Boston Marathon

My dad ran the St. George marathon in October in hopes of qualifying to run in Boston....and of course he did it!

So for Christmas, my parents gave me an all-expense paid trip to Boston for the Marathon in April '11.

My parents are so fabulous!! It is so much fun to spend time with them. It was not a long trip, and we didn't do anything too exciting, but we had a great time.

We stayed at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, right across the Charles River from Boston. It was a great hotel, but I could have done without the emergency evacuation.

On Sunday morning about 5:30-6 an extremely loud alarm began blaring in our room ..... "ATTENTION.....THIS IS AN EMERGENCY...PLEASE EVACUATE YOUR ROOM IMMEDIATELY." It just kept repeating itself over and over and over again. We were all gathered in the lobby watching firefighters wander in and out, not seeming to be in too much of a hurry for what seemed to be a LONG time. Apparently, someone decided to smoke a cigarette in their room, thus setting off the fire alarm. They FINALLY let us all go back to our rooms.

In addition to the view by the river, our hotel was right by the subway and across the street from a mall with several restaurants, including a Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Changs, Calfornia Pizza Kitchen, etc. This is where we ate most of our meals and did some

shopping.

Although I don't think I would like to live in that big or busy of a city, I am a big fan of the mass transportation that is much more extensive than UTA Trax/Front Runner

(It kind of reminded me of NYC). With 27,000 runners and all that came to support them, the city was VERY congested. We either walked, took a taxi or rode the subway most

everywhere we went.

My dad was not scheduled to start until 10:40 and we were able to track him on the iphone and also received text messages we he passed different mile markers. On the morning of the marathon, my mom and I took the subway into Boston and got off at a mall that was right by the finish line. We went to breakfast and did some shopping, and then headed over to meet my dad. He did great!

New Church Calling

Last month I was released as a Visiting Teaching Supervisor and was called as a Relief Society Teacher.

Despite all of my practice (practically weekly on my mission) in speaking and teaching, for some reason, public speaking of any kind still makes me nervous. I LOVE preparing talks and lessons because I think that you learn sooo much, but I don't enjoy delivering the material I have prepared as much.

With that said.....I am excited for this new calling and hope it gets a little easier.

My first lesson was the week after I was called and actually went really well. I love that we have fantastic participation in our RS. That definitely helps.

...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.