Death Days

It is finals week at BYU...aka DEATH DAYS.
(I secretly always love college but these days prove quite the "test.")

MY LAST 3 DAYS:

8.5 hours of testing 

38+hours of studying (good thing i love learning or else it would have been torturous.)
7 classes completed and DOMINATED

Submitted My:

19 page research paper on polygamy

25 page professional education book

1 more day

1 more final
1 tired girl-but if I make it...

1 SWEET CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!

a thankful heart

I am home from college for the week. YAY! I came home to my glorious family, a week of relaxation and bonding, and "my" beautiful mountains and fall trees surrounding our home.

All that we behold is full of blessings.  ~William Wordsworth

My heart is over-flowing with gratitude this day. 

Among the millions of things I can list, I am deeply grateful for: 

 God, our Father, and His Loving Son, Jesus Christ.

My Family & Loved Ones.

Thanksgiving Day was absolutely amazing and.....a little 
 different than previous years......... this year has introduced
 quite a unique set of challenges and life changing
 experiences for my family and my extended family.  My 
 Grandparents decided to eat in Salt Lake today at Little 
 America before going back to their home to play games
 and let our bellies rest from our hard-core feasting. 

 Crab Leg Obsession.

 

 

Fondue...turned into lip gloss. 

(Avery is my teenage cousin in an 8 yr. old body. 

We are pretty much besties.)  

Who doesn't love a rich, chocolatey lip gloss, anyway?

My Grandparents are Angels from Heaven.

My Family=My Life.

A lot of the women are now going to go shopping together at 5:30am-not because we need anything desperately-we just LOVE to be together. Some call it insanity, others call it bonding, I call it LOVE.

Teach Me to Teach

I am freeeeeeeeeeee! Yet, I don’t feel so free; rather, I am going through withdrawals...from 276R.

276R was my life

…until now.

276R instilled a deep love and passion for teaching within me.

276R is a class.

A class that I went to for F-O-U-R hours E-V-E-R-Y day to learn how to become a teacher! 

I know, I know, I have heard every argument as to why any another career exceeds that of teaching but in all reality where would we be without teachers? I do recognize there are horrible teachers out there-we have all had our fair share of “Ferris Bueller teachers”-but I am talking about the powerhouse teachers.  I am talking about the teachers who have passion, charisma, and dedication; the teachers who empower their students to fight for a better future.  I am talking about the teachers who really care.

I am here to tell you…TEACHERS ARE INCREDIBLE.

After a series of fingerprinting and background checks, I was equipped with a badge, a BYU badge that allowed me to enter into the various schools to teach and observe. I studied and was trained, with 12 other stellar students, from a spunky professor about how I can become not just an ordinary teacher but a PHENOMENAL teacher :)

Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to teach numerous Social-Psychology lessons, lessons about Egypt-where I was able to show the students MY pictures of the historical artifacts and landforms they are currently studying…It still find it CRAZY to think I have been there…the Underground Railroad, Islam, Geography and units on Slavery in BYU classrooms and in REAL high school classrooms.  I still catch myself in awe as I teach in these college and high school classrooms.  

I am just a baby… but these are real students and they actually “enjoy” listening to me!

(I won’t mention the fact that I graduated…what…2 years ago? I will be straight up honest, without my name badge, I look like I fit right in there.)

From overflowing, psychology classrooms in public high schools… to barefoot (I am serious, the students don’t wear shoes and they sit on couches rather than in desks) eccentric, charter school Sex-Ed classes.  Needless to say, I have endured quite the spectrum of experiences.  

I have had the opportunities to teach psychology and history lessons to a college class several times so I could be critiqued by a. the students b. the professor c. it was recorded so I could watch and critique myself teach.  Joyous, eh?

The beautiful thing is…I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF 276R!

Although it consumed every part of my life, I have discovered a passion for this career. I love crazy teenagers. I love learning.  I love meeting new people. I love to help others. I love to talk. Ha.

-

 I often find myself staying up late in my room creating my OWN lesson plans.  My mother instilled in me some creativity and I AM USING IT BABY!!!!  I have let my creative juices flow as I think outside of the box to illustrate various principles.

I have created mock juries, poems, songs, showed live court testimonies, and at one point I turned off all the lights and used my running headlight and recited a narrative to my “fellow underground railroad buddies” as dogs (barking noises off of youtube) were hunting us down.  

I plan on continuing my education and going to graduate school. I would love to teach at an inner-city high school. I would also love to travel and teach in various countries abroad. Okay, it’s final, I will teach abroad. The possibilities are endless. I do not know where I will be in the next five years but that is what makes life so exciting.  

As for this moment…I love to teach.

I decided to throw this vid in.  I am obsessed. 

I am all about "powerhouse" teachers.

P.S. This film is based on a true story. There are teachers like this out there :)

 

26.2

St.George Marathon 

2011

After wearing out 2 pairs of running shoes, discovering dozens of new running routes and training for HUNDREDS of hours…I ran my FIRST MARATHON!

On Friday, seven of my friends and I caravanned down to race in the beautiful terrain of St. George. After feasting our face off with carbs, carbs and more carbs and getting lost in the desert for two hours, we finally arrived to a random cabin where we would spend the night before the marathon.

5:30am. We ate a light breakfast, Isaiah 41: 10&13, dressed in our racing gear, strapped on the energy-gu and piled into a small car to the starting line.  In the midst of the darkness, large lights pierced the night sky to reveal the starting line.  Music was blaring, thousands of runners were all gathered around small fires, large lines surrounded the bathrooms…and everyone was excitedly/nervously conversing.

6:45am- the gun went off…I had awaited this moment for months…I had to keep reminding myself… I am running a marathon!

Commonly receive advice: DO NOT start out too fast because you will feel it in the end.

So Chels and I started off with a comfortable pace and we ran and ran and ran our little hearts out.  Some miles were BLISS and some miles completely ROCKED my body.

After mile 15, Chels and I felt SOOOO good. We dominated the hills and pounded the flat ground.  It was an absolute MIRACLE that Chels’s legs were doing so well…she has been having IT-Band problems and shin splints.  Prior to the race, she received a priesthood blessing and was blessed to be healed.  Every mile proved to be a miracle.

Marathon Friend: we met an older gentleman who was currently running his 75^th Marathon…CRAZY!

Mile 21: I was feeling great and wanted to continue onward at a quicker pace.  Chels told me to go on.  Leaving Chels felt like part of me was gone, I ALWAYS run with Chels, ALWAYS.  I expected her to catch up in a few minutes, so I continued onward.

"I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart."-Mike Fanelli

Mile 24: I began to experience a PAIN never before experienced.  I was beyond the point of EXHAUSTION.  My body was slowly shutting down. I REFUSED to walk. I had trained my heart out and I was NOT going to give up now.  It was my heart that kept me going, everything else was failing me. The last mile was….DEATH. It felt like the LONGEST mile I had ever run.

To me, RUNNING IS SACRED. The veil becomes so thin.  You experience the power of one of God’s greatest creations, our bodies.

GOD IS THE REASON I FINISHED.

The last three miles….I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me finish, to help me put one foot in front of the other, to give me the strength to endure the pain.   Right as I was about to give in, I saw a few of my family members and friends cheering me on…I dug down deep and FINISHED. I DID IT! 

After incoherently waiting by the finish line for some time, my mom came up frantically searching for me to ask where Chels was. She said she felt like something was wrong, that Chels was in one of the ambulances driving by.  (It the hottest marathon St. George has ever had and tons of people were passing out and in dire circumstances that required assistance.) I told her not to worry, Chels was just behind me and she was still plugging along the last time I left her.  After a few more minutes, I looked up and saw men bringing out a stretcher from an ambulance.  All of a sudden I realized…CHELS WAS THE WOMAN LYING ON THE STRETCHER. I started to panic. I dropped everything I had in my hands and hysterically started pushing my way through the crowd to the stretcher.  Chels was flailing her arms and ranting about random things. She was COMPLETELY OUT OF IT. I had never seen her so rashly blunt and outspoken.  (We later found humor in it...my favorite thing she did: when a man was rubbing her painfully tight legs out, she kept saying, "OUCH, YOU ARE HURTING ME. I AM GOING TO KILL YOU." or" I AM A RUNNER. I AM NOT SICK. I SHOULD NOT BE IN THE SICK TENT. HA.) 

I found out she had passed out 800 yards from the finish line due to dehydration and pure exhaustion.  They asked me to stay with her because I calmed her down.  I sat by her side and rubbed her head and legs for a long while. I was emotionally and physically drained. I tried SO hard not to break down in front of her.  How could I have left her? I should have been there to catch and help her.  I should have been with her. I felt so much guilt.  I HATE seeing people I love suffer.  I had never seen Chels in such a horrific state; I did not know what to think or do. Spencer Anderson was an absolute ANGEL. I sent him to go get my mom. My mom and I just held each other and cried for a moment before she went into see Chels.  Today was just as emotionally exhausting as it was physically exhausting day.  It was a blessing we were right next to the ambulance when Chels came in.  We all sat by Chels for a few hours in the sick tent while the IV pumped fluids into her body and doctors cared for her every need.  Lesson: DRINK LOTS & LOTS OF WATER WHEN RUNNING A MARATHON!

Let me tell you, the sick tent is ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE.  People were dropping like flies on the course.  In the tent, runners were wailing, barfing, some passed out on the cots and grass and dozens were hooked up to IV’s.  

I kept thinking to myself…and we do this for fun?!  Ha.

We curled up on the grass for another hour until we could prepare to head home. We showered at a friend’s home and at 7pm we headed home with my mommy and Eliza.   

Despite the pain…it was a life-changing experience I will never, as long as I live, forget. I RAN A MARATHON. Running is part of my life. It is part of who I am. I would do it again…I will just wait a while :). We came home to enjoy conference…what a spiritual weekend!

The Dirty Dash - World's Muddiest Race

Before:

 

Dirty Dash: noun. A 10K that consists of running through meadows, wild mud fights, killer dog piles, untamed mud- wrestling, gigantic slip- and-slides, mud, mud, mud and more mud...

After :

 

Check It Out:

RED ROCK RELAY

I am going to report on one of the most epic weekend adventures I have ever experienced in my 20 years of living:

 

Two Days

2 Vans

187 Miles

12 Teammates 

140 Slays

23 hours 17 minutes

1 WIN…

The RED ROCK RELAY

    

The race begins at 11,000 feet at Brian Head Ski resort then travels Dixie Nat'l Forest, Cedar Breaks, Snow Canyon, St. George, and ends at the entrance to Zion National Park, totaling a whopping 187 Miles.

Meet the Sun Van of TEAM JIMMER:

Team Jimmer is comprised of 12 individuals divided into 2 vans. 

Dan, Eric, Tristram, Ryan, Chels and I were in the sun van and several other avid runner friends were in the other. (The Sun Van=Party Van...hence the random woman who wanted her picture with the notorious "Jimmer Van")

SO here is how our Red Rock Relay experience went:

Start Time: 10:10am on Friday Morning

Finished: 9:25am on Saturday Morning  

(AKA: Sleeping was not included in this weekend getaway)

Each van has 6 teammates and each teammate runs a leg ranging from 3 to 8 miles (depending on the level of difficulty). After each member runs they pass off the baton (aka the sacred slap bracelet) to the other van which does another 6 legs. The vans continue to leap frog back and forth until everyone has individually run three legs.  (Everyone runs about 18 miles by the end of the relay). 

Look at Chels ROCKIN' IT

The vans drop off their runner follow their runner cheering, giving water, splits, and moral support. Our van typically blared music and had a dance party every mile or so.  As exemplified by Dan, below in his "one-zie,"dancing.

 

We were P-U-M-P-E-D. 

We painted our bodies to show our team Spirit.

JIMMER #1 BABY 

Tris's mustache stayed on the ENTIRE TIME,

rain or shine.

Ryan had other motives...why not pick up an attractive, athletic woman at the same time?

We slept, ate, cheered, sweated, bonded, and lived in this van for the weekend as we traveled across Southern Utah...

Needless to say, Chels and I got a dang good glimpse of boy life. 

Farting, Burping, man-talk, you name it, we experienced it!!! 

The van smelt DELIGHTFUL.

Dan, Tris and Ryan are three of my best friends.

Chels and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them.   

They have wisdom beyond their years and humor that could kill.

We all share the same-crazy sense of humor...RARE...and we laugh, laugh 

and laugh. 

I think I burnt more calories laughing then running.

I will forever be grateful to each one of them=they have changed my life!!!!!

These picture capture their personalities quite well:

Yes, Dan wore those "holey" superman pjs the entire time. 

Yes, Tris seductively drinks water. 

Yes, Dan parked the cars to make them look like they were kissing. 

Yes, "Slim-Jim"  is the name of Dan's belly. (It replaced "chuck")

Yes, they'll whoop anyone in a dance competition...HIP THRUST MASTERS

  

I have 3 stories emulating the degrees of emotion experienced on this journey:

10:30pm on Friday we stopped at New Castle to get some food. We stopped at "Rokko's Pizza Shop"-the ONLY place to stop in New Castle. After inhaling a pizza or two, we all went to a church parking lot and slept in the van for an hour before we embarked on our nightly runs through the desert.  Well, long story short, that Rokko's Pizza literally "ROCKED" our bodies. Talk about a cleansing of the body. Those Port-o-Potties became our best friends. Nasty, I know, but it was absolutely HYSTERICAL. When you run, run, cheer, run, eat-crappy, and don't sleep, it really takes a toll on your body. 

Story 2: We ran our second legs in the desert from midnight until 3:00am. Of 209 teams, we were now in the lead! With the silence of the night, a single headlamp piercing the darkness and the light of the moon guiding our pathway, we ran for hours alone. I LOVED running at night, I could not help but thank God for creating such a beautiful world.  

After our second leg, we slept on lawn chairs in a rec-center next to a pool (RANDOM) for an hour before our final set of legs. We were SOOOO EXHAUSTED at this point. I wanted to collapse on the floor because of the intense pain consuming my muscles as I walked to the lawn chairs. Ten minutes later (okay, an hour later) the boys woke us up and we were back on the road. (Most teams had longer rest periods but our team was haulin' so we did not have time to sleep.)

It was still dark.  After Ryan ran his 8 miles, Chels got out and grabbed the headlamp and reflector vest from him and began to run her leg.  After a few miles, we all drove up to the five mile mark, parked and waited for her.  After what seemed like an eternity, we did not see Chels.  We decided to drive back and retrace the route to find her...we could NOT find her. We all started to panic. It was the middle of the night, no other team was around, and we were in a foreign city.  Everyone was silent.  I started praying in my heart as I fought back tears. I would die if something happened to her. Eric, suggested we say a prayer for her. At the conclusion, he looked up and immediately shouted: "THERE SHE IS!" We saw her red light bobbing up and down.  Chels had not seen the directed path and continued up a GIANT 1.6 MILE HILL. Chels is a CHAMP. She went up this monstrous hill and instead of complaining, she apologized for making that mistake and insisted on running back-no, no, no we drove her back to the course. She is an angel.  We all about broke down in tears of relief as we shut the door.  PRAYER WORKS.  From then on, we stayed sooo close to our runners. 

Story 3:

My final leg was a 6.4 mile run at 6:00am.  The sun was rising and the red rock was stunning. My route was absolutely breathtaking! The first few miles of my run consisted of a 60* incline up a never-ending red rock mound. I was suffering from my asthma and ankle issues and mere exhaustion but I was determined to run as hard as I could, I refused to let my team down.  At the conclusion of the beastly red rock mound, Chels jumped out of the van and started running with me.  My team in the van, blared "All These Things I've Done" by the Killers (I love that song) and were cheering me on, despite their exhaustion. Chels started talking to me like we always did on our morning runs and all of a sudden, boosts of energy started firing in my muscles and I conquered my leg. Words cannot fully captivate the extreme love and gratitude I felt for Chels, my friends, and my physical capability to run. Running has provided some of my best lessons in life. 

After 23 hours of running, we finally saw this beautiful site:

Out of 209 Teams, TEAM JIMMER CAME IN FIRST

 Team Jimmer next to the vans totaling the number of kills (aka teams passed) or as Ryan puts it "Muggles Slayed" : 140! 

WHAT A GLORIOUS ADVENTURE