41 miles documented

On Saturday, I went for a bike ride. I waited until the morning session of Conference was over, then I put on my ultra-neon yellow shirt, loaded my bike on my truck and drove to Sugar City. I parked Captain in the parking lot of the Stake Center, set my MP3 player to 100.5 (KBYUI--or something like that) in time to catch the beginning of the Saturday afternoon session.

Here's my ride. Documented.

Miles #1-3--spent riding from one end of Sugar City to the other and back ... not sure yet where the days' ride was going to take me.

Mile #4--headed out of Sugar City and onto Salem Highway--towards the sand dunes. Same as last week. I just love that ride!

Mile #7-- Sustaining of Church officers. I'm sure a few cars passed while I pedaled along, my right arm raised to the square. They had no idea what I was doing (is that the signal for a sideways u-turn?) but I did. It was important to me, that even though no one could see me to know whether or not I physically sustained my prophet and priesthood leaders, I knew that I did. When President Eyring said, "President Monson, as far as I've been able to observe, the voting in the Conference Center has been unanymous. Thank you, Brothers and Sisters for your sustaining vote, your faith, devotion and prayers." I burst into tears.

Mile #9-- Where I made the wrong turn last time. I remembered and made the RIGHT turn this time.

Mile #11-- Passed the Warm Slough sign that Taeko and I used to ponder over. How in the world do you pronounce that word? Sloff? Slew? Slug? I always voted for slug.

Mile #12--- Did anyone else notice a theme of simply: "follow the prophets"? I'd just gone to the temple the night before. It's been on the brain. Who doesn't want to be shown the ways of life and salvation?

Mile #13--I listened to Elder Duncan's talk while cooling off here:

Mile #15--Elder Anderson reminds me to approach challenges with faith will bring deeper conversion. These same experiences, when approached in a worldly way will cause us to lose our faith and "walk no more with Him."  "In our weakened moments, the adversary seeks to steal our spiritual promises."

Mile #16.5-ish. Found the turn-off to Egin Lake. I saw the speed limit sign and felt a little rebellious.

 Mile #16.87--Going 3.5 miles over the speed limit. On a bike.

 Mile #17. I cooled off again here:

 See?

Mile #20--Session #2 of conference concludes with Elder Scott's message about Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of faith to transform our lives. Faith and character are intimately related. Faith through trials brings strength of character. I LOVED the message: "faith is ... patience and understanding when God lets you struggle to grow and when answers come a piece at a time over an EXTENDED period."

Mile #22--came up with a new game. "Name that Smell." I'm not very good at it. I guess my sniffer needs to be more accute in order to figure that out.

Mile #23--stopped in Parker for applesauce with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle David (not pictured.) The sprinklers weren't on in the cemetery this time, so there wasn't much cooling off.

 Lucky for Grandma, Grandpa and David, "Chocolatte" came on my headphones. Since it's one of the FEW Zumba songs I know from start to finish (it's not hard), they got a demonstration. I CAN'T hear that song and not "choco choco clap clap!" along with it! I looked around me. I don't think anyone else saw.

Mile #26--Another Zumba song came on my MP3 player. This is dangerous stuff. You try to "Light it up like it's dy-no-mite" while cruising down a hill! I nearly crashed, but had a good save.

Mile #27--got chased by a dog. A BIG dog.

Mile #28--Passed the house I want to live in.

and considered chunky dunking with the cows. It was a very brief consideration.

Mile #29 thinking of Tami drinking her Pepsi and eating movie theater popcorn right now.

Mile #29.32--name that roadkill

Mile #30.12--P-P-P-Poker face. (only Lisa and Shalene will get this. The rest of you will think I'm a retard--with good reason.

Mile #30.56--Stopped playing "name that smell" when I realized the smell was me.

Mile #30.92--SO many vehicles passing me with 4 wheelers. I miss it.

Mile #31--Does Lacey really clean this road?

Mile #31.5--Foreboading. don't tell me this hill doesn't look steep to you. Trust me. It's plenty steep. Dang overpass.

Mile #32--I made it to the top of the overpass. I didn't have the energy to stop and spit on a car. It'd probably end up all over my face, anyway.

Mile #32.5--I battled the temptation to leave my mark on this new sidewalk.

Mile #33.2--Rexburg needs some new billboards.

Mile #33.8--Fall colors I couldn't ignore.

Mile #34.1--Attack of the grasshoppers.

Mile #34.3--Look ma! No hands!

Wondering what mile #34 looks like? Like this.

Mile #35--Sugar City has this nice bike path so I don't get hit by cars. The hard part is that it's got a few of these little green obstacles. They're pretty hard to avoid when you're riding without hands while taking a picture.

Mile #35.89--Hello, Sugar City! I'm back.

Mile #36. Crap. Why did I park at the Stake Center? I made it back just in time to see all the men of Sugar City walking to Priesthood Session. I wasn't about to ride into the middle of that, wearing my stretchy, padded biking shorts and drenched in sweat!

Mile #36.5--Guess I'm in for another few miles. I've got some time to kill while everyone gets in their seats. I passed this gas station about 13 times.

Mile #36.8--I cruised SLOWLY down ALL the streets of Sugar City.

See? Slowly.

Mile #37--met some new friends. Apparently Amy saw me from Tami's house at some point, but said nothing. Thanks a lot.

Mile #38.2 See them all walking to Priesthood Session? Good.

Mile #39.24--Passing the same houses over and over again. I'm starting to creep out some members of the neighborhood watch.

Mile #40.7--I'm done cruising. They'd better all be in their seats, cuz the session started 10 minutes ago.

Mile #40.93--all wrapped up and ready to go home.

How long has HE been there? (there was NO flattering angle to take this picture. I tried several, then gave up, afraid he'd jump off and get lost somewhere in my truck.)

I stopped in Rigby for ice cream on my way home. I called Amy to join me, but she was still partying at Tami's house. It's probably better she didn't see me. I'll look and smell better next time.

Like you really wanted to know ...

Here's some stuff about me that I feel like sharing, whether you wanted to know or not!

I'm freakishly tall. Really, I'm like 5'11 1/2", so that's not totally freakish, but the freakish part is that I'm taller than both of my parents. Combined. No one knows how that happened.

I wear pink on Wednesdays. I've been doing it for over 6 years now. I'm not even sure if Desirae still plays, but we started it together after we got back from Mexico, and I can't seem to break it.

I've mentioned this before, but I still think that freshly-cut, short fingernails are one of the best things in the world.

If I won a million dollars, one of the last things I would buy is a TV or game system; one of the first things would be a motorcycle.

I read an article this weekend about adult ADHD and I fit EVERY SINGLE ONE of the symptoms. That would explain a lot. I should probably look into that.

I've had a chocolate chip muffin from WinCo for breakfast nearly every weekday for almost two years. I'm convinced they're good for me.

I HATE to cook. I blame my Grandma Silvester. I was the only granddaughter in the area, so while the boys got to go outside and play, I was stuck in the kitchen with Grandma. I always thought I was being punished.

I have scrawny, sickly-looking wrists, and therefore, I wear a watch and a bracelet (at LEAST one-- usually 3) at all times. I have the craziest watch tan line to prove it. Seriously, you can see the white band on my wrist from a mile away. Ask me. I'll show you.

I'm older than you think I am. Actually, most of you know how old I really am. But, I recently realized that I still live the life of an 18 year old (forget the decade I spent in college--it hasn't gotten me anywhere.) And I refuse to dress or act my age.

I don't have the internet at home, so everything you see here has been done on company time.

I used to be a picky eater, but now, I just have a short list of untouchables. I'll pretty much try ANYTHING but: meatloaf; water chestnuts; hot, mushy, cooked fruit; mystery meat. Gina, did I leave anything out? Almond puffs and eclairs.

My friend Valerie has a t-shirt blog . I've been featured AGAIN today. That's what you get when you send off 7 entries, trying to win the give-away. I didn't win. But now I get to be featured 7 times.

I've purchased 3 new pairs of athletic shoes in the past year and am currently looking for a 4th pair. I go through them, not because I wear them out, but because I have yet to find a pair that will live up to my old ones. I wear them 4-5 times a week, so they've gotta be good.

I don't like to dress "classy". I don't love gold or silver jewelry. I love leather and beads and colors. I REALLY don't know what to do with the colors black and white, but SOMETHING must be done with them. They can't be left alone.

I can't type the word "silver" without it automatically becoming "silvester."

I LOVE being adopted into others' families. I was always home alone growing up, so I got good at wiggling my way in where something fun was happening. I crave that interaction and have a blast when friends treat me like family. The Madsens and Rowberrys ROCK! I want a sister. In the past, I've tried to make friends into sisters. They usually already have their own and don't like to share. I want to relate to this.

I am green today!

There's a song by Kira Wiley that many of you may recognize from THIS Dell commercial.

As many of you know, I'm basically obsessed with the color green. My favorite part of the song is: "I am green today, I chirp with joy like a cricket's song"

That's how I feel RIGHT NOW. Not two hours ago, and probably not two hours from now, but right now, I'm cricket-happy.

Wanna know why? I've made two AWESOME new friends, Amy and Tami who both made me smile pretty big today. They also happen to be sisters and the teachers of my Zumba class that brings me all sorts of joy as well. I just can't get enough of these two. Someday, we'll be BFF's. I'm sure of it. Until then, I basically live for Mondays and Wednesdays nights and random emails.

Another smile came from when my coworker, Kaylynn and I compared our office food storage. I have two drawers full of peanut butter, pretzels, crackers, fruit snacks, apple sauce, granola, M&M's ... who knows how long some of that's been there. Kaylynn has sunflower seeds, boxed cereal, Starbursts, canned pears and ground pepper. Who knew? :)

After a crazy day at work, fulfilling requests from many ad reps while adjusting the Medical Guide AND building Thursday's paper, Phil sent me a gratitude e-mail and Mark gave me the kind of high-five that leaves your hand stinging for awhile.

I have Ultimate Frisbee in 45 minutes. I get to go run around like a chicken with my head cut off while the people around me play frisbee. :)

This is the good life.

Head vs. Heart = Bicycle vs. a Car

There's nothing like it in the whole world.

Until I find a big hill. And then I think it's gotta be just a bit like death.

But when I rise over the top of that hill ... I just think how I'm never coming that way again. But I always do. Because sometimes, the best destinations are on the other side of those killer hills.

This is how I spent last Saturday. 34.2 miles.

This Saturday, I'm going to do it all over again--after Zumba, of course.

I can't wait. Weather and legs: please cooperate.

T-Shirt Project

My shirt made the blog again. Valerie said this one may be her favorite story. I don't know if I believe her. She sees a LOT of shirt stories! But, I'll take the flattery.

Either way, it's funny. If you want to read the story of my Space Needle shirt, go ahead. Read it. 

Just click on the picture. I've linked it to the blog. Then, you can scroll down and read some other fun shirt stories from other people.  Valerie's got a good thing going here.

Sometimes you just need your Mama

Last night, my mom sat down to read the newspaper.

Apparently, Targhee had other things in mind.

People of the Fair 2010

Have you ever seen the People of Walmart website? I'm not going to link it because I don't want some of that nastiness affiliated with my blog. I'm not even recommending it. But, it's funny.

Every year at the Eastern Idaho State Fair, I've got to laugh at the fun people who come out to play!

Here's a recap of some previous fair adventures, just so you can see the trend:

Last year:

The year before:

This year:

Happy Blackfoot Fair Days, everyone! Until next year!