A New Sister

My brother got engaged last Saturday to a fabulous girl. I couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law. Welcome to the fam Erin! Click HERE for the engagement story.

Provo Canyon Half Marathon

My roommate talked me into running the Provo Canyon Half Marathon last Saturday. I'm not really sure why I said yes, but I'm glad I did it. It definitely was an experience and a pretty big accomplishment for me because let's be honest, I don't love to run. I realize that half marathons aren't that big of a deal (as my brother put it, "What's so great about a half marathon? People run 13 miles all the time.") It was a beautiful run though and an experience I'll never forget. So how did I train for it? Well, let me play out for you the entire experience:

-5 weeks before the race: I decide I should probably start running. 5 miles run. My knee hurts.
-4 weeks before: Try running again. Only do 4 miles because I ate too much crap the day before. Decide to eat better.
-Later that week: 5 more miles. Feeling good. Only stopped because I was bored.
-3 weeks before: 8 miles done! And I feel great! I can do this
-2 weeks before: I went to New York and didn't run
-The week before: 9 mile run. I wanted to do 10 but lost that mental battle. Oh well.
-Rest of the week: My knee is a little sore so I decide not to run again before the race, but I do play some soccer.

Yep, that's 5 times running. I'm crazy, maybe stupid, but I finished the race, and that was my goal.So the morning of the race came along
4:00am-Hit the snooze button. No one should be awake right now
4:05am-Hit it again
4:10am-Get up, get ready
4:30am-Head over to Bethany's
4:50am-Arrive at Riverwood's, take a picture, get bib's, start to get cold
5:15am-Get on bus
5:47am-Bus hits sign
5:50am-Get off bus, get in line at porta-potties
5:55-6:30am-Freeze our butts off
6:30am-Wonder why the race isn't starting
7:15am-Finally start running
7:15-9:00am-Feeling great
9:01am-Knees start hurting really bad but there's only 3 miles left
9:38am-Cross the finish line

Boston

I got up early Monday morning when I was in New York and caught a bus to Boston. I LOVED Boston. I don't know what it was about that city, but I loved it all. I spent the day on the Freedom Trail. Once again, I didn't get the greatest pictures because I was by myself for most of it, but oh well. Sam Adams. Holocaust Memorial. Streets of downtown Boston. Paul Revere. There were some street dancers that were awesome! This little guy was in training I guess. After their show I caught him practicing. Pretty good if you ask me.

New York

A few weeks ago I got to go to New York to visit my old roommate Kristi-Lynn and meet her cute 9 month old Sadie. We had a ton of fun just hanging out. I've been to New York a couple times, so we didn't need to do a lot of the touristy stuff. It was a great, low-key weekend. I didn't do a very good job of remembering to get my camera out, but we really did do a lot of great things! Thanks Kris! Friday night we went to a free concert in Central Park by the Philharmonic Orchestra. But half-way through it started to poor and people just scattered. Saturday we explored the city a little. We went to Washington Park and people watched. It was a pretty warm day so there were sun-bathers out anywhere they could find grass or somewhere to put a lawn chair. And there were a bunch of people swimming in the fountain! Who needs to pay for a pool anyway?! We tried a couple times to win Wicked tickets at the lottery, but just didn't have any luck. Oh well. One day I'll see that play. On Sunday we walked along the Hudson and then let Sadie play on the swings. She is such a doll!

I love my job

I absolutely love my job. I really can't complain about any aspect of it. Sometimes I wonder how someone can actually get paid to do what I do. And to make it even better, sometimes I get to have experiences I could only dream of having. One of those experiences happened this week. I was invited to attend a sacrament meeting with all the newly called Mission Presidents and their wives. Also in attendance were many of the Seventy, eleven of the Twelve Apostles (President Packer was ill) and the whole First Presidency. Talk about feeling overwhelmed! As we began to sing the the sacrament hymn, I was truly humbled by the words. Imagine being surrounded by such great men sing the words of the second verse:

As now our minds review the past, we know we must repent; The way to thee is righteousness-the way thy life was spent. Forgiveness is a gift from thee we seek with pure intent. With hands now pledge to do thy work, we take the sacrament.

Can you imagine?! These men and women of God, including the Prophet himself, singing about how they need to repent. It really does put into perspective that the Atonement works the same for everyone whether you are the Prophet or just an average person.