18 Years!-Part 2

Hangin' out in the lobby of Deseret Towers

Our constant companion and chaperone, Scott Wares

Sam Hall Spring Formal 1988 in St. George

Kappa Spring Formal 1988

More dorm fun!

So the story continues.........

After our first date, we started to spend more and more time together. We would sit by each other in class and even walk to class together. About this time, Kurt started Sam Hall Pledge so he was not allowed to see me unless it was a club sponsored activity. So we would have to meet after curfew at various places around campus----mostly the tunnels near the Marriott Center. By this time, I was hooked! He was all I could think about. I was sick thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation knowing we wouldn't be spending as much time together. I don't think we saw each other during either of those school breaks. I remember talking to him on New Year's Eve while I was hanging out with my friends and the Holmberg's.

After we started winter semester we were only dating each other. It was such a fun time in our lives---carefree and non-stop fun (with a little studying in between!).

A few weeks into the semester, Kurt told me he was leaving for a few days to go waterskiing with his friend Dave Pearson. I was sick! He was literally only gone for maybe 4 days but I thought I was going to die! I was wandering around like a lost puppy. When he came home, he told me that he had gotten his mission call. I was so shocked because he had never even said one thing about turning in his papers or anything. I figured he would go on a mission but was surprised that he hadn't talked about it at all. It was then that I got a little dose of reality. I realized that our freshman year was not going to last forever.

In February of that year, during a school break, we went to San Diego with Mike Huish, Finn Jensen and some other friends. Mike's family was so nice to let us stay at their house. We went to Disneyland, Tijuana and the beach. Kurt paid for everything that whole trip. I was so embarrassed that he would pay for me! He was so sweet and fun. I have such great memories of that trip.

18 YEARS!

This is how we looked when we started school fall semester of our freshman year!

Today is our 18 year anniversary! I seriously cannot believe we have been married that long. Even though it is so close to Christmas, Kurt and I usually make it a point to go somewhere at least overnight. We usually finish up any Christmas shopping we have to do. This year we stayed in Salt Lake. It was pretty uneventful! We didn't even go someplace special for dinner.

For many years we would eat dinner at the Ristorante Della Fontana. When we very first met in high school, we went to junior prom and ate at that restaurant. However, we weren't on a date with each other! I was with Shane Kelson and Kurt was with some other girl. So, anyway, it was a fun tradition for us to eat there every year. Unfortunately they closed the restaurant quite a few years ago.

I remember when I met Kurt our junior year I could not get past the hair! His hair was pretty big back then and I was not attracted to him at all. But I would notice him at football and basketball games through the last year of high school. Then, on the first day of school our freshman year at BYU, I was in the bookstore with my friend Gina. We were standing in line to buy some textbooks and I looked across the way and noticed Kurt. I immediately knew who he was and, though the hair was still big, it was big in a good way! What a difference a year had made. He walked over by us and I think I said something to him. He remembered me and we talked for a minute. As it turns out, we were both living in DT and we both had freshman biology. We would run into each other in the Morris Center and on the way to and from class.

Our first official date was on September 27, 1987. It was the Sam Hall Cowboy Party. I was so nervous. We had hung out a little before that but I was so scared to be on an official date. I don't remember much of the date other than Kurt rode a mechanical bull at the party and cut his finger. When I got home from the date, I noticed that I had blood all over the sleeves of my shirt from his finger.

Crazy Eights Tag

Thanks Kaci! Here we go!

Favorite TV Shows
1. Survivor
2. Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
3. Barefoot Contessa
4. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
5. Giada at Home
6. Hidden Potential
7. Oprah
8. The Hills

Favorite Restaurants
1. Magleby's Fresh
2. Carver's
3. Outback
4. Pizza Factory
5. Epic
6. Foundry Grill at Sundance
7. Ruth's Chris
8. Cafe Rio

Things I did yesterday (I did way more than 8 things!)
1. Ran on the treadmill-YUCK!
2. cleaned my room and bathroom
3. went to the grocery story
4. went to a 40th birthday party for Matt Rich
5. went to the mall
6. drove kids around
7. wished for more snow
8. drove kids around

Things I look forward to
1. more snow
2. skiing
3. Christmas at the ranch
4. kids being out of school for Chrismas break
5. this coming weekend
6. Kurt's 40th birthday
7. Montana getting her drivers license
8. family time

Ugly Sweater Party

Last weekend Jim and Gina Anderson hosted an ugly sweater party at their cabin in American Fork Canyon. We had dinner and played games and laughed our heads off! We always have such a fun time when we are with the Andersons. The Hunters, Joe and Courtney Magness, Dusty and Sommer Dastrup and a bunch of friends of Chris and Heather Anderson were all there.

Kurt borrowed his sweater from Paul Eagleston (who has ugly clothing for any occasion!). The sweater also came with a blond mustache which Kurt was too chicken to wear. I bought my lovely vest at Wal-Mart for $19.99.

Jim's pants were so tight that he could barely kneel down to play a game! You can't quite grasp how tight they were from this picture!

The lovely host and hostess-Jim and Gina!

OPENING DAY

Today is opening day at Sundance. We bought the three older kids season passes this year. Even I got a pass! My new skis are all ready to go. Unfortunately there is no snow! Kurt just called me from Sundance and said the only snow on the ground is man made and not very much of it. It is supposed to snow all day today but I haven't seen more than a very small flurry or two so far. Here's praying for a white Christmas!!!!!!

Skipping Thanksgiving....and possibly Christmas

No, not really. But you would think so if you were to take a look at this blog! Half way in to December and I realize I haven't even posted anything about Thanksgiving! I was caught so unprepared for this holiday season.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in St. George. Thanksgiving day was cold and rainy but the rest of the weekend was sunny and quite warm. Our family just bought a new home in St.George and this is the first time we were able to use it for a holiday. Everyone was there but Dave and Lindsey and Sunne and Flynn. We spent quite a bit of time shopping and doing odd jobs around the house. It is so great! The kids have a bunk room all to themselves. There are plenty of bedrooms for everybody. We look forward to spending lots of time there in the future. In fact, we will be down for a half marathon in January. I am sure it won't be warm and sunny then!

Me......a teacher?

When I was growing up I ALWAYS wanted to be a teacher. My favorite thing to play was always school. But when I got to college I wasn't sure I wanted to go into elementary education. I ended up studying French and was on track to get my teaching certificate along with my French degree. But adding a few more semesters to my schooling in order to get that teaching certificate was not a priority once Kurt and I got married!

Today I am going to subsitute teach a class of 3rd graders for the first time! My dream is coming true in a sense. I don't know that it will be everything I always wanted to do but we will try it and see. And I am so nervous----and it's not even for a full day---only 3 1/2 hours!

What to do?

This past weekend Kurt and I went to a 40th birthday party for a good friend of ours. This party had been planned for months, had an unlimited budget and was over the top (but very fun!). A couple of months ago I thought it would be fun to do a video for Kurt with interviews of parents, siblings and friends. Of course, this friend of ours had one! I don't want to copy but I had the idea first! Anyway, I have been racking my brain trying to think of something fun to do for Kurt for his 40th which is rapidly approaching. He is not one to have a huge party with tons of people. I know he would just like to be with those people he loves the most. I know he has always wanted to have a sushi party at our house. I just want to do something that will be especially memorable to celebrate. If anybody has any fabulous suggestions, let me know!

Orem High Volleyball

Montana played on the Orem High sophomore volleyball team this year. Their season ended just recently. The team only lost 2 games and ended up being the region champs. Although Montana had a rough start (playing time issues......), the season ended really well and I think she improved a lot. It kept her very busy every day after school. She had to be very organized with her time. I am so proud of her! Can't wait for next year!

HALLOWEEN (5 DAYS LATER)

Jake & Riley

The 3 nerds (Dayson, Cade and Indy)

Indy

Emerson And the doughnuts!

How nice it was to have Halloween on a Friday! No worrying about getting to bed at a decent hour or homework. It got a little crazy at our house. Since we didn't have any doughnuts left over last year, Kurt suggested I make a double batch! (one batch makes about 150!!!!) So I did and, surprisingly, we didn't have that many left again. We probably had about 30 people in our house for part of the night. It was such a nice night that we kept the door open and people just wandered in and out. Thanks to my neighbor Shayne who bought a deep fryer that I was able to use. Two fryers makes the process a whole lot quicker! Although it is a LOT of work, in the end, it is worth it!

FAMILY NIGHT FUN

We had family night last night with the Youngs and the Winters. We had a lesson and then carved pumpkins! Between the 3 families there were 16 kids! I brought a drill because I wanted to make a polka dot pumpkin. Some of the kids got pretty creative with it. We had a great time!

COUSINS

The kids love their cousins so much! They look forward to any time they get to spend together. I hope they will always stay as close to them in the future as they are now. I think I may have posted some of these pictures before but they are so cute I decided to re-post them. I have a ton more but my computer is being weird and won't let me do the rest right now.

Back Up and Running

I went to the physical therapist yesterday to get the low-down on my knee and find out if I can ever run another marathon. And the answer is yes!! It was just as I had thought-IT band, an EXTREMELY tight IT band. I have heard that ITs can be a recurring problem especially with women runners. But the physical therapist was confident that, with a couple weeks of work, I can be back on track. I also found out that my left leg is slightly longer than my right-which is not unusual. That only aggravated my problems once I started running longer distances.

Time to go running!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Today is my mom's birthday! Usually she is out of town for her birthday but not this year. Tonight we are going to have dinner at the Food Bank and then do some service hours there. I think the whole family will be there. It should be a great night. I will try and post some pictures later tonight. Mom wanted a Wii and Wii fit so that's what we got her! It will be just perfect for the new St. George house.

UEA WEEKEND

This past week has been so busy that it's hard to remember everything we have done. And we still have one more day left in the vacation!

Wednesday night Montana, Emerson and I left to go to St. George for a few days. Indy had a soccer game Thursday and Finn was sleeping over with the England boys so they didn't come. Kurt decided to stay home and keep track of the boys.

We stayed at the Laguna house in St. George for the last time. Mom and Dad bought a new house. Thursday morning we went over to the new house with mom to take some measurements and look over things. They should be able to close this week and take possession by the end of the week! It's pretty exciting. Of course there is no furniture so we have got a lot of shopping to do before it's ready to stay in.

After looking at the new house we went over to Sand Hollow Reservoir with the Youngs. They had rented some 4-wheelers with the Killpacks. A couple other families from Orem were there with boats. It was such a perfect day! The kids would go tubing for a while then run back up the beach to ride the 4-wheelers. It was very fun. The boys would have been in heaven if they would have been there.

Friday we went biking in Snow Canyon. Again it was a great day. We had lunch in the park and let the kids play on the rocks. The Youngs had invited Emerson to stay for the rest of the weekend with them. Montana and I left to come home late in the afternoon. It was a quick trip but I think it was worth it. We didn't have any plans at home anyway.

I almost did it!

Well, the St. George Marathon has now come and gone. After 6 months of training and hard work I had to drop out at mile 17. What a disappointment! I was very pumped up and feeling confident and ready!

The morning of the race I woke up to see it was sprinkling. As we got on the bus in St. George it was pretty mild but the further we got up the canyon, the more the rain started to fall. At the starting line there was a pretty good wind. They were handing out garbage sacks but ran out just as we got to the table to ask for one. Luckily I had on my knit cap to keep the rain off my head. Raquel Westover, Suzette Greer and I all started out at a good pace. We were staying close to the 4:30 pacer. At Veyo hill I kept running and lost Suzette and Raquel. I was feeling good and didn't want to lose my momentum even though it was slow on the hill. I kept looking back to find them but couldn't. My left knee started hurting from about mile 5 but it just felt like normal aches and pains that come and go during a run. But about 13 it wasn't going away. By 15, I was only running a few hundred yards at a time. About 16, there was a long downhill stretch and, by that point, it was hurting to WALK down the hill. I knew I was done. I had to walk to 17 to catch a shuttle down to the finish line. I was so cold and so drenched that I couldn't stop the shivering. At the finish line I couldn't find anybody. We hadn't arranged for a specific meeting place. So I ended up walking around for about 30 minutes trying to find Kurt and the kids. I finally found them in the bleachers. They thought they had missed my finish. It took everything in me not to break down in tears when I told them I had to drop out. I was so cold and miserable! We stayed just long enough to see Suzette and Raquel finish and then went home.

The bummer about the knees is that I had this same problem about mid-way through my training. But I thought I had taken care of it. I hadn't had one knee problem since about July. I can't figure out if it was the cold that contributed to the problem or what! All I know is that this is not my last marathon. St. George 2009---I will be there!

Soccer

AAAHHH!

Mornings, just about 9 a.m., the kids have left for school and Kurt is off to work. The house is all quiet, the laundry is going. Duke is taking a little nap in the sun. I love this time of day!

A LIST

OF THINGS FOUND IN WINDOWSILLS AS I WAS CLEANING YESTERDAY:
1) HARRY POTTER LEGO GUY
2) TOOTHPICK
3) A DEAD HUMMINGBIRD
4) MORE FLIES THAN I CAN COUNT
5) A FEW MOSQUITOS
6) A GIANT (WE'RE TALKING 1 INCH LONG) BEE
7) A CHAPSTICK

AND THAT WAS ONLY ABOUT 1/3 OF THE WINDOWS IN MY HOUSE! WE'LL SEE WHAT I FIND TODAY!

4 weeks until........

the St. George Marathon! I am starting to get mostly nervous but excited and anxious too. I think most of all I am tired! I have been training since April for crying out loud! Tomorrow I have to run 21 miles and I have been dreading it all week. If I can get to the half way point I am usually good to finish. I will be thinking of our friend Matt Galland who is running the Wasatch 100, yes 100 miles, tomorrow! 21 is way more manageable.

Labor Day Weekend

back to school

Talents

Over the past few days I have been reading over the blog updating the condition of Christian and Stephanie Nielson. I have also read over Stephanie's own blog. These women are so talented! They are such writers. Everything they write is so beautiful---from the description of their children's birthday parties to their love for their spouse! I am so envious. I have never been a writer nor will I ever be. In fact, I am still trying to figure out exactly what my talents are. I am almost 40 for heavens sake! There is one I feel confident about--I know I am good at laundry. I just thought of another one--I make a pretty good donut!

Change of Perspective

Today I so appreciate having each of my 4 children and my husband alive and healthy and well. All the stress about life changes and jobs and houses and money are unimportant when you get right down to it. Last week at this time I was feeling sorry for myself for my situation. Today it really doesn't matter.

Our brother-in-law Pete's brother Christian and his wife Stephanie were in a terrible plane crash. They are both in critical condition with burns over 30% of Christian's body and 80% of Stephanie's. They have 4 small children who are going to be living with aunts for the time being.

Back to School

So the kids started back to school on Monday. So far they haven't had any homework but I'm sure it's coming! Montana is enjoying Orem High. She made the sophomore volleyball team which is pretty exciting. The other three kids are playing club soccer. It's been nice to have a little bit of time to myself again. Tuesday I sat out by the pool for a couple of hours all by myself. I didn't even get in the pool or sit in the sun! I ended up falling asleep for a little while.

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

So today is my birthday! It did not start out so well so it can only get better from this point on. My day started at 6 a.m. I had to get Finn to the soccer fields by 6:45 in order to leave to California for his soccer trip. Of course we forgot his lunch so Kurt had to run it down to the fields. Then I had to run home in time to get Indy out of bed to be in Lindon by 7:45 to catch his bus to Clear Creek camp. Then Montana had to be at the stake center by 8:00 to catch her bus to Heber Valley Camp. I had a few minutes to come home, catch my breath, do a few jobs around the house and head off to a presidency meeting/breakfast at Magleby's. Thanks to Tami, Barb and Amy for taking me to breakfast!

THIS IS THE PLACE HERITAGE PARK-JULY 12, 2008

TIMPANOGOS CAVE-JULY 11, 2008

They must not have started the hike because they are smiling!
Emer and Perry taking a break.
Finn, Cal, Penn and Indy
We made it!
Inside the cave.