Let's Play Catch Up

(Welcome to the longest blog post ever)

My First...and NOT My Last Marathon

I completed my first marathon end of September up in Logan. I was quite nervous the day before/day of because I hadn't trained as much as planned--what's new? I didn't know quite what to expect or how my body would respond.

But...I LOVED it!

At about mile 17 my legs started to give in. At that point I knew I'd have to do some walking/running intervals. The last couple miles were tough. I met a girl the last mile and we helped each other finish. I know, sweet. Oh and the worst part about it...I left my IPOD in my car and didn't have time to run back and get it before the race...I seriously wanted to cry. I rarely run without music--especially on a long run. Instead I met and talked to a lot of people along the way and surprisingly it went by pretty fast--the whole 4 1/2 hours. Before the race I kept telling everyone I just wanted to do one marathon to say I've done one, and that this would be my fist and last. But after such a great experience, I plan on doing one every year. Oh and can I just say, it was a perfect day (weather wise)!

I also ran a half-marathon in Boise with my mom and siblings in November. The hardest half I've ever run. Quite miserable actually. Straight uphill several times for several miles. This was my mom's fist half and I told her we should never do that one again--that I have some other ones in mind for her that are much better--assuming sh'es going to do another one next year haha. I was so proud of her for running her first half at age 50. Go mom! And proud of my sister, Kendall for running her first half too.
I just started training for another marathon in April (possibly). And a 180-mile realy race along the coast of California. Should be fun!

Las Vegas BabyIn November we spent a weekend in Las Vegas. Josh (my brother-in-law) had some hockey games down there so we made our annual trip. We stayed at a condo just a couple miles off the strip--thank goodness--I hate walking through the smoke-filled casinos in all the hotels on the strip. We went to hockey games both nights. They lost but it was fun. We hit the m&m store, coca cola sotre, and all that jazz along the strip. We went to some outlet malls (where we found a kiosk with every possible sunglasses you could imagine). We also ate at the ESPN restaurant. Some drunk guy was making finger puppets on the big screen. Quite hilarious really...since the game was already over. And of course we made it to the Bellagio water show--several times at my request. Everyone (Josh) makes fun of me because a couple years ago I got a little teary-eyed when we were watching the water show to "God Bless the USA".

Josh: "Tracy, are you...are you crying?"

Me: "Uh no...ok maybe."

Whatever. I don't care. I was just having a moment. Honestly, I think I was on birth control. Enough said. Don't freak out, it was for acne.

PC

Every year it is tradition to have a girls' weekend in Park City after Thanksgiving. Usually Blakc Friday weekend. But since we were all in Idaho for Thanksgiving, we went the following weekend. We (Aunt Rhonda, Amy, Janelle, Jasmine, Kendall, and I) drove up Friday afternoon. Shopped all day and night. By 9 o'clock we were starving. Ate dinner at a delish Mexican restaurant (can't remember the name--by the Marriott). We headed back to the hotel for some swimming hot tubbing. And then to bed. Shopped some more the next day then headed home.

All that shopping was exhausting. But what a fun weekend! And not to mention so many great deals! Love these girls!

I Quit...I Quit...I QUIT!

I quit my job (Dec 11 to be exact). Finally. Long overdue. I decided after 4 years of nannying, that was enough. My goal in life was never to be a nanny for life haha. I already miss the kiddos. But the great thing is I can go back to visit and not have to do the dirty work. Of course I am a bit stressed because I am out of a job now. But more than anything, I am relieved. And look forward to a change. Bring it.

Mele Kalikimaka

That's right! The whole fam spent Christmas in Hawaii--Oahu and the Big Island. Thank you Mom and Dad! We loved it! The weather was perfect. Not too hot, nice breeze. Only one cloudy/stormy day. Of course we spent a lot of time at various beaches. But we also went parasialing, snorkeling, and on a canoe ride. We went to an active volcano and a beautiful waterfall. Places that made the top 3 on my list were (all located on the Big Island):

Waipio Valley

Pearl Harbor

Punaluu Black Sand Beach

After Hawaii we had a day of rest at home before we headed to SNOWY McCall, ID. We spent New Year's Eve and Day there. New Year's Eve celebration included sledding (with make-shift sleds, aka plastic garbage bags), snow angels, swimming, tubbing, movie and games galore...oh and of course stuffing ourselves with some amazing food. New Year's Day we hit the slopes!

What a break! I so enjoyed the vacations and the few days spent at home I love my fam! It just doesn't get any better than this.

Well there ya have it. I'm caught up. Can't get after me anymore.

L-O L-O L-O L-O-V-E LOVE

I love food. I can easily pinpoint my favorite food. And that is…CHEESE. Pretty much any cheese. Besides the rotten or foul-tasting/smelling ones (i.e. bleu cheese). But I’m up for trying any cheese, any way you want it—plain slices/cubes/grated, melted, dips, squeaky, soft cheeses—you name it I want to try it. Love it all! Believe it or not, when I was younger, I would ask for my own block of cheese for my birthday. We always had cheese in the fridge, but I wanted my very own. I can’t go a day without it. Believe me I’ve tried…there was a time I thought I may have been lactose intolerant so I decided to stay away from dairy. Yeah right. That lasted maybe a day.

My second love is cereal. So much that I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I used to be a pretty picky eater…not so much anymore (and it shows—thank goodness for exercise). If I didn’t like what we were having for dinner, I ate a bowl of cereal. And could have eaten it all day, but my mom restricted me somewhat. Hardly a day goes by without cereal in the AM. I love other breakfast foods, but not for breakfast. Nothing beats a big bowl of cold cereal in the morning…along with a banana. (Gotta have that potassium. I attribute my daily banana eatage in the morning for never having a bloody nose…that’s right Not once. Never. At least not to my knowledge.)

And I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for my real TRUE love. Well that/it/he hasn’t come along. Maybe one day. Maybe. And maybe just maybe he’ll take first place. We’ll see.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Ok so lately I have THE WORST sleeping habits.

For one I don't go to bed til 1, 2...even 3 am. Terrible. But I do make the cut-off 3am.

For two, I can't sleep in anymore. At all. My body is too used to the work week I guess. I don't set my alarm Sat/Sun but I still wake up around 8am. Lame. Maybe if I laid in bed for awhile longer I would fall back asleep--since clearly I do not get enough sleep each night. But I can't lie in bed awake. I get too antsy. Things to do. People to see. Places to go. You get my drift.

For three, as a result I am addicted to napping--anytime, anywhere. Actually I love multiple naps. Even if it's only 10 minutes and I wake up feeling like death--my eyeballs feeling like bowling balls. But still so worth it.

But seriously...

Time to change things. I'm hoping this post will give me motivation to change my terrible habits. Here's to getting at least 6 hrs sleep a night...it's a start.

GOOD night!

*I am so against a blog post without at least one pic...I'll come up with something later. Clearly not going to get 6 hours of sleep tonight but I'll try tomorrow. Really I will.

On a Bicycle Built for Two

Today is a great blogging day...sick in bed.

On my day off yesterday, my friend (Kel) and I rented a tandem bike from BYU and headed up the canyon. Riding a tandem bike is always an adventure…ALWAYS.

I wanted to try riding in the back (I just learned this position is called the "stoker"). I usually take the lead (aka “captain”) because you have steering control. I have tried the back several times, but usually have a "freak-out" moment because I have no control--I want to move the handle bars left and right, but can’t. So we start out on Campus Drive--where the whole world is--where the sidewalks are crowded. Bad idea. Terrible place to attempt the stoker position. Let’s just say I’m sure I made someone’s day…or many. I put my feet up on the pedals. We wobbled forward a few inches and I immediately put my feet down and kept stepping trying to gain balance while Kel was continuing to pedal. I was screaming, she was screaming...basically creating a huge scene and I'm sure some comic relief. Both laughing hysterically (Kel saying that I had better stop or she was going to wet her pants…she’s going to kill me), I had to move to captain's position. But I am proud to say that once we got through the crowded sidewalks, and onto the Provo trail, I moved back to the stoker position…AND…SUCCESS!

Unfortunately…

The trip came to an end early. For the longest time we thought the tire was wobbly. In fact Kel and I conversed back and forth for over an hour about what could be wrong with the bike. Why we didn't get off the bike and check it out at this point? I don't know. I guess we were just having too much fun. But then it got to the point where I thought the whole wheel was going to come off. I had these visions of us flying off the bike and face planting it, or something terrible like that. The whole time I was thinking "we should have taken the helmets, we should have taken the helmets." That's right. We weren't wearing helmets. Not smart. Anyway, we finally decided to stop and get off the bike. And what did we find? A completely flat tire. Upon returning the bike, they inspected it and said it was partly their fault because the spokes were out of whack??? Thank you Jon for rescuing us! We owe you big time!

Reasons one should go on a tandem bike ride:

• · Sick of being unnoticed? Forgotten? Do it…everyone will stare and even smile…especially if you put bright red gloves on
• · Are you sad?...you’ll laugh…non-stop…hysterically…I don’t know why but it happens every time
• · What one change could you make to revitalize your health, relationships, and sense of well being?...Believe it or not, the answer could be a tandem bicycle. It will open up a lifetime of fun, closeness and shared memories.
• · Are you too competitive? Tandeming is the answer - it's the one activity allowing optimal workouts for both of you. Instead of working out alone, holding back or competing head-to-head, you're a team with a common goal. And because tandeming is fun (some would even say romantic), it's quality time worth repeating.
• · Need a date idea? What better way to get to know someone than riding with them on a completely ridiculous and presumably extremely complicated face-to-face tandem bike? This bike is the result of a year's worth of hard work by a Taiwanese inventor. It does include some nice features like being able to rotate the seats so it can be ridden back-to-back when the first date goes awry.
• · …and there’s the notion that you should try everything once (you’ll get hooked believe me)

Now that's what I call B-A-U-tiful

I absolutely adore Stewart Falls. And this last trip end of September was by far my favorite! I have never seen so many colors up there. We hiked it early afternoon on a weekday so there was really no one there…besides a few friendly femme/gay guys (I am guessing the latter—99% sure). They were so so friendly and insisted on taking a few (ok it ended up being far more than a few) pics for us.

I hike it every year—multiple times—and it never gets old. Never. If you’ve never hiked it before, it’s a shame. And you must go there soon. It’s an easy 2-mile in 2-mile out (obviously) hike. You won’t regret it. Chances are you’ll be hooked and make it a tradition as I have done.

*Oh and by the way, for any of you who don't know where it's at...up the Provo Canyon past Sundance. The trailhead starts just past Aspen Grove.

Isn't this enough to make you wanna go?

It's a...BIRD!

I had the privilege of going with my uncle Ed to fly falcons out in Cedar Valley one early (Did I mention EARLY?...6:45 to be exact) Saturday (Did I mention EARLY and SATURDAY in the same sentence?) morning. But it was so worth it. Once in a lifetime opportunity.

He brought two falcons. Walker and….dang it…I can’t remember the other bird’s name. ..probably because I favored Walker. He flew the best. Not kidding. It’s amazing to watch. Walker made his rounds soaring upward maybe to 700 ft (that was a complete guess). Then Ed released a live quail (aka prey). That falcon dove down so fast I almost missed it. Caught it’s prey mid-air and then landed. Ok my description is terrible. You just have to see it yourself. If you’re wondering why I don’t have any pics of this action…I couldn’t take my eyes off the bird. It was hard to keep track of the bird in the first place due to the sun peaking over the mountain. If I ever get the privilege to go again maybe I’ll try to get some video footage. Afterwards I did get some pics with them though.

A few other “bird flyers” (that is my choice title for them…or maybe “bird enthusiasts”…ok I’m not creative…at all) also showed up 15 minutes after we arrived. So they helped us fly our falcons and then we did the same. Ed knew them—“Bird flyers” are pretty much their own community. Some fly their birds in competitions. My uncle just does it for fun. He flies his birds 3 or 4 times a week. In fact the other guy (whom I found out knows my dad and his siblings from high school—it’s a small world) used a massive (and I mean massive—I estimate about 5’x5’) helium balloon to fly his bird. Now you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about. So he attaches the prey to the balloon, then hoists the balloon about 700 feet in the air (they can actually hoist it to about 1500 ft), and then let’s the falcon go. The falcon circles his way up to catch the prey, and then the balloon is lowered. I know, you never knew such a thing existed…I knew nothing about this either, for lack of better term, “bird world”. Fascinating huh. Ok maybe this is all so boring to you. But that’s because you haven’t seen it for yourself. I hope you get the chance one day.

They're beautiful...pics just don't do justice

Amberly Dawn Rupp

Today is Amber's birthday. She would have been 28.

First memory of you that came to my mind today...When I came down to BYU for EFY. We came down a couple days early and you took my friend and I to float the Provo River, out to eat, and I don't remember exactly what else, but I just remember having the time of my life. You let us tag around with you and all your friends. In fact, I think this trip with you was a major factor in my decision to attend BYU. The last day of EFY you had Krispy Kreme donuts delivered to my dorm room. So delish! So thoughtful of you and completely made my day.

Thank you for the wonderful example and influence you were and continue to be in my life. I can't forget your contagious laughter, your love for reading and history and anything outdoors, your love for singing (especially Disney songs) despite the fact you could hardly carry a note, your incredible bread-making/baking skills, your willingness to try new things (including ballet) when you were so uncoordinated, your determination to be the first to learn to slalom and win 50 bucks, your endless selfless service, your determination and desire (since you were 12 yrs old) to serve a mission, your unwaivering faith, your vast knowledge of the gospel--particularly the scriptures--you could rattle off any scripture.

Thank you Amber. You have left a great legacy. You are the kind of person I want to become. It only took you 20 years, but it will take me an entire lifetime. I miss you and can't wait for our reunion. I love you.

(Amber giving me a piggy-back)