Thirteen point one

Thirteen miles...... thirteen miles..... THIRTEEN MILES!

The half marathon happened, Saturday October 19th. Thirteen miles.

A few friends and I- Aaron, Madi, Gavin and Adam rand the South Jordan Half Marathon on Saturday.

I had my best mile times, best 5K times, and best 10K times, I have run, including my training for it. Still not great, but finished faster than I thought I would at 2 hours and 18 minutes.

It helped having people around running, and having Madi run with me.

My mom, Spence, Claire and my roommate Kim were all at the finish line, which was nice. Apparently they were all screaming and cheering me on right at the finish, but I barely even noticed them, cause I had my eyes on the prize, I was almost done.

Yay for getting a break from running for now. And yay for putting a half marathon down on the books!

Zion not Zions

I still don't know why Labor Day is called Labor Day, since I (and most people) have work off and get to celebrate and relax.....

I went down to Aaron's hometown Hurricane(pronounced her-i-cun.... I don't get it either) with him over the long weekend. We spent the weekend hiking at Zion National Park(I just barely learned that there is no "s" in Zion), making and eating brick oven pizza, visiting with his family and friends, looking at mission pictures, playing lots of games, singing to N*Sync and the Backstreet Boys, and of course going to the famous Bear Paw in St. George for a late breakfast. 

I haven't been to Zion since I was a little kid. I couldn't believe how pretty it was! I felt like a little kid again, gaping at the steep crimson canyon walls and watching the wildlife. It was a little crowded because of the holiday weekend, but it didn't really matter. 

Aaron loves the Angels Landing hike. Hurricane is super close to Zion and he would run and power walk Angels Landing in high school 3 times a week in the summer! The hike is about 5 miles round trip with lots of switch backs and some real big drop offs towards the end. 

[crazy switchbacks]

When we headed to the trail we started counting how many Asians we would pass, soon we realized there were lots of Indians as well, and the Indians surpassed the Asians headcount by a landslide! It was like 65 to 51! 

The only way to get to the tippy top of the Angels Landing hike is to take the chains on a skinny path with cliffs falling to the canyon floor just inches from your feet. I was pretty scared. It seemed like forever, but we finally made it to the top, and the view was spectacular!

[not me, but wanted to show the intense chained segment]

Two girls were following us forgot their camera and asked if we could take some pictures of them and email them. No biggie right? Well, lucky for us those girls worked for Toms and told us to each pick out a pair on the website and they would send them to us as a thank you for taking their picture. How nice! 

[sweaty, dirty and wet, but I made it!]

Long sunny nights and comfortable evenings are fleeting. I am taking as much summer in as I can for these last few weeks, enjoying the warm weather, comfortable nights, driving with the windows down and ate about as many snow cones as you can imagine before my favorite shaved ice shack (Island Flavor) shut down for the summer. 

Goodbye summer, you will be missed! 

HBD

JULY

Georgetown cuppycakes. Jewelry. 1D. Rodeo. Blue Lemon. Snow cones. Baby showers. Fireworks. Holidays. Blue Lemon. Nordie's. Froyo. Pizza. Failed half marathon attempt. Swimming. Blue Lemon. Merica. Late nights. Early mornings. Deadlines. Face Time. Drive in. 

1D

Cupcakes! 

Rodeo

Wedding

I went to a wedding last week, and I wasn't even a bridesmaid! Can you believe it? I'm actually sort of glad I wasn't even though it was my brother David's wedding, because hey, I got to pick my own dress!

Last week my parents, grandparents, Spence and I all hopped in the Suburban and took the extremely uneventful, drive to the middle of nowhere, aka the beautiful Fresnoooooooo California. 

The weekend was full of potato peeling, potato cutting, potato boiling, potato mashing, chicken cutting, chicken shredding, craisin cutting, setting up, taking down, DJing, flower arranging, and a little bit of swimming. 

The night before we had the two families get together for a BBQ from Famous Dave's, it was delish! I gave a mini speech about my bro, with a funny story about playing UNO when we were kids, that no one appreciated, I don't even think my brother did. So there goes my career in wedding speech giving. 

The next day was the wedding day. They got sealed at the Fresno LDS Temple. Super small temple, only one sealing room! After the ceremony we went to lunch and then set up for the wedding for most of the afternoon. 

The house where the reception was had a pool in the backyard, so we started a pool party at the end of the reception, it was so much fun! there were about 8 of us swimming fully clothed in the pool, including my dad, as well as the bride and groom- guess they couldn't let us show them up. So much fun jumping off a diving board in a sopping wet dress! 

The next morning we took the long trek back to Utah, through Reno and the middle of nowhere Nevada, worse then the drive there!

Tonight we are having a Utah reception, so here comes round 2! Too bad there's no pool to jump into tonight! 

One year and counting

It's been about a year and a half since I've graduated from college. Late nights, random hang outs, study sessions and cheap apartments seem to be becoming more and more a thing of the past. Friends are now married, pregnant and going on missions, and my immediate family is spread out all over the US. I am starting to buy furniture and decor to last for a while, kinda like a grown up. 

It's been weird growing up and acting like an adult. I feel like I always post thoughts on what I have learned, but learning is a continual thing! Here are some things I have learned as of lately:

• I don't think I will ever really like to cook... It's okay to have cereal for 2-3 meals a day.
• People come into your life for a reason, season or lesson.
• Riverton kids  will always be the funnest.
• The East Side is cliquey.
• I love sushi.
• You are never too old to go on a family vacation to Disney World, even if everyone in the family is over 19.
• Only 20% of work should be serious.
• The Buried Life has inspired me to be spontaneous, and a good reminder to work on that bucket list. 
• I am a frozen yogurt addict. There I admitted it. Not sure if I'm ready to take the next step on that though.
• I know there are many more, but this is all I can think of right now.

Feb

Jazz. Top It. The Bachelor. Inversion. Planet Fitness. Diet Coke. H&M. Menchie's. Luna bars. Inverstion. Februany. Snap chat. KAA. Chiffon shirts. Inversion. 

Spence came back from his mish for a bit, so I love getting to talk to him again. Planning a trip to go visit him soon! 

Cheers to 2013!

The older I get, the more I realize how quickly time passes. 2012 was a great year. My first full year of working full time. Saw stingrays in Florida. Was a bridesmaid CUBED, just call me the ultimate bridesmaid. I visited New York for my first time. Turned 22. Enjoyed the pink sand beaches of Bermuda. Ran the TOUGH MUDDER. Gambled in Wendover. Bought a brand new car. Got a queen bed. Watched my little brother play soccer in college. 

But I think one of the most important things I have learned is how much I love and am grateful for my family. I would rather hang out with them then anyone else. Like usual, they came out to Utah for Christmas. I spent every one of those 10 days with them. I got asked out a few times, but wanted to spend time with the fam, since we are usually only all together maybe twice a year. I even was invited to 3 different New Years parties (rare) and turned them all down. My parents got mad at me when they found that out.

Spence was set apart as a missionary and was ready to leave for the MTC on January 2nd. I miss him a lot already. He is one of my best friends. I am proud of his decision to serve a mission and have already seen a difference in him by his first email from the MTC. Whatever they do at the MTC, it sure works to change people those boys out to serve the Lord.

2013 will probably be a great year just like 2012. I am looking forward to hearing from Spence, watching David graduate from Fresno State and start his career and hearing about all my parents boring empty nesting stories. 

I am also looking forward to learning and growing more as a person. I am not much of a goal oriented person, my 3 goals in life have always been- go to college, get married in the temple, and never have to pee in the woods. so far I'm about 66% finished with that. I want to become more educated with the world- politics, news, try to get into reading more books, and really just become more familiar with the world. 

Maybe writing this down will help me remember it more, and remind me that even though I am done with school, there is still so much more to learn about the world. 

Cheers to 2013!