Money Free Week

Do you think you could go an entire week without buying anything? Yeah, spending zero money, like no cash purchases, no debit transactions. Nothing.

I’m curious to see if I can do it, so I’m going to try. Mostly just to see if I can, like a social/economical experiment. Yes, Tyler thinks I’m weird too, but I think it will be kind of fun.

The rules are that I can’t buy anything with cash or a card. I can use gift cards if I already have them. I can’t make Tyler buy anything for me, but I don’t necessarily have to limit his purchases too if they’re for him only. So he can still go out to eat for lunch but he can’t buy lunch for me.

The week started yesterday, which was easy enough to do on a Sunday, and goes through Saturday. So, let the fun begin...

Please Be Careful

I had a really scary experience yesterday which I want to post about to make other people aware of.

I went to pick up my Young Women for our activity and after arriving at one YW's house and finding that she was not home I began backing out of her driveway to go pick up the next YW. I had seen our Bishop's youngest boys ride by on their bike minutes before so I consciencely looked for them. Not seeing them I assumed they had rounded the corner and were a safe distance away. I backed out slowly and before I got past the sidewalk I hear a crunch or some noise, knowing I had hit something.

I threw the car into park, jumped out immediately and found the youngest boy laying on the driveway crying. He was not hurt but more shaken up, and understandably so. I'm not exactly sure if I hit him directly or hit his big wheel bike. I asked him if he was okay and watched him ride off so I knew he was fine. His brother who is only a few years older saw it play out and was a bit shaken up as well.

I had to pick up my other YW and I didn't see the boys' mom so I made sure that both boys were okay and left. As soon as I got to our activity I called the boys' mom but she didn't answer. I called her again later that night knowing how frantic she must be wanting to know exactly what happened. You just can't get the full story from a 5 year old.

I didn't get ahold of the mom until today when I saw her post on Facebook about the situation and called her again. This time she answered and I explained what happened. From her point of view and through the eyes of her boys I sounded like a terrible reckless lady who basically did a hit-and-run. I realize I should have forgotten about my YW and immediately told her what happened. I explained everything to her and she was grateful that I called. Ultimately were are both so relieved and feel so blessed that we were all watched over.

All in all there were definitely guardian angels watching over this little boy and also over me. I normally would back out faster - which I will never do now - so I know I was blessed to be more cautious. I am so grateful that this didn't amount to more and I'm glad this little boy is okay.

Please be more careful when you back out and just driving in general. I can not imagine how my life and the life of this little boy's family would change forever if things would have turned out differently.

5K number 2!

March 12th was my first 5K, and March 19th was my second. I really wanted to get another one under my belt soon to see how I could improve my time.

I worked all week to lengthen my stride and I could definitely feel the difference since I was sore in a whole new way.


To recap: here's my run from the first 5K. Too many walks and too slow

Here's my training throughout last week. Getting better....slowly.


And that leads us to my second 5K.

My friend Hayley convinced me to do the Braveheart run with her to support Baby Mason who has HLHS. It was super windy and cold! She ran a 10K, go Hayley! and I ran the 5K.
Here's a video of the 5K starting off. I didn't know that Tyler was there filming it until after I ran past him when I realized it was him cheering for me!

The race went really well for the most part. I got a few side aches and my iPod died right off the bat. But there was a gang of Air Force soldiers running behind me for half the race and I was bound and determined that they would not pass me. It kept me motivated and I made it in at 28 minutes and 43 seconds.

Still not the best, I know, but I'm getting there. And now I want to keep doing 5K's to see how much I can get my time down.

5K numero uno

I did my first 5K last week with Natalie. I talked her into running the Shamrock Shuffle with me up in Smithfield. It was fun to have her there with me and a fun thing to share. I thought the run would be a piece of cake since I've been training for it for weeks, but it was tough! Really, it was my sister that kicked butt and I was glad to have her there pushing me along the whole time. I guess that's what sisters are for right, to push you along when you want to give up.

Here's the group. 10 points if you can spot me and Natalie
We're right in the middle here, hopefully easier to find
The course started out uphill. Not the easiest start, I tell you what!
Here's our cute cheerleaders. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming!
Natalie did awesome and finished in under 31 minutes. She probably would have been even faster had it not been for me slowing her down. Really.
I was hoping to get under 30 minutes, so I was a little disappointed to come in at 31 minutes and 07 seconds. But at least I did it and I got one race under my belt.

All in all it was a tough run and I realized that I'm not pushing myself hard enough. My dad helped me see that I need to utilize my long legs better by lengthening my stride. I have a long way to go to my marathon, but this was a great start and I really learned a lot.

I Need Your Opinion

So I'm working on our wedding album and I have to submit it tomorrow.
I need a final opinion because I can't decide.
I had the idea to add some swirly line things to kind of spruce up the pages a bit.
I threw in a rough idea of what I'm thinking. It's pretty rough so ignore the rough edges and stuff. This just gives a general idea of what it would look like.
What do you think?
Should I keep the pages simple with no swirlies, or go for a little more bling with the swirlies?

Update: I decided to go with the simple, clean, no-swirly pages. I was leaning that way but I appreciate everyone's input! Our album is on it's way!



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Our Borrowed Pet

Our neighbor's kitty likes to come over and meow at our back door.
I couldn't help but give it some milk to drink.
Now it comes over everyday right when I get home from work.
It's like he's waiting for me. I think it's cute.

I'm Committed

Well, after my last post and all the positive feedback I got from everyone I guess I'm committed. Thank you everyone for your supportive comments and confidence in me. I'm accountable to you now. I'm going to do this!

I'm super stoked cuz I just found out that my cousin Megan is going to be running in the same marathon that I picked to run, the Top of Utah. How awesome is that! My aunt Jen also told me if I picked a marathon then she'd fly up from Texas to come run it with me. So now this is turning into a whole family event. I'm loving the support already. Anyone else on board?!

In other news, I recently discovered the show Cake Boss and love it. If you haven't seen it, do. That guy makes the most creative cakes I could never even dream of. Legendary.