My weekend

First, my roommates helped me celebrate my 20th birthday, and they did such a wonderful job of making me feel loved :)

They took me to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and it was more than I could have ever asked for.

Then, I ran a marathon. My first marathon ever.

I want to tell you that it came naturally to me, that I was pretty much born for endurance running, that it was a little challenging but I had it in the bag.

I can't tell you any of that. It was hard. So hard. I practically walked the last five miles. I wanted to cry. Breathing was more like dry heaving. My knee was shooting pains and my ankles were competing with it for attention. I felt weak. I felt maybe more than a little slightly pathetic. I looked like a corpse crossing the finish line.

But. I can tell you this. The course was beautiful. It started at Antelope Island, and as the sun came up it cut through the fog and lit the water and it was kind of perfect.

I can also tell you that Katie Zimmerman is the best best friend anyone could ever hope to have. She drove an hour to kaysville after a long day of work in post-byu-football-game traffic to spend the night before with me when I was a sack of nerves and an emotional wreck. She got up with me at 4 am to see me off.

We've decided it's a tradition for me to wear her jacket/sweater before the race while she wears my race shirt

She refused to let me get my parents to come pick me up at mile 22 cause I felt like I had had enough. She ran the last mile with me barefoot and cheered me on. She carried my aching body to the car.

She is the perfect woman and I love her so ridiculously much. I will never be able to repay the kindness she has always shown to me :)

Im also so grateful to my family who came to support me. My dad ran the last mile with me too, even though he may or may not have been breathing heavier than I was.

 My sister-in law ran with us for a couple minutes carrying her infant and dragging her dog on the leash behind her. My brothers made dorky signs. My mom massaged my poor joints and made sure I got to the race in the first place. I'm blessed. I'm so grateful I didn't have to do this alone.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life and have helped me to become who I am. My entire life is a credit to each one of you, because I have developed none of my talents or positive character traits without the influence of each of you. I am nothing if not a compilation of the lessons you have taught me and the examples you have set for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'm in love.

I'm in love with every aspect of my life. I'm in love with every blessing, and every trial, and every sweet, beautiful friend God has seen fit to put there. I have so much more than I need and my life is so much easier than I deserve, and I will never be able to fathom what benefit I could be to the people around me who are already so strong and so intelligent and who overcome their obstacles with such grace and gratitude, but I know that I need thema. They are such an example to me. Several times I have watched them go through things that no one should have to go through, let alone anyone as selfless and generous and charitable and truly Christlike as the people I have had the privilege of surrounding myself with. And every time, I am so inspired. It is always a reminder of how truly precious this life is. How inconsequential appearance and popularity and clothing and the newest iPhone and the like really are. How lucky I am to have genuine friendship, because the older I get the more I realize it is so rare.
I know I get sad sometimes. Sad that I'm single or sad that I'm not as pretty as I would like to be or sad that I haven't reached all of the goals that I feel like I should have by now. But sometimes I get to be reminded that I have everything I need and that the blessings I have been promised will come. Everything that isn't perfect actually kind of is. It's perfect for me. My life is tailor-made to help me learn what I need to and gain the skills I lack. It is the greatest gift I could ever receive and I have nothing but gratitude for that. I have nothing but gratitude for my beautiful friends and the strength they give me every day. Thank you.

Homeless week + New Home

I think we've all been here. That week between switching apartments where you're required to be checked out of your old one but apparently your new one isn't ready for you yet or something. Because the tenants before you didn't spend 6 hours cleaning it before they moved out like you did, or something. And because if they didn't do their cleaning, management has to bring in cleaning professionals to clean it even though there was NOTHING professional about the cleanliness of the apartment when you moved in. Or something.

Look, I'm not bitter.

Ok, I might have been in the past.

But now I'm over it. Because Homeless Week was kinda fun.

I mean, look at all this fun we had!

When we slept over at Brit's

When Dad took us for pizza and I got new running shoes and Snuggle tried to stow away with me back to Provo

When Anna and I got domestic and made dinner and cobbler!

And then. Move-in day.

And grocery shopping day.

 

And nonstop fun.

When Caroline ate pancakes while watching me do Insanity

When Megan and I were organizing our "pantry" and Caroline said she was bringing a cat home.

When Caroline... was being Caroline

When we got dinner and pedicures!

That's all.

Oh, and this: the aftermath of all that fun.