No one sleeps in VEGAS

Especially when you are running a relay.  I have mixed feelings about this post for a couple reasons, one... this was not my favorite race in the world - the organization was awful, and two... a runner on another team was hit and killed by a drunk driver making part of me feel guilty for talking about the fun times knowing there are a lot of family and friends dealing with a huge loss.  I can speak for my entire team when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with them right now.  When we heard the news about half way through the race our minds could think of nothing else, it hit close to home for each of us.

When we finished the Wasatch Back Relay in June the great folks at Ragnar announced a new Las Vegas Relay and offered each of the finishing Wasatch Back teams free rooms at Red Rock to run the Las Vegas Relay.  Sure, why not?  We said and signed up.  Only 6 of our Wasatch Back team could make the trip to Vegas so instead of trying to talk 6 more crazy people into running we let Ragnar assign us another set of 6.  They were a hoot!

Our van was given (actually chose) the harder set of legs.  Our first van would run about 24 miles and then we would run about 43 - um, how is that for even?  Needless to say it was a lot of HOT (I mean 90 degree) Vegas running.   Here we are at the beginning before we head to meet our team for our first legs.  We were ready in true "Vegas" style!

  As we drove into The Valley of Fire, which is where our legs began, we suddenly had a Park Ranger right behind us with his lights on.  We were pulled over for having writing on our windshield!  I would like to add that in every relay we have written on the windshield and although it probably shouldn't have been there he could have been a lot more courteous and just asked us to remove it.  Instead he ran all of our information and when we asked if the runners could get out because we were about to be handed off to he said, "Listen I don't want a circus out here".  Um.... look around you sir, there are about a billion runners with writing all over their cars.  Needless to say we didn't get a ticket and we watched about 10 other vans of runners be pulled over.  Busy day for the Park Ranger!

Ready for my first 9 mile leg!   This leg would later be known as "The leg that ruined running for me".  Just kidding... but it was SO hot and I wasn't even sweating - in fact I was getting chills about half way through... just a little dehydration. 

Once that bugger was over then the real party could start (at least for a couple hours until I ran again)!  Traci and I were strinking poses while Jennie ran...

Jennie and Jolynn resting in the back of the truck after their first legs.

Practicing our punk jumps!

Traci and Chris' first legs... The darkness begins.  We have never had first legs in the dark before.  That was a new experience, but at least it had cooled off a little.

Here I am waiting for Jolynn to pass off to me for my second.  It is about midnight and she is lost (we didn't know that though) the course wasn't marked all that well and she ended up running through some sage brush to get back on track.  When my leg starts I will have a similar experience and also get lost in Vegas, in the dark.  Scary.

Chris catching some Z's before his second run.

And it's day again!!  Poor tired runners...  On Jolynn's third and last leg she was directed the wrong way and ran about 3 miles off course.  We were waiting for her to hand off to me and we couldn't find her.  We were so worried!  But she figured it out, turned around and made it to the exchange, safe and tired!

Finally at the finish!  Here is our team sans Chris.  We were waiting for him to come in so we could all cross the finish together.

After the race Bryce and I went to the BYU vs. UNLV game with Lynn, Brandon, Caden and Brad.  I was SO tired.  I feel asleep a couple times watching the game, which they all found very humerous. But BYU killed them so I didn't miss much with my eyes closed.

Will I do Ragnar Las Vegas again?  I don't really know the answer to that. I love a good workout, but I am not sold on that race. I sure am glad I have my team though -  they make every race a good time!

A Utah man sir, will be till I die!

The Utah football team came to visit me last weekend! Too bad they just showed up to visit and not to play football...
Utah Utes vs. Oregon Ducks. I very much love college football and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch my Alma mater play in the very state where I live. Shannon and I went to the game, and had a ton of fun! Even if Shannon did accidentally wear the colors of the opposing team. (She is new to college football). HA, at least she looked cute! Now it has been beautiful in Oregon for the last 3 weeks. But the 4 hours that we decided to sit at a football game were the same 4 hours the Oregon skies decided to mist. So our once styled and straight hair was better suited under red Utah hats so it could frizz out all it wanted and we could enjoy the game! The Utes didn't bring home a 'W', in fact they lost 28-24. Even still, the game was great, aside from what felt like a million preventable Oregon interceptions. The Duck fans were very nice given we were the only 2 Utah fans on our side in a sea of yellow (plus they were ahead for most of the game). Shannon now knows the Utah fight song, that skill could come in handy - you never know when you'll need to bust out in perfect tune in a college fight song. And next time, Ducks - you better watch your backs! Go Utes!
I would also like to add that if I choose an Oregon team to cheer for, or even a PAC-10 team for that matter, I think I will choose U of O. This team is sponsored by Nike and oh my gosh I have never seen so much CUTE college paraphernalia. Let's be honest - I may already have a jacket! I'm still a Ute though! ;-)

That Sugar Tastes SO Sweet

As a Ute Alum and a girl born a University of Utah fan, I don't have much to say except I am very excited for the 13-0 Sugar Bowl winner, Utah Utes. They played a great season and it was so fun to watch them take home a victory of such sweet success. I watched the first half of the game with Bryce and a house full of BYU fans. Camden, who decided for himself which team he would cheer for, was on my side! You can tell Bryce wasn't too excited about that!

I watched the end of the game with my parents. We were so excited for the Utes. We love watching Utah football together, but we love even more to see them win! Go Utes!

It Was A Sad Weekend For the Cougs...

As much as I really am not trying to rub the perfect (12-0) Utah season into any unsuspecting BUY fan's face... we took these cute pictures on game day and I figured I should post them. Couple things about the game - it's about time Utah took a 'W' from the U - Y rivalry. The last 2 years last minute BYU wins have really taken a toll on the Utah fans. And, although I have become a little bit softer toward BYU and respect their whole organization when it comes to Utah vs. BYU I will always cheer for my alma mater. So, I am happy about the win. However, since so many people I love are die hard BYU fans... I will leave it at - HELLO BCS #2 - GO UTES!

Bryce and I took this picture before the game. Mandy and Pat bought us these Utah/BYU pez candies. They are so cute! Bryce and I went out that day in our conflicting collegiate gear, which was actually really fun. We didn't however, watch the game together. Bryce watched it at his parents house where only cheering for BYU is allowed and I watched it at my parents house where only cheering for Utah is allowed. With the turnout of the game, I am sure glad we did it that way! :)

I also have to include this picture of Bryce with his pride and joy - the turkey fryer. He was so excited to deep fry a turkey for Thanksgiving that he decided to do a test run for the game which also happened to be his dad's birthday. The turkey took 3 gallons of oil and only 45 mins and turned out really moist and yummy! Good thinking Bryce! Happy Birthday Lynn! And one more time, Go Utes!

Incredible, awesome, amazing, fun weekend

We had such a fun time in Seattle this weekend. It was packed full of food, presents, sports, silly jokes and a whole lot of laughing! It just so happens that BYU had their first away game in Seattle the weekend of my birthday. Luckily for me, Bryce, Lynn and Brandon planned to travel to the game and were nice enough to invite me along (thanks again!). We all arrived in Seattle on Thursday, which also happened to be my birthday. I love birthday's - I think it should be everyone's favorite day of their year. I mean, how can you not love the day that you were born?! This year was no exception, thanks to my wonderful parents, family and friends. Thank you for all the calls, texts, emails, packages, cards, presents and warm wishes. Twenty -five really doesn't seem so bad even if I do have a gray hair.
Thursday after we all arrived we went to dinner and had enough food to feed a small army and singing and chocolate cake to top it all off!



After dinner Bryce was super excited for me to open presents since they had hauled them all the way from Utah! I think you will easily pick out mine and his favorite present of the night...

How did he pick out a purse that would match my shirt exactly? Great minds think alike.

Knowing my distaste for BYU, Bryce thought he was hilarious buying this shirt for me and insisting that I would wear it to the game. You will see below whether or not that happened. Thanks again to everyone for everything, what a great birthday!
On Friday we went around town to Pike's Market and the Space Needle, but before any of that could happen we had to stop off at University of Washington to check out the field. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of this because Lynn was ecstatic to be out on the field making sure the turf was in tact and checking out our seats for Saturday. He was so proud to tell everyone that he had been out there to check it out. Very cute really. After the field passed the test we headed downtown. Pike's Market is always so fun - they have BEAUTIFUL cheap flowers and HUGE fish!


We had lunch on the peir. It was so pretty sitting right next to the water and I even saw seals!!



Friday night we went to the Mariners - Yankees game. It was so FUN! We had fabulous seats and I swear we almost got hit by 16 balls. Thank goodness everyone jumped up to catch them, that sure rose my blood pressure! We almost saw a no-hitter by the Mariners. Up until the 8th inning the Mariners didn't let anyone on base and then it was ruined! Dangit, that would have been cool to see! The whole experience was awesome... I took about 15 billion pictures.


Jeter...


After a 10pm dinner we went to bed to rest up for the game Saturday. We stayed in the same hotel as the Cougar club and BYU coaches and players, so the place was buzzing with blue and white. Saturday morning on my way to the gym, I rode in the elevator with Bronco Mendenhall (He is the BYU coach). We had a little chat and I wished him luck in the game. I am pretty sure it was that conversation that helped BYU win that day so... you are welcome BYU fans! :) Well, I caved. I wore the BYU shirt and even cheered! As I left my hotel room that morning, I looked in the mirror at my shirt and wondered, "what exactly is happening here?" I had a hard time yelling, "GO BYU" - I'm not ready for that! So I kept my cheering mainly to "YAY", "WHOO HOO", "MAKE THE CALL REF"! The game was really fun and road games are really exciting! We had amazing seats and the Marlor's really get into the game. They were SO much fun to watch and cheer with, they sure love this team! BYU won that day 28 - 27 and I don't care what ESPN says - The call against Washington was deserved and Washington wasn't going to win anyway!





I would like to note that I am still a Utah fan, but I will cheer for BYU as long as their not playing Utah.
Our last night in Seattle was really fun. We went to dinner, shopping, to the movie theater just to buy popcorn. We hung out, ate too much candy, laughed all night and Lynn ordered pizza at 9:30 just as Bryce predicted.

What a fun trip and a fun birthday! Thank you again for such a fun weekend!!

GO UTES!

Let me start by saying that college football is hands down my favorite sport to watch and I admit I have been a terrible Utah fan this season! for that I offer my apologies. Why have I been this way? To that I have no answer that will suffice, there is no excuse that will make up for time lost. I know it may be too late but, I would like to give a shout out to the Utah football team and fans! I will be in attendance at the final home game tomorrow cheering them on and you know I wouldn't miss Utah play BYU! Go Utes!!