Run Santa! Run!

There is nothing that kicks off a holiday season like running a themed 5K. No zombies this time. Today everyone came out in red for the Run Santa Ogden 5K. Talk about fun, rules: be dressed as Santa. and that is about it. There were a couple of green Grinches and Cindy Lou Who's, lots of reindeer dogs, and a ton of Santas. The aid stations were handing out milk and cookies and finishers received a candy cane. It was so fun doing this with Erin, definately will do this one again next year!

London 2012

I LOVE the Olympics. While the winter olympics were held a few months ago, I can't help but look forward to the upcoming summer olympics. Am I super lame and alone in this? A few pictures of the olympic site for the London 2012 games were released a few days ago, and while it looks like they will definately need two years to finish everything they are building, I got so excited. So to tide me over I looked up World Competition events happening in Utah and you can bet I will be in Park City Februrary 4-5 for the FIS World Championships of Ski Half Pipe and Arial/Moguls at Park City Mountain and Deer Valley resorts. Just a tidbit of info: this year and most likely this World Championship will determine if the ski half pipe event will be added to the olympic sporting event roster in Russia 2014. Talk about neat.

Goodbye Sleep Deprivation

So in fantastic news for the week JD got a new job! He will be the new 'official' pharmacy technician at South Ogden IHC. I say 'official' because he has worked there as a PRN for the past 2 years so he isn't exactly new to the job, but a benefits position opened up and he got it. We are super excited for the change and having weekends off, no graveyards, no swings. It will be an exciting change to say the least. The hospital is going to keep him on PRN to help out but when he does cover a shift, he won't have to do a graveyard, he can just come at his convenience to get things taken care of. So essentially the jobs will be reversed, but this is a super fantastic reversal. It will be good with school for JD, and with my sanity. I have had two years of no weekend events because JD was always working graves Friday and swings Saturday with sleep in between that. It is always a sad event waking him up for church on Sunday because he is exhausted. But NO MORE! :) (at least no more after they hire his replacement at the hospital; in the mean time we have a few more 'fun' weeks of overtime covering the shifts at South Ogden on top of our other jobs, but they are a great staff and it has been fun working with them again on my end)

Of Things That Matter Most

It has been a fun few weeks for JD and I. Life has been moving onward and forward quite rapidly, which in some ways is good and in others not so good. We have both been balancing two jobs with school, trying to help out with the South Ogden pharmacy as they are short working shifts when we can help out, last week I worked 53 hours, I don't want to know what JD worked, because I am pretty sure it was more than that. I know there are like a bazillion people who are busier, but it is still crazy where it feels like I am still catching up (and following up with weekly blood testing and medication alterations) from the month I spent in a recliner in July and suddenly we are in November. It is amazing how quickly one can get caught up in the activities and comings and goings of life and neglect the important things, at least I know I fit in that category. When this happens, it is also amazing at how little is actually accomplished that is worth anything much. I know that I need to prioritize better and put things into my routine that currently aren't present.

Why am I bringing this all up? Because I LOVED President Uctdorf's talk from General Conference. "Let us simplify our lives a little. Let us make the changes necessary to refocus our lives on the sublime beauty of the simple, humble path of Christian discipleship—the path that leads always toward a life of meaning, gladness, and peace."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I love Halloween but I must admit it saddens me that my favorite month of October is almost over. It has been a fun month with some fantastic adventures....

JD applied for a new job, interviews in November.i didn’t have a CNS bleed and 1 week of prednisone healed me up quite nicely with no hospital visit.Vernal temple and dinosaurs.craft night with Tara making some super cute blocks.dressing up as a knee replacement patient for Halloween.lots of work for both JD and I as we fill in at South Ogden pharmacy on top of our other jobs.school moving along.dinner with David and Erin.night of the running dead 5K.fall break.therapeutic blood finally.Nat turned 24.listening to Elder Bednar at the institute.primary program.snow.fall leaves drive through Weber and Parley's canyon.India mission reunion and Ganesh with Ben.General Conference..

Peace

what I felt today

Fall Break

Fall break this year found us in Vernal, home of Utah's Dinosaur Land. We got to do a bit of exploring but thanks to my health, another trip to Dinosaur National Monument is in order for the future but we did have fun and it is nice to take a break from work and school.

The highlight of the trip was going to the Vernal Utah temple. It was a very neat building with an interesting history. In 1907 it was dedicated as a tabernacle by Joseph Fielding Smith, in the meeting he stated that he expected a temple to be erected in their very midst in the future. In 1997 President Hinckley dedicated the tabernacle which had been gutted and redesigned, as a temple. The brick required to complete the temple was taken from a house that a non-member was going to have raised. When approached he allowed members to take the brick house apart brick by brick; as the brick came from the very same brickyard as what was used to construct the tabernacle in the 1900's. It serves members of Wyoming, Colorado, and Eastern Utah.

The ride was beautiful. I was very grateful for a late fall this year as there were bright yellow quakies and red maples all along our journey, one of my favorite parts of fall. We stopped in Park City on the way home for a bit as well. Sunday night we also had the opportunity to listen to Elder Bednar speak at the WSU Institute. It was fun to see a lighter side to him as he talked about the importance of feeding grandchildren icecream, among other important things. All in all it was a great weekend, it was fun being with JD Friday and Saturday as I usually don't get to see him since he works wacky shifts. Happy Fall Break!