Fishin' with Papa

I stole this picture off of Martha's blog, but I had to post it. My dad and brother (Cory) took 5 of my 6 nephews fishing in my parents' pond. They caught a ton of fish and from what I hear the boys had a blast. I can't wait to go home and spend some time with these cute fellows!


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For my momma

Of all the mothers in the world, He knew I needed you.
Through storms and troubled waters your faith has seen me through.

Your loving acts and testimony have helped me to believe.
Your many talents radiate, for everyone to see.

You are a great example of compassion and love.
You taught me how to put my faith, in the Lord above.

You taught me the commandments and about Jesus Christ,
You helped me develop talents and find my inner light.

You showed me how to serve my family, teach others, and to lead.
You somehow always know exactly what I need.

You serve your family endlessly no matter just how tough.
You live the gospel full heartedly and are a diamond in the rough.

I hope you know how very special you are to me, because
You’ve given me an amazing example of what I want to be.

Nothing like techno in the morning

I've always enjoyed spin classes at the gym, and I've recently started going to them regularly again. At 6am I was in a dark room with black lights, psychedelic fans, lots of spandex and 16 other early birds ready to get their workouts on. It's such a motivating feeling - riding a bike as hard as you can with techno music pounding, and everyone's white shoe laces making hypnotic swirly patterns. Whenever the music kicks up in tempo and intensity you'll see everyone's speed pick up. Of course the instructor can make or a break a class with their motivating dialogue throughout the class. Spin class kicks my butt and is so relaxing at the same time!

Walking the dog

I've been waking up really early each morning and going to Gold's, but this morning the temperature was actually bearable and I decided to go for a walk with Belle. Belle is Kevin's cougar/bear hunting dog and isn't really accustomed to going for "walks." She keeps a brisk pace with her nose to the ground, until she smells something of interest. Then I end up trying to drag her down the side walk, while keeping my arm in its socket. The worst is when she sees or smells a cat; it takes all of my strength to hold on to her.

I have to throw a predicament out there though. I know that it is proper etiquette to pick up your dog's poop, but Belle is huge and as you may expect....so is her poop. It's so embarrassing to be standing on the side of the road watching your dog make a mess in someone's yard. And then you're left wondering..."do I get a stick and try to push it into the bushes? do I walk away? do I come back with a shovel?" The little poop bags people use would never work for Belle. I'd be lugging 10 lbs of the worst smelling stuff in the world around. I'm just not willing to do it. Belle may not get invited on anymore of my walks around the neighborhood.

(Belle is the one on the right)

The aftermath

I didn’t mention in my previous post about the aftermath of that beautiful sunny day up at Snowbird. I often feel as though my skin craves the sun (which is why I occasionally find myself in a tanning bed- bad I know.). When the sun was shining last Saturday, I couldn’t resist. I spent the day skiing in a t-shirt, gloves and beanie. I was in heaven. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized my mistake…..................................




I had been smart enough to put sunscreen on my face and part of my neck, but not smart enough to realize I needed it on the rest of me. I was fried! Poor Whitney and Tyese didn’t have sunscreen on their faces and they got fried as well. I think Tyese even had blisters on her face the next day. Lesson learned.

To ski or not to ski? That's still the question.

I did it…finally. I tried to ski for the first time. My cousin Whitney and her friend Tyese, wanted to learn how to snowboard, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to try on Whitney’s skis and give it a go. The weather up at Snowbird was gorgeous and the snow was still great. I jumped on the lift and headed up the mountain. Getting off the lift was surprisingly scarier than I thought. Skiing “looked so easy” but I was quickly learning my lesson. My first 15 minutes on those da-gum things were horrible. I looked like Goofy and ended up stuck in some powder and then in a tree right off the bat. “Why? I thought…why am I doing this to myself?”
I picked up my left turn right off of the bat, but the right turn was so awkward for me. I hated the snow plow/pizza move everyone told me to try. It doesn’t work at all. My first run consisted of me skiing sideways to my right, making a turn to my left, skiing sideways to my left and then laying down, flipping my skis around and skiing back to my right. I was scared of my right turn and did the whole lay down and flip my skis around routine to avoid it.
My second and third runs were much better and I was able to make it the whole way down, turning both ways. It was fun to “figure it out” but I’m not sure when I’ll reach for the skis over my board again.

Harlie Ann

My little brother and his wife just had their (2nd) baby. Harlie Ann was born on March 10th ~ 8lb and some change. I hear she's really cute. Maybe SOMEONE will send me some pictures of her. That would be cool.
******update*******
Martha and my dad were kind enough to email me some pictures, so here she is!

True Horsemanship

I love this video! This impressive performance is so motivating to me.

Walk, Trot.......Canter!

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and went to my friend’s work to ride Dollar in the heated indoor arena. I absolutely love the facility! It has multiple barns with heated wash racks, tack rooms, and probably 40 stalls. I went and got Dollar out of his paddock and headed over to the arena. He did really well. For my horse wise friends, I’m trying to teach Dollar to canter/lope. The first 2 years I had Dollar I was teaching him to walk and not runaway. Now I’m trying to get him to break out of his speedy trot into a controlled canter. He is slightly gaited and cantering is so unnatural to him. He’s doing really well on his left lead, but he kept picking up a cross canter on his right lead. He’s so funny and I love to see him learn new things. He’s such a cuddly horse and always wants to be right with you. I felt so energized when I got to work after such a fun morning riding. Here are a few pictures of my buddy Dollar.

The "Stare" Machine

My favorite machine at the gym is the rotating stair machine (aka stare machine). Not only does it give me an awesome workout, it puts me high above everyone else at the gym and provides the perfect people watching/staring location. While on the “stare” machine I don’t even need headphones or a magazine because the entertainment is already provided. I love watching people and try to imagine what they are like. Now I know I could really write a fun story about the guy with the mullet or the girl wearing the see through spandex pants and the sweat bands, but this post is actually inspired by a teenage girl running on a treadmill. She was about average size, but she was making this horrible loud pounding sound and her machine was rocking wildly about. She would just slam her feet down with each stride. It just looked so awkward and painful. My knees always hurt after about a mile and it got me thinking….do I run like that? I was really curious at this point….how do I run? Like the girl stomping on the treadmill? Like Phoebe Buffay? I would really like someone to tell me, but please do it kindly.

El Diablo Update

I got to meet and spend a little bit of time with my dad’s new pony El Diablo while I was in SC. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with little Diablo. He is a gorgeous pony and a beautiful mover. He was stubborn, like every other pony I’ve ever met, but was willing to learn. What it comes down to is that Diablo is not trained whatsoever and there is no one around with the time to train him, so if you’re looking for a pretty prancing pony – I know of one for sale.

AC’s Big Game

While I was in SC I had the opportunity to go to my nephew, AC’s, basketball game. AC is such a great little ball player and he hustled up and down the court only stopping when his Band-Aid fell off his knee. He immediately ran over to his dad for some advice. Once the Band-Aid issue was resolved he was back to business. At one point AC stole the ball and in the process his super cool red sports glasses got ripped off. Did that stop him? NO!!! AC ran down the court, dribbling every 4 or 5 strides and without his glasses he sank a basket. That a’ boy! It was an awesome play to watch! AC is my hero.

Columbia, SC LDS Temple

I had the chance to go to the Columbia, SC LDS temple with some of my family members earlier this month. The SC temple is about an hour and a half from my hometown, Rock Hill. We were running late on the way down and it was so funny to be reminded of one of my dad’s personality traits. The man WILL NOT speed!!!!! The speed limit was 70 mph and he never went over 73 mph. Luckily we made it (no thanks to him…..j/k dad!). The temple was beautiful and I loved seeing the palm trees on the grounds.

Voting Adventures

So I voted today. The voting wasn’t that exciting in itself, but the experience was certainly blog worthy. Normally only two precincts vote at my voting location, but for some reason unknown to me, they weren’t using the normal location and they made us drive across town. (Across town in Springville means 2 miles away.) I’m a little put out by wasting 10 minutes of my lunch break at this point. When I finally get to the correct place there is a huge line. Deep breath.
Soon after I got in line, a lady behind me starts encroaching upon my personal space. Next thing I know she’s right beside me. I think, “Is she really trying to cut in front of me?” I hate when people get really close to me in lines. I have crowd anxiety and hate to be crowded. I’ll even leave a few feet between me and the person in front of me to hopefully help the rude person behind me understand my need for personal space. If this doesn’t work I’ll look over at them and let out a big, I’m so annoyed right now, sigh. Now back to the lady.
I couldn’t believe she wasn’t getting any of my usual hints. Not the sighing or the glares. Eventually she passed right by me. When the poll worker came to ask her for her name I raised my hand high and said, “I was next.” He looked at the lady, now totally in front of me, as if asking her permission and she nodded her defeat. Come to find out she wasn’t even at the right location and left, but her replacement wasn’t any better. Now I had a kid decked out in Abercrombie from head to toe with shaggy hair behind me. His appearance wasn’t what annoyed me; his mom was a little ways up in line and they were arguing over his choice in candidates to vote for. Everyone in the line was forced to hear the two of them making jabs at each others choice in candidates and defending their own. It was extremely tacky. I finally made it to the front of the line, cast my vote, and headed back to work. To keep from being grumpy I just think of what an awesome Seinfeld episode this would make.

Getting my read on....

Some members of the LDS church are reading the Book of Mormon in 97 days to honor President Hinckley, who died at the age of 97. I'm already reading it right now, so I thought this would be a great way to track my progress and honor the man who has taught me so much. Here's a graph of my progress- you can click on it to join the challenge.



Graph is currently not working. The website is www.hinckleychallenge.com