Thanksgiving Feast

(Carly left, Lisa right)

Our Thanksgiving feast turned out wonderful. Lisa and I prepared Mr. Bird the night before so that we could just pop him in the oven when we finished our race and got back to my house.

Carly arrived around 1:30 on Thanksgiving Day from NYC and jumped right into food preparation. We made sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, and heated rolls. (Jello salad was made the night before but it was forgotten in the fridge for the meal. Whoops!)

Here is our group, minus Lisa, and me and Carly clearly love each other more than everyone else in the group.

Have you seen the Miley Cyrus Movie? No? That's alright, you can watch THIS: Lisa happens to be a certified Miley Cyrus "Hoedown, Throwdown" Instructor. She taught us the dance:





We were so full after we ate that for some reason it more comfortable to sit on the floor.

Thanksgiving was surprisingly great. I had fun cooking lots of food for lots of people. We had fun dancing and playing games.

But overall, I'm thankful for all the things and people that bless and enrich my life.

Qualifying Time

So, I'm flirting with the idea of running a Half Marathon in March and needed to run a race to qualify for it. To use a 10k to qualify you need to run it in 1:05:00. That's approximately a 10:27 minute mile.

As I ran the 10k on Thursday I thought, I gotta run this fast so I can qualify just in case I want to do it in March! But, because I decided to run it so last minute I hadn't trained or anything, making the race pretty difficult. I started having a really hard time running as we hit long gradual slopes and realizing that the course wasn't as flat as I had hoped. I slowed down. Waaaay down a couple of times, but I kept going. And I kept thinking to myself, "I just want to finish. I just want to be done. Qualifying doesn't matter anymore, just finish the race."

When I got to the finish line, Lisa was there waiting for me and I was so relieved to see her, and to be done.

Today I looked up the finishing times, to see if I even qualified. I ran the race in 1:05:01. I ran a 10:28 minute mile.

I don't qualify.

I don't qualify by ONE MEASLY SECOND.

But I finished and that's what matters. Right??

I RAN A 10K!

Lisa and I ran the Turkey Chase yesterday morning.

BEFORE:



Right before we started running. All that was going through my mind was, "WHAT were we THINKING??"


Pictures of the starting line, and running action shots. Lisa looks beautiful in the running picture and I'm already overheated. (Pretty sure that's the most unflattering picture of me ever...) I think we were some where between mile 3 and 4. And about to run up a hill...

AFTER:

I'm looking sweet. I'm looking red. I had to take off my jacket because I was so hot by the end.



It wasn't the easiest 10k. There were lots of hills and I wasn't completely in shape for it. A 5k would have been pretty easy, but by mile 4 I was starting to get tired. Perhaps it was because at mile 4 we also were running up a hill...

But, all in all, I was so happy I ran it so I could eat more sweet potatoes and not feel quite so glutenous.

Thanks Lisa for being my running buddy! It was fabulous!

(Stay tuned for pictures of Lisa's great turkey, the dinner spread, the dinner company, pies and Hannah Montana dancing...)

Thankgiving Week! (4)

I'm thankful for God and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for His gospel.
I'm thankful for the Book of Mormon.
I'm thankful for the Plan of Salvation.
I'm thankful for prophets.

I'm thankful for a loving God who has provided a way for me to find joy and happiness.

(I forgot to post this yesterday. Pictures from my 10k and Thanksgiving dinner to come!)

Thanksgiving Week! (3)

I'm thankful for my body.

And that I can run, and walk, and run, and skip, and run, and gallop, and run, and jump, and run and dance, and run. I don't particularly like running, but for some reason my sanity lapsed for about five minutes this morning and I signed up for the Turkey Chase. And if you clicked on that link, you'll notice that there are three options.

1. 10k
2. 2 mile
3. 50 meter kids fun

We signed up for the 10k. WHAT??

I know.

I'm crazy.

Last time I did a 10k I was in 7th grade, in cross country, and had training everyday after school. I've decided I need to make sure there are no lapses in sanity again.

But, I am grateful for all the things I'm able to do. I'm thankful that I'm not even close to being a contestant for The Biggest Loser. And that I can move. That I can do everything I want. I don't have anything holding me back.

And even though I'm nervous about doing a 10k, it's not something impossible, and I know I can do it, and I know I will feel good about eating that extra piece of pie, or that extra helping of Sweet Potatoes tomorrow.

Huzzah!

Thanksgiving Week! (2)

I'm thankful for my friends!

Eugene friends:


Mission friends:


Longtime BYU friends:


Devonshire friends:


Jerusalem friends:


Gossip Girl friends:


Cousin friends:


Current roommate friends:


All my friends have served different purposes in my life and I'm grateful for them all!
Thank you! Love you all!

(And if you're not in any of the pictures but fit into a category, be assured that I love you too, Facebook was just limited in it's pictures.)

Thanksgiving Week!

I'm thankful for my family.

Photos taken October 2008 right before Jess left for her mission.