The weeks seem to be getting longer- sometimes that's a good thing.

Last week I was in Ohio. I keep getting sent to Ohio, but I don't know why, I don't ever do very well in that part of the country. Oh well. It was very pretty there, nonetheless.

Cuyahoga Falls, OH


On Saturday I ran my first triathlon ever! It was held at BYU. I really didn't think I was going to do as well as I did, my goal was simply to finish. However, I made up a lot of time in the swim and did extremely well. I didn't really have time to give anyone notice, so there are no photos to document the event (except for the one they took at the end of the race with all 160 or so racers- to be posted soon!).

I loved the triathlon so much that I've decided to seriously start training for other ones. So Tuesday I got up early and went to the gym for a swim, then headed immediately out for my bike. I biked all the way to my sister's house and was just catching her leaving. She was taking her kids to the zoo and she invited me to come as well. After some thought, I decided it would be fun, after all, I sure do love my niece and nephew. Here are some of the zoo photos (I took 147 photos at the zoo).










Something I really love about Halloween and the fall season in general is pumpkins. I like pumpkin flavored foods and the color of pumpkins and I like carving pumpkins. On my mission there were no pumpkins, so instead I carved a watermelon. It was this crazed that started me into some really fun carvings. I wish I had a picture of that watermelon. It was Spongebob Squarepants.
Anyway, last year I figured out how to make some really fun patterns and here is the result:





This year, I made some more patterns and this is the first one of the year:







This Friday I will be carving more starting at about 9:00pm at my house... so if anyone (witches included *wink*) wants to bring a pumpkin and join me, I would love to have them.

Last Week

Last week went by so fast, I wonder where it went.

Zank and I started on building a brick mailbox on Monday. The thing is, neither of us know anything about masonry. Of course, being the manly men that we are, that didn't deter us from trying. We looked online for some instructions, bought the material, and started going. Long story short, we got it finished... in one way or another... and if I may say, I don't think it looks to shabby. On the plus side, now I have a very secure mailbox so I don't have to keep sending things to my Sandy PO Box.

Mailbox



Tuesday morning, I decided to go for a run. Not just any run however, I decided to try for a half marathon (the farthest I have ever run is a 10k). I ran from my house to my sister's house and then back. I noticed that after an hour my left foot began to hurt. After 1 hour 20 minutes I got hungry and after 1 hour 35 minutes, I was ready to throw in the towel. Walking hurt this far into the run, so I kept running. However, I kept pushing myself to make it all the way back to my house. The result: 11 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes. I was very proud to have accomplished that and am now looking forward to the Disney World Marathon in January instead of dreading it.

Last week I also helped my best friend remodel her bathroom (again). Okay, so the first time really wasn't a remodel. Let's call it minor demolition for the purposes of functionality. That sounded official, right? Anyway, as I with the old remodel I knew this task was going to create more than I had planned for. Luckily, my other best friend was there to help. I actually feel like he did most of the work. We spent two very long days there (and he even went back when I left for Ohio). Her bathroom is so much better now. It makes me happy. (I'll post pictures later.)




I love my niece and nephew. It is so uncanny how much my nephew looks like me as a child. The picture on the left is my nephew. The picture on the right is me and my grandpa.

Me

Davey





















Saturday morning I woke up early so I could catch one of the last farmers' markets of the year. I went with my roommate Brennan and Jodi and Julie. It was soooooo cold (of course it snowed later that night). We had a blast. There weren't as many vendors as in the warmer climates, but it was still fun. We tried cheeses and honeys and hot sauces and breads. Ooh! we started the day out with a Belgian Waffle covered in warm chocolate and fresh cut strawberries. Mmmm...















And finally... a pet peeve. When I was getting supplies at both Lowe's and Home Depot I saw a sight that... well, I'll let the pictures convey what I saw:

I mean seriously! Christmas stuff out before the middle of October! It's kinda sad to think that Christmas has become so commercialized. *sigh* Happy Hallowe... er Merry Halloween?

To Blog or not to Blog?

It's amazing what a pretty face will do. Anyway, I've been inspired to try and keep this up, even if it's just a little thing here or there. In the past my blog has been more like a journal. Well, I think I'll make it a little more public and keep the truly private stuff for the journal.

I just returned from Alaska on Friday. It was surprisingly warm compared to when I was there in April. I arrived in Fairbanks last Monday after pretty much all day on planes or in airports. Tuesday, I went for a nice brisk run. I came prepared with all sorts of winter clothing because when I was there in April, it was -10˚. This time, in Fairbanks, it was about 25˚.
Here's a picture of the Fairbanks sunset outside my hotel room:



I spoke on Tuesday to some delightful, but small crowds and then went straight to bed because we were to wake up at 4:00am to go to the airport. In April, in the wee early hours of the morning, I was able to see Aurora Borealis (which is amazing) and was hoping to catch it again last week, but there were too many clouds this time. :(
I arrived in Anchorage and spent two more days there. We stayed at this hotel right by a small lake (I think it was man made) which contained a moderate amount of pontoon planes. The weather in Anchorage was a very nice 50˚ and was perfect for a morning run, minus so many layers.
Here's the lake with the sea planes:

I finished the evening with a very large crowd at the Hilton, and then killed some time in the concierge lounge before catching a 1:00am flight back home.