Changing of the Colors

One of my favorite time of years is almost here. I love the fall, the season where it gets a little cooler, the red, yellow and orange hues come out, the leaves fall off the trees. I love it. I love pumpkins, apples, apple pie, anything Halloween and Thanksgiving. I might have to say that the holiday period between Halloween and Thanksgiving might be my favorite. I love Christmas, but I love the other two also. I was reading an article about the leaves changing colors in New England, something which I've always wanted to see, and I was a little bummed that it doesn't happen like that here. But then I came across an article that made it all better. CNN's travel section mentioned that the fall colors in Southern California are later(of course) than the north, changing about the 1st week of November, so I can see the changing of the colors! One of the places they mentioned was the drive between Ramona and Julian, out Rte. 78. So anyone else who loves this time of year, give me a holla, grab your hot apple cider and we'll go foliage peeking!

What am I doing to train you ask?

Since I asked for Mud Run training ideas, I should probably post what I am doing already. The run is 6.2 miles. I have never run that far before. I can do about 4 miles right now. Some may think that isn't a lot, but for me, the non-runner in my family, this is a milestone. Really, I wasn't a runner, still am not, but I've gotten better. So I've been running some trails near my house, just down near the railroad tracks, near the freeway and around. I just added some stairs into the mix as well. A park below my house has stairs leading up to my complex, so I've been running those. That's about all I've done. So, I know a few of you run marathons or have one coming up, any ideas? 6.2 miles isn't 23, but it's my marathon:)

Mud Run Help

So I'm in need of a little help. I, along with a few others who might read this blog, signed up to run the Camp Pendleton Mud Run on October 20th. I had thought I would get away with not doing it, but thanks to Pam calling me out in Relief Society yesterday, I am now for sure running it. I can't quit now that people know! But I need some training advice. What can I do to make sure my legs will continue to move up and down through the deep mud pits, over the tire obstacles and the wall/mud lake? Any ideas besides dropping down dead right now?

"Oh Don't Worry, You'll be Back"

...the sign said it, but I'm not quite sure if I will, but our Saturday trip to Julian-turned-Santa Ysabel was fun nonetheless. Jenny W., Bryonny, Amanda and I were so excited to drive out to Julian, to enjoy apple pie and the bluegrass festival that was happening this weekend up there. We got ourselves going, driving along the windy Poway Road/78 out to Julian(everyone look straight ahead at the road, no looking at cameras in the back seat, was the phrase of the drive), looking forward to the fun afternoon. Well, we got to a town called Santa Ysabel, population 463, when we were stopped and turned off the road to Julian. We had noticed on our drive, that there was gray-black smoke rising from the direction of Julian, but I had looked the day before to check on a fire near Cuyamaca and knew that fire wasn't near Julian, so we should be fine. Well, a new fire had started in Julian that morning and the sheriffs, highway patrol and police were just then shutting down the road to all, except residents who were able to grab their stuff then evacuate. That would be such a scary thing.
But anyways, we stopped in Santa Ysabel, a small four corner town. There was a Julian Pie Company, where we indulged our need for apple pie and cinnamon ice cream, an antique store we looked around, and the world famous Dudley's Market. I guess it is a great bakery, but they were remodeling, so their baked goods weren't all out. Bummer..but our greatest find was on the way home where we stopped at a fresh eggs shack, and found out that it was a DRIVE THRU! What a fantastic idea, a drive thru egg shack! Saves all the time you might have used looking for your perfect dozen eggs.
Well, while the adventure was not what we set out for it to be, it was a fun Saturday afternoon with the girls. Hopefully they reschedule the Bluegrass festival!

Rise all loyal cougars...

"...and take your challenge to the foe. We will fight, day or night, rain or snow...Oh Rise and Shout, the cougars are out.." So I sang the cougar fight song a few times, but no one else really joined in with me! On Saturday, a group of us went to watch the UCLA Bruins take on the BYU Cougars at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. We all gathered at my house to divide up and carpool up to the big game. We were all excited to go and cheer on our cougs! Well, little did we know, the drive would take us almost 4 HOURS! Two accidents on I-5 backed us up, then once we got onto I-210, we hit game traffic. What a crazy drive. I like short road trips, but 4 hours was almost my max. So we finally get there, then see that we are parking on the green of a golf course! I wonder what the golf course owners do while UCLA football season is going on, guess not golf.
But there we were, game time, we were a few minutes late, but thanks to Maren and Bryan, we got some great seats in the North End Zone.

I had brought along some SPF 70 sun screen, yes they make it that high, everyone was shocked! But it's a good thing, we were in the sun for most of the game. But the view of the field was great, we had a pretty good perspective on what was happening on the field. Some fun comments being thrown at the BYU fans from the UCLA fans, were "Go back to Utah," "Go back on your missions." I love those. But, BYU fans have their phrases as well. Pam heard, "Come on refs, use the power of discernment!" Fun times.

Now a little about the game, BYU started off really rocky during the first half. They threw an interception, fumbled, just couldn't get in a rhythm. So at the end of the first half we were down 20-3. Seemed like we were headed for a blowout. But when the 2nd half started, the cougars were out in force. We drove for 2 straight touchdowns, bringing the score to 20-17. We held UCLA through the whole second half, until the last 2 minutes, when our Quarterback fumbled when he was hit(or some may have called it an incomplete pass, it looked like it was going forward, but make your own call), and UCLA scored their last touchdown (the clock was at 0 after there 25 seconds to get the play started, so I think there should have been some call there, but there wasn't) winning the game 27-17. We were so close, yet little things tripped us up. I like to parallel that to our lives...j/k.
So some pics:


So we all headed out of the stadium, bummed that we lost, but feeling good about our future conference prospects, to see the incredibly long line of cars lined up to get out of the golf course-turned-parking lot. When we had arrived, they had parking attendants telling you where to park. While we were trying to leave, I saw there were no more parking attendants to help you get out, so it was a free for all! Make your own lines to get out. Notice all the red tail lights, each car was it's own line!

After a stop at In-n-Out, another stop to switch drivers (I was sooo tired), we got home 3 hours after leaving. What a day, it was fun but so long. I can't wait until BYU comes to SDSU, closer to home, another fun game with fun people, and maybe someone will sing the fight song with me.
"...Ra Ra, Ra-ra-ra, Ra Ra, Ra-ra-ra, Goooooo Cougars!"

Tiny like a doll

So I went to see my sister and brother-in-law yesterday and of course the new baby, Mariah Mae Jordan. Cutie!! I got to hold her while she slept for about an hour. She was so tiny, her legs were these skinny little things, but she had cute feet and fingers. She has auburn hair! I love that! Anyway, it was a weird feeling to be looking down at my sister's baby, not quite sure why, but it was amazing to think and see that my sister has a baby. Once I figure that sensation out, I'll try and describe it. So here are some pics of the cute little girl(meaning the baby:)

I'm an Aunt!

My sister Shelley had her baby yesterday! I was hoping she would have come on September 2nd and we then we could have shared birthday's, but nope, she wanted her own day. So my birthday week got even better because I have a niece now! Mariah Mae was born at 1:39am Thursday morning, weighing in at 7lbs, 7oz and looking quite alert. She has brownish/auburn hair(Shelley has red hair, so I was hoping for a red head niece), blue eyes and long fingers, all the better for sports and piano playing. Fun times! Let the competition begin for favorite aunt, between the 9 of us entered in(Steve's and Shelley's sides both included), it should be pretty fierce, but I'm willing to go that extra mile and buy her the cutest outfits, accessories and teach her from my wealth of knowledge!