The Freedom Run

The Wood Family 5k runners this year were Mama, Jake, Me, Rebecca, and Andrea. Long-legged Becca had the fastest time for our family. Jake pulled off another "I think I'll run it in my normal clothes and shoes. Why not?" Mom ran it like the trooper she is and did well in her division. Corry woke up sick that morning and couldn't come. Andrea and I had run the course 2 days before to get used to the uphill finish. During the practice run I had to pull her along. During the real race she pulled me along. Since Andrea was my running buddy, I only have pictures of us.

 The little gazelle with her iPod.

 Before the run.

Finishers! The 5k was surprisingly fun. Friends and neighbors and pre-parade watchers cheer you along. Occasionally there would be music blasting along the parade/run route. Lots of fun!

Summer So Far

 Lacrosse with Becca, of course. I'm also working to put together a Utah Valley Girls Lacrosse community network to start and maintain junior league teams to feed into all the high school teams, to get Utah Lacrosse Association clinics in the public school P.E. classes, and to get all of the Utah Valley teams on the same page as far as communication and growth is concerned. I've had really good response so far, exciting! American Fork, Lone Peak, Orem, and Timpanogos are all on board so far!

 Hanging out.

 Work.

Orem Summerfest with Kayla.

 Playing with this kid and Garrett and Evelyn.

 Hiking.

 Hiking.

 Hiking.

 The snow tunnel below Stewart Falls.

 We're going in there? Please don't collapse in the warm melty weather...

 More of Stewart Falls.

 Andrea and Lila at the Carillon Bells Concert.

 This is how the little boys enjoyed the Carillon Bells Concert.

 Sometimes I just love all the random things that the Orem/Provo/BYU area has to offer.

 Evelyn and her big gorgeous eyes!

 Bean Museum yet again, just because Lila had never been before. It doesn't matter how many times I've been; it's still classic.

Benjamin and Garrett planted their plastic cows in their little garden plot. It's a different sort of dairy farm.

Decisions, Decisions

I don't like making life-changing choices. Right now I'm thinking about whether to serve a mission or not. That means I'd have to take Fall semester off to work to pay for it. Taking Fall semester off and then deferring for a mission means postponing school, which means I'll be in school forever. When I get back everyone my age will be done with school and moving on with their lives. That sounds selfish though, I want to be a missionary, and I want to make sure it's for the right reasons. I also need to know that I can afford it because I still want to maintain my goal of graduating with no debt. So far, so good. I still don't know what to do though. There's also the small matter of the fact that my mother would like more grandchildren. She informed me that "the Spirit better knock you over the head before you decide." Choices, choices.

Hello World

It's been awhile.

School 
School was not so bueno this semester. Even though I was only taking 9 credits, I spread myself too thin on other things and didn't give my education the attention it deserves. Why am I so irresponsible?!

Work
We started new quality teams at work, and I have been one of the team leads of the scripting team. I love the extra responsibility, but sometimes I bring work concerns home which isn't my favorite. I also am on a company-wide service committee. It's good yet scary, because it pushes me out of my comfort zone to  coordinate with other businesses and organizations for a big day of service in July.

Coaching
Coaching the lacrosse team has been a blast. Our win-loss record is 7-2, so we've had a good season thus far. Yesterday we had one of BYU's former defenders work with the team. The girls' defensive fieldwork looks so much better! Now we need to jumpstart our offensive plays. Tonight is our team barbecue and retreat, and I'm almost afraid to sleep over with the team. I just know someone will try to pull a prank on Coach Maggie and me. I just know it.

Museum Tours
My favorite tour at the museum so far was for Alpine School District's literacy program. None of the kids (or their parents) spoke any English. It was an adventure trying to explain the exhibit: "Anthropologists say... Oh blast, that word is too big." I also loved working with the families, boy scouts, activity day groups and students that come through the museum.

P.S. - Our new exhibit on Mayan textiles opens on Tuesday, wahoo!

Whoa. That's Crazy.

Even though I have grown up in the era of fast-changing technology, sometimes it makes me stop and say, "Whoa. That's crazy."

This morning in Spanish class, my friend asked me if I heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that just happened. At the time I thought it was crazy that we already knew about it halfway around the world. Then I checked msn.com for the story. They already had not just photos and video footage, but interactive tools and maps, with links connecting to anything you could want to know about it. I mean that's expected of online news sources, but still that is crazy to think about the photographers, reporters, editors, web designers, programmers, and management that worked to give me credible information so quickly.

One of the side stories on msn.com just blew my mind - Google's crisis response page. Holy cow. It includes updated government alarms and warnings, bulletins and message boards, transportation information, power-outage information, and get this - a person finder! The idea isn't totally new, but it's nuts to see technology in action like that.

Just so you know, as of the time of this post, the Church reports that in 5 of the 6 missions in Japan every missionary is safe and accounted for. The last mission they are waiting to here from is near the epicenter where communication systems are down.

To me it seems like the best application for the speed of information that the internet gives us is so we can respond faster and better in order to save lives and aid in the recovery of infrastructures, which also keeps governments and economies stable, which makes the world a safer place.

I expect that the next wave of information will be ways that we can help. So let's help.

Spring Fever

All it took was a few days with tropical 40 degree weather, and now all I can think about is kite-flying, walks up the canyon, picnics at the park, frisbee games, and my favorite flowers - tulips and daffodils.

 (Here is also one of my favorite Wordsworth poems about Daffodils)

What is really going to get me is when Macey's puts out the cheap plastic kites, big rubber balls, bottles of soapy bubbles, and the rainbow-colored jump-ropes in their the seasonal section. And once they put out their Easter stuff, I'm totally done for.

I can't wait until Spring!!!

January Happenings

So it's about time I post, with or without pictures.

Hmmm. Where to begin?

Let's see, I am only taking 9 credits this semester since I am working about 30 hours per week.

• As far as school goes, I love my Spanish class, now that I switched into the right level. I especially love that class because my teacher is a fellow Orem girls lacrosse player and is friends with some of my favorite people! 
• My Doctrine and Covenants professor was a missionary back east when my mom's family lived in New York. I think my grandpa was a counselor in the mission presidency so he got to know the Burnett's and was thrilled to see the grandkid of Reid Burnett in his class.
• My Utah history class is definitely a favorite. The professor is incredibly good. He has the fun job of dealing with a topic that is absolutely loaded with biases at BYU. Although, a majority of the students who go into that class have a narrow opinion of Utah. For those of us from around here it is a bit disheartening. Personally, I like my state. It's home. It's beautiful. I love how much geographic variety there is. I can even make it through the winter when I remember how much I love the summer. And I happen to love the people here.

So what have I done this January?
I finally watched all 3 Bourne movies. I was reluctantly converted to watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. I started coaching the Timpanogos girls lacrosse team. It's been fun to be Becca's coach. She's going to be a great player, especially since she has an amazing attitude at practice. I helped put on my best friend's bridal shower. The best part is that we brought together our old ring of girls from the good old days at Canyon View Jr. High. It was so good to see them all! And of course we had loads of fun at The Soup Kitchen (our apartment). Our place has an uncanny ability of attracting people. Whether it's for sharing dinner, watching movies, P90X, morning scripture study, impromptu game nights, homework help, or ukulele jam sessions, our door is always open and our couches are usually full. You would think that it would be annoying sometimes, but it makes our apartment a home.

Well that is all, so ta ta for now!