We Beat Pete!

Beki and I were able to run Beat Pete this year... we started together but there were so many people I lost Beki about 30 seconds in.  It was fun to be able to catch up to her just before the end of the race so we could finish together.  It took us 27:02 - dang, if only I could have seen the clock before I got to the end I would have finished sub-27 minutes.  Well maybe next year!  We were just glad to have finished in front of Pete.  Here we are sporting our post-race shirts:

We'll Miss You Lance!

Lance is headed to Louisville, KY next week to sell pest control for the summer.  We are going to miss him on all of our summer adventures!  He's become part of our "core" group and we will definitely feel a void when he's gone.  We decided to send him off with a bang and went shooting this afternoon.  The weather this morning didn't look too promising, but it cleared up enough for us to head out to Carsten's field and try our hand at shooting clay pigeons.  I stink at it.  I think this is only the second time I've tried, but I've yet to shoot one.  The thing is I don't know what I need to do to get better.  Ugh, I hate when I stink at something.

Goal Accomplished

Jen and I both set a goal at the beginning of the year to read the entire Book of Mormon in 3.5 months.  I am happy to say that we both finished yesterday (April 6th of all days)!  I think it was good for me to read it that fast - I really enjoyed a lot of the stories and understood better how everybody is connected.  We plan on reading it again by the end of the year, but this time going a little slower and studying more.  For anyone else who may be interested in joining us, here's a quick calendar Jen put together for our reading.  It's basically a guideline to let us know where we should be at the end of each month... that way we don't have a specific number of pages or chapters we need to read each night, but we can still stay on track.  We will start May 1:
May 31 - 2 Nephi 8 (page 70)
June 30 - Omni (page 140)
July 31 - Alma 2 (page 210)
August 31 - Alma 30 (page 280)
September 30 - Alma 57 (page 350)
October 31 - Nephi 7 (page 420)
November 30 - Ether 2 (page 490)
December 31 - Moroni 10 (page 531)

Conference Thoughts

I really enjoyed General Conference this weekend.  I always love listening to the words of counsel from our church leaders, but I felt this conference was exceptional.  I loved Richard G. Scott's sweet talk about marriage and the family and his stories about his dear wife.  Henry B. Eyring's talk about how we can help others in need really struck a chord - he said that when others are struggling or going through a hard time that we should turn our feelings of sympathy into action.  How easy it is to feel sorry that someone is struggling, but then sit and do nothing to help alleviate their suffering.  I want to be better at turning that sympathy into action!  I also loved a quote by President Uchtdorf when he said "Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words."  We should always be an example of our faith to those around us by how we act.

And finally, one of the highlights was the announcement that a new temple will be built in Meridian, Idaho!  How awesome and unexpected.  I look forward to the coming months (and likely years) of watching the construction of the new temple.  I am already excited for the open house when I might get to invite friends outside of my faith to see the beauty of the temple.

Training with a Trainer

Did anyone watch the Biggest Loser this week?  The red team lost the challenge so got kicked out of the gym for the week.  They each received $1000 to spend... they had a list of ways they could spend it - on a gym membership, a personal chef, their trainer, massages, etc.  The girls chose NOT to spend their money on the trainer.  At the end of the week, one of the teammates lost 2 pounds and the other lost zero.  Everyone else on the other teams who worked out with their trainers had pretty successful weight loss weeks.  The week ended with one of the red team members going home because she didn't lose weight.

Lesson learned???  Trainers really can make a difference in your journey to become fit.  I have had different people question why I have a trainer - I know that some probably think there are better ways I can spend my money.  But I know for me that being fit and healthy is a priority, and my trainer Brandee holds me accountable to both the food I eat and the effort I put into physical activity.  In fact, she kicks my butt for an hour three times a week.  I wish I was one of those people who was motivated to eat right and exercise on my own - maybe one day I'll be there... but for now, I am so thankful for Brandee and the extra motivation she gives me to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We start another 12-week biggest loser competition on Monday at our gym.  Here's to 12 weeks of a strict meal and exercise plan... and hopefully some really positive results :-) 

Finished Product

Two months after completing our pottery class, Jen and I were finally able to pick up our pottery yesterday!  A couple weeks ago we went back out to the studio to glaze out pieces... we really felt like we didn't know what we were doing.  We dipped our pieces in the buckets of glaze and tried to get them evenly coated.  Needless to say, we could have used some practice before dipping our actual pieces!  The glaze on some of them didn't look too great.  Oh well, in any case, we were happy to have them back and admire our handiwork, messy glaze and all!

Denver

I spent the last few days in Denver for my annual Higher Education Users Group (HEUG) conference.  I love getting together with other functional IT people from PeopleSoft schools around the world to see how they use the delivered product and how they've modified it in other cases to meet their needs.  I always come back from this conference excited and full of ideas.

The only problem is I didn't really take pictures - the only pictures I took this week were for Flat Noah (I'm helping out Mandy's son with a school project)... so I don't have much to show!  I guess all I'll say is that outside of the conference I had a good time hanging out with my co-workers Jami and Mark.  The highlights were:

Mad Greens!!!

We decided Mad Greens should expand to Boise - I even sent them an email asking them to!  It is a delicious salad restaurant... you pick from lettuce, spinach, or mixed greens, then pick a meat, and add on veggies and other toppings.  We all loved it.  In fact, Jami went back again the next night for dinner!  It was also really nice that they had all the nutritional information (calories, etc.) right on the menu.  I got the Edgar Allen Poe - baby greens, apples & pears, walnuts, blue cheese crumbles, and flank steak with port wine vinaigrette.  Mmmmm, wish I was eating one right now.  A special thanks to Mark's hygienist for suggesting it :-)

 The Tattered Cover

Mark knows I love buying books, so visiting the Tattered Cover was his suggestion.  Seriously the coolest book store I've ever been in.  I could have spent hours there wandering the two floors of both new and used books.  I loved how they had staff recommendations all throughout the store.  I ended up buying 3 used hardback books and 4 new paperback books.  Good thing I got a bag at the conference that I could use as a carry on for the plane - my books would have pushed me well over the 50 pound limit for my suitcase!  Mark and I would have loved going back again the next night.  It's probably a good thing for my wallet that I didn't.  I think I would consider flying back to Denver just to visit this bookstore again.