White Rock Lake

We've decided that this lake is probably our most favorite thing about living here. Yes, David loves his job and the people there. But, outside of that, this lake makes us LOVE where we live.

We've settled into a basic routine where we go walk/run around the lake each night after dinner. We wait for it to get a little bit cooler outside and it doesn't get dark until about 8:30ish, so we usually end up seeing the start of sunset each night.

 This is the view from the causeway.

 

Our attempt at taking our own picture. A lot harder with a big camera than I thought.

This is right by a great playground they have on the west side.

 They have really done an amazing job with how good the areas/paths around the lake are. 

Like this little balcony area.

 Some of the houses around the edge of the lake are MASSIVE and have tons of land too. 

This one is called Mount Vernon.

 We just thought this was hilarious. 

 The marina.

 David's favorite part of the lake - the bridge on the north side.

 Views from the bridge.

 This is the small bridge on the southeast side. Still pretty.

 \

There are always lots of people walking/jogging/pushing strollers/biking. We have even seen people rollerblading and skateboarding. One night there was a wedding. And lots of people fish. We never saw anyone catch anything until 2 nights ago. Then it was a huge bass.

We didn't take a picture of the boathouse - but they have rowing camps out practicing each morning. Lots of sailboats are usually out on days when it isn't storming. AND they have kayaking and paddle boards -- which I'm going to do one of these mornings if I ever can remember.

White Rock is like 9.33 miles total around the whole thing. It's been fantastic for us because we just do a small section of it each night and that way it takes us a week to do the whole thing. Plus the views are different when you turn around and walk back.

Pretty much, we love white rock.

Dallas Apartment

After much insisting, (ahem, L) here is where we live! It is way, way better than we expected. 

We really were prepared for the worst. And we almost couldn't believe what we got ourselves into when we turned off the freeway into the most ghetto area. Seriously. Panic and fear and anxiety were on the rise. Then we kept driving and it turns out, we're okay. 

Our complex has a gate which is actually closed most of the time (and a minimum income requirement) and it is right on the corner of a couple nice areas. So we like to think we are pretty blessed over here in our little corner of the world. 

Okay. Enough of me blabbering. Here you go!

Believe it or not, this little door (not even a normal-size) is what constitutes as our "hallway"

Our lovely bed room.

Yes, our bed is a souped-up air mattress. And our 'nightstand' is a suitcase.

We pride ourselves on being pretty resourceful around here :)

 

Please ignore the sock on the floor. We didn't have a bin for them yet.

This is one of 2 closets and believe it or not, it is the smaller of the 2.

My favorite part of the apartment! Our last shower curtain was so boring and old. 

I love all the colors in this one!

Laundry

Kitchen/Laundry from the back wall by the door.

Dining room

 Those green chairs are pretty awesome, huh? I'm still trying to think of a way we can bring them home.

Also trying to figure out a way to get thus couch home. Except I really don't think it will happen.

But it is really nice to have something real to sit down on.

The view out our front door.

BUT, if you want to see some amazing views you should see the lake 2 blocks away from our house. It's got a great trail all around that is becoming a great morning tradition. 

Our trip.

Here's basically how our trip went. (Wyoming is not shown, unfortunately. I think I was taking a nap...)

Utah

 

Fort Collins to see XiaoXiao and Hai

Last night.

We leave for Dallas tomorrow, bright and early. It is kind of exciting and kind of scary thinking about this.

This is a new chapter in our life - no more school. no more living in Provo. moving on to real life with a real job. possibly no more working for me (my chances of finding a job for 3 months with no weekends are quite slim.)

We've both never moved to a place where we would really be on our own. I don't think we have ever taken a trip just the two of us. We have always been with family and friends.

Although I am dreading the long drive, come Wednesday I will be very excited for this new phase of life.

We have LOVED being with family these past couple weeks. Like when the boys were giggling like 6 year olds over funny youtube videos and crying from laughing at home videos. It will be weird to not be so close anymore.

But life goes on. And it is exciting. :)

My biggest fear

I am finished a book at work today about a woman who is diagnosed with cancer and how her family (specifically, her husband and sister) deal with it.

I get sucked into books like any bookworm, living and breathing the stories like they were my own. This is probably why this book is making me cry every paragraph. I'm sitting there at work and I'm having to put the book aside every time I read a few paragraphs because I seriously was about lose it. I was definitely caught wiping a few tears away. (It's tricky answering the phone when you're choked up.)

Why is this book such a tear-jerker for me, you ask? Because it is basically my biggest worst fear that everything in this book will happen to our family (me).

I'm terrified that David will die before I'm ever ready (are we really ever ready?) and that I won't be able to handle missing him. I know that our family can be together forever, but every time we discuss stuff like this (oddly enough, we were talking about it a couple nights ago), I cry. Like a baby. There is no helping it. It just is like opening a dam and letting a waterfall down.

Cheesy, yes, but true. via

This darn book. I'm such a weeper. (Also, I almost cried watching the guy who won American Idol last night cry because he'd won. And I hadn't watched any of this season at all.)

I told you mine, you tell me yours: what is your biggest fear?

Onesies

I made these for Ann's baby shower before they moved down to Vegas for the summer.

I can't decide which one is my favorite. David likes the argyle (which took forever since I had to free-hand the pattern). There are definitely mistakes, so try not to look too closely..... :)

So long, Provo!

The temple just down the street from our house

Last night was our last in Provo.Tonight we are moving out.
We'll be back, but I don't know that we will ever live here again.

Meeting baby Charlee

It's a little bittersweet. We both have such good memories of Provo.

Our new chapter!

I remember not liking it when I moved here - the mountains were daunting and so unfamiliar to me. After I finally realized Utah was home (here), we had so much fun, met the best people, fell in love and started a new chapter in life. I can't help but think of how much we will miss it.

Beloved stadium

Provo, you've been so good to us.

graduation!

But I am really excited about what the future holds.

Eyebrows

Along with running a half-marathon, I also did something else this past weekend that was new to me.

Got my eyebrows threaded. And HOLY SMOKES the first time (with all of the little baby hairs) is killer. There may or may not have been tearing up for a minute....
Overall (after the pain is forgotten), I'd do it again. Fast, easy, no hot wax, inexpensive, and I like how it turned out. Also, kind of fun to experience....in a weird kind of way.

via Wikipedia

What I've Learned (v3) - Half.Marathon!

read parts one and two here.

1. You really can do it! And it actually was really fun.*except maybe miles 10, 11, and 12. But those are worth it.

2. No one knows why they make you go so early just to wait around. The 3:40 am wake up call is not so fun and don't plan on getting extra sleep when you get up to the start.

3. Bring extra clothes for the wait at the beginning - especially if they have a bag drop.  If not, bring old clothes you're okay with ditching along the way.

4. Downhill courses in the mountains are probably the prettiest ones.

5. Don't try to keep up with everyone running really fast at the start. Save that for when it gets really hard - like miles 10, 11, and 12.

6. You really can run the entire way without stopping at all. It's hard and you'll try to talk yourself out of it multiple times, but just ignore that little voice and keep going. Just tell yourself that slowing down is acceptable. Stopping is not.


7. Drink more water the days before. Also, chocolate gu tastes like frosting, which is okay. The strawberry banana one tastes like banana bread dough. Clif shot bloks are like huge square fruit snacks. 


8. Get the free massage at the finish line. You will need it. Your joints will be super, super sore the next day. 


9. Family and friends cheering you on are the BEST.  Seriously. If Andrew and Laura weren't standing by mile 10, my time would have been a lot worse. And at the finish line, those familiar faces make you realize how great you are and that you really can finish the race.


10. For the next 48 hours you won't want to run again. Then the idea starts trickling into your thoughts and suddenly you find yourself on your lunch break searching for another (maybe shorter, this time... the marathon is still just a thought) race to run in the next few months. 

At the finish!

The little pedometer that is no more.

This is kind of a ridiculous story and I feel really silly writing about it.
But I want to remember it, so here goes.

At the end of last year, I got an email from my insurance about a wellness program where you can sign up for a pedometer and get entered into drawings for giftcards for Amazon (I thought it would just be like $30 or something. Nope, they are like $500 and $750 giftcards. Much more enticing.) and also for a trip to Hawaii. Sounds awesome, right?

Of course, I signed up, got my pedometer in January and I've been wearing it every day since then. You get a "goal" of how many steps you need to take each week and if you meet it, they give you a higher number the next week. I started out around 12,500 steps and now I think I'm at 34,000. You get a bonus if you are in the top 5 number of steps each week. I've been in the top 5, but never been the top person for the week.

Fast forward to yesterday. I went on a short run because I'm doing my half-marathon Saturday (woot-woot!) and LOST MY PEDOMETER ALONG THE WAY.  I was so mad. And then I was mad that it made me mad. It's just a dumb pedometer, right?

So what do I do, being as irrational as I can be? Go out and walk my route again looking for it. Really irrational and silly because it was getting dark and there was a .0001% chance of me finding it.  I might have kicked it as it came off my shoe and it ended up in the grass somewhere. Or someone might have picked it up out of curiosity and then thrown it away later. Or a car ran over it and it is smashed in the road somewhere.

It was ridiculous of me to even try. But I could help but hope I would find it.  And every time I saw a big leaf,  a rock, a hole in the concrete, and gum spot that looked like my pedometer, I got hopeful.  And I'm sure I looked like an idiot staring at every spot for the whole 3 miles. It was a long walk home.

It is driving me crazy that I lost it.
A) It took them forever to send me the first one and I really don't want to wait another month for my next one. Especially when we are moving twice in the next month.
B) I really legitimately thought I had a smidgen of a chance to win big bucks. (Ridiculous of me, I know.) There aren't that many people in the program and they were giving out quite a few giftcards.
C) I was finally going to win this week. With my half-marathon, pre-race runs, and golfing plans, I was bound to have the most steps this week.  Silly, competitive me.

Such a silly thing to be mad over, but that little pedometer drove (is still driving!) me crazy. I know I can still run my half-marathon and that I probably wasn't going to win anyways and I'll eventually get my new pedometer, but the irrational part of me is still super frustrated that I lost it and that I couldn't find it after looking for it. I'll chalk this one up to the vortex too. (Ask me about it sometime - and where all the socks, hair cutting scissors, David's old electric razor, and other missing things are.) 

It is weird to wear my boots and not have my rubber band on them anymore.
Also, I can be so irrational sometimes. 
But, hey, now it doesn't look like I've stolen every pair of shoes I wear.