Workaholic

Talk about a day at the office.

Work: 9am-5pm

Homework: 9pm-12:30am

ALL AT THIS DESK

When did I grow up? And how do I reverse it?

Just Go With It

Today was a total "Just go with it" type of a day. For instance, I craved a salad for lunch. Do I ever CRAVE a salad? No way jose! Normally I crave the food that actually tastes fat! So I figured I better take this little craving and run with it! Along with that, during my run...my body just decided to run super fast today. I wasn't going to be the one to slow it down! So I just went with it and ran really fast! It felt SOOO good!! The other instances include:

Hitting up the batting cages with Megan. Neither of us knew what we were doing, so we just went with it!

Watching the Owlz game. I don't know the first thing about baseball. My friend said, "Just go with it and clap when everyone else is clapping"...so that's what we did

I came downstairs after getting ready to go to my friend's wedding, only to find out my mom was thinking the EXACT same outfit choice!

Eh, just go with it!

Summer Sundays

I absolutely LOVE Sundays in the summer time. There is just a peacefulness about them. You can enjoy time with friends and family in the outdoors and take a break from life for a day. Today was EXACTLY like that. After church, my friend Luke came down and picked me up on his bike. We rode the Alpine Loop. It was sooo gorgeous! I love it! When we got back, my nieces were all at my house and I was so excited to see them! Tonight, a bunch of my old neighborhood friends got together and played night games and then chatted about old memories growing up together. It was an absolute PERFECT day! I haven't even looked at any of my homework this weekend, I've been too busy enjoying my summer with the people that matter the most!

Here's some pictures from our ride...

Great View

Luke taught me how to do "the wave" to other motorcycles

Yeah, I can totally ride this heavy of a bike...just call me tough guy!

Before our trip

Don't worry, I wore a helmet the entire ride EXCEPT for pictures!

I have a secret...

Don't be fooled by the "tough guy" persona that I put off. I am actually secretly a princess!!! My mom and I are definitely little princesses that LOVE to get our nails done and go shopping together. She was gone all week at camp, and so when she got back we had to get pedicures! It was so nice! I loved them! After, we shopped the mall and found some pretty great finds. I love it! I love being a girl and doing girly things with my mom! Here's some pictures of our pedis!

Cath

Kell

Yeah, even though I act all tough and do tough things, I really do love my pamper time and feeling like a princess. I love doing things with my mom like that! It's so great and we have so much fun together!

My one true LOVE

Some people may not know, but my absolute one true love is water skiing. It is my very favorite sport of them all! When I was 7 years old, I was standing up on the kneeboard because I was too small for our skis. When I was 8 years old, I learned how to water ski. By the time I was 9 years old, I could slalom ski. Ever since then, I have absolutely LOVED it. It is one of those sports that requires a lot of strength and endurance at the same time. It is the one thing I will admit that I am actually really good at. The day after my marathon, I was sooooo sore but I just couldn't resist getting out and skiing! I love it so much and it gives me such a rush of confidence and happiness! Lake Powell pictures are still coming...but I love skiing so much that I had to give it a solo post!

Playing House

Date nights are just so much fun. I just can't get enough of them! So this past weekend my great friend Greg came up from Grand Junction, Colorado to chill with me for the night. We had a waaay chill night that was waaay cooler than any Strawberry Days Rodeo. We tried to go to the Rodeo, only to be denied. SO we decided to make our own fun! We got out the trusty sidewalk chalk and began to create a blueprint of our dream house. It was super rad with an awesome garage full of sweet cars and a backyard that had a boating lake and dirt track to ride dirt bikes, etc. Here are some pictures of the night...

Sitting in our living room together

Purple Turtle

Part of our house: Lazer tag, pool, tennis

Arcade room and theater

The candy room and gun museum

Pondering how we are going to actually achieve this goal of having this sweet house someday...

Dinner at Cafe Paesan YUMMY!

It was such a great night and I am so glad that I got to see Greg when he came up!

26.2

Oh the marathon....such a metaphor of life. There were so many ups and downs throughout the marathon that by the end, I was just super stoked to get it over with. Here is what I remember about the marathon....

Before: Getting SUUUPER amped about the run, feeling really good.

Mile 1: Feet already getting tired...maybe thinking twice about deciding to run an entire marathon in Nike Frees.

Mile 3: This isn't too bad...running just under an 8 minute mile pace

Mile 6: I am totally bookin it!! I am for sure going to qualify for Boston! (I hit six miles in 50 minutes)...at this point I decided I should take a shot block to refuel my energy system...which I then regretted because my ulcer did not like the shot block and I threw it up in my mouth.

Mile 8: HUUUUGE hill. Aw crap nobody told me there were going to be unexpected hills!

Mile 13: HALFWAY!! I am running right on Boston Qualifying pace and I feel way good!

Mile 18: I am still running pace, but I am running out of energy faaaaast. I have thrown up like 4 shot blocks in my mouth now. Definitely not a good idea when I have ulcers the week before.

Mile 21: BONK! Everything starts to shut down. My stomach is experiencing stabbing pains, my left knee starts hurting so I start running funny, my right calf is severely spasming and I can't run normally. My mind starts freaking out that I am not going to reach my goal time...I had to resolve my feelings about not making my goal and continue to push myself. At this point, I reset my watch and decided to run the rest of the race for the love of running the race, not for qualifying

Mile 21-25: All I remember is everything on my body just hurt and I had no energy, but somehow kept going.

FINISH: Not the best time, but finished in just under 4 hours at 3:57:17. Inside I felt like a failure because I didn't reach my time...but then I realized failure is a relative term. I decided that I should just be grateful for a healthy body and the fact that I came back a year later from a major surgery to run a marathon. I've decided that is true success, and I feel good about what I have accomplished.

AFTER: My entire body went insane. Im not sure if my body got extreme amounts of acid, but my stomach went INSANE. I had maaaajor ulcer-like pains and got extremely nauseated. I really felt sicker than I ever have in my life. It was sooo weird. No worries though, I took it like a champ and drove down to Lake Powell that night. Lake Powell is the best place to recover from a marathon. I even water skied the NEXT DAY after I ran it! Boom!

I don't LOOOOVE these pictures, mostly because I look thrashed, but here they are!

Jentry came to support

The fam

Yes, I wanted to DIE

Picture on the course...although I was dying, I had to pretend like I was having a good time!

Say Cheese!

So I have a lot to catch up on...marathon...powell...etc. The problem is...I am so overwhelmed by all that I need to catch up on, that I have lost all motivation and energy to do it! A lot of pictures are on other people's cameras that I need to get before I can make a GREAT post about the big events that have been happening lately. BUT, I did capture some priceless pictures of little miss Rylie in Lake Powell. She has now mastered doing a cheeser when there is a camera in her face and someone saying, "SAY CHEESE!" i LOOOOVE it! Enjoy!

How could these pictures not brighten up your day?! More to come!!

Not A Day Goes By

Wowzers. What a tough week. I honestly don't remember the last time I had an entire week this hard. I mean, I have had bad days, but I haven't had such a tough week in a LOOONG time. I am taking 15 online credits right now, which all decided to have pretty tough midterms all on Thursday and Friday that I have been intensely studying for, I have been stressing over this marathon maddness and not feeling my best, I have started taking on different responsibilities at work that are all new and can be somewhat overwhelming. On top of all that, I have absolutely NO social life, because I am so busy that I honestly don't have time for friends, which is pretty sad when you're 22 and wanna have a fun summer! Every night this week, I have woke up in INTENSE stomach pain (ulcers) and having MAJOR panic attacks with my heart just pounding out of my chest, due to all of the stress. I have just been totally rocked by stress.

But then I think...it could always be worse.

These little stresses are really nothing, compared to the big picture. The main thing that I learned when Byron died, is that it is very hard to see what is not directly in front of you. It is hard to view these trials that seem very hard right now as anything but small. It is hard to really see past this week and realize that things will be okay again. The trick is...to be able to take a step back and remember the big picture!!

I heard the song "Not a Day Goes By" by Lonestar and my mind immediately went to Byron. I really miss him so much and think of him everyday. I wish he was around on weeks like these, because I know he would be the first to reassure me that I need to look at the big picture and everything will be okay. He would be the first to go out and get my favorite treat to let me know that he cares and he wants to see me smile. I know that the life I am living right now would make Byron very proud, and that makes it all worth it. I am so lucky that I had an example like him in my life to teach me how to work hard for the things that I want.

So after the next two days...2 more tests and 1 marathon...I will be hittin the road to Lake Powell, I am sure Byron will be down there with us too! He wouldn't miss a family trip to Lake Powell!

The Candy Aunt

So for some reason I have become the candy aunt to the kids. They always know they can get candy when they come to me. It's so funny. Kali knows the spot in my room where I put my candy, Allie whispers to me "chocolate" when she wants some chocolate, and tonight Jack said, "Kelli, I want some of your chocolate". It was pretty funny. So, I guess I will just embrace my role as the candy aunt...as long as that also means favorite aunt! Here's some cute pics from tonight.

Whenever you say, "Rylie say cheese" this is the face she makes!

Cute Jack

Such a cutie

Jack decided to do a photoshoot of himself

S'more Lovin'

You know those times in life where you feel so incredibly present? Like you just feel very "in the moment" and everything feels like it will be ok? That was my night tonight. Tonight was PERFECT. I can't remember the last time I have felt so much like myself and so glad to be who I am. I will explain by pictures...

The boxes are FINALLY gone! I moved into my room...just 28 days after I moved home!! It feels soooo good to not be living amongst boxes!!

Organization is a GREAT stress reliever.

Guess who came into town? Tyler!

He passed the "man test" by taking on the grill and makin us some hot dogs!

We then proceeded to play a friendly/competitive game of regulation croquet. I lost :(

And broke my stick by throwing it across the lawn Happy Gilmore style

THEN, we made some s'mores in my handy-dandy s'more maker!! I was soooo stoked on this!! It's so great!

Enjoying the nice summer evening in the backyard=LOVE

Dave won the "best of state" award tonight. Here he is all dressed up with his cool medal.

So there ya go. It was nothing but a nice enjoyable summer evening with a great friend. It was EXACTLY what I needed!

Gnarly

Work. Workout. Homework.

That's what my day looks like pretty much every single day. I can't decide if I love it or hate it...so I am just going to go ahead and love it. It seems like a better option than hating it. Life is good.

Lately, I have been having problems with this one toe that is abnormally larger than all of my other toes. It is very strange. I have gotten insane scabs and my toes has bled a few times. Today, I took off my socks after a 4 mile run and I saw a black toe. At first I was concerned...and then I realize that it was actually pretty cool...in a really gnarly sort of way. So, this is what my toe currently looks like...I hope the marathon doesn't make it fall off or anything!