Just plain fun.

There is just something about being able to spend time with family that is so fulfilling and fun. Whether we are with my family or Preston's family, we always seem to have a blast. 

Little divas trying on accessories in Nordstrom. 

A couple of weekends ago my family came up for Emily & London's dance competition. My sister Lindsey owns her own dance studio called Simply Dance Company and both my younger sister, Emily and my niece, London are on the team. It was so fun to watch Emily and London dance together - they did such a great job! It is so fun to watch my little nieces do the very same things that my sisters and I did growing up and to see them love it so much.

Emily & London's hip-hop routine. 

Even though my family was only here for a short time, it was packed with so many fun things and memories. We did a lot of shopping, ate at Texas Roadhouse, had Emily fitted for her Prom dress, indulged at the Sweet Tooth Fairy, babysat Baby Claire, and watched Claire go swimming for the first time! I love spending time with family and find it so fulfilling for nieces and nephews to be so excited to see "Aunt Syd & Uncle Preston". I think it is the cutest thing ever! I love my family so much and am so grateful that I get to be with them forever!

Sweet Baby Claire has RSV. Please pray for her that she will have a quick and speedy recovery. She is such a sweetheart and we love her so much!! 

I did it!

Amber & I after the race

Every year in March a Half Marathon & 5 Mile Race are held in Moab and every year for the past I don't even know how many years, I have participated in the race. And every year I would think to myself how completely ridiculous it sounded to run 13 miles all at once so I always opted to do the five mile race. Five miles seemed plenty to me and thirteen was just never going to happen, in my opinion. Well, somehow I got the courage this year to sign up for the half marathon (probably with some heavy encouragement for my older sister who is an ANIMAL when it comes to running. Seriously, she is so good). I also signed up for it last year and backed out at the last minute and ended up doing my trusty five miler.

Me, Amber & Momma after the race. My Mom did the five mile - way to go Mom! 

Well this year I was not going to let that happen. I started training in January and stuck to my little running schedule like nothing else mattered. And then February came along. And I got sick not once, but TWICE! It literally prevented me from going to the gym no more than once or twice a week! I was so bummed! I kept having this mental battle with myself on whether or not I should run the half or if I should just opt out and do the five. But I kept having this feeling that I just needed to prove it to myself that I was capable of doing a race like this.

My sister Linz was signed up for the five mile race but ended up having to have her gall bladder removed so wasn't able to run. My Dad stepped in and ran for her with no training, yeah Dad!

I trained pretty hard for the two weeks right before the race and found myself thirteen miles from the finish line on the day of the race. I was pretty nervous to say the least. I took shot blocks, caffeine jelly beans and everything I could think of that would help my survive this race.  I lined up with my sister and her friends at the starting line and ran with them for probably a minute tops before they left me in the dust. Who was I kidding lining up at the 8 1/2 minute mile pace?!? I comfortably run a ten minute mile, 9 1/2 if I really kick these long legs of mine into gear. So I settled into my pace, listened to a little Miley Cyrus on my Ipod and was good to go. I shuffled along and did my best to not get discouraged if someone happened to be a little faster of a runner than me. I listened to my body, walked when I felt I needed to, took more shot blocks and finally crossed the finish line after two hours and twenty five minutes. I was hoping to finish in just a little over two hours but my knees didn't feel like cooperating that day. And to be completely honest, I was not discouraged with time one bit! My sister finished in less than two hours and I was so happy for her! She is a speedy one! I just feel bad my family had to wait an extra twenty minutes to cross the finish line. (Sorry for that Mat. haha) But there is just something so fulfilling after finishing a race like that. Knowing that your body was capable of doing that is such a surreal feeling. I feel like a lot of the time I don't give my body enough credit. I limit its abilities so much when I know that it could be pushed much farther than I push it. I am so grateful that I have a body and that it is healthy and capable of doing so many things at this time in my life. The Half Marathon is probably one of the hardest things I have ever physically done and I can't say that I enjoyed every minute of it. But what I can say is that I can't wait to see what else my body is capable of handling and I can't wait to do another Half Marathon. :D So if you are like me and don't think your body is capable of doing anything, just get out there and try and you really might surprise yourself!

Amber and her little cheering section! :D

Amber, Me & Emily. We didn't get a picture with Linz but she was there cheering us on too! 

I am the master

My dear husband has a bit of a problem. He loses his keys. And not just a little bit either. More often than not! haha But luckily he has me: The Master Key-Finder. And it's so cute because he always has that guilty sound in his voice whenever he finally has to admit to me, "I have no idea where my keys are. Have you seen them anywhere?" And even if I haven't seen them, I am always the one to find them. It gives me just a little bit of satisfaction every time I find them and he doesn't. hehe
Well today was another one of those days where he had to admit "guess what? I lost my keys." And guess what?? I found them. That is what marriage is all about people! Being each other's strength when the other one is weak! And usually, he is the strong one in most situations so I take just a little bit of pride in knowing that I will be the one to always find his keys for him. Silly boy.

I'm longing for summer days

Yes I admit, I have a bad case of senioritis. But with a little over 5 weeks until graduation can you blame me?? It is a little weird to think that after about 17 years of going to school I am just about done. I am sure that one day I will look back and really miss school but right now I can't even comprehend that thought. 


And I have been making matters worse by looking at pictures on my computer from last summer. I just want summer to be here already!! The above picture is just one of the many adventures of Preston and I from last summer. Rides on the motorcycle over the mountain. So fun! I am looking forward to all of the new adventures we are going to have this summer. After all, we will be spending it here: 

any guesses on where we are going??! :D 

Lovey Dovey.

pure goodness.

I have come to realize that I am always a bit behind when it comes to posting about holidays and fun things we do around here. But I am trying to be better at it so just bear with me, okay?? Okay. Preston and I had THE BEST Valentine's Day celebration in my opinion. It was pretty simple. We got all dressed up and headed to Salt Lake to do a session at the Salt Lake Temple. I have been wanting to go there for quite some time so I was pretty excited. And honestly, it was an awesome way to spend such a lovey dovey day. I was reminded of the first time I went to the temple and of all of the many reasons that I love Preston. It was wonderful. After our session we went to dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We ate far more than our little bellies could handle but we left there just as happy as clams! :D Our day may not seem like it was anything extraordinary to anyone else, but to me it was perfect. 

Blah.

I have been meaning to update the blog for quite sometime now but haven't been able to upload any of my most recent pictures so....... until then you should check out this blog. It was exactly what I needed to hear today. That is why I love blogging so much! You find such wonderful people and often times you can relate exactly to what they are dealing with. So check out her blog! That is my lazy way of blogging today...I know it's a cop-out but I am just in one of those "blah" kind of moods today. Hopefully a more interesting post with pictures will be coming soon! Like tomorrow!! Because who really likes reading a post without pictures?? Not me that's for sure! Sorry guys! I'll stop being a slacker I promise! 

Syd

Awkward and Awesome!

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Isn't it Awkward and Awesome Thursday, not Friday?" Well yes. But....I was sick yesterday and just wasn't up to it. Okay? Okay. So I have seen a lot of fellow bloggers doing this Awkward and Awesome thing and didn't really ever think I would do it because I never seemed to have anything super awkward or awesome happen to me. Until yesterday and today. 


Awkward
-The girl standing in line behind me today at the L&T (real yummy place to get wraps at BYU) and obviously it didn't bother her because she kept getting closer and closer the whole twenty minutes I stood in line. I even thought me coughing in her direction would do the trick. NOPE.
-Thera Flu. I don't know if this is awkward or just plain gross. It does the trick but does it really need to taste that nasty?? ugh.
-Being the only person on the UTA bus besides the driver. I could see his mouth moving like he was talking to me but I couldn't hear him because of how loud the bus is and how stuffed my nose and ears are. It was way awkward.
-Sitting in the hall at school today doing homework and realizing that I had been sitting there for 2.5 hours without getting up or moving whatsoever and realizing it because the same girl would walk by every hour to move from class to class. "Yep, I'm still here" I thought to myself as she glanced towards me yet again.
-Being sick in class. I know everybody around me must have thought I was some contagious specimen today as I sat in class sneezing, coughing, blowing my nose, etc. ugh. 


Awesome
-The chocolate colored fleece pullover I'm wearing from Eddie Bauer that I got for fifteen bucks! I can't get enough of these things.
-Thera Flu. Yes, I know. I did already mention this above in the awkward list. BUT I feel inclined to give it some recognition because it really does make me feel better.
-My husband. Enough said. But really, if it weren't for him I would probably still be in bed wallowing in my sicky-ness. He was seriously my hero yesterday. Running all over the place getting me anything and everything that I could possibly need. And even making me choke down my yucky medicine when I know if it was up to me, I would not have drank it. I just love him. He does so much for me and I hope that I treat him even half as good as he always treats me. Not to mention I came home to a clean house today after school. YES! He is the definition of awesome!! Love ya babe! 

That was fun! I guess I may just have to continue doing this awkward and awesome thing!