I am GRATEFUL!

Well, I had a lovely Thanksgiving break with my roommates. We ended up going to the Bishop's house, and helping his wife, Tammy, with most of the baking and cooking. We went over Wednesday night and made all of the pies, and then got started on some of the veggies, the rolls, the jello, etc. On Thursday, Thanksgiving day, I slept in and then I went on a 6 mile run. I figured that if I ran far enough I could justify eating just about anything....and don't worry, I snacked and then ate until I was stuffed. Early Thursday afternoon, we helped Tammy with last minute preparations and then enjoyed great food with other friends from our ward at Church and with the Bishop's family. Here are Rachel, me, and Amanda with our yummy pies. Rachel makes the best pie crust ever. Amanda and I made the pecan pie (left), I made the caramel apple pie that I am holding (I didn't add the pecans to this one since we were already having a pecan pie, and since Rachel is allergic), and then Amanda made the pumpkin pie that she is holding.
Here is just part of my Thanksgiving feast...I did not want anyone to think that I went without a fabulous dinner since I was not with family for the holiday.
And to top it all off, I had a sliver of all of our pies, and a sliver of another chocolate creme pie that someone else brought. I love dessert, and I love pie!
After a relaxing day at home on Friday, my roommates and I all stopped in at Walgreen's really quick before we headed to Maine for the weekend. While in Walgreen's, I tried on this random Christmas tree hat that moves and plays music. (Oh yeah, and since Rachel and I had the day off, we had time, and so she did my hair...she got it really curly with the diffuser, fun and different for me to be so curly.)

We headed to Maine, and got to stop and have dinner at the only Sonic in Massachusetts-yummy, on our way out of town. Friday night as soon as we got to Rachel's parents' house, we headed out with her mom to the local movie theater. We saw The Blind Side, a great movie. Then Saturday we all slept in, and afterwards I headed out for a run in the windy Maine weather. I ran by Maine-esque homes and little lakes and streams. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at some of Rachel's family friends' home. We had another delicious Thanksgiving dinner, we talked, we played games, and we got to use their hot tub. It was perfect, and the friends lived in a typical Maine home situated on acres and acres of property. We had a good time.

Me, Rachel, Alison, and Amanda...oh, with our rubber ducky friend ;) I am so grateful for my amazing roommates!
The water was just the right temperature, and the cool weather (40s) made it just right to be in..not too hot and not too cold. I was hoping it would be more therapeutic on my tight left hamstrings...oh well.

On Saturday night we hung out at Rachel's house and watched Mary Poppins.
On Sunday morning we went to Rachel's home ward, enjoyed the meetings, and then had a super yummy lunch with her parents. Here we are out on the driveway, right before we headed home to Boston. Left to Right: Rachel, me, Amanda, Alison.

It has been a busy week back in the real world, but student teaching is going great. I love the kids, and I love teaching them. My roommates and I have all made a no sugar/no sweets pact. We went out for dessert on Monday night, and then started it on December 1st. I will not break it until I am in Utah and with my Mom, so the 15th at the earliest. Last night, Alison, Amanda and I went downtown and watched the Christmas tree lighting at Boston Common (one of the parks). It was actually relatively warm yesterday for Boston, record temperatures-67 for the high, and only down to about 55.
When we got off the T (the train/subway), we got some food to go and then enjoyed our little picnic dinner on the grass in Boston Common. We listened to the performers, enjoyed people watching, and stayed to see the lights all go on in the park before we headed home.
Alison, me, and Amanda-I was going to take it of the 3 of us, but then a nice man came by and offered to do it.

I am so so so happy that it is December, and I am trying to make the most of this season, despite a busy life. I love you all and wish you happy holidays. Actually, I wish you a Merry Christmas, since I feel like we have to be so politically correct these days and avoid that word, Christmas. Well, I love Christmas, and I love celebrating it, and I am Christian, so I say to you all...HAPPY CHRISTMAS! or MERRY CHRISTMAS (depending on where you are ;)

Fun with Roommates

I just love, love, love my roommates and I am so blessed to be living with some of my bestest friends in the whole world. I love Boston for so many reasons, but they just make me love it and enjoy living here so much more. Last night we went to a dinner at the Bishop's house, the guys in the ward were making breakfast (yes breakfast foods for dinner, it was all delicious) for all of us, ladies. It was fun, and then we came home and did the Color Code. Alison had been anxiously awaiting the day that we would have time to all do it together. For those of you who do not know, the Color Code is a book that helps you determine what kind of personality you have. It categorizes people by 4 colors-red, blue, white, and yellow. The test helps you identify your primary/strongest color, and then your secondary colors. I did the test a few years ago, and after all this time, I am still a Red-Blue. The interesting thing though is that I am almost tied Red and Blue, so I have 2 very strong personality types within me...which makes me complex. Most people have one color that is very dominant, and then a secondary color that is significantly less dominant, and then 2 others that are only slightly noticeable. Obviously 2 very strong personality types existing in one person makes things a bit...umm...complicated to say the least.

To quote the text of the book, "The most difficult color combination within one individual is the mixture of Red and Blue. If you are strong in both categories, you will often find yourself stepping on someone's toes to get a task completed (Red), but feeling guilty afterward for making that person unhappy (Blue)...you have a constant struggle between seeking power and searching for intimacy in relationships."

Saturday I spent the day getting some student teaching work done and going to work. After work, my roommates and I went to dinner in celebration of my birthday this past week. I picked a great restaurant that we have never been to, called Kashish. It's an Indian restaurant in Belmont (on the way to the temple). It was so so so yummy!
Me and Rachel at Kashish
Here are Amanda, me, and Alison after a yummy dinner. We went from there to do some errands and shopping. We, of course, ended up in Target, always a favorite, and Alison insisted on trying on this one-piece pajama outfit...notice the sock monkey feet. She really wanted them, but they were a bit pricey.
Then I tried some on, cause they all insisted. Now for those of you who do not know, I was not tempted to buy any, since my sister, Allyson and I bought some lavender snowflake one-piece pajamas for our 2004 Thanksgiving Family get together in Park City. I still have them and break them out from time to time. They saved me and kept me warm last November when my heat was broken for a few days in my old place. They are like having a sleeping bag on...so warm. Anyway, these ones at Target were a hideous pink on me.
Complete with little bunny faces on the feet, that we decided were kinda creepy.
To finish the night off, we came home and watched one of my all time favorites, and definitely a Carruth movie of choice...yes, Better Off Dead. It is a classic, and I am not sure if my roommates really got it, but I laughed and enjoyed every moment of it, even the awkward moments.

I hope everyone else is happy and enjoying life as much as I am! MUCH LOVE!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!!

I got to spend the last several days in Utah for a fun trip and for my birthday celebration. Alex had been eager for me to come see him and Stacey, and to meet their new baby girl, Jan. After a busy week in Boston, I left right after school on Friday and headed to the airport, where I sat and sat too long, and was way too cramped in my seats. I was so thankful to be out of the planes and to be met at the Salt Lake airport by Stacey and baby Jan. I spent Friday night with Stacey and Alex-laughing, hanging out, etc.

Then on Saturday morning, Alex took me on a grueling run up Rock Canyon. He decided that he needed to kick my trash, so he wouldn't be embarrassed about whether I beat him or not, so he made me basically climb a mountain and gasp for air the whole time. So the elevation did not cooperate for me, I must be acclimatizing considerably to Boston and sea level ;) After our run, which Alex wants everyone to know that he kicked my trash on, I met up with my dear friend, Sarah for a yummy breakfast.

Then I headed into Salt Lake. My Aunt Susie needed to be with my cousin who had been admitted to LDS hospital for medical complications, probably pregnancy related (Nicole-you have been in my prayers!) and so I took Presley for a couple of hours. I used to play with her lots when I lived in Salt Lake, so we spent the afternoon doing some of our favorite things.
Here is Presley at the park; we picked up food for lunch and headed to the park for picnicking.
Presley then took this picture of me. We had a yummy lunch and as we sat under the trees, all of the leaves were falling like crazy...falling onto our lunch, all over our picnic blanket, and even into my purse. It sure was funny. We watched the dogs, and then we played on the playground. Afterwards, we went to find a spot to do sidewalk chalk up in the Avenues, where I used to live, so I hope no one minded our sidewalk art. Then Presley was a bit disappointed that I didn't have a house for us to go to and do one of our all time favorites-bake and decorate cupcakes. So instead we opted to go to Mini's Cupcakes on 900 S.
We each had a cupcake and then decided to save the rest to share with Susie and Nicole. I, of course, had to have the peanut butter chocolate one (top right).
After stopping for cupcakes, Presley and I headed back up to the hospital to meet up with Susie.

I headed back to Provo after that, and had a really fun, really awesome Saturday night ;)

Then Sunday morning, I went with Alex, Stacey, Jan, and Brian up to Temple Square where we watched Music and the Spoken Word. I love listening to wonderful music, even if I am not musically talented myself, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed so well. It was definitely an inspiring, uplifting way to start my Sabbath day. After Brian headed back to Provo, I went with Alex, Stacey, and Jan up to Bountiful to visit my Nana. She was good and quite chatty. I attended Alex and Stacey's married student ward; BYU students married and so in love...it was almost too much for me ;)

Here are Alex and Stacey in the Visitor's Center on Temple Square, what a cute couple!
No wonder they have such a cute baby! Isn't she darling!?
She is so cute and so fun and loves me so much, she even lets me squeeze her, and apparently squish her a bit too much.
Jan Eliane Carruth is my 8th niece, and I do have 1 nephew, too. She is so fun. She is very alert for a 2 month old, she laughs and smiles a lot, she giggles, she scoots on her playmat, and she lets me hold her, feed her her bottle, talk to her, sing to her, and rock her to sleep. She even lets me change her diapers-what luck!
I love her!

I miss you already, Jan!

Then I spent Sunday night, and all Monday with good company, in good conversation, having great fun and even eating good food...what more could I ask for?!

Which brings me to Tuesday-my birthday! On Monday night, Alex had asked me what would make a perfect birthday, and I decided that not having to go to school or work was going to make the day pretty darn good. After experiencing the day, I would say it was perfect...the best birthday that I have had in quite some time. Part of the reason that it was so wonderful is that I got so many phone calls from all of the people who love me and care about me. It was so good to hear from all of you, and I love you, too!

I spent the morning with Alex and Jan, playing at home, and then we went to the mall with Stacey. I got new jeans with my birthday money, and had the luck of running into my friend, Sarah again.

Then I went with Brian at 1:00 to one of my favorite places in Utah, to Main Street in Park City. We spent the afternoon meandering through the fun shops, the furniture boutiques, and the art galleries.
Here I am with the random moose along Main Street, he was a little shaky so I guess I am lucky that he did not decide to tip over on me. Although getting trapped under a moose in Park City on my birthday might have made for a really great story later.
This monkey puppet reminded Brian and I of Alex...who is slightly obsessed with YouTube and had shown us a clip of Bubbles the Monkey performing on Britain's Got Talent. I love you, Alex, and even your wacky sense of humor!
Then at the bottom of Main Street was this huge sculpture by FrogMan, an artist who makes all of these frogs from bronze. Brian and I had seen a bunch of the smaller versions in an art store. The bright colors are probably my favorite part. There were signs that said Do Not Touch, but I am not actually touching the frog, right?! Just getting as close as possible ;)

After meandering through Park City, Brian and I ended up on the freeway headed towards Salt Lake City, which was perfectly fine with me...it meant we would be getting there for dinner time. You can imagine how excited I was to get to eat at one of my favorite restaurants ever-Aristo's! It is an awesome Greek restaurant in Salt Lake, up on 1300 E. by University of Utah. I love the ambiance, the service, and the food is just amazing. No one is ever disappointed when they dine there with me, and Brian definitely was not disappointed. I make it a point to go back every time I am visiting in Utah. Man, I am craving some amazing Greek food now, opa!
After dinner, Brian and I headed back to Provo. Here I am at Alex and Stacey's later that evening with one of my birthday presents...a Belle barbie doll. It is a funny story for another day, but just know that I was really excited and she has already found a special place on my bookshelf.
Brian and myself (the newest, proudest owner of Belle!)
We made German Chocolate cupcakes which were really yummy and Alex insisted we play a game. After I frosted them, we used the writing icing tubes to play pictionary on the cupcakes. We each took turns drawing a picture while everyone else guessed. I really love decorating cupcakes, so I think this might be my newest, most favorite game.
Alex also insisted on putting all 26 candles in one cupcake for me to blow out. 26! I know, I am getting so old ;) but thank goodness that this mini bonfire did not get out of control, or burn Alex and Stacey's apartment down.
I set up my camera on my gorilla pod (my little tripod that Mom got us all a few Christmases ago; yes, Mom, I do use it!) and we had a mini photo shoot, serious and funny poses. Here is one of the non-goofy ones. L to R: Alex, Stacey, Brian, and the Birthday girl.

We finished off the night playing cards and having a lot of fun. After a perfect birthday, I had to pack up and leave Wednesday morning. I made it back safe and sound to Boston on Wednesday night and was thinking of all of the catch-up work I needed to do, for my calling and for student teaching...and what a lovely surprise I had waiting in my bedroom?!
Here I am with my beautiful bouquet of flowers! Thanks, Brian!

Happy Halloween!

So I realize that Halloween was a long time ago, but get used to me-I blog when I make time and it's not very regularly. We actually had a couple of Halloween parties the weekend before Halloween (since we had Stake Conference and another church conference going on Halloween weekend, and we got to hear Elder Ballard speak!)

My roommates and I went together as a themed group last year, and we decided to do it again this year. We actually were out to dinner a couple weeks before, and ran our ideas by our waiter...he was a big supporter of our final decision-the US Double Dutch National Championship Team. And we are actually trying to learn double dutch, we haven't been practicing as much lately, but shhhhh....don't tell our competitors!

Ironically enough, our Double Dutch team uniforms got a little carried away, and we ended up being quite 80's. I basically like any reason to put on tons of make-up, particularly eye make-up, and to get to do crazy things with my hair. Here I am all decked out.Our ward had a Halloween party, which included a cupcake contest, and with the help of my savvy baking sister-in-law, Ruth, I totally won best overall cupcakes. My funny little spiders won cause overall they were best tasting and best looking. Go me!

I won a thing of Halloween sprinkles as my prize.

At the ward Halloween party, we played lots of fun, crazy games and even tied each other up like mummies. Here is my roommate, Alison, and I looking mummified.

And here are my roommates and I in our team shirts, we made them ourselves-complete with puffy paint...man I loved decorating with that stuff as a kid and I still do. We each had a Double Dutch team nickname, I was "Skip."

From left to right, it is Rachel, me, Amanda, and then Alison is laying across us. Aren't we the coolest jump roping team ever?Amanda, Rachel, our friend Janey, me and Alison at our first stop for the night, showing off our team spirit at some friends' Halloween party. After stopping by another Halloween party later on, we went to Friendly's to get some ice cream sundaes. And of course we were not in the least embarrassed to show up in style.

Alison and Amanda (above) and Rachel and I (below)

Special Thanks...

I just wanted to give a special thanks and shout out to my personal IT guy, who is the smartest IT guy I know...that would be my big brother, James. He has helped me through all of my laptop ordeals, helped me figure out how to get things downloaded and uploaded again, and thanks to him, you are getting to see a new blog post. Thanks for all your expertise, James! Thanks for all the free IT services and support that you give me!!!
(PS James is really excited to be on my blog and be "famous")

I am back!!!

I know that there have not been any new posts in a while, but I have a good excuse this time, I promise. I broke my LCD screen on my laptop 2 weeks ago, and it was going to basically cost the same price as a new laptop. Being 3 years old, I just decided to invest in a new laptop. I finally have it, and I can finally catch up on all of the millions of things that I need to do.
Things have been going well here in Boston. After my trips to North Carolina and Texas, I started student teaching, and I have had a really rewarding experience at my school. I am learning lots, and being reminded that I love working with kids, I love being active, and I love teaching kids skills and activities that they can develop and continue to utilize throughout their lives. My Master's program has been a good fit for me.
Besides student teaching, I am having a blast living with my 3 really good friends. We like our house, and I always feel like I am home. We cook together, talk, run errands, laugh, talk, cry, pray, talk and play and talk some more. The weather went from fall to winter, it has been really cold the last couple of days, in fact, we even got snow flurries on Sunday night. It is supposed to warm back up to the 50s this week, crazy Boston weather.
I love the Fall because it means that it is General Conference. My roommates and I watched the prophet, apostles, and other church leaders speak from our laptops at home. On Saturday night, while the men watched and listened to the Priesthood session of General Conference, all of the women in my single's ward went to the Bishop's home and enjoyed the evening with each other and his wife. We had soups, breads, rolls, and a dessert bake-off. Above, my roommates Rachel and Alison are sampling and judging each of the 10 desserts. I made the yummy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake and won best seasonal dessert.

Later the following week, Alison and I drove out on a weeknight to the Topsfield Fair. SheDaisy was going to be performing, and it only cost $10 for the whole event. We were ecstatic when we saw a Sonic on our way to the fair. It is the first one in Massachusetts! We had yummy salads, mozzarella sticks, and I had a peanut butter chocolate shake-ooh, so so so good.

YAY for Sonic....we thoroughly enjoyed our entire meal, and after all of our food, we still got fried dough at the fair ;)

Alison does not like animals at all, not dogs, not cats, nothing...but for some strange reason, which I still do not fully comprehend, she loves cows. Go figure, she claims they are very misunderstood and very docile?! Whatever, here she is with a cow.

And I thought my Aggie brothers might enjoy the longhorn; hey, he is caged up, right?!

The last time that I saw SheDaisy was in Houston, as a sophomore in High School, at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The Topsfield Fair was no Houston Rodeo, but was still lots of fun!

Then on Monday, October 12th, I ran the Tufts 10K in Boston. Most people get school and/or work off for Columbus Day, don't you just love how patriotic Boston is?! I recruited lots of other girls from my ward at Church to run it. It was an awesome race, just for women, and there were some 6,000. I had an awesome run, despite not having my regular running buddy with me (my roommate Alison was supposed to do it, but started having major Achilles tendon pains just days before). Alison and Rachel, my roommates, came to be my personal coaches and cheerleaders. I ran it in a 51:11, averaging 8:15 per mile. That is the best time I have ever run a 10K, besides when I have run with Alex, who pushes me harder than I can push myself. In this picture, I am at the bottom left, white running shirt and navy running shorts, and one of my signature racing bandannas.

Here I am at the end of the race, so happy to be done. Despite a chilly morning, the sun came up and made for awesome racing weather.

Here I am with a girl in my ward, Lauren, who I convinced to run a 10K, her first one ever. She had fun, even though she had to run/walk it. We enjoyed the rest of the day around Boston and downtown.

And I love Boston for so many reasons...I love the weather, even when it's cold, I love the trees, I love the city, I love downtown, I love all the runners, I love the river, I love the neighborhoods and all the things that there are to do, and I love the houses-here is a good example of why-isn't this one just so fun!? I love the colors....

Hopefully, I will try and stay on top of things. Happy Autumn to all of you!

Reach the Beach

AND WE DID IT! Myself and 11 teammates completed New Hampshire's 208 mile relay race from Franconia, in the northwest, to Hampton Beach, in the southeast. We dropped 30-40 minutes off of our estimated team finishing time, and did it in 30 hours, 40 minutes. It was amazing. Everyone was running their legs of the race faster than planned or right on their pace. We each had 3 legs of the race to complete. We started Friday morning and our last runner finished around 4:30 pm on Saturday. I ran a 6.6 mile run Friday afternoon, and felt like I was dragging, but ran at an 8 min 30 sec mile pace. I was quite pleased. Then at about 2:00 am on Saturday, I had a 9 miler that I was not adequately prepared for. The first 1/2 mile was downhill, and then I climbed uphill for the next 5 miles, followed by the last several miles of flat and downhill running and just a few inclines. I averaged a 9 min mile pace for that run, which I was really excited about. My left hamstrings got really tight during the last couple miles, and there was some funky pain, but I just prayed to finish and I did. I ended on Saturday around 2 pm with a 2.2 mile run, also at a 9 min mile pace. It was an amazing experience...over 2 days of no showers, hardly any sleep, lots of sweating, lots of running, lots of snacking and van driving, only using port o potties, and all mixed with dirt, bugs and other fun.

Here are our guys, we had 6 guys and 6 girls on the team:
Bill, Adam, Teppo, Doug, Allen, and Nathan
Doug ran the first leg of the race, and ran fast. Right before he started, he was hiking up his shorts really high, and the guys just couldn't handle his short shorts...there was lots of laughing all weekend for sure!

Below I am with Lora (left) and Sarah (right). We bought these matching zip ups before the race started so we would have proof of how amazing and hard core we are. Note that this picture was taken before all the running, lots of sweat, no showering, no toilets, and the lack of sleep had all really started to effect us.

The lovely ladies of Team 312, Sweep the Leg Johnny: (left to right) Abby, Liz, Lora, me, Sarah, and Lisa. All 6 of us live in the Boston area.

Here are Doug and Sarah at the start. We all cheered all weekend long, but even more at the beginning when Doug took off. Doug and Sarah are dating, they are supercute together, and lots of fun.

I loved running through New Hampshire, and I did most of the driving for my van, which meant I didn't sleep but saw a lot of beautiful scenery. New Hampshire is a gorgeous state-mountains, rolling hills, forests, rivers, lakes, and the foliage was starting to change to some awesome oranges and reds.

And here is a photo of the blessed port o potties...I was so happy to come home Saturday night and use a real toilet again, along with have a much needed shower, and sleep in my very own bed. The port o potties were at every transition area.

Here is Lora, who was in my van, and was our first runner. The other van's runners had run their first legs, and Lora was waiting for Lisa, runner number 6, to finish and do the hand off. She looks like she is praying, and most of us did-especially that none of us ended up with major injuries.

Here is Abby (left, also in my van) right after Lisa (on the right/blonde) had done the hand off to Lora. Lisa sweats more than me, a lot more than me...and for those of you who know how much I sweat when I run and workout...you understand that it is a ton...you can't really tell here, here Lisa just looks like she is glistening!

After Lora finished her first leg, she did the hand off to me (I'm in the pink shirt) and I started my 6.6 miler.

Adam and Abby were both in my van; they are dating, lots of fun, and did some great running for our team.

Lora and her older brother, Nathan, were both in my van. Here they were looking in the offical handbook to figure out what the next coordinates were for our runner's transition.

While Adam was running, we stopped along the way to be able to give him some water and some cheering. We saw this double rainbow-awesome. It is only the 2nd time in my life that I have seen a double (first time was on my mission, on the island of La Palma, on a really hard day), and it was just as impressive this time to see it.

Lora was waiting to use a real bathroom at the gas station, and she just had to imitate the bathroom sign...really gotta go, eh?

Here are Allen, Bill, and Doug after they had finished all of their running. We were waiting for Lisa (from their van) to finish her 3rd leg, and then Lora would start the last legs of running for my van. These guys were all trying to look tough, hard core, and umm, puff out their chests.

Lora did her final leg, and then passed off to me...I finished my final 2.2 mile and was grateful that my leg was not bothering me too much and I was able to finish at a decent pace. I had my zip up on to keep warm before I started running. New Hampshire was actually quite chilly this weekend.

Above, Doug is posing at the finish...he is such a goof.

Here is our AWESOME 12 member relay team...exhausted, smelly, but thrilled to have finished and finished well under our goal!

Teppo, Liz, Bill, Doug, Allen, Adam, Nathan
Me, Sarah, Lisa, Abby, and Lora

We were all so eager to scarf down a real dinner after lots of fruit, powerade, power and cliff bars, and trail mix all weekend long. They even served us some clam chowda!

We celebrated by playing and chilling on the beach after; it was a little too cold to get in the water for most of us, but Nathan and Lora got in. Allen was supposed to be taking pictures of us with my camera, but instead was taking them of himself.

Here are Lisa and I. She is the coolest girl ever, even if she does sweat more than me...and she is my Relief Society President, so I have gotta love her. I want to be just like her when I grow up. She already emailed me and requested that I be in her van next year for the relay or she isn't doing it. Apparently everyone in my van thought I was quite the life of the party, and I did all the driving, which they all appreciated. They decided that I should be the mascot!

Reach the Beach- and we did it, here it is...208 miles later, and lots of training besides that.

Running is mental...and we are all insane (quote from a tshirt that we saw while running, and boy is it true!)