Should be Studying

Study...study...study...that's all I should be doing these days, but it's not!! And I love it. Well, I should be more responsible, but oh well. It's been a terrific summer. I'll give you a glimpse then go back to studying. I have been bad at carrying my camera so here is what I have.

Went out to lunch with two old mission companions Linda and Erin (Erin's moving to Florida this month). Here are their kids (minus 1). I think that these two are to be married some day, but by the look of little Anna's face, I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

I've been on a few hikes to Stewart Falls.

I've been working on my grilling. Here is some yummy salmon. I marinated it for two hours in 1/3 c. soy sauce, 1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. water and 1/4 c. oil. I grilled it about 8 minutes on each side. It was so delicious. I got the recipe online somewhere. I'll try to find it again sometime so you can check it out.

I bought some plums. When I was growing up we had a couple of plum trees in our yard and when I saw these at the store I couldn't resist. My mom used to make plum jam and we used to always eat the plums off the trees. Oh the memories of paradise ranch!

That's all for now, but there's more to come!

Running/Calculus

So I had to blog real quick this morning even though time is limited. I have to go do homework because I have to work from 2-6 and go to institute (new calling) at 7 and I have quite a bit of homework due tomorrow. Anyway, I have been swimming on Mon and Wed before class and running on Tues and Thurs mornings. So this morning I went running on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. It's relatively a flat trail. Very peaceful up there. According to my Nike Plus tracker I went 3.75 miles. The trails is a dirt trail and is a little downhill running out and very uphill running back. Don't ask me how the works. Anyway, that not the good part.

If you haven't heard the story about how I passed calculus at BYU you will need to ask me someday. I used to want to be a math teacher and there is a reason I am not. If you don't know the story this may not be as funny, but I know everyone in my family will appreciate this. Today when I was running I saw my old calculus professor on the trail with his dog. They were running/walking. I recognized him right away and said hi. I'm pretty sure he remembered me (I took calculus from him in winter of 2003-so he may not have). He is such a nice man and I did not deserve to pass calculus. Anyway, after talking to him for a bit he said that Kyle and I were welcome to come to his house anytime. He and his wife love to do bbq's and work in the garden or go on walks. He told me that they would be delighted to have us come over. Oh and I just think it's great.

If anyone needs tips on how to pass a class (without taking the final) and become buddies with your professor just let me know. Somehow I sure figured it out!!

Day of firsts

Yesterday (Monday) was my day of firsts.

Started out with the BYU swimming pool. I went swimming there for the first time. It was actually quite nice. I didn't have to share a lane. The water was the perfect temperature. By the time I got there and got a locker and got settled I only had a half hour to swim which was perfect. I'm not much of a swimmer (not a swimmer at all) and so a half hour was just what I needed to swim a few laps. I did a couple of breast stroke laps and the rest were freestyle. I went about a half mile. And yes my arms are sore today.

After swimming I went to my first day of grad school classes. Talk about overwhelming. I swear everyone there was brilliant...and then there was me. I have two three hour classes right now and in both of them we had discussions on articles we read and I just felt silly because I'm not sure I even understood what every other word meant. But grad school....here I am! I will do my best, but I really need to start understanding more technical research, sociology, and other types of words. Any thoughts on what phenonomology means?? We had a short discussion on that word alone...oh boy it may be a long two years! I did know people in both of my classes so that's a plus.

After classes I made my first attempt at home made bread in a bread maker. Ha ha that's funny. I didn't know that you could go wrong making bread like that, but apparently I can. I must have done something wrong with the yeast because I am pretty sure it didn't rise at all. I tried to taste the top, but it was tough and gross. Hmmm....I'll have to figure out what I did wrong and try that again. (Maybe it's the breadmaker-I bought it off someone on craigslist for $5)

For our FHE ride last night, Kyle and I went on a 15 mile bike ride. No that wasn't a first, but it was the first time I have been on that long of a ride on a fixed gear. If you don't know what a fixe gear bike is it is when you can't coast at all. Basically if you could balance going backward you could pedal backward. The pedal is attached to the wheel so it moves as you move. Does that make any sense? Sorry if it doesn't. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I went on a 15 mile bike ride without coasting at all which is actually quite a bit of work. It was fun though because everything I do with Kyle is fun.

So that was my day of firsts. Sorry I have no pictures. Maybe someday. I have tons of reading and homework. Oh boy oh boy I can't wait (do you hear the sarcasm). Have a great week!

Last night's race

The race last night was a lot of fun. I didn't crash! And I finished. I was very excited about both of those things. Not crashing was good because it got my confidence back up. I'm working on that and I will get there, but last night did help a lot. I was glad I was able to finish because after being out of town for ten days and then being sick for four days and not riding much in between I was a little concerned that I would not be able to to successfully complete the 7.5 mile race. I wasn't the fastest and I did not win (I think I got last out of 4 racers-oh well) I had a great time though and no regrets. Kyle did great. He's so fast. Some day I'll be able to keep up with him! Ha ha totally kidding. The race was up at soldier hollow and is a pretty fun course. Pics aren't really in order.

Ky and I before the race.

Ky finishing up his last lap.

Ky finishing up on the single track.

Ky again.

This is Bucky.

Here is Jessica and I at the end of the race. I hadn't seen her in awhile since she and her husband moved up to Draper. It was fun seeing her.

You can call me....

MOSQUITO BUTT GIRL!!! Yes that is right folks. Last night at the bike race I had this great idea when I was done racing to go take pictures of Kyle racing. I had already finished so I went up this trail like 1/2 mi to get in a good position for pictures. Well I must have been in the middle of a mosquito nesting ground. Seriously. I was getting attacked left and right. So I thought I was doing a pretty good job hitting them off my legs. And I really did. My legs are barely touched. What I did not realize was that they were biting me through my bike shorts. Yes that is right!! Through my bike shorts. So my legs and arms look pretty good but my butt is covered in huge mosquito bites. There are a couple that are the size of half dollars. (I would take a picture, but I will spare you!) I have about 16 total on my upper thighs and bum area. I would put anti-itch cream on them, but let's be honest...it'd just get all over my clothes. So I will just have to tolerate them and hopefully not scratch my bum too much in public today!

Struggling on the mountain

Kyle and I have been riding bikes this year for awhile now. The first race we did was in March and we have been riding pretty regularly since then. Well for some reason the last few rides I have been on have not been so good. It started before we went to Hawaii.

We went to the top of Squaw Peak and we were going to ride down the mountain to home. Then when we got home Kyle was going to ride his bike back up to get the car. Well, toward the top I crashed a couple of times. Nothing too serious, but still, it does nothing good for the whole confidence issue. That was an interesting night. We started too late and ended up in the middle of the mountain in the pitch black and my confidence was shot. Luckily Kyle was very sweet to me and just loves me even if I'm having a break down in the middle of nowhere with nothing that could be done to help me. Oh the memories.

Kyle happened to have the camera ready to get a cool shot of me riding, well how about crashing?!?!

Nothing got too hurt, just a couple little scratches.

When we were in Hawaii we didn't ride bikes at all. We got back on Sunday night and went for a ride with some friends on Monday night. It had been raining all day so the trail was slick. I hadn't ridden a bike since almost two weeks earlier when the Squaw Peak fiasco happened. It was a bad combination. I didn't necessarily fall, but I really struggled that whole ride. Poor Kyle was stuck with me the whole time and everyone else took off. I couldn't clip my pedals in. I couldn't ride in a straight line. Everyone else eventually turned around and we met up with them. It was raining on and off the whole time. At one point I bailed from my bike which consisted of me throwing a leg over my handle bars and landing down a steep slope in a frog position. I landed on a rock and got a bruise on the arch of my foot, but luckily that was it. Everyone started heading down so I did too. Of course they all got down there way before me and were in their truck before I made it to the parking lot. Oh I've got a long way to go.

Kyle on the trail

Shae is a lot tougher than I am. Someday I'll be like her.

I did ride one other time last week with my friend Leia. She has forgotten her helmet so it was a pretty chill ride and we had fun. The weather wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold. She's leaving to go to Indiana for ten weeks, I think, and it makes me sad. But at least she's coming back.
Click here for Leia's Blog

I got really sick last week and didn't do anything for a few days. I even sent Kyle off to a race by himself because I wasn't feeling good. Usually I at least go and hang out, read a book, whatever, but I wasn't even feeling up to that last Sat.

So I rode again on Monday. I had been riding for like 20 min when CRASH!! Yet again! It was a stupid crash, going around a stupid turn, going at a slow speed. Just before that I had been thinking, "Oh how nice, the weeds on the side of the trail are nice and long. If I fall it will be padded and not hurt because it's so overgrown." Well lucky me I landed right in the middle of the dirt trail. Lame. It hurt so bad. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt luckily, but I still got banged up. We went back to the car after that. We went a total of like 2 miles.

Sad face. Sad arm. I have a big bruise on my hip and shoulder hurts. But nothing is broken so that's great!

So there is a race tonight. I think I will do it. If it's a negative experience, I may hold off on biking for awhile. I need to get my confidence back up and enjoy it again. I do like it which is why I am going to race tonight. But it's totally not worth risking my body and life for.

Latest Happenings

Happy life! I think that may have to do with the fact that it's my summer vacation! I do start grad school next week so I have been trying to make the most of my life. Oh and then last week I got really sick which was kinda lame. Oh well. It only put me out for a few days.

So here is what I have been up to.
Visiting friends:
Emalia is leaving to go to Hawaii for three weeks with her family. I'm sure it will be a wonderful break for her. When she gets back she has two weeks to get everything packed up and then she is heading out to Florida for her husband to go to law school. So sad she is leaving Utah, but so excited for her. When I saw her she was leaving for a wedding and her little Kenzie looked so cute. (We have been friends since freshman year at BYU)

I went to a puppet show with my friend Emily. I had not seen her in like 7 years (she figured that one out) I was a freshman in college. Weird. Anyway, I met her in high school. She was a sister missionary where I lived and I spent more time with the missionaries at that time of my life than I did with other people. She was so fun. It was great to see her. I can't believe I didn't take a picture. She now has three adorable boys. The puppet show was fun, but I was mostly just excited to see her. Click here to see her blog post.

I got to see my friend Lindsey. She has a sweet little 3 month old baby that I hadn't met yet. She is so tiny and adorable. Lindsey and I were never "official" companions. Well sorta. I don't know. We lived together for awhile on the mission and I guess we were in a trio together. (My mission was weird). She is such a cute mom. She was cleaning and working on dinner and she didn't even mind that I stopped in for a visit even with people coming for dinner. She lives in a darling house and her life is going great. She totally deserves it too. She's great. (Click here for Lindsey's blog)

Cleaning/Organizing
My friend Emalia told me about this website called Flylady.net. It helps keep you organized to do small cleaning/organizing tasks every day. I decided that with starting grad school in the fall I need to have some good habits in place since I won't have much time for anything. Summer is a great time for me to start. The website is great and has broken down the house into zones, so you never feel too overwhelmed with the whole cleaning thing. I'm not necessarily I naturally tidy person (like my sister Cami) so this has been really good for me.

I have also started using a daily planner. It's amazing how I am not forgetting to get stuff done. It's great. Granted, I have had a lot of free time this week to get stuff done, but it feels good nonetheless.

Hopefully by the time school starts in the fall I will be set to go with fitting everything in and making dinner and getting school work done for work and for grad school. I'm kinda getting worried, but hopefully it will work out.

Training for a triathlon
Yes it is true. I have decided to do a triathlon. It's on Sept. 26th and I am very excited. It's 750 m open water swim (less than 1/2 mile) 19k mountain bike ride (I think it's like 11 miles) and 5k trail run (about 3 miles). It's an xterra tri which I wanted to do because I'm not into road biking. I've been trying to train in the different areas, but with getting sick and getting hurt, it's kinda hard. Maybe I'm just being a baby and should get over it. I can't wait though and Kyle has promised to go with me and be my support. (Click here to go to xterra website)

Reading books
I have been reading a lot lately and I love it. I keep all my books up to date on goodreads.com (Click here) so if anyone wants to be friends with me on there feel free to add me. I am currently reading Life of Pi right now. I think I started it before but never finished it. I have like 8 books checked out from the library right now. Kyle makes fun of me, but I think it's great. So many to choose from!

Other than that I am just getting ready for school. I am going to start working a little each week at the bike shop Kyle works at. Get some extra spending money. I try to ride my little commuter bike around to do as many errands as possible which feels great on the legs. I hardly buy gas anymore which is fantastic.

Happy in Hawaii

Here's a quick overview of our trip. I wouldn't want to bore anyone with too many details (or make you too jealous)

Arrived Saturday
Drove across the Pali Hwy to my brother Chris's house.

Went to the beach with Chris and my nephew Silas. My brother brought his homemade paddle board and Ky and I got to try it out. It's pretty fun once you figure out how to balance.

Sunday
Went to stake conference in Kaneohe. The boys love Kyle (it's weird only being second best). Then we spent the rest of the day resting. It was nice being able to spend time with family and chill. My brother Chris is the best cook and made us bbq shrimp and the night before we had salmon. So delicious!
That night we went for a walk on the beach in Kailua. It was so pretty!

Monday
We went kayaking in the morning (I'll try to put up pics later of that- I got a waterproof camera)

We tried to hike up to a waterfall, but didn't have enough time to go all the way, but it was pretty anyway. We had to cross a river/stream thing a couple of times. It was so humid our skin was just wet everywhere. Gross. That night we watched the boys while Chris and Heather went out to dinner to celebrate their happy 11 years of being married.

Tuesday
We spent the day on the north shore. We went to the temple and walked around. It's under construction right now so it was a gray building with plywood over the windows. The grounds were still beautiful and the visitor center was open so that was fun to see.

We then went on a hike up to Laie Falls. The falls were little and the hike was long, but it was fun hiking somewhere other than the desert of Utah.

Then we continued our drive. Stopped at a beach for Kyle to take his daily nap. We then went to Waimea Bay where we watched the beautiful sunset. We also had borrowed my brother and his wife's snorkeling gear and tried it out there. It was a sandy beach so we didn't see too many fish, but it was fun to float around. Those pics are also on the other cam. On our way back home we stopped at a shrimp shack for some dinner. Oh so much shrimp!! So yummy!

Wednesday
We headed off to Pearl Harbor in the morning. Went on tour of the USS Bowfin Submarine and went to a museum. We watched a documentary on Pearl Harbor and then we got on the little boat and rode over the USS Arizona memorial.

Afterward we headed over to my brother's work. We went out to lunch and then he took us on a tour of the shipyard. He works in the harbor at Honolulu and it was fun getting such a detailed tour of all the boats he is currently working on. He's a nautical engineer and I'm more than positive Kyle knows what he does more than I do.

Then we headed down to Waikiki where we spent our last two nights. We stayed at the Sheraton and had a nice relaxing couple of days. After all the stuff we had done throughout the week it was great being able to just sit by the ocean/pool and read. The pool there had a waterslide and a waterfall you could sit behind. Of course I made Kyle do all the fun pool stuff with me. While staying at the hotel we just went for walks and went window shopping. We went out to eat, read books, and just relaxed. It was the perfect ending to our perfect week.

(Love this picture!)

Saturday
We spent the day with my sister Cami and her daughter Billie. Our flights were in and out of LA so we drove down there. Crazy, I know, but the flights were only $250 roundtrip. Totally worth it. Anyway, we went to a movie and then went and hung out in Huntington Beach. There was a lot going on down there with a Christian music festival thing. Then there were lots of kits boarders out there which got me all motivated again to do another lesson this year.


That night Cami and Billie had already gone to bed and Kyle and I were headed that way. Well Kyle had to go to the bathroom so he went and the next thing I remember was hearing a loud crashing sound coming from the bathroom. I went to go investigate and it turned out that Kyle had passed out after he peed. He got a cut by his eye that was starting to bleed and I was so worried. We couldn't decided whether or not to take him to the hospital for stitches. We ended up just getting some butterfly bandaids and Kyle cleaned himself up and went to bed. We think he passed out because we had flown home on a red eye flight and Kyle hadn't slept at all. So within a 40 hour time period he had slept for three hours (the time he slept was after we got to Cami's) Currently Kyle's eye is looking like he got punched. He's got a major black eye. He also has a bump on top of his head and bruises down the side of his body from hitting the counter, doorknob, floor, etc. I'm sure he'll be okay, but man was I worried.



Sunday
We finally made it home. It was great to be back in our own bed. My summer is officially started and it was great. I will be working a few hours a week at the bike shop and I will start grad school in two weeks. I love summer!! We also have bike races and more trips planned. Can't wait!