Littles and Bigs

This just sort of popped out of my head today while I was talking to Miranda, who is off gallivanting through Italy. You can read her delightful blog here http://veffekt.wordpress.com. Anyway, I guess I felt a little verklempt and bittersweet. So here are my thoughts.

Littles and Bigs

I love my little family. I love my little town.

I love my little place, and I love my almost home.

I love my little job, and my bigger little one.

I love my little circle, of people that I love.

But I miss my big wide world, and my big ambitious dreams.

I miss my big old Europe, where art and culture whirl,

with "such big streets" it seemed, to such a little girl.

I miss my big adventures, and my big fun travel times,

I miss my big wrong turns, roads that took big time to find,

but made such great big change, in this little world of mine.

Now that I am bigger, of me there are more parts,

I have another dream, that grows along with me,

Although he's bigger than I am, little I don't feel.

And though much is left behind, my travel and my arts,

I hope to make a little change, to some great big hearts.

So although I love them both, I'll tuck my bigs into my littles,

And save them for another day,

When to my dreams of bigs, my littles can give way.

A Bad Case of the Mondays!

It really is. I don't think I'm quite back in the post-holiday routine. And we just found out that it will probably be another week before we get to move into our cute little house. The blessed RDA loan program, while wonderfully kind to young new homeowners, also teaches patience to said peeps...like us! The apartment is literally in boxes and we have lost almost all motivation to keep it clean in and pretty because all our sights are set on our "Our House." It's hard to want to clean a floor I'm just going to have to clean again when we move out! Sigh.

In other news, I just registered for my half marathon!! Now I have to do it or eat the $43 bucks! I went to see the doctor last week because my injury wasn't healing even though I took 3 weeks of precious training time off from running. Funny story, he told me that I should have been running on it! Go figure! Apparently it was the kind of muscle tear that works itself out if you keep stretching and working it. By taking time off, I didn't do any damage, but just made the healing process longer. Yep. I'm totally kicking myself in the butt for not going to the doctor as soon as I got hurt.

So now I'm hitting it hard and going (mostly) off sweets and junk food, and (totally) off carbonation for the next two weeks, when I will run farther than I ever have in my life. And I'm getting psyched!

Anyone have any really great get-psyched running songs?

Three Christmases

Merry Christmas!

I can say that cause it's still Christmas in Kamas!

Hana & I at the dinner table...and Emma...Creepin.

After a lovely, quiet, gentle Christmas morning with the Stavri, followed almost immediately by a fun, rowdy, high-energy evening of the Nevi, Josh and I drove up to Kamas this morning with Haela in tow, to visit Mom and Richard. This year Josh and I found what we felt was the perfect gift for those two: a Carl Rungen painting of a bull and a cow moose set against a beautiful mountain backdrop. (I hope they love it as much as we loved giving it!). That being said, one thing I love about my mom is her joy in giving. She is always more excited to give me my present than to receive one from me.

I got literally seconds into showing Mom pictures of our house before she started to get up from her seat saying, "Okay we need to do presents right now. Richard! Time for presents!" I didn't understand until she gave me this to unwrap:

I'm already sixty pages in and it's really a great book. I've gotten lots of ideas and inspiration and I'm just ready to get started! I suppose we should actually close on the house before I start shopping for paint chips and area rugs huh? Lame. Hopefully we'll get word tomorrow.

Anyway, it's been a great marathon Christmas and I feel so very grateful for all the wonderful people in my life. I truly have been blessed by amazing family and friends who touch my life all year round! So although technically it is December 27th, I'll say it again.

Merry Christmas

and, in tribute to my marathon viewing of

A Christmas Carol

with Miranda (we watched 4 versions in 2 days)...

God Bless Us, Everyone!

House Hunters: Cedar City Edition

Oh my! Christmas is almost upon us and our world has been turned upside down! In addition to all the regular hustle and bustle of the season, plus my extra work at Sunrise, and all of Josh's involvement in A Christmas Carol...

WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!!

And it has happened so fast I can hardly catch my breath! It's been crazy and wonderful. It's an adorable little 1950's three bedroom rambler right around the corner from our apartment. Here are all the checked boxes and details that made us fall in love!

• It's in our ward. We absolutely love our ward and our ward loves us. They made me feel so welcome when we made the decision to stay in what was then "Josh's Ward." I love my young women and Josh has great relationships with the young men and is just getting started as Scout Master.
• It's close to the University. This is fantastic because it means we can put off buying a second car for a few more years.
• The yard! It's big, beautifully landscaped without being overdone, and fenced! And you know what that means...PUPPY!! eventually...or sooner.
• The house is covered in hideous carpet, but underneath it lies oak wood floors just waiting to be refinished!
• The price! It was previously owned by a little old woman who passed away a few months ago and the kids don't live here and don't want it! We agreed on a very reasonable purchase price very quickly and they are ready to hand over the keys!
• The house is in great shape for its age. There are some summer projects in the tube but nothing serious and it passed inspection!
• Free stuff! This clip from How I Met Your Mother should appropriately convey the excitement of having stuff left by the previous owner. Seriously. They left a TON of usable free stuff!

• This is particularly poignant because the master bedroom has a slight curve to it. We're going to have to shim the floor at some point. Yeah.
• Finally and most important, it feels right. It's the right home for us and we both knew it almost as soon as we walked inside. There has been a beautiful, harmonious spirit between Josh and I over the last week that has brought me a lot of peace in the decision to move forward.

We have been working toward this since we got married and we are so happy to have finally found the right home for us.

Happy Packing 'n stuff!

Havasupai!

Last month I had the awesome opportunity to take eight of my Sunrise girls to Havasupai Falls, along with one of the therapists, my boss, and a female teacher. I was particularly excited to be involved because I’ve wanted to go there since I was a freshman in college. It’s a 7 hour drive from Hurricane (so about 8 hours for me), and then about a 10 mile hike to the campground. We stayed in Kingman, AZ and then drove the last three hours to the trailhead. We sent most of our gear down on mules and carried daypacks for the hike. It’s actually in the Grand Canyon so it was cool to be down there. I’ve always wanted to hike the Canyon but didn’t really know I had it in me. The hike down wasn’t bad at all, but I definitely got some blisters and a workout! It took us about 5 hours and the sun was just setting when we got our tents up. The next morning we hit the trails for Moony Falls, about 2 miles away from camp. We had to basically climb down the side of a cliff to get down. There were chains to hold on to and cave-like tunnels to brave. I put myself between a girl terrified of heights and one failed to mention claustrophobia. You’d think that’s a bad mix, but it was great cause it made me totally forget my own fear of heights! Win!

The water was the most clear, blue, cool water I’ve ever experienced! You could see right to the bottom of the river. I felt like a teenager again! I was climbing cliffs and exploring caves, swimming against the current to see what lurked under each waterfall, and jumping off rocks into the rushing water. I couldn’t have been happier! I spent most of our time at Moony Falls with one of the girls I haven’t been super close with before. We picked our way down the river, slipping on rocks and floating the deep parts. When we got tired we went back for our books and found the perfect little rocks in the middle of the river to plop down on! It was heaven. Pure Heaven!

Havasu Falls was a lot like Moony but much easier to get to. There were more caves to explore and the pools were deeper so we did more jumping and swimming. I also got to prove my swimming chops to the guys, which is always nice.

That night Krista (the teacher) and I slept under the stars. It took forever to fall asleep under that beautiful canvas.

The hike out was more painful because I already had blisters, but I ended up hiking with a girl who was hurting too and we agreed we just wanted to power through and go! We pulled way ahead of the group and held up our lead until the last 2 miles when the guys started running and came within view. She turned to me and said, “I’m tired, and I would love a break, but I am NOT giving up my first place lead! I will not be passed by the guys!” A girl after my own heart! Spurred by her conviction we booked it the next half mile until we hit the switchbacks. If you’ve ever done Angels Landing, you’ll get this reference. Those switchbacks are like the Wiggles from Hell! About halfway up I started to struggle and let my girl go ahead at her own pace cause I thought I might barf from exhaustion. I was so tired I had to stop every few steps and the guys passed me, but I finally made it! (I was happy to hear that my little hiking buddy got to the top first, even with the guys running!) It felt so amazing to realize I hiked about 25 miles in three days and had just reached the top! And I did all 10 miles in 4 hours 15 minutes! I felt so powerful, so strong, and so, so very sore! As I walked to the car to wait for the rest of the group I caught a look at my shadow. With my pack on and limping as I was, I looked like Richard III in a bandana!

Havasupai, with its lush green foliage and cool blue waters is strikingly beautiful, and I think is special because it isn’t accessible to just anyone. You have to want it. You have to earn it.

More pics to come!