The coolest T-shirt

I donated blood today and got this free T-shirt. Isn't it great? I love it.

General Conference

Once again, General Conference was fantastic! I still find it amazing every time that we actually get to listen to living prophets and apostles. I know that the Lord is aware of our needs and struggles and often gives us answers through the words of his living prophets.

Each Conference I make a list of questions I have or things that I am struggling with and pray for guidance and answers. And I always find the answers in the talks. This weekend did not disappoint.

My very favorite part of Conference this weekend was the announcement of the 5 new temples. Not only is one of them in Rome, Italy...which is a HUGE deal, but Argentina is getting another temple!!!!! In Cordoba, which is about 5 hours from where I served my mission in Mendoza. I am just so excited that those fantastic members are going to have a much closer temple. Right now they either have to travel all the way to Buenos Aires (about 16 hours). Or to Chile (about 9 hours, but only in the summer because in the winter you can't even go because they close the mountain pass).

I got a text from my very favorite family in Mendoza on Sunday morning telling me how excited they are about the new temple announcement there in Argentina, and how emotional everyone is because they feel so blessed. I am so excited for them. It also reminded me that I have a temple 5 minutes away. I need to go more often.

And now I need to save my money so I can go to Argentina for the temple dedication. That would be so awesome!

As far as the talks go, I loved Elder Wirthlin's, Elder Perry's, and President Monson's. I loved their counsel on how to deal with the stresses and anxieties of life. I just feel so refreshed and renewed. Three cheers for General Conference!

Insanity

I just signed up to run a full marathon. May 16, 2009. In Ogden. Bring it on!

If you are interested in participating with me, I have a training program for both the half and the full marathon. The training for the full marathon starts the week of Thanksgiving, and the half marathon training starts in January. You should be able to run 3 miles before starting the training. I've already gotten a few recruits. Matt, my sister Allison, and a few of my students. If we can do it, you can too! Here's the link for the race info.

Or you can just call me insane. I will probably be questioning my level of insanity throughout the next 7 months. But on May 17, I will be very proud. And probably very sore. But it will be worth it. I hope. :)

A peek into my job

Last weekend I took my students on a retreat to Huntsville. We stayed at one of the students' family cabin. Matt came too, and it was a lot of fun. We got to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride. It was reminicent of our wedding! I loved it!

We learned about horses and got to ride them. Mine was being very stubborn and just wanted to be with all his friends.

While on the carriage ride we saw a moose! We were headed straight for it. I feared for my life. Twice.

We made tin foil dinners. They were so yummy! Matt cooked all the tin foil dinners. All 25 of them. He is such a good man! I also made the most delicious dutch oven cobbler ever.

My student leaders did such a great job in their training sessions of the retreat. I was so proud of them! Then they stayed up til 3:30 a.m. playing DDR and Guitar Hero. I'm just glad they had a good time.

Saturday morning we went on this giant swing!

It was pretty sweet! We then toured the David O. McKay home and talked about him as a leader and some of his qualities and characteristics that we could apply to our own lives.

Matt was very excited to discover that David O. McKay was the captain of the University of Utah's first football team. He gave my BYU students a hard time about that. He also wore his Utah sweatshirt and my students gave him a hard time about that. :)

It was just beautiful with all the colors turning in the canyons. It was a great retreat, but I was very tired after it so I took a very well-deserved mini vacation on Monday.

Happy feet!

My feet are happy today! Why? Because I got new running shoes! There's nothing better to motivate you to go running than getting a new pair of shoes. You just feel faster. And I would just like to say that I heart the Salt Lake Running Company. That is where I got my shoes. My dad and sister went as well and we left with three happy pairs of feet. (And one large bill.)

I love it because you go there and they analyze your running style and your feet and all that so they can get you a shoe that fits your foot and way of running. And when you have a good shoe, you have no more knee or foot pain! Yay! Bring on the marathon.

Defeating the demon

We have once and for all defeated the demon that is the St. George Triathlon. After two failed attempts (which were cancelled due to weather), we finally were able to run the whole thing--swim, bike, run--all in one shot.

We headed down to St. George Friday afternoon with my mom and dad. Usually we have an entire pit crew of friends that come with us, but this time it was just us. My dad ran the race with us as well.

We did have my mom, Grandpa Russ and AnnaLou there to cheer us on though. Thanks guys!

Per tradition, we carbo loaded on Friday night at the Pasta Factory. We were able to get together for dinner with one of Matt's friends from college and his family. Then we crashed at my aunt and uncle's house to prepare for the early morning.

The morning of the race was actually pretty nice. It was the warmest start we've ever experienced. Luckily there were no weather mishaps this time. And the sunrise over the reservoir was beautiful!

Since Matt did the Olympic-distance race, he started about an hour before me. Doesn't he look cute in his wetsuit?

We made sure to stretch!

Apparently my dad needed some help stretching.

We swam. Dad and Matt did great on the swim. I still panic whenever I get in the lake, so I struggled a bit. But I still did OK, and I improved from last time, so that is all that matters. The lake was great. No waves and a decent water temperature.

We biked. Matt of course did great on the biking section. So did Dad. I pushed it really hard and did pretty well. And I made it up the killer hill without stopping. And I even passed a few people.

I have decided however, that I will not be doing another triathlon until I get a road bike. I test rode a couple the other day, but haven't made the purchase yet. But I think it will make a huge difference.

We ran. This run course is totally awful. It's all on sand. And that just sucks the energy right out of you. And it was blasted hot.

But we all finished. In one piece. And now Matt understands why we never want to do that race again. He said it was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life. He did twice the distance I did. I'm so proud of him!

We deserved those medals! Anyway, I am very proud of all of us. Dad finished in about 1:49. I finished in 2:03, and Matt finished in about 3.5 hours. So Garrett, you are the winner of the closest guess to my actual finishing time! Yay for you!

I really wanted to finish in under 2 hours, but I was pretty close, and considering the course conditions, I think I did pretty well. Matt was pretty disappointed with his time. He did great on the swim and the bike, but he didn't train as well as he could have for the run, so that's what got him. And the fact that the entire run was on sand hills. Yick! But I am so proud of him for trying and finishing. And now we both know what we need to improve on.

And we only came out with one minor injury. Matt turned a corner too sharply on his bike and scraped his arm on the string barrier thing. But no stitches or trips to the instacare. So Garrett, you have no need to disown us.

Anyway, it was great. I am glad we were finally able to do the whole course in one shot. But I am also glad triathlon season is over for the year and I can concentrate on other things for the winter. But I'm definately planning on getting back into them next year!

Here we go again

I think we must be crazy because we are attempting to do the St. George triathlon AGAIN this Saturday. The past two times we have tried, it has been nothing but trouble. Fun, yes. But we've never actually gotten to do the race. But Matt insisted on trying again...he says the third time's the charm...so we are going. And, we got in for only $15 thanks to my Dad's neighbor. Yay for discounts!

So I'm taking guesses on my final finishing time again. Just for fun. I'm doing the sprint distance, which is a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. Matt is doing the Olympic distance, which is twice what I am doing. So feel free to guess a time for both of us!

P.S. Please pray that we won't have any mishaps this time.