Stadium of Fire!

Yesterday was nearly a perfect 4th of July. The weather was gorgeous and the company was great. First the day started off with Zumba. I love that class! Then a quick change of clothes and Nicole and I went golfing with some of the guys from her MBA class. We went to South Mountain up in Draper which was a beautiful, but difficult course. I lost 4 balls on the first 2 holes. I have to admit I was a bit rusty, but by the last 3 holes I was playing much better and not nearly as embarrassed. It was a great time with lots and lots of laughing.

Then we came home and laid out in the backyard since it was only 75 degrees (crazy for the 4th of July!). Then we got ready for Stadium of Fire. Monavie gave everyone tickets for our summer party. I love Stadium of Fire and this year seemed to be even better since we were in the west stands with backs on our chairs and such cool temperatures. I even had to put a jacket on at the end. Monavie also provided us with a BBQ beforehand, but it was actually catered by Cafe Rio (my favorite)! Carrie Underwood sounded amazing. I was a casual fan of hers, but man can she sing. WOW did she sound good live. She also sang the national anthem and God Bless America during the fireworks in addition to her normal show. The fireworks were great as always and we chatted for a bit afterwards and got home in only 10 minutes which has to be a record.

Me, Elisa and Nicole from our seats. I would also like these seats for the football games!

The dancers didn't jump into the splits like years past, but I guess they were okay :)



The Air Force jets fly-over...LOVE it!

Carrie Underwood....

Hiking Timp

While Nicole was visiting from Omaha we decided to hike Timp. We've done this hike before, but this time we decided to start from Aspen Grove instead of Timponeke. All we knew as that the Aspen Grove hike is supposedly shorter but steeper. We had no idea how much prettier it would be. It was definitely more difficult especially with the trail hidden by snow a lot of the time. There was still a lot of snow up on the mountain and as a result there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE. Nicole counted at least 20 that she could see at one time. It was such a green, gorgeous hike. It seriously rivaled our hikes in Kauai and here we were in our own backyard!!

Seeing that there was snow at the higher elevations it also provided for some scarier moments on the hike. The park ranger was a head of us and said that it was safe, but we had to climb over a ton of "snow bridges" over waterfalls in our tennis shoes. The phrase "this is the trail, right?" was uttered too many times to count, but we kept seeing people every so often ahead of us and behind us so we figured we were good.

Once we reached Emerald Lake (just at the base of the Timp summit) it was evident that we would not be able to make it to the top of Timp since people were coming down from the top of Timp in snow pants, snow shoes (with spikes in them) and skis! These guys also stopped at the temporary shelter and told us that there were 50 mph winds at the top and it was quite scary and then they just changed their clothes :) They followed us down the mountain for a while, but we were too fast for them...LOL!

So we only made it to Emerald Lake, but it was well worth the hike and worth doing it during the run-off even if you can't make it to the top of Timp. It was one of the best hikes I've ever been on. Here are some pictures that I hope do it even a little bit of justice.

This big waterfall is about a 45 minute hike that you could take any kids that can walk a ways on. (probably 4 and older). It isn't super steep to get there, but this waterfall is amazing and you can see all the others up higher. I assume after all the snow melts that the waterfall isn't as powerful. If you want to do it let me know, the kids would love it!


Another big waterfall....


You might want to click on this one to make it bigger, but look for all the waterfalls all the way up the mountain. We ended up hiking over at least half of these waterfalls on our way to the top of this mountain.

So, So green and tons of vegetation!


Note how the water falls from the top and then goes under where I'm walking on the snow. One bad step and I was going down that waterfall. Luckily the snow shoe people had made some pretty good tracks, but as you can see I had to be careful.....




Here I am near the top. I felt like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music as I sang "Climb every mountain!" I bet Nicole wishes I also sounded like her :)


Once at the top by Emerald Lake I had to do the important things....update my Facebook status! With AT&T I was shocked to even have service! I also love my brown towel I'm pretending is a coat. It was cold up there with the wind blowing.

Emerald Lake....still frozen over!


Here is Nicole just walking through snow in July. I ended up "Skiing' on my running shoes until I fell and slide on my butt. It provided a good laugh for Nicole and the guys behind us with their snow spikes and ski poles. I showed them how you don't need all that equipment!!


More snow bridges!

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........