Spoiled

Well, it's been awhile since we posted, so I have a lot to catch up on, but I'll try to keep it short. On the 13th of December, Josh and I went on a double date with my parents, my mom and I, and Josh and my Dad. My dad works for a printing company that does printing for the Jazz, and as one of their perks, his boss gets second row seats to the Jazz games, and they rotate them throughout the company. My dad has given everyone in my family a turn to go with him. I told Josh that while we were dating, and Josh has been paying his dues ever since. I'm sure he thought that I made the whole thing up so I could reel him in and snatch him before he could get away. So this month Josh finally got his turn. I sat with my mom on like the sixth to the last row, and Josh sat with my dad on the second row. One of the best things about sitting so close is that you get spoiled to the max. They give you a parking voucher right across the street from the Energy Solutions Arena, dinner before the game, and a snack during half time. They played the Orlando Magic and Josh got the opportunity of harrassing the players close enough that they can hear. He even got a shoulder shrug from JJ Reddick when he told him that they were never going to pass the ball to him. Here's a fuzzy picture right in the action of Paul Milsap running past.

Mehmet Okur shooting free throws.

A picture of Kyle Korver's backside. I can almost hear thousands of girls in Utah swooning!

And of course, my favorite, Paul Milsap shooting free throws. I took pictures as well from the top of the stadium, and maybe when I get them from my mom, I will add them. After the game, I said to Josh, "Was it everything you wanted and more?" Josh said, "No, I wanted them to win!" So, yeah, the Jazz don't lose very often on their homecourt, so of course the day that my dad and Josh are within feet of them, they lose. Well I guess you can't have it all.

Now, onto more recent events. Josh and I have been looking to buy a new car for awhile. Since we're living in Wellsville, and Josh works in Ogden, he has been commuting through Sardine Canyon everyday. Anyone who knows anything about Sardine Canyon knows that it can be a bugger during the winter. We decided that if he was going to be making that commute, we would get a new car that would be safe for him. We searched and searched and searched, and finally bought a new car on Saturday.

So OUT WITH THE OLD! (I know many of you were scared that that is our new car.) For those who don't know, Josh had a 1988 Jeep Cherokee. It was a good car, and very reliable for being only three years younger than me. But it was starting to have more and more problems. The breaks were about to go out, the leaf springs made the car bounce like a pogo stick (only when you hit a bump when you were going really fast), and some other minor problems that come with the territory of 20 year old cars.

And IN WITH THE NEW! We haven't taken a picture of it, so this is the best I can do. It's a 2008 Jeep Liberty. We looked into getting a Tacoma, FJ Cruiser, and what seems like a million other cars. But we pretty much just upgraded to a new red jeep. But Josh's favorite thing about the car is that since we bought it from Karl Malone Toyota we got an basketball signed by Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. Josh thought he was so smart to say that we wouldn't buy the car if we didn't get a ball. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I'm super excited to not feel like I'm taking my life in my hands everytime I get into a car.

So as you can see, we've been pretty spoiled this Christmas. Besides the material things that we've gotten this year, Josh and I had a great Christmas. We both love spending time with family so much, and the holidays are never long enough. This year, I enjoyed the Christmas season even more because this was the first Christmas that I've had at my job. I work for a nonprofit organization that works with family and kids. Since we have no money, we are always accepting donations. As I've gotten older, the Christmas season seems to be getting more and more commercialized and I was so excited this year to have a renewed faith in humanity. I was absolutely amazed at how generous people were with our center. We had some many donations coming everyday that we couldn't keep up on all of them. Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that I now know that there are still very good people in the world, and people that are looking for ways to help other people.

This next video is one such donation that we received. I'm sorry that I am computer illiterate, and don't know how to rotate the picture, but I promise it worth watching. I need to set the scene though. I went into work on Christmas Eve, and one of the girls that I work with started screaming, "Kaleena is here!" And then I heard more coworkers screaming throughout the hall. I went into my office, and the girl that shares my office with me said, "Josh called and he said that your phone is dead, so he wants you to call him back." Sitting on my desk where my phone usually is was a teddy bear. We made a video to show the bear in action.



If you can't tell from the video, the bear is a phone, and his mouth moves and eyes blink when the person on the other end talks. It's just about the coolest thing I have ever seen, and even though I can't accept incoming calls, it has not left my desk. We found them on-line for anywhere between $100 and $250. Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

My Love

Well Hope tagged me awhile ago, and I've been putting off doing it, but on Wednesday I severely messed up Josh's haircut, so I am starting my very long process of begging for his forgiveness. This tag is about how wonderful my husband is, so if any of you think you already know how wonderful he is, you don't have to read any further.

1. Where did you meet your husband? Josh and I had a Political Science class together my second year of school. Then we danced with each other once at the COOLEST club in Logan (Alright, it's the only club in Logan.) It all kind of started from there.

2. How long did you date before you got married? From the time that we had "our first date" (I still say we haven't been on a date yet, but whatever) to the time that we were married, it was a little over a year.

3. How long have you been married? 2 1/2 years

4. What does he do to surprise you? Most things that Josh does surprise me. He tries to embarrass me every chance he gets, like making random comments about me during priesthood and telling everyone at my work party that we are cousins. I guess it shouldn't really surprise me anymore. He randomly buys me books, and seasons of the Office online, and every once in awhile he cleans the whole house-that surprises me the most.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His smile!

6.What is your favorite quality? He is a very genuinely nice person. He rarely says anything mean about anyone. He puts up with A LOT from me. He's really laid back, and I desperately need that, because I'm a little (okay A LOT) high strung. He's also a very hard worker, and he loves his family.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Anything under the sun that you can think of that someone could possibly use as a nickname, Josh has called me. Including hun bun, sugar, babe, honey, love chop, and one of my least favorites, honey chicken. That's another way that he tries to embarrass me. I kind of deserve it though, I do call him muffin, and honey dew watermelon.

8. What is his favorite food? Pizza, pizza, pizza, and brownies. Josh can, and does sometimes, eat pizza everday and not get sick of it.

9. What is his favorite sport? I'm not sure. He loved track and wrestling in high school. He played football for about 8 years of his life, and he likes baseball. But my guess is Jazz basketball.

10. When and where did you first kiss? In my college apartment, very late at night. How romantic!

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I'm not really sure. I think maybe watching movies together. Even though, I'm not really a fan of watching movies, and I fall asleep in the first 10 minutes, I like cuddling with Josh.

12.Do you have children? Yes. (Let's see how well you know us.)

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He is good at everything!!!!! He plays the piano, and he played the saxophone when he was in Jr. High, he sings, he wins every game he ever plays. Even things that I think I'm pretty good at and he should be awful, he is good. It's pretty frustrating, because he has obvious talents and hidden talents. I didn't get either one.

14. How old is he? 25. (26 in less than a month! He's such an old man!)

15. Who said I love you first? He did.... And then I did awhile later, and he was very mad at me.

16. What is his favorite music? Favorite favorite? I'm not sure. He likes kind of the pop rock stuff right now like Daughtry, and Nickleback. I think one of his favorites might be Jon Mellencamp

17. What do you admire most about him? Refer back to that one about qualities, I think that's the same question. I admire that he can deal with me day in and day out. Most people would find that quite a challenge!

18. What is his favorite color? Green. Not grass stain green or lime green, or forest green. Green green. He's very particular.

19. Will he read this? Eventually

20. People I tag. Anyone who wants to. No one ever listens to me when I tag them anyway!

Who needs TURKEY for Thanksgiving!!

The newest tradition that the Anderson family has is killing animals on Thanksgiving!! (much to Kaleena's dismay) let me explain, Two years ago on our first thanksgiving together, our original plan was to shoot my brothers' new guns. We had set up various targets to shoot. Surprisingly Kaleena is pretty dang good at shooting hand guns. She fell in love with my brother jake's 45. but what to our wandering eyes did appear was a deer waiting to be killed. ( we had a valid tag for the deer) Ever since that fateful day the Andersons have made not only eating animals but killing animals a tradition on Thanksgiving. So this year we went to a hunting club for pheasants! We ended up shooting 12 of them. This is a picture of the fam, including bella the dog, and the pheasants we shot
I think that kaleena looks good with a shot gun!!! Even though this was the only time we let her hold a gun. we'll have to wait and see two years from now, if we let her shoot one.
I shot this pheasant and my brother James' dog Bella went swimming and retrieved it for me.
This is my family loading their guns getting ready for the big day.

Special thanks to kaleena for being the designated photographer, and to my sister Cherilee for bringing her camera.

As promised

Well, we've lived in our new house for about three weeks, and finally I feel like we have it in some kind of order. So I'm posting pictures like I promised I would. This is the second bedroom which is the home office/gym/second TV room/craft room. That's what happens when you only have one extra room in your house, and as you can see all the boxes that we still haven't gotten out of our house are being stored in here.






















This is the other side of the front room, and the brand new LCD TV that we bought on Friday for Black Friday. Josh has been glued to it ever since.



This is part of the kitchen, with our table that we bought a couple weeks ago, that I LOVE! For those who don't know, we lived in a tiny, one bedroom apartment for the last two and a half years. It wasn't big enough to have a kitchen table, so with our new house, that was the thing I was the most excited about. Sadly, we haven't used it a ton yet, because I get home kind of late from work, and no matter how many kitchen tables we have, sometimes you just can't pry Josh from the TV.



I did these pictures out of order, of course! We put up our Christmas tree today, and I don't care what anyone says, I think our Christmas tree is the most beautiful in the world. I know some of you may think your's is, but that is where you are mistaken.

This is our bedroom, well, one side of our bedroom. I didn't take a picture of the other half, because it would like a giant white wall. The funny thing about this picture, is that you might notice that there is a beautiful quilt next to the bed. Yeah, my mom made that quilt for us when we got married, and I LOVE IT! However, before Josh and I got married, I had no idea what to get him for Christmas. (Some things don't change even after two years of marriage.) So I was thinking about the things that he likes to do... Eating, sleeping, watching and playing sports. He had everything that he needed to play or watch sports, and I couldn't really get him food, so I decided to get him a down comforter (to be used while sleeping :) My mom and I looked forever for a duvet cover that we liked, and had no success, so we decided to make him a cover. The fabric store that we went to had microfiber on sale. So we made the duvet off-white on one side, and blue on the other. The moral of the story is that even after two years Josh loves that blasted comforter cover, and I have to admit, it is very comfortable, but it is so ugly! And I can say that because I made it. But we have pillows, and a bed skirt, and everything to match the quilt that I love, but Josh just wants to use the comforter, so I've tried to make it look as good as possible, but there's only so much I can do.

Well there's the house. We are really liking it so far. Sometimes it's a pain to live in Wellsville because I'm used to being 1 minute from absolutely everything! But other than that everything is good.

A couple little quirks about our apartment...
-We live next to a farm, so we wake up to the sound (and sometimes smell) of cows.
-When we first moved in, there was a GIANT white bleach spot on the carpet right in front of the upstairs bathroom. So one of the first things Josh did when he moved in was try to dye it with dark brown dye. (He dyed the carpet in our last apartment and it looked really good, but that's because our old carpet was dark brown.) This carpet is a light, greyish, purple color. Josh was floored when the dye didn't fix the bleach stain. It looks better, but not good.
-We had our cable set up about a week ago, and when we set up our TV upstairs, through a series of events, we figured out that we can't watch several channels on the downstairs TV unless the upstairs TV is on that channel. How random!
-It's weird to have different rooms in our house. In our old apartment, I could see or hear Josh ALL THE TIME! So now, sometimes when I'm upstairs and he's downstairs, I have to yell, "Josh are you still there?"

But so far, so good!

Tagged!

I have to say that I am very happy that Mandi tagged me, because I desperately need to get the wedding dress picture gone, and we have a lot of news lately, but I refuse to post information about our new place without pictures, and I can't take pictures until there is some kind of order in our house. Just so everyone knows, we moved into a townhouse in Wellsville about two weeks ago, Josh is now in his third week of working as a credit manager at the Wells Fargo Financial in Ogden, and everything is going well so far. Pictures will be coming!

Now onto the tag...

Rules:
1- Post the rules
2-Answer the 6 "8" items
3- Let each person know that they have been tagged

8 Favorite T.V. shows:
1-The Office
2-Friends
3-What Not to Wear
4-Dancing with the Stars
5-Jon and Kate Plus 8
6-Sports (in general) I don't know a specific show
7- I don't know anymore, so we'll say The Office
8-The Office

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1-Slept in
2-Worked
3-Ate lunch
4-Drove to Salt Lake
5-Ate dinner
6-SAW TWILIGHT!!!!!!
7-Talked a lot about Twilight
8-Drove home

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1-Iron Gate Grill
2-Iggy's
3-Ruby Tuesday
4-Costa Vida
5-Center Street Grill
6-Rodizio Grill
7-Mandarin Garden
8-You'd think for how much Josh and I eat out, I would be able to think of more, but I'm really drawing a blank

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:
1-Thanksgiving
2-Christmas
3-Going to see Christmas Lights and other Christmas traditions
4-For our house to be in order, and not having to buy a million things for our house
5-Having a washer and dryer
6-Putting our Christmas Tree up
7-The next Twilight movie
8-Snowboarding

8 Things on my wish list:
(Beware, my wishes are a little more than our budget right now.)
1-Washer and dryer
2-Decorations for our house
3-A new car
4-An entertainment center
5- A new TV
6-A nightstand
7-A new computer
8-World peace

8 People I tag:
1-Megan Farwell
2-Hope Hansen
3-Amy Gardner
4-Jen Bair
5-Ilez Till
6-Jessica Todd
7-Lacey Buchanan
8-Betsy

It still fits!!!

I would just like to explain myself. I decided that I wanted to try on my wedding dress a couple weeks ago while we were staying at my parents house. So I woke up and five minutes later tried it on. (Which was okay until Josh started taking pictures-and that is why no one was ever supposed to see these pictures.) I was happy that my dress still fit, but that was the end of that story, until Josh learned how to post on the blog, and wrote this post acting like he was me. REMEMBER, Josh wrote the following...



I can't believe that after two years my wedding dress still fits. I would like to thank my husband for all of the pizza, treats ( gummy strawberries) and doritos that he bought for me. He tried to fatten me up, but it didn't work ha ha ha. I am just happy that i am able to fit in to my favorite dress of all time. It helped me to remember that beautiful day in June that i was married to my knight in shining armor.

TAG WE ARE IT!

Betsy tagged me a long time ago, and as I said, I haven't blogged much. Our computer is going really slow, so I couldn't look at what we are really supposed to do. So I'll just make up what I remember. Here are six random, slightly interesting and often disturbing facts about Josh and I.
First, Kaleena...
1. I can lick my elbow which is supposedly humanly impossible. I didn't know this was such a big deal till I told people at work as an interesting fact about myself, and since they have measured my arm, my neck, and my tongue. They have yet to figure out why I am able to do this.
2. I have a chapstick/lotion fetish. I can't help it! I was born moisture impaired.
3. I get bored during movies that I believe are not visually appealing. This includes most western, black and white, and a good amount of action movies. I can watch them ten times, and still not know a single thing about the plot line, because I get bored and zone out. I call these "dirty" movies.
4. I can however watch The Office and Friends everyday of my life and not get bored.
5. I've burned an entire section of my hair with a straight-iron. Yeah, a chunk fell out. It sounds funny now, but it was very traumatic.
6. I have a fear of small confined spaces, especially when those small spaces involve Josh squeezing the life out of me. He doesn't believe me, he thinks I just don't want to be close to him.


Now, Josh...
1. I have one leg shorter than the other, which is not that uncommon, but mine is 1 1/4 inch shorter.
2. I can wiggle my eyes.
3. I can burp the alphabet.
4. I've shaved my head three times, my legs twice, and torture my wife by growing disgusting facial hair for fun regularly.
5. I could eat pizza everyday of my life and never get sick of it.
6. I'm afraid of heights.

Okay, so now we tag Bethany, Dad, Chalisse, and Cherilee. Since I don't have the instructions, I believe you are supposed to write 6 random facts about yourself, post the instructions on your own blog, and tag five new people.

I'm Way Behind!!

I have been thinking that I needed to post for a LONG time, but I've just been busy I guess. Doing what? I don't know. The week before general conference (that's how long I've been putting this off) I decided that Josh and I were going to hike the Wellsville mountains. Here's the story (as you know, every event in my life, has a very long story that goes with it.) When I moved to Cache Valley, people told me that the Wellsville mountains are the steepest mountains in North America from base to cliff-so of course, I wanted to hike them. Basically every week all summer long, I told Josh that I wanted to hike the Wellsville mountains, and figured that in Logan, the weather can get pretty scary from like the beginning of October to some time in June-who knows. So the last weekend in September, I decided it was now or never. I looked up some trails on line, talked to some people (Josh was absolutely no help), and Saturday morning, we were on our way. At the beginning of the hike Josh and I felt that we were going in the right direction, but about 15 minutes into it, Josh started questioning my logic. I know, how dare he. See for those who don't know, the Wellsville mountains run North to South, and we were heading directly East, which made absolutely no sense. Josh kept saying that we were headed the wrong way, but I just kept telling him that I found the trailhead on the internet, and the internet never lies. Finally Josh saw a power station, and said that he thought the trail ended there. I told him that surely the trail would just pass by there and keep going.

Sure enough, this was the end of the hike. So rather than hiking the steepest mountains from base to cliff, we hiked an hour up a hill, to get to here. As you can see, I was more than a little upset.

Luckily it was a very beautiful day, and Josh cheered me up. I guess there's always next year!

Even though I've been complaining about it a lot lately, I do love Cache Valley in the fall. The colors were right in the middle of changing, and they were so beautiful!

For the rest of this update... We've been having a lot of fun lately. We've been spending time with family, and going to some aggie football games. Josh was finally able to get a job, thanks to his sister-in-law Grayce. He's going to be working as a credit manager at Wells Fargo in Ogden. He's not really sure if it's exactly what he wants to be when he grows up, but he is very excited to start somewhere at least. He will start as soon as all of his paperwork, background check etc. are completed. So, that means that we are going to be looking for a new place. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! So, if anyone knows of an apartment/house/townhouse/condo for rent in the south end of Cache Valley or Brigham City that has at least 2 bedrooms, that is cheap, and (preferably) that allows pets, let us know!!!

Been There, Done That!

Ha! Ha! Could you sense the nonchalence in the title? Yeah right! This weekend, I accomplished one of my biggest, longest, life goals. In May, I think, I was going to a conference for work, and on the way down my coworkers and I were asking each other questions from a book, and one of them was something about things that you have always wanted to do. I said, "Well, actually, I feel pretty good, because I've always wanted to go to New York, and I'm doing that next month, and I've always wanted to run a marathon, and I'll do that at the end of the summer." So check, and check!

To be completely honest, it was kind of like graduating from college, and now that I've done it, it's like-"Is that it?" But also like college, I know that no matter what, I've done it, and no one can take it away from me.

If you haven't figured it out, the Top of Utah Marathon was this Saturday, on the 20th, and I FINISHED IT! I've been training for 18 weeks, I've overcome 2 injuries, I've said that I was going to run a marathon numerous times, and not followed through, but not this time. I did it!

So I'll tell you some of the details, that, like all of my blogs, are mostly for my sake, but maybe some of you will be interested.

In September of last year, the week after the Top of Utah marathon, I was talking to my visiting teachers Brittany and Amy, and I said that I was going to run the marathon next year, and Brittany said, "You should!" She had run the marathon that Saturday, and she basically told me that if she could do, I could do it. So that conversation got the ball really rolling. At the beginning of 2008, I started talking more and more about running the marathon, and Josh said, "If you keep talking about it, I'm going to sign you up, and then you'll really have to do it." So sure enough, he signed me up, I found a training program on the internet, and I was committed. I always thought that I was stubborn, and committed, but when Josh wants to be, he can really be a pest (and I love him for it)-sometimes :)

I already said that before the half marathon I had tendonitis in my IT band in my left knee. The week after the half marathon, I ran 17 miles, and had something happen to the arch on the outside of my right foot. So I couldn't (and Josh wouldn't let me) run for a couple weeks. Then I recovered from being sick about 2 or 3 weeks ago. So ever since the half marathon, my training has been sketchy at best. But I was too determined. And much like the half marathon, a couple weeks before the marathon, I was miraculously healed. (I honestly have no idea how. It was like one day I had pain, the next day, I had no pain-both times.)

So throughout the whole week, the weather channels were fluctuating between 50% chance of rain, to 30% chance of rain, and sometimes a slight chance of hail. In all my training, I had not prepared for a hail storm. Josh and I went and bought cold-gear. (As if we hadn't already spent enough money on this one-time, lifelong, goal.) No matter what we did, and what anyone said, I was nervous all week, mostly about the weather. But I felt like I was ready; at least ready for it to be over, so I didn't have to think or talk about it anymore.

The day before the race, we went to pick up my race packet, and I finally started getting excited-then sick, then apprehensive, and then super nervous. We went to get pasta at Firehouse (which was awesome!) Then we went home, and I tried to sleep. I woke up the next morning at 4:00, Josh and I went to get breakfast at McDonald's like we do for every important event in our lives, then Amy (remember my visiting teacher in the previous story, who also decided to run the marathon-Brittany is persuasive), Cherilee (Josh's sister), and I left at 5:00 am. (I am so not a morning person!) The race didn't start till 7:00, and I thought that we would be waiting forever, but that 2 hours just flew by. By the time the race was ready to start, I decided that the weather would be fine, and I didn't need any of the clothes that Josh and I had just spent a fortune on. All of sudden, a couple minutes after 7:00, a motor revved (which was apparently the signal to start (which I thought was random.)) The first couple miles, the three of us ran together, then we lost Amy, and I stuck with Cherilee for about 7 miles. But we had decided to stick to a ten minute pace, and for the first 7, we probably averaged 8:45. So I looked down to get some Shot Blocks that I had snuggly put away down my bra, and when I looked up Cherilee was half a mile away. We ran through Blacksmith Fork Canyon for about 14 miles, and as I was coming out of the canyon, there was a rainbow over the mountains, which is probably one of the things that I will remember forever from the race. I told you that the week before, Josh and I were both so nervous about the weather, but honestly, I couldn't have asked for better. It was just right almost the whole time; cool but never cold, and when I started to get hot, I thought to myself, "Rain would be really nice about now," and then got pelted in the eye with a rain drop. Then it cleared up, and around mile 23 when I was really sick of running, and started getting hot, it rained just enough to cool me off, but not soak me.
This is just out of the canyon, at about mile 14. Josh's sister Liz was the very dedicated photographer that ran with me for about 1/4 of a mile to make sure that she got a perfect shot.
I think this was probably about mile 17. I have lots of pictures, but I figured you didn't need to see 15 pictures of me, on the open road, looking amazing-I might add. All the way through the first 15 miles, I was feeling really good-better than I've ever felt during the Honeyville 5k. After that, I started thinking, "okay I could be done running now, and I would be fine."
This is Cherilee, and Josh's sister-in-law Grayce. I had to add this picture, because I thought it was a really good picture, and it shows that running a marathon is really a team event. Grayce ran with Cherilee at about mile 24, and Josh ran with me that last 4 miles or so. And that was much needed. Josh would have liked me to run the whole time I was with him, but I was just plain sick of running. I wasn't in pain, I wasn't tired, I was just bored, and sick of running. My goal, originally was to finish the marathon in 4-4 1/2 hours. But honestly, around mile 21, I did not care about time. So my official time was 4:44:42-which is just fine with me. I could've done better, but I finally understand what Josh has been drilling into my head for the last month-It's not about time, it's about finishing!
This is me crossing the finish line. Woo Hoo! Everyone told me that I would feel this huge high when I crossed the finish line-eh, it was okay, I was happy not to have to run anymore, but I think really it hasn't even hit me yet. Maybe when I'm like 70, I'll be super proud of myself.
This is me with my medal that I will proudly display in a place that I have not yet determined.

As I said, running a marathon is very much a team event-and I had a great team of supporters. This is a picture of my mom, my sister Emily, and my niece Chloe, and me. The other people that came to support me were: My dad, brother Nick, Josh's mom and dad, two of Josh's brothers Jake, and Teep, Teep's wife Grayce (and we can never forget, their dog, Bella), Josh's sister Liz, Cherilee's husband Greg, and daughter Chalisse, my aunt Lori, uncle Guy, cousins Mandi, Melani (and I think-I was running at this point, so it's a little blurry) Ethan and Stockton, Brittany (my visiting teacher from before), and a couple other people that I ran into along the way. (I'm sorry for anyone that I missed in that list. Everything was a little fuzzy, but the point is, I'm grateful to everyone for their support!)

I can't ever say enough about my biggest supporter/cheer leader/ personal trainer/ physician/ alarm clock... and on... and on ... and on. Josh has literally been with me through everything. He has either purchased or been with me to buy every article of clothing that I wore for training or the marathon. He was with me to sign up for the marathon, through all the icing, physical training, 3 am muscle cramps (that make me feel like I would rather be dead. Josh said that they are a lot like labor contractions-who knows why Josh knows; he had one epideral and now thinks that he is the resident OBGYN.) He's been with me through all of the whining, and crying, and self-doubt. And he never doubted me for a second. When Josh graduated with his MBA, he said that I deserved an honorary degree because I helped him so much. That is ten-million times truer now. Whether he wanted it or not, this was every bit as much his marathon as mine. So thank you! Thank you! Thank you all! A million times thank everyone for everything!

(Ah! I got very frustrated while I was posting, because I know I flipped this picture before, but it was too late to turn back when I realized it's still sideways-so forgive me, but I don't care.) This is my niece Chloe and I stretching after the race. Chloe took my cool down lap with me, and did all my stretches with me. For some reason, nothing seems as difficult when Chloe's around. Emily and Dave, if I could rent her for just a couple hours 3-4 times a week, my training would go very smoothly.

More stretching... Isn't she so cute?
Josh's parents gave me the Willow Tree figure that means "Courage," which I will also display very proudly, and my parents gave me a candy bouquet that I have already begun eating rapidly. If all I needed to do to get presents was run a marathon, I'd do it everyday! Ha Ha! (That's almost not even funny to joke about.)

Okay, so as if you haven't heard me babble about the marathon long enough, I'm not finished yet. First of all, I've talked a lot about how costly this endeavor was, but here's just bit of information if you're ever thinking that running is a good, cheap hobby to try. The one outfit, for my marathon was one of the most expensive outfits I have ever owned, second only to, maybe, my wedding day.

2 pairs of shoes:$180

2 pairs of good socks: $18, 6 pair of okay socks: (I will estimate) $12

Shorts: $35

Sports bra: $20

Shirt: (I will estimate) $15

I-pod, and case: (which is an absolute necessity) $107

Watch: $35

Tights: $30

Cold-gear shirt: $45

Registration for marathon and half marathon: $100

For a total of $597.00, which doesn't include the unlimited supply of gatorade (that is also a necessity), Gu, Shot Blocks, etc., the increased amount of food that I ate, and lots of vaseline... Yeah, you get the picture; expensive habit. But in following tradition, I have to say...

The feeling after crossing the finish line: priceless

Also, for me, this wasn't just about running a marathon, because this has been an enormous learning experience for me. So here is my list of life lessons that I will never forget...

#1-Dream Big! About a week ago, I downloaded that Ryan Shupe song on the blog, and there's a reason. The chorus says, "When you dream, dream big-as big as the ocean blue. 'Cause when you dream it might come true. When you dream, dream big." I love that! Originally, when I heard the song, I applied it to Josh, because he is a so much bigger (not literally) and better husband than I ever could have even imagined. But for right now, it makes me think of this marathon, because this was HUGE for me.

#2-If I can do it, ANYONE can do it!- Most people that I talked to said, "That's great that you're doing that, I've never wanted to, but way to go." But, if there is anyone out there that has ever thought that they wanted to run a marathon-you can. Trust me, endurance has never been my strong point. I have started at least 8 books this year, that I haven't finished. 9 times out of 10, I fall asleep within the first 15 minutes of every movie. I have a wedding scrapbook that took me months to do, but is still not missing the last like 6 pages. Get the idea? That is just the beginning, I have been very good at quitting everything. So, again, if I can do it-you can do it!

#3-I have learned a lot about setting goals. When you set a goal, make sure that you say it out loud (and in my case, my husband took care of this, and he told A LOT of people). But I've never wanted to tell people my goals because then they would know when I failed. But since I had signed up, and I told people, I couldn't give up. I also wrote the mileage that I needed to run everyday in my planner so that it was harder to escape.

#4-Gatorade is the juice of the gods. The day of the marathon, I didn't want anything but water, but throughout the rest of my training, gatorade was the only thing that could get me through. Here's my little equation: Gatorade=no muscle cramps. No Gatorade=muscle cramps at 3:00 in the morning, every time, and without fail. I had no idea how important it was.

#5-Never give up! I think I've talked about this enough already, but it is true. I would have loved to stop after about 10 weeks of training, after 21 miles of the marathon, and after 2 injuries, but I am so glad that I didn't! It was totally worth it. The day before the race, my dad texted me and said, "Enjoy the moment!" I think that was perfect, because I would have loved to get a better time, and I would love to not be sore now or have blisters, and a possible loss of two of my toe nails, but during the race, I really tried to soak it in. And I know that I will be proud of myself for this for a long time.

Okay, now I'm done with the marathon. If you got bored, and fell asleep, I don't blame you. After the marathon, and after icing in the FREEZING cold river with a big white fish. (Josh's favorite part of my training was the icing, because he would take me to the river, drop me off, hold me in the water, listen to my screams, and laugh that he didn't have to do it anymore.) Anyway, after the marathon, we went to the Aggie football game. As if running a marathon wasn't good enough, the Aggies actually won their football game. And they won in Style! 42-17! Josh said that he doesn't think that they scored 42 points in all 4 seasons that he played! So that was really good, and just cross your fingers that they can win a couple more this season. They looked awesome the second half, but those of you that know the Aggies know that we're not holding our breath.
My Mom, Emily, Dad, and Chloe came to the game.
And so did Nick and Sara. Yea! Go Aggies! After the game, Josh and I went home and literally slept from 5:00 pm on Saturday, to 8:00 am on Sunday. I would say that it was a well-deserved rest after a long, very good day!

Tons of excitement!

Well, not anything hugely exciting has happened lately, but I feel bad tht Josh's prostate exam is still the first thing that people see when they look at our blog. If you thought prostate exam was boring, check out this next picture. You know that it's a boring day in Logan, when the biggest thing that has happened in our lives IN WEEKS is that my odometer hit 100,000 miles. But it was pretty exciting for me. Since I couldn't be there when it happened, Josh promised that he would take a picture for me.

Did he ever? I looked at the camera, and there was a picture of 999,998; several of 999,999 and even more of 100,000. He's always going the extra mile!


But in all honesty, I've loved my car and it has been so good to me! It's been with me through quite a bit, and I can't believe it's so old. I got it my Junior year of high school. So thanks to my parents for helping me (a lot) to get it.



On Saturday, we went to the Utah State vs. University of Utah football game. You can tell by the pictures how exciting the game was. But it was kind of crazy for both of us, because Josh hasn't been to a football game in a LONG time, and we haven't been to a real football game together ever. Plus, going to a Utah State game where Josh wasn't playing was pretty weird. But I have to say-I enjoyed it. It's much less stressful not worrying about when Josh is playing, and thinking about what I'm going to say after the game to make him feel better (since Utah State usually loses.) I kept expecting that once the season started, Josh would really miss playing, but so far, the way the season has been going, I don't think he really does.



The first series of the game, Utah State went 3 and out. Then they punted and the Utah player missed the ball. So Utah State recovered the ball, and a couple plays later scored. It was so awesome!!! But as usual, with Utah State, the joy was short-lived. Utah came right back and scored...and scored...and scored. The final score was 58-10. So that's too bad, but we had fun anyway.



These next pictures, are to show you just a glimpse of what I have to-(wait, get to) live with on a daily basis. I wanted one decent picture with Josh and I.

And after, SEVERAL that looked a lot like this. I gave up.

And then, there was payback.

And now you know why we don't ever have good pictures of the two of us. You can also, again, see how exciting the game was.
This is Megan and Adrian. Adrian played football with Josh for the last two years, and is still on the team this year, but is currently injured. We were so happy because Adrian gave us his extra tickets for the game. Josh was so excited that he got to go to the game with Adrian, so that he could get the update on the team and all the players. Like I said, it wasn't much of a game, but we still had a lot of fun.

On Sunday, my niece Chloe had her 3rd birthday party, and I don't care what you say but we have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world, and I just noticed that we don't have very many pictures of mine or Josh's family on here, so I 'll try to do better. But after you see these pictures you will know the reason why.

Apparently, I don't take very good pictures, and all night my nieces were just moving around so fast, that my camera would take the picture right after they had done something cute. Chloe's party was a princess theme, and she was dressed so cute, and had her hair all done up.

This is at the end of the night so her hair looks a little sad, and she's no longer wearing her princess dress, but she was trying to blow the candles out on her cake.
This is my niece Audrey, and I just couldn't resist posting this picture, because I tried so hard to get a picture of her smiling, but this was even better. We had a lot of fun, and Josh and I love our families so much, and we're always excited to spend time with them.

So, like I said, not anything too exciting. Next post will be better.

First Prostate Exam

Already, from the title, you may be thinking that this post may fall into the category of too much information. If you are thinking that, you are correct. But Josh passed a very big milestone a couple of weeks ago, and has shared this story with quite a few people. After he told his entire family yesterday, they all requested that we post it on the blog. So I'm just doing as I'm told. However, if you are thinking you want to skip this post because it may be graphic, you would be right in assuming that, and you are more than welcome to go ahead and skip it.

A couple weeks ago, Josh started feeling a little sick. He had the exact same symptoms as his brother and sister-in-law, who went to the doctor and were told that they had a sinus infection. In addition, Josh comes from a family of nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistants, and soon-to-be pharmacists, so he decided to go to the doctor-not to find out what was wrong with him, but to get a prescription for an anti-biotic. Needless to say, he got a little more than he bargained for.

According to Josh, his doctor's visit went a little like this. Josh went to the doctor and told him that he was congested, and he had been coughing etc. Then the doctor asked him for a little more background information, and Josh told him that he has a herniated disc in his back that he had had some work done on. Before the words were even out of his mouth, Josh had a FULL BODY examination, including testing for hernias, blood work, and yes, a prostate exam. To make matters worse, (not that being taken advantage of, and being violated wasn't bad enough,) the doctor told him that his sickness was a virus, and, therefore, he couldn't use any drugs for it. But to look on the bright side, most people have to wait until they are 40 or 50 before they get to experience this, and Josh just got an early start.

The next week, Josh went back into the same doctor, and was given a prescription for the anti-biotic he wanted in the first place, and a prescription for a "lingering" sinus infection. (Lingering only because it wasn't treated right the first time.)

So it was an experience that, I'm sure as hard as he tries, Josh will never forget.

Halfway There!

Okay, so as many of you know, I have been training for a marathon. But before we get to that, you have to understand a couple of things... (Again, apparently, I'm a talker-therefore, blogger, and so if this is boring for you skim down to the pictures-which are not that exciting either.) When I was in like elementary school and Jr. High, my sister told me that she heard that a really good exercise for average people is to walk for 15 minutes, run for 15 minutes, walk for 15 minutes three times a week. So she worked with me for a LONG time to even get to the point that I could run for 15 minutes straight. (I think at the beginning, I could run for like 3 minutes before I felt like I was going to be sick.) The point of the story is to show how far I've come since then.
Since high school, I thought that it would be really cool to run a marathon, and at times have tried to get to the point that I could, but something always got in the way. Last year, I decided that I wanted to run a marathon, and now was as good a time as any. So I started an eighteen week training program at the end of May and the marathon is on September 20th. On Saturday the 9th I ran the Provo River Run which is a 1/2 marathon. But now there's more to the story again.
During the month of July it was hard to keep up with my training schedule because of the holidays, going to South Dakota and New York and other things, so when I wasn't able to run as often as I should, I would just do my long mile runs. Also my plan was to get new shoes at the beginning of July, and I kept putting it off, until I think it was too late. So the moral of the story is exactly two weeks before the half marathon I got tendonitis in my IT band, and two days later it was so bad that I was limping when I walked. My dreams were pretty much crushed. I knew I could still run the marathon with some physical therapy, but I didn't think there was any way I could run the half marathon. For one week, I just took a break and didn't run at all. Then the Monday before the race, I ran less than half a mile, and my knee started hurting. So after another week of intense icing, stretching, and very slow training, I got to the point that my knee didn't hurt, and I figured that I could probably finish the race even if it meant walking the second half.
So I ran the race, and absolutely LOVED it! The most amazing part is that I didn't have any knee pain during or after. (I had a lot of pain after, pretty much in every muscle of my legs for the next three days, but never knee pain.) I can't explain why I didn't have any knee pain, because it absolutely doesn't make sense to me, but I didn't. And I really enjoyed all but the last three miles. (The last three miles were weaving in and out of a business park, which was BORING, so I walked a lot because by that time, I was so bored that I decided that I didn't care if I walked across the finish line, I knew I would finish either way.)

This is me right before the finish line. Right as I turned the last corner, I suddenly had TONS of energy.
This is important, because I've been training to average 10 minute miles. So at the beginning I was hoping to finish the race in 2 hours and 10 minutes, but because of my "injury" I had to walk a couple times to be cautious, and then I walked a lot in the last 3 miles, that I figured it probably would have taken my like 2 1/2 hours. So when I came around the corner and the clock said 2 hours and 10 minutes, I sprinted and I was so happy with myself, because when I was running I must have been going faster than 10 minute miles to be able to still get 2:10.

This is Josh's sister who also ran the race and is running the marathon. My parent's also came to see me finish and I was bummed I didn't get a picture with them, but grateful for all their support even though they think I'm crazy.
And of course, I had to have a picture of Josh and I, because there is absolutely no way that i would have been able to do any of this without him. He is the one that said that if I kept talking about running a marathon he would sign me up for one (which he did.) He's been there with me to buy two pairs of shoes and all my clothes, (which doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it has been quite a process-and an expensive process). He's been there with me through all the icing (which is MUCH more enjoyable for him than me) the shin splints, the blisters, the middle of the night muscle cramps (which are pain like I have never experienced.) He's been with me through the constant whining, (which most of you know, whining from me is quite a bit to handle), through analyzing every part of my training, and he even went on one run with me. (Granted it was three miles, and he RODE HIS BIKE, but he was still there for it.) I love him forever, and when I cross that final finish line, it will be a victory for him, just as much as for me.

New York, New York!

It finally happened!!! I've waited for this for most of my life. (Before I say any more, I have to tell you that this may go down in the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest blog in the history of the world. So if you just want to skim through the pictures, or take a break in the middle, fall asleep, or even just stop looking at it, I will completely understand. Since I haven't scrapbooked in almost a year, and our wedding album isn't even done, this is basically the only thing I am doing to keep memories. So this blog is more for me than anyone else.) Back to the story... One day, Josh was talking to me and (I thought) hypothetically asked me if I would rather go to Hawaii or New York. You may think I'm crazy, but I've always wanted to go to New York, so that was my pick. Then one thing led to another, and Josh and I and my parents decided to go to New York, the biggest reason being that this is the last year in Yankee Stadium. Josh said it was also as a graduation present for himself.
These first few pictures are of us on the tour bus, which was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip, just because we got to see most of the city, and it was one of the only times on the trip that we were actually sitting down. (I think we walked an average of 5 miles a day (or it seemed like it.) in 90 degree weather with 1000 percent humidity.

Also, one of my favorite parts was Central Park, and we actually spent a good amount of time there even though I only have a couple pictures. For anyone who hasn't been there, it is AMAZING!!!! It's huge, and inside the park, there is a lake (which is not the picture below, the lake was much bigger) a water park, several playgrounds, tons and tons of trees. And the best part is there are no cars, so the whole thing is bike and running paths. I was so jealous!

This was called Shakespearan Garden, and was also inside Central Park. This picture does not even come close to doing it justice. It was completely covered in tons of flowers and was so pretty!

The first day we were there, after going to Central Park, we went to the Empire State Building, which was cool, but honestly if you've been to the top of any tall building, it was pretty much the same. The pictures make it look very hazy, and it was a little, but I didn't think it was this bad.



Then we went to FAO Schwarz, which for those who don't know is a giant toy store, and was in the movie Big with Tom Hanks.

This is Josh wearing some kind of Harry Potter hat. (I don't know the movies that well, so I don't know the significance.)
If you've ever seen Big, this is the piano that they play in the movie, and basically the biggest reason we wanted to go to the store in the first place. My mom and I tried to play Chopsticks, but there were too many dang kids around.

If you can't tell, these Harry Potter people are made entirely of Legos (again, I couldn't tell you who they are.)
Just so you know, when you go to New York, you feel like you're right in the middle of a movie, because SO much is filmed there. So this bull, you may recognize this bull from a scene in Hitch. Josh told me that the point of the bull is to signify the many years of the bull market economy that America has endured. When you see it, you know you're on Wall Street. I just know movies!

The second day we were there, we went to the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Again, it was cool, but basically exactly how you think it would be. All I could think about was how blasted hot I was.
This is the New York skyline from the ferry.

This is the Ellis Island building from the front. One of the things that I liked the most about New York, is that they don't just build buildings...everything is like an architectural masterpiece, and you'll see that more in later pictures.

Finally, on Friday, after years of waiting, I got to see Times Square!!!! Then again on Saturday, and Sunday, and Monday, and Tuesday. But I loved it! There were so many people, and it was so hot, and I thought my legs might not work by the end of the day, but I loved it. One thing that stuck out to me about Times Square is that you always hear about New Yorkers having a specific attitude and you can kind of see it in the movies, but literally in New York, no one cares about what anyone else is doing. Pedestrians cross the street whenever they dang well please whether it's in the middle of traffic or not, and drivers could care less whether they hit a pedestrian. If the light is green they go full speed ahead. And forget traffic lanes, cars move wherever they want to get where they're going. It's a very fast-paced lifestyle.

This is me saying YEA!!!! I finally arrived!!

For anyone who has traveled with me before, you may know that I love the store Brookstone, and have spent many hours there testing the massage chairs. Sadly, these ones were monitored by the employees pretty well, so we only got about 15 minutes.
On Saturday we went to see the musical Grease on broadway, which, of course, I loved! And Josh was happy because we got to see Taylor Hicks (who was the American Idol a couple years ago.) Josh doesn't like him or anything, but I think it just made it a little more entertaining for him.

And on Monday, Josh got his wish. He waited patiently all week, and was so nervous that the game was going to get rained out, but we finally got there. And Yankee Stadium didn't disappoint. The Yankees won 12 to 3 against the Twins. A Rod, Derek Jeter, and Robinson Canoe all hit homeruns, and the weather was perfect. The only bad thing was that we didn't get to see Monument Park (which is basically a memorial of all the legends in Yankee Stadium, like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig etc.) But I guess that just means that we'll have to go again when the new stadium is built, which is perfectly fine with me!



The All-Star was the week before we left, so throughout the city, they had Statue of Liberties dressed up in all the different teams colors. So this is the Yankee one.

Okay, this picture looks like basically nothing, I know, but it's the Brooklyn Bridge. The significance is that when I was in 8th grade, I went to Las Vegas with a couple of my friends. By then, my fetish with New York City had already begun, and when we were walking down the strip, I had to take several pictures of the hotel New York, New York. Specifically, I took a picture of me standing on the Brooklyn Bridge, and I remember thinking that someday I would be at the real one. I never actually stood on the Brooklyn Bridge, but this was close enough.
After a series of misfortunate events on Friday, we ended up in Little Italy, which was a lot of fun, so we were happy about the way things ended up.

These next pictures are just things that we saw as we went around the city. Again, the architecture is amazing.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We spared Josh the agony of ever going inside a museum of modern art while we were there.
The Guggenheim, built by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Madison Square Garden where the Knicks play.

The Flatiron building.
Rockefeller Center where they ice skate in all the movies.
Radio City Music Hall
Ground Zero
Ground Zero again


Warning: The next pictures illustrate what too many hours on mass transit may do to you. We stayed in Newark, New Jersey because it was cheaper than staying in New York, and only about 6 miles from the city. However, what we didn't know was that it is very expensive to go from Newark to the city, so we had to be very creative. If you can believe it, this is what our daily routine ended up being... Take the shuttle from the hotel to the airport, get on the air train at the airport to get to the right terminal, from the terminal we took a New Jersey bus to the New Jersey transit station. At the station we got on a train to a New York station, from there we could get on the subway and go to our final destination. That process ended up taking anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours depending on the day, but it saved us money.

These last two, are more pictures of really cool architecture.

And that completes the longest blog ever! You should just be happy that I limited it only to the pictures that Josh and I took, and not the ones on my mom's camera like I thought about doing. The moral of this blog is that I absolutely loved New York City! It was even better than I thought it was going to be, even though it was so hot, we spent too many hours on mass transit with strangers, I've never been crowded by so many people in my life, and heard so many different languages spoken at the same time. But I loved it! I can't wait to go back, and I'm trying to talk Josh into moving there (not forever, just for a couple years), but at the time, it doesn't seem that he can be convinced. (But I can be pretty persistant when I want to be.)