I Am Fat....

You just can't tell, because along with unhealthy foods...I am also addicted to cardio. 

Win, Win. 

I get to eat all the terrible crap for me AND still fit in my size 3 pants. 

10 points for being a young, unhealthy, exercise addict. 

This is what my day looked like: 

Cath sent me to "fat camp" aka she let me tag along with her to her personal trainer and get my cardio loving butt kicked by lifting weights. I am already REALLY sore. To reward myself, I had a SUUUPER healthy breakfast: 

Those Reese's ice creams are literally heavenly/probably way super healthy too. 

Nothing makes my heart happier than when this kid sees me and gets SUUUPER excited to see me:

She gets excited most likely because I give her anything she wants: 

Kids are so easily won over...okay I am too. If you showed up on my doorstep with a twinkie, I would most likely love you forever. 

This evening, I am currently scouring the world wide web trying to find some of these babies in my size: 

Why do they only make velcro shoes for kids?? BEST INVENTION EVER!

Shout out to my sister Kate who says I don't talk about her enough on the blog (we hang out everyday so it is kinda strange she never gets mentioned). I cried and whined (worse than the two kids) until she took me to Taco Bell and bought me dorritos tacos before we went to her daughter's soccer game. Such a good sister. 

I may or may not have applied to 10 jobs in DC today just for the heck of it. Okay, I probably did. 

Triple Tangent Tuesday!!

Remember back in the day...like a year ago...when I would post 3 random tangents on Tuesday?? Well, I miss that tradition! Let's start that back up!

This kid left to live in the Middle East for 4 whole months today! I was so depressed that I ate donuts for breakfast and justified going shopping during my lunch break. I am now taking "temporary best friend" applications. Send em my way!

Stopping off at the sister's house on the way home from work to drink diet coke and ride bikes with the kids will now become a regular part of my daily routine:

I miss my city more than ever lately. Hmmm maybe I should start lookin for jobs in DC...

P.S.- Looking for a job is the ABSOLUTE worst part of being an adult right now. 

Happy Happy Tuesday Folks!

Havasupai

What happens when 3 girls decide to go on a weekend backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon? 

I don't want to write a lot, so be prepared for a picture EXPLOSION...

We drove 10 hours to the top of the trail to Havasupai. We had to carry all of our food, clothes, and bedding for 10 miles down to the camp ground. This trip is NOT for wusses!!

On the way down, we hiked really early in the morning to avoid the heat. It was such a pretty hike down and we were so excited for our adventure!

These two claimed they didn't mean to match. Sure...

Vanessa reminded me of Pepto. I was nauseated just looking at her!

The three of us halfway to Havasupai

Best sign EVER!!

First waterfall: Navajo falls. SOOO pretty!

Next waterfall, Havasupai falls!

There were lots of little pools under Havasupai falls that we could play in!

Jentry fell down a little waterfall and got scratched up pretty bad. It just made her look super hardcore. 

Then it started raining, and we realized this place can quickly turn into a "hell hole" as Vanessa called it!

I got some brand new water shoes for the trip, and somehow lost a shoe. No worries, I still wore one around camp!

Our nasty nasty naaaasty dehydrated camping beef stew. Yuck I get sick just looking at the picture!

We all just had spoons and ate right out of the bag! We are really classy campers. 

Our little rain shelter. Not bad for three girls riggin up a shelter!

We "slept" in hammocks, and it was straight up AWFUL. I woke up feeling MISERABLE!

We climbed down to Mooney falls. It was a pretty intense hike, but super cool! This fall wasn't as fun, cause you couldn't play under it. 

Always a comforting sign

Such a neat hike!

Mooney Falls

Self timer is a glorious thing. 

Our little home before we took it all down. 

We decided to hike out at NOON the next day. Not our smartest idea. We stopped in the village where a wise elder said, "No no you can't hike this time of day! Many try, and many die!!" Luckily we made it. This picture is funny, because I sat down and FIVE dogs came and sat next to me. I HATE DOGS, especially nasty wild dogs!!

All in all, it was a great trip. It was very liberating to be able to say that the three of us girls went camping and did it all by ourselves. We survived the hike (even in super crazy heat) and made it home! I am pretty sure I am never going to do it again, but at least I did it!!

RUNCATION

The best type of vacation is a RUNCATION.

Definition: Running somewhere that you have an excuse to get a hotel and make a vacation out of it!

This weekend was super fun. I forgot to take pictures, but you HAVE to believe me when I say it was supppper rad. My sis and I headed up to PC on Friday afternoon. We checked into our sweet hotel (it was the first hotel room I have ever booked and paid for...I felt super adult-ish.) Once we were all checked in, we headed to race headquarters to check in and get my race number and timing chip. Conveniently, my favorite pre-race meal was right next door! I always always eat a cafe rio burrito the night before a race. After that, we went to the movie Sparkle...which was pretty good/not my fav. Mostly, I was just too stressed about the race to care about the movie. Then it was time to get to bed early and get a good night sleep.

Next day: Race day.

I was super worried about this race for multiple reasons: 

1. My injury.

2. The course was pretty much all uphill on a dirt trail.

3. It was at a super high altitude.

That said, I felt like I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish. The first 8 miles were STRAIGHT UPHILL. I literally thought I was going to die. Every step KILLED. I was running so slow, I seriously thought I was never going to finish. I never felt like I could get a steady stride going, because I was on a dirt trail dodging rocks and other things. I really struggled to find a solid speed and rhythm the whole time. The last 5 miles finally felt good. It was mostly downhill, and I finally wasn't in as much pain. I ended up finishing in just under 2 hours, which was my goal. I did this race to prove to myself that I can do hard things, and that is exactly what this race showed me. 

The ENTIRE next day, I laid in my basement with a major headache, throwing up, and feeling like straight death. Why do I do this to my body??

Pictures: 

I always have a race number that has the number 13 in it. It's a family curse/luck. 

My final time according to my watch

The weirdest medal I have ever gotten!

Apparently I am destined to get 9th place in every race I run. I'm cool with top ten!

Carbs and Compression Socks

My physical therapist knows me too well. She said I probably have a stress fracture, but we wouldn't know for sure unless I got an X-Ray...which I am too poor to pay for at the moment. The fact that it killed when she used her fancy vibrating hammer and it's bruising all up the bone says "stress fracture". BUT, she said if it was a stress fracture, that would mean 8 weeks of doing nothing to heal. Or...she could work on me, tape me up, and help me try to do everything I am supposed to do in the next month. If it's a stress fracture and I am going to be sidelined at some point...I might as well just go to the breaking point and do as much as I can right? Right. 

I have been working with her for 3 years now and she knows there's not much she can do to stop me, so she might as well be my partner in crime!

Today, we video taped me and analyzed my stride in slow motion. It was super weird/super interesting. Now, I am wearing compression socks to help with calve tightness, and loading up on the carbs!

Park City Half, Here I Come!!!

Getting all fixed up at physical therapy

My super sexy tape job

LOOOOOVE compression socks

Let's be honest, the only reason I race is so that I can say I am carb loading the whole week before!

Okay, I am seriously depressed that Austin moved to St. George today. It's just so sad to think that he's going to college and then will probably be leaving for a mission next summer!! We're never going to be "across the hall" pals again!

Lately...

So I have been a pretty flakey blogger lately. I really have no explanation, except that I honestly haven't had any motivation to blog...or even be social in general. The only explanation I have for that is that sometimes life throws you curve balls and unexpected things happen. While things haven't been the easiest lately, I am very optimistic that things will work out the way that they are supposed to. I am very lucky and very blessed to have the life and opportunities that I have and sometimes it takes difficult times to remember how blessed I really am. Just gotta remember the big picture....

Here's some recent pictures: 

About 2 weeks ago, some old MV Soccer Alumni got together and played a friendly game of soccer. I was the oldest (weird huh??) And I must say, I definitely am out of soccer shape. I was sore for like three days after we played!! It was really fun to see everyone and play again though!

I have learned that there are two things in life that will NEVER EVER let me down: Running and Kids. No matter what disappointments I face, I always have running to boost my confidence and reduce my stress, and kids that love me no matter how imperfect I am. Like I said, I am really lucky. 

Jack calls himself "Peter Parker Jack"

I got to babysit these two rugrats, so of course we went to McDonalds and got ice cream cones. NEVER AGAIN will I go to the drive thru and trust Kali to hold the ice cream cones. Let's just say my light interior is NOT ideal for kids and ice cream cones. They loved it though. 

Look at that perfect form!! She was even turning the pages of the song book!

I have been running a lot lately. I will never ever get sick of running. I got a nasty blister that I am hoping will go away by my race this Saturday...I am also hoping the pain in my shin that feels a whole lot like a stress fracture will go away too...pray for me!

This gal turned 2 last week. When we went over to her party, she stood up on the couch wearing only a diaper and conducted multiple renditions of the "Happy Birthday" song. I can't believe she is already 2!

Some fun events to look forward to (as long as I don't have a stress fracture...I find out on Thursday): 

Park City Half- This weekend

Havasupai- Next weekend

Spanish Fork Half- Sept. 7

Wonder Woman Century Bike Race- Sept. 15

Please bless I don't have a crappy crappy injury!

You Never Know

It seems like every time I turn around this summer someone has died. 

I met a boy just a few days ago, and learned tonight that he lost the fight with life and decided to end his early. Completely blew me away. He seemed so happy and so full of life. Unfortunately, we never really know what battles people are fighting. 

It's one of those nights where you really ponder about life and remember that you can't EVER take it for granted. You never know when someone close to you will be gone. The lesson to be learned here is to make sure people you love know it. Never hold back. Don't live in fear. 

Recently, I had a very vivid flashback of the day that I learned of an unexpected death of someone very very close to me. I had a breakdown. It was probably the most traumatic day of my life so far. Honestly, you never come back from that. You can never be the same person once you experience an unexpected death of someone close to you. And you probably shouldn't be the same person...you should be wiser and stronger and learn from that experience. That's why we have hard struggles: to learn and be better. 

The problem is that very few people understand that pain. Many don't understand, and you really can't blame them. They haven't experienced that unexpected loss. You actually envy them, because they don't fight that constant battle of trying to stay positive and live life the best that you can. People expect you to get over it after 1, 2, 3 years...but the truth is...you never get over it. At some point, you just have more good days than bad days. But the bad days never go away. I think it's okay to have bad days and miss someone that you lost. It doesn't make you weak. It just makes you human. 

To those who have lost someone close to them unexpectedly, I am truly sorry. Remember that you WILL see them again, and they don't want you to waste your life missing them..so instead HONOR them. 

To those who have not, I truly would never wish that experience upon my absolute worst enemy. But remember, don't take life for granted and ALWAYS tell the people you love that you love them every chance you get. You never know what you love can do for a person. I know that the love of many people in my life has gotten me through some very difficult battles that I absolutely would have lost and given up without that love. Be kind to others, you never know what they are going through, and you never want to be the person that pushes anyone over the edge. Life is hard enough without us being critical of each other. Let's love each other and build each other up instead.

I love this quote:

“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility” 

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Family Boating Trip

Yesterday we gathered the troops and headed out on the lake. Austin is leaving for school soon, so I am taking every opportunity to spend some time with him before he leaves. I am gonna be so sad with my little buddy down at college! Here's some pics from the day: 

Austin came downstairs ready to go sportin an MV Cross Country jersey. Since he is so cool and I want to be like him, I decided to go change into my Dixie Cross Country jersey so that I could be cool too. 

The four little girls were so good. There were lots of laughs, a few tears, and looooots of consumed cookies and treats. 

Rylie isn't convinced she likes swimming yet. 

We're gonna miss these two when they leave in a few weeks for Arizona

The little cookie monsters!!

Kali wanted me to go out on the tube with her. She took the opportunity to have "girl talk" and talk about our feelings.

Rylie was not happy to go on the tube, it was actually pretty traumatizing for all involved. 

Little Austy catchin some air. 

 I can't believe summer is ending so soon. I can't say I am sad that I won't be going to school...although I am pretty sad I won't get to go school supply shopping. There's nothing better than a new notebook and a package of mechanical pencils!