Another Great Book

Rand again...anybody out there looking for a good thriller about Islam, the United States, and terrorism...this is it. It's pretty short (only about 300 or so pages) and it is a pretty fast read. Just like Dan Brown's writing, Brad Thor (author of this book) writes short chapters and leaves you wanting more. It's easy to say "just one more chapter" and end up reading three or four. Let me know what you think!

INCREDIBLE!

Hey, Rand here....so Madi brought me home a surprise last Wednesday night. I had no idea what it was and she wasn't willing to budge on giving me a hint or anything! I got home and she brought out the surprise..."The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown, the latest in the adventures of Robert Langdon. I read chapter 1 on Wednesday night, read over a hundred pages Thursday, over two hundred on Friday, and finished it on Saturday! For any of you who liked "The Da Vinci Code" or "Angels & Demons," you will love this. It was my favorite of the three! Enjoy! And thanks to Madi, my wonderful wife for the amazing surprise!

{Reading....}

I just started to read this book. Its call the book thief, and I have heard nothing but wonderful things about it. I will let you all know how it goes! In the meantime find a book and get yourself reading! I want to hear about the current books that are great reads.

{...Chicken...}

So I am officially declaring myself a chicken. That's right you all heard me right! Let me explain why I feel this way, first off I have really been debating about cutting my hair short, and by short I mean Victoria Beckham short. Last time I went in to my hair dresser I had talked myself into doing it. I needed a change, and yet I walked out with my long locks still attached. I couldn't bring myself to do it, I sat in my car ashamed at myself for not doing what the initial plan was. So here I am 4 months down the road thinking about it again, knowing that I have to "man-up" (or woman-up) and just bring myself to doing it. So I wanted to see what you all thought. Should I cut it so short or should I just keep on trimming it? I need some advice!




Moving on to the currency of our lives, I had a couple things I wanted to post about. Such as the 1/2 marathon that I completed in Logan last weekend. I cannot tell you how excited I was that morning, cause to be honest I was more worried about my time and body than really enjoying the moment. I thought to myself many times through out the race that life would be so much simpler if I wasn't so addicted to running my guts out. I love to run and feel the breeze as it crosses my face. I love the stress that just melts off, and the simple peace of mind I have while doing it. This very day I hit a wall around mile 11 and as soon as I saw that cone I thought to my self man this should be the end, can I just finish right here?! I wanted to stop but I had to keep pushing myself to continue and before I knew it there is was the big finish! I started to sprint only having had a Charley horse since mile 7 my legs were beat. I finished at two hours 7 seconds a little shy of my goal for one hour 50 minutes but I am attributing that due to my friend charlie who happens to be a horse.....


Last but not least, in my earlier post I talked about my brother Garrett getting home from his mission Aug 20th. Boy was that a great day! It was so exhilarating to see him coming down the escalator and knowing that I haven't seen this kid for 2 whole stinkin years! He looks great a little shell shocked but I don't think that isn't something I cant change, nor my family for that matter. All in all we are grateful he came home safe and we are happy to have him back!

{Recognize this person...}

Do any of you recognize this boy..I mean man? This is my brother Garrett, he has been currently serving a mission for the LDS church for the past 2 years! He has been the best missionary, and his letters and calls home are always such a joy to read and to hear how he is doing and what he has been up to. He is still the same guy that left, but I would say a little more mature!! Oh and did I mention that he gets home tomorrow from North Dakota?! I cant wait to see him again, and of course we have all changed so much. First off, Garrett has never met Rand. We started dating and hanging out alot right after he left, so I am excited for them to meet each other. Second my younger brothers are completely different, mostly they have grown taller but one is driving now and the other is just about to get to puberty... haha. So life has defiantly changed around the house.

If he gets the chance to read this I hope he knows how excited we are to see him again. He has been a great missionary and we have had the pleasure of watching him grow into an amazing man. He has been a great kid to grow up with and I cant wait to see him tomorrow!!

{Bear lake...and Golf}

So we ventured up to the bluest of blue....Bear Lake! The weather was perfect all except Saturday. That's when it got a little cloudy and rainy but we made the most of the situation with cards, naps, laughter, and great company. The very first day Rand had a bad experience with a flying hairy bug we all call bee's. He was stung right on the elbow... Ouch! He of course whimpered in pain for about five minutes and then there after was okay. As we got up to the cabin for the day, we noticed how swollen his elbow was only because he was violently scratching it. So we decided to take some pictures. So for your enjoyment here they are the first is the stung swollen elbow and the other is his normal elbow.



A couple days before this trip we went golfing for the first time together. Yes i know that is pathetic but seriously I am way too competitive for a sport that involves a small white ball(seriously i need some color) and a majorly small hole! To satisfy Rand's curiosity i went and played along. I actually had fun, although i did loose a ball, but to be honest I really didn't mind golfing even though i really only golfed about 4 or five holes (i liked driving the cart the best! shh... don't tell Rand)











Oh yeah then we went and saw some puppies!! This is the Little girl i want, but Rand says no... i need help changing his mind!

Last but not least I found the house of my dreams! I really can see myself here one day, i guess its just not soon enough!!

{As of late...}

So I have been in a blog slump lately mostly due to the fact that we are constantly busy. I cannot believe how fast life goes, and no matter what it continues to go as fast as possible. We have so much going on in our lives that I cannot keep up with it all, so I decided to give you all a 'little inside look' at our lives currently.

Rand/Dilly.....

- School is consuming his summer life at the moment. He is hoping to graduate this fall.... Cross your fingers!!
- He is working at the Gateway AT&T, which somehow always schedules him so that we never see each other... but he loves it!
-Golfing everyday he gets off! He is loving the time he gets to play which per week is about 3-4 times... but oh well he is happy!
- Current obsession is my iphone, he is loving all the new technology and even tries to convince me he needs it, even though he has one!

That pretty much sums him up in a nut shell. Poor guy is always busy, but when we do see each other is always fun and we try to make the most of it!

I....

- Work monday-friday for a food storage company called Daily bread.
- Currently am running every other day about 7-8miles in preperation for my marathon that i am doing in August.
- Constantly trying to keep up on the laundry, I swear its never done!
- My current obsession is my Bike or Running at the moment! Its the best to just come home and get all my energy out so I can relax!
- I would also say another obsession is house hunting, even though Rand just tells me I have to wait. I cant help myself!


We...

- Are having the time of our lifes even though we rarely get to see each other, we really love 'the married life' and cant wait for the rest of lifes adventures to come our way!
-Plan on having a fun 24th of July with family and friends
- Hope to hit up Bear Lake
- Love going on bike rides.... maybe I can pull some teeth and go on some more this week.
- Have been trying to go golfing together... lets just say I am a horrible golfer, but Tiger here i come!


So there it is, our crazy life out there for you all to see! ha ha.. maybe one day life will calm down but i doubt it!

(Finally... Lake Powell)

So here they are the pictures of the fabulous trip to Lake Powell. I am so happy that Rand and I had the opportunity to go and enjoy the warm weather, along with great family friends. I hope that we able to do this for many years to come, its one of the trips we look most forward to.

Lets first start off with the tubing expirence that Rand had. Jordynn, Colter and Rand had the tube ride one of their lives. Mike had taken them tubing and as we were headed in for the night we had some huge boat drive in front of us... lets just say Rand went 10 feet in the air, Colter just went straight up and landed in the tube, Jordynn just flipped off backwards, but needless to say we all busted out laughing!

Mike showing Parker how to get the wake sure off the deck!
This is my dad giving the camera a thumbs up!!
My Brother Colter after a boat ride... we kept calling him Rod Stewart.

Jessica, Jordynn and I going in the same cave we went in last year, we just barely fit!
Best Friends Jessey and Ashton, i was their "fake mommy"... we played house too much.

The cutest girls i know! look at them with the DS's in hand!

We gave the girls some tattoos that Jessica bought, they all had "tramp stamps"
Jessica and I decided to show the girls how to shave your legs when they asked to learn. We gave them a fake razor we made and they really thought they had shaved! it was funny!
Jordynn did Taiges hair.... needless to say UGLY!
My mom and Rand just chilling in the boat!

Ashton with someone's sunglasses on...
I stole this picture off Mike and Kara's Blog they are the cutest couple!
Taylor, Ashton and Taige hanging out.
Of course the last picture of the girls! haha. They were fun!

{Lake Powell}

We just returned from the greatest place on earth...Lake Powell! I will have more pictures soon, we just have to un-pack and get a few more things done so I can upload them. We had a great trip and wish we could still be there, too bad that we cant!

Updates...updates!

So I know that I said I would get on here and post pictures of the St. George Triathlon and I haven't done it. So i decided to make today the day that I update with our fun little adventures as of late!.


First of course to start with the Tri. I had a great time preparing for this event and felt great. Once we got there there I think everyday was just a waiting a game. I honestly would count down the days. As that night came Katie and I just planned on two things, packing and sleeping. Both of which we got done but the sleep was a little hard to come by with the nerves. We honestly kicked the boys out of the beds that night just to insure a pure nights sleep. As we awoke that morning we were a little stressed about getting there on time thanks to some lady who never before had seen someone flash their lights for them to move over because they are being to slow! Ugh. Of course we made it and as the race was about to start we all stat their with anticipation for the day. Bang.. and it was off. We had to run, bike, run because the wind made the swim impossible for the rescue teams to save anyone that might need it. The first run felt great, moved on to the bike, and boy was that a crazy 3 mile rise to the top and then to do it again just to turn around... finally got the exchange and i felt great, the bike i felt was my best event, as i started the last run i felt my knee pop and pain instantly shot up my leg. I felt a little bit during the first run but thought it would go away, and the last run killed me. By the time i crossed the finish line, i was in so much pain I was in tears, but I knew i had to finish. I was so mad that I didn't finish the way i thought i would, but i have told myself i have to try try again. So i have to ask, Does anyone know of any races later this summer, either a half Marathon, or a tri... pretty much anything?
(As for Rand, he pretty much just played golf 5 times a day...) :)














Second, on Saturday may 23 Rand and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! I cannot believe that its been a year already. We have been though alot of crazy stuff this last year, and I cannot imagine where i would be without Rand. He was so sweet and surprised me at work with flowers, and the sweetest note. I honestly never could have hand picked myself a better person to be with. This may be cheesy but i am going to say it anyway, He really makes me feel complete and at home. I love coming home to him and knowing that he will just love me no matter what I do or say. He is my best and dearest friend. I am grateful to have him in my life. I love you babe!!



Third, We have gotten crazy into biking and i mentioned that i would show you all my baby when she came, so here is her first appearance my new found love, BETSY!!!