Lovey Dovey

February is a busy month for us. We've got Ry's birthday on the 13th, Valentine's Day on the 14th, and our wedding anniversary on the 16th.

With all these lovey dovey events within a week of each other, we usually have one big celebration to honor Birthdavalenersary. This year, however, we opted out of doing anything since, ya know, the whole Euro trip has kinda sucked our funds dry. We figure we'll party enough on that vacay to honor the next 3 Birthdavalenersaries to come.

So in lieu of any fancy dinners, boxes of chocolates, and romantic couples massages, I've simply compiled a rather hackneyed list of some of the reasons why I love, appreciate, am attracted to, and generally like my husband.

In no particular order:

-He knew I was high maintenance and still willingly married me

-He rocks a mohawk

-He buys me anything I want at Victoria's Secret (Though I'm pretty sure this is a selfish gesture on his part)

-He buys me makeup

-He buys me anything I want

-He is an amazing father

-He took me to the temple

-He puts up with my loud and obnoxious family

-He hates cats

-He appreciates fashion and looks amazing in a pinstripe suit

-He lets me wear his hoodies

-He thinks I'm beautiful

-He tells me he loves me every day

-He has supported me through 2 marathons and many more to come

-He ran Redrock with me and looks forward to doing another relay

-He sacrifices snowboarding on Saturdays so that I can attend my team runs

-He's still an awesome snowboarder

-He played rugby in college

-He's educated and motivated

-He has a strong work ethic and continuously strives to provide for his family

-He's a worthy priesthood holder

-He's mine

As unromantic as the two of us are, I think this list has just enough sap in it to appease even the corniest of cheese balls.

So to my husband, thanks for all you do. I love you, and stuff.

Training Day 15 - Gardner Village

The second my alarm went off on Saturday morning, I knew I was gonna have a bad run.

I hit the snooze button a zillion times and at one point, even convinced myself that I was just gonna skip my run, catch up on some sleep, and then try to do the run on my own the following day. Well, I couldn't fall back to sleep after I made that decision because I felt so guilty.

Finally pulled myself out of bed, into the car, and up to Gardner Village. Stepping out of the car, I immediately regretted it. I wanted to turn around and drive straight back to my bed. The only thing that kept me from high-tailing it outta there was knowing that this team run was our St. Patty's Day themed run. I had a horrendously ugly shirt and a green sequined bow to wear in my hair, so I was excited to show some spirit. The rest of my team mates looked great, too. It was fun seeing everyone all decked out!

But once we took pictures and started out onto the trail, it stopped being fun. Generally, the first 2 miles or so of a run are really difficult for me. But usually, once I pass that 2 mile point, I can set cruise control and just fly through it. Not this time.

By the end of the 2nd mile, I was about ready to collapse. I think my running mate Dany was getting frustrated because I was slowing down her pace. But luckily Coach Dave dropped back to run with me and Dany was quickly on her own merry way.

I made it to mile 4 and our first water stop...or what was supposed to be our first water stop. There was no water in sight. And of course, the drinking fountains at the park hadn't been turned back on yet. I felt like I was going to pass out. But since I was with Coach Dave, I didn't wanna seem like a wimp so I pushed myself to keep going.

Another half mile or so back into it, we caught up with Dany. In doing so, I just about collapsed. I was SOOOOO tired! Coach Dave advised that I'd probably better call it a day. I agreed but committed to walking one more mile and then turning around to head back.

I finally made it to the water at the next park. I swallowed a Carb BOOM! and finally resigned to ending my run early.

Making my way back to our cars, I ran into Coach Dave again who had circled back to run with summer team. He took one look at me and said, "You look like hell!" Lemme tell you, I sure felt like it!

Coach Dave ran the rest of the way with my back to the cars before turning around again to catch back up with the Spring team. (He had 20 miles to run that day. Running back and forth between teams probably wasn't the most efficient way to get his mileage in. He's a good man, that Coach Dave!)

Somehow, I made it to my car and back home without falling asleep on the drive or passing out from exhaustion. I think playing rugby and volleyball while training for a marathon is a little too much. Think I'm overexerting myself a little too much. It sucks, cuz these are all activities that I love and want to do, but I guess I need to concentrate my efforts on my marathon for now. I think I was too quick to jump back into rugby and at full-force, too. Perhaps after my marathon I can get back into it. I've waiting 3 years to play rugby, what's another 2 months?

So in conclusion, I didn't complete my 16 mile run this last week. Instead, I barely made it 9 miles. But, I live to fight another day. We all have our bad weeks, and this past one just happened to be mine. I'll work hard this week, have a nice recovery run with my team, and then kick butt on our 18 miler on March 27th. Wish me luck!!!

Oh, and come to our used book sale on March 20th from 2pm-5pm at the Provo Library! All proceeds go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Help a sista out!!!

Go Team!!!

Keychainge

In the spirit of Obama, it's time for a change.

I need a new keychain. The one I currently have is actually a tube of pepper spray. While I feel ultra protected from being perp'ed, I think it's too bulky. Most of all, I'm worried that I'm gonna accidentally spray it one of these days. Even worse, Baby plays with my keys a lot and I can just imagine what would happen if she figured out how to give it a little spritz...

But the problem is, I don't know what type of keychain to choose. With the pepper spray, I was going for a sense of security. Prior to this, I went for fashion. I sported my over-priced Coach leather valet key fob. Do I fall back into diva mode again and buy the $65 Juicy Couture Nardels Heart keychain? Before you yell at me, saying I'm crazy for wanting to spend $65 on a keychain...this fob is not only fashion friendly, it's technologically acute. In fact, this item is only disguising itself as a keychain. In reality, it's a flash drive! The heart opens to reveal a fully functional USB port key, making the outrageous price completely justifiable.

The second choice is to appeal to my sentiments. For only $39.88, I can be the proud owner of a Gear Head 1.4" digital photo keychain from Poomart. And of course, I would fill it with a billion obnoxiously tender pictures of Baby cuddling with Daddy on the couch, fast asleep. The best part about this keychain, it comes in faux croc! It'll match perfectly with my faux croc heels!!!

I could go for the super trendy. (Side note: sushi will never be just a trend to me. It is the nectar of the gods, as far as I'm concerned. All these other stupid people who think they're cool and cultured cuz they go to the sushi bar...try eating some of the raw stuff once in a while...posers.)

Perhaps I'll pay homage to my Hawaiian heritage.

Maybe I'll flaunt my favorite sports.


Or do I just stay classic?



What's your vote??

UVU vs BYU

Last Saturday, Ryan had a rugby game. I arrived at the pitch ready to get angry over the coach not playing my husband or my brother. To add insult to injury, UV was playing BYU...aka a division 1 team ranked 3rd in the nation. Poor little UV was just a little blip on the map next to BYU. Needless to say, I honestly wasn't expecting very great things from UVU. Therefore, I wasn't prepared for the havoc that was unleashed on the field during the second half of the game.

As I suspected, Ryan side-lined it for the first half of the game. However, Jordan got to start and was out there, rucking with the best of them. About 10 minutes in to the second half, we see one of UV's huge Poly players, Manu, get all kinds of beligerent. he starts yelling and mouthing off to one of the BYU players. UV team mates are holding Manu back as he is starting to take swings at the cocky BYU guy, who's being just as beligerent. The game continues and the teams play on.

Not five minutes later, I see two guys come out swinging from a ruck. Low and behold, it's the same BYU kid and this time, my brother. They're not just yelling at each other, they're full on fighting. I stand up and start screaming, "Jordaaaaan!!! Kill him! Kick his ass!" (As I'm now graduated, I no longer have loyalty to BYU...only the women's rugby team...Women's Cougar Rugby for life!) Jordan gets a few good hits in on the guy's face and then his team mates break up the fight. As they're dragging Jordan away, I see a brown fist of fury, in the form of Manu, flying throug the air. All of a sudden, CRACK!!!! The BYU jerk is on his back. Manu laid him flat out! Of course, both Manu and Jordan were ejected from the game. But at least they went out, guns blazing! Plus, Ryan got to sub in. And as icing on the cake, Ryan even got to shove some other BYU kid's face into the dirt. He said the kid kept holding on to his leg, dragging him back down in to the ruck as he was trying to roll away. So, what does Ryan do? He resorts to violence and starts ramming the guy's head into the ground. Good boy! He makes me so proud!!!

All in all, the game turned out to be pretty exciting. The most interesting thing of all, though, was that the fight between Jordan and the BYU kid wasn't actually instigated by Jordan. I think that's a pretty big breakthrough! It seems that at every rugby game, Jordan does anything and everything he can to get into a fight. It's not rugby unless Jordan gets into a fight! But for the first time, this fight actually wasn't his fault. Surprise! I just hope from here on out, all the rugby games will be as exciting.

Give blood. Play rugby.