Bumps and Bruises!!!

This weekend Carson came to visit me here in Cedar City. We did a yummy fried chicken dinner on Friday night with a very yummy sweet and sour sauce that I got a recipe for from work and wanted to try. We also made cookies and watched a movie, it was a great night. We stayed up way too late though, and we regretted it the next day when we had to get up early for the "Hearts for Haiti" 3 mile race. It was very cold and icy, but we did it nonetheless. Carson was nice and ran with me the whole way (even though he could have gone much faster), he did push me a bit, and I ended up taking third out of the girls and won ten bucks. After that we headed to St. George for a fun filled day. We didn't really have anything planned, but as we were running a few errands that Carson had, we saw a large tent off in the distance. We decided to head over to see what it was, and we found the "Dixie Igloo." A spur of the moment decision had us putting on our own pairs of ice skates. We were not great at first, but we did manage to get the hang of just gliding around the rink in large circles. That is when our tiny bit of confidence led to a very bad decision. Note to self: amateur skaters should not attempt to play tag, I have a bruise on my hip and a LARGE bump on my head to prove it. We did have lots of fun though. That night we had a great dinner at Applebee's (my favorite), ice cream from Baskin Robbins, and then a trip to the 2 dollar theater to see Blindside. It was an EXCELLENT movie that I would recommend to anyone. Today was a nice warm day so after church we had a yummy pizza picnic on the grass outside. It was a super fun weekend. Hopefully the weather stays nice; I love the sun!!!

Spring Break!!!

I haven't blogged in a while, so to update: the triathlon went really well. I ended up placing third out of the girls, and it was tons of fun. Now on to SPRING BREAK!!!!
Spring break of course was spent in Moab... is there any other place to go???
I started off the week by hiking in Arches with Carson's family. We had a super yummy dinner at the Moab Diner, and the next day Carson gave a great talk for his homecoming. He is such a great guy, and I am soooo happy he's home.
My China friends came down to Moab to visit me, and we had lots of fun. We did some shopping and hiking. We also did lots of eating, mostly thanks to my Dad literally shoving food at us, it was all super good. We played lot of games with my family, and watched a few movies too. I made super cute panda cupcakes for Keara's birthday, they tasted great too.Then on Saturday Megan and I ran in the Canyonlands Half Marathon. It was lots of fun, and thankfully I felt really good for most of the race, the last two miles were pretty tuff though. I was able to push myself pretty fast, and I ended up shattering my goal by quite a bit. I finished in an hour and 48 minutes, and according to the website, I ran an 8:15 pace (not too bad for 13 miles if you ask me). I finished 650th overall out of about 3300 people, and I placed 25th in my age group. I am so happy that I can now say I have done a half marathon, and I would do it again.
The most eventful part of the race had to have been right before the race when there are thousands of people waiting in line at about 30 pot-a-potties. Something about the start of a race makes me really nervous, and that makes me have to go the bathroom multiple times that morning (so much for trying to hydrate before the race). Megan and I got in line over 40 minutes before the race was supposed to start, but the lines were not moving very fast. As it got closer to the start time the announcer kept saying that we needed to start heading up the hill to the starting line. They also kept informing us that if we did not get our sweat bags in the trucks placed at the top of the hill, and halfway up the hill, we would be carrying our warm ups with us for the next 13 miles. At this point I just keep thinking I cannot run for the next 2 hours if they do not let me go to the bathroom first. Megan and I started stripping down while still standing in line to pack our sweat bags even though it was still super cold. At this point many people start giving up on the lines and head up the hill to the start. Not me, I was determined. We finally get to the front of the line about the time that they are announcing that we have 2 minutes to get our sweat bags into the trucks. In perfect timing Megan and I run out of side by side port-a-potties, grab our bags, and start running up the hill as they are playing the "Call to the Post" in the background. Arriving at the top of the hill I saw the alternative restrooms that people choose to use, oh how nice it must be to be a guy.

We topped off the night with a bon fire at the sand dunes. Luckily I have not been sore at all since the race. Carson spoke again in my ward on Sunday and he did a great job again. After church I sadly had to head back to Cedar City for more tests and papers. It was a great week, I had so much fun playing with my family and friends, and not doing any homework!!!!

Carson is Home!!!

Last week I took off three days of school to head home to Moab and visit my best friend in the world who is finally home from a mission in Peoria Illinois. We pretty much spent every minute together the entire week. Carson taught me how to play frisbee golf at the new course in Moab. I was not very good, but we had lots of fun. We played with my niece and nephew, watched movies, worked on putting snow tracks on a 4-wheeler (I was not much help), played games, had a picnic in the park, and went hiking with my family. I even beat Carson at chess, a rare occurrence before he left. The week ended with Parker's baptism. It was so fun to get to be there for my little buddy as he made this important step in his life. Congratulations Bud!!!

I had such a fun week, but sadly now I am back in Cedar City (where it annoyingly snowed today) studying for tests and writing term papers. There is a window of hope in the future; spring break is only a week away. I can't wait!!!! My China friends are coming to play, I am so excited to see them again. Megan and I are also running in the half marathon at the end of the break, so that should be fun... I hope. I have never ran that far before so this will be a completely new challenge.

Megan and I are also doing an indoor triathlon this weekend at the school, also a new experience. It should be great training for the half marathon. It is running 3 miles, biking 10, and then swimming 1/4 mile. I am pretty nervous for the swimming part though, I am not a great swimmer.