Because I run like a girl

Lately I've been thinking about where I stand on things. Like everything. There is so much to be opinionated about these days. And I hate talking politics because really only two parties? I'll leave those posts to bloggers who love to argue. Luckily there is more than politics to be  opinionated about. I recently saw a video called #likeagirl. I had to watch it to see what it was all about. I was impressed.

You have to watch it too otherwise you will have no idea what I am talking about...

My mother and father raised me to believe I could do anything I wanted. In fact I spent many childhood days dreaming of being a pro soccer player. Although soccer nor volleyball happened in high school like I had thought I found out that runners were athletes too. I had unfortunate event happen to my body in high school that effected my speed and it did not increase my senior year. Even though my medley relay team broke our school record I still wasn't fast enough. I didn't tell anyone but I did want to run in college on a team. The amazing thing about running is that you don't need a team. I can always run. So what does that have to do with the video? I want my children to know what it means to me to do things "like a girl". To me running like a girl means pushing physical limits. Attempting to brush aside the want of chocolate... And then giving in and having to run with a belly full of chocolate. Running like a girl means no excuses. I have my babies and I run with them. Running like a girl also means being a proud winner but also a good loser. Adam can out run me any day. It's a fact. But that doesn't stop me from trying to keep up with him. In fact to take this picture he had to slow down and push the stroller...

Exercise is important to me. That's why I studied it in college. I love learning how my body works and how to make it stronger. I saw a quote on Pinterest that said "I don't want to be someone else I want to be me but healthier and stronger". That rings true for me as well. I'm proud to run like a girl. I'm proud to be a girl. I'm striving to have a positive outlook about my body. Sure it has flaws but it's all I got so I'm going to work with it. And I'm going to keep on running no matter who is passing me. 

Why this California girl loves Utah

Yup thats right. I love Utah. 

Go ahead and judge. 

I grew up in California as a child. I thought maybe someday I would return again.

Adam and I visited and as I went back to my hometown I realized 

something was missing. 

Home

It wasn't there at all. People thought my parents were crazy because we lived in

San Diego (actually in San Diego not on the outskirts) 

some people say they are from there but they aren't... 

anyway isn't that where people want to stay forever? 

Mild weather, the beach, laid back people, the beach, THE BEACH!!!

The funny thing about living in San Diego is that I got bored of the beach. 

My mom was so shocked when I was ok to move to Idaho as a sophomore in high school. 

From Idaho it was only a matter of time before I moved to Utah.

I feel like Utah gets a bad rep from a lot of people. Yes there are definitely some extreme LDS people (Mormons) out here and some judgey people (aren't there everywhere?)

But there are a lot of good people here. Even ones that aren't Mormon. 

I love the mountains, 

I love the snow, 

I love that people want to help each other,

I love the summers, 

I love the springs, 

I love feeling safe, 

I love that people migrate here, 

I love that I can hike and only travel 30 minutes, 

I love my new home.

I didn't get to mention we were able to be apart of a Marshall Island wedding, right here in Utah. 

It was a wonderful experience. These Marshallize (hopefully spelled that right) people have also come to love Utah as well. I love other cultures and learning from them. 

I thought I was doing good at minimizing until I met them, but thats another story for another day.

I don't know if we will call Utah home forever. In fact our lives are going to change in a year. 

Adam is applying to PA school this month. 

He is applying to 2 schools in Utah, 2 in Arizona, at least 5 out east, maybe 1 in Oregon, and maybe even a few more. 

I know our Father in Heaven guided us here to Logan, Utah.

I'm still learning the why we are here. 

We have met incredible people who have helped us learn and grow. 

I am guessing this must be why. 

I also know we will be guided to our next home. 

 I'm happy to have grown up in California, I'm also happy to be here right now. 

Miracles are happening in our lives everyday. 

All I can do is try to remember them all when I get frustrated. 

Heres to the future whatever it may hold. I may look back and smile at the past. But my heart lives for what is ahead. Even though it is completely unknown. 

Thayne's 3rd Birthday!

Thayne is now 3! While my mom was watching the kids apparently Thayne became

interested in their weed-wacker. And asked "Weema" for 

a weed wacker cake...

The anticipation is killing him

Grandma also brought some poppers that made both babies happy.

 Presents...

Thayne is in love with his new bike. He actually has to have it parked next to his bed

in order to sleep. After all that cake we had to get outside to try it out.

 Adam's parents were able to visit us for a short while we are glad they 

spent time with us and were here for Thayne's birthday. 

 Thayne had a great birthday. We tried to plan a party with friends but the weather pooped out. 

I feel like having a family party was just what he wanted anyway.

He was very worried about both sets of grandparents being there for his birthday.

This boy is teaching me so much. He enjoys the simple things and I would say is one of the happiest guys I know. If you ever need anyone to start the party he is your man. 

He makes everyday fun and helps me out in his own little way. 

Happy Birthday Thayne!

Havasupai trip. 5 year anniversary!

Back in 2008 I went on this awesome backpacking trip that I kept telling Adam about as soon as I met him. Finally I was able to take him for our 5 year anniversary.

Or he was able to take me really. 

Most people would probably go to a hotel or on a cruise. 

Nope not us. Backpacking is our kind of adventure. 

This post is kinda crazy because I actually started it while 

we were down at Havasupai. I hope it makes sense. 

Friday night we had to stop in at rei to get a few last minute things and we had to exchange an air mattress they shipped us that had a hole. Good thing Adam checked. Saturday we spent the day road tripping it up. We do have a few pieces of advice for anyone who is doing this trip... Whatever bloggers said peach springs has everything you need... Apparently has no idea what needs are. Stop in Kingman for food and gas. We drove to peach springs only to find out all they have is a hotel and restaurant. There is a tiny store but it closed at 3:00pm. So we didn't get to check it out. We did get to back track a bit but luckily we got some extra water. Which we desperately needed. Even if we had to pay extra. Made for an adventure. Another tip is to buy lots and lots of water at a grocery store. We stopped at the speedway exit at Vegas and got a huge jug of water. I wish we would have bought more water there. Or just had it already that probably would have been best. 

Expensive gas station water. We left a few bottles in the car for when we made it out. 

We slept in our car at the trail head. Here I am saying good bye to the babies for a few days.

Oh and sorry for the quality of the pictures. We took our nice camera but forgot to charge it... oops.

About to hike 10 miles with our backpacks on.

We made it down in record time. I wore my byu shorts. Aren't the cutest but definitely comfy. They came in handy while looking for a spot to camp. A lady stopped us and said that further down camp there were some heavy party people. "I don't know what they are smoking but wow. I noticed your byu shorts and thought you would like to know". 

I love that we had wrist bands obviously people were trying to stay without paying. That was a cool surprise. haha

We also got to go to church. We had a misunderstanding about the time change and thought we had a 1/2 hour to get there but really we had a hour and a half. We ran probably a mile (after already hiking 10 miles) and were so tired and luckily we asked a local for the time. We laughed as we hear 9:45 and not 10:45. Which was the time we thought it was. We got to spend an hour talking to a lovely couple from michigan. They told us of their love of backpacking and the adventures they had been on. I hope we meet up again with them tomorrow. The church meeting was packed! I was disappointed in the dress of some of the hikers. Some only wore swimsuits. I myself was not in Sunday best nor a skirt for that matter. But both of us tried to look presentable as we went. We met Lynda and Annamae. They were so sweet to us and told us to come back again to Supai. Lynda told us about a fresh spring that we could drink from. I won't tell you where it is. You have to get to know people. The speakers who spoke in church had to be helicoptered in. How cool is that? I wonder how many other wards that happens. 

After church we found this sweet spot to swim. I called it the natural swimming pool. This is actually Navajo Falls

Swimming at the famous Havasupai Falls. The picture to the right is going to Mooney falls.

Today we did the hike down to beaver falls. Getting to mooney falls is quite intense. And to be honest I almost chickened out. Adam was so sweet and patient with me. He didn't even complain when I said I didn't want to go. A youth group passed us on my way in and I told Adam that if everyone from the youth group did I to would go. They did it so we went. Thank goodness it was absolutely beautiful. A few pointers is that there is more than one way to beaver falls once you get to mooney. If you hang to the left of the river (as you face down the canyon) then you are probably on the right path. We choose a 5 mile way. And on the way back were shown the 2.5 mile way. Oops. Either way it was great. 

I did make a crazy fashion statement while I was there. A one piece swim suit. Yup. I wish you could have seen The looks I got. All the bikini babes looked at me like I was crazy. Boys gave me confused looks. (Do young girls even own those anymore?) I even caught one rolling her eyes. I don't have anything against different swimsuits in fact my main suit back home is a tankini. I just wanted to see what people would think of a one piece and it was lighter. I did hiking in it and I had zero problems. In fact held the girls down a heck of a lot better than most the other swimsuits I saw there. No one said anything but I wish I could have read minds. It was an interesting social experiment. 

beaver falls. (google pictures of all these beautiful places to get a better idea of what they look like)

This guy loved hanging around our camp site I had to get a picture of him.

We also moved camp after some bombarding campers tried to move in the area. And succeded. Here is our new camp which we are secluded and have an awesome view of the river

lots of crosswords to keep us busy.

4:30am Tuesday packed up camp and headed out. We ended up meeting up with our friends from Michigan and got to hike out with them. Adam had a goal to make it out at less time than 4 hours and 7 minutes. We made it in 4 hours and 2 minutes. Haha. That included our breaks.i had imagine dragons "I'm on top of the world" stuck in my head so I started singing it the last 1/2 mile. It felt amazing to accomplish backpacking our stuff in and out. No helicopters or mules. Just us and our stuff. 

At the trail head happy to be done!

We got to hike out with our friends Eric and Lynn from Michigan. Thanks for the good times!

Hello again minimalism...

...minimalism has been a huge part of my life right now. I didn't dare say it because I was afraid people from New York would parachute into my parking lot and come chew me out on how NOT minimalist I was. Which is totally true. I'm working on it. My minimalism is not their minimalism. Isn't that cool? Just like we all parent differently. 

I could make this blog post really short and say I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff and want to get rid of more stuff.

The end.

But if you want to read a bit more than I guess you can.

Lately I have been focusing on crafting stuff.

I have one tote of craft stuff to some thats a lot. To others thats a little.

To me its a work in progress. I had a tote just for fabrics. Some I didn't even really care for

I just didn't know if I might need it some day. 

What did I get rid of?

Fabric lots and lots of fabric

Scrap book stuff all of it

(other than the book which now is out so we can look at it) 

Yarn 

knitting needles

Random goggly eyes

BEADS

buttons

ribbon

...

I could keep going. 

I just kept my favorites and decided I can't craft everything I see on pinterest. 

What gave me great courage was this blog post found here. 

She gave a great idea to just buy a cheap kit for kid crafts and when they are done get rid of it

all of it. Don't save pieces just in case you might sort of need them 20 years down the road. 

WHEW! It helped me so much it was hard to get rid of things I had even started to make, 

like a jean quilt I finally gave it away. hopefully it will make someone else happy. 

Every time I looked at it I just got frustrated. 

I still have a long way to go but for now I have found much more time to enjoy things like this...

and this...

hiking around beautiful Cache Valley.
Thayne walked 4.5 miles all on his own. We are so proud of him! He finally let us carry him when there was only a mile left. He loves being outside... I wonder where he gets it from?

Less stuff=less cleaning/organizing time.
Less cleaning/organizing=more time outside
more time outside=happy family
:)

Spoiler alert next blog post is going to be about a big outdoor adventure... stay tuned!