We did it!

Just got home from running in my first 5K (and yes, I said first. I hope there will be many more to come!). Chad ran it too, and Rebecca, my running buddy. It helped so much to have Rebecca there - she was my own personal cheerleader. Which I really appreciated because the first mile felt pretty awful. By the second mile, I was a running machine. And halfway into the third mile was pretty good too. But that last 1/2 mile about killed me. And there was Rebecca, telling me I was looking great and saying strange things like, "Come on, sprint the last stretch! You can do it!" I couldn't, but I tried.

And the next thing you know, I was seeing Chad up ahead cheering me across the finish line. After about passing out and having to sit down for a few, it dawned on me what I had done and I admit it, I started to cry. I NEVER in my whole life thought I would EVER run a 5K! And where I have been, a 3.1-mile run was almost a physical impossibility. So I have come a very long way. Hopefully, I will keep the momentum going and get a bit further!
Oh, and by the way...I took 4th place in my age bracket, which I am very proud of (although I was only competing with 9 other runners).
Chad, my super-overachieving-husband, got 3rd place in his bracket. Great job, Chad!

Surprise Getaway

A few weeks ago, Chad surprised me with a trip to Salt Lake for General Conference weekend. And a visit to BYU. And a dose of Fall weather. I have provided visual highlights of the trip.
We rented a "luxury" car. We thought we would be getting a mustang or a cadillac. But no, that's a Lincoln Towncar. My grandma would have LOVED it.

We stayed at the Anniversary Inn, in The Sultan's Palace theme room. It had a great tub. But no shower. The breakfast was yummy, though.
Then we visited all the spots at BYU that are meaningful to us. To kind of relive the past. This is the stairway where Chad spoke to me for the first time.

Here we are on the stairway.

This is the classroom where we took anatomy together. This is the sight I saw almost every day that semester. Chad staring at me. I thought he was kind of weird.

This is how it looked from Chad's point of view.

This is where Chad lived the whole time we dated. I spent A LOT of time at Moon Apartments (site of the famous lumpy pancake incident).

We went to the Sunday morning session of Conference at the Conference Center. It was HUGE and absolutely amazing. I loved it when President Monson came into the room - every person there (roughly 24,000) silently stood up in respect for the prophet of God. You could have heard a pin drop. It was a great experience that you just don't get when watching conference from the family room couch.


And here is the highly anticipated and much-wished-for Fall foliage.


Of course, one of the biggest highlights was seeing my family. Danielle (my sister-in-law who kindly took the picture of us and the Grandma Car) and her kids, two sisters (Kay and Teri, who fed us and let us watch the second session of conference in her cabin), two nephews and one niece-in-law (who let us watch the latest episode of The Office at her home).
I cannot believe all we accomplished in three days. It truly felt like a week. Thanks to Jenedy and Victor Eggleston for staying with our kids (and you don't know the half of it - they even watched General Conference with our kids two days in a row!) - we didn't even worry about the kids.
Thanks, Chad, for the best surprise trip ever! Such a success!