Over Load... In Pictures

Well July and has come and gone and August is half way over as well! I can't believe it. July is always one of my favorite months because there are always events going on left and right! I love all of the fireworks, time spent with family, and anything else that happens. But for the sake of your sanity and mine I will just post about the high-lights.
July 24th I ran the 10K. I won't lie, I did not feel well going into the race and it wasn't one of my favorites but I can smile for the camera. Also, as I started the race I realized I had forgot my race number and my race chip, so my official time was never recorded. Oops.
Also, it was kind of funny because I was the only one in my family who ran the 10k while everybody else ran the 5k and they all got medals. It made us laugh and I thought it was great.

After the race my sister in-law and I took my 93 yr old grandpa to the parade. Every time a Model A car passed by he would tell us how he used to own one and how his brother Dawn has one still today. It was awesome. It amazes how much history he knows. :)

July 25th we went down to St. George to enjoy some fun in the sun. This was our first night right after we got there enjoying dinner.
Our plans changed the first night because it was down pouring so we played DDR with 4 dance pads. Also, Brighton bought me DDR High School Musical Version and the music was awesome! If anybody ever wants to sing and dance at the same time, come on over!!!
The next day we went on some hikes in Snow Canyon. Here is my sister Steph conquering the mountains.
This is my Dad, Brighton, and my brother Nelson at the top of one of our climbs. Check out that back ground. It was so gorgeous!
Here is my sister Michelle, Me, and my sister Steph.

My sister Michelle and my Brother Nelson.
Brighton and I.
Brighton doing what I love most about him.
One of the hikes lead us to some caves. It was amazing how cold it was in the caves compared to the 100 degree temperatures out side of the caves.
At the place we stayed we had one of the pools all to ourselves. I think we had the pool all to ourselves because we chased all of the other families away.We played a game of spoons where we had all of the spoons thrown in the pool. We were all hard core with our goggles if you couldn't tell. I won the first game of spoons but we played ultimate frisbee after that and my team did not win. Sorry guys.
The next day we hiked the narrows.
My sister in-law Heather, Me, and my sister Steph.
We found some sweet rocks to jump off of.
And most of my family.

There are still more photos and things to post about but I will have to postpone those until another day. July was so fun but it went so quickly!!! Where has time gone. However, life is great and things are going well. And best of all, I am off to bed. :)
Here is a little video for your/my entertainment. (We aren't pros.)

Nothing, nada, zip, none

So I realized that there are less then 80 days left to the St. George Marathon. I can see my goal coming up. It makes training a little bit easier when I know I am working towards something tangible. It makes me excited. My running is going well. I stopped running for two weeks when I got sick, moved, and then went on vacation. But I am back on track and feeling great. I don't think I will die when I run the marathon. I won't run it fast, but I won't die. That eases some nerves. :)
And on another happy note I got my diploma in the mail! Now some people say it is just a fancy piece of paper, and it is just a fancy piece of paper, but I sure do like it. However, it is still just sitting in the original envelope it came in. I love it, but I am not ridiculous about it. I just pretend to be.
Well I have no pictures. My camera battery seems to die thirty seconds after I charge it so I need to get a new one. However, life is great, I love the sun, running, organizing our new "apartment", oh ya and I bought a piano!! I almost forgot! As soon as I get my camera battery I will take pictures! Fun times ahead!

Shadow

We had to put my cat down today. It was sad and hard but definitely the right thing to do. I will miss her tons but loved her even more.

This is a picture of Shadow and I on one of the first days we got her. My other sister Steph found her on the street and brought her home. We had to convince my dad to let us keep her and he eventually caved in.
This is my very last picture with her at the vet. Right before I was about to go running I got a phone call from my sister saying we had to put her down. She had water in her lungs and because she was 17 years old, and has a lot of health problems, it was time.

This is my sister Michelle with her.

Summer

These last couple of weeks have flown by and I can't believe we are already into July. I love July! It is such a fun summer month and there are always lots of holidays to celebrate!

Things have changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. We have moved from student apartments and are now living in my Grandpa Yates' basement. It was a last minute decision and we are glad we made it. We just barely finished cleaning our old apartment and we will be checking out tomorrow! As soon as I Brighton and I have unpacked all of our boxes I will have pictures of our new place to show.

This last week we have been on several vacations. Can I just say that life needs to be full of more vacations! What a fun way to celebrate time with family and rejuvenate! Our first vacation we went on was to Bear Lake. Thanks to Brighton's sister Kendra we were able to stay at an awesome resort and have the best time that I have ever had at Bear Lake. Also, thanks to her blog I have some pictures. (My camera was packed away at the time.)

Here is a picture of Brighton's Brother, Mindy, and Kendra's family - Pierce, Maleah, Kennedy, and Dayton. Dallas and Mindy could not stay very long but it was fun while they were here.

While we were at Bear Lake we had a chance to visit Minnetonka Cave and it was awesome. It was a short little hike to the mouth cave and then about an hour and a half "walk" through the cave. The cave was awesome but one of my favorite parts was getting the chance to hold my nephews hands. There is something about my nieces and nephews that makes life so much more fun! They were my favorite part of the whole vacation!

Here is our whole group at the opening of the cave.

The next day we went to the beach. We had fun playing in the sand, playing bocce ball, and enjoying time in the sun. The water was a little too cold for my liking but it was fun to watch the kid play in it. :)

Here are my nephews Dayton and Jayden.

The only other time I have been to Bear Lake was with girls camp. So I would have to say this was by far the best trip to Bear Lake I have ever had. Thanks Kendra for an awesome time! Lets do it again! (Tomorrow. :))

After Bear Lake I came home and worked one day. I didn't have enough vacation time so I had to work one day! I realized when I got up that morning another fun things about vacationing at beach is not having to do your hair or makeup. Such trivial things. :) It was heaven to skip them in my daily routine. Guys have it easy! The next day we went on another small vacation. We went to Moon Lake. It is a vacation my family takes every year with my Mom's side. It is up in the Uintah Mountains and it is gorgeous!
Here we are right before we got to our cabin. Watch out Moon Lake, cause here we come! My whole family wasn't able to make it so it was just Brighton and I and my mom and Steph. But we had a blast.

The first day Brighton took a nap. It cracked me up when I went in the bedroom after he woke up to find this... A bad of starburst half eaten. Who feeds this boy.

This is a picture of my cousins Ann and Meghan, and sister Steph and my Mom. They are just chillin on the beach. I don't' know if you can tell from this picture but the beach this year was very limited. Due to the high waters beach space was first come first serve but when you got it, it was prime real estate.

On Saturday after all of our cousins left the beach to go get lunch Brighton, Steph, my mom, and I all stayed behind and played some SWEET speedmitton. It is just like badmitton but with racket ball rackets and a weighted birdie. We played for three hours!! My team - Steph and I- lost two games to three. By the fifth games I was really hungry and losing my energy so I kind of lost the game for us. But, we will avenge next year.

My cousin Jeff rented a boat for a couple of hours and this is a picture of some of my cousins and their kids coming in from their trip. They were a little over capacity and it was hilarious to see the boat barely floating about the water.

We then went out on a boat ride with some of my other cousins kids. It was amazing to see all of the green up there. This boat ride was almost like a first. It was a whole different view of the lake that I had never seen before. The water was so high and everything was alive.

This was our captain-Jeff. Life jackets, need I say more. While we were on the boat we enjoyed singing the star spangled banner, Jesus wants me for a sun beam, and Book of Mormon Stories. (It was Sunday). And let me tell you, we sounded good. :) The people on the beach could even hear us.

It is tradition every year to get pictures taken right before we leave. Here is a picture of Brighton and I.

Here is a picture of my side of the family who came. We may be a small group but we had fun!!

It was sad to leave Moon Lake for another year but we will plan for another fun time next year!

Post Graduation

I finally received all of my grades back from school and I have officially graduated!!! My next goal is to throw out all of my unwanted papers and folders full of assignments I will no longer need. Ya!!! Life after graduation has been busy. But a good busy with plenty of breaks. A week after I graduated Brighton and I helped my brother and sister in-law move to Nebraska for dental school. If was fun and relaxing drive in which we listened to Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows the entire time. Intense! After getting there and moving them in (for pictures of their new apartment look at their blog http://www.heatherandavid.blogspot.com/) they took us to the Omaha Zoo. It was huge! We were there for almost six hours and we didn't even see every thing. Here is a picture of us in front of the water fall in the zoo's rain forest.

David and I were watching the Gorilla when all of the sudden he grabbed a handful of grass and sat in this little outcove surrounded by glass. He just sat there eating the grass and watching all of the kids. He was so close to us it was awesome. It was funny though, because David was more fascinated by the gorilla then half of the kids. Here is a picture of my brother by the Gorilla. See any resemblance. Just kidding Dave. :)

Here is a picture of Brighton and Dave swinging on a vine like the monkeys in the rain forest.

Flamingos, need I say more.

Brighton and I in our matching outfits. Just in case we got lost.

On Memorial Day we went to Lagoon with my other brother and sister in-law Sterling and Christy. It has been years since I have been there and it was fun. Rides are completely different when you are older. However, the Rocket still scares me to death! This is us on the swings. This ride gets more fun as you get older. One thing I found out about Brighton , is that he HATES roller coasters. I had a time getting him on the White Roller coaster and almost did not get him on the Wicked ride. Ironically enough, we went to Disney World on our Honeymoon and he was the one who wanted to go there.

And for the last bit of news that I have been excited to tell everybody and yet dreading it at the same time (no I am not pregnant) is that I signed up for the St. George Marathon and made it in. I am running the St. George Marathon on Oct. 3rd. I have been training for several weeks now and it has been going well. It is not easy but I was not expecting it to be. I am nervous to tell everybody because last time I signed up for a marathon I bombed out and didn't do it. However, the St. George Marathon is a lottery to get in so getting in is harder then just signing up. So I have to do it. My family already has the condo set up and they are planning on coming. So there is no backing out. I am just hoping to complete it in under five hours.

I also signed up for the Provo River Half Marathon and I am excited about that. It is not my first time running it so I know what to expect and it should be fun. I am running it with my neighbor so that should add to the fun of it. That race is on August 8th.

I also ran in our Stake 5K run and got 3rd place in my age division! It has been the first time since elementary that I have placed in a race. I was very shocked and happy.

Life after graduation has been fun. I get to do everything I want to do and that is the best part. I just got back after running and the last mile it was raining so hard I was soaked. Nothing beats running in the spring rain.

I graduated!!!

I finally graduated!! I still seems very surreal and I often feel guilty about not doing any homework, but I have none! I can do whatever I want and I don't have to write any papers, email professors, or study for any tests! I am done!
I am so so so grateful for the support that Brighton has given me during this time. There are several semesters in a row that I would say good bye at 7:30 in the morning and not see him until 9 at night. And there was not one word of complaint from him. Even when I had the car the entire time. He has been my rock.
I am also eternally grateful to my ENTIRE family. Each one of them has been so supportive from when I complained, to when I cried, and to when I celebrated! They were all there to support me at my graduation and I will be eternally in debt to all of them. I love you guys.
I am also grateful to my second family. They have been just as supportive and have made life fun. They make me laugh, they let me play with their kids, they play games with Brighton and I until all hours of the night, and they are home away from home.
And last but not least, I am grateful for my guardian angles, my parents. They have been my rock and I have been so blessed. After erasing sentence after sentence of things I want to say but don't know how, I will just say I love you and Thank You!
Thank you everybody who has been there for me. I could write an essay with they names and ways you have helped me. But hey, I am done with school, no more essays. So thank you!!

Final Hours

So I am updating my blog right now because I don't want to be working on my presentation. It is my very last thing I have to do before I graduate and I can't do it!!! I already turned in my final portfolio, took my last multiple choice test, and now I have one last final/presentation before I am done. I have to give my presentation which is Thursday morning (the morning I graduate), it has to go well (or else) and then I am done! But I am struggling to go over it and finalize everything. Struggling!!! I can't help but think about Thursday, after 10, after my final, being done, forever! Sigh. It makes time go by so much slower.
On a better note, I finally got my hair cut and colored! Can we say it is about time! My hair was starting to look like an ugly mop that wouldn't do anything. It feels so nice to have it chopped off. I don't have any pictures but you will be able to see my hair in my future graduation pictures. :)
Well here is to staying healthy and not getting the Swine Flu. (Even though the Swine Flu doesn't come from pigs.) Wash your hands and stay home from work/school if you are sick!