookin' bees:


I did get a little worried about these two though. They went a little crazy on the sunflower seeds. I dubbed them both "chew cheeks".


I can't tell you if the Bees won the game since we left after the 5th inning, but they were up by three runs.

The Garden*...

After my original post exclaiming how excited I was to plant a garden, it looked like things weren't going to pan out. Marc was very willing to let me use his backyard and he even agreed to till the dirt and water the garden for me. But after talking to my two friends about it, I didn't get the feeling they had as much time to spend on it as we originally thought. I didn't want to care for a garden by myself so I told Marc everything was off. There would be no garden after all.

A few days later I was talking to another friend who jumped at the chance to help me plant it, along with her roommate. So last Tuesday we purchased our plants and seeds and then on Thursday we headed over to Marc's to plant it.


Marc warned us before hand that he wanted nothing to do with the garden (aside from watering it). But I guess he still wanted to be outside with us while we planted it, so he took a little spin around his lawn on his riding mower.


Once we finished we turned the water on and then the four of us decided to go get snowcones. We were gone maybe 30 minutes and then we sat in the car for another 15-20 minutes eating and chatting when we realized the water was still on!


Only planted for an hour and already drowned. What a great start.

*I need to give a big thanks to Marc for the use of his garden and for watering it for us (although due to the unprecedented amount of rain we've been getting, his job has been pretty easy this week), and to April for providing us with some great fertilizer and for taking the above pictures, and to Jason for killing all the snails we ran across last night while weeding. This really has become a little community garden!

The Zipline...

I conquered my fear of heights last Saturday (and I can't believe it's taken me so long to write about it!) by climbing a 30+ foot pole and going on a zipline. I've always wanted to do a zipline and I was so excited to give it a try! I think the hardest part was taking that step off the platform and stepping onto nothing but air! It freaked me out!




Though I can now technically cross "do a zipline" off my bucket list, I think I still want to try a bigger one. Any suggestions?

The Heber Creeper....

My family took in some gorgeous Utah scenery this morning when we took a ride on the Heber Valley Railroad. I had never been on the Heber Creeper before and it was on my bucket list of things to do. So when my sister called and asked if I wanted to go, of course I said YES! It was a three hour trip and we had a blast! Well, aside from all the soot and ash that kept flying in our faces and mouths. But we didn't care!


Deer Creek Reservoir...





I love the countryside...



A trip to Heber just wouldn't have been complete without a shake from Granny's! YUM!!!

Peoa...

My mom called me on Saturday morning and asked, "Do you want to go visit the cemetaries with us?"

"I'd love to, but I can't. I'm going to Peoa!!"

"You're going where?" she asked.

"To Peoa!"

"Where is Peoa?"

"I don't know. But I'm going there!"

She thought I seemed awfully excited to go somewhere I had never heard of before and but she told me to have a good time and she'd talk to me later. I then met up with a couple of my friends and we headed to Peoa.

Where is Peoa, you ask? Well, it's somewhere between Oakley and Kamas. It took us about an hour to get there.

What were we doing in Peoa? What else is there to do in a small hick town other than go to a rodeo?!?

Yep, I went to a rodeo in Peoa, Utah. And I've never had so much fun in my life. Okay, that's an overstatement. But it was a really fun time. The little arena was located in the middle of nothing but farms and lots and lots of open space which was surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was such a beautiful place. I really loved it.

The rodeo was small, but it took about three hours to complete. Despite being there for so long and having to stand for the last half (we got rained on and the bleachers were soaked), I never got bored. It was a really fun rodeo. There was an exciting/horrifying moment towards the end of the event though that still has me a little freaked out. Here's the story...

The competition we were watching was for saddled broncs. A guy and his horse went out, the guy got bucked off and the horse just kept going crazy. The three men on horses chased after the bucking horse to catch it and calm it down but before they could get to it, the horse bucked right into a gate post - HARD! His head went right into it. The horse stopped, completely dazed, took one stumble backwards and then fell straight over onto it's side. The second it hit the ground it started seizing, its body going crazy in massive spasms. The three guys on the horses jumped off, ran over to this seizing horse, knelt down on it to keep it controlled and took off the saddle, bridle, etc as fast as they could. They then started hollering for something. About 10 other men ran over, some with ropes and started working around this horse. By this point, the horse had completely stopped moving. I looked at my friend and said "Is that horse just unconscious or something?" He looked at me and without trying to freak me out said "I think this could be a case where the horse has possibly died". "What?!?!" I said. And he said, "I don't know. I just don't see it breathing...at all".

The accident happened only about 10 feet away from us so the horse was pretty close to where we were standing. I looked at the horse and focused my eyes on it's abdomen. I saw no movement either. I looked at the horses face and it's eye wasn't moving either. Honestly, the horse did look dead. The men working around the horse continued to quickly tie it's front and back legs together and then they rolled it over onto a fence gate, picked it up, loaded it into the back of a horse trailer and drove off. The rodeo then continued as if nothing ever happened. It was all handled very professionally and so quickly! I think it was only 5 minutes from the time the horse went down to the time it was loaded on the trailer. They never announced the fate of the horse but I have a horrible feeling that I may have witnessed the death of a beautiful horse.

Other than that, it was a great rodeo in a beautiful small country town. I think I may have to go to Peoa again! :)

My Green Thumb...

About a month ago I was walking around Wheeler Farm with a friend of mine and we were discussing the concept of gardening. He mentioned that he has a huge space in his backyard for a garden. I suggested he plant it. He said no. His reasoning was that the garden is just too much for one person (I guess he never figured on sharing with his two roommates). I said that he could always share his garden with me...I'd be happy to eat the veggies anytime. He then suggested that I just use the space for my own garden. My response: "Yeah right! I don't want to do the work, I just want to eat it!"

Isn't that the way life is? We never seem to want to work for anything. Why plant a garden when we can just drive the two minutes to the store to buy everything we need? Gardening is a huge committment and takes time and effort to see it through. I've never really been committed to anything in my life. Even my quilt projects take years to finish. I always seem to have good intentions about starting something but then I get bored, lazy or just too busy and I quit. It's kind of hard to quit on a garden, unless I want a dead one. So when my friend offered to let me plant one in his yard, I kind of brushed it off as being too much work.

My parent's had a garden growing up and I always dreaded those hot summer mornings when I'd have to go out and weed, water and pick it. I hated it. And each time I was out there slaving away I always thought to myself, "I am never going to have a garden!" So imagine my surprise the other day when I thought to myself, "I really want to plant a garden!" Crazy, I know.

So last night as I was talking to my friend I said to him, "Do you remember that conversation we had awhile back where you said I could plant a garden in your backyard and you'd take care of it for me?"

"That's not what I said!" was his reply.

I was kind of hoping he wouldn't have even remembered the conversation.

"Well, do you still want to plant one?"

"I never wanted to plant one. But I will let you plant one"

"I can't plant it by myself!"

"Well, I don't want to plant one."

"Okay, if I plant it will you at least water it so I don't have to go to your house everyday?"

"Yes, I can water it. But you have to weed it and pick it."

"Great! I can do that once or twice a week...no problem"

Ta-dah! I'm planting a garden! My friend said he would till the ground for me and I recruited two of my girlfriends to help me plant it next week. I'm kind of excited about it, but pretty freaked out as well. I'm worried that I will kill it. So if any of you have ever planted and taken care of a garden before then feel free to help me out!

Happy Planting!

Picture Tag....Again!

So I know I've already done this once before, but my friend Tandy tagged me and since she's new to reading my blog and wasn't aware of my previous tag, I decided I'd go ahead and do it again just for her. Besides, it's really quite fun!

Rules:
1. Go to the document/ my pictures site on your computer
2. Go to your sixth file
3. Go to your sixth picture
4. Blog about it
5. Tag 6 people

Since I used my sixth picture from my sixth folder on my work computer last time, this time I am using my sixth folder and sixth picture from my home computer.


This picture comes from two summers ago when my friend and I decided to be tourists in our own backyard (Salt Lake City). We went to Temple Square and took some pictures of us on the grounds. Here I decided to give my tired feet a little soak before anyone caught me! If you think this is horrible of me, you should see the picture of me drinking the water! Oh what the heck, I'll just show you!


Fun times! But for the record, I never actually drank or stuck my feet in the water.

Utah State Fair...

I went to the State Fair Saturday night with my friend Mindy and about five of her friends. I had never been to the State Fair before so I was kind of excited to go check it out. It was fun and we had a great time, but it's probably something I can do every few years instead of every year...

We were all blown away by the size of this steer though. I made Mindy get in the picture with it so I could better show just how gigantic this thing really was! One swift kick and you'd be dead for sure.

Family Reunions...

My family has had a lot of reunions this summer - especially in the last three weeks - with my sister and her family coming from Arkansas at the end of July, and now my brother's family coming from Texas last week. We had some great times together last week. I was able to get reaquainted with my nephews Tyson, Bradley and Zack and was also able to meet my niece Kaylee for the first time. She is already six months old!

She has got to be one of the happiest babies I have met in my life. She was always smiling! She didn't care who had her, she'd smile at anyone and everyone. She was a joy to be around and I hope it's not another 2 1/2 years before I see her again (like it was with Zack).

But while my family was in town, we had a huge bash on Saturday night. We did the waterslide (though some liked it more than others).

Zack

Clint

Bradley

And had a birthday party for my nephew Tyson. The kids got to eat the most delicious Alligator cake!


I love it when my family comes to town! It's not only fun to catch up with the kids, but it's fun to catch up with my siblings as well.