live.survive.thrive.

I think I'm finally to the point that I can call myself a "REAL RUNNER"  I've been running with my  good friend Connie for the last few months and she has whipped me into shape. I went from barely making it to 3 miles to running 7....uphill....and ENJOYING IT! 

seeing a hill and thinking "I can totally run up that"-CHECK

running so much I have blisters on top of blisters- CHECK

bleeding in your shoe from above mentioned blisters popping-CHECK

running too much too soon causing injury-CHECK

The last one not so excited about. About 3 weeks ago I was running and after 5 miles my leg started to hurt {BAD} I had to limp home the last mile.  I had earned myself a nasty shin splint and HOLY COW it hurts! Bring on the ice and ibuprofen! I was really worried cause I had already signed up for a 5k and I could barely walk let alone run! So I rested my leg best I could (meaning no running but I still had to work 12 hour days) and prayed really hard.  

This last Saturday was THE BIG DAY, it was the AF CANYON 5k to raise money to support/help fight cancer. All the money raised would help those who couldn't afford to pay for cancer treatments.

My hot athletic trainer :) taped my leg before the race 

Nick had a special blue running bib that said

SURVIVOR I was so proud

See that hill? Ya, we totally conquered it!

This was what I had been training for:

It was a grueling mile #2

It was the downhill that killed me, my leg started to hurt. I pushed through the pain as best I could but the last 200 yards it was getting to be too much and I had to slow down.

We finished with a time of 29:13 our best time yet! Not bad considering I was running on a injured leg (and did you see that hill?!) Nick was the first cancer survivor to cross the finish line!

We had some AWESOME and SUPER CUTE support to cheer us on at the finish line (2 of Nick's nephews). Nick's uncle ran the half marathon and came in 2nd place for his age group

WAY TO GO UNCLE KELLY!

Kelly told us that before the half started they shared stories from cancer survivors and they told Nick Whiting's story! (I had submitted his story when I was registering us for the race)

As soon as we finished and stopped running my leg was KILLING ME and I could barely walk again. Thank goodness for ibuprofen! I'm resting up and praying it will recover, I really want to run on the 4th of July. I was hoping to run the 10k but I don't think my leg will let me so I might just do the 5k. 

Sometimes when we are faced with some of our most difficult trails, the Lord sends angels to lift us up, give us hope, a sympathetic ear that will listen and a shoulder to cry on, someone to help us realize that we're not alone.  Recently, several of those angels in the forms of good friends and family have come into my life.  This morning I came back from my day at the temple and in an effort to try to stay awake I just happen to check my facebook and saw that one of my new friends shared a link to this article:

 http://www.ldsliving.com/story/64783-infertility-when-children-dont-come-easily

Sometimes it's hard for me to say what I'm thinking or share what I'm feeling, and I get the feeling that a lot of my fertile family and friends don't know what to say to me. It's the GIANT baby elephant in the room.  Fertile or infertile, married or single- read it and educate yourself, 15% of couples struggle with infertility. 

Class of 2011

2 weeks ago Nick's youngest sister Lacee graduated from American Heritage High School (it's a private school in AF- right across the street from the MntTimp Temple)  It was a nice ceremony, they even had Elder Dallin H. Oaks speak.  It was a little long (for only having 25 kids graduate, it was still 2 hours!) but ALL graduations are long I guess and that's what you do for family. We are so proud of Lacee and super excited for what lies ahead for her- REAL LIFE! :)

FunkyFreshSrChoir

I'll admit it I'm a GLEEK! Glee has become a guilty pleasure

 I love the music anything from Broadway and classic musicals to 

Bruno Mars, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga

I also love old people (they keep me working!) 

BUT I do not think Glee and senior citizens should mix

exhibit A:

  I personally think they saved the best song for last.

Could you even watch the entire thing? It's almost painful to watch

And just in case you where wondering,

YES they are available for your next party

Race For Red

This is a 5k sponsored by the heart services at the hospital to raise heart health awareness and it was this last Saturday.  It was my goal this year (for work and personally) to run it.  I also talked some of my family into doing it with me (part of my work goal was to increase participation)

I've been running with my good friend Connie (who is a "real" runner and trying to make me a "real" runner-haha) for the last month-ish. I've never run before and this was my first 5k ever.  I didn't do as well as I had hoped (my goal was to do it around 28 minutes) my official time was 29:55  I was super nervous before the race even started and psyched myself out (running is so much a mental game). Connie had to work so she didn't get to run it but Nick and my sis-in-law Lisa (who is also a runner- she ran a half marathon pregnant with her 4th) ran with me and they were awesome support. 

Don't look too closely at this pic, I look awful running! 

 Notice Nick and Lisa look so happy

(I looked like I was in some sort of horrible pain)

 Emily was just a little bit behind us

Emily, Me, Nick and Lisa

 Here come Chrissy and Marie

Nick, Me, Emily, Maire and Chrissy

 Group pic of the cardiac service line 

MDs, PAs, RNs, PCTs, HUCs, RTs
I'm in there somewhere :)

 YAY! we did it!

My parents and Nick's parents were at the finish line to cheer us on. It was a lot of fun to have my family and work family there.  I even caught the running bug, I've already signed Nick and I up for another race in June, I have a goal to meet! 

An Eternal Perspective

My sis-in-law sent me an email with a link to this blog.  I've never meet or even heard of this family until 3 days ago.  I don't normally do this but their story touched me deeply maybe because I'm all sensitive to the whole trails and faith testing stuff right now, this is in no way related to any of the trials that we are facing currently but does help me to realize the big picture and what is truly important.  It is a story of faith, courage and a true eternal perspective. You have (no NEED) to read it!  WARNING: have a box of tissues ready 

www.dennyandwendy.blogspot.com

Vegas Cont.

So I just realized that these posts are going to be out of order.....sorry

Las Vegas cont.

We saw the LION KING and it was AMAZING!

From the powerful opening scene with the cast singing

 "The Circle of Life" to the curtain closing at the end we both 

had goosebumps! Totally, totally recommend it and it was VERY clean

 (especially for Vegas)

We spent some time poolside soaking up some vitamin D. It's been 9 months since we've had any sunshine therefore we did not take pictures of our chubby white bodies :)

Walked around the Las Vegas Temple

So apparently Marie Osmond got married here the same day, we didn't know until we were watching TV and it was all over the news. We missed them by a few hours!

Visited Venice 

Nick surprised me and agreed to see another show:

It was INCREDIBLE! So this is the THIRD time I've seen it but I still LOVE it! Nick said he really enjoyed it too--he even said he would pay to see it again! We purchased cheap tickets that were in the back and off to the side.  When we walked in the lady asked us if we wanted to sit closer since it wasn't a sold out show.  We ended up sitting in the middle, 12 rows from the front! The chandler was right above us and looked like it was going to fall on top of us. 

Saw Rome in a day

 Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity since we can't go to NY we'll try it in Vegas! It was super yummy but kinda pricey,  I need to figure out how to make it at home

 Driving home after some much needed R&R