For You I Will

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
Well... yep, it's true, and official. I am officially signed up for The Race for the Cure. One of my dreams is to run a 5k. Although if I were to be completely honest at this point I would have to say run/walk a 5k, since currently, I cannot run the full 3.1 miles without wanting to kill over and die, so... therefore, I will walk part of it. Although I will continue to train as though I will be able to run the full thing, realizing that reality will step in the morning of the race when I tell myself that shooting myself in the head in not an option and I can walk part of the race. My hope, is that I will run the greater portion, and walk the lesser. I really am excited. Sarah the amazing sister in law of mine gave me some excellent pointers and ideas last night. She is my running hero, as she LOVES this sort of thing and has been doing it for years. She is the team captain, and I have never been so proud to run behind someone (REALLY...FAR...BEHIND...) in my life. I am counting on the fact that she will motivate me by serenading me with songs such as "We Will Rock You", "Eye of the Tiger", "Hearts on Fire", Etc. Maybe she can throw in a little "Bet on It" just for kicks and giggles. Hey, Sarah, if you want, you can run behind me like my personal trainer yelling "Come on Man... you can go faster than that!" or "since when did I invite the tourtise on this run?" or "Hey Grandma... kick it in gear, I didn't pump you full of Geritol for nothing!" However, I take no responsibility for my actions if you somehow end up with a permanent imprint of my fist on your face. Just a small disclaimer. LOL! Just kidding, I love Sarah. Okay... seriously, I am super dee dooper excited and I really plan to keep training for it, so I don't look like a complete idiot and come in last. You know me... I look forward to non-losing moments in my life. It's a pride thing. (No lectures please, I've accepted it, so should you. Pride happens. Move on!)

Big Dreams in a Small Town

Just My Imagination

Today I went for a run/walk around Springville. Last spring/summer I did this alot. I thought I'd share some fun things from my walk (this is proving how much I should NOT have a camera).

I love this house. Although my dream house is a log house, I have always thought it'd fun to buy an old house and fix it. Ever since I saw this house, I have thought "Man I want that house! It's so cute and has so much potential." It had more trees, but they were recently cut down. Sad day!

You can't really see it in the this picture but one of the beauty's of this house is the swing hanging from this tree. I love swings in trees. LOVE THEM.

This was actually a sad part of the walk. This field, used to be a big grassy tree area. NOW... look at those machines of DEATH!!! and what a fitting picture. See that potty? Well... it is fitting because THIS is a load of CRAP! I can't believe they tore it all out, and who knows what they are building. Probably some dumb money pit that some dumb rich person is going to use to buy new cars and trucks and numerous un-needed vacations to the Mediterranean! Stupid urban developers... they are taking over the world and all the beautiful things Heavenly Father has given us. (I'm done with that tangent).

This picture is HILARIOUS... see this little boy? Perfect stranger! Yep... but look what he's doing. He's shooting me with his water gun. LOL!!! Kids are funny. He doesn't even know me. Lucky for me... he is a bad aim.

I love houses that have these upstairs balcony's. I see them, and I just think... that's the problem. I need a balcony, so that the love of my life can show up at like mid-night on his horse and throw little rocks at my window, and then I walk out and he sweeps me off my... balcony (and I don't even fall).

This is the coolest school ever. It's an art school in Springville. And inside these walls are sculptures, in the courtyard area. How awesome is that? It is right by the Art Musuem. Anyone that knows me knows that I love art, so... I had to sit and admire this courtyard. (why is this stupid thing underlining everything?...ugh)

I'm pretty sure that this dog... well, he could pretty much kill me. After I took this picture... I had this thought, "why am I taking his picture with him looking at me like that? It's not like that fence is that high anyway, and he has enough room to run and jump the fence. Tahnee... DO NOT PISS OFF THE DOG!" He even looks like he is assuming the "I'm going to eat you for lunch because my owner is starving me" position. I immediately kept walking, a little fast- I'm not gonna lie.

Can you please read this bench? Now... I ask the obvious question... IN WHAT LIFETIME? (it says "healthy chocolate") I decided Heavenly Father put this bench here to remind, in that very moment, that it IS a good idea to stay on the straight and narrow path, and that in Heaven, all the benches will say this... and they will provide me with baskets of it to eat at will. And then I will live happily ever after. They will also give me Cookies and Milk -chocolate milk to wash down my Flintstones vitamins.

This guy was at a church that I passed on my run. I will admit... I envied him. I always see big pine trees and think of how President Hinckley told everyone to find their own Oak Tree to read and ponder under. Well, I love Pine Tree's, BIG ONES, and so mine is a pine tree. It is an early Saturday afternoon and this guy is laying there under the trees reading. I would have gone and joined him, but that may have crossed the line over into creepy, and no one likes creepy.

This is my idea of a reading/pondering tree.

AND THIS MY FRIENDS...
is why I should not own a camera. The sad thing is... there are about 50 pictures I took today and I wish that I could post comments about every one of them. Like for example... I missed the one with the river and the big pole across it and how I stopped and looked at it and imagined how fun it would be to pretend like I was in gymnastics and do some amazing tricks on that thing, and then the voices in my head said "bad idea dummy...keep on walking". LOL!!! This stuff really happens to me on my walks. I just thought this time... I'd share the dumb thoughts I have with all of you...lucky you!

Dream Big

"Take my breath away"

Okay, so my friends Kim and Sara and I went to the Jazz game on Tuesday night against the Rockets. Sara also brought a friends with her. We had nose bleeder seats, but Sara's amazing friend scored us lower bowl seats on the 15th row. Yep... you read that correctly. I about pee-d my pants!!! We were so close, I could see muscles and sweat! And... the beautiful part... I even dreamt about them. Yep, I dreamt of the Jazz. They were at my house for an after party. D-Will pretty much just thought I was funny, and all around amazing. It was funny, He was sitting with me and P.S. he had on shorts and his legs were VERY defined (I tried to keep that clean). Well, moving on, in this dream he and I were talking and I was trying to be cool as if were old friends, and I told him I had a question for him. He said "anything". So... I went on and asked this... "So, how do you... gear down from a game? What do you do after the game to slow down your adrenaline rush?" YEAH... out of all the question int eh world that I could ask him, I ASKED HIM THAT??? One word comes to mind... IDIOT! He just looked at me like "um... THAT'S your question". LOL! I don't remember all of the dream, but the important part is that he thought I was funny and pretty much rocked his world. LOL!

I just have to say that there is something so unifying and beautiful about sports. Look how beautiful this picture is (the one above...not below- LOL!!!) It gives me warm fuzzies inside (again, the one above, not below).

All I have to say about this one (above) is... CAN HIS SHORTS BE ANY TIGHTER? NOT HOT!!! It's just NOT!!!

I have to say that this night... pretty much AMAZING! Kim and I were both (several times through game) saying to each other "I can't believe these seats! I can't believe we are sitting here... and for 6 bucks!!!" Amazing... purely amazing!!!

"Straighten Up and Fly Right"

Okay... I figure I better explain why I changed my blog name. It's because of an amazing talk that Jesse gave me. See, there is this amazing man that I work with. His name is Jesse. Jesse is one of my favorite people of all time. His office is right by mine, but I'm not his secretary, unless Kathy is sick or away, then I am his "stand in" secretary. We always have what he likes to call our "daily devotional", and I look forward to them, unless they are derived from some sort of "mis-hap" I may have had either verbally, or in action, then... I call them my "daily lecture from uncle J". I have decided that Jesse is a pluthera of knowledge and that his office is like a library of eternity. I will ask him a question, or tell him of a talk or scripture of intrigue and he will walk in his office and come back out with it. LOL! It's funny. So, the other day he gave me this talk for Dad (he loves to give me talks to give to Dad), and one for myself. It is called "Therefore, What?". It is so amazing. I read it again last night. The talk is by Elder Holland and it was given at a CES instructor conference. He is talking about the New Testament and how the Savior not only "teaches", but he also "heals", and in fact, he heals before he teaches and in that, he is teaching. He talks about how the Savior needs more people working in the vineyard. This is a long talk, but everyone should read it. I can't go over everything in it, but wish I could. In the talk he qoutes Nat King Coles song "Straighten Up and Fly Right" and talks about that is what we need to do. Now is the time. And that we need to start "healing" people. Not exactly literally, but spiritually. It is so good. It reminded me of this book I have called the Parables of Jesus, and during the section on the lost sheep, President Faust creates a list of who "lost sheep" are, and we are all "lost sheep" at some point. When I get home I will put that section on my blog because it was an eye opener to me and I can't remember the list word for word right now, but Lost is not just lost from the path, but lost in our hearts, even for the day. Anyway... as I was riding into work on the bus today, I kept thinking about that talk and that saying "straighten up and fly right" and I thought... that needs to be my motto. I was also listening to this talk today on the way to work by John Bytheway (the one Dad gave us all) and he talks about how we all need a mission statement. If I had a mission statement it would probably be that quote by Robert Louis Stevenson "You cannot run away from weakness; you must sometime fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now and where you stand?". Anyway... but I love this for a motto, so... I wanted to change my blog title. That is the long drawn out story of the motto change. I also love music and decided to make all my blog post titles be the name of a song. Just thought that would be fun.

Zzzzzzzzzzz... Ha ha, jokes on me!!!

See me?

Well...THIS IS NOT ME RIGHT NOW!!! THIS.. my wonderful friends and family, was me on Saturday as I fell asleep after my run/walk. People think it's funny when I sleep cause I am dead to the world. What I wouldn't give to be there right now. If it wasn't pickin' 12:10 am, I would go for a run/walk RIGHT NOW, but... that would make it worse because, as you know, I am deathly afraid of the dark and think someone is always lurking around the corner preparing for my death.

I'm a tad bit frustrated that since I've been sick... I can't sleep. I'm about to run down stairs and assume the feline lifestyle by drinking warm milk. Dad says it works... and Dads know everything, right?

Be Careful What You Wish For...

So... friday night, I decided to go and purchase Twilight. I left my house at about 11:58, drove to Walmart. Upon pulling into the parking lot I noticed that it was CRAM PACKED! My next thought, actually, it graduated from a thought to a full on one on one conversation with- well, myself. I said.. "Are you kidding me? I sure hope all these people aren't here to buy Twilight. Holy Smokes, get a life people!" Okay... keep in mind, I, Myself was driving into the parking lot to buy Twilight. And... also keep in mind how much I LOVE TWILIGHT! So... I walk inside and there is this massive line of people- of all ages, and I would like to take this opportunity to point out, that this line exhibited gender equality- meaning... there were just as many MEN as there were woman, and I would also like to add that a lot of them, were NOT WITH A WOMAN! Hahaha... Okay, so back to the line. This line had about (no exaggeration) 200 people in it. IN SPRINGVILLE. I about died. Being the non-conformist that I am, I opted to not stand in the line, and instead I walked myself all the way to the other end of the line just to see how this was going down. Once I made it to the other end, I saw that there were about 8 registers that were servicing people and handing out the movie. BUT... only the last line, beheld the 200 people people, I would like to call "cattle", because what I found, was that the other 7 registers, had incredibly short lines. SO... I opted to stand in one of them, instead of the long eternal line. Let this be a lesson to all that just because everyone else is doing it... does not mean it's the best thing to do. We even tried to tell people in the massively long line, that there were much shorter lines, but they wouldn't listen. It was as if they were afraid we were lying and they didn't want to risk thier place in line. It was quite interesting. I was back home at about 12:40. I bet the last person in that other line is still there. LOL! Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I bet they were still there for at least 2 hours. They should have listened to us. Tst..tst..tst... I would never lead a fellow Twilighter astray! UNTHINKABLE!!!

Next, I would like to thank Carol Anne (who's name is not Carol Anne, but Carol Jean- I wanted her middle name to be Anne, so I "re-named" her, and it's been going strong about 6 years now) for giving me this present...

Okay.. Lesson number 2 in the Twilight Adventure, "temporary" does not always mean.. TEMPORARY! This sucker wouldn't come off!!! LOL!!! I guess this is what happens when you decide to act like you're 12 for the night. I think my arm might be permanantly scarred...RED, from all the rubbing!!! It really is quite funny, but I guess I'll be wearing long sleeve shirts until this stupid thing decides to fade away. HMMM...I always wanted Edward permantly attatched to me... to this I say... be careful what you wish for... it may NOT come in the package you're looking for!
The funny thing is that Leland and Jesse (two men I work with/for) are ALWAYS giving me a hard time about Twilight... and now... I am going to have to hide this from them, because they will NEVER LET ME LIVE IT DOWN! In fact... I can see some lecturing in my near future. I can't wait to tell Jen about it. And... if Carol Anne knew this would happen... I say to her... I see a corner cowboy in your future!!!

If Sidney Bristow had lip gloss... this would be it!

The other day I was looking through my roommates Avon catalog and there were these flip flops I wanted to get. So I got online and ordered them. While online I found a couple other things I wanted. Because of some make-up I ordered I qualified to get another product of the same brand for $2. I chose lip gloss because I lost mine. Well yesterday I got the product and while I was at work, I opened it up... this sucker has not only a mirror on it, but lights. LOL!!! I, or course showed it to Uncle Jesse and Kathy and they laughed. Jesse asked where I would use it and I said, "Well... you never know, maybe you'll be in the dark and need to throw on some lip gloss." He asked what I'd be needing lip gloss in the dark for. I said "Jesse...(pause) do you really want to know?" He laughed and said "you're right, never mind, but maybe I should call your Bishop." LOL!!! It was funny. I decided that the only person that would need this kind of lip gloss would be Sidney Bristow (for my Alias friend-Katie the Canuck).

Do me proud

Last night I went to the Jazz game...
We had lower bowl tickets and it was AMAZING!!! I am in love with the Jazz. I walked down to the floor so I could get some good pictures. I'm not gonna lie... there were some warm fuzzies going on inside me while I was down there. Man... it is one thing to see them on TV in all their glory, and to see them at a live game, BUT... to see them up close, like 10 feet away... breath taking!!! It was so awesome!!!

These are the my buddies Kim and Sara. It was tons-o-fun!!! We bought these St. Patricks Day Jazz shirts at the game. Awwww....

Happy St. Patricks Day with the Jazz

Take the time to look...

Today while I was on the bus, we stopped at this bus stop and there was this old man who may or may not have been homeless. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling into the bus something that I couldn't understand and neither could the bus driver. One of the ladies walking off the bus understood and answered him "NO, this bus doesn't go to Ogden." As he stepped away from the bus I looked at him, and my first thought was that he was homeless, he looked like it by his clothing and his zipper was even down. I was maybe even a little afraid at first. I had my ipod on and I was listening to one of my favorite songs by SheDaisy "I'm still holding out for you", which had nothing to do with the situation, but it always makes me "feel" when I listen to those kinds of songs. I looked away from all the rest of him and looked into his eyes. His eyes were so soft, and so... different. Then I just felt love. It hit me so hard that we focus so much on outward things, that we never take the time to remember that all these people, everyone... they are our family. We all came here together. I just smiled at him, even though he couldn't see me back, and I said a prayer for him in my heart. I wish I was such a person that always remembered that about people. I made a goal this morning to always look into peoples eyes before the imperfect part of me decides to judge them. Although I like to act like I know everything, I don't, especially when it comes to people, and I don't trust easily at all. I just wanted to share this because it was a pretty awesome moment I had with the Lord this morning. I love it when he teaches me, and I love it even more when I listen.
Now I will go send a sarcastic email, because as I just told Jesse, I show people that I love them, by teasing them. Hahaha... just kidding.

Do the Dew...

OKay... for all you Mothers who are anti-soda pop...in my defense- she came in drinking this because she picked it up- of her own free will and choice!!! I just took the picture, and maybe gave her a hug, you would have too- it was so cute. Once she tasted the sweet taste of the juice from the heavens... she wouldn't leave the sucker alone. We pretty much had to share it from then on out. In fact... she wouldn't leave, I would take a drink, then she'd grab it and take a drink. I pretty much had to stoop to her 3 year old level and grab it back, just to be able to have a taste. In the end... she did get the last swig. All I have to say for myself... is it's not my pickin' fault Keili wants to be just like Cool Aunt Tahnee- now is it.
I say NAY!!!
Check these out... if there was ever a child with confidence... it's this one!!!

This past weekend when we went on the road trip to Cedar the crazy Rubow kids were singing in the back. I laughed so hard the first time I heard Keili sing "We will rock you" by Queen. Pay special attention to the part of the song that goes "you got mud on your face..." it's so stinkin' cute! Anyway... they would have me record them, and then let them see themselves. I thought I'd post it. It's pretty cute.

It's a Wonderful Life...

Okay... so, this weekend I went with My parents, Nicole and her kids to Cedar City. It was Bubba's birthday so we all went down. I have other pictures of the excursion, so I will not ruin the fun of those by talking about those events in this post. I will post that later tonight. I just wanted to post one detail of the trip. It happened yesterday. We were at Rustin and Sarah's house, I had just (out of the kindness of my heart, because I am like that and always try to be like Jesus) changed Miley Mo's diaper. Of course, after changing her, Rustin walks up and... I really don't know what happened, (probably being scarred from numerous times of having dirty diapers rolled up and chucked at me), I rolled up Mo's diaper, and it somehow ended up hitting Rustin. I have no idea what happened!. Well... (and here comes the amazing part) Rustin tells me to get up, he wants to "show me something". So I get up, a little skeptical, because if anyone knows him, and myself, this is not going to be good for me. I walk over and he tells me to put my hands out (palms down) So... I do, still a little skeptical. (Keep in the back of your mind Rustin has been going to the police academy) he proceeds to grab my arm, twisting it in a way that DOES NOT TICKLE, NOR FEEL GOOD, of course, I tense up, and the following picture nicely depicts what occurred...

You'd think he'd learn... DON'T MESS WITH YOUR BIG SIS!!! I even got a couple face slaps in there. LOL!!! You should have just taken the hit by the dirty diaper and called it good. Oh well..
It was pretty much amazing!!!! Nice Try Rustin!!!!
Anyway... I had to post this... but I promise to post the other pictures from the trip tonight.

The Refiners Fire

If you work with me, this is probably the second time you are hearing this... so sorry, but I had to post it for my wonderful family also.

Malachi 3:3 says:

"And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness"

Okay, so here's the amazing part about this...

This verse puzzled some women in a bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire... If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

This made me cry. I often feel this way, and it is amazing to me what the Lord does for us. The part about this I loved the most, is that he sits there holding us in the fire the entire time- which is proof that he never leaves us alone, even when it's hot and painful... he is still there, with us... not just sitting idly by, but he is HOLDING US UNTIL HE CAN SEE HIS IMAGE IN US! I love this... I hope you all do too!!!

This is why I love studying the scriptures, it's what makes it fun for me... the digging in deep to learn the lessons. To REALLY LEARN the lessons.