Fortune tellers

I got two fortunes from fortune cookies at our ward activity this weekend. They were especially pertinant to my current situation and have restored my faith in fortune cookies. (Fortunes have become so lame nowadays). Anyway, the fortunes said...

1. You will become intrigued with Chinese culture and food. (How did they know I was going to China in 3 days?)

2. You will have a lively family. (Note: On July 25, my new last name will be Lively.)

These Chinese people really know their stuff!

One week from today...

...Caron and I will be HERE: Hurray!

I'm going to China, I'm going to China, I'm going to China...Hey, hey, hey, hey! I am totally excited. My friend April just sent me an itinerary of all the things she is going to take us to see while we are there and I am stoked. (Don't worry, we are not going to be affected by the earthquake.)

I have been so extremely stressed out the past couple of weeks so Matt surprised me and made an appointment at the spa for me to go get a massage and other pampering things this weekend. What a sweetie! I love surprises!

I looked up my official time for the tri, and boy was it ever pathetic. My total time was 2 hours and 12 minutes...and that doesn't even count the swim! But I guess I should subtract 30 minutes or so for the time I stayed with Matt after the wreck before the truck came to take him away. And for when I went to check on him between the bike and the run. With taking all of that into consideration, I was only about 5 minutes over my regular times for both the bike and the run, which I'm OK with since the course was so awful.

The triathlon that wasn't (again)

I have decided that I am officially done with the St. George Triathlon. It only brings bad luck. Remember last fall when I attempted to do this triathlon and it got cancelled because of the rain? Well, this year wasn't much better.

We had 8 of us recruited to participate this year, and about 15 others who came as pit crew members. We even had to reschedule the ward activity and move it to a different weekend since we were taking half the ward with us.

So, we drove down on Friday to St. George. At packet pickup, Roy decided to shave his head. They were paying people $5 if they would shave their heads so Roy jumped right up. I wouldn't let Matt do it because we had our engagement pictures scheduled for this week.

Then we all went to the Pasta Factory to carbo load for the big race. It was really yummy last year when we went so we decided to make a repeat visit and we were not disappointed.

We all stayed at the Hampton Inn in St. George. It was so much fun! We raced down the halls on the luggage carts, took a dip in the hot tub, watched part of the Jazz game, and jumped on the beds!

You can't go to a hotel and not jump on the bed...it's the best! We also watched Alison make her bug face. It was hilarious!

We got up bright and early the next morning and headed off to Sand Hollow. It was freezing! We stood around waiting FOREVOR in the windy coldness waiting for our heat to start the swim. After more waiting, they tell us that they were going to cancel the swim because of the wind. Are you kidding me? I could not believe it! I was so mad.

So we all get on our bikes and start riding. It was horrible! The wind was so bad and we were riding directly into it. It felt like I wasn't even moving. I think I was going about 5 miles an hour. (That=slow) About a mile into the bike ride, I see some people off to the side of the road with their bikes. I thought somebody had gotten a flat tire. But then I got closer and saw somebody lying on the road. I rode past and took a double take because it was Matt laying there!

The wind had blown him into the gravel and he took a nasty spill. I turned my bike around and went back to see what had happened. He had a big, gross hole in his knee and blood was everywhere. And his fingers were all shredded up. So I waited with him until a truck came to take him to the medical tent.

My mom made sure he was warm. :) Anyway, at the medical tent they determined that he needed stitches and so they paged Garrett over the intercom to come and take him to the hospital. (In the meantime, I was huffing and puffing up the ginormous hill on my bike. Matt told me he wanted me to finish the race, so I was trying my hardest not to hyperventilate while finishing the race for Matt.)

Garrett and Tyler whisked Matt away to the local instacare where they stitched him up. He got 4 stitches in his knee and one in his thumb. The rest of his fingers were torn up pretty good, so they taped those up. I will spare you the gory detailed pictures that Tyler was so kind enough to document. He even got the grossest video of the actual stitching process.

Here he is trying to be tough as they cleaned him up. The rest of the weekend, he couldn't even walk or do anything. Like feed himself. I had to cut up his meatloaf at lunch and feed him his In-N-Out Burger at dinner. (Yes, they do have an In-N-Out in St. George.)

A big thanks to Garrett and Tyler for helping him so much this weekend. You guys are the best!

And another shout out to our fabulous pit crew for coming to support us. And way to go to all the triathletes...Yay for Caron, Roy, Rachael, Katie, Almarie, Emma, Matt, and me! And my Dad! We all finished except for Matt of course. It was by far the most difficult course I have ever seen. The run was entirely on sand...it was awful.

But I will still continue to do triathlons...normally they are fun. I'm just never doing this St. George one ever again. Ever.

After we got Matt taken care of, we went to the crack in St. George. It was so fun to see everyone try to shimmy through it. I love the crack! Matt spent the weekend hopping around on one leg, but mostly sleeping. His hands look like the crypt keeper because they are all bandaged up. We had to reschedule our engagement photos because I decided I'd rather not have Mr. Frankenstein as my future groom in the wedding announcements.

But anyway, he is doing much better now. He really was lucky that it wasn't worse. He very easily could have broken a bone or severed a tendon or something more serious. I'm so thankful it was just some road rash and a few stitches. And I'm so thankful he is doing better and healing well.

And another interesting thing is that I have completed the entire St. George triathlon course. (It just took me 8 months since I did the swim in September at the last attempt and the bike/run this weekend.)

Never cease to be amazed

These are the awesome students that I work with at BYU. They never cease to amaze me. They are so talented and bright and are full of energy and enthusiasm. Last week, we took them to a student leadership conference at Snow College. They pretty much wore me out! But they were so impressive. They took care of each other and looked out for each other. They helped everyone around them whenever they saw a need. One of the students went around at every meal and cleared everyone's plates.

I was just so impressed by the way they carried themselves. And I'm constantly amazed by their talent, creativity, and ambition. I love working with them.

And they are so much fun! A couple weeks ago we went to a ropes course and just had a ball.

I love this picture. This is Chance on the high ropes course. He was so stinkin' scared to be up there and every part of him was shaking. But he was determined to finish what he started. Seriously, I think if I've ever seen a picture of fear, Chance's face was exactly that. I was so proud of him though for completing the course.

I am just so grateful to have this new job where I have the opportunity to work with such amazing people.

A fairy tale weekend

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a lovely princess named Christy. After many years of wishing and dreaming for a handsome prince to come knocking at her door, she realized that there had been a handsome prince right under her nose for the past year and a half. Little did Princess Christy know that her dear friend, Matt, had been hiding his princely ways from her.

But one day, Princess Christy noticed that her chaply friend Matt really was a prince. Princess Christy was amazed that it had taken her so long to discover his true identity. But once the discovery was made, they embarked on many crazy adventures together.

One day, Princess Christy decided that she needed a vacation. She decided that she needed to visit the happiest place on earth. She invited Prince Matthew to accompany her on this journey. Since Prince Matthew was always up for an adventure, he agreed to the crazy idea. And off they went to the land of where dreams come true.

While in the land of a million dreams, Princess Christy and Prince Matthew had many wonderful adventures. They got drenched on Splash Mountain, danced the waltz in the Beast's Library, and discovered what Disney character they were most like (Christy was Mrs. Potts and Matt was Captain Hook.)

They became honorary bugs and Space Rangers, they got Captain Jack Sparrow's autograph, they did heel clicks down Main Street, and did not die on the Tower of Terror.

They discovered many new and wonderful things in this magical land like giant teacups, a grotto of sea creatures, and even a most delicious caramel apple. (To their delight, it was not even a poisoned one!)

They dined in style at the Blue Bayou restaurant, which was one of the coolest places they had ever seen. The Blue Bayou was located inside the Pirates of the Carribbean ride and resembled a cool summer night on the bayou...complete with drooping willow trees, lanterns, chirping crickets, and candlelight.

There was even a grand southern mansion off in the distance. The food was an excellent array of scrumptious Cajun delicacies. And there were even chocolate deblumes for dessert.

Princess Christy and Prince Matthew even discovered a fairy tale castle where they came upon a wishing well. Princess Christy loves wishing wells and this one was especially fabulous because it was a Snow White wishing well. (Christy bears an uncanny resemblance to this "fairest princess of all") Princess Christy made a wish...

...and Prince Matthew made it come true! Prince Matthew asked Princess Christy to marry him, and she said yes.

(Actually the proposal happened the night before. They were walking along a secluded beach on a starry, moonlit night with the city lights off in the distance, and the waves crashing in around them. Prince Matthew got down on one knee in the sand and asked Princess Christy to marry him. She said yes, but Prince Matthew did not hear her response because of the waves. Ooops! They proceeded to write their names in the sand and Prince Matthew picked up Princess Christy and twirled her around...right into a big wave. They both got soaked! And of course, they celebrated by doing some heel clicks down the beach.)

It was very romantic and a perfect night. Princess Christy loves the beach and it was the perfect setting to have her prince propose. She couldn't have asked for anything better.

And of course, they shared in true love's kiss. :) Since Prince Matthew was not prepared with a ring, he got Princess Christy a lovely Mickey Mouse ring the next day at Disneyland and gave it to her in the fairy tale castle. It was perfect. And Prince Matthew is working on getting Princess Christy a real ring. Very soon.

See...dreams DO come true! Prince Matthew and Princess Christy will be married on July 25 in the Jordan River Temple.

They watched the spectacular fireworks show in the shadows of the magically lit-up fairy tale castle and proceeded to have a wonderful rest of the weekend. It really was the happiest place on earth and Princess Christy is the happiest princess on earth.

And even though you usually conclude these types of stories with "The End," this is only the beginning. But they will live...

...happily ever after. And they will continue to wish upon stars and dream because... if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true!