DIY the hard way

The summer after we got married Matt and I sold dish network in Reno, NV. Our little Neon was jam-packed full of our clothes and the wedding gifts we could fit. 10 days after the wedding we arrived in Reno with no where to stay and no furniture. All we had was a name of a former roommate of mine who's family lived in Reno. We looked in the phone book and somehow figured out where they lived. Later that day we arrived on their door step, asking to stay a few days while we found an apt. Who does that? Mormons I think. I guess we just figure we're all family, so what the heck? They were very gracious and let us stay in one of their empty rooms until we found a place.

Finding a reasonably priced apt. with no wait and a 3 mo. contract was near impossible. We finally found a studio for $545/mo. that was going to be renovated at the end of the summer. They were happy to find someone who only wanted it that short of a period. What a blessing! Three days after arriving in Reno we had a place to stay, but we still had no furniture. We were going to just "rough it" and sleep on the floor for 3 mo. (like that would be suitable for newly weds. Ha!) because we'd already ordered a mattress in Provo that was waiting for us. Plus there was no way we'd be able to fit that or any other large item in our little car.

To our astonishment that first day we were in our new apt. we left to get food and when we got home there was a mattress just down from our apt. in an oversized items dumpster! It was not there when we'd left an hour earlier, so we knew it hadn't been there long. It was on the very top and not actually inside the dumpster. We went and checked it out and it appeared to be in great condition. No stains (pee or other), holes, or broken springs. And can you believe it? We took it. Yep. I have no shame in saying that. Frugal we are. I threw a sheet on it and we called it good.

When the Relief Society ladies came to visit me that first week they asked if there was anything they could do. I asked if they knew of any people in the ward with any folding chairs they were trying to get rid of. Just your luck, they told us. The D.I. (a church thrift store which sells and distributes items donated to them) truck was sitting at the church and was full. Go and look if there's anything there you can use. Woohoo!

We headed down to the church that night to see what we could find. We didn't feel bad about taking anything since the truck was quite full, over flowing in fact; we knew they'd not be able to take all that was donated. Sitting outside the truck was a perfectly good coffee table and a folding lawn chair. There was also a microwave we took home, but it was a total piece of junk that was sparking everywhere when we turned it on. (Why, oh why, do people donate things that they well know don't work worth a darn?) We ended up putting the coffee table up on cinderblocks so Matt could use it as a computer desk. And that was the extent of our furniture for three months. Not a bad story to tell offspring one day. "Kids, don't think you have to have everything immediately. Your father and I had only a coffee table on cinderblocks, a folding lawn chair, and a mattress we took out of a dumpster. We also had to walk both ways up hill in the pounding heat all day only to come home to our 90 degree apt." (That last sentence was true by the way. Well, that we were outside in the horrible NV heat and that our apt. was 90 degrees more often than we would have liked...Yuck.)

Anyway, as we left Reno we ditched the cinderblocks, mattress and folding chair, but we kept the coffee table. And it has served us well the past 3 years.

That brings me to today. I decided to start my first DIY project today. Last night I bought some sand paper (though no sander--figured I could do a little hand blistering work) and decided I'd work on refinishing that free coffee table to match the other wood furniture in our living room. I went against all the DIY advice online and did it by hand. They suggested a chemical peel to remove the stain. Or a power-sander. They specifically said to not do it by hand. I figured I had a little time to kill and I didn't have the chemical stuff so I'd do it anyway.

Two hours later I have about 2/3 of the top done, the palms of my hands are a little raw, and I'm feeling ok about it all. I didn't tell Matt I was going to start this project, so hopefully it's ok with him. =P There's no undoing it now.

I'll probably end up getting the chemical stuff eventually anyway. I'll need it for the spindle legs and I have a dresser I need to repaint. That one's way too big to do by myself!

I'm going to stain this darker to match the awesome tables Lady and Th. sacrificed their car for.

Waiting for translation

And I don't mean language translation. You got it. After my performance today, I'm waiting to be taken up to heaven for all my heavenliness.

What did I do, you ask, that warrants my translation? First of all, I got everything done on my "to do list." The house is nice and clean (including the computer room...I took matters into my own hands), the reimbursement documents for the move are finally turned in, pictures are finally hung, I had a good full hour of rigorous exercise, I read my scriptures (and two articles in the new June Ensign), and I made a perfect dinner.

The last item topped it off. I didn't think a perfect dinner was possible in this house, regardless of my mad culinary skillz. Matt's a food critic at heart (he really should get a job where he can eat for free at restaurants and write up a review) so there's usually something to be improved upon.

But not today. The rice was nice and fluffy yet sticky, as it should have been. The chicken was perfectly cut and cooked so it was not chewy or tough. The onions and peppers were sautéed to a nice and crisp consistency, and the sauce was "right on" according to my hubby. In fact, he said it was the best stir-fry I've ever made.

Oh yeah. I'm going to be taken up. Just you

*poof* Celia is no longer writing because she has been taken up for her all around perfection.

Continually Redefining

Not too long ago I was asked if I was happy with where I am in life or if I feel like I'm "waiting for the next stage." It's interesting to think about. Really, you can't just sit back and wait for the next stage, but you have to pursue it. I've been happy and I am happy, but I'm really struggling to figure out what I should move onto now that I have so many options open to me.

We've been married 3 years and we really wouldn't mind moving on to having kids and such. We've been trying for almost a year to get pregnant and it just isn't happening. I don't know why yet since we haven't gotten the expensive Doctor's analysis yet. It's kind of made me panic a bit and try and figure out what I really want out of life outside having kids. Some people I know have a really strong career drive and know exactly what they want to do in that realm. I don't . I find lots of things interesting, but I've never been passionate about anything but family really.

Today at a Memorial Day picnic I was asked the somewhat dreaded question, "So what did you graduate in?" Now, it's not so much that I'm embarrassed about having my undergrad in Marriage, Family, and Human Development (MFHD), but I do hate having to answer the inevitable follow up question of, "So, what can you do with that?"

What can I do with that, I ask myself? Well, not much without a graduate degree besides mother. I kept telling myself during school that was good enough because "that's what I want to be when I grow up." I thought about obtaining a Masters and had two professors trying to talk me into it upon graduation. It just didn't feel right at the time and I had an ok job that would keep us alive until Matt graduated. Now that he's graduated I find myself wondering what is the next stage of life for me? If it's not kids, I sure as heck need to figure something out.

As we lay in bed last night I asked the question "Should I get my Masters?" The voice next to me asked, "Do you want a career or a job to fill your time?" Hmmm...good question. Part of me doesn't want to start something too long term because I know I'll want to quit if we finally end up getting pregnant. But what if I don't get pregnant for another couple of years? Do I really want to just sit around at some job that's just ok? Or even worse, just sit around home, waiting?

In school I had what I called a "mid-schooling crisis" because I feared just this. Not being able to market myself. I tried a couple classes in different majors, but none of them seemed suited for me...

And to add onto of my troubles, we have to decide whether or not we need a new car. The only real job option available to me without a car would be substitute teaching. The problem with that one is...summer. Oi. What am I to do?

I guess for now I'll see what projects I can get done around the house. I'll make myself useful here and hopefully not drive myself crazy at home alone...

A Picture's Worth 1000 Words

Family Pics.

Breaking News that Breaks the Bank

All along we were told that Matt would be working in McKinney. He got an email on Friday saying orientation would be in Dallas today. Odd, we thought, but whatever.

I called Matt tonight to see how his first day of work was. He broke the bad news. McKinney was full. He'd be working in Dallas. That means a 45 min. commute each way. NOOOOOO!!!! We specifically chose this house thinking he'd only have to commute 1 mile! We were going to get him a mo-ped or something.

But this means that unless I work within walking distance, we're going to have to get a second car. And pay for gas!! Ugh. I am not happy, I can tell you that. I feel soooooo sad for him having to commute. I did it for 2 1/2 years and I was so sick of it. Wasted time and money.

Jerks. Total jerks. I mean, we're glad to have a job and a house, but it would have been nice to know this little info. two months earlier...

With New Eyes

Snowflake holds a lot of history. Not just Mormon pioneer history, but my history. I mean, I lived here in one house for 18 years. That's a long time and a lot of memories.

When I left Snowflake just under 7 years ago, I was very ready to get out and start fresh. I enjoyed growing up here for the most part; I loved people here for the most part; over all it was a great place, but I was very ready for change and to make a new life for myself with a clean slate.

Growing up in a predominantly Mormon town I kind of felt like 1000 Santa Clauses were watching; everyone knew everyone and their kids and what they were doing and who'd been "naughty or nice." I wasn't a horrible kid by any means, but I made my share of mistakes. It's very easy to be paranoid in a small town as a teenager, wondering what other people are saying or thinking about you. (Even though less is often said and thought than we think.)

It's pretty different to come back and see the town through adult eyes. It really is amazing to have grown up in a place with such a sense of community. I can see why people stay here though there really aren't many job options. The community here is like a huge family. You don't always get along with everyone, but overall I think people genuinely care about you and your wellbeing.

I've gotten over my teenage paranoia and I realize that people really loved and love me here. It's a good feeling to know that there are 1000 people (possibly a slight exaggeration) who know you and love you. I don't have to shut people out though I've started a new chapter in life. I couldn't if I wanted to, but I don't want to. This place is a part of me. The people are a part of me.

On Going Home

Last Sunday we had a Relief Society lesson on Understanding Death and Resurrection. There were some good quotes from President Woodruff:

Without the gospel of Christ the separation by death is one of the most gloomy subjects it is possible to contemplate: but just as soon as we obtain the gospel and learn the principle of the resurrection the gloom, sorrow and suffering occasioned by death are, in a great measure, taken away. (p.82)

A great many [people] believe when a man dies that is the end of him, that there is no hereafter. Can any sensible man believe that the God of heaven has created two or three hundred thousand million spirits, and given them [physical bodies], merely to come and live upon the earth and then to pass away into oblivion or to be annihilated? It is contrary to common sense and to serious reflection.

When mourning the loss of our departed friends, I cannot help but think that in every death there is a birth; the spirit leaves the body dead to us, and passes to the other side of the veil alive to that great and noble company that are also working for the accomplishment of the purposes of God, in the redemption and salvation of a fallen world. (p.80)

The way was opened unto us by the blood of the Son of God. This doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is...comforting, at least to my spirit, to think, that, in the morning of the resurrection, my spirit will have the privilege of dwelling in the very same body that it occupied here.

I got a call from my dad this morning saying that my grandma, his mom, had passed away during the night from a heart attack. Though it was sad, and a little unexpected, my dad felt very blessed at the timing of it because this last week was filled with good times because of Mother's Day. My parents went to the rest home on Mother's day and my dad bragged about her to everyone there; my Aunt was able to take her out to lunch this week; they also feel blessed that my mom suggested to my dad last night that he visit her because it had been a few days. He was able to do a puzzle with her last night.


Her name was Marion Juanita Moore Waterman Grider. Well, those were names she had over the years. Though we're not pregnant nor have kids, we've had quite a few discussions on names we like. Marion is actually the only name we've been able to agree on for a girl. So, one day Grandma, if we have a little baby girl, you will have a namesake.

It's been 8 years since her husband passed away and she's been terribly lonely. She's always been a loving caregiver and it was hard to not have someone to take care of. She lived by herself until her paranoia and alzheimers got to be too much. At the end of last year she moved to a very nice rest home owned by good friends of mine. It was only about 5 miles from my parents' house. That was a huge relief for them because my dad, the wonderful man he is, had driven to the next town over every night the last 8 years to sit with her awhile and say prayers with her. My mom, the wonderful woman she is, would also drive over there almost everyday in the day to take her to get her mail and go to the store. So when she moved closer and the care was distributed among other good people, a little of their load had been lifted.

Her funeral is this coming Wednesday. I'll be flying into Arizona two days from now and staying through Thursday. Sad though the circumstances, it will be very good to see my family and friends.

If Texas is it's own country...

then I think it qualifies as having its own language. Today we were at Office Max buying new printer cartriges and as we went to check out the lady asked, "Would you like any piper to go with that?" I didn't hear what she asked the first time and she'd caught Matt off guard so he didn't know what she was saying.

"What?" Matt asked.
"Would you like any piper?" she repeated.
"Piper?" Matt asked.

I'd heard her the second time and completely understood what she was saying, but Matt was still in the dark. Right after he said "piper?" she repeated the word for the third time while I simultaneously said "paper" and softly swatted him on the leg because it kind of sounded like he was making fun of her accent.

Finally understanding he replied, "Oh, no thanks," we finished our check out and left the store.

Outside and out of earshot we started busting up laughing over it. He hadn't been making fun of her; he just genuinely had no idea what she was saying. He thought she was talking about some sort of pipe cleaner or something.

It was one of the best laughs I've had in a long time.

Word up...

My friend Mizike found this cool program and was kind enough to share with me. I'm trying to figure out how to post what I want with it.

How it all started...

My Grandma asked all of her grandkids to fill out this questionaire thing for Family History purposes. I started working on it today and ended up writing and writing for about 4 hours! I think I like to talk about myself. Maybe that's why I started blogging.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a small snippet from my 25 page mammoth of response to my Grandma's request.

How I met, dated, and eventually married the "Shy Boy"
I lived in the Alice Richard’s Hall in on campus my freshman year of college. In the beginning of the winter semester I noticed this quiet kid in the hall next to ours (Robison Hall) walking to and from school. He was pretty cute, and I knew he was in our ward, but I'd never talked to him. That semester I’d had troubles with my schedule and ended up adding a Sharing the Gospel class two weeks into the semester. When I walked into the class I noticed that quiet kid from my ward. I decided I might as well go sit next to him and introduce myself. (Later he told me that he recognized me and hoped I wouldn’t come over because he was a little shy about the whole situation.) Too bad (or too good) for him, I sat there anyway.

The next week my friends talked me into going tunnel singing (a phenomenon only found at BYU…it’s where people go into this tunnel and sing hymns on Sunday evening). They went to get some guy friends in the building next to ours and we ended up knocking on Matt’s door for one of his room mates. One of the girls ended up talking Matt into coming with us by saying something like “really, what better thing could you do on the Sabbath than sing hymns to the Lord?” I don’t know how that worked, but he ended up coming with us! I talked to him that evening as we walked to and from the tunnel. I found out he liked to ice skate and that he played hockey at home and I said, “Really? I’ve only been ice skating once in my life. You should take me sometime!" (Talk about forward! Haha.Ah well, what can I say?) When he responded “Sure, that’d be fun” I was kind of shocked. I told him I was joking and he didn’t HAVE to take me if he didn’t want to. He said he wanted to and asked if the next weekend was ok. Boy was it! We ended up going ice skating the next week. Me being the forward girl I am, I played the “helpless girl” card since I didn’t know how to skate. I grabbed his hand from the beginning and made him hold my hand almost the whole time we skated. WORKED LIKE A CHARM! MUWAHAHAHAH! *stums fingers together and says "Excellent" in a very Burns like manner*

I was persistent and kept going over to his apartment and asked him to study with me for the tests we had in our class. There was a time or two he kept his distance trying to make sense of it all. However, I won out and we dated the rest of the semester after which went to our respective states for the summer. My parents knew I liked this kid in my ward, and my mom even met him mid-semester. His parents, on the other hand, were first made aware of my existance when his dad came at the end of the semester to help Matt drive the 12 hours home. (His parents were totally shocked that he had a girl friend a whole semester and they hadn't heard one thing about her. But then again they were totally shocked 3 years later when we called to tell them we were engaged. He's not very good at familial communication I guess...)

I ended up flying out to CA to see him one last time before he left on his mission. My mom thought I was totally crazy for flying out there (as I'm sure did his parents, though I've never asked them). I mean, how many couples REALLY last through 2 years of the mission AND still like each other when they meet up again? (Personally I think it's more than one might think...) I didn’t know if I wanted to actually marry the kid before I went to CA, but that trip pretty much sealed the deal in my mind. That was July 2000. We wrote each other every week for the 2 years of his mission. Might I add here that he didn’t know he wanted to marry me until January 2003. He didn't want to marry me just because I waited or because everyone else thought we should. I can't really blame the kid; it wasn't really in his life script to get married so young. I was just too persuasive, forward and cute to resist! (I have to say that I bought my wedding dress over the Christmas break of 2002 and didn't tell him! Again with my forward thinking. He hadn't even solidified in his mind by then if he really liked me enough to marry me! Hehehe. Good thing that didn't come back to bite me!)

We ended up getting engaged in February 22nd and married on May 3rd of 2003. Three years later here we are, in a house that we own...sitting at our respective computers late at night, typing. Or at least I'm typing. He's playing a computer game, as always. =)

Mother dear I love you so

Being mother's day, I was thinking this morning what I've learned from my mom over the years. I've compiled a list though it's quite incomplete...

1. Life is not fair
2. If you sprinkle while you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seaty
3. People are more important than things
4. There is not as much satisfaction in laziness as there is in a job completed
5. It's rude to sit in front of someone's house and honk for them. Just go inside and get them.
6. "It matters not if you try and fail and try and fail again. It matters much if you try and fail and fail to try again." (Quote by someone-not sure who-on our bulletin board forever.)
7. It's important to set goals and work to achieve them
8. I'm not in a competition with my siblings (Thank heavens! We have some dang smart and talented people in this family!)
9. It's important to support family members in their activities (go to each other's concerts, softball games, cross country meets, recitals, etc.)
10. Family is more important than friends (Friends come and go but family is forever) (If you can't play with your family, then you can't play with your friends)
11. Everything has a place and everything should be in its place (good goal though rarely is this completely carried out...)
12. Support others (church leaders, friends, family) by attending activities or projects they've planned.
13. Exercise, eat well balanced meals, be active
14. There are so many fun/interesting/necessary things to do in life that one should never be bored
15. Bring up the "honey-do list" after he's eaten and his stomach is full.
16. Often people end up hating their spouse for the same reason they they fell in love with them. Remember to keep loving the person you married. "You knew what (s)he was when you picked her/him up." (i.e. emotionally stable people aren't always the most empathetic to your emotional outbursts; fun and charismatic people may have a hard time buckling down and working hard; strong willed people and "go getters" may start to feel overbearing and pushy)
17. OH, and thanks mom, for the whole potty training thing. That's helped out NUMEROUS times over the years!
    

2:30PM church for the next 2 years???

For you who do not know "Mormon" lingo, I'm sorry. If you're wondering about any of this, you can ask me or wikipedia...

We went to our ward for the first time last week and I have to say, it is HUGE (and noisy)! It's probably the biggest ward I've ever been in. There are almost 600 people, and get this primary people, there are 160 primary kids!! And only one primary (well, one Jr. and one Sr., but you know...). There are at least 8 laurels that I counted, not to mention the rest of the young women. Matt said there were a lot of young men too. They even re-organized their boundaries in January and gave a different ward about 20 families!

I just had a pleasant visit from the Relief Society President and a counselor. The President has been here for 4 years and said that she's an old timer. They have people moving into their ward all the time.

There are 4 wards in McKinney and right now they're all meeting in one building. Our ward meets from 2:30-5:30. Ouch. And I just found out today that we will continue to meet at that time until the new building is built and they split wards. Our ward is the biggest and we have to have the latest time so we have the whole building to ourselves. Blech. They do have a new building site and plans, but they haven't started the actual building phase. I'm crossing my fingers that it goes up quicker than 2 years...

Driving offensively

Since I am the older (and more mature--hehe) person in this marriage, I was elected by the car rental place to be the designated driver this past week. Yikes. Ok, so it hasn't been this bad, but talk about pressure! Maybe it's just me, but I think many women feel a little intimidated driving with their husbands as passengers...

It started off beautifully as we left the car rental place. They had the car reverse parked (with it's tail to the sidewalk and the passenger's side by the curb). When we got in I was going to take a left out of the parking lot, but it was blocked. So, Matt told me to go right, and when I did I took it too sharp not realizing we were so close to the curb on his side. Bump, bump. Oops. I just drove over the curb. The Enterprise people must have been cringing thinking that I had their car for a week. Good thing I opted for the $15/day insurance! Who knows what I am capable of?? =)

When I'm first getting acquainted with an area, I am a little timid when I drive. I don't want to offend anyone and I don't want to get in a wreck or anything. Navigating the streets here is kind of crazy too. Too many one way service streets, and I don't like having to cross over or under the highway just to go the other direction. It's not horrible but it was confusing in the begining. At busy intersections where I'm trying to make a left hand turn I often find myself saying, "The people behind us probably hate me." Matt often replies, "So what? You don't know them, they don't know you. Drive like you own the street. You need to drive offensively." You know, that's a little hard to do when you're driving a Neon. Maybe I should have rented the super sized hummer...

Continuation of the Curse

If you have not read the previous post, click here.

As Matt was running toward me telling me to stop, all I could think of was "Oh great, we missed the plane."

Luckily for us though, our second plane had had mechanical problems (luckily for us??) as well and it was late taking off from Detroit. The flight would be delayed at least an hour, maybe more. This plane, however, was in the air, on the way. Hopefully that meant that we'd be able to board and leave as soon as it got to us and we wouldn't have to sit around waiting for MORE mechanical issues. The people at the boarding gate told Matt that because the flight was late we could go back out through security, get our bags from the carousel, check them, and come back in. So he was telling me to stop running not because of tragic news, but because of some what good news.

As we passed security the guy who'd just checked my bags, he looked at us and said, "What's going on? You guys miss your flight?" After we quickly explained he just shook his head and said, "You're not going to be happy to go through security again..." Extended security once again. Nooooo. Ah well. At least I'd be able to change my clothes the next day. And not have to file a lost baggage claim.

By the time we made it back to the baggage carousel they were pulling off all the unclaimed bags from our flight to make room for the next flight's bags. Whew. Just in time. We got our bags and walked in the rain to the Delta check in to make sure our bags were on our flight. I was in a much better mood since things seemed to be falling into place. I also made an executive decision to just take out my camera and check my carry on so the extended security clearance wouldn't be a disaster repeat. As we were going through security there was a large group of non-English speaking Korean's in the extended line ahead of us. I felt bad for an older guy who couldn't figure out what the heck he was supposed to be doing in the booth that puffs air at you. He actually had to go through three times because he'd move, not leave the booth quickly enough, etc. It made me think that it could have been worse for me! At least I understood English.

Because we missed our flight that meant we'd missed our taxi from the airport to our hotel. I forgot to bring the taxi service's phone number with us. Neither of us have cell phones (curses!) so we had to use the pay phone to call someone with an internet connection to find the number for us. We first tried my mom, but she didn't answer. Luckily Matt's mom was home and helped us find the number. We were able to call the taxi and get a cabbie, thank heavens. I did not want to sleep in the airport that night. We'd been in the airport for 5 hours already and that was enough for me.

The second plane wasn't even half full and it was a direct flight. Good thing too because after all the delays we didn't get into DFW until 12:40 AM. Our cab driver was a funny guy who was passing out candy to all the kids that were coming off our flight. I think only in TX could someone get away with that without the parents freaking out about stranger danger. He also preached to us the whole way to the hotel. He told us about his 12 year sobriety and how his finding God changed everything. He had a phone thing in his ear that kept blinking a bright blue and I had to close my eyes because it was driving me crazy. Matt thought I was sleeping through it all, but I heard every word. That put us at the hotel in McKinney at 1:40 AM.

A long day, but we made it. And later that morning we got our house. The closing went incredibly smoothly for us.

So, in the long run things all worked out and the curse wasn't as bad to us as it was to Th. and Lady. Sorry you guys had to take the brunt of it!

The Bras(s) Clan Curse Revisited

We are here and our plane was not hijacked, but that may only be because our first plane never had the chance. We arrived at the airport at the perfect time...time to board. The screen displayed "4:28 On time" over and over. Though the screen said "on time" and it was time to board, there was no plane in the hanger. No big deal, we thought, it's probably just about 10 min. behind or something. And it was.

The plane arrived, people got off, and yet we were never allowed to board. "Mechanical problems" they told us, "are the reasons why you can't board yet. They're getting the parts and fixing it. Just hold tight and hopefully it won't take too long." We had a connecting flight in Denver in 1 1/2 hours...1 hour...45 min...dang, we missed our connecting flight. There was no way we'd be making our connecting flight because of the mechanical delay. Though the line at the desk was atrociously long, I tried standing in it to see what our options were for other flights. I stood in line for an hour and we'd only moved forward two people. Then I looked over my shoulder to Delta and saw they had a flight leaving in 1 hour to Dallas/Fort Worth. I went to the desk to see if there was room and there was! However, we'd have to go out past security to the very front desk to see if United could just transfer our ticket to them so we wouldn't have to pay anything extra.

Not a problem, for the most part. We went out and immediately had help. We were able to switch our flight over with no problem and the counter lady told us they were dumping our baggage at a carousel right now. We waited about 5 min. and decided we HAD to go check into our Delta flight so as not to miss this one and only chance to get to our house closing on time. We checked into Delta and they told us we had 15 min. for our luggage to arrive or it wouldn't make it onto our flight. It didn't come. Blast. The flight was boarding and we hadn't gone through security for the second time...

We got to security and had to go through the extended security check because we had "suspicious" tickets that were one way flights booked at the last min. (All last min. passengers with plane changes actually have to go through this.) They had to look through every piece and item in our carry ons. I had all my electrical stuff with me which made it take extra long. We only had about 5 min. before the plane was supposed to leave and my bags were still being searched. Needless to say I was getting pretty annoyed with this all. Matt finished before me so he ran ahead to tell them we were there. They finally finished searching mine and I grabbed my bag and started running. Luckily the man next to me called out to me, "Is that your boarding pass ma'm?" It was. I had almost left my boarding pass on the table. I turned around, grabbed it and began sprinting up the escalator toward the boarding gates.

Matt was coming back toward me telling me to stop running...


TO BE CONTINUED

(We're at the library right now because we don't yet have internet access at home. We should have access by Wed. Matt's done with his stuff and we need to get shopping so I don't have time to finish.)

Happy Anniversary to us

Three years tomorrow. Can you believe it? Time flies.

Jogging down memory lane

I jogged around Provo today, probably for the last time. I ran up to campus, by a couple of old apartments, and up by the Temple. It was probably about a 5-5 1/2 mile run in all. I love running (though my now 9-10 min. miles would qualify more as a jog, I'm sure).

I used to hate running. In 7th and 8th grades we had to run the mile as part of our grade and it was fairly torturous. Though I didn't know it until 9th grade, I had athlete's induced asthma; I always just thought my breathing was out of control because I was out of shape or something.

How my sister talked me into doing Cross Country in High School, I don't know. Well, that's not true. I do know. It's the same reason I came to BYU-Provo with only a half tuition scholarship while I had a full scholarship at BYU-Hawaii. "If you're going to ever do [sports/school] with a sibling, this may be your only chance." I have a weak spot for siblings. That sparked my love for running.

The first day I ran High School Cross Country it was a fairly toasty afternoon. We ran the "Detour" loop that was about 3 miles. I tried my very hardest to keep up with J. (my sister), and though I'd never run more than a mile (and I don't think that mile really counted since I had to stop and walk because of my breathing) I was able to make it the whole way. She was probably running a little slower because of me, but she was awfully supportive, and running was much better with her than by myself. As we neared the High School, J. said, "I'm going to sprint to the end; you don't have to though." But my competitive spirit and determination (or the Lizonbee woman in me as my mother would say) decided I too could sprint up that final hill to the end. I did it, but I literally collapsed when I finished. I was dehydrated and over heated, not to mention my asthma and lack of natural running stamina.

I persevered and running got a little easier. I even ran at the State Cross Country meet that year in Phoenix where it was horribly hot. My best mile-stacking time was 7 min 24 seconds/mile. I ran CC 3 years in High School, and I would have run my senior year if it hadn't been for my 20 piano students. I just didn't have time. I continued running at college though it became more sporadic after I got married. It was a lot harder to pull myself out of bed in the morning if there was a warm body still sleeping next to me.

I'm hoping since I'll have a little time once we move that I'll immediately start up a habit of running consistently.

Speaking of moving, the movers come tomorrow morning so today will be our last day of Internet access. We'll hopefully be up and running again within a week. Maybe we'll end up at a library or something between now and then.

As Tigger would say, "TTFN." (Yeah, I don't know where that came from either.)

Oh, and I guess it would be the right time to say, "Goodbye Provo and all of your inhabitants. It's been a good 7 years!"