I Can Do Hard Things

So a few months ago I did something really ridiculous. I signed up to run the St. George Marathon...and I got in! Now suddenly I had to start training. I looked at different web-sites, asked advice from other people who had run marathons, and started running on my own. Running was not something I enjoyed when I was younger. I loved to run when playing sports, but running just to run was totally out of the question. Why would anyone run just to run?

Well, that question was answered this past weekend as I completed my first marathon. Despite how hard it was, I loved it! The first 7 miles were incredible and I felt like I could run forever. Then the next 16 miles were pretty rough, but went by pretty quickly. The last 3 miles were the hard miles I've ever run. My legs wanted to be done. My back was ready to break. But my heart and mind wanted to finish. People were lining the streets, cheering us on, and they helped light the little bit of fire that was left in me. I pushed forward and crossing that finish line was incredible. I had just beat myself--the negative voice in my head that was saying I couldn't do it. I beat every doubt and fear that I had allowed to keep me from doing hard things. I thought there would be major excitement and celebrating going on in my head as I crossed the line, but the word to best describe the experience would be PEACE. I felt so good inside and I gained a sense of confidence in knowing that I really can do hard things. I just need to believe in myself. It is in challenging yourself to do something hard that you gain strength and confidence to face other things that happen to you in your life. It is believing that you are a child of God and He created these incredible bodies for us and He fills us with strength to do hard things and accomplish His will. My marathon was a hard thing for me that I wanted to do. I needed to do it! We all have different hard things in our lives that we must face if we want to grow. Maybe its quitting a bad habit. Maybe its making a change in your life that you know you should, but being too scared to do it. Maybe its getting out of bed each morning. Maybe its saying something nice to someone else or expressing love to someone you've been witholding it from. Maybe its climbing a mountain. No matter what it is, do those hard things. I have other hard things to do in my life, and because I finished this marathon, I know its possible to do hard things. So now I'm moving on to the next hard thing I must do.....I'll let ya know how it goes.

me and my mom! we rock!

my battle wound!

I am still here!!!!

So I just realized that I have not blogged for quite some time. Some of you may think that I have disappeared. Others perhaps think I've run out of incredible blogging ideas. And some of you could probably care less. But I just want you to know that I am still here! I have not disappeared, I have written down some great ideas for blogging, and even if you could care less about me, I still care about you.

I was sitting here thinking about why I haven't blogged for so long and here is the answer: I have so many incredible blessings and have had so many great summer experiences that I don't even know where to begin. Honestly, my life is so full of good things right now and I am running around trying to take it all in. Sometimes people disappear when life gets difficult (been there) or they get extremely busy focusing on one thing (been there too), but I've disappeared this time because life is good and I am out enjoying it! I'm realizing that I really need to learn to enjoy the journey. When life is good I need to breathe it all in and enjoy every detail so that when the journey gets tough, I can look back and remember the good and know that I'll make it through, because my Heavenly Father always helps me through. He hasn't left me stranded yet, and I know He never will. And that is something to be happy about!!!

So its time to get blogging again! I am back!!!!

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!!!

My little sister, Ashley, and I took a trip down to San Antonio to visit our older sister, Jen, and her family. It was such a fabulous trip!!! We laughed a lot, ate a lot, and created a lot of great memories! Here are some firsts that I experienced in the great state of Texas:

-Eating at Rudy's BBQ: The Worst Barbecue in Texas!
The briskit was amazing and the cream corn was oh so good!
-Watching my niece, Livy, do her mad face! She had all of us laughing so hard!
She is so stinkin cute!!!!
-We had a sister's day and went to the San Antonio Temple, the bookstore, and had dinner at a great Mexican food place called Pappasitos! Ashley's friend told her that we needed to eat there and I'm so glad we did! It was delicious!!!!
-Touching Billy Ray Cyrus's hand! Yep, that's right! He touched my hand!!!! We took the kids to his concert at Sea World and we all had fun rockin' out!

-Climbing Enchanted Rock in Fredricksberg! We went with a family that is really good friends with Jennifer's family and we had such a great day. Enchanted Rock was a fun hike and so cool to explore and see the amazing views!
-Eating FRIED PICKLES!!!! In Fredricksberg we all went to dinner at this cool German restaurant and we all shared an order of Fried Pickles for our appetizer and they were actually pretty good!!!
I love Texas! Can't wait to go back!

Life's Lessons

I'm reaching a journey's end, but its not the end of my journey. New doors are beginning to open and I'm ready to take a leap. I took my first college class 7 years ago and now all I have left standing between me and my bachelor's degree is a 480 hour internship. I took my last exam, turned in my final paper, and breathed in a big sigh of relief. It has been a very long road these past 7 years, but there is nothing I would change. The lessons I've learned have taught me so much about myself, about God, and about what this life is really all about. I've learned a little bit in the classroom and out of the textbooks, but most of my education I've gained through my trials, my happy times, and everything else in between. Here are a few of the lessons I've learned these past 7 years as a college student:

-The greatest test of your character is the way you treat the people in your life that you do not need.

-If there is something in your life that you have always wanted to try or do, then DO IT! It doesn't matter if you fail, at least you tried! (And most of the time you'll realize that you will not fail, you just let your fears tell you that you would). Just last week I learned how to do a backflip on the trampoline, which is something I've always wanted to do but was way too scared to try. Now I can do it!

-Do not donate plasma if you have a tendency to faint or an uncontrollable bladder....or both! (Learned this one the hard way).

-God does answer prayers: in His own way and in His own time! I'm so glad He is in control. If I got everything I prayed for, my life would be so much different and so less exciting!

-The movie "Goonies" was not filmed at the studious in Wilmington, NC. Do not scream out "GOONIES!" while on tour of the studios, they do not like that.

-You can not make everyone like you and at some point you will hurt someone you love, whether you mean to or not, and it will feel horrible. But don't give up on the relationship, healing will happen and forgiveness will come, even if you have to wait for years and years, it will come.

-If you coach high school basketball and you tell a referee that he is pathetic, be prepared to receive a technical foul and for your team to proudly cheer you on for getting your first technical.

-The best place to go to feel God's love is the Temple, or the top of a mountain, where there is nothing else standing between you and heaven.

-If you are a girl, and you work out, and you sweat, you have about a 90% chance of getting SWOOB, and there's not much you can do about it!

-If you want to see my Dad have a laughing fit, just tell him that my sister Ashley is going to play on your basketball team. It gets him every time! It must be the mental picture he gets of Ashely running up and down the court.

-One of the most important skills to learn while you are young is how to manage your money! You really do not need much to be happy. Living on less will make your life more fulfilling. Live SIMPLY!

-If you go cliff jumping in Hawaii, don't let your 300 pound roommate jump off. You'll grow an ulcer worry about whether or not she'll pop back up out of the water. On that same note, if your best friend in Hawaii tells you she can't swim, don't let her jump either, thats just asking for another ulcer.

-It is possible to live 30 days without your precious cell phone. You will not die. In fact, your quality of life will most likely improve because you will not have that piece of hardware attached to your head or any other part of your body.

-The FAMILY is truly the central part of God's plan for all of us and my family is the central part of my life. They are my foundation, my strength, and my hope to be with ALL of them for eternity. It may be dysfunctional at times and there are painful challenges that occur, but the really good days (like building Legos together or dinners in the backyard) are like small glimpses of what heaven will be like.

-Friendship is about give and take. Its not always just about you! If you are selfish, you will find that your friends will not stay around for long. A friend is someone who shares, someone who listens, someone who trusts you enough to come to you when they are struggling and need help. True friends are there for the good times, and stick by your side in the bad times, even when you try to push them away. Trying to be a true friend to someone else is following in the footsteps of Christ. He is the truest friend there could ever be.

-Three weeks in the wilderness of Alaska, hundreds of miles from civilization, carrying your whole life in your backpack, sleeping on the ground, wearing no deodorant, blazing your own trails, surviving the weather, feeling so close to God, is the most liberating and humbling thing to experience. Everyone should try it.

-God loves you! No matter who you are, what you've done, where you've been, God loves you!

These are just a few of the life lessons I've learned along my journey so far. I can't wait to see whats waiting beyond this bend and along this next segment of life. There is still so much to learn and do!

Flat Tire Adventure

On a beautiful spring afternoon I left work. I had my roommate's (Kristin) car and was going to pick her up from school on my way home. Well, I got in the car, began backing up, and the car started acting really strange. I thought it was out of gas. But then I got out of the car to take a look and saw that the driver's side tire was totally flat. So I gave Kristin a call, told her the good news, and then slowly drove to the gas station just down the street to see if I could fill the tire with air. Needless to say, that didn't work. The tire was shredded! I had never changed a tire on my own before. I actually got a bit excited as I realized that I would be able to brag that I could change a tire. Well....it didn't quite work out that way......

First off, Kristin walked over from the school and we got everything out of the trunk. We couldn't figure out how to use the jack, so we created our own way of using it and were actually being quite successful in getting the car off the ground.Next, Brandon, a salesman of some sorts, was kind enough to offer some help. He also couldn't quite figure out the jack, but did his best. Of course, he did have to get out his blue Ikea bag to kneel on before he could actually do anything. While Brandon was jacking up the car, I was loosening the bolts on the tire. We pulled the tire off, and then THE CAR SLID OFF THE JACK! Yes! You heard it right. THE CAR SLID OFF THE JACK! It happened in slow motion. It slowly slid backwards off the jack, while we all helplessly watched.We were kind of at a loss of what to do after that. We were parked at a Sinclair gas station, and right across the street was another Sinclair station that just happened that change tires. So Kristin went across the street and came back with Cole, a Sinclair worker, and a huge jack!


Cole got the car back up in the air and then went back across the street to find us a tire. We sat outside on the curb and made friends with Warren, and another guy, who both worked at the Sinclair. They were standing by the dumpster having a little smoke break and kept us company while we waited.
Overall, we spent three hours at the Sinclair. It was quite a long process, but in the end, Kristin got a new tire and we made a lot of new friends while we sat on the curb. Sinclair has a new customer for life!
The lesson learned: Rule number one for changing a tire is to set the emergency break. If only we knew that before we had started....

Loving The Sweaty Pits!

Okay, so sweaty armpits are a pretty natural part of life. It happens. We're human. We perspire. But although it is natural, there are times when you may feel a bit uncomfortable when you have sweaty pits and you work hard not to lift your arms. The stress of trying to conceal the sweat seems to make you sweat even more. Its a never ending cycle.
Well last night I was proud of the sweat! I attended the Color Festival in Spanish Fork with a group of friends and we were right in the middle of the EXPLOSION of colored chalks. For a few minutes I could see nothing but a heavy mist of color. The sky was hidden behind the colors and the sunlight was gone. For a split second I wondered if I would survive. My lungs and nose were full of colored dust! But then the colored cloud broke and the sky came seeping back and it was amazing to see all of the thousands of people covered in color. The color carnage continued for another 10 or 15 minutes and we all walked away from the crowd splattered with colors!
Kristin, Katie, and I decided to stop on the way home and walk around Target to see what kind of reactions we would get. It was hilarious to see everyone staring and pointing at us. Little kids were tugging on their parent's clothes and asking them what had happened to us. We were checking ourselves out in the mirror in the clothing section and I started laughing so hard when I saw our armpits. Our sweat marks were brightly colored for everyone to see! I've never been more proud of my sweaty pits!

What Is Faith?

So for the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of studying on faith. I've really tried to gain a better understanding of what faith is and how I can have more of it in my life. One night while I was studying I just starting writing down what I understand faith to be. Here it is:

What Is Faith?

Its taking that extra step forward,
when all you want to do is give up.
Its getting down on your knees,
when all you want to do is go to bed.
Its getting out of bed in the morning,
when all you want to do is hide under the covers.
Its opening your Book of Mormon at midnight
because you've made a commitment to read it.
Its paying that little amount of tithing,
when the 10% could be paying for groceries instead.
Its constantly praying for your wayward brother
even when it seems like he will never change.
Its choosing not to see that movie you've been dying to see
because you promised God you wouldn't change your standards for something like that.
Its trying to look your best each day
because you know that one day you'll find love (or it will find you).
Its getting up early on a Sunday morning for 9:00am church
just because you know that church is where you need to be.
Its making time to go to the Temple during your busy week
because you need the peace and guidance that is found there.
It is praying for the niece and nephew that are in the hospital
because you know that their lives are in God's hands.
It is acting on the prompting to call a friend
and finding out that you are an answer to their prayers.
It is talking to the stranger sitting by you on the bus
and changing their life forever because of your simple testimony.
It is choosing to follow the Savior and study His word
and learning that He loves you and wants you to come Home.
It is choosing to live a good and simple life,
because that's what life should be: good and simple.
It is standing in the presence of God
and knowing that your choices brought you there.