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Showing posts from 2008

Training is On!

Today marks the second day of training for the Salt Lake City Marathon. I'm so excited. I know it's still a long ways off, but I'm good at anticipating thing and I'm going to get lots of practice in the 16 weeks before the Marathon. Yesterday it warmed up some and so I decided to run outside. Jadon and I both left at the same time for our 45 minutes run, but we decided to take our own separate routes. I started out splashing through 8 inches of dirty slush (leftover from the slick roads being sanded) My feet were soaked within the first 2 minutes. I realized that the streets around town were still pretty covered in snow, or slush or muck (I'm not sure what to call it when it's melting and muddy) Anyways I decided to try a trail outside of Kemmerer in hope of a cleaner run. That worked for about half a mile until I encountered snow that almost reached my knee. There is no running in snow that deep so I had to change my plan. All of this to say that

Christmas, Come and Gone

Christmas has come and gone now. It's amazing to me how much time we spend gearing up for Christmas and then poof! it's over. I guess most things in life are like that though. Anticipation and preparation are 90% of whatever it is. Speaking of anticipation and preparation - My Christmas present from Jadon was registration in the Salt Lake Marathon. I've wanted to run a marathon for a long time and now it's going to happen. It was a wonderful gift, I'm so excited. However this is something where anticipation and preparation are 90% or more of the experience. The race is on April 18 th , however I start training on December 29 th . That means for 16weeks I'll be getting ready for an event that will hopefully only last 4hrs. It's worth it though and so I'm going to give it all I've got. I'll keep you posted on how the training is going. Oh, Jadon is running it with me, as well as our friend Adam. It's gonna be blast!

I need a post wedding Honeymoon TOO!!!

Weddings are a lot of work for everyone involved and only the bride and groom get a honeymoon afterwards. My little sister Amanda just got married on Saturday (December 20 th ). I was her maid of honor and now that it's over I need a Honeymoon too!!! Weddings are a wonderful, beautiful, precious thing, yet anything of worth in life takes effort and this wedding definitely took effort! It really was a perfect wedding, everything came together the way it was supposed too! The only close call was one of groomsmen almost passing out. He managed to sit down though before he keeled over. Now we are back in Kemmerer where winter has truly socked in. There is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and it's still coming down. It's gonna be a white Christmas

Carlson Christmas

Yesterday was the Carlson Family Christmas Celebration. There were 31 people at my parents house. I was a lot of fun, a lot of craziness too. Lunch was suppossed to be at 1:00 but it ended up being delayed until 2:30. So as we all waited for lunch the craziness started. We started trying stupid human trick stuff. Aaron and Molly showed us this thing where you are on your knees and then you grab both of your feet and arch your back. you're suppossed to roll forward and you feel like your are going to smash your face on the floor but you don't. It was hilarious to watch people try it. Leann was really the only one who did it right. Nathaniel, Nick, and Amanda didn't have the whole roll thing going for them. They just smashed the ground. We did all sorts of things - put our whole fist in our mouths, Put a whole cup in our mouths, told funny stories. It was great! Definately one of the better Christmas's I've had over the past few years. I'm very thankfu

Close Call

Every now and then I a crazy urge to clean something. On Sunday I remember thinking "man I need to clean the car" So it's been on my list since then and it drives me crazy every time I climb in the car. Well this morning I finally got around to it. I vacuumed out the inside and then got ready to wipe down the seats, windows, dash etc. I loaded by arms with a bucket of water, 409, Windex, paper towels, a rag, 2 sponges and made my way out the back door to the car. I managed to place the bucket on the roof of the car without spilling it, and then attempted to open the door without dropping everything else. This was also a success . I place all the cleaning supplies inside and was just standing up to get the bucket when it fell off the roof. Water went everywhere, however the crazy thing is that it didn't get me wet. I hadn't stood all the way up yet, and the water fell just past me. It was a close call though. All that to say, the car is clean and I'

Here Comes Christmas

I truly believe that all good things take effort and Christmas is right up there at the top of the list. There is always so much to do - get a tree, decorate, bake, send out Christmas letters, get gifts for everyone, go to special concerts and services, plan, plan, plan, buy, buy, buy. It always feels a little overwhelming, but I also know that all the effort is worth it. I think of Mary and Joseph - I know their list was different than mine, but I know they must have been scrambling to get everything ready before Jesus birth as well. So as the whirlwind continues I'm really trying to imagine what their perspective must have been instead of getting caught up in the "American Countdown to Christmas"

Picture Catch Up!

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I haven't had a chance to add pictures to my blogs for awhile, so I'm playing catch up in this blog. Here are some pictures from the Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving and our Anniversary After the Smithfield Turkey Trot - I came in first in my age division. It's colder than it looks Check out my running number Before the race. You can tell I definately had more energy before the race I dunno! Inside the cabin we stayed at for our Anniversay. I felt a little sick, thus the saltines and sprite. Yes, I'm hanging from the rafters in the cabin And again! They shouldn't have put them there, if they didn't want them hung on. It was cold in Pinedale We celebrated our Anniversary at home on the 26th. It was a lot of fun, we dressed up and fixed a fancy meal for ourselves. I think it tasted better than a restuant too. Shopping in Jackson Hole, WY In front of the Elk Antler arches in Jackson Driving out of Jackson, beautiful isn't it? The rainbow relish tray I made for Th

Anniversaries Analogies

I think society as a whole often looks at life from the wrong perspective. Today Jadon and I are celebrating our third anniversary. Over the past few days I've told people that our anniversary is coming up. Of course they always ask, "how many years?" I say "three" and then the common response is "oh, you're still newly weds, just you wait till your 10 th , (or 25 th or whatever) of course it's still exciting now, but wait a few years" And then they give a little chuckle. What a warped response for something that should be a wonderful part of life. Consider the person who goes to the Grand Canyon for the first time and they meet someone who goes there every year. They stand there in awe just soaking it all in and loving it until the old timer next to them says, "yeah, you like it now, but after a few more visits it become pretty mundane and ordinary" See, I don't think that would actually happen with the G

Turkey Trot

No turkeys were involved and no trotting was involved but..... I now own another T-shirt that says "Turkey Trot" On Saturday Jadon and I ran in a 1oK Turkey Trot in Smithfield Utah. It's called a Turkey Trot becuase it is close to Thanksgiving and the winner of the race won a Turkey. It was a fun race. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was beautiful and Jadon and I both placed. I came in first in my age division and Jadon came in second in his age divison. We were both pretty excited about that. That was just the warm up for the rest of this Thanksgiving week. It's going to busy one, and hopefully a fun one. I'll blog about it later and tell you all the details - that is if I survive !

Dentists Cause Pain

I went to the Dentist this morning - when I went I wasn't it pain. I had a tooth that was chipping and I wanted to get it fixed. We'll here I am 3 hours later and I am in pain. All they did was take x-rays and clean my teeth, but now my whole mouth aches. I hate having my teeth cleaning. The scraping, probing, scratching, buffing - it just doesn't feel good. Like nails on a chalkboard - only inside my head. Eeeee....... gives me chills just thinking about it. Hopefully I won't have to do that for at least 10 years cause it's just not worth it.

Two Sickies Sitting in a Tree (you know the rest)

If you read Jadon's Blog you know that he was sick. What he didn't mention is that I was sick too. Not quite as bad, but none the less, I was sick. Yesterday started with me taking care of Jadon because I was feeling better than him; and then ended with Jadon taking care of me because I was the sicker one. - Not a whole lot of fun but somehow the crumminess of being sick with the person you love the most makes you appreciate them and love them even more. I know it sounds weird but misery loves company - especially if it's perfect company!

NOW OPEN!!!

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Open for Business! Ready for Visitors! Grand Opening! There are lots of ways to say it - the point is.... WE'RE FULLY MOVED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!!! So, that means that YOU can come and visit and we have somewhere to put you. These are just pictures to spark your interest. You'll have to come in person to see the rest.

Change in Thinking

Have you ever read something that turns the way you think upside down and gives you a completely fresh perspective. It happened this morning. During my devotions I read that the only thing that will take away the ache of loneliness is worshipping God. God is the only thing that we can be in perpetual awe of, therefore He is the only one who can always bring us past ourselves to something greater. When we worship God we define all other loves by our awe of God, this leads us to reaching out to others and ultimately defining ourselves according to God instead of any other measure. I don't even know if I explained it in a comprehensible way, and it's even hard for me to totally understand so let me just tell you what I got out of it... ...when I am lonely, the only thing that will cure my aching heart is turning my attention away from myself and onto my wonderful savior. And if as I worship Christ I will be able to see life, love and even myself the way He does. That's challe

NEW

God has provided. I know He promises to, and He always does, but it still never ceases to amaze me. Jadon and I have praying and looking and dreaming of a house or apartment of our own since we came to Kemmerer, and nothing has been avaliable. Every single house is way out of our price range and every apartment was being rented.... until last week. Last Friday a lady in our church moved out of the house she was renting and Jadon I moved in this week. We've been living with another couple for 4 months, so having a place to call our own is huge. I want to run around the house and sing and dance and just revel in the fact that it is my home and I can do whatever I want to do in it and with it. Ahhh..... it's wonderful. So praise the Lord - Today is a new day. It's a new month, we have a new home, we're on a new time (No more Daylight Savings) - New is Good!

Date Night - Episode 2

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I know it seems quick but last night was Friday again, which means that Jadon and I attempted to go on another date. "Attempted" is a strange word for a date I know, but wait till you hear the story. So we've heard that there is really beautiful scenic byway that goes to Cokeville Wyoming. It takes about 40 minutes on the highway and so we figured that the scenic route would take about an hour. The plan was to leave Kemmerer at 5:00 and drive to Cokeville the scenic way, take pictures along the way and make it to Cokeville for supper. Then we would enjoy our time there and drive home on the highway. It all started well. We left on time, the weather was beautiful, gas was cheap, it couldn't have been better. We headed out of Kemmerer admiring the beauty, counting antelope along the road and excited about our date plans. All was well until our paved road ended. We were driving out Mercury Grand Marquis and although I believe it has lived in Wyoming it's en

My First Skinning of the Season

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So I've never just announced this before but... I love skinning animals, primarily big game animals. Last night Jadon and I went over to the Brewer's (new Kemmerer friends - and the best kind because they hunt, watch great movies with us and laugh at things that are genuinely funny) and we skinned Dave's Elk. It was already quartered so we got to skin 4 pieces and with an elk that's like skinning four whole deer. So it's a good deal. Anyways, it was really fun because I like that kind of thing. I think I did a pretty decent job too considering I haven't skinned anything for a few years. I'm actually thinking about putting an ad in the paper saying that I'll skin people's deer or elk for a price. Who knows - I could make some good money with all the hunters around here.

Friday means Date Night

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Last night, was Friday Night as I'm sure you are well aware since it was Friday where you are living too. Anyhow, for Jadon and I that means "Date Night", which I'm never oppossed to. In Kemmerer our options for a "date night" are a little slimmer than in Carlisle, however sometimes imagination and possiblilites flourish where they are most needed. So after a little thinking we decided to go out to eat at Subway (there are only about 4 choices for restuarants) and then we pulled an old college type date and went for a walk and took pictures. In all honesty it was a complete blast. We had so much fun laughing, talking, freezing and not spending money. It was a wonderful date. Then we ended the evening down with a good movie and a good nights sleep. It was great! I'm looking forward to another exciting Kemmerer date next Friday! This final picture should explain why Jadon got a better night's sleep than me. Maya has started jumping up

New Ventures

My newest venture is joining the Community Choir in Kemmerer. The first practice was on Sunday night. Choir practice is held at the Mormon Church and the majority of the members are mormon, which is a little different to me. If I didn't know any better I would think they were Christians. They are very kind, they open and close practice with prayer they sing some traditional Christian hymns. However I know that they don't believe that Jesus is God and they don't believe in Salvation. It's amazing to me how Satan really does come as an "angel of light". Mormons seem so right yet they are so wrong . Satan doesn't have to elude people with dark, evil, and sinister things. He just has to destort the truth and present it in a desirable form and he's won. I think the biggest challenge of being a part of the choir is not going to be the music but the people. I hope that they can see something different in me and wonder what it is. My next to newest

Good Thoughts!

I try and journal every day and lots of time I write down quotes or thoughts from books I'm reading so that I don't forget them. It becomes a problem however when I want to rewrite the book in my journal because every single sentence is worth remembering. I have to restrain myself or I wouldn't get anywhere in the book and my journal might be considered plagiarism Anyways I figured since some of the thoughts in this book are so good I should probably dedicate a blog to them. So here are some quotes from "Cries of the Heart" by Ravi Zacharias "Once we understand that feelings are vital but not foundationalthen we delight in the eternality of God's truth and can endure the temporariness of felt distance" "An expenditure of words without the income of truth leads to spiritual bankrupcy" "When we are faced with disasters, when we are overwhelmed bydarkness, when things seem so dark that we doubt that we are part of the church or pleasin

Eventless, Eventful Week

This has been a very eventful week. It all started on Saturday after our half marathon in Pinedale. The right side of my neck, chest, arm and body started aching. I didn't know why I hurt so bad but decided to see if I felt better in the morning. On Sunday morning I woke up in pain and I could hardly move my right arm without excruciating pain in my chest and up my neck. Since chest pain isn't something to mess around with, we went into the ER here in Kemmerer. Since I had just run 13.1 miles the doctor said we could skip the EKG and stress test. After all the normal ER stuff though I found out that I had torn my pectoral muscle and that I had a bad sinus infection. I would never pieced it all together myself. Anyways that was good news considering the things that go through your head when you have chest pain. The doctor sent me home with a list of prescriptions to start taking and instruction to rest and get a massage ( I can handle that) The rest of the week is kind of

Pinedale Half Marathon and God's Provision

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So I'm sitting here pondering what story to tell first. The last two days have been very eventful and I don't even know where to start. Ok, I'll go in order. On Thursday we went to Rock Springs as I mentioned in my blog - and while we were there God blessed us immensely. The associate Pastor at Rock Springs Evangelical Free Church, Pastor Larry felt God telling him to give us his car. He just bought a truck and so he didn't need his car any more. So he just up and gave us his car. He had no idea that we needed a second vehicle or that we had prayed about it. He was just obedient to God. So now we are the proud and grateful owners of a 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis. God is so amazing. He never ceases to provide and He blesses us far beyond what we ever deserve. Thankyou Pastor Larry and Thankyou Jesus. So since we have a new vehicle we decided to drive to Pinedale Wyoming for a Half Marathon. No, actually we had already planned that, but we did get to drive the new

It's gonna be a good one!

I'm pumped about today. In about 1 1/2 hours were leaving to go to Rock Springs. We're going to spend time with my family, go to the Bible Instruction course that my dad is teaching, have a Starbucks date, and go to the Chiropractor (whoo--hooo!!!!) My back has been messed up for quite awhile so I know that gettin a good old chiropractic adjustment is going to feel like coming home.. ahhhhhhh..... Seeing my family will be wonderful too. I thought when we moved to Kemmerer that we would see them more often but somehow life fills up fast and there is no time to go to Rock Springs. So it will be good to talk with them and laugh with them and catch up on life. The Bible Instruction course is a college level course that my Dad teaches every 6 years. It's like an Old Testament Survey class and New Testament Survey class combined. I kinda miss school and studying and tests ( i know i'm weird) so this class is going to be a fun challenge to take on. And then the Starbuc

I'm not a green-thumb but I do have a brain

What to write about? Hmmmm..... Let me think.....trees.....I think I'll write about trees. So I'm not a huge fan of trees. In fact when we lived in Iowa I hated them. There was an overabundance and they were more work than they were worth. Now that we live in Wyoming I'll have to admit trees have grown on me some (no pun intended) There aren't as many out here in the west and the few that do exist seem to have fewer and smaller leaves, which means less raking and more of everything else in life. So, regardless of all of that, my main gribe with trees is really with people. People who either plant trees or allow them to grow need to seriously evaluate their location. There is a phenomenon that I have observed in Iowa and Wyoming and that is - trees taking over homes. We all know that trees grow yet it seems that the majority of people forget that fact when they plant trees. Home after home after home has some full grown tree that has consumed their front windo

Updates

I don't have a whole lot of time, but I don't want to lose my faithful readers so I figured I better blog real quick. Here's a few highlights: actually this is a lowlight - I have an ear infection. This is the third one in 4 months. So once again I'm on antibiotics and I'm hoping that this go around kicks the infection. On Saturday Jadon and I went to Provo, Utah and watched the Wyoming vs. BYU football game. Wyoming got stomped, but it was still fun. I have to admit that I people watched way more than I football watched. You see all sorts of people at big events like that. Somehow the 6 largest men in the stadium all managed to purchase tickets for seats in the same row. They were in the row right in front of us and it's a wonder they managed to stay on the bleachers for the entire game. That row was busting at the seams. Maybe they were the backup players for BYU or Wyoming. Yesterday Jadon and I ran 12 miles. We're getting ready for a 1/2 marath

Good Reads!

I just started reading a new book and Jadon and I started reading two new devotionals so I figured I'd comment on them in case you want to check them out. The new book is called "Cries of the Heart" by Ravi Zacharias. I've only made it through half of the first chapter but I can tell that I'm going to enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Ravi Zacharias is a deep thinker and I like that. I like reading something and going WOW! I'll let you know what I learn as I move through the book. Jadon also bought two new devotional books and they are both wonderful. One is collection of writings by Martin Luther and the other is collection of writing by C.S Lewis. The devotional for today in the book by C.S. Lewis was about temperance. Lewis said that temperance isn't just not drinking alcohol. He said that temperance involves all of life, it's about doing everything in moderation. We can overindulge in lots of things and let them control us instead of God.

What to do with a Sunday Afternoon

I don't know if anyone else can relate but Sundays are wonderful and hard at the same time. Church went great today. There were 40 people in the service, the singing was great, the message was great (go Jadon woo! woo!), I loved seeing everyone and talking before and after the service.... but..... then I'm drained. I always come home after church pumped up and then about 1:30 it all catches up to me and I'm done in. The thing is that I don't know what to do with myself. If you are a "napper" that's when you take your Sunday afternoon nap, if you are a "football watcher" that's when you watch football. The problem is that I am a "goer" that means that I like to go, go, go. So when I'm completely pooped I don't know what to do with myself. It actually reminds me of our dog Maya before she lays down to sleep. She paces and paces and acts so agitated and then she collapses on the floor. That's how I feel. I try and

That shouldn't happen

Have you ever seen those warnings on appliances that say things like, "do not use in the rain" "do not place animals in microwave" "do not toast metal" "do not place clothes in dishwasher" "mower not intended for use on carpet" etc. There are lots of them and they always make me think, "who would do that?" Those things should be self-explanitory. Like, how stupid do the manufacturers think I am. Well I have something to tell them. It's a warning right back at them and goes like this, "DO NOT ALLOW MICROWAVE TO CONTINUE RUNNING WHILE THE DOOR IS OPEN" How about that? This morning I went for a run (yeah it was cold) and then drove by the church to say Hi to Jadon. While I was there I decided to make myself some oatmeal to warm up. I used the microwave in the church kitchen to heat it up. When I thought my oatmeal was done I opened the door to take the oatmeal out and low and behold the microwave continued

Micro - what? - dermabrasion

The rewards from the Wasatch Woman Run continue. Yesterday I had a message on my phone that said that my name had been drawn from the Wasatch Woman Race and I won a free MICRODERMABRASION from Avanti. My first thought was, "awesome, something free" Then I realized that I have no idea what Microdermabrasion is. In fact it doesn't sound like something pleasant. Something small and abrasive, that's not exactly my idea of fun even if it is free. A few different things come to mind when I think of tiny abrasive things - rocks in my shoes, dirt in my eyes, the clock ticking at night, popcorn kernels in my teeth, tapping fingernails during my ACT test, bug bites.... There are a lot of small abrasive things in life and actually all of them have been free. The only difference is that I was never called in advance about any of the other ones, they just happened. Still not knowing exactly what Microdermabrasion is and not liking the sound of it, I began to ponder it more.

Miss Wasatch Me Wun And Win Wace

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Ok, so I'm not the "MRS.WASATCH WOMAN" but I am "MISS WASATCH WOMAN" A new trend in running is "all women races". I've read about a few of them and thought it would be fun to compete in one. So, I found out about the only one in this part of the country - a 10K race called "Wasatch Woman". I signed up for the race and decided to give the whole "all women" thing a shot. So yesterday Jadon and I woke up at 4:30 am and drove to Salt Lake City for the race. I'll have to admit when we first got there I thought the amount of estrogen was overwhelming. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Just imagine 600 ladies decked out in running gear, talking, stretching, jogging in place, and just oozing girliness. Even though I'm a girl I gotta say that an all men race would be far less stressful. A bunch of girls before a race are just excited, talkative, perfumed, overgeared and underdressed balls of anxious energy. I hope I