Not Just a Duck

Located on 800 N. in Provo, just down the street from Brick Oven, is a famous duck pond. It mostly gets its fame from all the couples who like to go have a romantic sit (a.k.a make out) around the pretty disgusting looking mud hole. The only reall cool thing about this duck pond are the ducks (and the turtles, but then I would have had to say 'the only really cool thingS' and I didn't feel like it, so I'll just talk about the ducks.) These ducks have the highest IQ out of any duck I have ever met. A few weeks ago I was crossing the street right at the duck pond. AFter I finished crossing I heard a car honk so I turned to make sure they weren't honking at me. To my surprise they were honking at a pair of ducks that decided to walk across the street using the crosswalk, instead of by flying. They stayed in between the lines the whole way across: they are so lawful.

A few weeks before that I went for an early evening run. I ran right past two ducks on a date. They were sitting next to each other under the tree far away from any of the other ducks. Good on them for realizing that the nasty pond isn't really all that romantic.

One more story, and this one is my favorite. Just this week I walked down the 150 stairs that lead right to the duck pond (I have to do this to get to and from work, that's why I see the ducks so often.) One duck passed in front of me and then proceeded to the bushes on my right. I didn't think much of it until I saw about 6 other ducks scattered, hiding, beneath this bush. The duck that crossed in front of me quickly took his seat under the bush with the other ducks. None of them were sleeping, they were just being really quite. And it hit me: They were playing sardines! The duck I saw finally found where everyone was hiding and, as the rule goes in Sardines, had to hide with them.

I won't go into detail about the duck that flew right into my shoulder while I was talking to my sister on the phone, or about the baby ducks that like to run full speed and head first into the small birds. Basically, I could watch these ducks all day long. Perhaps they were genetically altered.

1/2 Marathon

A few months ago I decided to run a 1/2 marathon. It has been a New Year's Resolution of mine for many years to learn to like running. This year I decided to give it a go one last time. I thought that in order to really feel like I tried, I was going to pick a race to train for. I found one that looked fun and that was within a days drive. I invited all my family members who wanted to run it with me, you know, like a family bonding thing. I had just learned about families and recreation in New Zealand so I decided to put what I learned to the test.

It was so fun to train and talk about the run with my Dad, sisters Sarah and Betsy, and sister-in-law Andrea. Of course there was never any competition, it was just plain fun :). It was really neat for me to be able to do a few long runs with my dad and sisters. We talked the whole time and I think it brought us closer together.

Okay, race day. We all stayed in this cute cabin thing; one room, 3 beds. We had to blow up 2 more mattresses in order to fit us all in. No one got much sleep the night before. We woke up at 4:30 am and headed to the bank in Tropic, Utah. I was not really nervous about being able to finish, I was however, nervous about needing to go to the bathroom during my run. I knew I didn't want to stop at a port-a-potty and my friend said that she sometimes ended up peeing her pants during a run. That made me really nervous. Anyway, I didn't end up even needing to go while I was running.

The run was mostly down hill the whole time, so a little hard on the knees. It was incredible! I loved the feeling. I also loved reaching a goal, even exceeding it. I ran the race in 1 hour 55 minutes which is 15 minutes faster than I expected. Oh, and like a said, we weren't competing against each other, but I did happen to beat all my family members. :)

My running days definitely aren't over.

#20

Last week my birthday happened. It came, went and then I was 20-- and I wasn't a teenager. Surprisingly it feels very different. I feel older and wiser. It was one of the best birthday's ever. I had a party with my family the day before and I got money and an awesome Murder Mystery Dinner Party kit. I'm using some of the money I got to put towards an airplane ticket to go visit my brother Ben and his family in California the last week of July. The rest of it I used to buy Tevas. I was going to get Chacos but they're too expensive. So I settled for the Tevas. They aren't cute, but then again neither are Chacos. They are however, very practical for hiking in (and waterproof too so I can forge through raging rivers).

My friend Jenny (she's the one with me in the first picture) had flowers delivered to my work, my friend Camron took me to lunch and my roommate April did my cleaning check jobs for me. My Visiting Teachers (for those who don't know within the LDS church they pair each of the sisters up and assign them a few sisters to visit shortly once a month. They are there to comfort, listen, and inspire, and just to be a friend) anyway, they gave me a card that sings a song when you open it! I got phone calls, text messages, facebook messages and cards all day long from kind people who took time to wish me a happy birthday. I was very grateful for such good people in my life, and inspired to be a better person.

Later on in the week I went to the Payson Scottish Festival. I got a kilt and dressed up like I was Scottish. So did Jenny and a few others from the ward. Someone even told Jenny that they liked the tartan in her kilt. We learned that a tartan is the design in the kilt; each clan has a different design. A clan is a family group. I looked up my last name in the Scottish clan book and I found it! That means I'm slightly Scottish!

On the way home from the Scottish Festival we stopped at an aluminum statue sale. They had giant horses, gorillas, alligators, giraffes and as you can see in the picture, rhinoceroces. I have no idea how to spell that.

Before I close I have to say that I love my new friend Jenny. We got free slurpees on 7/11 day even though they claimed to be all out (thanks to Jenny's craftiness), we dressed up at the Scottish Festival, saw an improv comedy act, we play the guitar together, sing together, laugh together. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and hope to be like her when I get older. She's the best and I'm lucky to have a friend like her! Oh, and here's a shout out to her mom Kathy! Thanks for reading my blog Kathy!

The 6:00 AM Crowd

Last week I woke up on a Thursday at 6:00 A.M. to go running. It is always nearly impossible to peel my body away from my sheets at such an early hour, but something about this day was different. I laid with my eyes opened for 5 minutes after my alarm clock went off trying to decide if I should wake up or not. Welp, I said, I'm already awake so I might as well. There is something indescribable about being awake and outside at 6:00 AM. Somehow it's as if my mind works in ways it can't at later hours. I ran through a set of sprinklers that had formed a puddle on the sidewalk and I thought, Man, these sprinklers have been awake now for probably 20 minutes. Think of all the things they were able to see in those 20 minutes of extra awake time.

I concluded that people who wake up at 6:00 AM are the truly interesting people in the world. What brings them to wake up so early on a regular basis? A Job? A healthy life style? A baby? A hobby? Insanity? Whatever their story, the 6:00 AM crowd is neat. We all wave to each other no matter what 'fraternity' we belong to. For example the runners wave to the walkers and the guy on his 250 cc scooter waves to the walkers and runners too. You don't have to be part of the same group or genre to get a hello from a fellow 6:00 AM crowd-er.

But then the hour turns to 7:00 and more and more people are out now. The 7:00 AM crowd isn't quite as cool or unique because a lot of people get up at 7:00.

The 6 AM hour is sort of addicting. Even though the experience is rewarding and exciting, my back is magnetized to my bed and the force keeping us together is constantly getting stronger. Maybe I need to sleep on my stomach....do I have a magnet on my stomach?