The One Mile Challenge

This is Nate speaking.......

Just thought I needed to specify, since Julie and I seem to post separately to this blog and it's probably hard to figure out who's talking sometimes.

Anyway, I've been feeling rather old and washed up these days. I try to limit my time reminiscing about my glory days to 3 or 4 hours a day, but lately it's been tough. I considered myself a pretty decent athlete back in high school, and I really developed a love for running. I was on a couple state champion relay teams in track, and ran at the state cross country meet my senior year...Anyway, I'm just trying to justify my feeling good about my athletic ability.

So I miss always pursuing an athletic goal of some kind. A running distance that is really easily measurable and familiar to most people is the mile. Back when I was in my prime, I never timed a hard mile, but I was running three-mile races in about 5:30 per mile, and in 2006, when I ran my marathon, I know I could run under 6 minutes per mile.

Julie and I have started running a couple times per week, and I started wondering if I could run a mile in under 5 minutes. So I've decided to start training for it. Julie and I are moving to Colorado the first week in June, and my goal is to do it before then. I timed a mile about two weeks ago, and ran it in 5:50. It sounds close, but 50 seconds is a lot of time. But I'm confident I can do it.

So I'm going to start giving you updates on my training, and any flowery advice or unbased encouragement is appreciated. That is all.

100 things about me

So I've seen a lot of people do lists of 100 things about themselves. I don't know if I can come up with 100, but I feel it's time to add to the blog so I'm going to give it a try. Don't feel obligated to read unless you really want to know me better. Here it goes!

1. my favorite color is red.
2. I love food...all kinds, but especially Mexican food.
3. By the time I got my braces off for good I had had them for one third of my life (7 years!).
4. I had surgery on my jaw when I was 20.
5. I once went 2 months consuming liquids only (see #4).
6. I always hated running until I met Nate, now I'm semi-converted.
7. My grandpa was an ultra-marathoner (no, I didn't get his genes).
8. My other grandpa is a real life cowboy and was a marine stationed at Pearl Harbor when it got bombed.
9. I went to the Olympics when I was 11.
10. I have never had a cavity.
11. The only time I have had a broken bone or stitches are from surgery.
12. I am my parents only biological child.
13. I have 2 amazing brothers.
14. I went to the temple to be sealed with my family twice (once after each of my brothers' adoptions).
15. I have been to 6? temple open houses.
16. I was the Tulare County math bowl champion in 8th grade.
17. I teach third grade.
18. I have known that I wanted to teach third grade since I was in third grade.
19. I love all kinds of chocolate.
20. I love holidays a lot. Most teachers learn to hate Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc because the kids are crazy, but I love holidays more than the kids do!
21. I sang choir and was in the school musicals in high school.
22. I am allergic to cats.
23. I prefer cats to dogs.
24. My favorite pet ever was a cat named Savannah Pearl who hung herself in a car window.
25. I love it when Nate pops my toes and back.
26. Disneyland is my favorite place in the world.
27. The night Nate proposed I said yes then freaked out and refused to wear the ring to school the next day (it all worked out in the end).
28. I love orange juice with my popcorn.
29. I prefer popcorn from an air popper to microwaved popcorn any day.
30. I love chocolate milk from the powder, not the syrup.
31. I got a perfect 36 on the math portion of the ACT.
32. I once took the LSAT just for fun to see how I would do and it was indeed fun.
33. I have lived in 2 cities my entire life, Visalia and Provo.
34. My dream job is to be Belle at Disneyland.
35. My favorite thing about Nate is that he can always make me laugh.
36. I love to think about things to the point that I tear them apart in my mind and think about every possible solution, scenario, possibility...it's exhilarating.
37. Nate proposed on Y Mountain.
38. I love sour patch kids.
39. I love watching almost all sports.
40. I love watching College Game Day on ESPN during football season and I have my mother to thank for it.
41. I love March Madness...thanks again mom.
42. I love to do word puzzles with my dad.
43. I will always root for the Cougars no matter who they are playing against...even Boise State.
44. I love to watch the Food Network.
45. I love lemon meringue pie.
46. I love orange soda.
47. My family went to this place called family camp every summer during my childhood and it was consistently the highlight of my summer.
48. I played volleyball from 4th to 9th grade.
49. I do not like meatballs or meatloaf.
50. I love trying new foods.
51. When I was about 4 I gave my friend a haircut, luckily our moms found us before we could "take turns."
52. The only time I remember being spanked as a child is when I ran away from home to gymnastics class.
53. I took piano lessons from age 5 to18, but I never practiced the piano so I can play the hymns and that's about it.
54. I have the best parents ever.
55. I still have the violin my parents bought me in 8th grade. I quit the violin after 9th grade.
56. My mom planned 75 % of my wedding and I thought it was the perfect wedding because she has amazing taste and consulted with me on most of the decisions.
57. I played soccer in 3rd and 4th grade for the treats after the games and the trophy at the end of the season.
58. If it didn't snow so much around here I would wear flip flops 12 months of the year.
59. I have always wanted to visit Washington D.C.
60. I am so blessed to have a husband who does more housework than I do.
61. I can't wait to have a dishwasher.
62. I collect musical snow globes (you know the really expensive ones from the Disney store) I have 3 and they all were gifts.
63. I hitchhiked once.
64. The only time I ever went skiing I went partway down the hill on skis, walked part way, and rode with the ski patrol the rest of the way.
65. I love to read but rarely have time for it.
66. I love going out to breakfast.
67. I love fresh strawberries, but only if they come from a roadside stand in California.
68. As a child my dad made the rule that I wasn't allowed to ask for anything I saw on T.V. for my birthday, Christmas, etc because I wanted everything I saw on T.V.
69. I can still sing several mid-90s commercial jingles.
70. I can sing the entire Saved by the Bell theme song (yes I was a T.V. junkie as a child).
71. My feet are as big as my husband's.
72. I was on a bowling team for 4 semesters while at BYU, however my average bowl is about a 75.
73. I am more like my mom than any person I know.
74. As a child my mom would have me balance her checkbook because she hated doing it, but I loved it.
75. I am a blog addict and refuse to get Facebook or Myspace as I know they would consume my life!
76. Growing up my family's nickname for me was SG, short for Servant Girl.
77. I was in the newspaper for ordering french fries in the school cafeteria right after I promised my dad I wouldn't eat just french fries for lunch anymore (I promise it was a basket of chicken and fries).
78. On our first date Nate took me to Applebees and dared me to get a steak. Not only did I get a steak but I ate every last bite.
79. Mine and Nate's first kiss was on my doorstep. I was wearing my pajamas and had my retainer in because I had already gotten ready for bed and didn't know he was coming over.
80. I love that Nate loves to bear his testimony and does it whenever he can.
81. I like to sing in the shower.
82. My third grade class is pen pals with my brother's third grade class.
83. I love not setting an alarm clock before I go to bed.
84. As much as I hate cold weather, I love scarves and have quite a collection.
85. My favorite movie is While You Were Sleeping.
86. I love American Idol.
87. I once spent half an hour pressing re-dial over and over to vote for Clay Aiken.
88. I own Clay Aiken's biography.
89. I have won things from the radio 3 times, but have never once claimed my prize.
90. I love county fairs and rodeos.
91. I love to cook.
92. I hate it when the toothpaste gets squeezed in the middle.
93. I hate it when the microwave has time left on it and no one presses clear.
94. My first ticket was for making an illegal u-turn at a spot where it is no longer illegal to make a u-turn (can I get my money back?).
95. I love Visalia, it is the perfect big, small town.
96. I can't wait to move to Denver.
97. My freshman year of college the favorite past time of me and my friends was "Jungle Combat".
98. I fell in love with Nate on a sand volleyball court.
99. Nate is better than me at most things but he will never admit it.
100. I honestly think that my husband is the perfect match for me and could not ask for a better one!

Who said lawyers aren't funny?

I've always liked writing, and one of the secrets to writing is creating really vivid imagery. Arguably the best way to do this is with metaphors and analogies......So, I'm taking a business law class this semester, which has actually turned out to be quite interesting. My professor is an attorney with the city of Provo, and he is a pretty funny guy. He shared the following with us.....which I found to be quite humorous. (I've bolded my favorites):

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners.....

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up

The Disaster of a Date...well sort of

So last night we were fairly excited because I had this fun date planned for us. The plan was to start at the BYU/Utah gymnastics meet, then go to our favorite ice cream parlor, Leatherby's, for sundaes and french fries. So we got all geared up for the meet, matching BYU caps and all. We got to the Marriott Center and there were hardly any cars there. There were enough to make us think there was definitely something going on, but not enough for a "sporting event" crowd. I know gymnastics isn't basketball, but there weren't even enough cars for the parents of all the gymnasts! So the first door we tried was locked. Finally we got in and saw the basketball clinic that was going on. Frustrated at the lack of gymnastics we walked down to the Tanner building to get online and find out what was going on. We discovered the lack of gymnastics was due to Julie's lack of calendar-reading skills apparently. The meet was on Friday. But we still had ice cream and french fries to look forward to! We weren't hungry just yet so we went home, watched the end of "School of Rock", played a little of the 8 bit, then headed out to Leatherby's. Upon arriving at Leatherby's it was dark without a soul in sight. Now it was 10 pm on a Saturday night, I'm pretty sure that's usually their busiest time. There was a not so welcoming sign saying something to the effect of "Due to unforeseen circumstances we have been forced to close. Please visit our Taylorsville location." Needless to say, we were bummed. I don't know where Taylorsville is, but I'm pretty sure it's not close. So we settled on McDonald's sundaes and fries because McDonald's is never closed. So there you have it. That was the date to McDonald's. On the plus side, I did get to be with my cute hubby and relive my childhood with a McDonald's sundae. I hope you had a great weekend!

Friends, Fun, and Fondue

So we had a very successful fondue party this weekend. I made a cheese and a chocolate fondue (both way easier than I thought they would be). Everyone brought yummy things to dip. We had a couple of my old room mates over with their boys and we ate and we partied and we ate some more! I love cheese, chocolate, and good company so it was a great night! My favorite was the pineapple and chocolate. Check out John's blog to see some great videos of us as well.

Me and my Hubby

This is us on our roadtrip to Yosemite while we were dating.

So my sister-in-law Alisa tagged me and this one seems fun so here it goes!

How long have you and your significant other been together?
-Well I guess it's been about 20 months...wow! Almost two years!

Who eats more?
-Well, it depends...I can eat more at times, but usually it's him. Especially when I make him eat my leftovers to "fatten him up."

Who said "I love you" first?
-He did, for sure! I was ready to say it a few weeks before, but I had decided I would let him say it first. Needless to say, I was ready to say it back once he said it!

Who is taller?
-He is by 2 inches.

Who sings better?
-Well I did more of the choir-type stuff in high school so I have more training, but despite that I think he has a better sounding voice. We both like to pick out parts occasionally in church, but neither one of us is completely proficient at that. So I guess it's him?

Who is smarter?
-He would say it's me, I would say it's him. He gets better grades, but if you look at our ACT scores... I would say he's smarter all around--book smart and street smart.

Who does the laundry?
-Depends on the weather! If it's snowing, I'm pretty good at getting him to take it down to the laundry room while I wait in the warmth of the apartment. But usually we do it together.

Who does the dishes?
-We do them together. I wash, he rinses, dries, and does quality control. We make a good team.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
-When we're laying in the bed it's him.

Who pays the bills?
-He does with my, I mean our, money. (He's the student, I'm the teacher, therefore I make the money)

Who mows the lawn?
-Um, what lawn? All I see is snow out there.

Who cooks dinner?
-Usually me, but he helps.

Who drives when you are together?
-Nate, unless it's on the way to school then it's me.

Who is more stubborn?
-We're both pretty easy going, but it's probably me.

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong?
-Me?

Whose parents do you see the most?
-His because they're closer, but they're still not close, so we don't see either very often.

Who kissed who first?
-That was definitely his thing. You'll have to ask to hear the story...it's pretty good.

Who proposed?
-He did, on Y mountain, kneeling in the snow.

Who is more sensitive?
-Me

Who has more friends?
-I dunno, we're both pretty popular. j/k Ok so we just got in a baby argument about this after reading the question. He said my friend on a mission doesn't count because we can't "hang out", but I just wrote her last week, so we're totally friends...so I have more friends (just barely)

Who has more siblings?
-Ok he wins this one with 4 siblings (2 sisters, 2 brothers) I have 2 brothers, no sisters.

Who wears the pants?
-Ummmm.......I prefer pants to a skirt, but I guess in a figurative manner he usually wears "the pants".

So that's it. I guess I will tag Alicia, Stephanie, Brittney, and Melanie.

Random Ramblings

So it's the end of another weekend. Why is it that it seems my whole life revolves around when the weekend comes, then when it's here it ends an instant later. That is the story of my life. Well, this weekend Nate and some buddies went snow camping...yes I think he's crazy. But regardless, he had fun. However, he was unable to take pictures of the sweet snowcave they built. He returned home at 6:30 am after a sleepless night, but still claims he had fun?
Yesterday we had the privelege of watching President Hinckley's funeral. I thought it was such a great service for such a remarkable man. He will truly be missed. I don't know if it will all truly hit me though until General Conference when his smiling face is not there to greet us.
Our good friends Brittney, Chad, and Nolan Losee joined us for dinner tonight. It was fun to visit with old friends.
We are in the middle of another crazy snow storm...will winter ever end????
We had stake conference this weekend and were uplifted and encouraged to draw our families nearer to Christ through the scriptures.
So I guess we're getting a pretty sweet tax rebate thanks to the economic stimulus plan. We are trying to decide how to spend it (because the whole idea is that we spend it in order to stimulate the economy, right?) Please vote in our latest poll.
Finally, to end my pointless, disconjointed ramblings, don't forget to vote on Super Tuesday...especially if you're a Mitt Romney supporter.