One week down...

And hopefully only 3 (or so) more to go.

I made it through my first week with Ian gone to CO! It was a good week, and I only had a few mildly disastrous events take place. (I only say that because it seems like last year, a bunch of unusual and bizzaare things happened and I did NOT like the fact that I had to handle them by myself---I don't deal with that kind of stuff very well:)--like my exploding watermelon incident!)

Monday I came home to find ants all over our dresser in our bedroom. Apparently in the white box, which was thought to be a headlamp that wasn't opened, there was garbage from the race with food crumbs that attracted the ants!

But, on the positive side--I NEEDED to clean off our dresser badly, so it forced me to do it!

Sunday, I somehow threw my phone away. I couldn't find it anywhere and was stressing out about it because I KNEW it was somewhere in our apartment. Anyway, I went to throw a box away, and noticed the garbage was much heavier then just the eggshells that I'd thrown away earlier, and there it was....all gooey and everything! It worked for a little while, and then blew up. I think I need a new phone! Any ideas?

I am hoping to be productive this week, as I was last. I was able to help our friends paint, help my Grandmother clean, hung out with my family and Ian's, got a bunch of cleaning done around our apartment, mowed the lawn, ran three times, went shopping, and made rice crispy treats, brownies, and banana bread(for the first time and it was a success!)

The Rust-ee Joints running in the Wasatch Back 2009

|This past weekend (Friday and Saturday) Ian and I were able to run again in the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back. This race goes from Logan to Park City through the beautiful Wasatch Mountains, covering 188 miles total. The miles are split between 12 runners, in 2 vans. Each runner has 3 legs of the race ranging from 3ish-10ish miles.

For more info. you can visit this site: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php

We ran on Biomet West's team(where I work), the Rust-ee Joints, with our slogan very fitting-"Go ahead and wear them out, we have replacements."

Ian did a great job decorating our "Van" while we waited for Van 1 to finish their first legs. We decorated with skeletons who had joint replacements.

Here I am getting ready for the hand off from Lori (my teammate) to do my first run-
an easy 3.4 miles. But, it was a hot one! Each exchange looks similar to this one.

This race attracts ALL kinds of people. I was fortunate enough to have some entertainment ahead of me---until I passed him! :)


Ian saw this little creek in front of someones house and decided it'd be a nice place to soak his feet--the water was nice and cool.


Ian is always a good supportive teammate who will do anything for anybody. Everybody loved it when they saw him on the side of the road! Especially me! :) This is Lisa-one of our teammates.

Ian and Lori hanging out.

Ian ran straight up a hill near Pineview reservoir and into this beautiful valley. He did such a great job---3.8 miles considered "very hard" in like 35 mins, or something crazy and fast like that!

Ian decided to get a little warm-up running Brad in to the exchange before he started his run up a mountain. Like I said--he is very supportive of his team.

Ian running up a mountain-the pictures don't do it justice. This hill was STEEP! See image below for an idea:




Lori and I had a great time squirting people down. It was hot and some of them looked like they REALLY needed it!


Our van's second runs were when "NORMAL" people are sleeping---between 1:00 & 5:00 a.m.
I loved my run, even though it was around 3:00 a.m.. It was mostly downhill and I was able to do it pretty fast! Ian did AWESOME on his second run. He was running so fast, we could hardly keep up with him driving---and he sped by soooo fast that by the time we realized it was him (to give him water) he was already gone and we had to drive up a mile to meet him. He pased a total of 54 people---that is HUGE!

After my run I was feeling really good--until I drank too much Gatorade, heard a lady puking right outside our car, and got car sick. That night/morning, I got pretty sick and became famous for my puking! :( (A guy who was on our team last year said he saw me leaning out the car doing my business---how embarassing!) After a few malfunctions, and Ian running an extra leg because our other van was at the wrong exchange, we made it to the house in Heber where we got a little bit of sleep, took some showers and ate(except for me) some food. We are a VERY SPOILED team! Most teams spent their time in a high school gym.

We met up with our team to finish our last runs. I am SO thankful for Ian, Lori, Brett, and Steve who all even though they were exhausted, were willing to run for me. I appreciated SO much!
The last runs went well, and everybody did a great job. The day was a little cooler and rainy, but it seemed to be enjoyable for most of the runners.

Ian did the "ragnar" (hardest) leg of the race and this is why it is the hardest:



He basically ran straight up this!


This sign seemed VERY encouraging...NOT!


Ian had to keep tradition and run in his flamingo suit. Many people enjoyed seeing him run with it. He got many compliments---and he was also a target that people wanted to pass!

Ian did a FANTASTIC job! I am very proud of him!

We were all quite happy when Brad handed off to Sam at the last exchange! I think we were all ready for some sleep!

We made it to the finish line-and we got a metal!

This race is totally different from any other race I have ever done, not only because of the extreme lack of sleep, but because it is unique. I always enjoy it. It never ceases to amaze me as I look around and see the thousands of people who all have something in common-everyone comes together for one CRAZY event, to run their best, to make lasting memories, to do something hard and challenging(maybe not so much for Ian :)) and to have fun all at the same time. This experience is one I will never forget!

Ian's BIG race

So, for all of you who may not know, Ian has gotten into a "sick habit" (as one of his running buddies described it---I thought that was a very fitting way to describe it) with trail running. Now, this is not your typical running. This is running up and down mountains--literally. He joined a few guys in our ward in this trail running stuff awhile ago and decided he really ENJOYS it.

So...guess what Ian did this weekend?!?!

Ian ran and FINISHED his first 50 mile race up Squaw Peak! (Yes, that is a 50, you aren't seeing things!) His goal was to do it in 13 hours, and he finished with a time of 12 hours and about 13 mins!

I am VERY proud of Ian and this HUGE accomplishment! As crazy as it sounds, it is very inspiring to see my husband run like this. He makes it seem so easy, but wow....I can't even begin to imagine what it may be like to run like that! Good Job Bay!

I was also SO happy (and relieved) to see that he was doing really well when he got to the finish line! I guess I was just a little paranoid that things would go terrible--but thankfully they didn't.

Here are a few pictures of him at the finish line.

Ian crossing the finish line with some of his running friends.

Enjoying some chicken after the race.

Feeling "real nice" at home---he is going to kill me :)

Air Force Show

We also went to the Air Show up at Hill Air Force Base. Despite the stormy weather, we really enjoyed ourselves and the Thunderbirds! They do some CRAZY stuff. It was WAY fun!

And as for my life lately...this is what you will find me doing when I am not at work...sitting on our couch at home with our fat cat. It's fun!

The English Language

English-I am SO glad this was my first language!

Can you read these right the first time?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?


I recieved this email about the English language. It made me laugh because it brought me back to the days I was in Russia. Because I taught the older kids who were pretty fluent in English, I ran into many "problems" trying to teach them the difference between the same word. Also, there was never a good reason as to why you pronounce things differently, when they are spelled the same. The answer was always "just because" or "that's just how it is."

Hope you enjoyed!

No more pencils, No more books, No more teacher's dirty looks...

Okay, so I never got any dirty looks from the one teacher I actually saw. (My other two classes were online)

But...as of last Saturday I am done with school for the semester! It is such a wonderful feeling! This semester was not one of my favorites. No offense to anybody who may appreciate or like these, but business law and statistics are TERRIBLE classes to suffer through! But, fortunately I got them taken and out of the way!

Oh yes, and thanks to good old SLCC....I will not be taking the two classes I have left to take there before transferring this semester. Why? Because they only offer them right in the middle of the day for a few hours, a few times a week. As a working person, I cannot do that! So....I am going to have an AMAZING SUMMER!!! (minus the weeks Ian will be gone to CO)

I keep wondering what I am going to do with myself! I know what things need to get done, but cleaning stuff is BORING! Any FUN ideas?!?!?! Please let me know!

I won the MONEY!

No, this is not the money I could be saving if I switch to Geico...

it is the money I have officially WON from the March Madness NCAA pool we held at work!

Every year we have an office pool where everybody fills out their bracket for the tournament. Usually, I fill out my bracket (using some help),pay my money, then hope for the best which has always resulted in somebody else basically getting my money.

Well this year, because of some good guessing and strategy, I was able to be on top and stay in first the ENTIRE time! (minus the few minutes I don't count when I was tied in first)

I guess the previous years have now paid off! Can't wait for next year!

Hawaii!

We had a nice flight to Oahu (the airline fed us a meal-we were shocked!)and arrived in the early afternoon. We picked up our rental car(which was BRAND new and nice), and then drove up to Laie, where Chris, Katie, and Jared live.

We spent time catching up (as it has been since August that we've seen each other) and then Chris and Jared showed us a neat place right by their house. We spent the rest of the evening talking and enjoying each other's company.

Tuesday Ian woke up and went for a nice LONG run, and I enjoyed the time relaxing. Then we decided to get out and go see some places. Here is where we went.

Waimea Bay

The North Shore/Haleiwa for some Matsumoto's Shave Ice

The "Lost" beaches (where most of Lost is filmed) where Ian decided to do some 4 wheeling when the road ended.
And drove by a few familiar places...

Wednesday we went to breakfast at a little local place called the Hukilau Cafe. Jared was a little confused as to why he was in his PJ's eating breakfast other somewhere other then home, but loved eating the food-we all did! Then Ian and I went into town to do a few things. We stopped at a few places/beaches on our way down to Honolulu. Ian REALLY wanted to hike up Koko Head Crater like he did last time (I gave up 2/3 the way up!) and since I PROMISED him I would make it to the top this time, we went and hiked this...... I almost died. We made it!After hiking my not so favorite thing, we went to the swap meet @ Aloha Stadium, then did some shopping at the Ala Moana Mall and hung out in Honolulu.

Thursday we spent some time at the Hukilau Beach where Ian found him some treasures, then spent the afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center-which was so fun! On our way home (we walked there because it is so close) Ian found another treasure...two coconuts had fallen from the tree. He brought them home and cracked them open like the Samoans do.

That night I went with my sister to her Relief Society Enrichment Birthday Night, which was fun! She had a speaking part and talked about one of our ancestors, Catherine Hagel.

Friday, we went to Kaliua, then met up with Chris, Katie, and Jared to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. There were lots of fish! Ian and Chris also saw a turtle! We spent the rest of the night relaxing and packing up....

Saturday morning we left really early to get to town so that Ian could compete in the Biathlon (run and swim) he signed up for! We made it just in time and had fun watching him. He placed first in his division! Good work! We then left to go up to a place called Valley of the Temples and to the Dole Plantation---places we hadn't been that EVERYONE goes to! Despite the pouring rain, we enjoyed our time looking at the Temple. And the pineapple ice cream, other then the cost, was very tasty!


And then after eating some Hawaiian food, we were dropped off at the airport and headed home! The End! Thanks Chris, Katie, and Jared for all you did for us! We really enjoyed seeing and being with you, despite the not so ideal Hawaii weather!