The current heat wave

Holy cow. As school was starting it rained everyday for three weeks straight. Now we have a major heat wave. It is HOT! Like I would swim everyday if I had access to a pool hot. This weather is crazy. My fear is that one day it will be 90 degrees and the next it will be 40 degrees. That is how it goes in Utah it seems. I have still been enjoying the outdoors, just have to wait until 6pm to workout in the heat.

I have been rollerblading a lot the past two weeks. It has been fun to switch up my exercise. I forgot how much I love it. I let Moki off the leash to swim when we Rollerblade because she has to work so hard.

 Some random dog followed us the entire time one night. He even jumped in my car after. I was like....oh no you didn't!!!!!!

The trails are beautiful this time of year.

 Probably should not have attempted a picture while moving. I am happy to report I didn't crash!

 Made it up to Bridal Veil Falls from the Riverwoods. That was quite the workout. It was beautiful though. Going back to the car was all downhill.

Last weekend was a whirlwind. I cleaned and did laundry on Friday so I could have time to play the rest of the weekend. I also decorated for fall. It was a good decision because the rest of the weekend was busy. Saturday I went to the temple, rollerbladed, biked, did Moki's dog class and then headed to Sam and Amanda's to get some Andrew time. That boy is the best. He is at such an enjoyable age and I love spending time with him. I actually had planned to spend the whole weekend up in Murray but I went out to get my bag of clothes and toiletries and realized I left them on my couch in Provo. SUPER LAME! Glad I got to spend Saturday evening with them though.

 Good times. BYU played during my bike ride and dog class but I supported them by wearing my BYU game shirt all day. And they won.

 On Sunday all of Utah got to participate in the Ogden Temple Re-dedication. It was an amazing service. It was also amazing to have no other meetings and church for an hour and a half.....did I just say that out loud. I loved the dedication though. The temple is beautiful! Here is a before and after picture.

During the dedication there is an opportunity for the audience to participate in the Hosanna Shout. I realized I really didn't know what Hosanna meant. I went home and looked it up. On www.lds.org it says:

A word from Hebrew that means “please save us” and is used in praise and supplication.

At the Feast of Tabernacles, which celebrated the Lord’s deliverance of Israel into the promised land, people chanted the words of Psalm 118 and waved palm branches. At the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the multitudes cried “Hosanna” and spread palm branches for Jesus to ride upon, thus demonstrating their understanding that Jesus was the same Lord who had delivered Israel anciently (Ps. 118:25–26; Matt. 21:9, 15; Mark 11:9–10; John 12:13). These people recognized Christ as the long-awaited Messiah. The word Hosanna has become a celebration of the Messiah in all ages (1 Ne. 11:6; 3 Ne. 11:14–17). The hosanna shout was included in the dedication of the Kirtland Temple (D&C 109:79) and is now a part of the dedication of modern temples.

I really appreciated this description. I love that we are asking/begging the Messiah to save us. The part I love the most is that in the temple ordinances are performed that can save us. Our sins can be forgiven and we learn how to live to be able to be in God's presence again someday. In these holy walls families are sealed for all eternity. I can't think of a more precious gift other than the gift of the atonement from the Savior. 

I loved being able to use my white handkerchief that I received on my mission. I had no idea how many temple dedications I would get to be a part of in my lifetime when I received this gift from my mission president and his wife.

It is a visual reminder of a very special time in my life when I served the Lord for 18 months. I can't believe that time was so long ago.

Dan has been trying to organize a game night with the siblings that live in Utah for a while. Last night it finally happened. It was lots of fun. We ended up not playing games but we ate food and visited.

Andrew was being so funny and cute at the restaurant. 

 Anthony looked like he was missing some teeth for a while.

 One more of Andrew and his mom.

 It is always nice to be able to spend time with family. Andrew discovered sidewalk chalk last night and we spent a lot of time drawing outside.

This morning when I headed to work Moki looked like this.....

 When I picked her up from the groomers she looked like this:

Not really the look I was hoping for but oh well. The good news is she will not need a hair cut for a long time. She also will not be too hot. The bad news is she looks ugly and underfed. She doesn't seem to mind though. Luckily her hair grows really fast.

It's Friday

I am back to living the life when the weekend really means something. To me it means one day to sleep in, try to recover, and not eat too much CRAP! Oh and do laundry, clean, try to go to the temple and lots of other things. The beginning of the year is just so exhausting. I am pretty sure I say that every year in August/September. Wednesday it was over 90 degrees, I didn't have a prep, I had to bike home. Yeah it was a long day. But hey now it's the weekend.

Moki is doing some serious dog training. In the beginning it was super stressful, now she is handling it like a champ. We are halfway through and she is doing great.

 In fact yesterday morning after our jog and her breakfast she walked right into her crate and laid down. She is learning the rules and not rebelling. She never whines in the night anymore either. These pictures of her are her last night of freedom before the training started.

 I have been so afraid of signing up for things. I have this fear of commitment all of a sudden. Pathetic and weird. The thought of having a time commitment every Saturday for six weeks seemed horrible but it has been good. There are a couple of classes I want to take so hopefully this will help me get over my reservations.

I think I have biked 9 of the 13 school days so far. Not bad. It is so hard to get on my bike in the mornings. I always feel great when I do it but man I am not a morning person, understatement of the year. I seriously am a grouch when I wake up to an alarm. I hate it. I wake at 5:45 run 3-4 miles with Moki and then bike to work. That is exhausting and so I am happy I have biked so much. And by the time I get to school I am over my grouchiness when I have been awake that long.

 I am now trying to ween myself off daily naps. I think I made it one day last week and two days this week without a nap. Once it cools down it will be a little less exhausting.

  Moki seems to not mind my nap time. Here is a picture of her practicing staying in a place with distractions. She is not perfect but she has improved so much.

I am in love with my nieces and nephews, in case you didn't know. This guy is so fun to be around. I am an addict. It is like I can't get enough of him. He brightens my day every time I see him. He is so smart and so fun!

Then I got to skype with Olivia last night. Man I love this girl. Braxton was in bed so I missed him. She is getting so much better at skyping. She sang me songs, told me about school, and just made me smile with her excitement. Seriously love her and her brother too.

On Tuesday when I was jogging there was a little incident. One minute I was jogging and the next minute I was flat on my face. Not an exaggeration. It was crazy. I seriously still am not sure how it happened. I didn't feel myself trip or anything. Moki was behind me, it was dark, and the sidewalk had a two inch lip right where my feet were but still I am not sure what caused the fall. Initially my stomach hurt the most because my shirt came up enough to scrape my belly. I was running with a friend and she offered to walk. I refused. I needed to run so I didn't cry from embarrassment and frustration. In the end my knees are both scraped up and really bruised. My stomach had some scrapes and my pubic bone is super sore. That must have been the place of initial contact because it hurts. Although it is feeling better today and my knees are feeling worse. Finally last night and tonight I caved and took some ibuprofen. So here are my knees. This first picture was during the school day on Tuesday. My knees were a little swollen and a little scraped up.

 This next picture is today, three days later. They look much worse.

Hopefully they start to feel better tommorrow.

While I have enjoyed blogging I should be preparing my lesson. I am having such a hard time deciding on a topic to teach. I love teaching, especially in Relief Society, but picking my own topic is so hard. So yeah tomorrow is going to be a long day if I can't get this figured out.