For Josh... this is your "token"

J o s h :

I hope you know how proud of you I am! I hope you know what a good example you are to me (and others) of dedication, determination, positive attitude, and mental and physical stregnth. Running is what you make it, talent can only take you so far... then the rest is contingent upon what you put into it, you've put in ALOT, and it's given you to many great opportunities!

As your race gets close, just remember all us little people who are praying for you and supporting you. And remember " Attempt, and do it with all your might. Determination is power." (Charles Simmons)

When you go out there to run this weekend, just remember to put in a few good laps for this little guy, He'd want you to shoot for the moon. I love you!

Life these days...

I've been putting on lots of exciting posts from trips and such... but I'm all out of cool photos, so I though I'd just give you an update on our lives these days. Josh is currently in Japan for the world track and field championships (this is a BIG race). His trip to Japan is 2.5 weeks so it's kinda been lonley here with out him. When he comes home he'll continue to run, b/c that's his Job! wouldn't that be awesome to be able to support yourself through that? Then he might also work at Home Depot. This would be cool b/c he could learn all sorts of fix-it tips. As for my exciting life, I've had the summer off, no work. I quit my job at Timpview because remember how we were going to move to Memphis? well, in July we decited to postpone that till next year. Anyway, so I've been searching for a new job. I found one at Lakeridge Jr. High in Orem, teaching study skills. I'm way excited for this job b/c I totally love junior high kids, I think they are hillarious! I will also still be the assistant coach for Timpview cross country. I love that part of my "Job". My parents and little sis are in germany till December and I get to go visit them in 2 weeks. I'm way excited... and I'm hoping to take a gander at some of the old german castles. During the time that I'm in Germany Josh will also be "abroad" at a race in either France, or else where in Germany. Welp, that about sum's it up. Oh yeah, and we're making the big move to Orem.

Squash...

I'm staying at my parents house right now. We had to be out of our last apartment by Aug. 15 but can't move into our new one until Sep. 1 . I really love the neighborhood that I grew up in. I drove around the it tonight to see what had changed. On my little spin I found this little stand set up just out side "the fence" Since squash is one of my all time favorites I took advantage of this opportunity. I took a zuchinie and a summer squash.

I love this recipie, containing summer squash. It's from my mom... I don't know where it came from?

Green Chilie Enchiladas

1 doz. corn tortillas

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can green chilies

3 summer squash

2-3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Cook the squash lightly & sprinkle with S&P. Add soup & chilies & heat to a boil. Put a little soup in the bottom of a glas baking dish. Alternate layers of tortillas, soup & cheese. Cook 30-35 min. at 350.

Pan American Games

The purpose for our trip to brazil was for josh to race. The competition was between 42 countries. Each country could send their 2 people who wanted to go (as long as they had run a fast enough time) The stadium that held the race was huge! and it was filled with people... I'd guestimate over 20,000. The croud was crazy, crazy about Brazil. They didn't seem to like americans when we were in compitition with them, they booo'd alot. So, anyways, Josh won the race! it was fun to watch... after he won, they gave him an american flag and he got to do a victory lap. Then they had a "medals cerimony" just like in the olympics. They give you your medal, raise your countries flag and have everyone stand as they play your national anthem. At that moment, standing on brazillian soil, and hearing brazil's boo's towards america, I felt REALLY glad to be an american. There is nothing like travel to make you appreciate how blessed we are to live in the U.S.A.!!!

Josh holding out the U.S.A.


Going over barrier. Mike Spence, the other U.S.A. kid was 2nd!

Rio de Janeiro

We got back from our trip to Brazil... it was really fun! it was too bad though because it's their winter so it was rainy and overcast most of the time, and we got alot of rain so we couldn't spend much time on their beautiful beaches, but we still had a blast. It was fun to see another culture, and another part of the world. It fuled my desire to travel...


"Christo Redentor", the newest wonder of the world. It's 30 meters high and the arm span is 28 meters wide. It's perced on top of a little round mountain and has a great view of the whole city. It was pretty amazing to see (although I don't think it was as big as the statue of liberty.) In the back of the statue they have a little chapel. The guy that is not josh was the other U.S. steeple chaser, Mike spence. His wife Christy, and his mom came to brazil as well. All us ladies shared a room at an AWESOME hotel!

Josh and I sitting in the "Barra de Tijuca rain forest" it was really pretty, but we didn't get to see any tucan's...

This is a little monkey in the forest. There were alot of them. They'd just run around in the trees like squirrels. They were cute and friendly. They'd eat from your hand, or try to take your camera.

This is a bannana tree, with a big red bannana blossom on the bottom of the branch.

There were lots of cool markets around the city, I just thought these fish were cool.

Me in one of the market places... they had lots of exotic, tropical and delicous fruits! Pineapple, papaya, mango, star fruit, guava etc.

This little city settlement is called a favela. They are the slums of the cities. Apparently they are not patrolled by the police, but rather, are controlled by the drug lord. There are apparently 80 murders a day in rio, and most of them occur in these favelas. They houses are made of cement, or other random building materials. some have glass windows, and some just have open window panes... they are VERRY delapidated adn run down. favela's are built upon favela's and they get up to 5 or more stories high, just crammed with people. It was sad to see that so many people just have this kind of a life style, that is all they know.

Not a favela, just a basic neighborhood. there is grafitti all over the place.

We had a few dinners in these delicous "turasco's" or Brazillian BBQ's. They have a huge bar in the middle of the resturant that has breads and cheeses and all sorts of crazy and delicous salads, and fruit, and sushi, and spring rolls with strawberries, or kiwi (so good) lots of sea food dishes (I tried octapus, not a pleasant experience) Quail eggs (taste ok) then these waiters go around from table to table with skewers of all kinds of meet: different flavors and cuts of steaks, chicken, pork, lamb, different flavors of sausage, grilled pineapple and even chicken hearts!

Lahma Fest

In Spanish Fork every summer they have what they call a lahma fest. It is held at the Hari Khrishna temple. They have about 50 lahmas. They have them go through obstical courses and you can pet them and stuff. They also have indian food that you can buy and some indian singers who perform. It's actually pretty fun.

Hari Krishna Temple, where the festival is held

Me being best friends with the lahma's.

Josh trying to lead the lahma through the obstical course. They were really stubborn and wouldn't do anything that you tried to force them to do. it was hillarious... midway though Josh's leading it though the course, it started chasing me!

Bom dia

Tomorrow I'm going to Brazil. Rio de Janiero to be exact. Josh is running in the Pan American games. It will be fun and very adventurous- you see, I will have to travel there by my self... and try to get myself to my hotel by my self. I've been trying to learn some portuguese, but I hope I don't have to use it. I pride myself in being able to say "O Senhor Fala Ingles" which means do you speak english sir?

Havasu Pie

We went down to Havasu Pie a week ago. If you have not been we would love to go with you! You hike down to the bottom of the grand canyon (10 miles) and then you camp down there for a few days. While you are down there you hike around and swim in all the beautiful waterfalls, and cliff jump, and do rope swings and stuff! It's like a little tropical oasis in the middle of the barren desert! We had a ton of fun, except our packs were SOOO heavy. We'd never really gone "back-packing" before so we didn't exactly know what to expect. We got some of those camping meals (mountain house) and josh didn't think they'd fill him up. So, we ended up carrying down cans of Tamalies, chillie, and litte vienna sausages, homestyle bakes cans etc. Needless to say our hike down was not all fun and games. Our hike back UP was lots better b/c we'd consumed about 15 lbs. of food so our packs were way lighter.

This is how your hike started out, at 5:30 am see how barren everything is?

Then all the sudden these falls pop out of no where! (it's about 150 ft. tall?) This is called Havasu falls.

This was probabally my favorite falls, Navajo falls. you can climb up on top of the falls and jump down into the water below (about 40 ft.) There is also a little cave behind these falls that you can go into.

We went with Josh's sister Christy, her husband Bill, their 11 yr old son Nate and Josh's older brother Lance.

This is called Mooney falls. It's the tallest fall. To get down to it you have to climb down this steep rock face. I was proud of myself b/c I wasn't as scared of it as I normally would be. There is a really fun rope swing at these falls, and there are some other mini falls here that have little caves behind them. In conclusion, I think everyone should visit Havasu!

Stewart Falls

A most well-known location of the provo, Stweart falls. I went on a little hike with my family up here a couple weeks ago. I like this picture b/c you can see all the moss and it almost looks like a waterfall from a tropical rain forest.

This is a photo of my family that went on the hike. Josh is taking the photo. The one in the black shirt is my cousin Christy. I think this is a funny picture because I look like a tom-boy highschooler...

Yellow Stone

We just got back from a way awesome trip to Yellowstone! I hadn't been there since I was about 10! We went with our friends the Jensens. Yellowstone has such great geography with it's mtns., rivers, lakes, waterfalls, colorfull hot pots, giazers, not to mention all the animals...We saw 4 Grizzlies, Mtn. Goats, Cyotes, Wolves, Cranes, Herons, Marmotes, Buffalow, Prong horn, Elk, normal deer etc. It was so pretty that we took so many photos. I wish that I could put them all in, but you'd be bored with them. Our camera isn't the greatest, and doesn't zoom any closer than the naked eye can see, so some of the animals may not look so close, but they were actually really close.We saw a ba-zillion of these! At first you're so excited to see one, and then you start to get sick of them b/c they're all over. I thing buffalo are cute animals.

This was our favorite hot springs. The colors are not inhanced in photo-shop. They really were this bright and colorfull! The blue water in the center was so deep, we I guess it went down to the crust of the earth, that's how the water gets so hot! If you feel in you'd die (at least that's what the sign tells you)

Due to the bad zoom, you may not realize this is a bald eagle at it's nest. It had some babies up there that we saw.

Beautiful scenery... This lake runs through most of yellowstone.

Mtn. Goat. I guess they were shedding, b/c they look ugly and dirty... They were really close! they also had several babies with them.

This one is one of the bears. We actually were about 150 meters away from it, which was pretty close, but it doesn't seem that close b/c of the camera. Our video camera got some good footage of it though. It had 2 little cubs. If you blow up the picture, the mom is the brown spot just below the upper row of snow, and to the right you may see 2 darker spots that are the babies! The other Grizzly we saw was fitghting a wolf! so cool to watch, wish we were closer!

This was a huge waterfall that we "hiked" down to .

If you have not been to yellowstone, you need to go. It's a pretty cheap trip and tonz of fun!

sneezing

I have just sneezed 6 times in the last min... and the 7th sneeze is just about to come out! Some people are double sneezers, some are single sneezers etc. Normally I just sneeze once. You know the feeling of trying to get a sneeze out? I really don't like that feeling, but the feeling that is worse is when you sneeze but you only sneeze half way? Does anyone know this feeling? Also, Did you hear about the girl who had hicups for like 36 days? what if that happened with sneezing?

olympic standard

This is my first post for a LONG time. I'm sitting here at the computer waiting for the results of Josh's race to pop up on the computer. At this very moment he's running the steeple at stanford. He's going for the Olympic A standard which is 8:26- that would be a 4 ish secong PR... I hope he gets it! This photo here is one from a video interview that he did for a website called flocast... go google it and see what you can find!

My New Home

Yes, Here it is. Tennessee. Our future home. I might be able to find room in my heart to call it home, once I learn how to spell it. Tennesssee is known as the "Volunteer state." People make fun of the Behive State but if you ask me the Volunteer state sounds a bit lamer... We move in the summer. I'm pretty excited but a little nervous b/c Memphis is supposidly the 4th most dangerous city in the US. AHH!

Hungry?

Ever been to Cafe Pier Pont in SLC? Ever seen how much Josh can eat? We went to Pier Pont for dinner and josh ordered this "Macho Grande Burrito"... the size of a new born baby (it weighed at LEAST 6 lbs.) If you eat it all in one sitting you get a free one the next time you come in. What do you think... was Josh able to do it? Did he earn the free Burrito?

Christmas Card

This is a multiple choice question... which one would you sent for your christmas card. Both lame. A. "warm wishes" christmas greeting or B. a Cosmo Christmas greeting. "Warm Wishes" was the one that got sent out. What's your vote?

St. George

We went out to St. George and stayed with Sunny and his fam. They have some 4 wheelers so we got on them and cruised out to these underground caves. I have been spelunking in Nutty Putty and that was a little bit scary but nothing compared to this. I really thought I was going to die! Remember my grave fear of heights, and rocky drop-offs? These came into play. In the caves there were several places with huge drop offs and there was a place or two where you had to "repel" down a steep, slick rock face. You held on to a little rope (which was tied around a rock up above) the rope was about as thick as a shoelace, so as you can imagine it was hard to get a good grip on the thing... if you fell and let go of the rope you could have fallen off a drop off on the edge of this rock face. Even though I look happy in the photo my insides are screaming "Get me out of this place!"

Kelly's married!

It's a miricle! Kelly finally got married... JK. She is now Kelly Beck, and her husband Sunny is pretty awesome. They are a great couple. They got married a few weeks ago and then went on their honey moon to Itally. That's one place that I definitely want to visit some day.

the California

You know the feeling when you're so sick of day to day life and you think you might explode if yu don't get away? well that's how I felt right before this trip! Josh and I headed out to San Jose to visit some friends Jami and Layne... (sorry Jam, this post basically looks like yours- sorry, but what can you do?)


Look at these 2 Gnarly dudes getting ready to catch a wave... The funny thing is that it was about 43 degrees out side and the water was way cold, but these guys couldn't resist. They choose a spot that they thought was totally great for beginners. After an hour of attempts and no successes these 2 dudes swam back to shore totally wiped out and debriefed their experience. (The next day we went to church with Jam & Layne and a sufer in their ward was like "wow, you guys went there? That's some pretty Gnarly stuff... he also said that by going there they just increased their chance of shark attack by 10% I'm terrified of sharks and that's why I didn't want to go surfing in N. Cal. glad I didn't b/c with my luck I would have had a run in with a GREAT WHITE!!!)


There were lots of these street performers. This one was one of the most bestest... He would hide behind these bushes (yes, it looks like he would be totally conspicuous) and then he would jump out when someone was passing and scare them half to death!



A classic San Fran photo of the trolleys. I love San Fransisco- so many cool places and the ocean in view!

Gardner Villiage

One of my favorite places in the fall- Gardner Village! They decorate it with all sorts of witches and things. Every fall, around halloween, my mom and sisters go up and shop around... It's this olden time village and all the little old houses have been made into shops. The biggest shop has an old mill on it!

Halloween

For Halloween Josh and I went to a Masquerade party... We searched so hard to find masks but couldn't find any. So, we had to make our own- ha ha! (that's why they look ugly) So. I basically just wore this mid-evil times dress and Josh was a Jester. The idea was great, but the execution not so great... Josh went to target and bought a pair of womens tights with an argyle pattern. I wish the photo showed them, but you will just have to use your imagination. He had a shirt that was about 5 in. lower than his waiste so it was kindof short. Then I guess he decited that his tights were as good as pants so all he wore under them was undies! most people were a little worried about that.