U of U 5K and Wendover air show

Yesterday was a fun family day for us. Sarah and I participated in the U's annual Homecoming 5K and kids 1K for the second year. It is a really fun event for the whole family. The age range was from 2-80 and the atmosphere was lively. I did ok in my race and finished just under 29 min, which was enough to be 19th in my old lady age division. :-) At church today one of the young men did a 5K yesterday in under 20 minutes and the guy that one the U of U 5K ran less than 5 min miles.

Here is the happy fam before the race


Steven had a lot of fun dancing to the music


Sarah liked watching the cheerleaders and decided she wants to be one. She asked me to hold her up like one. It was really cute.


My nephew Caden ran with Sarah and they were so proud of their medals. For the kids race the mascot Swoop runs in front of them and the Ute cheerleaders are at the finish line to give them medals. Last year Mike had to carry Sarah for part of it, but this year he made her do it all on her own though he ran with her.



After the race we drove to Wendover, NV for an airshow. One of the pilots in the unit Mike will be joining (when he passes his physical) flew one of their planes down for it. Here is a picture of the plane Mike will someday fly.





Do you want to know the grown up version of "a kid in a candy store"? One of the planes brought in is a T6 Texan II, which is what the Air Force uses to train its pilots for the first few months of flight training. Mike was talking to the pilot and told him that he'd been accepted to flight training. The pilot not only let him sit in it, which other people couldn't, but he also let him turn on all the avionics. That made the 3+ hr roundtrip worth it right there. Mike's uncle, Paul, is a professional pilot and joined us at the airshow. It was fun.

I now have a moment!

Whenever I get asked the questions, "what is your most embarrassing moment?" I never know what to say. I've done things I might not want to mention, but nothing too embarrassing. Well, all of that changed today at 2PM. I passed out at the pulpit in front of my entire church congregation.

A few weeks ago I was called as the president of our Young Women youth group. My two counselors and I were to speak in Sacrament meeting today, which is our first of three Sunday meetings. Although speaking in church isn't one of my favorite things to do, I've spoken many times without incident and don't mind it.

Today I was to share a talk based on a talk Elder Jeffrey R. Holland called, "None were with Him." I had planned to speak for about 15 minutes and was pleased with what I'd prepared. Sigh. Chuckle. We were out of time, so I was going to shorten my talk. As I started to speak I felt light headed. Then, everything went blank. I think I mumbled, "hmmm, I think I'm nervous." Next thing I know, I'm laying on the floor surrounded by people. Needless to say, I felt pretty silly.

My ward/congregation is filled with very kind people. One of the main comments I received is that I was "graceful" as I fainted. Apparently I just kind of bowed my head and was caught by a sister and brother. (are you laughing yet, you should be)

I also had quite a few people say they enjoyed my talk. I think I talked for three minutes before I fainted. I got light headed pretty quickly, so I think I might have mumbled a few lines before my "hmmm..." comment. The mother of a couple girls left me a very nice message about the whole thing and fielded many "are you ok's?"

Unfortunately, some of the girls got scared and cried. I felt really bad about that, but told them all I was okay. At least now they'll remember, Don't Buckle Your Knees! (or talk in church) ;-) j/k

Here are the probable causes, but who knows.

Knees buckling- I'm thinking this might have been it. I was wearing high healed sandals, that I don't usually wear, and maybe I wasn't paying attention to bending my knees like I usually do.

Low blood pressure or blood sugar- I ate breakfast and lunch, but maybe I wasn't hydrated enough. I have low blood pressure and I may have stood up too fast. Who knows?!

Nerves- Although I was nervous, I don't think this was the cause. Maybe it was a combination of things.

Pregnancy- Nope

Anyhow, I can now say that I have a most embarrassing moment, and it's a good one. I feel a little drained right now, but am doing just fine besides being a little embarrassed.

'Cause we're leaving on a...KC 135 Stratotanker :-)

HE's IN!!!

As most people know, my husband Mike is a pilot. He obtained his private pilot license at age 19 and his commercial license after we were married. Flying is his passion. He knew he wanted to be a pilot when he was five years old. For the past couple of years we have been trying to get him into the Air Force, and then the Air National Guard.

I am incredibly happy, and proud, to report that he was just accepted as a pilot with the 191st Air Refueling Squadron of the Utah Air National Guard. He will be flying the KC 135Stratotanker, which is a big refueling jet.

To say that we are excited, is an understatement. We are grateful, excited, anxious, curious and ecstatic. :-) Mike has wanted this so badly, and I'm so thankful he gets to fulfill a lifelong dream.

So, what does this mean for us? Being in the Guard is going to be great! It is a part-time flying job, so he'll keep his job at Chase. The deployments will be short. He will always be stationed in Utah, so we don't have to move around, and best of all, he gets paid to fly. We have spent A LOT of money on flying since we've been married, so it will be nice to recoup some of those expenses. :-)

We won't know a timeline until next month, but here is a little of what lies ahead of us. Mike will go to six weeks of officer training and we can't go with him. Then he'll go to four weeks of initial flight training, and we don't get to go then either. Then, he'll start his year and a half of flight training and we'll move with him. Once he's done we'll come right back to Utah and never leave.

I'm really tired, so I'm going to bed. I'll post more on this next month when we find out more details.

Here is a picture of what he'll be flying and doing.

Congratulations Jamie!!!

I just wanted to congratulate my friend Jamie on completing her 6TH marathon today. She is a busy mother of two little girls and still found time to train. I'm too big of a wuss to do one, and she's done six. Great job Jamie!

My parents need jobs!

I have two really intelligent parents that are looking for jobs. My mom left her job at Intel a couple years ago to take care of my sick Grandpa, and my Dad just lost his job a few weeks ago. They were both managers in the computer industry and both worked for Intel for a long time. They are looking for a job in, "IT, software, hardware, any computer or leadership like roles."

I have resumes that I can send you if you know of anything in any of those fields OR if you know of anyone in those fields that can refer them.

My parents are amazing! Seriously, if you know of anything or anyone that could help them, please let me know and I'll send you a resume. If you just want to see their resume you can also ask for it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me since I don't speak computer, but I'm guessing there are HR people out there that can understand them. :-)

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sarah's 1st Day of Preschool

Sarah's 1st day of preschool went great. When we pulled up to her school Mike was out in front to greet us. We didn't think he could make it, so it was a nice surprise. Steven came in as well and went from room to room looking at the classroom pets. They also have toys to play with for the first few minutes, so he played with those and didn't want to leave. Easy children.

I loved Sarah going to preschool for a number of reasons besides how it benefits her. The Little Learners Academy is about 1 1/2 miles, so as long as the weather holds up I can pull the kids in the trailer and get some extra exercise on MWF. I am grateful for this new time I get with Steven. He and I went to a park, read a few books and had lunch together before it was time to pick Sarah up. I really love one on one kid time.

Sacrifices vs. Blessings

Mike is finally done with homework, and hopefully we'll be in bed soon. Since he's been in school we've both been staying up really late and functioning on little sleep. I've been thinking about all of the "sacrifices" we've been making, and how most of them are really blessings. Here are a few of the "sacrifices" I've been thinking about.

The sacrifice- Mike being in school. Mike is in his 4th of 5 semesters for his Professional MBA from the U. (Go Utes!) Right now he has class on Mon, Tues and Wed from 6-10 and spends almost every other night studying until 11. The U just raised their tuition by 39%, so it is going to cost us 8k more than we thought and we're paying for it all. His time is limited with the kids and me.

The blessing- Mike being in school. This is a great opportunity for him. He will not only increase his knowledge, but will most likely increase his earning potential. Our kids are going to be able to have an example of hard work and determination. Although our time is limited, we've gotten really good at making that time count. He always takes a break from homework to read to the kids before bed. We always make us time, and it makes it more precious.

The sacrifice- Parenthood- Sleepless nights. Expenses. Temper tantrums. Time issues. Loss of personal space....etc.

The Blessings- None greater! Being a parent can be tough, but I can't think of anything, other than marriage, more rewarding. I love being a mother. I liked working, going to school and being more social, but nothing is better than being a mother. Their bedtime routine takes a long time, but someday they won't want me to read extra books, sing extra songs, and cuddle. Someday they will have their own kids, so I need to enjoy their childhood as much as possible.

The sacrifice- Tithing- 10% of our gross earnings can seem like a lot. Although we only joke about it, I would have a sweet Honda Odyssey if we didn't pay it. We'd have more money for trips, dates, clothes, etc.

The Blessings- Thankfully, Mike and I are on the same page on paying it, and have both felt the blessings. I'm grateful that I get to give back such a small amount when I have been given so much. I've learned that when we're asked to do something gospel related the blessings always outweigh the "sacrifices."

The Sacrifice- Church callings- I just received a new assignment at church that I am really excited about. On the "sacrifice" side I will be putting more time to serving in my church than I have since my mission. Mike is an instructor and has to give a lesson every few weeks. That takes study and preparation on top of his already busy schedule.

The Blessings- I get the opportunity to work with some amazing youth and some ladies in my ward that I think are great. I get to help teach the girls, and in return I'll learn as much as they do. I'll get to show my daughter positive young role models she can look up to. Mike gets to learn from his lessons and have interaction with people in our ward he might not get to socialize with otherwise.

The Sacrifice- (from Mike) P90X- Mike is adding on an hour or more of grueling workouts to his already busy schedule.

The "Blessings"- Extra strength and energy, at the end of the 90 days, so he can better chase our energetic kids.

One of the main things I've learned about sacrifices, is that they aren't. Just about every sacrifice I've ever had has led to blessings far greater than I would have had without it. When we're called on to "sacrifice" ourselves for something greater than us we grow so much more. I really like sacrifices, because I can use, and need, all the blessings I can get.