Running with Angels 5K

On Saturday I did my first 5K.  It was the Running with Angels 5K at Thanksgiving Point.  I did it with my friends Lareen and Kathleen.  We missed our other friends Teddi and Jenny who were out of town.  We had a lot of fun and even beat our goal.  We wanted to finish in 50 minutes and we finished in 46:25.  

Here we are before the race.  

They releases a bunch of doves and that was our signal to begin.

There were about 1200 people in this race.  It was kind of a mad house at times. 

We ran past waterfalls.

We ran through flower gardens.

We ran past fountains.

Me and Lareen reaching the finish line.  

Me, Kathleen, Pam Hansen and Lareen.  Pam wrote the book "Running with Angels"

Next on the list is the Freedom Run 5K on July 4th!

11 years!

11 years ago today we were married in the Mt Timpanogos  temple.  It was a beautiful day! Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband.  Thanks for all you do for me and for your unconditional love!  I love you!  

Top 30!

I did it!  I made it into the Top 30 for the AF City's Biggest Loser.  In the last 2 months I've lost 8.10% and I'm ranked 22 out of 30.  If I want to get to the Top 15, I'm going to have to step it up a notch.  The next weigh in will be on June 6th.  Stay posted for more details! 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Ok, so I know this post is a little late!  Better late then never, right?  We celebrated my mom's birthday on April 22nd.  We had a pizza party and had most of the extended family there to celebrate with her. We had a lot of fun and I think she did too!  

In honor of her birthday, I was going to write 50 something things I love about my mom...one for every year, but she might get mad if I tell everyone how old she is, so I'm sticking with 22 things we love about my mom, since she was born on the 22nd. :)

1.  Your Testimony

2.  Your example

3.  Your sense of humor

4.  The respect you have for us

5.  Your Faith

6.  Your Support

7.  Your love for navy blue shoes :)

8.  Your love for extended family

9.  The neighborhood you raised us in

10.  Strawberry Days

11.  Your love for your parents

12.  Your love for the Savior

13.  Your wisdom

14.  Your service

15.  Your ability to play the piano

16.  Being a cheerleader at our softball games, even if it's -10 degrees

17.  Your giving heart

18.  Your love for your neighbors

19.  Your ability to raise us as a single mom

20.  Your phone calls

21.  That you always have Diet Coke in your fridge

22.  Your unconditional love

We love you mom!

Girls Weekend Out!

This weekend I went to St George with my friend Lareen and two of her friends.  After a weekend together, I guess they are my friends now too!  We had a lot of fun.  We golfed twice, did some shopping, and yes, even though I HATE shopping, I spent the most money.  I love Eddie Bauer Outlet!  We ate good food, always a plus, and went to Tuachan to see Gladys Knight.  I knew I would enjoy the concert, but I enjoyed it much more then I thought I would. She is a great entertainer and had us laughing the whole time.  It was very nice to leave the snow behind and have a great weekend with great friends! 

Jennifer, me and Lareen

Me and Tema

Me and Lareen

At the concert

Merry Christmas??

I swear when I looked at the calendar this morning it said April 16th.  It sure looks like Christmas though!  We woke up to about 14 inches of snow.  (I measured).  I don't think it's very funny.  I'm so ready for spring!  

Gretzky loves the snow.  I threw a snowball and he ran after it and was bound and determined to find it.  He had his head in the snow for about a minute trying to figure out where that snowball was.  

Enjoy the snow!  I'm heading to St George!!

Easter

We had a fun Easter this year.  I went to my mom's on Saturday night while she had the girls. We colored eggs and had a lot of fun.  We spent Easter Sunday with all our families.  My cousin Dalin came home from his mission so we went and heard him speak in church.  He did amazing..probably one of the best "after mission" talk's I have heard.  He talked about how important The Atonement is in missionary work.  After sacrament meeting we went back to his house and spent some time with my dad's side of the family.  We then headed to my mom's for lunch and then Alton's dads for dinner.  It was a great day!  It's always nice to spent time with family.

We wore funny hats!

We colored eggs! (and our hands)

The Easter Bunny brought a new bike for Libby and a scooter for London.

Libby is a master bike rider!

Their cute Easter dresses.

I think they like each other!

I made it!

I made the Biggest Loser top 50.  My friend who is doing this with me, also made the top 50.  So, I guess I don't get to slow down, but continue to work harder.  The next weigh in is on May 2, and then they narrow it down to 30.  Top 30, here I come!

I'm a loser

About 6 weeks ago, as I was driving down Main Street in American Fork, I saw a banner overhead.  It said "Steel Days Biggest Loser Competition".  At first sight I thought, that's pretty dumb and it's probably expensive, but then my curiosity got the best of me.  I came home and got on the website.  To my surprise, it was only $20 to join.  I thought, what the heck, this just might give me the motivation I need and the worst that can happen is I lose $20.  I dialed up a friend and asked her if she wanted to do it with me.  After some coaxing and maybe begging on my part, she agreed and $20 later I was in the competition.  

Now, if you know me at all, you will know I have a MEAN competitive streak.  Always have, and the older I get I think it gets a little worse.  Some people just called it idiotic and stupid, I like to call it motivated and driven.  The first weigh in was the first of March.  Once I stepped on that scale and knew the competition had started, my competitiveness kicked in.  

I started out by just eating in moderation and exercising for an hour each morning.  I'm still eating in moderation but now I am exercising at home every morning for an hour and walking for 45 minutes or so each night.  I have great friends who are supporting me in this and who "drag" me out every night.  Ok, they don't really drag me, I drag them sometimes.   Not only is it exercise, but it's good girl time.  

So, today was the 2nd weigh in.  They are going to narrow the competition down from 160 people to 50 people.  We are going on percentage of weight lost, not pounds.  I was actually nervous.  I really don't like scales.  I knew what my home scale was saying, but had no idea what the rec center scale would say.  Plus at home I am a naked weigher.  I didn't think I could get away with that very well at the rec center.  

I am happy to report that I lost 14.2 lbs last month, which is 5.86%.  Now don't go get out your calculator and try and figure out what my starting weight was.  I don't know yet if I made it in the top 50.  If not, I would like to be able to say "oh well" but I don't think my competitiveness will allow me to say that.  I will be bummed, but will get over it and continue on my journey without the competition.  I'm not stopping now!  I'm on a roll!  

Stay tuned to see if I make the top 50!  

Maybe I was born to be an Artist....

So, a while ago Libby, London and I were at my mom's office hanging out for a while.  My mom has an awesome office.  One side is a huge window overlooking the Provo River,  the other side is a whole wall covered in white board.  When I say whole wall, I mean whole wall.  Ceiling to floor and corner to corner.  The girls always love to grab the markers and draw on the wall. The only bad thing about this, is that London thinks that all walls can be written on, hence the reason I love magic erasers to get the markers and crayons off my walls at home.  Anyway, while we were at the office, Libby asked me if I could draw Minnie Mouse.  I said "I don't think so, but I guess I could try".  Twenty minutes later, this was the result.

I was quite impressed with myself.  Libby was shocked.  I don't think she expected it to look even remotely like Minnie Mouse.  I showed Alton when I got home.  He didn't believe I drew it.  We called my mom and she was my alibi.  

The girls were excited, my mom was excited, and Minnie Mouse has a new home on the wall of my mom's office.