Uh- Oh!

We have a 1/2 marathon in SLC this Saturday. Not only do we have altitude and elevation working against us, but the 15 pounds I've put on since the last marathon won't help me at all! It will be interesting to say the least ha ha ha. Oh well. It's a kick in the pants to get my butt in gear again. And I'll be Mormon cursing my sweet tooth and inability to stay strong against it the whole 13.1 miles.
Oh fun times. :)

One of My Favorite Things

Travis and I have opposite shifts pretty much, but thankfully we have the same days off most weeks. We push back against this inconvenience by seeing each other during our lunch breaks. No matter how awful or stressful my morning, I feel better knowing I will see him for an hour in the middle of my day. One thing we have recently started doing is reading the scriptures together every day. Since we don't have much time together during the week, I keep a set of scriptures in my car so we can read those 6 pages together during lunch break. It has become a highlight of my day.

Ketchup. Catsup. Catch up.

I have a lot to catch up on! Almost a month ago now my mom and sisters came for a visit and we stayed at a condo together. Thankfully I was able to get the time off and Trav had 2 of the days off so was able to play as well. Sarah got us on the Segway tour in EPCOT (thank you!) and it was fun to see mom go from very unsure to saying, "I want one of these!"at the end. We also got to ride the big rides and spend a day at Harry Potter World at Universal. I loved it and the butter beer was amazing! We also went to Cocoa Beach and chilled at the condo watching Castle and My Boys. Spending time with the girls and my mom was exactly what I needed. They are so much fun :) After church and lunch with Trav's family, I had to take them back to the airport. Seeing people leave is always the hardest part of having people visit. Thankfully my friend Chrystelle and her husband flew in a few days later and stayed for 10 days. We partied it up after work and they took us out to eat a couple times. It was awesome to have people here almost every day for 2 weeks.

Now the big thing to look forward to is seeing the family in Salt Lake City the first weekend of September. Trav and I are flying out to see every one and run the 1/2 Marathon. No, we have not been training. It is too hot. Yes, we are going to die. But we will finish!

Work is moving forward. I work in an office more often than not, doing dispatch and I will be training for Lost and Found soon. I like the variety.

There is a quick update on what's been going on here. Pictures will be coming soon! :)

Hug

My mom sent me flowers yesterday. She is wonderful and it was the next best thing to a real hug :)

Elephant Poop

My parents gave my sisters and me journals made of elephant poop for Easter a couple of years ago. Not being able to bring myself to use it, not because it was "disgusting" but because it was a beautiful journal that I didn't want to ruin and regret later, it sat with my books for me to admire. Today it was grabbed on the way to church since my other journal was lost in action. Telling Travis, as we were sitting in the pew, what it was made of he said, "And you brought it to church?!" Laughing, I told him it was clean and he didn't have to worry about the germs.

Listening to the talks about pioneers enduring their trials well, I thought of my elephant poop journal. The pages evidence of the elephant's travels, unique. I thought of the creator of the book that took some discarded waste and had a vision of turning it into something beautifully useful. It had to be strained, washed, boiled, pressed, formed and dried. A long and difficult process with several steps. Each part vital to the completed product, creating something that I cherish out of something most would have avoided.

Now, it is providing me with a wonderful function, which is reminding me of the cleansing power of the Atonement, every time I use it. He has the power and vision to press, wash and form us. Our experiences, where we have been in life and lessons adding to that unique result. If we let our Creator into our lives, he can turn those parts of us we would like to avoid, into something beautiful, with purpose.

And yes, I did get all that from elephant poop. :)

Such a great weekend!

It started at 12 am on Trav's birthday... The midnight showing of Eclipse! Believe it or not, it was his idea. We went to the midnight showing of New Moon as well, so I'm hoping we are starting a tradition :) One of our favorite things to do is to people watch. As you can see, there are a lot more men than you would expect.

The lines for the women's bathroom were ridiculous. But hearing the girls going crazy made me laugh enough, that it was ok.

One thing I don't have a picture of is Captain EO. Travis and I got to go to the Cast showing of Captain EO (Michael Jackson) with the media at 8 in the morning. Yes, we stayed up for the midnight showing of Eclipse and then woke up 4 hours later to go to the show. Happy Birthday Travis! You get only 4 hours of sleep! ha ha We were interviewed and even got to hold the big microphone :) Captain EO is one of the only rides I remember from the first time we went to Disneyland. I remember KC trying to grab the flying bat thing and how enthralled I was by the dancing... yeah.

After trying to nap a little, we rode Trav's bike over to Daytona Beach. It was a beautiful ride and I enjoyed it. Being in the sun for 2 hours wore Travis out, but he was a good sport. We had his birthday dinner (his second one, since we went to Ragland Road with Sarah on Monday to celebrate) at the Outback. we had some good bread and food.

This bridge had an incline so made it fun to ride on. Florida is very flat so I'm not used to hills on the bike. Also, it was very pretty to see ocean in both directions.

Ahh... I love it. We stayed 4 miles to the left. Also on the beautiful beach. One of my favorite parts of the trip was sitting out on the beach that night. It was a clear sky, lots of stars but no moon. Talking with Travis, the ferris wheel lit up down the beach, the whitecaps and the roar of the ocean, it was perfect. I wish a picture would have done that justice. A lot of my time was spent watching the ocean, which is one great thing about living in Florida.

One thing we didn't know (yeah, there is more than one thing we don't know...) was that the Daytona 400 was the same week we were there. We saw the trailers and semis all set up for it. Quite the experience! Maybe next year we will be able to go ;)

Since Destination Daytona (the Bruce Rossmeyer Harley Davidson complex) was close by we rode over there and spent time looking at bikes and accessories.

Posing with the bike on our way home. You will notice that I am wearing my swimsuit. It was my beach weekend attire. Traveling on a motorcycle means you have to pack LIGHT.

And here is Travis holding his new helmet. It matches mine, except for where mine has scratches all over it. I guess Travis couldn't tell them apart and felt the need to make them more easily distinguishable...

It was a great weekend. Even with Trav's phone mix up which led to him having no service. I can't wait to do more bike trips, but maybe next time we will have some cool seat cushions :)

My Travis, the Marine, Return Missionary, Disney Cast Member

I love Travis. He has accomplished a lot in the past 3 decades. I'm blessed by those experiences because they have shaped the type of man he is now. It was his birthday on Wednesday and we had a lot of fun celebrating his 32 years. Yeah, he is that old!! :) Happy Birthday!