after rain: Sunday morning walk w/ Josh

This morning Josh and I went on a little walk. We had fun taking pictures along the way. It rained last night and so everything smelled clean. We walked to the temple and admired the lovely grounds there. I am especially fond of the gorgeous grasses--too bad I don't know what kind they are. It was a nice, peaceful morning. I'm happy Josh was willing to spend some time with me; it was very relaxing.

honoring Papi: first REAL crash

Well, it happened. I crashed. Dad gave us all a stern lecture about wearing our helmets even if we weren't going that far. And so I wore my helmet yesterday to and from Days Market even though it's only a block or so away from home. On the return, I was going a little too fast and I didn't slow down enough for a left turn. I soon found myself crashing to the road. The road bashed into me in three main spots: my right elbow, my right hip, and the right side of my forehead (protected by the aforementioned helmet). I am most grateful that my shoulder stayed in its socket since it has a history of not doing such kind deeds. Today it's been achy, and I hope nothing's torn. So, yes, blessings do come from honoring the padres.

I figure it's actually nice that I crashed. I figure it this way: (a) it wasn't really too bad of a crash, (b) I now know I can't take turns that quickly (c) I will forevermore wear a helmet. I suppose what I'm saying is that I'm an idiot and it takes a lil' fiasco like this to help me gain some knowledge/experience.

School's swell. I'm really enjoying it.

9 days till Yuba! And a 3-day weekend coming up!

playing again

Last night I had the happy chance to play soccer with girls I played with in high school. We had a lil' game which pitted alumni against the current varsity team at Timpview. The highlight of the night was when we scored two goals to bring us to one behind: 3-4. Jim brought us off the field and told us to not let our heads get too big because we'd had 13 on the field. I didn't even realize anything, but I guess he made a sub and someone didn't come off that was supposed to. That gave him a good idea because the ref didn't even notice, so Jim purposefully used the same tactic to give us two more players on the field than the other team. So sneaky. After we scored the goals, he restored things to their proper order with 11 playing. It was loads of fun to see the "girls" I played with.

Tomorrow's the first day of school, huzzah!

camping and iron(wo)man

The family and I spent four happy days in McCall, Idaho. We camped at the splendid Ponderosa State Park. We filled our days with biking, huckleberry picking, cliff jumping, running, swimming, and playing at the beach. It was all rather relaxing and enjoyable. My personal favorite activity would probably be the huckleberry picking. It's so soothing somehow and I just adore the berry stain I get on my fingers. The lake is gorgeous and it was so nice to be able to jump in it whenever desired.

Yesterday I completed my first legitamate triathlon ever and it was a half ironman. So that means I swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles. I finished in 5 hours and 41 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised by being more prepared for it than I thought I would be. I had concerns about my rib injury bothering me, but that area of my back didn't start aching until I had about 2 miles left on the run, so I was happy about that. On the whole, I just thought it was going to hurt like mad, but it wasn't too bad. The hardest part for me actually was probably the first couple miles of the run; it's a hard transition and my left quad was having a grand old time cramping up. It was seriously fun and as I started out on the bike I couldn't stop smiling because I was so excited. After I finished I couldn't believe what I'd just done. Yay for triathlons. I'm doing my next one in September in Yuba. It's Olympic length, so 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 10k run. Huzzah!

I'm back at school in meetings this week and then the real thing starts 18 August. This summer I've possibly enjoyed myself a bit too much, but it's been a much needed mental break and I'm looking forward to teaching again.