Sundays Are The Best

I love Sundays!!! Here are a few reasons why:

• I love church music, I listen to it on other days as well but I try to listen to it all day on Sunday.
• Church - I love going to church and feeling the spirit and being uplifted. I love listening to their talks and lessons and learning from them.
• I love my Bishop he really is inspired from on high.
• I love having dinner with family and friends and Sundays work out best.
• I love taking a Sunday nap.
• I love not having to worry about anything.
• I love feeling the spirit and having that spirit in my home.

Tonight we had Katie's parents, my aunt Nancy, and Dan over for dinner. We enjoyed some awesome tacos, playing the wii, cheering each other on while watching them play the wii, visiting, taking a short after dinner nap, dessert, watching Bolt (I love this movie, so cute) and taking pictures with my camera.

If YoU pLaY wItH tHe BiG gIrLs YoU MaY gEt BuRnEd

The past couple of weeks have been awesome because I have been able to play basketball 4 nights a week. I am getting in better shape and I am working out at a higher intensity. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I play in a league and tonight we played the best team. With 3 minutes left my teammate Meagan came down with the rebound turned to pivot and wacked me in the nose. Blood was gushing out of my nose and mouth. I subbed out to go clean it up. Meanwhile we lost and Meagan says who gave you a bloody nose I will give them one. Umm that might have been you. OOPs!! This is the 2nd time I have ever gotten a bloody nose playing basketball and both have been from Meagan. Apparently I am a slow learner. She told me if it swells up to tell people I got in a fight with someone that weighs 230 pounds. No fight but I did get a monster hit. My teeth and lip are still numb. We will see how it looks tomorrow. The principal at my school was at the game because his wife plays with us and I asked if this meant I could take a sick day, he said yes, I wonder if he was joking??? The only sad thing about the situation is that I got blood all over my favorite t-shirt. Dang!!

Locker Room Drama

Thank goodness my office is not in the locker room like it is at most high schools!!! Lucky for me my office is in the gym, but it shares a wall with the locker room and man I will tell you I hear all. For instance I know: who made out with who when parents went to bed at the party over the weekend, who is hooking up with who, Who has started swearing, which teachers are the worst, which teachers swear in class, which boys are hot, which girls are #$@! (you can fill that one in), which parents are beasts, cell phones ringing even though they aren't allowed at school, what's for lunch, and all the mean things I have done. But that is not what inspired this post it was that all day I have been hearing, "There is a test in PE today'" through the wall. I am sitting in my office thinking no there is not, you have not gotten a study guide, what am I testing you on, who the heck told you that. RUMORS in junior high are awesome. I heard the comment every class period except first period even a few students asked me if we have a test. I don't give surprise tests, never have. Where do they get their information. They are so funny. So that is what I do all day listen to junior high gossip that seeps through the walls of my office. Man could you have a better job?

Pretty in Pink

I like PINK!! Is it my favorite color, absolutely not. But I do like it. The hot pink version was my favorite until about 5th grade and then I put pink on the shelf for a few years and rediscovered it in a pink shirt that I loved on my mission. Since that time I have had no problem buying pink, despite all the ridicule I have endured. Here are a few of my favorite pink things:


My bike, needs no explanation one of the best purchases I ever made. I waited patiently for a year before I bought it, I had to save up money and wait for the price to come down. I have never regretted this purchase.




My IPOD, love this as well. Actually wanted the green one but they only had pink and silver at COSTCO.



My cute little church bag.




My newest purchase my pink shades. They will most likely not be used at the same time as my pink bike, that would be a little overboard but I do like them. Mikila even admitted that they were cute on me.




My African, actually afghan that Emily Andrew made for me. I love, love, love it and use it every time I sit down in the living room. If someone else is using it I make them hand it over.

The awesome tool set Katie got me for my birthday. I mean if you have to buy tools they might as well be pink. All the handles of the tools are pink as well. I was really really excited about this present and I can even report that I have used a few of the tools.

My sweet biking jersey. I love this jersey. I think it is so cute and it is really comfortable.

So there you have it. I have more pink but this will do for now. I like pink and I like the reaction I get from some people, those that cannot be named, when I come home with my pink purchases.

Project Home Beautification

Since I bought a house I have wanted to paint something the color of the Utah redrock. I just love the color in nature and thought it would be awesome (with a capital A) to have something that color in my home. Since I recieved my income tax return I thought I should spend a little bit of it on doing something nice with my house. I have always hated how the ceilings in my living room were tan and so I painted those cottage white and I got brave and painted my bay window orangish red. I was sooooooooo nervous. But I love it!!!! I am so happy with how it turned out and it ties in really nicely with my furniture as well. I still have to do some touch-ups but I am really excited about the new look.

This week I also had the basketball banquet for my team and the girls bought me flowers. The flowers also liven up my house and I love them. I also have three vases growing tulips as well. They all make me smile whenever I see them and are all considered part of home beautification.

A weekend in St. George

This weekend Amber and I signed up for a century ride in St. George. We were really excited to go down south and soak up the sun and spend some time on our bikes. We also got a great deal on a condo thanks to my cousin Sharee and her husband Gordon. The condo was really nice and we each had our own room and bathroom. We were spoiled. The itinerary for the bike ride said this:

Join us as we ride to the entrance of Zion National Park on a leisurely route that will allow you to get out on the road, test your legs, relax, and enjoy your first organized ride of the season.

The statement is entirely true except for the part about it being a leisurely route. I loved the ride and had a great time but there were seven (yes, seven) huge climbs. Legs tested, check. The entire time I was riding up those blasted hills I just kept thinking about how are bodies are like machines. They just keep on going. It is AWESOME!!

Here is a self portrait at the turnaround. I have to add that at this turnaround there were these two dudes that pulled in on their bikes and there was a sign that said hot sandwiches and one guy said, "It would be awesome if I took your picture in front of that sign that said hot." I thought, oh would that be awesome, in all my glory wearing spandex and covered in sweat.

Here is Amber at the first rest stop. We had not really started climbing the big hills yet, so she is still smiling.

The scenery was amazing. It is so fun to bike somewhere new. I have always loved the beautiful red rock and we were surrounded by it on this ride.

It was a great weekend. Surprisingly I am not even sore. My legs are tired but I biked to work today and my butt didn't even hurt.

The weather was great in St. George and I even came away with a tan face. That made me even happier. We did a 75 mile ride and then gorged ourselves at barf-o-rama (Chuck-a-rama). I am pretty sure there were not any sweet rolls left when we finished eating. Overall a great weekend and I am starting to get really excited for spring. (Even though it is supposed to rain this week)

I believe this could be the start of a new tradition for me:)

WELCOME TO MY LIFE

I go into the locker room after school and there are papers everywhere. Do I clean them up? NOPERS!! But silently I think how do they expect to pass their test when they left their study guide on the locker room floor. Better yet a ninth grader left their assignment that is worth 100 points sitting on the bench. Apparently she is not going to do the assignment. I did not even look to see who's it was. I have some guesses. But really I am not their mother, I care about my students, I want them to have success in my class, but does that mean I coddle them? At what point are you old enough to be responsible for taking home your assignments and completing them without the teacher putting them in your back pack for you? I believe 9th grade is a little past that age.

Physical education has changed. I know you think I am a beast (Yes they have assignments and written tests), but I can demonstrate to parents and administrators that learning is taking place. But please please please help me I do not want to hold hands or force students to do things. Why can't they just fail if they don't do the work? Oh that's right we don't want to hurt anyones self esteem!! I guess I will give them a new study guide if they say they lost theirs, but I won't be happy about it.

10.5, Are you JOKING with me?

I have been on the search for new running shoes since Christmas. Both of my current shoes have holes in the toes. I recently read a talk from Elder Ballard talking about the good ole days when you couldn't just buy new shoes and would have to repair them, as a result I postponed buying shoes for a couple of months. I wanted to get all of the use I could out of my old ones.

I began looking and I went to tons of stores and tried on tons of shoes but nothing was right. I really wanted to get a good pair of running shoes. Yesterday I went to the Runners Corner and had the most interesting shoe buying experience. Not bad in any way just different from any experience I have had before. Here is how it went:

• Bring out a nice pair of shoes and watch me run. Wait . . . . you want to watch me run. Ok I will do my best but I am not thrilled to run for some dude that obviously takes his running very seriously, based on his shoes and his 0% body fat.
• He watched me run and we decide I am a neutral runner so he goes to the back and brings out 4 high end running shoes that will work well for my feet.
• Oh . . . . side note he bends down and feels my toes and decides I am a 10.5 not a 9 or 9.5. What a 10.5, aren't my feet big enough why do I have to wear size GINORMOUS. (no offense Erica)
  
• I then put on a Brooks shoe on one foot and an Asics on the other and go outside and run around. I like the Brooks so it stays on and the Asics is replaced with a Saucony running shoe. I decided I like the Saucony so I replace the Brooks with a Mizzona. I love the Mizzona so then I put one on each of my feet and go run around. I am sold.
• Not only did he sell me the shoe he taught me how "runners" lace them up and tie them to get the most out of their shoe. (I think I am a professional now)
  

Overall a great shoe buying experience and I learned a lot about the process for finding a good running shoe. I am only supposed to run in these shoes so yes I am at work with my holey shoes, can't buy another pair until next month (self control). They will be cheap ones anyways, I don't normally run at work.

Below is the final product. I like them a lot. Sam and I ran 5 miles last night. The shoes felt good, my legs did not. So don't be suprised when I am super skinny next time you see me because when you pay so much for shoes you run way faster and more often. And now that I have serious shoes I can only assume the low body fat will follow.

ADVENTURES IN SIN CITY

For the three day weekend, in honor of our dead presidents, Amber and I took a little road trip to Vegas. We stayed withe her sister and family and enjoyed biking, sleeping in, shopping (but not buying anything), and slightly warmer weather. Overall it was a fun weekend and it was great to be somewhere besides Provo.

This was the first ride of the season so naturally I was very excited. I got my bike tuned up before the trip and it is as good as new. I have to keep telling myself that because part of me would like to buy a new bike.


Amber and I biked Red Rock Canyon. Turns out it was a little hillier than I remembered. It was a steep first ride but it felt great to work out those biking muscles. It was really hot going up but we froze the second half of the ride because it was all down hill.



Last but not least the post race meal. Half of a snickers marathon bar I found in my bike pouch. I think I ate the other half in October. I only had the thought maybe you should just throw it out for a second, then I thought I am hungry so I will eat this. It tasted great, anything does after three hours in a saddle.



I officially referred to Vegas as Sin City in this post because I made the mistake of reading the newspaper on Saturday. The front page was the 22 most prolific prostitutes, pictures included. And then there were also a couple of other questionable articles. It made me thankful I live in what some would call a bubble, but hey at least I can read the paper and pretend that most people in the world are good and doing good things.

when it's over. . . . . . .

That's about the time I fall in love again.



The basketball season has come to an end. I won't miss it for a couple of weeks but I do always end up missing it. This season has been interesting. I learned a lot as a head coach. Some things I will do the same some things I will do differently. Overall I think the girls had a good time and they all got better at basketball, which is the ultimate goal.

I am pumped that for the rest of the year I can go home at 3:30. What am I going to do with myself? I am so eXcItEd!

BUSY DAYS

Busy days . . . . . . . . well kind of. I have a student teacher and so a more appropriate title might by boring days. I should be doing my thesis but instead I have read 4 books in the last week. It has been great. I love reading and I have read some interesting stuff. My favorite book was My Name Is Asher Lev. This book was awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a good read. Not only is it a great book it also helps you better understand the Jewish culture.



Outside of work and coaching I spend a little bit of time each evening on the Wii fit. It is not everyday you purchase a video game that tells you how fat you are and lets you demonstrate your amazing sports skills:) Sam passed me on the soccer heading the BRAT didn't miss one soccer ball. Now I have a new goal. Life is all about goals, I must beat Sams' high score. As you can tell I am not a very competitive person.



And lastly fun with the girl's, I stole this picture off of Erica's blog. Last weekend was really fun. It was great to hang out with friends and have the opportunity to see Carrie sealed in the temple. I wish we could all get together more often.



So my days have been busy . . . . kind of.