Swimming on Thanksgiving

Jealous? If you are jealous, I'll just admit to you that it was very, very cold. Here's a slew of pictures--I'm so sad that we're packing up tonight to leave in the morning.

Water dog.

 

Scaredy dog.

Poor guy. He's a...cautious swimmer (that's code for wuss). We kept throwing him in the pool. Hmmmm, maybe he'll just be scared of us now, instead of water.

Too cold for babies. So this one just sat to the side, lookin' cute.

 






Thanks for the swell time, Arizona!

We Be Trippin

We've been in Arizona for a few days now, trying to keep up with Michael's nieces and nephew. It's been so nice to spend days in the playroom and sunshine instead of in cubicles.

We spent the night in Southern Utah to break up the drive (15 hrs!!). Moose loved that king size bed.

Here he is, in the lap of luxury/a cheap hotel, sticking his tongue out at the commoners.

We set off, full of a gross continental breakfast, only to sit on the highway for about an hour. Bummer. Moose and I got out and ran around in the sand for a while, which drove all the dogs in the cars absolutely bonkers. It was a little surprising that no one else got out of the car--maybe they weren't as thrilled as I was to be on vacation. I took this photo while people stared, just for you, blog reader.

Versa commerical?

Grand Canyon! Michael had never been here before. We were hunting around for someone to take our picture, which was actually quite difficult because 1) I'm overly shy when I need someone to take a picture 2) English wasn't the dominate language for 90% of the people there. We saw a basketball team and I awkardly asked, while Michael awkwardly tried to get Moose to hold still. Then the entire basketball team started giving the volunteer photographer advice. So, we're smiling while 12 highschool boys shout suggestions like "get out of the shade of the tree" and "you can't even see the dog from there". Well, they were right. You can barely see Moose's doofy smile and we are in the shade of the tree, but I still like the picture.

I loved it.

Hopefully we can visit the Grand Canyon sometime when we go more than 20 ft below the rim.

Hot air balloons outside of Pheonix. That made the last bit of our drive a little more interesting.

I'm so happy to be here. Thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow for us. Woot!

5 Years

Michael and I are going on a hot date tonight. We've been dating for five years.Well, five years-ish; we're not sure of the actual time that we started dating. Our first date was this week five years ago, but we'd been talking so much before then that it didn't feel like a first date. For example, I didn't wear makeup, we played a game with my parents, and spent most of the time driving around. It was great.

Sometimes I write lettters on my blog, so here's a five year anniversary letter to Michael.

Dear Michael,

You're really good at loving me. Thanks.

Love,
Sarah

PS- Happy Anniversary! 

We Got Some Snow, Joe

Welp, it sure is snowing here in the S-L-C. It's sort of great, although I did remember the difficulties of driving in the snow. Maybe it's not driving in the snow as much as driving in the snow while other people are driving in the snow. Par example, on my drive to work on Friday, a woman chose to drive 15 mph. on the freeway. in the fast lane. I also forgot what it's like when the snow on the roof of your car warms up enough that it sshhhhhlooops onto your windshield. I actually yelped when this happened to me. I suppose I thought that a giant clump of snow had dropped out of the sky, only to fall on me.

Ashley and I went on a jaunty run in the snow. I kept imagining people in their houses, covered in blankets with something warm to drink, watching to crazyfaces run by them. I then helped Jackson volunteer to sell tickets at a little league game. I was cold, but the small children playing football were colder.

The beautiful weather inspired a new found urgency to buy boots and the need to take our black pup to run around in the white snow. It was a swinging good time.

Here he comes to save the day!

 

  

 

  We also hosted Sunday night dinner, which is one of my very favorite things. This meant that Michael's parents and grandparents had to sit around a card table, using mismatched dinnerware, watching Michael and I flit about while we attempt to determine whether our enchiladas were done. But, as my Uncle Sal always said, "If the recipe's a mess, then the dinner was a success."

Alright, I never had an Uncle Sal, but I still believe the sentiment.

Faire de Jogging

Well, my friend Ashley is currently in charge of my life. She tells me where to go, what to do, and for how long. I'm actually very happy about this.

I've shied away from public blog announcement of my running aspirations because 1) I wasn't sure I could actually run a half marathon until I ran three blisteringly fast 3 miles with Ashley this morning and 2) it seems that I've already told most everyone who reads my blog.

After being soundly chastised by...everyone, about the state of my running shoes, which double as my lawn mowing/muddy hiking shoes, I upgraded today. This meant that I went to a running store where they asked me a lot of hard questions like, What are you looking for today? and How many miles do you run per week on average? My favorite question was What shoes do you have right now? I answered, My Mom bought them for her last marathon, which was in about 2004.

Ashley came up with the SarahandAshleyRun plan during lunch a few weeks ago. Moose was on board immediately. Michael even accompanied me on a highly supportive family jog a few days ago which will go down in history. Why will it be forever documented, you ask? Because, while cutting through a parking lot, the three of us trod upon wet cement--muchto the chagrin of the construction crew that had just laid it down. So, behind a newly constructed Texas Steakhouse there will be Sarah tracks and Michael tracks, with Moose tracks on the middle. Mmmmm Moose Tracks. Needless to say, the fastest part of our run was running away from the construction crew.

Here's a few shots of the hobo shoes and the new shoes.

I'm officially registered, so look out.