SYTYCD

This season has been enjoyable. I still think I liked last season a little better, or at least the choreography, however, I was surprised that Evan made it into the top 4. I think Evan is a good dancer but I thought Ade should have made it in.

I guess people really want Evan to win. Seriously though, Brandon should be the easy top male vote catcher (especially with his solo from Wed night) and the girls it is more difficult to decided. But... I think I like Jeanne more.

Here's a question. Last year they had and boy and girl winner. Do you think they will do that again for this season? And why hasn't Wade Robson done more choreography this season?

Plate

For Enrichment we made decorative plates. My blue plate was not nearly as great as some other plates that girls made but it was a great activity.

We did a Trash to Treasures theme.
The plates were bought at a thrift store. Spray paint at Home Depot. Design from a mailing label that I drew on than cut out and placed on the plate.

Easy, fun, inexpensive project.

Welcome Samantha

Sweet Samantha (Sammy) Hyde (Carly and Jeff) was born on July 28th, 2009. We are so excited to have our 10th niece born. She is a sweet heart. We can't wait to get back to Seattle so that we can see her.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Our ward went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house last week. It was very delightful. It is such a beautiful temple (all temples are) and it had great upholstered furniture through out. The scenery was great and we are glad we had the chance to go.

Pioneer Day

Went to the Lindon Aquatic center for the third time--still amazing. We easily spent 4 hours there. Adam stayed on the Flo Rider the entire time. By the end, he was really getting it.
I have a feeling that we will back soon.

After the pool, we had a wonderful BBQ/farewell with some of our friends because J & S will be moving to Vegas soon.

Of course there were fireworks. What would Pioneer Day be without them. We didn't know what the fireworks would look like so it was extra exciting once they went off.

Sorry the picture is so bad, but there we all are enjoying the fireworks.

First my race, then the pool, BBQ, and finally the fireworks. I would say we spent out Pioneer day quite well. How was your day off?

Race

I did it! I completed my first 10k race. It was awesome!

The race was the Deseret Morning News Marathon/10K. The course was really fun and the last three miles were lined with people waiting for the Days of 47 parade so they cheered everybody on and sprayed water on us as we ran by.

Proof that I finished.

While I was running I thought to myself at about mile 4, I don't need to run a race like this ever again. But when I reached the finish line I thought differently. I couldn't wait to sign up for the next race. I love it! It was such an amazing feeling at the end. I think I will run another race--but not any time real soon.

A very cheesy picture of me giving the VICTORY pose.

The race started at 6:00 am in Salt Lake City. This is right before the race.

Dad, me, and mom. They drove to SLC to cheer me on at the finish line. It was great to have family there to celebrate with.

8 weeks of training and a sore calf muscle later I accomplished my goal...and it was worth every second of it.

Some Thoughts

10k RACE
It is finally here! The 10K (6.2 miles) that I signed up to run is tomorrow. I am nervous/excited. Nervous because I have never run a 10k in my life and excited because I am finally going to accomplish this goal I set for myself. I am also somewhat excited because I have been training for 2 months for this race and I f eel like I have prepared myself. My training has looked something like this across the 8 week span each week getting harder. (I used Hal Higdon's training program).

Monday--30 min cross train to 45 min cross train.
Tuesday--2.5 mile run
Wednesday--Stretch and Strengthen
Thursday--40 min cross train to 60 min cross train
Friday--(hard day) 3 mile run to 5.5 mile run
Saturday--2 mile run and strength
Sunday-- Rest

This program has been really nice because I don't run everyday. It is a nice mix of biking, walking, elliptical, running, and weights. In other words, it didn't wear me out.
For those of you who like to exercise, you know that daily repetition in working out is not the best way. You have to continually confuse your muscles so that they don't plateau and get used to the exercises. This program was perfect muscle confusion and I kept seeing improvements.

I also noticed that I have started sweating a lot more in the past 3-4 weeks than I usually did. I mentioned this to my friend and she said, "gross". But I remember hearing that if you sweat more it means you are healthier. I Googled it to be sure and this is what I read--in less words.

If you are fit you will sweat not only sooner and more, but also effectively. Fit people are able to keep their internal temperature lower due to efficiently sweating.

Now I don't feel so bad for sweating more. But it doesn't mean that I like it.

However, I am glad that I set this goal of to run the 10k. Because let's face it, having the summer off I didn't have a ton I really had to do. Thus, more time to work out when I please.

On, another note where has summer gone? It is seriously already July 23rd. School starts in less than a month!

Guns

Adam took me shooting last night with his friend Brent. This was my first experience EVER shooting a gun. I had never even really touched one until this year when Adam got his gun. I was a little nervous but I actually had a lot of fun shooting--plus, I seem to have very accurate aim.

Adam shooting Brent's hunting Rifle--the scope on this gun was awesome.

I took a shot at a clay pigeon with this shot gun.

Adam with the shot gun. You can see the clay pigeon in the upper left corner.

Brent with his little boy Charles. His boys were great. They shot the rifle and the BB gun. His boys are really cute.

Me shooting Adam's 40 Cal.

Adam shooting the 40 cal.

We shot on the other side of Utah Lake. For some reason the lake looked blue and was so much prettier from the west side. It was an enjoyable evening to say the least.

Purchases and Potter

Friday we started off with the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. What a wonderful event! I went with Sandra in the morning and we found way to many cute things.

I have recently found a liking to Thai food, so we went to Bangkok Grille with the Sanfords for dinner. Then we went back in the evening to Nordstrom and found these hot colored sunglasses(above).

We then saw Harry Potter with Sanfords and the Barlows. This Harry Potter movie is one of the best. We all really liked it even though only Garret, Leanne and I have read the books.

Sandra and PJ

Garret and Leanne.
I think Garret, more than anyone else, was most excited about the movie.

Saturday we played the great game of Sequence with the Muainas. Adam won of course. Sorry no pictures.

Lindon Aquatic Center

Spent the day here, with my sister Kerrie who is visiting from Logandale, Nevada for the week. Due to the hot whether we decided to try out the new Aquatic center in Lindon. My opinon, it is really clean and kid friendly. If you have kids I would recommend going.

Sis and Jace. It was so fun to be with them all day today. Jace is such a cutie.

Jackson Hole

We spent the weekend in Jackson hole with the Alders, Sandfords, and Howells. Main purpose in going was to Raft the Snake River--which by the way was awesome!

We left Friday night and ended up getting to Jackson at dusk. Since our campsite, at Colter Bay, was 45 min from Jackson we got there when it was dark. Lucky us, we got to set up our tent in the dark.

We brought a 7-man tent for four people. Thus, allowing us to use blow-up air mattresses. I think the poeple camping next two us didn't appreciate us blowing up our mattresses at 11:30 pm. At, least we slept well.

Adam, Burke, Chelsea

Our campsite at Colter Bay.

These would be the Tetons. Burke kept calling them the Tetes for short. They are very amazing! Different from Mountains in Utah because they are covered in pine trees.

Saturday Morning Adam made yummy french toast.

Then we headed off to Mad River, the rafting company we used to as our guide down the Snake.

Since the water was 45 degrees we all got wet suites. Call me a sissy but I am glad I had it on. I made getting in the water more bareable.

The guys took at quick trip to K-mart and bought everybody bandanas. PJ coined our group as the Bandana Bandits. Fitting.

After the white water rafting, we strolled through the town of Jackson. Adam whistled the tune of Jonny Cash's song "Jackson" for our enjoyment.



Chelsesa, Me, Alesha, Sandra

Lunch at the Cadillac Grill.

We saw a lot a wildlife. Including buffalo, antelope, deer, moose, elk, and wolf.

We stopped at this look-out point to get a good view of the Tetons.


Jackson Lake was our next stop. The mesquitoes were crazy at the lake but it was worth seeing.

I ventured down this slope of dirt, in my flip flops, for a little adventure to get to the lake and to this....

Tree stump in the water.
The view from the stump of the lake was beautiful. The water was clear and the pictrues were worth it. Sandra, Chelsea, and Burke ended up joining me on the stump too.

This was such a fun trip. I am so glad Sandra had the idea to go rafting. It was a blast going with the friends we went with and the stories told around the campfire were unforgettable.