Cycling with Alex

Well, my younger brother, Alex and I are back to doing what we love most...cycling. We did it lots together before our missions, and mostly rode up Provo Canyon. We ventured out once this year, but it was still too cold and quite icey. Yesterday was a beautiful day, I met him at his apartment in Provo, and we rode out towards Springville and then all the way up Hobble Creek Canyon. It was fun, and there were no falls and no concussions, so no one needs to worry about me! Alex-I look forward to more riding this summer. I do have to admit, if I moved to Boston, I would miss the canyons and the mountains that I love so much, but there are plenty of other awesome things in Boston, that I think I could still manage. If anyone is ever our way in Utah and is up for some cycling, let us know. I love yall!

I LOVED BOSTON!

Well, as many of you know, I flew to Boston last Saturday, April 12 and came back to Salt Lake on Tuesday night, April 15. I absolutely loved it! It was a wonderful experience. Saturday night I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood of Brookline, I was staying in a charming little bed and breakfast in that part of the city. There were college kids everywhere, friendly faces, lots of yummy restaurants, pretty Victorian houses, and well, to be honest, a lot of the architecture, churches, cathedrals, etc reminded me of London. Then on my long walk, it started pouring rain, also very London-esque. Sunday I got up to go to Church at one of the single's wards and I found the building completely locked...great. To my surprise, a really nice guy came up and asked if I was looking for one of the single's wards, and then informed that today was Stake Conference and that the meeting would be outside of the city at 3 pm...of course, my luck...but I was super impressed. He proceeded to offer to find me a ride if I wanted to go to the meeting. So I went home, changed into comfortable clothes and walked all over the city. I walked along the Freedom Trail all the way to Quincy Market, seeing lots of historic sites and cool buildings along the way. They did get a ride for me to Stake Conference, and then I spent the rest of the evening with some people from the Single's ward, and went to an awesome musical fireside put on by some of the young singles adults that night. So up til then I was way impressed with Boston, the people, and well, I just loved the city. I love that you can walk everywhere. Well, things only continued to go really well on Monday and Tuesday as I met with my academic advisor and some other graduate students. My program would be perfect for me and I would have lots of neat opportunites while I am there, and then post-graduation as well. I spent a lot of time walking around the city, window shopping, etc. I met a cool greek guy that has been to my favorite restaurant in Salt Lake City-Aristos, its Greek food. People are out running all the time, love it...and it is a bike friendly city, so I would save lots on transportation costs. I was sad to leave, but am 99.9% positive that it is where I am supposed to be. Great opportunities keep coming my way too, and it looks like with my scholarship and a couple of different possibilities for graduate assistantships there, that I could at least break even without thousands of dollars in debt...or I could be in excess with scholarship, tuition reimbursement, and stipends, that I could come out making thousands of dollars for going to school. I am off to New York this week to check out Columbia University...I am not sure that I will love it as much as Boston, but I will let you all know.

General Conference, Mission Reunions, etc.

One of my absolute favorite companions flew in on Thursday, Hermana Mayo, also known as Sharon these days. I went to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Salt Lake with her and some of her other friends on Thursday night. It is this Greek restaurant called Aristo's up on 1300 East. (The picture is Sharon and I, my hair...don't mock it, I went in to Paul Mitchell School last Friday...and well, it's not quite what I had in mind...a little too golden, I am still working with it!) Then Friday night, I went to Alex's mission reunion here in Salt Lake to hear him sing 2 great musical pieces with some other elders from his mission. After that, I rushed south to Lindon for my own Mission Reunion where I got to see plenty of familiar faces. I loved my mission, and for those of you that don't know...I am going back to Las Islas Canarias this summer, in June, with my sister and her family...we will be on the last island that I served on, Tenerife. Yeah! It was great to see old companions, elders and hermanas that I served with, and President and Hermana Craig. Now I am spending the weekend enjoying General Conference. I love this Church, I love its teachings, and I am so grateful for all of the blessings and for all of the happiness that come into my life from being a member. I spent today in the Tabernacle watching the sessions; I realized last night this might be my last time in Utah for General Conference for a while...I decided to enjoy it on Temple Square. I love all of you!

Rex Lee Run

I forgot to inform you all...(man, I really need to remember to post things on my blog right after they happen, or put up a new post right after I take pictures)...on Saturday, March 15, my younger brother, Alex and I ran in the Rex Lee Run down in Provo, UT. We did the 10k this time; I ran in this race several times before my mission, but I usually just did the 5ks. It was cold, but a great run. Running with Alex, who is a boy and 6 inches taller than me, required me to run faster than my normal training pace...we averaged about 8 minute 15-20 second miles...my fastest 10k time ever. We had our own cheering squad at the finish, since James, Ruth, and their kids had come in the night before. I have a funny story to go with this....so the race finishes on the outdoor track and they started the 10k runners first, but timed it bad, cause we were finishing with all the slow 5k people-they weren't running at this point, they were walking. I always keep something in me so that I can sprint at the end, and well, Alex was being polite and saying on your left, on your left, so we could pass the walkers on the inside lane of the track...well, one group of girls weren't moving after he had warned them. So i screamed, "MOVE!!!" One of the girls said, "Hey, be nice!" It made me laugh...only in Provo. I wanted to finish my 10k strong, and they were just in my way. Be nice, haha, I guess in Salt Lake we are not that nice.

Family Fun in Utah

So for Spring Break, my oldest brother James, my sister-in-law Ruth and their 5 kids (4 girls and 1 boy) came to Utah for Spring Break. Between my substitute teaching jobs, I spent a lot of time with them swimming, rollerskating/rollerblading, movie watching (I think I watched the Bee Movie 2 or 3 more times), and lots of playing. My mom flew in from Tokyo while they were here, and she stayed at my place in Salt Lake. She helped me with my car, with my tax returns, and taught me to make homemade bread. I hosted an Easter party at my house, we had yummy pasta, decorated cupcakes with the kids, sidewalk chalked in front of my house, and had an Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard on the Saturday before Easter. It was fun to have family here to visit and to play with...but it is always sad to have them leave. Hope to see yall soon!