HUGE UPDATE

Alright everyone, if I told you pictures were coming, would you believe me?...Me neither. I keep putting off blogging so that I actually have some pictures to go with my blogs...I even bought a shirt to announce which school I am going to, but I have yet to take a moment to just put it on a snap a picture.

So, let's get real...real serious. Um, in backward order to make things interesting. I FINISHED my first half marathon today. As you will all recall, I attempted one in October, but well, that ended in heart break as I fell and killed my ankle in the first 1.5 miles. TODAY, however, my race was excellent. I had trained very well. It helped that this time I had a partner living here in Utah...my sister-in-law was my training partner for this race, and boy did she ever make me stick to that training schedule. Also...I will never mock Katy Perry again. I don't really LOVE her...but today, her song Firework did get me through the last 2.5 miles of my race. I just set that song to repeat and felt the endorphins flow. If you have never listened to the song before...I will post a link, I can unfortunately only recommend this ONE song of hers...but I think you will understand how the beat lends itself to good running music. Anyway, it was an excellent experience, and I am certain that I will be running another one. Parker says I have to take a little break, so I will, but soon, I will train for another one. Racing is so fun. Everyone is so positive. I LOVED it.

One sad story, on the route, there was a turn off for the full marathoners...as is the halfers went right and the full marathoners went left. As we were running, we saw several marathoners that had missed the turn off. The saddest one was a lady that we saw about three miles after the turn off, she was running back the other direction, tears filling her eyes...can you imagine mentally preparing for 26.2 miles, and then suddenly realizing you would be running 32 plus because of a mistake. Yikes. My heart went out to those marathoner folks.

NEXT big thing, I chopped my hair off. I have a lovely little pixie do now. I am really digging it. It is fun to see all the new things that I can do with my hair now.

SCHOOL. Where am I going to law school? Well, some of you already know, but here is a big ol' announcement. I will be attending the University of Utah in the Fall for law school. This was a very difficult decision for me. More difficult than I realized it would be. I was really torn between BYU and the U. However, after a lot of thought, discussion with Parker, and prayer, we came to the determination that the U will be better for our family. I think part of me will always wonder how things would have been if I had attended BYU, but school is what you make of it, so I will just make sure I give law school my all :-)

Also, NORWAY. Well, it's not happening. This was sort of a blow. I found out two days or so before my last day of work that things had fallen through with our summer plans to go to Norway. I am bummed that our European adventure has been reduced to a state-side, utah-side experience, but I am going to make the most of it. I have considered finding a part time job for the summer, so far, Parker is still lobbying for me to just relax and chill for a while before summer. I am thinking that might be good, but I will just take that one day at a time.

IN conclusion, I WILL be leaving in about three days for Boston. I will be there for two weeks....I can't wait. Hopefully, my soreness will be gone before I embark because I can't imagine that 8 hours of sitting in a plane will do much for me to recover :-)

Sorry that this post is not real funny or fun...but I assure you that I will try to make my blogging return to a regular regiment complete with more posts full of my life's adventures and the crazy funny things that happen. Thanks for reading :-)

Secondarily,

So dear friends, let me just say, it has been very nice to relax since quiting my job. Parker and I purchased a garden plot here at our apartment complex...that's $5.00 that I will never see again, so you see, I will be a gardening woman this Summer. I will be one with the land. Today I bought seeds, it brought me back to all the gardens I had growing up. I love gardening, and I am rather excited to try my hand at it here in this drier hotter climate. Should be good for tomatoes.

Some of you have asked what I am going to be doing now that my job is over? Well, Parker and I were supposed to go on an internship to Norway from May to August, but just this last week, that kind of fell apart. Have no fear, Parker is a wanted man, and he has secured a position here in Utah with the university as well as some independent contract work, so he is sitting pretty. But then you are probably thinking...why did she quit her job when she knew that her summer had cleared up? Well, Parker and I decided, it was time I took a rest from my career. Besides, who could we really trust to till our land all 5 feet by 3 feet of it, hmmmm? Exactly! There really is no other way :-)

But, I will be doing a bit of traveling. In two weeks, I will be leaving for Boston to snuggle my new nephew and play with my sweet niece. So, I am very much looking forward to that :-) Parker is super nice for letting me go...there was a bargain, I believe when I return, a pretty new I-pad will be sitting in his lap, you have to pick your battles in marriage, you know?

Anyway, so far in retirement, I have purchased two summer water park passes for Parker and I...a garden plot...some plane tickets...and fabric, if only I could figure out how to thread my 50 year old sewing machine...I suppose I have the whole summer to figure it out.

Tuesday Tunes

Today's tune is AWESOME! My favorite band ever is Vampire Weekend. I fell in love with them when I was doing a study abroad in France. I went to a Shins concert with another girl who was in my study abroad group. Turns out that Vampire Weekend was opening for the Shins...and so our love affair began.

"Well, hello there." I said to Vampire Weekend in my head at the concert...but I was forlorn...why? Because I did not know this amazing group's name just yet. How would I become their devoted groupie without it? So then I screamed, "What is your name?"...and when the lead singer yelled back Vampire Weekend...I knew it was love.

From that moment forward, I have expressed my undying love for this band...and that means, that contrary to popular belief, I DID love Vampire Weekend, before they were cool!

So, today you will be favored with "Cousins." Enjoy! Also, should you be interested in more of their music...I would recommend it all except for Cape Cawassawassa, Oxford Comma, and Walcott (on account of some naughty words) aside from those though, all the rest are clean, and I enjoy them immensely.