Twilight

My Review:

It's not that well-written.

There are major parts of the plot and characters that bugged me while I read it.

I have very little in common with the main character.

The heart-throb Edward really isn't my type.

AND I LOVE IT!!!! I can't wait to start "New Moon."

(P.S. Sorry, Kjirsten! :) )

Oh the Places We've Been

A year ago this weekend Chad and I got married! In some ways I can hardly believe it, but in other ways our wedding day feels like a really long time ago. We have done so much in our first year! We've had multiple people tell us to live it up and travel as much as we can before having kids, and we've tried our hardest to do just that. And I think we've done a pretty good job, thanks to Chad's amazing trip-planning skills. Chad has taken me so many places, I don't know how I got so lucky. Here are the highlights of our year in 31 pictures:

MIDWAY--with a beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogos.

HAWAII--with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.

Helicoptering over Maui.Hiking through a bamboo forest.
Black sand beach.
The Hawaii temple (we've also been to the Jordan River, Bountiful, Provo, Manti, Ogden, Salt Lake, and San Diego temples together since we've been married).We also went snorkeling in Hawaii, but I don't have any pictures of that.

UINTAS--with a beautiful view of the mountains.

My first time every back-packing
My first time ever catching a fish
OREGON--where we had a marvelous time with my parents.THE CABIN--we've been there three times since getting married. While there we went four-wheeling, snow-mobiling, and snow-shoeing. Here's one picture of me on a four-wheeler, but not at the cabin.

PAYSON LAKE-- picnicing in the nice cool weather in the mountains--so refreshing when it's a hot summer day in the valley, and so fun to spend time with family!

TENNIS--I'm proud of how good my husband is at this sport.

NATIONAL PARKS TRIP--can be summed up in one word: WOW!!!
Canyonlands
Arches Camping--I'm a much better camper than I was a year ago. I've found that I really like it.
Mesa Verde--one of the many places Chad has taken me that has encouraged me to overcome my fear of heights.
The Grand Canyon.
Zion's

ST GEORGE MARATHON--Way to go, Chad!!!

CEDAR CITY--for Caytee's Wedding:

GEORGIA--wonderful Christmas with my family, minus Adam and Jessie.SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL--fun times with Nate, Michelle, and Jon.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA--pretend this is a beach on California (it's really in Mexico--I feel so dumb I didn't take any pictures in California even though we were there for a full week and we saw some very pretty stuff!).MEXICO--such a fun trip!

Sea kayaking to the arch at Cabo.

Deep sea fishing.
Sliding down rocks.
SALT LAKE HALF MARATHON--Go us!! Too bad it's not the most flattering picture of either of us, haha. Oh well.

GREEN RIVER TRIP--with beautiful views of red red rock.

I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl on the planet. Thanks, Chad, this year's been the best!!

Swimming

I am following the P* sisters' latest trend of blogging about swimming! :) It must be summer! :)

I am so excited because I am taking a swimming class at our community's recreation center! I've always been a bit jealous of my friends (Guin--if you're reading this, this is you!) who have gone to a nearby pool to exercise by swimming laps. Sure, I can swim if by "swimming" you mean treading water, but swimming laps with correct technique--now that's a different story. I could hardly put my face under water without plugging my nose! So I decided a couple months ago that if I wanted to learn the technique of freestyle and backstroke swimming, I should take a class. So I found an adult swimming lessons course offered in the community and signed up for it!

The month between signing up and the first day of class, I really looked forward to it!...And then the first day of class came. I drove to the rec center and started feeling really nervous. I thought, "What am I doing? Little kids take swimming lessons! Adults do not take swimming lessons!" It didn't help that when I walked into the room with the pool, there was a whole bunch of little kids' swimming lessons going on. The only adults in sight were parents watching their kids, the swimming instructors, and the already adept adult swimmers speeding their way along the marked-off lanes for lap swimming. Now I didn't just feel nervous, but quite embarrassed as well. "Please don't let there be anyone here I know!" I thought.

Needless to say, I was very grateful when another girl approached me and asked me if I was here for the lesson, and freely confessed her nervousness as well. It's much easier to feel embarrassed with another person than to feel all alone in your embarrassment.

But the first lesson, and the three lessons since, have turned out very well, and the feelings of nervousness and embarrassment have gone away. The pool is cleared out for just our lesson, thank goodness, and my teacher is great. She's real nice and perky and is very good at teaching. I really enjoy it and look forward to the last four lessons of the course. Not to mention a whole lifetime of swimming to stay fit! :)

There's something so enriching about learning something new. It gives you something to look forward to, to work towards. It fights off feelings of monotony or depression. One of my good friends Bri just went through a really hard break-up, and she says taking piano lessons has helped her keep busy, cope, and move on. My mom is also a great example to me of learning new skills--she has been taking French lessons and a tap class for the past year or so. She has taught me the joy of life-long learning. I want to be just like my mom when I grow up!

Overdue Half Marathon Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised to post from my half-marathon:


This is at Mile 10. We were still feeling pretty good at this point!

This is approaching Mile 11, the farthest I'd ever ran before.

This is sometime during Mile 11, when we were feeling pretty tired. Once we hit Mile 12, it got easier because we thought "only one more mile!" and we pushed it hard the whole last mile to get it over with.

Hooray! We did it!

Here are the all the C*s who ran, minus Jon. At this point, Jon was still loving (er--okay, maybe hating) his full marathon. But here are the rest of us, who just ran the half marathon. Caytee, how do you look so good after running for so long?

Tag from Mom

How long have you been married? Almost one year! :)
How old is your spouse? 31
Who eats more? Depends on what rotation Chad is on (he loses his appetite when he works long hours and nights). But when he has a normal schedule, he eats more than me, but not by much.
Who is taller? Chad by about 3 inches.
Who sings better? About the same.
Who is smarter? Definitely Chad.
Who controls the T.V. remote? Chad—I don’t watch all that much TV.
Whose temper is worse? Neither of us have bad tempers, I’d say we’re about the same.
Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but Chad does it sometimes too.
Who does the dishes? Mostly me.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? When you’re looking at it, me. When you’re sitting on it, Chad.
Who cooks dinner? Since I’ve been working until 6 most nights, neither of us. Thank you frozen pizzas, cereal, toast, and take-out! :) But I am going to try to be better and cook more often in the next couple months.
Who is more stubborn? Again, I think we’re about the same.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Sorry to be redundant, but I think we’re about the same. I might be first a little more often, but maybe I just think that because I'm me! :)
Whose parents do you see the most? Definitely Chad’s. But we’re going to visit my parents in July and I can’t wait!
Who has more friends? We probably have about the same, but I contact mine more often.
Who has more siblings? Chad by 2.
Who wears the pants in the family? We share the pants—I get one leg, he gets the other! :)