Vegas and a Marathon

Ok, so it was only a 1/2 marathon.

Last weekend I ran the Painter's Half Marathon in St. George. I've been training for the past few months for this, and it felt so good to finally do it! I hit my goal of running it under two hours; my time ended up being 1:53:47. It was a tough 13 miles, but the atmosphere was so pumped and it was a really fun course. I ran it with a group of kids from my ward, so it was fun having a bunch of us spread out along the course. Since my Bishop was running the marathon also, we all rode down together in 3 cars and spent the night in my Bishop's condo. Bishop Beckstead is 70 years old and still runs half marathons a couple of times a year. He is so great! So we all ran the marathon Saturday and then that night about half of us drove to Vegas to hit the strip. I've never been to Vegas so it was fun to finally get to see the sights a little bit! Although I wouldn't recommend walking the strip after running 13 miles, it was so much fun. We ate ice cream in the Paris Hotel and watched a couple of the fountain shows in front of the Bellagio. Plus half of the fun was just watching the people who populate sin city. So interesting/hilarious/wonderful!

All of us with our wonderful Bishop Beckstead after he
finished the race. What a champ!!


Don't Worry. . . I couldn't figure out how to pull the slots.

Dave, Nat, Scott, Jamie, Trent, Connor and Me post-race

A New Year

So I've been thinking. Life is wonderful. I mean truly, it is! Who can dispute it. I just turned 20. This is strange because I somehow still feel like I am that little girl who sat on her grandpas lap and told him stories. But I think I really must be getting older because the other day I had a thought process that really surprised me. In light of recent events, I was having a sit-and-feel-sorry-for-myself-moment. But then I thought, well, Katie, If you could change something about this, what would it be? And you know what? I realized that I wouldn't change a thing. Granted, sometimes life is so frustrating and so hard, but I am so glad that it is filled with ups and downs rather than a plain old boring level of bliss!! Trials are interesting. They give you something to look back on and laugh about, or maybe even cry about. But nonetheless, they keep us alive; thriving; feeling. They help us remember how to breathe. How numb we would all become if all we ever experienced was happiness. Anyways. Since this little epiphany cheered me up, I figured I would share it with anyone who is experiencing something of the sort. Don't worry. Just smile and make it through, because every experience is truly changing us for the better. We all change, we all grow and move on. And most of the time, we never end up where we thought we would. But I think that's ok; because usually things are even better than we could have pictured.

Auntie Katie

Just a couple of pictures of sweet baby Jonah being kissed to death by his favorite aunt. Auntie Katie always knows how to get him to zonk. I am either a very good sunngle-to-sleeper (that's an official term. . .) or either very boring. Lets go with the first option. He is such a little angel! And probably the cuddliest (is that even a word?) baby in the world.

Don't Judge Me.

So don't worry. I'm not engaged. Or married. Nor do I have a boyfriend. But who really needs a reason to take pictures in a wedding dress? I sure don't. These were actually taken for two portfolios: My friend Sarah's photography business and my bestie Emerald's hair stylist portfolio. Those two are fabulous.

A Traveling Day

So in honor of finals being over, I made this post a bright and happy PURPLE, as you can see. So it's been well over a month. How does that happen? I used to pray (literally PRAY) that the time could just please please please go a little bit faster. Just a hare. Now I can't keep track of where it's gone! Anywho. . .

Today I traveled. . .

Really Long Blurb #1
I finally got to the airport after ending up somewhere near bountiful (when you take the freeway from 400 north, you can't keep going north. It is already past the exit you want, just an FYI). Since I had just taken my last final, all of the stress had magically left my body in a state of bliss and content. It didn't matter that I missed my exit or that it was FREEZING outside or that I had to go through the entire parking garage only to find I couldn't park there. Check in was quick and easy and I didn't leave anything in my car. Check. Security lines were short. Check Check. Since I was in such a wonderful mood, I somehow got a little sentimental/emotinal about life in general and the billions of people we just pass by while living it. I was in line for security, and was noticing how adorable this young (or so I thought) girl was in front of me. She was the trendy/emo kind. You know. Skinny jeans that looked perfect on her skinny legs. Shoes your mother owned when you were born that just happened to look dashing on her. A cute black cardigansweartthingIcan'thinkofanamefor. Even her little braided rose headband screamed "i'm cute and innocent! Smile at me!" So I did. She glanced at me. I had literally just opened my mouth to compliment her on how darling she looked when it happened. A panicked, worried expression washed suddenly over her face as she realized she was missing something that was apparently extremely vital. How do I know this? The not so innocent girl uttered (or rather, hissed) a word that shall we say was less than dignified. Not classy. Not cute. Not innocent at all. I think my face was probably all smooshed and twisted in a strange way in surprise. Good thing she was too busy being crude to notice me.

Really Long Blurb #2
Then as I was sitting at the terminal waiting for my plane to arrive, I started to notice all of the different people sitting around me, sharing the same space for just a brief moment. I started to have some . . . gooshy? . . . thoughts, which were probably due the the Rachel Yamagata playing on my ipod. Nonetheless, I wondered about those people. The girl with the old, tapered jeans from 1984 who looked like she had never seen a brush in her life. She was smiling and laughing with her friend who seemed so opposit from her. They laughed light heartedly as they snapped shots of themselves with their camera, tilting their faces and pursing their lips with each new click. I wondered what is would be like the be the girl who sat accross from me, with her camo hat and her longboard glued to her foot. Behind her light, optimistic eyes there seemed a story of stress, emotion, longing. Then a very large but kind looking man asked if he could sit next to me in the only open seat. Of course, I whole heartedly encouraged him to sit down, flashing him an encouraging smile. Encouraging for what reason? I don't know. He just seemed unsure. Then about twenty minutes later a small boy came out, escorted by a flight attendant. He shuffled awkwardly toward the man, head down and hands in his pockets. The man bounded over to the boy with a grin as wide as. . . someone really happy. As the two embraced, something between them tugged at my heart strings that made me actually tear up. In the middle of the Salt Lake Airport. Then I got on the plane and this really friendly boy wouldn't stop talking to me. He was nice. So I ate my Ms. Vicky's Salt N Vinegar chips just in case he got a little too friendly.

Sorry these were so long! But hey. It's my blog. :)

Feeling Like I Want to Be a Writer

An anxious feeling starts to churn deep in the pit of my internal reservoir, rising up to the surface, ready to burst forth with creativity. Some genius of which I am yet unaware yearns to be harbored within the pages of some great work, a work that some ordinary and yet all too extraordinary individual will connect with. To inspire, to encourage, to harvest the raw emotions of this fragile human existence which we call life. This is my ambition.

A little bored in biology last week. . . this is what my thoughts wandered to. Sometimes I want to spend the rest of my life sticking people with needles and setting broken bones, but then every so often I think I could enjoy a life of writing strange little blurbs like this one that no one would ever read, but I would feel better having gotten that strange urge out of my system and out into the world. or at least my own piece of paper.

A Little Similarity?

So I was looking through some recent pictures of myself, and I couldn't help but think of this picture when I saw some of the pics. Yes, I stole this picture from another blog (thanks Sarah) to illustrate the fact that it's no wonder why Gideon and I (and all of the other medleys I know for that matter) manage to have a ridiculous amount of fun together. Both slightly nerdy, a little rowdy, and definitely both love to dance. I thought the comparison was pretty funny.