downtown scavenger hunt

a real estate company put on a 4 hour scavenger hunt that took us all around downtown. we went thinking it was going to be this dinky scavenger hunt to find an intense, well planned, competitive game. it was a blast. natali jolley brought her A game, the boys were good with the divas, and i was the weakest link--or should i say my bowels were the weakest link.

we were given a packet with cropped pictures and clever hints. each team had one digital camera and hopes of placing in the top 3. it was hard and we appreciate all the helpful hints from those we met along the way, natali's sister whitney, my co-worker courtnee and group, and tonya dusold (she was my phone-a-friend choice and her answer came too late, but i think she was right). we played all the way up until the 11:30 pm deadline and had all but one to show.

the places ranged from shops along the skywalk, bars (which was hard since we don't frequent those spots, but interesting to check out), peoples apartments, convenience stores, a dentist office, restaurants and east village stores. it was a great way to check out downtown and find new places to shop, eat or hang out. we will for sure be heading back to east village and farrels sandwich shop in the court district. can't wait til next year--next time we will come prepared. here are our photos:

young womens

so i was found out. the folks at church realized i was a beehive so they have sent me back to young womens--which is awesome. i was called a while ago as the young womens teacher/advisor. i have gotten to know some incredible girls and have made new friends. these picks are of our "new beginnings event" and the "night of dependability". good times.

a great way to end and begin

happy new year cruel world.

so life is good. it is so great to be able to go home and pick up where you left off. what a great christmas/new year break. i got to see so many people that i love and have missed. i unfortunately didn't take most of the pics--let those around take the pics. therefore i do not have a whole lot captured. m.b.

my holiday started off just right. i woke up extremely early to get to work, because my flight was in the afternoon and i had to get in some time. i was out scraping off the 2 inch ice off of my windshield at 5 am (at that time iowa was in severe cold weather) when i hear this manish nonsensical yelling. lo and behold i see this naked man running down our back alley. he scared me and i felt bad for him (i am pretty sure he was not in the right mind at the time) but it was hilarious and a great way to start off the day and my holiday. merry christmas naked man.

i flew with soba and she was a jem. way to go pup for surprising all of the peeps on the plane.

when i got into slc--i was walking out of the secure area and quickly checked out the folks entering the secure area and suddenly realized that the girl i was watching retrieve her newly scanned luggage and watching me was my friend kasi french--who i talk with on the phone but had not seen for four years. what a great surprise. we freaked out--it was funny.

miranda came to the airport and went around shopping and to get my haircut with me. every time i see her, i am amazed at what a woman she is becoming. when i am in iowa, i keep thinking she is my adorable eight year old sister that i need to watch over. boy do they grow up so quickly. we met up with sara and ate some soup at a soup kitchen. i love my sara gilmore. what a great friend and an incredibly talented hair guru--yes, that is what i shall call her--i don't know what the kids call that career these days...hair stylist, beautician, hair technician...hair guru. yes. that is it.

christmas eve began with the rigby traditional "special store" bargain hunt. this was the 2nd annual hunt and had a few twists, but hilarious. We then headed up to Logan for a mexican christmas fiesta spent with the in-laws. i love being a monson. what incredible people i get to be related to. we had the whole group there (minus little kaya), but i am really glad matt was able to come up with us. mom monson spoiled us. thank you so much. what a great time. they made sure to fulfill all my wildest dreams...singing christmas songs, putting a puzzle together, caramel was dripping from the ceiling...awesome.

christmas day we spent with my side (the whole family was there--i can't believe we have 3 babies. they are beautiful and funny and i loved spending time with them. my siblings married some incredible people and i have the best family in the world (both sides)) and did the traditional twice baked potato and honey baked ham christmas. it never gets old--i set my clock by this tradition. get the rigbys all in the same room and you know it is going to be a good time. just sayin. my mom spoiled us and never sat down--not to mention that we were given a whopper of a christmas with all the gifts they give. yep, whopper is totally back--all the kids are saying it, atleast they should. that night we went and hung out with nicks family (the capener family) at bob and tammy's. i love them. sorry for dropping the puppy. we got to hang out with kaya for a bit too.

the rest of our time was spent driving back and forth from logan to farmington trying to get in as much fun as possible:

we saw my old ward friends that are hilarious and nick got to finally meet and then we saw my high school friends who are not hilarious. jokes. i got to see all their babies--which i am still not sure we are old enough to have, but whatever.

we skiied/snowboarded

i got the flu

went to jazz games


tilley family party--so good to see the family and play games and i think i managed to weird out my cousins fiance--nothing like welcoming to the family the right way. atleast i didn't start singing the oink song.

dinner with nicks friends--i wish that we lived closer and could hang out more.

for new years eve, we headed up to midway to hang out at the parentals condo. this was awesome because we managed to get the rigby's and the monson's under the same roof. yep--best of both worlds. lots of games and food and dunking our heads in the freezing river out back. (Dear ABC: please retire Dick Clark and fire Kellie Pickler--their newscast of the new years eve party was a joke.)

our last days were spent up in logan hanging out with the monsons. this time kaya was there to hang out with and we had a good time.

good times. this vacation went by way too fast and i didn't get to see some. perhaps one day we will get to hang out brooke, chelsea, ash, natalie pervert, jami foo, rigby family...the list goes on--and those i did see, i didn't get to see long enough.

thanks for everything folks. utah treated me well.

thanksgiving

Let me just start by saying that I am amazed at how long it takes to prepare such a fantastic meal. Nathan and Carrie and kids came up to celebrate this thanksgiving with us. We had a great time hanging out and eating. I must say that Nathan really disappointed me this year--we got to the table and when I was finished with my plate, nathan was full and had only had a few bites. His new diet (which he looks great) has changed him. Thanks for coming up.

kansas city marathon

so I ran the kansas city marathon on october 18, 2008. this is awesome, because for the past 5ish years each new years I claim that I am going to run a marathon--and now I have done it and can't wait for my next marathon. here is the story:

first of all--thanks to my supporters: nick, nathan, carrie, caroline and rex -- as well as the distant support of both parents and families and soba. nathan and carrie came up from arkansas to show their support and make a weekend of fun in kansas city.

the story:

I woke up later than I was suppose to--lathered up, took a pill to help with my stomach and bathroom situation and realized that we had forgotten the pain killer. oops. Nick and I went to the starting line and I decided that I might as well run with the 3:50 pace group (hoping that I will feel so good and take off from that group and qualify for boston). That was the game plan. The course was great. It would all around kansas city's attractions and had many live bands playing.

Beginning: met some of my co-pacer friends and started the run. Screamed out to nick when I passed him--I was having a blast. (thanks nick for waking up so stinkin early and doing this with me)

Mile 8: This is where the course splits the marathoners from the halfs. I was unfortunately running by some halfers who were so happy that they only had 5 miles and were rubbing it in that the marathoners were just beginning--great. Not what you want to hear, but I was feeling great, so whatev.

Mile 9: I start to feel my right IT band acting up. which was weird, because I have had problems in the past, but during all of my 4 1/2 months of training it never acted up--until marathon day. I kept running through the pain--trying to stretch and keep up the same pace.

Mile 12: Both IT bands are in huge pain and I ran by nick, who is holding our video camera, and I am mad (watching the video footage is hilarious) and exclaim that my IT bands are killing me and that it isn't fair. Nick has me stop and he tries to do some intense IT band rubbings (ps. your IT band is the tendon from your hip to your knee--kind of feels like someone took a baseball bat and smacked the side of your knee with brute force).

By mile 18 I had to stop every 1/2 mile-ish and stretch. Each time I stop I had the reward of watching the next pace group pace by--slowly killing my dream of qualifying--pretty heart breaking and discouraging. I was in so much pain I was fighting off tears and realized: "I am not going to get close to the timing I trained for"--so my new goal was to just finish this.

Mile 21: I got to the water station and was in so much pain. I saw an old guy sitting on the curb stretching--and suddenly I thought to myself, "I might as well have fun," so I sat took a packet of jelly bellies and I sat down and relaxed and ate them.

After this it was basically a fight to keep running and it was nice that my name was on my shirt--because I had a lot of encouragement from all sorts of strangers.

I saw nick, nathan, carrie and co. close to the end of the finish line--they were so great for being there and so enthusiastic--but I couldn't even look at them I was hurting so bad. Nick started to run with me and asked how I was doing--I started bawling (bawling is a weird word p.s.) because of the pain and telling him how much I hurt and that I am so mad and I am not even tired, but just in pain. Lots of people saw this going on and started to cheer for me because of it and I felt really stupid. As I crossed the finish line I had feelings of serious pain and I was angry--I didn't lift my arms in triumph because I wasn't even tired--I knew I had so much more energy that I could have put into my running, but it was my stupid legs that were in so much pain (I was doing the old mans shuffle). I tried to throw a smile on for the picture, but I couldn't even fool the photographer--my pictures have a hilarious look of pain.

I filled up on treats afterwords. Went through that line a million times to get treats for me and the gang. I was really disappointed to find out that the Kansas City marathon didn't provide massages at the end--boo--that is there one downfall--and their medical stations aren't that great. I kept asking for icy hot, but they didn't have any.

My official finish time was: 4:20:27.

That night I couldn't get to sleep--I kept thinking about what was going to be my next marathon and what to do different so that I could run the race with full speed. I am thinking I would love to do the new york or chicago next october/november.

As for the rest of the week:

We ate out a lot and checked out the light district. Aunna and Phil came down for a day and the boys went to a football game, while the girls went to the art museum and a cute local cafe--where we ate quiche and an amazing raspberry pie.

Good times. Thanks everyone.

slideshow part scooter

scooter for sale

as nick told you earlier, we sold our scooter. it was a sad evening and it happened so fast i forced nick into getting pictures taken with it that night--because it is such a cool ride that we had to have some pics with it. prepare to make fun of us.