I swear this is true!

This morning I left my house at a little before 6am.  It was still dark outside.

Across the street in my neighbor's yard was a fairly large white rabbit.   It looked like the kind you get at the pet store, not the ones you occasionally see hopping around out here in the wild.  But it was a pure, white rabbit.

I have never seen it before.

It was really strange.

If you don't know why this was a strange coincidence and significant enough for me to mention, you will later.....

Unnaturally tall men throw an orange ball around.

And it was fun!  Suns vs. Kings. Just a preseason game, but we totally smoked 'em anyway.

Sadly it seems I didn't get any photos of the one we dubbed "ponytail guy", who's job we decided was to stand there and look pretty.

But this guy, #2, was pretty rad.  This "little" (he's 6'2" but appears small next to the others) dude is from Slovenia.  Who knew they made good basketball players in Slovenia?!  Where the heck is that, anyway?

Thanks James for dragging me along. ;)

Katie: 1, Scorpion: 0.

Sucker.

I tried pouring bleach on it first but apparently that does not instantly kill scorpions, as I had imagined.  So I had to get brutal and grab something to smash it with.  These things are so nasty. *shudder*



(by the way, there really is a good reason why I had clothes hangers in the bath tub, but it's completely irrelevant)

A kind of monumental announcement.

 "All saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;‘And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;‘And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.’" -Doctrine & Covenants Sec. 89

I sure am banking on that last part about running and not being weary...

Most of you should know I've been training for a half marathon since August.  It's been going really well.  I've been very faithful to my schedule, and all week long look forward to my long runs on Saturday mornings at Granada Park with the rest of my team.  It's kind of crazy how unlike me this has been.

Especially because I've not been running the half marathon schedule, but the full one.  Yes, the big kahuna.  The whole enchilada.  Etc.  For the last few weeks I've been going back and forth- should I or shouldn't I? Is my body ready?  Am I just asking for an injury??  Should I just stick with the half and do the full next year?  Or should I go for it now?  After reading book after book (finding all kinds of contradictory information), researching online, talking it over, thinking it over, and finally getting the advice of our awesome Coach Dave (who is better than some crummy book from the library), I have come to a decision.

This is it. I'm doing it.  26.2.  

I just think it's the right time.  I have the time to devote to the training.  I have the desire.  I'm loving the challenge and the high of achieving new heights in my mileage.  It's so therapeutic (and goodness knows I need an outlet).  The race will be January 17, 2010, and 2010 is the year I turn 30. Why not start the celebration of turning 30 by doing something monumental?!  Something kinda crazy...

(and I have no desire to follow Emily's lead and celebrate the big 30 by jumping out of an airplane)

So hope and wish and pray and believe with me that my mind and body can do this.  I know my mind can, I'm going on pure faith in Coach Dave that my body can too.  And I am so excited!

My new necklace.

You know how I said I ordered a custom necklace from r house couture?  Well, it came today. (yay)  And I love, love, love it.  The beads are garnet and turquoise. 

{The little man is always close to my heart.}

Have you ever seen a hotter group of girls in your whole life?

(I know, silly question, of course you haven't.)

Even more than their hotness, these girls are all intelligent, funny, ambitious, and just overall fabulous.  Not a single air-head amongst them.

So want to know what's really crazy?  With the exception of LeeAnn's sister, the lovely redhead, we are all single. (as in unmarried- significant in our LDS culture)  Which of course begs the question, what the H is wrong with the men of Phoenix, AZ?! (there is no answer to that)

Well, our fabulosity is quite intimidating, I'll give them that.  But there's really no other excuse.


But moving on to more important things.... Friday was LeeAnn's birthday, so we all went to Rustler's Rooste and boy was it a crazy place!!  But really fun.

Happy birthday, LeeAnn!!

^Randa is quite possibly one of the sweetest people in the whole world (she's a nurse for sick babies- so perfect for her).  Love this girl.

Christine was either hiding behind Brooke on purpose or totally got shafted on this one, lol.

It wouldn't be a birthday dinner without a big balloon hat (don't worry, mine last year was WAY bigger and WAY more embarrassing)

Oh, but there was more......

[I had a bite of the eclair and YUM.]

But that wasn't all..... Who knew there was a restaurant that serves cotton candy?!  Awesome!

Christine thought it was awesome too.....

Another group shot!  (It was like paparazzi all night long....we like pictures, ok?!)

What a fun night. :)

What I'll be doing next month. (so excited, by the way)

FSA West and Idaho Regional Conference 2009 Flyer



I hope I do okay.

I'm excited to see Mrs. R again, to thank her in person for the beautiful jewelry I have purchased from her Etsy shop, r house couture (waiting for my second necklace to come in the mail...this one was a custom order and I can't wait to see it), and give her a big congrats on winning her adoption case!

I'm really excited to meet Monica Blume too.  I read "For the Love of a Child: The Journey of Adoption" a while ago and I tell you, that book should be sold with a box of kleenex!  It's wonderful.

And then of course seeing the Xanthos clan is always something to look forward to.  Only 3 weeks away!  (I can't believe it, seems like yesterday it was 3 months.  I'd better get pondering on what I should speak about.)

"Real as the Sunrise"

Another one of my Daily Gems that I found too beautiful and inspiring not to share:

"The year was 1820, the season spring. The boy with questions walked into the grove of his father's farm. There, finding himself alone, he pleaded in prayer for that wisdom which James promised would be given liberally to those who ask of God in faith. (See James 1:5.) There, in circumstances which he has described in much detail, he beheld the Father and the Son, the great God of the universe and the risen Lord, both of whom spoke to him. "This transcendent experience opened the marvelous work of restoration. It lifted the curtain on the long-promised dispensation of the fulness of times. "For more than a century and a half, enemies, critics, and some would-be scholars have worn out their lives trying to disprove the validity of that vision. Of course they cannot understand it. The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God. There had been nothing of comparable magnitude since the Son of God walked the earth in mortality. Without it as a foundation stone for our faith and organization, we have nothing. With it, we have everything. "Much has been written, much will be written, in an effort to explain it away. The finite mind cannot comprehend it. But the testimony of the Holy Spirit, experienced by countless numbers of people all through the years since it happened, bears witness that it is true, that it happened as Joseph Smith said it happened, that it was as real as the sunrise over Palmyra, that it is an essential foundation stone, a cornerstone, without which the Church could not be 'fitly framed together.' "

Gordon B. Hinckley, The Cornerstones of Our Faith, Ensign, Nov. 1984, 52





Oh and by the way, add me to the "countless numbers of people" who bear witness that this is true.

Want to know what I'm doing right now?

I'm eating a bowl of Count Chocula. That's right!

Heck. Yeah.

Piano skillz.

A few weeks ago we went to lunch at Allen's Bistro.
There was a piano in the corner.

I played it first and there's no video of it because, well, I'm the one with the camera.
I'm not sad though, because let's just say I'm glad I went first; the others totally showed me up! Despite the piano being painfully out of tune.

Iván showed me up first.... I was impressed!  Who knew?

Then the cook came out and showed us BOTH up. 

And then he really got going...


Show off.

We missed you, Maury and Carol, et. al.!

I heart my family.  Big.
Saturday we had dinner at Cracker Barrell in Glendale.  I finally met my newest nephew and he's super cute! (like anyone expects any less)  If only Maury and Carol were there it would have been more perfecter.  Yep I said that.

I'm starting to get sentimental about our little Nora getting married.  Sniff, sniff.

Apparently I scare babies.....

And babies scare Nora.....

(Good, you should be scared....for a while...lol)

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Kirsten!

['Happy Birthday, Kirsten', for all you non-German speakers)(or those who don't know how to use Google]

Friday night we welcomed Kirsten into the 28 year old club (a very chic club which I will unfortunately be leaving soon) by going to Oktoberfest at Tempe Beach Park.  It was great for people watching. What is it about fair-type events that bring out the freak shows?

Some people really think that Mormons have horns.  As you can see, the rumors are true! ;)


Spencer specifically wanted me to get him stuffing fries in his face.  Crazy kid.

Tim and his chocolate covered banana:  a love story.

There were some regular bands, which was fine, but what really rocked was the POLKA!:

And more...


And here, we are discussing the eternal question of who leads when two lesbians polka together:  (Kirsten: "It's always the taller one.")

Love triangle.

Just because I threatened promised Jason I would post this. I managed to snap a picture before he destroyed my Post-it.

Don't try to understand it.