Racing to Catch Up...

I am so behind on my blog. I apologize for all of that. I feel like I've been racing to catch up to an ever faster moving life. I'm single, really how crazy busy can it get!! Don't worry, for all of you out there who legitimately have busy family lives, I'm not taking anything away from that, but a single girl can have a busy life as well....

Since my last posting, I've been able to continue to train for another race, fly to Utah for Celia's graduation, drive up to Kiel and Melissa's for their daughter Rhyan's blessing, fly up to the Bay Area for the race and time with family, and then back. And somewhere in all that, try to be a Relief Society President to 130 women and the families of the ward, find time to fit in the many friends that I love to be around, date someone-then stop dating someone, start watching BYU football again as the season opens up, try to get back into a social scene to hopefully date another, take time to go to an All Girls Weekend before a best friend gets married, and we have now made it to the end of September. (Sorry for the laundry list, but sometimes it helps me to do that so I can see that I'm actually accomplishing some things. Looking at the blur of days tends to make one feel like you never actually get things done). And through all that, working 40 hours a week kind of gets in the way (what?).

So yes, Celia graduated from BYU!!! She has now entered that wonderful part of life called indecision and make-it-up-as-you-go. I was able to go up, see my parents who came out for it, Brigitte and Tyler and their kids and my friend Allison, her husband Kyle and their baby and right before flying out, I met up with another friend in Salt Lake and we toured the Conference Center, since I'd never been inside.

The next weekend, a couple from my former singles ward got married, so Saturday was wedding day!

The beginning of September brought about my 32nd birthday (actually, I am starting to just invert the numbers, so 23 folks!). The birthday weekend I went to Extraordinary Desserts here in San Diego with some girl friends. Love that place, everything is so prettily decorated that you almost don't want to eat it, but you know the inside is going to taste every bit as wonderful as the outside looks, so you have to! That next Sunday, I went up to my brothers house where I met, for the 2nd time, my newest niece Rhyan Patrice Christensen. She was blessed that Sunday and I got to see all my family who came into town for it. What was also great was that labor was the next day so I got to stay over night with my family all up there. We hung out, celebrated the September birthdays (there were about 9 of them), played with the nieces and nephews, went to the hotel, talked till late, got up early, breakfast-ed, talked and then headed back to San Diego. Fun times were had.

That next weekend, my friends threw me a birthday party. I wanted a crepe party, so my wonderful friends learned how to make savory and sweet crepes and any topping you could think of was there. Chicken, veggies, treats, whipped goodness and other wonderful things were there. My friends know how to do things so great!! Couldn't be happier with them!

The following weekend, September 16th and 17th, 8 girl friends and I went up to the Bay Area to run the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay. Just like my race in April that I posted about, this was a 12 team run, starting on the San Francisco Marina, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin, Sausalito, San Anselmo, all those small towns and then up into the Napa wine country. We wound through vineyards, farms and beautiful valleys. It was an awesome run. We picked up 4 girls that we didn't know from up there (one was a friend of one of my friends) and we ran from there! I got to visit my parents, Brittany, Gabe and Sydney, Grandma K, Clayton Valley 1st ward and my roommate got to come with me for all of this as one of our drivers. Fun times, more bling to add to my race collection (only 3 medals now:), hurt hips, heel and possible bone spur, but super great times!

Last weekend, I hosted a BYU football party at my house. It was fun, we did home made pizza. I finally caught up with my entire presidency on Saturday for a presidency meeting and planning. This coming weekend is the girls weekend out in Indio. My friend who is getting married in October in Utah, is marrying a guy who has a timeshare out there and he is being really wonderful by letting his fiance and all her friends crash the place. So fun times. On Sunday, I will head back towards the coast to meet up with my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Tim, their kids Rushell and Kris, their families, my cousin Amy and her family, Shelly and her family, Kiel and his family...oh, that's the end of the list:)

Somewhere in there, we had the great So Cal Blackout, Relief Society activities, ward temple nights, friends birthdays, bachelorette party, missionary discussions, meetings, work, emotional roller coasters, visiting teaching, emergency preparedness, etc....It's been a busy little while lately! You'd think there would be a calm time soon...but quickly we are moving into my favorite time of year, fall, then holiday's then the new year. And then we'll sit back and wonder where all the time went, but at least I can look back and measure that yes, I did get some things accomplished.

The Ultimate.

After a week that was, in my book, pretty rough and long, I was ready for some fun and relax time. Luckily, to celebrate the end of a long and rough day, I got to play ultimate frisbee with a bunch of friends who play every week. I haven't been able to play until last night. And now I remember why-I hurt!! I can run for some distance, but I forgot how much starting, stopping, zigging, zagging, sprinting, slowing can hurt. My muscles are sore! But it was great to play for a couple hours and work off some energy that had been pent up.

I've had a lot to do over the last couple weeks for my church assignment and I have a lot of thoughts running through my head. When I get them sorted out, I might be able to post a few and share what was the lesson learned. But one thing that was so great was I saw super nice things done for me, when it wasn't me that was going through the rough time. I was stressed yes, emotional yes, but it wasn't my trial. But my family was nice to call and ask how I was, I even got a call from a member of the High Council who knew it was a rough week for a newly called Relief Society President and he just called to say I was doing a good job with a hard task. My friends let me know that I was doing good and that they were there when I needed to let it out. Amazing how there really are so many good people.

Summertime snapshot...

1. Sunburns, the good kind that blister and peel for a couple weeks, super great :)

2. BBQ's-love the bbq smell and taste of grilled everything!

3. warm summer nights when you can just walk out your door and go for a walk.

4. late sunset-allows you time to go watch the sun set and do everything else you need to before hand.

5. fireworks over the ocean

6. so many birthdays!!

7. service by others to others-so great to watch this happen.

8. temple so close and gorgeous as the sunsets

9. family parties and nieces and nephews

10. fantastic and fabulous friends

11. so much to do and see in San Diego, my favorite right now, free concerts in the parks and at Balboa Park, one of my favorite places.

Cleansing of the Pores....Mud Run style

In June, I got roped into running the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. A member of my former bishopric corralled me at a ward activity and said his team needed another runner...in 2 weeks!! Could I be ready to run 6.2 miles, marine style, through a muddy obstacle course?! Yeah...no big deal. So away I went, trained for 2 weeks! And we got there and ran our little hearts through the mud! It was up hill, down hill, through a chest deep river, obstacle walls with mud on each side, another hill with a river running down it and then finally, a mud crawl under wire like the Marines. Good times folks! I was nervous beforehand how it would go, since I hadn't really trained for it. But I had such a fun time with these ladies, who were running for the American Diabetes Association. They were great and just wanted to go out and have fun and finish. So that's what we did.

I did it again....

I signed up with my friends for ANOTHER Ragnar Relay. Yup, we might be crazy for doing it again, but there you have it! This time, we're running in the Bay Area. We signed up for the Napa one, which starts in San Francisco and ends up in Calistoga, in wine country. You run through all those small wine towns. It is September 16th and 17th, so time to get more training in again! I need to get at least 2 months of training in. I think I would have done better had I trained for more than a month for the last one. But now I have 2, so I need to get on the ball!!
We have most of the same team running again, with a couple exceptions. One is getting married in August, so I guess that means she can legitimately leave the team of "All the Single Ladies" but kind of a bummer to lose her. And the other great deal is since we're coming from further than 100 miles away, we don't have to provide any volunteers for the race course. Yay for us! And wonderful for all of our friends who would have been in the running for best volunteers:)

Check out this blog!

I found this blog on another friends blog. Looks fabulous! And she was in my ward at one point. Unfortunately I only remember the name, not the I'm sure wonderful person behind it:)

http://thisweekfordinner.com/

Seems like some good stuff if you're looking for help in the dinner column.

I'll catch up, but first....Second Time around!

I will for sure post the rest of Nashville here soon...and the mud run experience... but just a few things have come up that have made life just a little more busy.

I love Relief Society, and apparently, I'm supposed to really love it I because I got that RS pres calling...again...in my new family ward this last Sunday. Really?! Again?! I've had a week to digest, contemplate, realize I don't know any sisters names in the ward (remember, I've only been there 9 months!), and that the first big challenge is that there are 6 women pregnant and they are all expected have their babies this summer..ok so meal sign up sheet will be going around! 2 other ladies just had their babies this last week as I was hearing about needs of the sisters. So, welcome to the calling:)

It should be good and as I was told, a time for me to grow and learn (no kidding:). Luckily, my choices for counselors and secretary said yes, and they are solid ladies who I know will help wherever they can, and who were told by the outgoing president, to make sure to help me out so that I can have a social life too:) So thoughtful of her (but a concern that was weighing on my mind!) So forward we go, hopefully upward and not downward...;)