Bellybutton. Breathe. Banana.

These are the directions we were given in how to jump out of an airplane. Lead out with your bellybutton, breathe through your teeth, and arch your body like a banana. Great instructions right?

Kenzie and I went up to Tooele, Utah - or near there - to skydive this morning! It was the one day we would both be in Provo and we wanted to do it before our birthdays and so off we went this morning! It was exhilarating! I absolutely loved it! On the ground, Kenzie and I were all smiles and super excited for this experience. We weren't nervous yet, but knew it would probably hit us on the plane ride up. When wefirst got there we had to watch a 20 min instruction video and told us if we died, we weren't allowed to sue them. And we had to sign something that said that too. Several different papers that said that. Basically we had to sign away our life and all desire to live. Comforting. Then we suited up in our awesome blue jumpsuits and headed to the planes!

The plane ride took about 10 minutes and we reached an altitude of 13,000 feet- about 2 miles above the surface of the earth. We started off all smiles on the plane and just enjoying the view. But then my instructor began strapping me onto him. I had to put on goggles. The door opened. My instructor told me to go towards the door. Kenzie was already out. I think my face below says it all.

Happy on the plane...

Scared out of my mind on the plane...

I had to go all the way to the edge of the door - with my toes over the edge. 2 miles above the earth. What if I wasn't hooked on right?! What if I fell out and my instructor didn't?! I had no chute on me! But next thing I know he's telling me to put my head on his shoulder and we are out the door! I am upside down looking at the ground! We did a full backflip and then we are free falling stomach down at speeds of up to 130 mph! It was amazing! We were going so fast - my cheeks were flailing, I could barely move my arms, I couldn't hear a thing, but it was fantastic!

After about a minute of free fall our chute opened and we were floating in the beautiful Utah sky! It was absolutely gorgeous. Using the cord things we did some fun spins and then my instructor and Kenzie's instructor steered us towards each other so we could yell to each other and talk. We had a great landing, I got all unhooked, and it was over! I was ready to go again. So much fun!

After Kenzie and I both got our picture CDs, we headed to the nearest food - McDonalds - and had a picnic in the grass. We pulled out my laptop and put each of our disks in laughing hysterically at our petrified expressions before we jumped out of the plane. This was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go again! I am so glad I had someone with me though that I know because it made it so much more fun to have someone to talk to about it that experienced it. We were talking about it while driving and decided that the adrenaline rush isn't when you are falling - but in the plane getting ready to fall. So fun though! Loved it.

13.1

My day today started out at 2:45am. Do you know how ridiculously early that is? It's like 3 hours of sleep early. After quickly getting dressed and eating some breakfast, my roommate dropped me off over at the Provo Towne Mall. I was lucky - or perhaps unlucky - enough to get on the first bus headed up the canyon. We headed about two miles north of Vivian Park which is a total of about 7 miles into the canyon. Upon our arrival we all exited the buses and there we were to stand for two hours. Why the buses run only from 3:30 to4:30am when the race doesn't even start until 6am is beyond me. So I got to the starting line a little more than two hours before the race even started. And I was already exhausted. Thank goodness they had fires going for us that we could stay warm next to - however the smoke coming from them soon became unbearable; going into our eyes and making us all smell just fantastic. Eventually I ventured away from the fire to go to the bathroom and wouldn't you know it, it was pitch black outside and no sort of light in the port a john. That was a great bathroom experience. At about 5:30am I headed down to the starting line to stretch and try to keep warm without the fire, and at 6am sharp the Provo mayor sent us on our way.

This was a beautiful run - very scenic and the weather was fantastic, but I need to saysomething here. I have a run a half marathon before. September of 2007 and it was in Disneyland. Disney goes above and beyond for everything - including its races. I think I definitely got spoiled on that race. Water and Powerade at every single mile, bathrooms at every mile, people cheering you on the whole way. It was a fantastic race and I felt kind of jipped while running this one. But alas, it wasn't scorching hot like the Disney one so I can get over only having water every other mile.

Before the race my goal had been simply to beat my previous half marathon time, which was 2:30, however I was hoping for somewhere in the 2 to 2:15 range. My goal was met! My end time was 2:01! Crossing that finish line felt so good - and my knees were screaming the hallelujah chorus. Somewhere in the middle of the race my knees started to ache, but once I stopped running my knees started to kill. I went and got a free massage at theend of the race and she worked around my knees, but the pain is bone not muscle. Hopefully in the next couple of days my knees will forgive me and let me go run again.

Speaking of running I have a couple of things I need to address. First of all, I am going to San Francisco and going across the Golden Gate Bridge - but it won't be until after my birthday in September. The reason for this being that I was running the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay! I am super excited for it and can't wait for the race. That being said, I know right now that there are a couple of things on my list that I won't be able to do before my 20th birthday because of costs. I will do what I can though and will keep the list and do the things I can't in the hopefully near future!

Addiction

On Main Street in Mesa you can find one of my most favorite stores. I can't remember the name of it, but I could find it for you in an instant. It's a quaint little store with unfinished wood floors and a musty smell. Floor to ceiling shelves line every wall and fill the aisles. Shelves filled with books. Used books. Books that are worn, creased, and sometimes have been written in. Oh how I love used books. I am one of the rare people that prefer a used book to a new book. Take a look at my copy of A Walk To Remember and you will understand what I mean. In fact, take a look at any of my books and you will begin to see my love of having a book look worn and weathered; my love of reading a book over and over, even though I already know how it ends.

I have an addiction. To books. Seriously. I read multiple books at a time. When I am home in Arizona I have a book that I read in different areas of the house. I have a bedroom book, bathroom book, and living room book. See, I have a problem. Even when I am in the thick of a semester with midterms everyday for a week, I still set aside time to read my books. In the past week I have read two books, each over 300 pages. And I havetwo midterms this next week. See where my priorities are? But I just can't help myself. This past week I was thinking to myself that I should have been an English major and gone into publishing or something.

Did you know that in high school I told my dad I wanted to own a book store when I grew up (think of You've Got Mail) and my dad told me to be realistic?

But then I remembered something. I LOVE books. I love reading and getting lost in the story of people who aren't real. I love being able to escape from my world and learn lessons from experiences that I know I will never have. But I hate analyzing books. I hate having to find the deeper meaning in a book (unless it is obvious). I hated English in high school and loved Math. I still love Math. So obviously, Math is the right major for me.And my love of books is simply that. Not a career, just a love. A hobby. An addiction (a healthy one).

This week I ordered 3 books from Barnes & Noble - another favorite store, despite the fact all the books are brand spanking new. I ordered the following books. And I cannot wait for them to arrive. But until they do I am not beginning another book. Rather I am going to focus on homework. Oh who am I kidding, I will do just as much homework as before and find something else to fill my time!

In other news, So You Think You Can Dance started this week! I absolutely love this show! And anyone who has ever watched it with me or talked to me about it can testify that I am addicted to that show. Which is fitting considering the title of this post. With that I will leave you with this video to enjoy. If you are any fan of the show, you will understand why I chose this dance for this post.

Whirlwind

Chris and Jolyn got married this weekend!! It was a crazy day but so much fun! I flew into Phoenix at 8:15 Saturday morning, changed at my aunt and uncle's house, went to the Temple and didn't stop the rest of the day! Between doing hair (I did hair 7 different times that day on 5 different people), taking pictures, and eating we were super busy! Here are some fun pics of the day:

My new cousin Ethan! He is Chris' son and 11 years old. We are so excited to officially have them both in our family!

Kenzie came to the reception! She is in Arizona this term while I am in Utah, and next term we switch spots! We miss each other so much it is kinda crazy - but in 3 weeks we are going skydiving together!

Taya was so cute with the flowers I had to snap a pic!

The beautiful bride and I <3

My wonderful family! I love them so much.

On top of all the wedding stuff this weekend I was able to go work a dance recital for Dance Element. It was at 2:30 on Saturday, so it fit right into the afternoon! I was so excited because this would have been their first ever recital without me since they have been opened! I miss working for this studio and cannot wait to graduate and come home to work year round for them!

I was also able to finish Jane Eyre this weekend! I loved it so much more this second time around! I felt so bad for Jane in some parts of it and in other parts really hated some of the characters. Definitely a good read. I will probably read it again - purely because I want to!

Life Plans

I have been thinking a lot lately. This is something that some people [they know who they are] think I do too much of. And in a sense they are correct. I am a planner. I make lists literally everyday of what I need to do that day. I don't necessarily have to cross everything off my list, but I make the list. Sometimes I make multiple lists in a day. Seriously. I will make one in the morning, accomplish more than I thought I would, and then I make a revised one in the afternoon. I know. I have issues. But anyways that is not the point of this blog post. The point is, life is too unpredictable to have a plan.

Allow me to digress for a moment.

For Christmas I got a book called "BYU Speeches 2009-2010" and it basically consists of all the devotionals/forums/firesides given on BYU campus during the 2009-10 school year. I have slowly been making my way through the book reading a talk at a time. I have marked up the book like crazy underlining things and writing down my own thoughts. One of the talks that I recently read was given by Lynnette B. Erickson who is a BYU associate professor of teacher education. In this talk she said, "In our race to the finish line, we need to anticipate and be ready for unexpected events that may hamper us on our course and detour us from our goal."

Now back to my personal thoughts.

Up until a little while ago I had had a plan. A plan that spanned the next year and half to two years, with a vague idea of the several years to follow that. But then some things happened and as someone oh so kindly put it, I had the mother of all wrenches thrown into my engine of life. Now my plan is to graduate next April. And that's all I've got. I don't know what will happen after that. I don't know if I will go teach school down in Arizona, go teach somewhere else, get a job other than teaching, serve a mission, or none of the above. Who knows! I sure don't. But He does. By relying on Him, trusting in Him, and living righteously, I will come to know the plan for me.

So I don't have a plan right now. That's okay. I will just keep moving forward. I may be blind at times, but I know that eventually it will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Many important things will occur in our lives that we have not planned, and not all of them will be welcome...Even our most righteous desires may elude us, or come in different ways or at different times than we have sought to plan. [Elder Dallin H. Oaks]

The lesson here is to keep going, keep building the kingdom, keep improving yourself, stay worthy of His blessings and His love, and stay on course! [Sister Erickson]

The Y

I did it! Up and down in 35 minutes might I add. Beautiful hike, beautiful weather, hopefully Utah decides to stick with spring now! Kenzie and I headed up Friday afternoon, got to the Y in probably 25 minutes, stretched for a few minutes enjoying the beautiful view of Provo/Orem and then ran down in about 10 minutes. It was great. Granted my legs felt like jell-o the rest of the evening, I am super sore today, and I have a purple toenail, but it was worth it and we are hopefully going again next week. Unfortunately no pics were taken - maybe next time. :]

My Loves

So this post is not in any relation to my list of 20 things - but I have recently fallen in love with a couple of things and since I am avoiding a research project due a week from today, I thought I would take some time to share these things with all of you. The first one is Modern Family. This show is hilarious. Seriously. I sit in front of the TV (sometimes by myself) and laugh nonstop. I love it. And my roommate is borrowing the first season from her sister. I can now watch it anytime I want and I just might have watched it at 11:30 last night. Trust me. It's funny. Go watch it.

The other love is not a new found love - but it has been reinforced recently. Dr. Pepper is the most satisfying soda out there. But it has to come from a fountain. I am becoming a Dr. Pepper snob. It just is not in the same when it comes from a can or bottle. Fountains are just so much better. Occasionally a fountain will be off on their carbonation or something and then it's gross but for the most part fountains are the best source of Dr. Pepper. Gosh writing this is making me want one...too bad I can't get one anywhere near by. I may need to use the car tonight to make a 7-11 run.

Now that I have so dutifully informed you all of my loves, cause I am positive you were just dying to know, I am off to write a paper on aging and social security. Social security sucks by the way and by the time I am old enough to get it (currently that's age 67 but my guess is I won't be seeing anything till I am at least 72) there won't be any left.