I Finished the Half Marathon 1:59:24

Ok, and just for the record a guy handing out water at one of the water stops dumped a whole cup of water on me (this should explain the awkward "sweat" mark)!
I finished the Salt Lake Half Marathon--13.1 miles!! My friend Joni and I ran together most of the way. The race started up at the University of Utah and I couldn't believe how many people were there! The half marathon and marathon started at the same time and I heard there were over 10,000 people in the race. There was a gospel choir (swaying in robes and all) singing at the starting line, and all along the race course there were people cheering, singing, playing instruments, and one guy was even cooking a bacon breakfast in his front yard (not a good thought or smell when you're running)! My dad ran the race too, but somehow in the huge crowd we lost him from the very beginning! He did really well, though and he finished right at 2 hours and 33 seconds. My friend Joni finished in an hour and 56 min. I had a goal to finish under 2 hours and I did it!!! My final time was 1:59:24. Barely made it--but I made it, right?! My overall pace time was a 9:06 mile. I must've been running faster at the beginning because at about mile 11 when we turned onto State Street downtown it was a steady incline and I was running SO SLOW! I kept telling myself to keep going though because I had to finish under 2 hours! (The lady that told me I couldn't do it in under 2 hours TOTALLY motivated me!) The last quarter mile the course runs through the gateway and there were TONS of people lining the street. Steve brought the kids and my mom was also there to cheer me on at the finish line. It was definitely the funnest race I've ever run (except that uphill part--I could do without that). Now I'm dealing with being more sore than I can ever remember and two of my toenails are going to fall off in the near future (gross, I know).

Saturday's Race!

I finally did it--I signed up for the Salt Lake half marathon this Saturday! My mind was made up that I had to do it when I mentioned it to someone on Monday that I might do it and she replied with, "You haven't even trained", and "You were in a lot better shape last year", and "Don't set your goal time so fast--you'll be disappointed."

Oh my gosh! That fueled the fire and now I HAVE to do it!!! Joni signed up to do it with me and my dad will be running the race as well, so it should be fun! I hope I can make it! If anyone's at the Gateway around 9am look for me and Joni at the finish line!

Easter 2009

We had a really fun Easter this year. We woke up and the kids found their Easter baskets.

We went to church and I got to sing in the choir.

After church we headed to my parents' house for dinner. My grandpa and Phyllis were in town from California and Phyllis brought her sister, Ethel. It was Lori's birthday and we also celebrated my dad's birthday that is this week.

The kids all got to go on an Easter Egg hunt in grammy's back yard.

I had a little too much fun "sepia"-ing my pictures! I couldn't resist, though, with the brown fence in the background!

We also played a "money grab" game that my brother Jon made up. He sold his car the night before and so he had a bunch of cash and placed it all on the kitchen island. He got those sticky hand toys and had 2 people race against each other for 1 minute to see how many bills they could snatch without falling on the floor. I got $400 (too bad I couldn't keep it).

Michael was eating lunch today when I looked over and he was putting crackers in his mouth while his eyes were closed. He was totally falling asleep! You can see how drowsy he looks in this video!

Wicked Woes!

I'm sure that other experienced how hard it is to get tickets to Wicked, but seriously this is REDICULOUS!!! My cute hubby has tried so hard to get tickets for us to go. The morning they went on sale (back in December) he woke up at 4 am and went to Capitol Theater to stand in line. He finally got to the ticket office desk right before noon when they told him all that was left was Sunday tickets or a few random single tickets in the very back. Frustrated with nothing to show for it, he came home and took a nap!

Yesterday I had heard that if you go 2 hours before the show starts you can put your name in a drawing to get 2-$25 tickets. Steve headed over on his lunch break and put his name in with hundreds of other people and we totally weren't expecting to get them--but we did!!!!!!! Oh wait, no we didn't! (It would've been really exciting, though, right?) Then they released a few tickets for that nights showing and so he stood in line again and when he got to the ticket office window--you guessed it--the person right in front of him got the last tickets!!! RRRRrrrrrrrrrRRRRR! Thanks for trying though, Steve--you're the best!

I guess it's just not meant to happen! We'll just keep enjoying the CD! The good news is that I've heard that they will probably bring Wicked back to SLC since it sold out so fast. I think they should let everyone that's never seen it get first dibs on the tickets. I'm not bitter, though! :)

Nickel Auction

I saw this idea for a "nickel auction" on Studio 5. I think this would be so fun to do at a family reunion or as a get together with friends. You bring some items you never use (they gave examples of old clocks, picture frames, groceries, clothes, books, etc) and you bring a little bit of cash to use for bidding and then each person that comes to the auction takes 10 minutes to auction their items off. You can read more about it here:

http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=55&sid=6065138

Draper Temple Dedication

Today I had an unforgetable experience as I went to the Draper Temple dedication. My dad is the Stake President of the Sandy Utah East Stake, which is part of the new Draper Temple district. He got a letter from the First Presidency a couple weeks ago asking him to give the opening prayer at the Saturday afternoon dedication session. My mom was asked to be in the dedication choir and has been practicing for several months, so my dad had an empty seat next to him in the celestial room. Being the oldest paid off today and my dad invited me to sit with him in the celestial room! My other siblings also went and were able to sit in the baptistry and watch the dedication.

We had to get to the Stake Center that is next to the temple by 3 pm (we were actually there by about 2:40) and the dedication didn't even start until 4:30! The entire chapel was full, including the gym all the way back to the stage! Blue ticket holders waited in the chapel and my dad and I had white tickets so we waited in the High Council room along with a few others. While we were waiting in the High Council room I got to meet President Chamberlain, the temple president of the Jordan River temple. My mom is a Chamberlain so my dad asked him if we were related and sure enough they are cousins! We also met a younger "Tom Perry" while we were waiting who I'm pretty sure was Elder Perry's son.

At about 3:15 they had everyone head into the outside tunnel that connected to the temple. We waited inside the tunnel for about a half hour and got our booties to cover our shoes. Because there were 4 sessions of the dedication today (we were the 8th session of 12 over 3 days) we had to wait while the previous session came out of the temple and then they ushered us through the temple doors. There were chairs set up in every room of the temple and even in the foyers and hallways to accommodate those who had tickets. I heard there were about 1500 chairs set up in the temple. My dad and I headed upstairs to the celestial room where there were 106 chairs set up, along with an organ, podium, and cameras to broadcast it throughout the temple and to stake centers across the valley. The celestial room in the Draper Temple really isn't that big, but it is SO beautiful, and the ceiling is extremely high. We were seated on the 3rd row next to to the isle. There were 7 rows of chairs in the celestial room. I also sat right next to Elder Craig Christensen of the seventy and behind the new temple president. We waited for about 30 minutes in the celestial room as the ushers filled the room with people. They would find people (including families with younger children) who had blue tickets to come in and it was fun to see their faces as they wondered if they were in the wrong place when they came in. Just a couple minutes before the dedication began in walked President Thomas S. Monson, Elder Henry B. Eyring, Elder Richard G. Scott, and Elder Porter of the seventy all dressed in white suits.

Elder Eyring conducted the meeting and I have to say it was pretty cool hearing an apostle say my dad's name as he announced him to say the opening prayer! My dad did a great job! Brother and Sister Fitzgerald of the new temple presidency spoke along with Elder Scott, Elder Eyring, and Elder Porter. President Monson gave the dedicatory prayer and Elder Eyring did the hosanna shout.

My mom sang in the choir--a group of about 30. It sounded so beautiful in that room. The spirit was so strong and I will never forget the wonderful feelings I felt while being with my parents and the prophet in the celestial room of the temple. As the choir and congregation sang "The Spirit of God" and I tried to sing along I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. It was such a powerful experience.

After the dedication my dad and I headed outside to wait for my mom, Lori, Natalie, Jon, and Todd. (Steve stayed home with Michael and Kaitlyn so I could come--thanks honey!) It was amazing how many people my dad new there and it was fun to see him shake many, many people's hands in his stake as they came out of the temple and see that they felt the same amazing spirit.

We met up with the rest of the family and by this time there were only a handful of people outside the temple. I then realized that Pres. Monson would probably be coming out soon because there was a car waiting for him. Sure enough we watched Pres. Monson and Elder Eyring come out. President Monson then proceeded to have us all sing the end of the song "So Long Farewell" from the Sound of Music (you know...where the kids are singing at the ball over the banister and all the adults sing back) and they sing "Goodbye.....Goodbye....Goodbye....Goodbye". Oh yes, Pres. Monson had us all sing it--up to the very highest note--it was pretty funny.