Happy Birthday Ally

Look who's 2! Two years have gone by way too fast, and yet thinking back to last year, I think she is more fun than ever! This year she actually enjoyed her presents, whereas last year she was more interested in the wrapping paper!!

My parents have been here for the last week and we are having tons of fun. Dad leaves tomorrow, unfortunately. Mom is staying another week! Matt leaves on Thursday morning for High Adventure scout camp, so that means it will be just the girls this weekend.







Some present highlights: A little table with chairs, a play kitchen, an easel...







...a tricycle, a slide, and a day in the park with friends also turning 2 this month.

My parents and Matt went to the zoo this week. I have pictures of that, but must go to bed. My dad needs to leave here between 3:30 and 4 am. Blech.

My new favorite blog

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

Anyone and everyone who has lived in Provo should read this.

Missionaries

Not too much has been going on, but it has been a while since I posted. This Sunday I taught a lesson in Young Women's about being a missionary and missionary work. I gathered pictures from the missions of my family members for display. I have to admit I was more excited about them then the girls were, but check out my super cute missionary momma and slick daddy in his light blue suit! (If you can't tell...my parents are the ones with red hair. My mom kinda stands out in the group of Chileans with her red pigtails).

Trail Run

This Saturday I ran a 6K trail run with Sarah Weight from our ward. Let me tell you, hell just doesn't really seem to describe the experience. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but I did want to quit midway through it. And then I remembered I was in the middle of the woods...I couldn't just quit. Dang.

It was quite the journey. First, it had been raining in Wisconsin for the last week, so I knew the trail was going to be good and muddy. I also knew this because our running group ran the trail the Saturday prior to the race and it was muddy then without having rained for a week straight. I decided to wear my old running shoes to avoid getting my nice new ones totally thrashed. That was mistake #1. I realized that I was getting a blister during the run.

Super sexy trail run blister

Towards the end, all the up-hill trudging was really aggrevating the situation, so I took my shoes off. Then with about a mile or so left, the course seemed like it was going to be mostly downhill, so I put my shoes back on and started running again. Then we got to a short uphill portion. Crap. Pain. People passing me. Desparation. Then the course leveled out again and I took off to the end (and turned around and passed up those people who had just passed me). For me, I can say that I didn't do too horribly. I beat my first 5K time, which is completely surprising considering this was a longer race with considerable uphill portions, my ipod stopped working mid-run, and I stopped to take my shoes off and then stopped again to put them back on. Amazing. I also didn't come in last. I don't know how many people were after them, but there was a group of about 4 ladies my age that I passed on the last downhill stretch. And I even finished with Sarah Weight in sight, so she didn't completely blow me out of the water, which I was expecting.

My muddy legs:

Sarah's muddy legs:

Sad dirty running shoes:


All in all it has me insanely scared for the half marathon, which is also a trail run. I didn't really understand the full impact of the term trail run until Saturday, so I get close to tears each time I think about the half marathon. I suppose I still have time to train, but man. It's going to kill me.

Pudding

Mmmmm....

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was a fun day...mostly because I didn't have to go to work. Hooray for paid holidays. The ward had a barbecue that afternoon that we went to. I didn't stay the whole time because Ally is at that perfect age where she won't stay in one place for longer than 5 seconds and she won't obey or come back when you call, so I spent most of my time chasing her around and decided I would rather do it at home, where I could curl up and read.





Matt stayed to play Ultimate Frisbee. Check out his battle wound. While throwing the frisbee, someone accidentally hit Matt in the ribs with the full force of their throw. Ouch!



We had our first Ultimate Frisbee games this week. Although I wasn't there, so I use the term "we" loosely, but we did in fact win our games. Surprising because we thought we might have to forfeit on Wednesday night since so many people were unable to make it. I will be working with the Young Women in our ward, so Wednesday nights are out for me. In total they had 4 girls and 3 guys, so Matt had to play the whole time. He was pretty tired when he got home last night. But victory was worth the pain...they won 13-2!

Happy Birthday to Mom (and Grandma Salt)

Both my mother and my father's mother have celebrated birthdays recently and I am feeling very grateful for the both of them. Particularly I am feeling nastalgic today after reading The Secret Life of Bees. The book is about a girl whose only memory of her mother is the unfortunate day where, as a toddler, she accidently shot and killed her mother. Her father is unkind to her and one day informs her that the day she killed her mother, her mother was packing her suitcase to leave her. Lily can't believe that her mother would leave her, so she runs away to find out more about this woman she can barely remember. I wanted to take a break and write about how I was feeling, as it has moved me to meditate on some feelings about my own mother and grandmother.

Lily meets a woman who nannied her mother, who tells Lily things about her mother that Lily has longed to know. What kind of sandwich was her favorite, what she liked to do, what her favorite color was, etc. I thought about the moments where I really got to know my own mother. How grateful I am that she taught my senior seminary class because it gave me the chance to really, truly learn from her. And learn things about her that I handn't previously known, like what her favorite scripture was (2 Kings 6:16-17). Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrians (who wanted to kill them) at night while they slept. When the servant awoke he was afraid and woke up Elisha saying Alas what shall we do? Then Elisha tells him v. 16 "Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." I am sure the servant found that hard to believe and was quaking in his boots because Elisha then prays v.17 "open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw: and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

And at the part in the book where one of the women Lily came to stay with passes on, I was reminded of my grandmother, my mother's mother. I remember her funeral and the emotions I felt that day. I remember writing down my memories of her and feeling sad that there weren't more. I then thought about all the moments I had with my own mother that I took for granted. All the times she and I drove an hour to the doctor with me and the hour back and wishing that I remembered each word, each detail of our conversation, wishing desparately that my life ran in syndication. Wishing all the times that instead of thinking, "You've told me this story before, Mom" that I had written it down in my heart and kept it close for moments like this.

I love you mom for all you have done for me, for all the times you held me up when I wanted to drown. Thank you for always being there for me. And in case you were wondering, my mom's favorite sandwich is "A turkey sandwich with cranberries on an everything bagel."