it would appear as though i have some catching up to do...so i'm going to start at today and go backward (i know, where's my sense of chronology?)...so today i went to an orthopedic specialist...basically, my knees/hips have been really bad lately (for you anatomically-minded people, my iliotibial tract was too tight, and that equated to bad news for the joints)..so i figured i'd get them looked at so i can start running again...one of the recommended treatments for today were cortizone shots..one in each hip.. slight confession: i'm not the biggest fan of needles to begin with..but stick one in each hip joint, and i'm definitely uncomfortable..the worst part was that an assistant brought the syringes in about 20 minutes before the doctor came in to actually administer the shots...and they just sat there on the table, taunting me...it was like they were saying to me, "run from the room crying like a child..go on, do it"..and i'm going to say that i was fairly close to doing it..anyway, the side effects currently include a feeling of someone taking an axe to each of my hip sockets...to sum up, i'm thinking that it might be a LONG time until my next encounter with this particular form of medicine...
so along the same lines, the last couple months, i've done a few 5ks...the most recent being on thanksgiving day...in 7 degree weather...one of the most miserable experiences of my life (and that was just getting out of the car)...luckily, i have friends that are just as crazy as me...the 5k before that i ran with my older sister...my sister-in-law-to-be (aka my brother's fiancée) was supposed to run with us, but sadly had injured her knee playing soccer and couldn't participate...but she came to cheer us on, as did my mom, brother, brother-in-law, and adorable niece...the first 5k i ever ran was technically a 6k (not entirely sure why, but i wasn't about to argue), and i ran it solo..it was a surprisingly fun race-i just put my ipod and ran until they told me to stop..in other news, i feel that my younger brother deserves a shout-out..this kid is brilliant, athletic, and quite the popular hombre...basically he shows me up in every way possible, so i like to brag about him every now and then...so a couple of weeks ago, he got academic all-state for high school football..i'm pretty dang proud of him:) while we waited for him to receive his award, the only way to distract my fidgety niece was to take pictures... and finally, a shout-out to my youngest brother...following in the footsteps of the rest of my athletic brothers, he is 12 and his team is already taking the pee wee (i think?) championships, going undefeated all season, then traveling to vegas for a tournament and doing pretty well...go terminators (and yes, i'm aware that black and brown don't go together..i think that gives me more points for being uber supportive, don't you?) and that's about the extent of my life for the past three months...a lot of family hang out, and a little bit of trying to not get buried by school in the meantime...and so far, it's been pretty successful...the count-down to the end of the semester is now at 13..let's hope i can make it...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
in honor of school starting and summer being over (...sigh..), i decided to catch up on life..i've always been the person who thought school was a total drag and is only in life to be tolerated..this semester, however, i'm finding myself with a different attitude..(possibly because i do NOT have mono this semester, and for once i'm not retaking classes from when i did)..regardless of the reason for this attitude adjustment, i'm 2 days in and not wanting to start crying when i think about going to class in the morning...granted, it is day 2..but it's a definite precedent for me...i only have 4 classes, the most difficult/intense being human anatomy and statistics (yikes), but i'm feeling semi confident that this semester is going to be a good one..check back with me in a couple of months, and hopefully i'll give you the same answer..in the meantime..
college football starts on SATURDAY..call me a tomboy, but i am so excited..i love watching football almost as much as soccer, and i can't wait to see byu this season..also, with the whole going-independent-next-year announcement, i'm excited to see how this season goes and what goes down next year..bummed that i can't actually GO to the game this weekend, but..stoked for the beginning of the season anyway..go cougs..
Sunday, August 15, 2010
ok so i'm not going to lie, i don't personally know anybody in the military, and nobody in my family has been deployed overseas since WWII, but...i saw this video, and i was in tears 2 minutes in...i have so much respect for all of those people who are leaving their families and going and serving our country...
according to this quote ^^, i shouldn't be a poor college kid anymore....all jokes aside, my family really is bomb...this weekend was so much fun...it was basically the last time we'll all be together for a really long time--my oldest brother, his wife savvy, and my unfairly adorable nephew braden will be moving to south carolina so bob can attend law school..while i'm stoked for them, i'm going to miss them like crazy...at least now i have an excuse to go back east for a visit, right? first on the agenda this weekend were the dreaded family pictures..and, setting a precedent for our family, they went off without a hitch..i think we're going to have some really good-looking pictures when we get them back from the photographer...since they were taken out at a childhood landmark (aka wheeler farm in salt lake), a few of us stayed and visited the farm with our niece and nephew...when it got too hot, we headed back home to my parents' house, where we had an AMAZING barbecue (courtesy of the pro chefs bob, my dad, and my mom) to jointly celebrate the birthdays of padre, drew, and braden...after that we headed out to the real salt lake game (the ride to which was improved dramatically by the reading of a letter i had gotten right before leaving...). it was a great game, and we had a lot of fun..mostly because bob is hysterical to observe while watching a soccer game...my younger brothers (jono and drew) apparently are unaware that smiling IS allowed in pictures...the game finished off with some pretty legit fireworks...the next day being sunday, we went to church and then hung out for the rest of the day..had another barbecue-esque dinner complete with ribs and salmon, followed by 3 types of cake for the 3 different birthday boys...missy and i are great cake decorators...we insisted savvy let us decorate braden's cake (we're allowing her, however, to make the cake to celebrate his actual birthday in august)..after that we all had to say goodbye, with missy and andrew going back to centerville while bob and sav headed back to lehi...i'm going to miss them so much... luckily, my weekend didn't quite end there...monday morning, bob, savvy, braden and i went out to eagle mountain and did some target practice with the shotgun that bob's apx buddies gave to him as a going-away present...needless to say, i'm going to need a lot of practice until i become a sharp shooter...or swat team member... however, i got pretty dang good at loading the gun...and braden looked adorable with his little earmuffs...though he didn't like keeping them on for long periods of time...all in all, a great weekend with some amazing and fun times with my family..i can't wait until we're all together again...until then, just call me annie oakley...without the red hair...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
so i was at work the other day, and on my break i sat down to watch the tour de france...and in the 45 seconds i was sitting there watching, i stumbled across yet another place i want to see when i visit france next year(the plan is to go to paris for study abroad with byu in april...that is, assuming i can somehow afford this trip and they actually accept me into the study abroad program..right now i'm not worrying about assumptions..). This place is called the Château de la Brède in Gironde, France..this castle is the birthplace and home of the philosopher Montesquieu..brilliant man, that's for dang sure..this place is right outside Bordeaux, and about 300 miles from paris..which is perfect, because i will be in prime location to go there...and honestly, this is another one of those places that a person would have to be insane to not want to visit...i mean, seriously? look at this castle.. so i am planning on adding this to my already long list of sights to see in france...maybe i should just move there for a year or two...i'd get a lot more done that way
Sunday, July 18, 2010
not to be an elitist or anything, but any person from byu better think this is as funny as i think it is...
i think that the 4th of july is my favorite holiday...after christmas, that is..i mean, this holiday is all about relaxing, swimming, and celebrating freedom and a country that is unique above all other countries on earth..anyway, this 4th of july was a great one...i didn't have to work (always a plus), and it was one of the last times my whole family will be together (except for dave) for a long time, what with bob and sav moving to south carolina in less than a month..so the morning of the 3rd (the official celebratory day, seeing as the 4th was sunday) we headed up millcreek canyon for the annual rees family 4th of july picnic..normally i dislike extended family functions because the only two questions i hear directed my way were, "so where are you going to school" and/or "so when are you getting married?". fortunately, this year that was avoided, and i was actually re-introduced to my extended family (a much needed activity for me, who seems to have forgotten everybody--no offense intended). plus, there was great food, provided by the amazing cooks in my dad's fam..the whole fam, excluding dave (in new mexico for an internship) and mi madre.. both my adorable niece AND nephew..can't get any cuter than that, eh? (i'm just going to go ahead and assume that you agree with me, seeing as disagreement would signal insanity..) that night we had a barbeque, followed by fireworks in kaysville...complete with gorgeous sunset... after that great day, the ACTUAL 4th of july had a little less mellow, though no less spectacular fireworks at the simmons' residence..teenagers+pyrotechnical displays=massive amusement... however, ms. rees and ms. simmons are no less amusing with a camera... see? told you..so to top off my weekend of no work and ALL play, my good friend kalen and i headed up to willard bay to work on our tans and go out on his uncle's wave runners...needless to say, i loved it...one of the funnest i-didn't-know-this-was-a-date-until-i-got-there dates of my life..it was great, and i became a pro at whipping kalen off said wave runner..unfortunately, today i cannot move my entire upper body..hopefully there are more 4th of july's equal or surpassing this one...
slight confession: i'm not the biggest fan of needles to begin with..but stick one in each hip joint, and i'm definitely uncomfortable..the worst part was that an assistant brought the syringes in about 20 minutes before the doctor came in to actually administer the shots...and they just sat there on the table, taunting me...it was like they were saying to me, "run from the room crying like a child..go on, do it"..and i'm going to say that i was fairly close to doing it..anyway, the side effects currently include a feeling of someone taking an axe to each of my hip sockets...to sum up, i'm thinking that it might be a LONG time until my next encounter with this particular form of medicine...
luckily, i have friends that are just as crazy as me...the 5k before that i ran with my older sister...my sister-in-law-to-be (aka my brother's fiancée) was supposed to run with us, but sadly had injured her knee playing soccer and couldn't participate...but she came to cheer us on, as did my mom, brother, brother-in-law, and adorable niece...
the first 5k i ever ran was technically a 6k (not entirely sure why, but i wasn't about to argue), and i ran it solo..it was a surprisingly fun race-i just put my ipod and ran until they told me to stop..
in other news, i feel that my younger brother deserves a shout-out..this kid is brilliant, athletic, and quite the popular hombre...basically he shows me up in every way possible, so i like to brag about him every now and then...so a couple of weeks ago, he got academic all-state for high school football..i'm pretty dang proud of him:) while we waited for him to receive his award, the only way to distract my fidgety niece was to take pictures...
and finally, a shout-out to my youngest brother...following in the footsteps of the rest of my athletic brothers, he is 12 and his team is already taking the pee wee (i think?) championships, going undefeated all season, then traveling to vegas for a tournament and doing pretty well...go terminators (and yes, i'm aware that black and brown don't go together..i think that gives me more points for being uber supportive, don't you?)
and that's about the extent of my life for the past three months...a lot of family hang out, and a little bit of trying to not get buried by school in the meantime...and so far, it's been pretty successful...the count-down to the end of the semester is now at 13..let's hope i can make it...
