Wasatch Front...and Back

Our last few days in California, J took charge of the boys so I could run the So Cal Ragnar. These pictures are all courtesy of my sister-in-law, whose first Ragnar (and not the last) this was.

We started at 6:45 AM on Friday morning in Huntington Beach:


Here's Alisa finishing up her first leg,


the merman we saw along the way,


me finishing up my first leg (too bad I didn't have a camera on me during the run; you could've seen pictures of the homeless people sleeping under the bridges I ran past),


waiting to begin our second legs (a sassy bunch of women, if I do say so myself),


a beautiful sight we saw along the way (and we did thank him for running with his shirt off),


another beautiful thing we saw,


and our tats, taken at the finish line on Coronado Island.


It was beautiful, hard, hot, sleepless, exhausting, and fun fun fun! Our van was so much fun, and our team's van 2 was awesome (thanks to Valerie for filling in 3 days before the race!)! Thanks especially to my sweetie who crammed all three boys in the back of a mid-size sedan and played single dad for a day and a half so I could go exhaust myself on the race course and be completely useless for a few days following!
Can't wait for Wasatch Back!

My Best Friend's Ex-Boyfriend

Today my awesome neighbor, friend, running buddy, hair artist extraordinaire, brought over a tote of clothes she was going to send to DI (non-Utahans think: thrift store, Salvation Army.) She does this periodically when she goes through her wardrobe because she knows I am helpless when it comes to clothes, that I am pretty stingy when it comes to spending any kind of money on myself, and because she rocks. I found a few nice shirts and jeans to supplement my closet and will take the rest to DI. This neighbor has style and always looks cute and classy, so the clothes I get from her are unfailingly cute. Pluses all around. However, because I am neurotic, I feel like I need a mourning period before I put on the clothes and wear them as my own. Although I have never dated a best friend's ex-boyfriend before, I imagine this is what it feels like. For the first few times that I wear one of these articles of clothing and receive a compliment on it, I feel like I need to explain, "Yeah, I know it's super cute. It's my neighbor's. She didn't want it anymore and let me pick what I wanted before she donated the rest." Then after a I've had the clothes for a while, I don't need to explain anymore and they become mine. Is that weird? I have a few things she gave me last year that I haven't worn yet because the mourning period is not quite over yet. Yes, it sounds strange, but imagine you've just started dating your best friend's ex-boyfriend, and you may understand how I feel.

Old Friends

The first Saturday in January we headed up to Hyrum to attend the baptism of my friend Louise's second daughter. We were up about 1 1/2 years ago for her first daughter's baptism and decided that it was a good tradition to keep up.

Louise and I were roommates at BYU the year before we both got married. She is an amazing lady! She has a degree in Music Education, but is the Special Ed teacher at her daughters' charter school and is working on her Master's in Special Ed (I think. Is that right, Weaz?) Her husband Cordell is a police officer for Logan City and is my resource for the future when we get a dog.

When we pulled up to their house after the baptismal festivities were complete, O was scared that the police car belonged to someone who was going to arrest him. (Secret life of crime, O?) I spoke thusly to Cordell, "O is afraid of the police officer here. Will you reassure him that he is not a threat and there's nothing to be scared of?" Cordell replied, somewhat distractedly, "Uh huh," as he packed a handful of snow into a snowball to throw at a random dog running down the street. Thanks, Officer Hoth. Thanks a lot!


Me and Louise. We pretty much look the same as we did 12 years ago when we lived in that tiny apartment on University Ave. Good times.

Now she's out of kids to have baptized, but I've three coming up -- one this year. With the triathlon she's doing in American Fork and the Ragnar (which goes right through Hyrum) that I'm planning on doing again this year, we'll see each other again soon, I'm sure of it.