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.

MASQUERADE!!!

I know I have not blogged for a while, but I finally have something blog-worthy to blog about!!! This weekend I went to a Masquerade with my friends from China (and some of their way cool friends). Oh how I missed them!!! Megan was nice enough to let me borrow a dress, and to curl my hair for me- Thanks Megan. And Keara was nice enough to make me an awesome mask-Thanks Keara. None of us had dates, but we danced the night away nonetheless. Even without a date, I thought it was really fun to watch the other couples on the slow and swing dances, they were soooo cute, and really good dancers. There were some way cool masks thereAfter the dance ended we headed to Keara's house for the night. Keara's family is lots of fun. There I was truly fascinated to learn all about Quaker Parrots and how emotional they are. Poor Sarge, he has had a tough life. Then Chelsey, Keara, and Brittany introduced me to "Chick Fillet," and boy was it good. That night we went bowling with Chelsey's parents (they are so cute). Chelsey's Dad creamed us!!! Then we went to "Sub Zero," only the best ice cream place on the planet!!! Yes it was January, and yes it was snowing outside!!! Would you call us a little Strange?? Maybe, but we were definitely not the only one's eating ice cream on that particular cold January night. The next day I went to Chelsey's home ward with her to listen to her speak about her experience in China. She gave a great talk, and I am so glad that I got to be there to hear her speak, especially since I had lived everything that she talked about. In Relief Society the president found out that I had gone to China with Chelsey, and they started calling us the "China Dolls."

I had such a fun weekend. It was great to see Chelsey and Keara again, and to make new friends. We missed Becca!! I hope I get to see them all again soon!

It's a New Year!!!

I had a great Christmas and New Years!! It is really good to be back in the states with my family. I was rather lost for a week or two after getting back. I miss my China friends so much, and I feel incomplete without them. At first I kept thinking of funny inside jokes, or memories from China, but just as I was about to say them, I would realize that no one that I was with would have any idea what I was talking about so I just had to keep all my thoughts to myself. I really enjoyed getting to play with my family, and I am not so lost anymore. I got to work over the break out at the potash plant, (or ash pot as Parker called it). It was a little cold, but I love working out there, the people are great. Christmas was great, especially the food!!! I had lots of fun buying gifts for everyone in China and I hope everyone liked their gifts. I did bust out the chicken feet at Christmas dinner, and there were a few souls who were brave enough to try them. The packaged ones are not as good as the fresh ones, but they did smell like China. (See previous post) I learned tons of new games from my family over the break and we would play until way late into the night (not the best remedy for getting over jet lag). New Years was fun filled with friends, Kim Call's homemade donuts, gummy worms, and a movie. Parker and Payton got so big while I was gone, I played with them as much as I could over the break. We had fun making sugar cookies, dying paper, and just hanging out. I sure was sad to say goodbye to them, and all of my family.

Now I am back in Cedar City after just 2 short weeks at home. I am having trouble getting back into school, mostly just the fact that I actually have to do homework and reading at night. I really like school and my classes though, so I will hopefully be able to adjust to the homework and stuff real soon. I love being able to hang with Megan and Andrew whenever I want, we have already made our arms very sore playing racquetball. Since being here I have already been in 2 earthquakes, ran over 18 miles, and killed my toenail again (what is wrong with me?)

I am usually not a fan of New Years resolutions, but this year I did actually make a few, and I am going to post them with the hopes that it will help motivate me to keep them.

• Cut back on sugary foods. Since I come from a family of diabetics, it would probably be a good idea for me to stop giving in to my sweet tooth so much.


• Exercise at least 5 if not 6 times a week. I am doing great on this one so far since Megan and I are training to run the half marathon in the spring.


• Study (not just read) my scriptures everyday.

Good Luck to anyone else who made resolutions this year!!!!

Do You Like CHICKEN FEET???

WeLcOmE hOmE!!!!

After many many hours of traveling, I am back in the USA!! The first thing that we did was head to Chuck-a-Rama for some great food. It is great to be back, and I am having a blast hanging out with my family and getting ready for Christmas.

I already miss the other girls!!! I can't wait to see them again.

SPECTACLE!!!

We did it, we actually survived SPECTACLE. We have been preparing for almost 2 months now for our big end of semester program. The kids have been diligently learning dances and English songs along with actions everyday for weeks. They were pretty good sports about it too, even though I am sure they wanted to just throw the props at me every time that I said, "Ok, we have to sing it one more time before we can go to snack." The kids are not the only ones who had to prepare though, the teachers and I also had to perform a dance at the program, and I had a piano solo as well. Why all this work you might ask... Well let's just say that the Chinese are very into presentation. These kids are 4, 5, and 6, and they cannot help the fact that they are these ages, besides the little mess ups that occur just add to the cuteness. Well we think so anyway, but the Chinese teachers don't necessarily agree, and they forced us to work the kids until they could do their skits perfectly. My class sang frosty the snowman, and they did a great job, I was so proud of them. There was also a fashion show featuring the younger class, it was cute beyond description. My family will be forced to watch the movie with me, and also forced to listen to a description of all of the kids little personality quirks...whether they want to or not. Today I had the unfortunate experience of having to say goodbye to my 37 new little friends. Who would have thought that in 4 months we would get so attached to all of their cute little faces? We had a slide show prepared that we watched with the kids, and then the tears started flowing. Some of the kids are old enough to understand that we are leaving, and it was way sad to see them cry about it. The other kids got way confused, they did not understand why all of their teachers were crying, but they were quick to give hugs to try to fix the problem.

For our last night here in Xiaolan we had a big dinner at a nice restaurant with the Principal and some of the Chinese teachers. The food was super good, and there was Karaoke afterward featuring lots of Michael Jackson. It was a great way to end our stay. Tomorrow we start our never-ending journey home. We take a van to another school where we spend the night before taking a ferry to Hong Kong. At about 1:30 PM on Thursday we leave Hong Kong... our destination... the great US of A. We will arrive in LA California on Thursday at about 11:45 AM... yes we are going back in time!!! Too bad the 13+ hour flight couldn't really be negative 2 hours. Anyway eventually we will make it back to SLC where hopefully someone that I recognize will be there to pick me up. Then it is on to Cedar City for a weekend at Megan and Andrew's. I am super excited, I can't wait for all the family fun.

I have had such a great time in China, I still can't believe I have been living here for 4 months. This has been the experience of a lifetime, and I have had the chance to see so many cool places. I am going to miss so many things about China, mostly the kids, my new friends (why is SUU so far away?), the yummy food, and cheap shopping. I am super excited to see my family though, and to eat American food again. After traveling around for a good portion of 2009, I am ready to stay in the states for a while. I am looking forward to Christmas with my family, and getting back to Cedar City for school. Oh and running, I am looking forward to running again, you see none of the other teachers like to run, and since we are not allowed out alone, my running has been very restricted. Since Megan and I are planning on running the half marathon in March, I better get training.

On to my next adventure...