...My Political Career Has Offically Been Launched...

Although I have no aspirations to become the President of the United States or even the Governor, this week I was officially elected to my first public office "of the people, by the people and for the people."

This January marked 8 years that I have lived in my condo. There have been many years in the past when I was encouraged to serve on the HOA (Home Owner's Association) Board. There were always several reasons that I shied away from this in the past. This year 4 of the 5 spots needed to be filled and when trying to get a list of nominees, no one was volunteering. I was given, what he called a "loving push," by one of the outgoing board members (and good friend) that has already served several terms. I don't know what finally made me do it, but I told them I would run. The night ended with 4 nominees for the 4 positions. Later 3 more people decided to run, but on the night of the vote, I ended up being on of the 4 out of the 7 that was elected. The new board then decided which position each board member would fill. I was appointed to serve as the Treasurer.

I think it will actually be good. I think that the other members will be great to work with. We have just changed Management companies which I think will make things a lot better as well.

....ROCK.....PAPER......SCISSORS.....

Okay......so I know I have a history of struggling to make decisions whether they be small or large. Although I am not an official member of the the World RPS Society, (serving the indecisive since 1918) but maybe I should be.

Is is just me, or does it take anyone else an hour to to choose toothpaste and/or body wash.

Are you kidding me?????

Is it really necessary to have this many options. There should only be 3 choices......Paste, gel & for kids.

Instead we have choose from 12+ different brands, 8+ different flavors, then choose the option combination that we want.....

• Paste or Gel
• Tartar Control
• Whitening
• Baking Soda
• Sensitivity
• Anti-cavity
• With or Without Scope
• Enamel Shield
• Gum Protection
• etc.

I can sit there on the toothpaste aisle forever just staring at all of the options, before forcing myself to just pick one and move on.

I have gotten a little bit better over the years, but thank heavens for rock, paper, scissors because that is about what it comes down to some of the time.....either that or eeney, meeney, miney, moe.

. . . THE FESTIVAL OF TREES . . .

I went to the Festival of Trees this year for the first time in I don't know how long. The last time I remember attending, the Festival was being held at the Salt Palace (BEFORE my family moved to Richfield in 1989 and WAY before the remodel).

Each year I like to have a "project" and this year I decided that because of ALL of my time spent at Primary Children's Medical Center as a "chemo kid," I would donate something to be sold at the Festival of Trees to benefit PCMC. Here are pictures of some of the scarves I knitted and donated.

Among the other displays, I loved all of the trees. There was something for everyone. Here are some of my faves.

Cookie Monster was VERY Cute. You needed to see all the things surrounding the tree to get the full effect.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but this tree was called, "It's All About Time" and the tree was surrounded by and covered with all sorts of time pieces.

This is another one that was so much more fabulous in person than in this picture. It was 3 trees that made up a big surfing wave.

There was one row of trees where all of the holidays were represented. I took a picture of just a few.......Easter, 4th of July and Halloween.

Although I do bleed RED, I am not a BYU hater. I did love that the "U" was well represented in the trees and even one of the gingerbread houses, but two of my favorite trees were split down the middle and decorated with BYU on one side and U of U on the other side. One was called "FAMILY FEUD" and the other was called "A HOUSE DIVIDED."

Then, of course, there had to be a Twilight

tree and a Harry Potter tree.

People are soooo creative. That is one talent that I really don't have.

Mrs. Peacock . . . in the Hall . . . with the Candlestick

When I found out that one of my teachers from the MTC had been cast as Miss Scarlet in the play "CLUE" at Rodgers Memorial Theater, I thought it would be fun to go with the other sisters that were in my MTC district.

We were able to find a day that worked for all of us. We had a great time reminiscing and catching up on each others lives over dinner before heading to the play. (We definitely missed Jenny, who lives in California). The play was very well done and Miss Scarlet was fantastic!

Thanks for a fun night, ladies.

My Amazing Dad

My mom is equally amazing. I love and admire them both, but this post is about my dad.

I spent Conference weekend in St. George with my parents. Debra and Ryan (my sister and brother-in-law) also joined us. We had a great time eating and shopping, but the main reason we were there was to support my dad. He was running in the St. George marathon on Saturday morning. He was hoping for a time that would qualify him for the Boston Marathon and we were there to cheer him on.

Even though the marathon starts in the early morning, apparently it was the hottest start temperature in the history of the marathon. I am always amazed at how some of the runners look like they are about to die and some look like they have just started after they have been running for 20 miles. I think they said that 16 runners were taken to the hospital.....mostly for dehydration and even more just dropped out. There are always several that look REALLY bad at the end (at the park), but I have never seen so many struggling and puking than I did this year. I think my dad looked great after 26.2 miles, and . . . . . . .

. . . . . .BOSTON, here we come. He did it!! With 4 minutes to spare.

Now if only I could conjure up even 1/10th the self-motivation & self-discipline that he has.