Joey and Janice's Day of Fun

Surprise! I'm not posting about the marathon! At least not yet...

This event happened first so it has priority (the marathon story is forthcoming). And this story is called:

Joey and Janice's

DAY. OF. FUN!

Except that it is really Kim and Ben's and really we don't hate each other. Okay deal.

For Labor Day Ben and I decided to go on a hike.

Box Canyon

 The first part of the hike was way ugly. But then it turned into this:



The picture doesn't give it justice but the water was an awesome crystal blue.

 

Descent into the canyon.

 

The trail was mostly bush-whacking (hence the poison oak of the previous post)
but there were some really cool bridges built to get over the watery parts. Way pretty.

Jaeger got super hot and he took every chance he could to cool off.
Ben and I swam in the lake behind...after we scared off some skinny dippers.
It was very. very. very cold.

Our next adventure included taking a stop at the Perrine Bridge.
It's a tourist attraction in Twin Falls I have never taken the time to look at.
It was pretty cool.

After dinner we hit up the old Best Buy and purchased us a Garmin GPS.
It's pretty sweet.
And then we ended the day by taking the car through The Rocket.
It's a pretty fancy car wash.

The end!

Ahhhhh!!!

I'm running my first ever MARATHON (that's 26.2 miles, people) on Saturday. According to the Top of Utah webpage that is exactly 1 DAY 9 HOURS and 39 MINUTES away.

Am I freaking out?

Yes. Yes I am.

 

Especially because my legs currently look like this:

Yep. Ran into some poison oak almost two entire weeks ago and NOW is when it decided to flare up.

Cue blistering rash, tight muscles and impossibly itchy legs.

What a blessing.

Pray for me, people. Cause heaven knows I'm going to need it.

Not Cool, BYU

Notice the uber-cheesy new blog head?

Eh? Eh?

Just so you know, the title is complimentary of Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie" so even if it is slightly vomit inducing, it has meaning and isn't the generic "Adventures of _____ and _____."

Okay, deal.

Anyhow. Brief update on Ben and I...

Ben is applying to BYU (Provo version...heads up to all you Utah folk!!!!!! :). He's been working on all parts of the application process for like a month now- getting transcripts, working on ecclesiastical endorsements and filling out information.

For those non-zoobies, BYU has a pretty solid online process for applications. It has a list of all the items that need to be turned in. Right next to each item, it will say the status, usually either "Received" and the date or "Required" in bold red.

As of Monday, Ben still had several really importants items he needed to turn in. But when he got online, his per item check list looked something like this:

High School Transcripts: Waived
Personal Essay: Waived
ACT Score: Waived
etc.

Yeah. We stared at the computer for five whole minutes contemplating the possibility that BYU had already made their decision: they wanted Ben.

Did this mean that Ben would start school in January? Would we be moving right back to the good ol' Utah valley? Should I take that as a go ahead to apply for grad school there? Apply for jobs? Quit the jobs we have?

I mean, it wasn't for sure...but that's kind of what they meant, right? But we were just so unsure about the crazy goodness of this, that we questioned it. So Ben logged out and logged back in. And our check list of pure awesomeness dissolved back into the ugly red letters screaming that these points were, afterall, required.

:(

Not cool, BYU. Not cool.

On another note, today Ben told me how disappointed he was that BYU's theme this year was "Rise Up." He was even more disappointed when I let him that that was the theme every year.

Brother Diamond

 

 I thought about it and I think there are 3 things that I am committed to writing about faithfully:

• Neil Diamond
• Running
• and Shoes

Everything else is hit or miss.

And so while you may not be getting the finer and more important details of my life, be grateful that you can take part in the things that I'm passionate about.

Today's lovely topic is Neil!!!! Yay!!!! See? You guys are probably sick of hearing about him...but I could talk about him til the cows come home (like my Idahoan phrase there? I'm really catching on to the locals;)

So a month ago my family went to Neil's concert in Sandy at the Rio Tinto Stadium (where Real plays). These were changes as he usually plays in the winter at an indoor arena. But having it outdoors was way fun.


 This was us before the concert. Leslie and I were rocking our favorite Neil shirts. We were waaaaay excited.

 The good thing about Neil is that he is a family obsession. Everyone in the fam has got a lovin' feeling for him.

 I got some good pics of the concert in action. Just in case you were wondering, the ladies in red are my heroes. When I was growing up I always wanted to be a back up singer for Brother Neil. And I'm not going to lie. Those dreams are still going strong. But don't worry-Neil says that dreams can come true...so someday...

I was soooo proud of Ben. He was really worried that he wouldn't love it as much as my fam but he had a way good time-singing along with the songs he knew and dancing with me every time I stood up. He even surprised me at the end of the concert by saying that he wanted to get his own Neil Diamond tee. How could I say no to that? So he went and picked out this little ditty in true Neil fashion. Next concert: Ben will rock the same hairdo as the shirt :)

Anyhow...Neil put on an AWESOME show. As always. And while I was watching and dancing along, I thought about how awesome it was that he is still going strong after all these years. I mean, the man is 72 years old. And he's still rocking it. Do you think in 50 years we'll all be like "Oh yeah, just got me some Justin Bieber tickets. Any takers?" or "Let's go to the One Direction tribute band show!" Let's be real. Probably not. Music just isn't the same as it used to be.

But I'm glad that I was able to take part in the awesomeness that was a concert from a legendary and iconic singer songwriter.

The Olympics

I love watching the Olympics. Who doesn't? Eees the best. And I don't have anything really profound to say about them...but I just think it's worth mentioning because it's kind of a big deal. And not just a big deal in the I'm-so-awesome-and-that's-why-people-are-reading-this-crappily-written-piece-of-web-media kind deal. It's world wide legitimacy. Eh? Eh?

And that probably just made you think of Canada. See? You are already in the Olympic spirit. Good job!

So here are my random musings on the Olympics:

• Watching the Olympics makes me cry. I am such a wimp but when I see people reaching their hard earned goals, I tear up. Yep. Lame. Last night I watched a girl win the 100 m hurdles by a hundreth of a second. When she heard she won she fell to the track and started sobbing. And I was right there with her.
• It's a fact that more people watch the winter Olympics because there is more possibility of accident and injury.
• I work with developmentally and mentally disabled people. One of the ladies I work with asked me what I was watching. I said, "I'm watching the Olympics." She nodded then replied, "I was in the Olympics. I did track and swimming. That's why I hate those so much now." Duly noted, my dear, duly noted.
• Finally, if you watch today at 3:40pm you'll see Cam Levins racing. He went to SUU and graduated the same time as me. He's crazy fast. You actually kind of have to be to qualify for Olympian status. Unfortunately, he's racing for Canada, but I know him, which is the point of this bullet. AND I wear the same running shoe as him. How legit is that?

Anyhow. The Olympics are super awesome. I love the summer ones because that's when they do the running events. And I know everyone else on the planet thinks those are the worst ones. But they're my absolute fave. Mmmm. Love me some running. What about you? Which event do you love to watch?

Happy Olympic Days!

I'm a Slacker

I've put off posting for months now. The reason? I cannot for the life of me come up with a cute/ clever/ funny blog name now that I'm married.

Let's be real. The husband will most likely NEVER actually post on the blog, let alone read it...so technically I don't NEED a title that incorporates both of us. HOWEVER, my old name was "She Rocks." And I don't care who you are, you've got to admit that a name like that screams, "I'm single and ready to mingle!"

The old name "She Rocks" is from Eric Hutchinson's song Rock and Roll. And I always assumed that when I got married I'd change the name to match the final chorus: "They Rock." BUT the more I thought about it, the more I realized that anyone familiar with the song would assume that Ben and I fell in love after a supposed one night stand. Which actually isn't the case. So my fall back plan completely flew out the window.

So I've been thinking and brainstorming for quite awhile now and as you can see by the absolutely horrendously BORING blog name...I came up with nothing. I will admit that I was entirely tempted to use "The BK Lounge." Mine and Ben's initials remind me instantly of Burger King which is pretty fantastic in the worst way possible. Who wouldn't want to be instantaneously associated with one of America's favorite fast food chains? "The BK Lounge" sounds like some white trash goodness which was all too tempting to throw up on screen...but in the end I opted out.

So I'm still searching for a decent blog title. I hope y'all aren't turned off by the current lame one. But if you are, I honestly don't blame you. Anyhow, everything is going well and I promise to post more later. Hopefully sooner than last time...

For your information...

I'M GETTING MARRIED IN 2 WEEKS!!!!

Just in case you forgot or...didn't know or...needed a reminder.