confession

I have a confession to make. When I go running, (sigh) I listen to the 'Newsies' soundtrack. It may come as a shock to some of you, but it is true. I know that most people run to music that is a bit more "cool", or some people even manage to run with no music at all (I was even told that the no music method is the best way to run). I, however, find that if I listen to myself gasping for breath, I don't get much running done. So I prefer to drown out my labored breathing by the sound of Christian Bale and Bill Pullman singing. I find it inspiring. I mean, what could be better than watching the sun rise over the mountain your running towards, while listening to 'Open the Gates and Seize the Day'? 'King of New York' is another favorite. You can pretty much always find me lip syncing the words. And if you catch me at just the right moment, when there are no cars around and I feel confident that no one is watching, there is a good chance I am dancing as I run. I just can't help it! It may be slightly dorky, but it is true. I run with the Newsies. That is all.

Duathlon . . . WE DID IT!

A couple of weeks ago my dad came home with a registration form for a duathalon. I had never heard of one before, and I still think they may have made up the word just for this event :) It is a race consisting of a 2 mile run, a 13 mile bike ride, and then another 2 mile run. There was the option to either do it individually, or on a team with one person running and the other riding. I told my dad that I would run it if he would ride it, and so we signed up!

It would have been a perfect day for the race, if it hadn't been for all of the wind. As I was doing the first 2 miles I was struggling, and I knew that my dad was going to have quite the headwind going up in the canyon. I got back, tagged him, and off he went.

Here he is riding into the finish line. He said it was the hardest ride he has ever done. Besides the wind, there are lots of hills, but he did a great job! Good job dad!

And here I am at the end. It was a very different racing experience. Because of all the switching we were quite spread out by the time we crossed the finish line. Our goal was to finish in 1 hour and 30 minutes. We almost made it. I really tried to push it at the end, but we still ended up with 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 22 seconds. 22 seconds away from our goal! But we did it! And it was lots of fun!

IT'S ALIVE!

When the semester started, all I had as far as school supplies was a small stack of books. It all fit quite nicely on top of my desk. And then it began to grow. And it grew. And it grew. It got to the point that my school stuff was taking over my desk, and I no longer had anywhere to sit. So I moved it to my corner. Where it has continued to grow, and grow, and grow. It has gone from taking over one corner, to now taking over a wall in my room. There are files, books, and projects in varying states of completion. I keep getting all this stuff that is for my future classroom. My only problem is, where do I put it until I have a classroom? And so it keeps on growing. If I go to bed one night, and don't come out the next morning, you will know it has eaten me.

My happy news for the day is that I think I took my last test as a college student today! I don't have any for the rest of the semester (just lots of projects and such) and I don't think I will take any as a student teacher, so I AM DONE with tests! And I even aced it! Life is good!

A running bunny and another 5K

Weeks ago I registered to run another 5K. I was really excited about it. It is a well known race with lots of people involved. I was training for it, hoping to beat my best time. Then last weekend, all at once, I got super sick. I was down for over a week, and worried that I was not going to be able to run my 5K. On Wednesday I ran for the first time since being sick, and it didn't go so well. Thursday was a bit better, and Friday better still. Definitely not up to my regular speed and energy level, but to the point where a 5K was possible. I was guessing that it would take me around 35 minutes to run the race, since on Friday it took me around 40 (which is A LOT slower than my last 5K which was just over 29 minutes, but what can you do)

Today was a perfect day for running, and the race really was cool. During my last 5K they just wrote down your times as you came in. This time I got to wear a cool chip on my ankle that was activated when I went across the starting line and then clocked my time when I came across the finish line. It looked like this.

This is at the beginning, while we are all trying to find our spot on the road. Unfortunately, you can only see my shoe. It is blue. I am behind the lady in the while tee shirt.

And this is me crossing the finish line (right hand side). Thank goodness for blurry pictures that make it so you can't see my face at this moment!

I was really excited when I came across the finish line at 29:58!!!! I made it in under 30 minutes! I was so happy! It is still 40 seconds slower than my last speed, but after being sick it is all that I could ask for!

Nesquik was one of the sponsorers of the race. They even had a mascot there. But get this, he ran the entire 5K in costume. And he finished in less than 20 minutes. Anyone who can run that fast while wearing a hot and awkward costume (look at that head!), and then walk around giving out free bottles of chocolate milk is my hero! YAY for Nesquik!

7 Things

It has been an interesting week. On top of other things, I have been fighting with the flu while still trying to keep up with homework and such. But rather than writing about the paper cut I got on my nose (yes, I know I am talented), or how I had my first experience running out in the middle of a class to throw up, I thought I would just fill out this “7 Things” Survey instead. It was actually way harder to do than I was expecting. If you are interested, you can do it too! (Oh, and this is just a picture of me and Legolas. My SIL and I were talking about how posts are better with pictures, especially if they are long posts. So I found a random picture to put up. ENJOY!)

7 things I plan to do before I die... (Just 7 ?!?)

1. Go sledging in New Zealand (super cool white water sport!)
2. Catch a fish
3. Hike the Grand Canyon
4. Get married and have kids
5. Have a “Host a Murder” dinner
6. Do volunteer work in Africa
7. Make a quilt

7 things I can do…

1. Say my ABC’s backwards in less than 10 seconds

2. Write really long and pointless blog posts :)
3. Run a 5K
4. Bake & Cook*

5. Read long books in ridiculously short amounts of time
6. Speak Portuguese, and some Spanish
7. Read while traveling (train, plane, automobile . . .no problem!)

* see number 6 on next list

7 things I cannot do…

1. Get to school early
2. Stop reading a good book while I am in the middle, even if I have very important things to do

3. Make my fingers snap together like all the Brazilians do
4. Do a flip underwater at the end of a swimming lap (does that make any sense? Can anyone teach me please?!)
5. Find jeans that fit right

6. Bake Bread that doesn’t come out like rubber
7. Not make silly faces at children who are in the same room, regardless of if I know them or not

7 attributes that attract me to the opposite sex…

1. Happy

2. Adventurous

3. Righteous

4. Kind
5. Funny
6. Ambitious

7. Thoughtful

(If anyone has seen this man, please let me know!)

7 Things I say most often . . .

1. “OPA!”
2. “What?”

3. “You have got to be kidding me”
4. “Where did I set that down?”
5. “Ummm . . .”

6. “Grrrrr . . .” (you think I am kidding. Sadly, I am not)
7. “Can I ask a question?”

7 Favorite foods... (Just 7! :)

1. Potatoes (any way, shape, or form!)
2. Tomatoes
3. Bananas
4. Black Beans

5. Ice Cream
6. Chocolate
7. Freshly baked bread with strawberry jam

7 Books I Love . . .

1. The Book of Mormon

2. Harry Potter

3. Moonraker’s Bride

4. The Giver

5. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

6. On the Street Where you Live

7. Fire of the Covenant

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

A Tale of Two Cell Phones

Once upon a time there was a young maiden with a lovely cell phone. The cell phone was simple and small, and didn’t seem to mind when it was dropped quite frequently. The phone worked perfectly – the young maiden could send and receive calls. For that is the purpose of a phone, is it not? The young maiden was happy.

Then, the young maiden left for a land far, far away for a long time. When she returned things had changed. Her simple cell phone was gone (stolen by the queen after her cell phone had been dropped in the royal chamber pot), and she found that cell phone’s were no longer used just to make and receive calls. There were all sorts of newfangled things that cell phones were supposed to do. But the young maiden was quite old fashioned in her ways and simply wanted a simple cell phone.

Since simple cell phones were no longer manufactured in the kingdom, buying a new one was out of the question. Instead, the young maiden inherited a cell phone from her grandparents. While the phone had been chosen because of its large size, it was still too small for them to use. So the maiden adopted the large-old fashioned-simple cell phone. She used it to call people and they could call her. And it didn’t mind one bit when it was dropped frequently. The young maiden was happy.

Then came the day when it became necessary for the young maiden to buy a new cell phone. She shopped and she fretted, but no phone seemed to suit her. Words like 'text', 'iphone', 'wi-fi', 'Bluetooth', and 'megapixel camera' confused her. “Why”, she thought to herself, “do they not create phones that just make and receive calls.” For she was quite convinced that was the purpose of a phone. She left the stores feeling sad and defeated.

Luckily, the young maidens’ sister went to a store and found a cell phone that seemed quite snazzy. The phone was purchased and sent home to the young maiden. She opened the box with trepidation, yet to her surprised she found a very pretty, sparkly-blue cell phone. Her favorite color just happened to be blue. And she loved sparkly things. The phone did all sorts of newfangled things, but the young maiden just ignored those (though she did accidentally send blank text messages to various villagers in the kingdom) and used her phone to make and receive calls. And while the sparkly-blue phone didn’t seem to appreciate being dropped, the two managed to get along quite well. The young maiden was happy.

the end

Project one, Check!

My first project in Math was to create a math centered bulletin board with another girl in my class. We struggled with ideas, but finally decided to do this multiplication maze. I was in charge of the maze itself, and she did the letters. I was thrilled with how it turned out (we ran out of staples when we were putting it up, so we used thumb tacks)! It was simple to put together, and is interactive for grade school students (too bad it is in a university classroom!) I was so excited with it I had to show you all how it turned out. What do you think? If you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can try out your multiplication skills!