Provo River Half Marathon

Yes, you read that correctly, I ran a half-marathon. Actually, run might be the incorrect term to use, maybe survived would be more appropriate!

So, here's what happened...Back in May(ish) Amanda somehow talked me into training for a half-marathon. For some strange reason I said okay. Looking back, I was completely nuts, but we went ahead and started to process of getting the lazy, out-of-shape, former runner (ME)conditioned enough to survive 13.1 miles of running. I'll be honest, the training's sole purpose was to get me to finish, that was the only goal and I am happy to say that it was accomplished. We ran probably 3 times a week (if that many). Here is the kicker, on my Summer vacation I woke up early enough to be at Amanda's by 5:30 a.m. THREE TIMES A WEEK! Many people would call that dedication, I call it INSANITY.

I was feeling pretty good most of the Summer, but a few weeks before the race my right IT Band started to bother me. I wasn't very shocked since most of my high school running career I was fighting some sort of tendinitis. Our longest training run was about 9 miles, so going into the race I wasn't even sure if I could make it 13.1! To top it all of, the week before the race I somehow tweaked my back and could barely walk for 2 days. Thank heaven for a good chiropractor, ice, advil, and a lot of rest. The entire week before the race I did not run one time. Ah, the serious nature of my training ;)

The evening before the race Amanda and I drove down to Provo to pick up our numbers, t-shirts, and any other instructions needed for the following morning. After picking up our stuff we met Shannon at Macaroni Grill for some prerace carbo loading. It was so good to see Shannon and catch up a little bit. After dinner Amanda and I drove to Lehi where we would be staying at Erin's (Amanda's friend) house. We really meant to get to sleep earlier, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be the case. Too much chit-chatting before bed!

The alarm clock went off WAY TOO EARLY. My thoughts included: What in the heck am I doing up at this awful hour to run 13.1 miles? Is my body going to hold up? Am I going to survive? Will I still speak to Amanda after this is all over, since it was her idea? We drove back to Provo, hopped a bus on a pretty chilly August morning. (I never imagined I would get a 64 degree day for a half-marathon on a Saturday in August, but I was EXTREMELY grateful for that temperature.) I am still thinking that this is completely crazy, but then again, so am I.

We started the race, and to be honest, the first 4-5 miles just flew by. It is the best I have ever felt running. By mile 7 or so my knee started acting up, but you all know about how stubborn I am, so I just kept on going, stopping every now and then to tighten my knee strap. Then the real fun kicked in, my left foot started hurting, and I mean HURTING, at about mile 10 or 11 (I really try to block out this portion). At this point I was considering just walking the rest of the way, giving up, etc., then the stubborness kicked in. I tried, and tried, and tried to get Amanda to go on ahead. I knew she was feeling good, but she insisted on staying with me. We walked a little, but for the most part just went at a pretty slow jog. At mile 12 I told Amanda to go ahead and I would see her at the finish line. I knew at this point that I would finish if it killed me, I wasn't about to go 12 miles and not get that last mile in. That last mile wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be. I spent that time thinking, pondering, and communicating with my Heavenly Father.

People ask me how I did and my response is that I accomplished my goal, FINISHING! My time was 2 hours 12 minutes and I am 100% fine with that time. The course wasn't too bad, mostly downhill with beautiful scenery.

At the finish line Amanda gave me a big hug and asked if we were still on speaking terms. I assured her that we are :)

After the race I didn't dare sit down because I knew that if I did I would never get back up. Amanda wanted a pancake, all I wanted was the delicious watermelon and some water. Once we were done eating we went back to Erin's to shower and get into some clean clothes. Then the lovely drive back home.

It only took me about 2 days to be able to walk normally again, and the left foot thing...the doctor says it is either tendinitis or a stress fracture! Ah, the joys.

Looking back I can say that I am glad I did it, will I ever run another half? Not anytime soon! I am so grateful for Amanda who stuck with me the entire race when she was feeling good and could have gone so much faster. I can guarantee that if she wouldn't have stuck with me I wouldn't have finished. Thanks for sticking with me and encouraging me the whole way. You are an amazing friend and I am so blessed to have you as a part of my life. Love ya babe!

My Trip to Portland & Seattle (Finally :))

Since my computer is being a pain I will just go in reverse order of how my trip went.

Sunday
After driving 1800+ miles over the weekend I hit a deer with my car just outside of Tremonton, UT. That is right, I was less than an hour from home and hit a deer.
My parents came and picked me up, we sent my car to the shop in Brigham, and I went home frustrated and very tired.
Final Score Rachel-1 Bambi-0

Outside of Portland there is a beautiful waterfall, called Multnomah Falls, right by the Interstate. I couldn't help but stop and take a picture or two.

The 11-hour trip home was a wonderful time for me to do some thinking, pondering, and reflection. I think I spent 2-3 hours of the time riding in silence and having a good hour-long heart-to-heart with my Heavenly Father. I am grateful that I turned off the radio and took the opportunity to feel the Spirit.

Saturday
Sunset over a bridge along the Wilamette River.

Since I found myself with a little extra time I made sure to stop by and see the Seattle, Washington Temple. I wish I would have had some time to do an endowment session.

This is Imri Larsen and me at a kaiten sushi restaurant in Seattle. Imri and I served in the same area, Yamato-Kouriyama, for 6 months. He lives up in Seattle and is going to the University of Washington.

The Space Needle

Pike's Place Public Market-I saw the famous "Fish Throwers" at Pike's Place Fish Market, bought some fun souvenirs, just walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere, and on Amanda's suggestion (thanks babe) I bought myself some gorgeous flowers.

Friday

I spent the entire day with my Dad's Cousin, Larry. We did some sight-seeing and went out to dinner for some delicious, fresh seafood. Yummy!!!

We went to the Japanese Garden, which reminded me of Japan quite a bit.

We also went to the International Rose Test Garden. Portland is, afterall, the City of Roses.

This is Larry.

THIS is Larry's replica 1934 Mercedes Roadster. He built it from a kit over the period of a few years. It is a beautiful car and was very fun to drive. He pulled it out of the garage and I went to get in the passenger side, to which he responded, "You drive, I'll navigate." I've never driven a car that nice. When we pulled into NikeTown a man said, "That is the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time." The sarcastic side of me wanted to reply, "The car isn't so bad, either." But, I stopped myself!

Thursday

This is the Portland, Oregon temple.

Thursday

I spent the day with Ariana's family, friends, etc. with the wedding stuff. Ariana and I were mission companions in Yamato-Kouriyama, Japan for 4 1/2 months. The sealing was beautiful and I am extremely grateful I was able to be there to support Ariana and Gabriel. After the wedding we took pictures outside of the temple and then headed to a nearby park for lunch. The evening was spent helping out with the reception, most of the time in the kitchen getting food, etc. prepared. I'm so glad that I took the time to go to Portland to be there for this wonderful occasion. Thanks for the invitation, love you guys!

Wednesday

I got out of my college class at 11:30, went and picked up the cross-stitch I was having framed, loaded up the car and set out on the 11-hour car trip to Portland, Oregon

This was a wonderful trip and I am happy I did it, even if I did hit a deer and had to be without a car for 10 days!

Vacation

Our home computer is down right now, so I won't be able to get my vacation update on here for a few days.
To summarize my trip (I promise more details and pictures when we fix the computer):
Wednesday-Go to class, take a test, drive for 11 hours
Thursday-Sealing in Portland Temple, wedding stuff all day
Friday-Sight-seeing in Portland, driving a replica 1934 Mercedes Roadster
Saturday-Seattle
Sunday-Drive home, Hit a deer
Now doesn't that sound like a lot of fun?

Dancing With the Stars

Okay, the cat is out of the bag. I am a Dancing With the Stars fan! I am happy to say that I am pleased with the results of this season. I am glad that Shawn and Mark won!

ABC's Of ME!!!

ABC's of Me

A-
Available: Very
Age: 28
Annoyance: Laziness
Animal: Dog

B-
Beer: Beer bread is delicious, other than that, no thanks.
Birthday: September 11
Best Friend: Amanda, Shannon, John, and more
Been in Love: Can't say that I have
Been on stage: Orchestra in Middle School
Believe in Miracles: Absolutely, without a doubt
Believe in Santa: Definitely

C-
Candy: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Swedish Fish
Color: Dark Blue
Chocolate/Vanilla: Definitely Chocolate! Vanilla is the base for which all delicious flavors, alone, no thanks.
Chinese/Mexican: Mexican
Cake or pie: Homemade Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
Continent to visit: Asia
Cheese: most types, I do love a good sharp Cheddar, Provolone or Muenster

D-
Day or Night: Both
Dancing in the rain: Not recently

E-
Eyes: Hazel
Everyone's got: Great potential and A loving Heavenly Father

F-
First thoughts waking up: It can't be morning already
Food: Just about anything

G-
Greatest Fear: Being Alone
Goals: Too many to list.
Gum: Orbit White
Get along with your parents: Yep

H-
Hair Color: Sandy Blond in the summer, a little darker in the winter
Height: 5' 8"
Holiday: Thanksgiving, and no, not because of the food!
How do you want to die: Quickly and painlessly

I-
Ice Cream: Lemon Sorbet or a dark chocolate Rocky Road
Instrument: Currently: Piano, Lifetime: Violin and Ukelele

J-
Jewelry: CTR Ring, Watch, Bracelet made of fishing swivels
Job: Medical Anatomy teacher

K-
Kids: Hopefully someday, until then I have 120 M-F 9 months of the year.
Keep a journal: Not as much as I should

L-
Love=Perseverance
Letter: Can't say I really have a favorite letter
Laughed so hard you cried: Yes, and it feels great!

M-
Milk flavor: Plain 1%
Movies: Chick Flicks!
Motion sickness: Yes, but I just get off the roller-coaster, lose my lunch, and get right back on.
McD’s or BK: If I had to make a choice between the two, BK
Number: 7

O-
One wish: "World Peace"-sorry, had to put it.
Actually, to marry and raise a family.

P- Pepsi/Coke: Whatever is cheapest, yet then again I don't drink carbonated beverages
Perfect Pizza: Hawaiian
Piercings: Ears

Q-
Quote: "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."

R-
Reason to cry: Happy, pain, sorrow
Reality T.V.: The Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, Biggest Loser
Radio Station: Whatever one doesn't have any commercials on at the given moment
Roll your tongue in a circle: Yep

S-
Song: That is an impossible question
Shoe size: 9
Salad Dressing: Japanese Sesame Seed Dressing
Sushi: Delicious
Shave arms or legs: Legs-
Skinny dipped: Nope
Strawberries/Blueberries: Strawberries!
Surgeries: Nope

T-
Tattoos: Not in a million, my body is a temple :)
Time for bed: During the school year, 10 p.m., during the summer, who cares!
Thunderstorms: My favorite

U-
Unpredictable: not often

V-
Vacation spot(s): Japan, Prince Edward Island, Uinta Mountains

W-
Weakness: Self-deprecation
Worst feeling: Being alone
Wanted to be a model: Heavens no
Worst Weather=When you are stuck inside all day and it is sunny and warm outside :(

X-
X-Rays: Sinuses, teeth, ankle

Y-
Year it is now: 2009
Yellow=Happy

Z-
Zoo animal: Tigers

Happy Mother's Day

On this Mother's Day I am reminded of a talk given in the April 2004 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It applies to women throughout the world, in every situation, from every background. Whether married or single, mother of her own children or mother to the neighborhood, old or young. It reminds us all of what we should strive to become.
So, to all you Women with a 'Mother Heart' out there, I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing Mother's Day.

Julie B. Beck, “A ‘Mother Heart’,” Ensign, May 2004, 75

By developing a mother heart, each girl and woman prepares for her divine, eternal mission of motherhood.

I have often heard my father describe my mother as a woman with a “mother heart,” and that is true. Her mothering influence has been felt by many hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, and she has refined the role of nurturer to an art form. Her testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and strong sense of identity and purpose have guided her life.
She took longer than most women to find her husband, but during her single years she had devoted her life to progress. Though it was uncommon at the time, she was university educated and advancing in a career. Following her marriage, children arrived in quick succession; and in a short span of years, she was the mother of a large family. All the knowledge she had acquired, all her natural abilities and gifts, all her skills were channeled into an organization that had no earthly bounds. As a covenant-keeping daughter of God, she had prepared all her life for motherhood.
What is a mother heart and how is one acquired? We learn about some of those qualities in the scriptures. To paraphrase Proverbs: “Who can find a … woman [with a mother heart]? for her price is far above rubies. … She … worketh willingly with her hands. … With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. … She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. … Strength and honour are her clothing. … She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness” (Prov. 31:10, 13, 16, 20, 25–27). A woman with a mother heart has a testimony of the restored gospel, and she teaches the principles of the gospel without equivocation. She is keeping sacred covenants made in holy temples. Her talents and skills are shared unselfishly. She gains as much education as her circumstances will allow, improving her mind and spirit with the desire to teach what she learns to the generations who follow her.
If she has children, she is a “goodly parent” (1 Ne. 1:1) who lives and teaches standards of behavior exactly in line with the teachings of living prophets. She teaches her “children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” (D&C 68:28). Rather than listening to the voices and partial truths of the world, she knows that gospel standards are based on eternal, unchangeable truths. She believes that to be “primarily responsible for the nurture of [her] children” is a vital, dignified, and “sacred responsibilit[y]” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Liahona, Oct. 1998, 24; Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). To nurture and feed them physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually. She is “not weary in well-doing” and delights to serve her family, because she knows that “out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).
Oh, that every girl and woman would have a testimony of her potential for eternal motherhood as she keeps her earthly covenants. “Each is a beloved … daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine … destiny” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”). As spirit daughters of God, women “received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth” (D&C 138:56) on the earth. They were among the “noble and great ones” (D&C 138:55) who “shouted for joy” (Job 38:7) at the creation of the earth because they would be given a physical body with the opportunity to be proven in a mortal sphere (see Abr. 3:25). They wished to work side by side with righteous men to accomplish eternal goals that neither can attain independently.
Female roles did not begin on earth, and they do not end here. A woman who treasures motherhood on earth will treasure motherhood in the world to come, and “where [her] treasure is, there will [her] heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). By developing a mother heart, each girl and woman prepares for her divine, eternal mission of motherhood. “Whatever principle of intelligence [she] attain[s] unto in this life, it will rise with [her] in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through [her] diligence and obedience than another, [she] will have so much the advantage in the world to come” (D&C 130:18–19).
In my experience I have seen that some of the truest mother hearts beat in the breasts of women who will not rear their own children in this life, but they know that “all things must come to pass in their time” and that they “are laying the foundation of a great work” (D&C 64:32–33). As they keep their covenants, they are investing in a grand, prestigious future because they know that “they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever” (Abr. 3:26).
I was recently at a park where I met a group of women with mother hearts. They were young, covenant-keeping women. They were bright and had obtained advanced degrees from respected universities. Now they were devoting their considerable gifts to planning dinner that evening and sharing housekeeping ideas. They were teaching two-year-olds to be kind to one another. They were soothing babies, kissing bruised knees, and wiping tears. I asked one of those mothers how it came about that she could transfer her talents so cheerfully into the role of motherhood. She replied, “I know who I am, and I know what I am supposed to do. The rest just follows.” That young mother will build faith and character in the next generation one family prayer at a time, one scripture study session, one book read aloud, one song, one family meal after another. She is involved in a great work. She knows that “children are an heritage of the Lord” and “happy is the [woman] that hath [a] quiver full of them” (Ps. 127:3, 5). She knows that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily mothering is far more lasting, far more powerful, far more influential than any earthly position or institution invented by man. She has the vision that, if worthy, she has the potential to be blessed as Rebekah of old to be “the mother of thousands of millions” (Gen. 24:60).
Covenant-keeping women with mother hearts know that whether motherhood comes early or late; whether they are blessed with a “quiver full” of children here in mortality or not; whether they are single, married, or left to carry the responsibility of parenthood alone—in holy temples they are “endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32), and with that endowment they received the promised blessings and are “persuaded of them, and embraced them” (Heb. 11:13).
Every girl and woman who makes and keeps sacred covenants can have a mother heart. There is no limit to what a woman with a mother heart can accomplish. Righteous women have changed the course of history and will continue to do so, and their influence will spread and grow exponentially throughout the eternities. How grateful I am to the Lord for trusting women with the divine mission of motherhood. Like Mother Eve I am “glad” (see Moses 5:11) to know these things. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Friends

The past few weeks I have been reminded of what amazing friends I have been blessed with. You know the kind of friends I am talking about. The ones that are there for you no matter what. They don't care if their house is a mess and they have things to do, they'll drop everything because you need to talk. They can tell when something is wrong and you need to talk and then proceed to get you to talk. On the other hand, they can tell when you aren't ready to talk and give you time and space. They laugh with you. They cry with you. They don't care what you look like and don't judge you, because if they did they would have run the other way months, years, or even decades ago! They love you for you, even when you are irrational, exasperating, frustrating, etc. They call at just the right time. They get you to relax and have fun. They know just what to say and when to say it. They can tell when you what you really need is a big HUG.

To all my wonderful friends out there, thank you so much for all of your love and support. Thank you for being a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and someone to laugh with. Thank you for taking time out of your crazy lives for me. Thank you for encouraging me, especially when I am frustrated. Thank you for making sure I am eating:).

I hope and pray that I am being a good friend to my friends. All too often I am too busy, too stressed, or too tired. My resolve: to be a better friend and a better listener.

Love you guys!


"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends whom we choose."


"Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you."


"Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than love."


"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else."