Operation Smile 5k

In June we will be part of a 40 mile relay race in Idaho Falls called To Bone and Back. Each leg is 5 miles, so we've been building up to that distance. As part of our preparation, we ran 5000 miles (that is what a 5k is, right?) this past Saturday at a park in Provo Canyon. This was Jen's first 5k, and I'm kind of mad at myself for not getting very good shots of her. In my defense, she was running so fast I just didn't have time to set up properly.

Final stretch, keep those knees up!!


After crossing the finish line, Jen has a smile on her face. She was pretty nervous before the race, but afterward she said it "wasn't that bad."



Post-race photo op

Steve sucking down some water. He'd tried to ruin this picture by drooling that water down his chin and onto his shirt, but I snapped the picture first. Nice try, Steve. I hope you enjoyed your wet shirt.

The course itself was kind of weird. It was supposed to be on a dirt trail on the mountain for half the race, but it snowed the day before so it was more of a snow trail. It was also freezing cold. The whole race group had to hike up the mountain several minutes just to get to the starting line. For about 200 yards or so the trail was very steep, so the race organizers made everyone walk this section, not that I would have wanted to run it anyway since it was so slick.

Overall it was still fun, though. Our times were a bit slow because of the ice and forced walking, but at least now we have some base times to try to improve on. We plan on running several 5ks in preparation for Bone and Back, and probably even a 10k, so look for some new running pictures in the coming weeks.

I stared down Death, and Death blinked first

So I almost died the other day. I haven't posted a blog in a while, and I figured this is something I should share.

I was driving home from my brother's house a little after 9pm a few days ago. Between Provo Center Street and University Parkway in Orem there is a bend in the freeway. I took the time to make a super accurate diagram of the freeway and where I was:
There is a divider between the two directions of traffic, so I couldn't see the cars going in the opposite direction, but I could see some lights over the barrier in front of me from either construction crews or maybe a billboard. Who knows. But there were lights.

As I was nearing this bend in the road, I saw something cross the path of the construction lights straight in front of me. It looked like something came over the barrier from the other lanes. I didn't think anything of it, figuring it to be a piece of trash or something. Almost immediately, the same object had lept up again and, just for a moment, blocked the construction lights. I can't tell what it was yet, but it looked bigger than a trash bag and seemed to be blowing in my direction, or at least wasn't blowing out of my path. A big piece of cardboard, maybe? I hadn't hit the brakes yet, but I took my foot off the gas just in case I needed to dodge something. The luckiest thing about this whole experience was that there was only one car about 50 yards ahead of me. The next nearest car is about a quarter mile behind, leaving me plenty of room to maneuver.

Right as I took my foot off the gas and hovered it over the brake, the car in front of me swerved sharply to the right, which allows me to finally see what this object is:
THERE IS A TIRE BOUNDING DOWN THE FREEWAY STRAIGHT TOWARDS MY CAR.

Yes, you read that right and no, I'm not making this up. If memory serves, it was bouncing at about perfect windshield height for my car. It was also traveling pretty fast, I would guess at least 40 mph. Add that to the 60mph I was going and there wasn't much time to react. Cue braking and swerving like I'm Jason Statham. In case you don't know, Jason Statham is in several action movies where it seems like he's always driving a fast car and dodging all kinds of crazy stuff. Here is a head shot of his that I photoshopped onto a picture of my own body. So I swerved right as sharply as I dared, and then I realized that the tire was not heading straight down the freeway, but was veering slightly to my right. Too late now, so I tweeked the steering wheel just a bit more, and I thought I was going to clear it, but then I heard the tire slam into the back panel of the driver's side of my car. I looked in my mirror and saw the tire was still rolling down the freeway, only now it looked like the hit to my car straightened it out and it was no longer veering to the right. I have no idea if it actually reached the cars behind me or if it started veering off the road again. This whole process from when I first glimpsed the tire blocking the construction lights to when it hit was probably 5 seconds.

Now I was freaking out and cussing up a storm. The great crappy thing about the I-15 construction is that there is no longer a shoulder on the side where you can pull over in this area, so I had to drive all the way to the University Parkway exit before I could pull over and scope out the damage, all the while trying to sort out what exactly had just happened.

So in the end, it didn't actually do much. Just a scratch on my back bumper. I didn't really enjoy the rest of my drive home, and my hands were shaking for the rest of the night. Good thing I'm such a great driver. Maybe I could be Jason Statham's stunt double. I do think we have kind of a striking resemblance, don't you?

Honored

Today I found out that I am the Employee of the Month at Lehi Jr High. I was so excited to find out because I really do love that job and I am so glad that people noticed! The students are awesome (even the trouble makers sometimes) and I LOVE teaching! Even if it isn't Social Studies it is still fun to watch students learn and make connections. And having them go out of their way to say "hi" to me in the halls is an added bonus :)

Anyway, I went into the office, like normal, to check what classroom I was going to be in. Two principals, the sub coordinator and a couple other people were there, and all their eyes were on me. The Principal said they had been waiting on me...and that I needed to see him. Then he tells me that it was announced in this morning's faculty meeting that I was the Employee of the Month--and they all cheered for me. Like I said, I was really excited. But not as excited as this girl...

Ghetto Fabulous

A couple years ago we decided we weren't fancy enough to pay for cable anymore, so we decided to cut that and use an antenna for tv. The store bought bunny wars weren't very good and cut out way too much for our liking. So, Mike, being so ambitious, went online to find a solution:


We haven't found the perfect place for it in our new apt, as you can see, but it's better than nothing. This is how we spent Super Bowl Sunday. But look at that wonderful reception!