Summertime visits from "the fam"

As I mentioned previously, my Mom came to visit in May. That was an unusual occurrence in and of itself. In all of my years of living in Utah-the only time my family ever came to visit was for my BYU graduation in 2005 and 2 of my brothers’ weddings in 2004 and 2008. In the weeks just following my Mom’s visit, I had a slew of visits from everyone in the family. (well, except Dad, but I got to see him the weekend after my annual trip to the Nauvoo pageant…details to come).

I was able to see Kevin & Amy, who came up from Las Vegas while my Mom was here for Amy’s baby shower. (This is a picture of them now with their new baby, Isaac-born July 22nd).

A couple of weeks later, James & Krista popped in on their way back to California after James’ Ironman in Coeur-d’Alene, Idaho. Lily and Iris stayed at my house, while everyone else stayed with some family friends. I took the day off work and we all hiked Timpanogos Cave together. So cool!

A few days after that, Martin & Breckann were in town from Kansas for her family’s reunion. We celebrated my nephew, Davin’s, first birthday while they were here. I swear he is the cutest kid ever.

Jonathan and Cassie were in town from Kansas a few weeks later to visit her family and for Jonathan’s mission reunion. It was really good to spend time with them! They are in the process of moving to Philadelphia, PA so I won’t get to see them when I go home anymore.

I love my family. They are the coolest people. We always have so much fun together and I’m really grateful for the awesome relationship I have with every single one of them. I consider myself so lucky to have them in my life!

June flashback

A group of people from my ward and such got together at the end of June for a weekend rafting excursion on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, WY. One of the guys owns his own raft, so he makes an annual trip out of the whole sha-bang. Because it was so early in the season, the water was still pretty high (and cold) so we delighted in the idea of wetsuit rentals.
I was really grateful Cassie and Stacey accepted the invite to come along. It was nice to spend time together. My co-worker Kelly joined us as well. We drove together, camped together, rafted together and pretty much chilled just the 4 of us together the whole time.
I had been placed on “make breakfast duty.” Actually, I somehow had a moment of weakness and volunteered to do it before we all left. Little did I know it would include; menu-making, grocery shopping, preparing everything, waking up way too early and cooking everything all on my own for 20 people. Argh! But everyone said it was super yummy, so that at least made my heart smile. (Thanks to Kasey for lending us her dutch ovens and for her cooking tips and helpful hint of using an oven bag to avoid a messy clean-up).


Scones, biscuits & gravy, bagels, and Mountain Man meal: (eggs, bacon, onions & potatoes)

The river was great! The rapids were just enough to get my heart racing, but not so much to lead to an anxiety attack.

We all went into Jackson for dinner that night and overall just had a great trip!

My first triathlon June 5, 2010

I really thought I had written about this. Maybe when I posted all of the race pictures on facebook, it made me feel like I had “documented” my first triathlon experience.

Well here’s the report. At the beginning of June, I flew to Sacramento, CA to join two of my nieces for our first “Tri-for Fun.” Holly and I did the triathlon (swim ½ mile, bike 16miles, run 3 miles) and Lily did the duathlon (run 3 miles, bike 16 miles, run another 3 miles).

I admit I was a bit freaked out and anxious going into it, but I’m lucky to have a brother who coached me every step of the way. As most of my dedicated blog readers will remember; my oldest brother, James is an “Ironman.” He does these races all the time. It was fun to switch roles, with me as the athlete and James, as the spectator/cheerleader.

The swim was my favorite part, which surprised me considering it was what I thought would be my weakest event. It was really fun! I may or may not have lied about my age by a year so Holly and I would be able to start in the same wave. (Not a big deal, right? After all- it was just for fun anyway).

Off to transition for the 16 mile bike:

The whole race was really exciting and I loved having my other 2 nieces (Jasmine & Iris) and my sister-in-law, Krista along the course with cowbells and smiles to cheer us on.

James helped us set up our transitions, took pictures, and actually came out to run with us on the run course to keep us going. (which ended up being the most challenging part for me). Holly and I stuck together for most of the swim & bike, but I passed her on the run. (Then again, she chose to walk most of the time, so it’s not like I was going fast by any means.)

I was able to catch up to Lily and run with her for awhile.

Crossing the finish line was an awesome feeling!

I did the whole thing in 2hrs, 5 mins, 5 seconds. Not too bad for having a goal of 2 hours. And considering it's my first attempt-I'll take it! I'll break it next time, for sure!

Thanks to James for all his help, and thanks to Holly who invited me to join the fun! Go Team Player Girls! (AKA: “Finishers”)

All work, and no play...

That title doesn't really work for me because I play. Infact, truth be told-I actually play for work. I have a great job. In fact, I love my job. I have this quote by Confucius on the wall above my desk: “CHOOSE A JOB YOU LOVE, AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE.” I consider myself lucky everyday for the fact that I enjoy going to work. Yes-everyday. Now don’t get me wrong-I love the weekends, and there are definitely days I wish I had more time to get personal errands done and things, but I never dread waking up in the morning on a workday.

Let me preface this next part by saying, it is RARELY the kids and teens that cause me any kind of grief at work. That being said-this past week at work has not been the best. I won’t go into too many details, but I have seriously experienced more feelings of frustration in the past 5 work days with other staff than I think I usually do over a 5 week span of time. Summertime is SUPER busy for me and I am a one man show running 6 programs (7 during the school year). Talk about stress! I have been consistently disappointed, grumpy, complaining, angry, snappy, impatient and many other characteristics with co-workers that I don’t enjoy seeing appear from myself. I usually have great relationships with my co-workers, but I had reached beyond my breaking point. I decided I needed to do something to take care of me. I scheduled an appointment with my massage therapist friend, Sarah, and ends up-it was just what I needed.

As I started to relax, I started to think of how much I truly love my job. Even on days when I’m upset, quitting never crosses my mind. That’s just not the way my brain works. I went through each day of the past week in my head and I decided to focus on these moments:
(Instead of the moments when apparently stupidity seems to have taken over for some people). These pics are from the past 3 days: Yeah, I definitely have nothing to complain about. Thanks for listening! :)

Wed: Hiking to Bells Canyon Reservoir in Little Cottonwood Canyon w/ my substance abuse Recreation Therapy group (This was probably one of my favorite hikes I've done in Utah so far.)

Thursday: Archery w/ Boys Group home teens

If you look closely, you can see where I hit the bullseye. I was very excited!

Friday: (This morning) Scales & Tails came as part of my "Fun Fridays" summer program I plan for the kids.

Mom's Utah visit

Previously, in the blog about my new bed, I mentioned that my Mom came to visit me for a week. It's true- She really did, and I am ashamed that I haven't blogged about it. For most people it's not a huge deal when family comes to town, but for me-it is!

After recently dealing with the disappointing news that my little brother, Jonathan and his wife, Cassie would be leaving Kansas and moving to Philadelphia, PA. I knew my Mom was having a hard time having all of her kids move away from the Kansas City area. (James & Krista left KS for Sacramento, CA in 2001, I left KS for Salt Lake City, UT in 2008, Kevin & Amy left KS for Las Vegas, NV this past January and now with Jonathan and Cassie leaving for Philly, it only leaves Martin & Breckann in KC with my parents). My Mom has been super sad to say the least.

For Mother's Day I decided to buy her a plane ticket to come spend a week with me. It was a fantastic idea! We had so much fun together. She was able to see some long time family friends from Kansas who moved out here to the Salt Lake valley last year. She also got to spend time with her sister who lives in Provo.

We saw a handful of shows as I treated Mom to tickets for Cirque du Soleil (I don't recommend it-overrated and too expensive), as well the 1964 Beatles Tribute band and the BYU Young Ambassadors, which was our favorite of the 3 shows.



Amy and Kevin came up from Las Vegas while Mom was here too. Amy is from the Salt Lake City area, so it was perfect timing for her to have her baby shower while Mom was in town. We all had lots of fun together! It was nice for my Mom to have a sneak peak into my grown up life as well, as I took her to a work conference with me, gave her a tour of the Shelter, showed her my office and juggled my normal work responsibilities while she was here. It was also fun for her to better understand my social life by seeing me run like crazy doing a million things everyday. (I think she was sincerely relieved to see that I don't spend my time locked in my room, knitting or petting kittens waiting for my prince to come). I loved the chance she had to attend a singles ward for the first time in her life. She had a hard time understanding that literally the 200+ people in the chapel were ALL single-no exceptions (I think she's used to the Lawrence University ward out in Kansas where there is a mix of marrieds & singles). She made me laugh. My favorite conversation of the week after attending church:
Mom: "Tiff, who was that guy on the end of the second row during Sunday School?"
Tiff: "Uhhh? I don't know? Was it Scott? Maybe? I don't remember. Why?"
Mom: "He was staring at you during the whole class."
Tiff: " Ummmm, Mom, everyone was staring at me. I was the one teaching."

I love my Mom. She's the best! I'm so glad she came to visit.