Roommate Reunion

This post is about 3 weeks old, but it will definitely be worth it. A couple weeks ago Stacy and I got together with one of our roommates, Heather (Whittaker) Barlow, from 12 years ago! Wow, it really had been that long! Heather has been living back east forever, however we have kept in touch via our blogs. It was crazy to get together considering we haven't seen each other in person for so long, but with the blogs we are all up-to-date on each others lives. It was fabulous to get together again.

So for old times sake I thought I would show our improvement in the last 12 years. Thanks to my scrapbooking (prior to digital cameras) we are provided with these beautiful photos from the glorious King Henry Apt. 76 (1997-1998). I realize not everyone may approve of these being posted on the internet, but oh well :)

Roommate pictures after church. I also love our "Tennessee Prom Queen," Miss Heather who I believe had her bridal pictures hair done with overalls on afterwards....LOL

Sadly I saw overalls in the Gap just this week. Looks like it's time to pull those back out :)


BYU Preference (Heather, Me, and Stacy are in the middle).....yep we still went to dances, but for all those that don't know, we did have FREE tickets from our glory days at Hogi Yogi. I guess there were some perks to working there other than the pay ($4.40/hr).


Self-explanatory photo shoot at our apartment. We weren't camera shy.


A picture of us 12 years later. Sadly all the shots above were taken long before Cafe Rio existed.

Last weekend was the half marathon that Stacy, Amber and I have been training for since January. Seeing that it was scheduled for May 1st one might assume that the weather would be decent, however that was far from the case.

Watching the weather we knew it might be cold (35 degrees!) but prayed that it wouldn't rain. Apparently my prayers only hit the ceiling (this explains a lot of unanswered prayers in the past years :) ). We started running and it was cool, but okay. Mile 2 it started raining, then it started pouring, then it started SNOWING! At about mile 4 I had to stop and literally wring out the bottom of my pants because the weight of the water was making them fall down. I then tied them in a knot so that they would not be dragging on the ground under my feet! So yes I was looking extremely cute!

I had been nursing a recent back injury and by mile 7 my body had completely cramped up and I was running slower and slower. I could tell Stacy was still doing okay so I convinced her to leave me and run ahead. I didn't want to be the dead weight holding her back on her first half marathon. With my aching back, knee and quads I knew I was going to end up walking ALOT.

Luckily I had grabbed a trash bag at the last second and I put it on so my core stayed pretty dry, however it did not cover my extremities that were dripping wet and frozen. My shoes were also nice and sloshy!

Needless to say the 2nd half of the marathon was not fun. I would run a half a mile and then walk for some, run and walk. It took me almost 30 minutes longer than the first half and I literally at times started crying and talking to myself (and God) about why it just couldn't stop raining/snowing. When I was running my last mile and saw my sisters and Scott waiting to run the last little bit with me I lost it and started sobbing. My iPod magically flipped to "we are the champions" and I made it. Yes, who would have thought on my 3rd half marathon I would be crying. Luckily with all the rain it was hard to see my tears. I crossed the finish line at 2:33 which is 25 min slower than my best time (2:09). Here are some pictures of the event.

The home stretch.....I had stopped sobbing at this point and yes I'm still wearing the trash bag!


This looks sums up how I felt......


The very cold runners post race......

Dancing with the Stars!!!

Several seasons ago I signed up to be on the waiting list to see Dancing with the Stars live in Hollywood. I had completely forgotten that I signed up for the tickets until I received an email stating that I would be able to get tickets for Monday's show. Well we check airfare and although it was expensive ($370 to LA) Julie (a girl I work with) and I decided to go for it!

So on Monday morning we flew to LAX. Thanks to an accident on the freeway we had to run to make our flight (we BARELY made it!). We went to eat lunch in the shopping center in Hollywood called "The Grove." Then we went and got in line for the show. Apparently our tickets were not guaranteed tickets! We barely got in the show (5 minutes before it started). Lots of people in line knew that we had come from Utah just for this so they were on our side, but we were stressed! Well it ended up being great because we were "seat fillers" and not only did we get to sit together, but we were in the VIP seats mixed in with all of the "stars" family and friends. We were right next to the interview room where all of the stars and their partners are interviewed and watch the show. We basically got to watch all of them interact with each other behind the scenes. After the show was over we could just wander around on the stage and everything. It was SO fun (except for the 6am Tues morning flight straight to work, then to school, then to run (dang half marathon) and THEN sleep!).

Sadly they do take your cameras and phones from you so you can't take pictures inside the show, but thanks to hulu I have a few shots :) For those fans of the show I did actually shake Derek Hough's hand and I can attest that Maks is as good looking in person as he is on TV. Seriously I probably stared at him too much and he may or may not think I'm a psycho but I don't care! His family was sitting right in front of us so when he talked to them I had to listen :)

Here are some pictures of the event.

Julie and I in "The Grove" Mall. It was really pretty and great weather!


Me in front of one of the Dancing with the Stars signs....it was a little windy :)


Julie and I while we waited and waited and waited in line. We saw a few interesting "she-males" during our wait in line. We weren't sure if they were women or drag queens!!


Me outside CBS studios....for a show on ABC. I'm not sure why that is.....

Here are some pictures of us in the audience (screen shotted from Hulu). You might have to click on them to make them bigger so you can actually see us. I have helped with some arro

If you'd like an autograph I'd be glad to give you one. I'm not going to let this fame go to my head!!

Michael Buble Concert!

Last Wednesday my friend Elisa and I went to the Michael Buble concert! It was SO much fun and I love him so much. We had great seats. He even came into the audience to do a few songs. It had a small concert atmosphere even though it was at the E-Center. Oh and if anyone can find me a man that looks just like him then I will marry him on the spot!!!

Here are a few pictures from the event......and a link to my favorite song that he sings right now. I love all of them, but this is the current new, favorite that just came out a few months ago.

I'd highly recommend this concert to anyone. It was clean, he was funny and just an all around good time (except for getting out of the E-Center parking lot!!!)


Here is his song...."I just haven't met you yet." I suppose it is "chick music" but I love it. If you are interested the next best song is "Everything" and then "Home"....you know if you want to watch more videos on You Tube....

Madi's Persuasive Letter

So the other day I got the following letter from Miss Madison Fowler (age 9). She had written this in school and brought it home to Jenny to see if they could send it to me.

Click on it if you need it bigger to read....


So apparently when you tell children things at age 5 they remember them! Looks like I may be making a trip to Disneyland soon........

Israel Highlights....

So yes I did go to Israel and I've been back for over a month, but I have over 800 pictures and it was overwhelming to blog about. Finally after much persecution from my friends and family I am posting what may seem like a long post, but is actually very, very brief post.

I plan to put together a DVD and photobook with the whole trip but let's be honest....that may take me until next Christmas. So here is a quick picture recap of my favorite places (but not every place we went). My favorite picture that I took is the one of the Garden Tomb at the top of this blog post. Here we go...

The view from our hotel room in Tel Aviv


Me with my feet in the Mediterranean Sea
Nicole and I in Caesarea at a theater built by King Herod (22BC - 9 BC)....yep it is really that old and you can see it is still used! Amazing that they could build something so big back then



Good to know I'm one of the "losers"


Nicole and I at the Jordan River

My lunch on the Sea of Galilee....St Peters Fish. For those of you who know me I don't eat fish. Since I was literally on the shores of the Sea of Galilee I felt I must eat the fish since this is the same type of fish that Christ and the apostles caught and ate. As it came out staring at me, I was sad to know that in the last 2000 years since Christ the way it was prepared was exactly the same way He likely ate it.......except I had a plate.


Me at Capernaum where Christ performed many miracles and did much of his ministry.


Israel up near the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth....on our way to the Dead Sea.


And 2 hours later.....here we are at the Dead Sea. Such a drastic change in vegetation.


I'm happy I didn't really have to use this 1500 year old toilet....


Floating in the Dead Sea.....it was crazy how you floated like you were laying on a floatie in the pool because of all of the salt. I felt that I had been healed by the Dead Sea since I was puking on the way there, but unfortunately there was no Dead Sea miracle and I was still sick after we left. At least I felt good while we were there.

People pay a lot of money for this Dead Sea mud......


Nicole and I at the Dome of the Rock (holy to Islam) on the Temple Mount.


Me at the Western Wall (aka the Wailing Wall). I should probably be praying....

A picture of what Jews do at the Western Wall (pray and put their prayers on paper in the wall). The women and men are separated....

Sick!!!.... I saw this the day after I threw up all day (I think I got food poisoning) and let's just say I never ate meat again while in Israel.


My new Israeli friend.....oh wait that's Nicole in the rain. LOL!!



Bethlehem.....so much trash. Not my favorite place.

Where the Savior was born. Not quite like I imagined it. If only this church hadn't been built on top of it and if incense wasn't being burned in every lamp (STINKY!)

Orson Hyde Park (where Israel was dedicated by Orson Hyde for the gathering of Israel) with the Temple Mount in the background.


Me at The Garden of Gethsemane


Some of these Olive Trees are over 2000 years old and may have witnessed the Savior's atonement

Golgotha where the Savior was crucified


Me in front of the Garden Tomb....

Where Christ was laid to rest and resurrected. When the apostles looked into the tomb (without going in the tomb) they could see Christ was gone. Thus this is the only burial spot in the tomb that could be seen without entering the tomb (from outside the door).


Nicole and I and our cute tour guide. D. Kelly Ogden. He was a fantastic guide!

Ho, Ho, Ho.....Merry Christmas!

Christmas came a week early for the Bagby family. We celebrated the big day a week early. Not much to report except for a bunch of pictures so here we go!

After this I'm off to Israel on Christmas Day! I can hardly wait!!!!

Listening intently to the Christmas story......


Ashley and Sienna in their new princess dresses from Aunt Dish! As Ashley said while opening it "This is going to be something beautiful!" Apparently I've set a precedence with her!


Lara and Eric


How cute is little Sierra and her "CHEEEEEEESE" grin? This picture makes me happy just looking at it!! I also wanted to make sure everyone knew I still have a full set of teeth :)


Andrew looks pretty happy opening presents with Dad.....


Looks like Sierra loves her "dog" book from Aunt Dish.....


And last but not least.....a little crack!!


Merry Christmas! I'll post a lot about Israel once I get back.