100th Post!!!

I just noticed this was my 100th post - I have absolutely NOTHING special for this post, and am going to make the post I planned on posting. In case I didn't say the words post or posting enough: Post, posting. Haha

Let me begin this POST by saying that I just might simply be the world's best date planner! I always come up with random ideas and pull them together for a date. I tell everyone I don't remember having much of an imagination when I was a kid, so it's all catching up now!
Our date was themed 'being a kid again' (ok, no I don't name my dates, but it seems fitting for this post). I brought Nick's favorite pizza for dinner *YUMMY*. Then we headed up the mountain on the Zuma (scoot scoot) with ice cream cones and ate them at this cool place at the top of Sego Lily Drive with the most magnificent view. Then we went back home and made a FORT! Yes, a FORT! We got in our jammies and watched a kid movie in the fort. So much fun! So if you need a date idea: there you go! FREE!

Oh Scoot Scoot, you have been our lifesaver this summer. There's nothing more summery about driving around in flaming (yes, check out the flames on that helmet) helmets on a scooter all over town.

Check out the view! We ate ice cream cones and watched the sunset. And check out the cool orb made by my camera on Nick's forehead - I think it's an alien.

Our fort! Ok, it's not the most amazing fort you've ever seen, but it was just perfect for us!

Oh Summer how I love you!!! I don't want you to end!!!

(1 month from tomorrow I will once again be a slave to the University of Utah; at least that's what school feels like sometimes)

4th of July

My favorite holiday has come and gone... It was a BLAST! (Although I was still a little bummed about not making it to DC - those of you that are there - just tell me the fireworks weren't that great! ha)

Friday - REAL game (Yep, another one). Celebrated a 5-0 victory with FIREWORKS afterward!

Saturday - Murray Parade (only the BEST), chillin' with Milo the dog, swimming party and FIREWORKS with friends.

Sunday - FIREWORKS with the Linthorsts and the entire rest of their neighborhood - and watching Frank live his childhood dream of lighting things on fire.

Can you tell I LOVE FIREWORKS?!?!

Cuddle fest - that's the only way all of us stayed on the blankets/Breeanne's towel...

You missed - but Eric likes it!


And THANK YOU Ben for discovering that my camera has a 'firework' mode which makes the picture WAY cooler - check it out!

"Mawwage is what bwings us togever today!"

Thanks Becky and Jarom for getting married!...

...And for choosing the coldest day in June...

...And for cutting your cake with a cool sword!...

...And for inviting us girls to spend the best day of your life with you...

..And NO THANK YOU for moving so far away from me...

... But thank you in advance for inviting me to come visit you and hang out at this beauty...

...But hopefully it doesn't look like this when I get there...

... That would be bad...

Chalk Art Festival

(Thanks Lauren for reminding me to take a picture - and putting up with Nick's whining whenever we take pictures!)

In my opinion...

Our government is in need of some serious changes. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE exercise your right to vote. Educate yourself and do what you can - VOTE!!!
I have.

(Thanks Nick for helping me understand why this is so important)

Thank you Nie Nie

"Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."
-Jeffrey R. Holland


http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Summa!

#1. Fun hikes#2. Tandem bike ridesNow I want one of these:

My very own beach cruiser.
Oh Summer, how I love you!

When pigs fly...

Nick showed up at my house with these the other night. I thought I'd never see the day...

Date Night #2

Oh REAL games, how I have loved learning to love you over the past year.

Shopping Spree!!!

Because of privacy reasons, I can't show many pictures from my latest wishgranting adventure, except to say that it involved riding in one of these:Eating at the Pizza Factory, a laptop, Nintendo DS, games, and lots of movies! Shopping Sprees are the best, and very special when you see a child walk out of Best Buy jumping up and down as if she'd won the lottery! She will have lots of fun with those toys especially during those long stays at the hospital. I love Make A Wish.

Job Interview

Anyone want to be my wingman?

Date Night

We went and saw this funny movie:And ate this yummy treat:

(I wanted this yummy treat:
But when I found out it contains 990 calories, 43 grams of fat, 28 grams of saturated fat, and 107 grams of sugar... I decided I wouldn't kill myself tonight.)

Who would have thunk?

And he's the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!!!

Let's try this again...

I set up a training blog about a year ago and let it fall by the wayside. It has been revived, revamped, and renamed!

www.elizabethstrainingblog.blogspot.com

I am absolutely passionate about what I do and want everyone to know the best way to take care of their bodies! Although the way is easy, our minds are often clouded with all the 'latest and greatest' in health. What should we really believe? This blog is for you! I will do my best to keep it updated frequently and if you have any specific questions, please leave a comment and I would be happy to answer them in my blog!

I don't speak OctiPUsian!

St. George + Tuacahn + Brian Regan = happiness

Oh Brian Regan, how I wish I had you in a little bottle every time I needed a good laugh.





We had such a great time in St. George. Among the highlights: Brian Regan, swimming, naps by the pool, hikes, ice cream, shopping, St. George temple, hot tubs, and some serious SUN!

8 is GREAT!!!

Yay Sophie for making the decision to be baptized! Love you!!!

Habitat For Humanity

As my sweet friend Dwan puts it, "CHECK!" I accomplished another goal I had for myself this year. I have always wanted to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and decided there was no time like the present.

I showed up to the job site in BFE (a.k.a Magna) at 9:00 AM and shortly realized I would be the only estrogen contributor the whole day... There's nothing like being the only girl at a job site where men dominate. Let's just say I inhaled lots of cigarette fumes, coffee odors, and learned some new words of which I probably should not repeat. However, I did learn how to put siding on a house, and I also learned it is definitely NOT a fun job. I wasn't sure if the day was ever going to end as I handed hammers and nails to "the men in charge" and cut siding with the tiniest, most useless cutting tools ever created. Finally lunch time had arrived! I sat in my car all by my lonesome, munching away. There was a storm in the distance... would it come over here? Was I going to be even more miserable? I kept telling myself I could leave, I was just a volunteer and had no binding contracts holding me back. No! I came to work, and I'm going to work the WHOLE day! Lunch ended, we went back to siding and then the flood came: A storm like I've never seen before sent us fleeing for shelter. Could it be? The work day was over due to stormy conditions? I've never had an answer to prayer come in the form of a torrential rain storm before! I had a big grin on my face as I drove 20 mph on the freeway all the way home in the hail/rain/wind storm.

Ok, so despite all of it being true, the day wasn't that bad. I learned how to install siding, show the boys that I'm a tough girl, and checked off a 2010 goal. I think next time I will go with an organized group so I will have good company and enjoy the day a little more. I may also wait until all the serious manual labor (climbing ladders in the wind, cutting siding with wimpy scissors, and measuring the same piece of siding 20 times) is completed. But alas, building a house is all manual labor.

Either way, Habitat for Humanity is a great organization that provides low-income, working families with a home. I imagine there is no greater feeling than owning a permanent home for your family as you work to provide them with everything they need.

Here is the Habitat street. They were working on 3 houses at the time.

And here is the dreaded siding! Haha, but we started with only a few rows of siding and look how far we made it until the storm arrived!!!
(P.S. I had to take pictures from my car, cause I knew the guys would make fun of me if I took pictures while we were working... Men just don't understand the joy and satisfaction of taking pictures. That's why they have us girls... their better halves.)

I am in love

With this beauty...

And All the other swimsuits at

www.limericki.com

Gonna have to stop eating treats to fit into this baby... Summer body, I know you're in there somewhere!!! MUST FIND YOU!

SUMO! SUMO! SUMO!!!

A special thanks to Lindsay and Levi for having such an AWESOME wedding shower! Check out the activity:Yep, Nick was on the ground most of the time - meaning he was beat by a GIRL!!!

To quote Sara, "Best night of my life", and it will be the best night of your life when you SUMO!
(P.S. We're both on a strict diet to lose the extra weight - we really let ourselves go )

13.1 miles? Check!

I made it! My goal of running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon is ACCOMPLISHED!!! My official time was 2:22. Believe it or not - I had SO much fun! I RAN the whole way only slowing to grab some water a couple times. I'm so glad I didn't let anything talk me out of running this race. It was AMAZING! Here are some pictures...

At the starting line. (Yes, I was definitely nervous) The energy and excitement in the crowd was awesome! It calmed my nerves. There were SO many people there. It took me about 6 minutes AFTER the gun went off to actually reach the starting line because of the massive amounts of people.

Sprinting to the finish line. The crowd was cheering like CRAZY!!! There were a bunch of us sprinting like mad. It was a SURGE of energy!

Thanks mom and dad for coming to cheer!

...And Nick for waking up at 5:30 AM to take me to the starting line and waiting 2 hours and 22 minutes downtown for me to cross the finish line! You ROCK!
...AND Peter and Ashley for cheering me on in the middle of the race when I needed a little boost. I'm so sad I didn't get a picture with the beautiful girl that supports me in EVERYTHING I do. Tears welled up in my eyes as I ran even harder and faster when I saw them!

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!! I CAN DO HARD THINGS!!!

Here comes Peter Cottontail

The Easter Bunny came and filled our paper mache Easter baskets! Did he come to your house? (Too bad the pictures of our full Easter baskets didn't work - but he came!)

U of U gymnastics

We got a picture! (even if it was in the parking lot)
I sure love this girl, and although I am happy for her upcoming wedding, I am going to miss her terribly when she moves away. Love you Becky.

Spring

In light of the lovely spring weather we currently have in the Salt Lake Valley (aka: snowy blizzard mess), I thought I'd warm things up a bit with fun springtime activities enjoyed when the weather actually resembled spring.

The 'Elizabeth House'!!! It's destiny... too bad the building is kinda (ugly) run down.

Anyone been to Memory Grove Park? It's such a beautiful and hidden park located just northeast of temple square. There's a trail/canyon that goes for miles! Nick's words: "I think we walked 50 miles!" - if only. (If I could do that, I'd be running the full marathon rather than the half)

MLS Cup

Yeah we drooled over it... what of it?!
(For those of you that don't know, Real Salt Lake - Utah's pro soccer team won the national championships, and this is their trophy along with a few of the players. Don't worry, I would have never known were it not for Nick's obsession with RSL.)

What's your answer?

Does anyone ever feel like this?

Accepted

Graduate school here I come! (Well, first I must find the financing... oh boy) How did anyone else finance their grad school? Any good suggestions for me??

Sweet Dreams

Can you believe I used to sleep on this?

If you can't believe it, you're right! I didn't used to sleep on it.
So then I bought this....

And I still don't sleep very well... Which has brought me to the conclusion that I am just a terrible sleeper - regardless of the bed.
So why did I spend $400 on a mattress just to find out it's not the mattress that causes my sleep problems? Oh, the foolish choices we make!

Help!

How come I can't upload pictures? It just sits there and says it's working, but nothing happens??

You are Loved

I want to share a wonderful quote with you from a talk by Elder Holland. I hope this will help brighten your day and lift your spirits; especially if you are in need of a little lift as I was when I read this.

"Brothers and Sisters, I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of us - insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn't measure our talents or our looks; He doesn't measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on EVERY runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other. I know that if we will be faithful, there is a perfectly tailored robe of righteousness ready and waiting for everyone, 'Robes... made... white in the blood of the Lamb.' May we encourage each other in our effort to win that prize is my earnest prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
-Elder Holland