Goodness Gracious Great Balls of .... Hair....

There are two reasons that we have fathers...

One- to kill spiders for us.

Two- to clean out hairy drains.

Now, when's one father no longer lives close-
 this resposibility falls to the husband.

Although Jon doesn't like spiders anymore than I do, he still squishes them for me.

Good man.

Because in my mind, every spider is huge and wants to eat me.

And also (much to Jon's chagrin) he gets to clean out our drain.

I just hide and shiver when our shower fails to drain properly... because you know the time is coming.

The time to pull out the hair.

If you have a weak stomach, I advise you stop reading now kuz the following picture is horrifying.
I've never seen such a hair ball before.

Could almost pass for a folk dance braid- don't you think?

Runnin', runnin' and runnin', runnin'

Well it's true... I'm trying to get back into running shape.

Once upon a time I ran a marathon...

I lost a toenail, was chaffed and bloody, was sore for weeks, and had many chronic injuries from said marathon.

I haven't really run a race since!

BUT it's time. 

I don't know what childbirth is like- but people say that you forget all the pain you go through... which results in more little chillins'.

I suppose that could be like running a marathon?

I've finally forgotten all the pain (well not entirely- I only signed up for a half) and am thinking that it may be fun! (insane??)

So I've been a runnin'.

And on long runs Jon follows me on his bike and holds my water bottle... and apparently takes pictures?

 Hmm... dunno what my leg is doing... maybe I need to pee?

 And runnin...

And just real quick... I hafta share with you the COOLEST app in existence.

It's called miCoach.

It's like I have a personal trainer in my ear telling me what to do! 

She tells me when to speed up, when to do interval training, if I'm going too slow, how far I've gone, how many calories I've burned, my mile split times- she's incredible!

AND... I feel like if I don't go running... I let her down...

how ridiculous is that?

I feel like me and this automated female computer voice are becoming fast friends.

"Utah! With It's Mountains and Valleys! Utah! With It's Canyons and Streams!"

Gosh- I don't think you really appreciate beautiful Utah until you've been away from it for far too long.

Isn't that how life always works? 

You don't appreciate something until it's gone?

Anyway- we were able to fly out to Utah this past weekend for a fun weekend full of friends.

We got in late Thursday night, and Friday the party began :)

We were pretty pathetic on campus... we took pictures of everything...

The "Y"

The Wilk

The Cougar Eat... hahaha

Having lunch with friends!
Michele (Sorensen) Johnson, Preston, and their cute baby Parker.

We even went around to see old professors... we're nerds...
That night we went up the canyon for my mission reunion!
The color of the changing leaves were beautiful.

 My Mission President and his wife flew in from Denmark for the reunion... so it was kind of a big deal. It was so good to catch up with everybody.
With Cami Hansen...

 With Mika face...

We all had matching mission ties and scarves... 

thus we all look like flight stewardess ;)

This is my dear Mary Clinger...

and sweet Sharon Rohm...

 How can you go to Provo and NOT see this place?

 We got some Cookies and Cream milk... delicious!

 Saturday between sessions, we met up with these girls at Guru's...
Dana and Janeen

 Then Saturday afternoon session we played listened with these guys!
Rosalee and her new baby Liam...

 Old roomies :)
Rosalee White and Shaundra Coombs

 Did we stop then?
Nope...
We hightailed it up to Salt Lake to get these boys into their Priesthood session.
They sang for tickets...
and got 8 plaza tickets and 15 other tickets for elsewhere!
Singing for tickets works like a charm.

 And us girls did other important stuff...
like shopping!

 Out to dinner at Califorina Pizza Kitchen
Jon was in heaven with all his folk dance buddies.
We're in the process of TRYING to get them all to move to Houston ;)

Sunday morning we ate breakfast and watched conference with a bunch of Brames!

Jordan (Jon's brother) and Mandee

 Dana (Jon's sister) and Brian

 and us :)

 Brian and Lindsay let us stay in their lovely little house.
Thank you so much!

And Sunday evening was a folk dance reunion...

 The weekend was lovely and full of good "walks down memory lane".
As we speak, Jon is watching his folk dance DVD from China and is almost in tears.
We love and miss Utah.

Amen and Hallelujah!

This morning marked a momentous occasion in the life of me (a lover of Fall).

We opened our door to send Jon on his merry way to school... and it was COOLER outside than inside!

WA-HOO!!!

A lovely 61 degrees outside.

Beautiful.

My screen door is open and I'm immensely enjoying this cool breeze (while it lasts!)

FREE!!!

So, although Jon and I aren't the POOREST of college students... we still like to live like it.

Is that bad?

Our food budget is ridiculously small and we are constantly looking for free handouts.

And thanks to THIS website, we've been the recipients of much "free-ness"...

Example...

Free movie passes from Studio Movie Grill...

The most amazing place ever!

You can order food while you watch the movie... super cool.

Free fish and chips at an Irish Grill... all we had to do was wear green!

 And it was delicious!

Free shows at Miller Outdoor Theatre

Free pictures, scrapbooks and calendars from various places...

AND free nights of theatre...
(there are free shows all around the country!
For a listing... click here)

"That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."
Henry David Thoreau


Well said, Henry... well said.