Girl's Night Out

A couple of weeks ago I got together with my sister-in-laws, Jill and Jenny. I've been tempted to change my name to Jane, but that might get a little confusing. While they look like sisters already, I would have to lose a bunch of weight, cut my hair and dye it blond to look like these cuties!

Jenny just had little Austin back in January and hasn't had a chance to get out of the house much (he was born 7 weeks early and contracted RSV a week before our outing), so we ventured to the mall to get some delicious Chick-fil-a for dinner at the food court and then we walked around for a bit. We went into Forever XXI and found these awesome headbands ("awesome headbands" is said with thick sarcasm and a role of the eyes)!!!

I know I was born in the 80's and I love 80's movies and music, but is this really back in style!??!

Seriously!? Maybe I should have bought one...

Staying out of debt...

In February, my Visiting Teachers came over to visit with me. Each month we are assigned a topic from the Ensign, which is a magazine produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with uplifting articles and current news of the members around the world. February's article touched on "Managing Resources Wisely and Staying Out of Debt". We discussed ways in which staying out of debt makes us more self-reliant and essentially more happy. After my Visiting Teachers left, I was determined to pay off some of our debt.

The following day, I looked over our finances and decided that we could afford to pay off 1 of my 2 school loans. I went online to pay, only to see that I had a $0.00 balance. I called the borrower immediately and told them I would like to pay off the remainder of my loan. The woman put me on hold and then came back and said my Lender had "Forgiven my Debt" because I had been diligently paying for years. I was shocked...almost $1,000.00 had been forgiven. The woman on the phone told me I would be getting a letter in the mail within two weeks indicating a "paid in full" status of the loan.

A few weeks later, I received a check in the mail for the last payment that was made to my Lender, not only did they forgive the balance, but they also returned my last payment.

Just another tender mercy from the Lord to our little family. We are truly blessed!

Spectrum 10K

Last weekend Matthew and I drove down to Saint George with some friends for my 10K. We left Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday afternoon. The weather was beautiful and the resort we stayed at was amazing.

My friend, Jen, ran the race with me. It started up Snow Canyon State Park and finished in Ivins, UT. The run down the canyon was amazing. One of my favorite parts of the race was looking down the canyon and seeing the entire canyon filled with people wondering what goals they were reaching and why they were out running. I loved the race and I would do it again in a heart beat.

I was having problems with my IT Band and decided to change my form and run more from the middle of my foot to toe instead of heel to toe. I got some pretty sweet blisters because I wasn't used to the form and most of the race was downhill, but I still ran sub 10 minute miles and finished in 58:05.

We had such a great weekend with our friends eating far too much food and getting some much needed relaxation from everyday life! My Salt Lake 10 Miler is next weekend! Woot!

Hey Valedictorian!

My wonderful husband was named Bachelor's Degree Valedictorian for 2010 for the College of Technology and Computing!!!

I couldn't be more excited for him!! :D When he forwarded me the email this morning, I was in shock and then the tears just fell!!! I am so proud of him and everything he's accomplished. This is going to be such a wonderful experience for him!! There are seriously no words for how proud of him I am! :D

He'll be speaking at his convocation on April 30th and I will be sure to post lots of pictures and gushing comments about him!! AH-mazing!!!

Frigid 5K in Provo, UT

Saturday, February 27th was my first of four races for the next two months. I ran the Frigid 5K in Provo. It was a really small race, only about 100 people ran it, and they didn't make a big deal about it, but it was good practice.

The course was a figure eight and it ended up being mostly on the Provo River Trail. The weather was perfect. I even go too hot in my winter running clothes.

And of course, it wouldn't be a race without thinking about my dad. My iPod was on shuffle and played "Standing Outside The Fire" by Garth Brooks.It's a great motivating song, especially the video. It's one of my daddy's favorites. It might be strange, but I feel him close to me when I run and I truly love it. He continues to inspire me everyday.

Training has been going really well. I'm running three times a week and doing cycling/spin classes at the gym twice a week along with strength training that is killing me!!! I love feeling sore and knowing that it's hopefully doing something. My longest distance is tomorrow: 7 Miles and in two weeks I have my 10K in Saint George. Bring it on! :D

My cute running friends: Jen, Anne, and Me First time through the finish line, half way there! The Finish!!! Wahoo!