Cherry Cream Cheese



Vacation Spending Tips

After coming home from a wonderful/long vacation, I thought this 'Money Monday' would be focused on some tips we used on our last vacation (pictures of vacation to come!).

Budget:

 I can't stress this enough. You should know by now that I like to budget everything and when going on vacation I like to plan how much we are going to spend (estimating high) and then set that money aside so that we don't come back to a big credit card bill. I like to think about gas, treats, souvenirs, and meals.

Use Cash:

Sounds simple but sometimes it's just so much easier to swipe your cards than to deal with change. I've found that when I take a set amount with me, I feel more guilty about whipping out the Visa. Plus it makes you really think about your purchases.

Be a Cheap Date:

Whenever you can use coupons, gift cards, share meals, etc. This tip is great for restaurants/fast food places. I always save my receipts from Arby's, Wendy's, and Burger King because if you call the number on the back and complete a quick survey and you sometimes you can get a free meal (or at least a great deal).

 P.S. How do you like the new design? I love it! But I also loved the old one....

Scriptures

"By reading the scriptures I am so  renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."
-Thomas Merton

Please feel free to leave your favorite scriptures in the comment box. I want to see what puts "fire and music" under your feet....

Legs.

Today is the last post of the week, for I will be at Lake Powell from Thursday to the next Wednesday. It is my favorite place in the world and I recommend it to anyone who has not been. Anyway on to the workout for the week.

I think that being a soccer player made me appreciate really good-looking legs. So this post is dedicated to my favorite leg workouts.

Calf raises: putting your toes on the edge of a stair or chair lift up your body until you are on tippy-toe and go back down (I like to do these after running, it makes me feel like muscular).

Squats: stand with feet apart and well....squat. I'm sure there is a proper way of doing these that I'm not telling you but these are just my faves.

Lunges: My junior high P.E. teacher (Ms. Givens) would be proud to know that I still do these and have perfect form. Start with your legs together, with your right foot step as far forward as you can while still being able to push back up. Hold it for a count of three and then try it on the left. This one will make you sore!

I know that some of you fitness people are reading my blog and laughing but I would really like to know more leg workouts that you have. I like trying new things!

Itallian Dressing Chicken

Are you ready for the easiest/fastest/most delicious dinner you can make in less than 30 minutes? Bon Appetite!

Planning your Future.

I had a great tip from our landlord about saving money. He said to plan out all the things you want in life (i.e. house, kids, cars, education, etc.) and put a price on each thing. Then put a year next to the thing you want. After that calculate how much per year, month, and week you will have to save to get that thing. It was nice to see things in perspective. Example:

Extreme Apartment Makeover: Cheap Edition!

Do I use too many exclamation points in my posts? Oh well, I don't care. I like 'em.  Anyway, the other day I was looking at our cute little apartment and decided that it needed a little face lift and I knew just the gal to do it...me! Ever since I was little, I have loved redecorating my room and changing things up a bit. Here are the pictures:



Breakdown:
flowers: $0-Grandma's closet gift certificate
pot: $0 wedding gift
trunk: $0 Austin's grandma's
red moss: $2 Michaels
styrofoam: $1 Michaels
TOTAL: $3


Step one, acquire adorable pot (thank you wedding presents). Step two, place Styrofoam block into pot and arrange flowers. Step three, place moss in pot to please the eyes. Step four, obtain rundown trunk. Step 5, line the trunk with leftover fabric from another project. Step 6, place in desired area and at embellishments.

I got $75 worth of stuff for only $22. I know, I'm pretty good.

7 Day Workout Challenge!....... UPDATE

I'm about not posting Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. I was too busy to get to a computer. But don't cry, I'm here now.

If you are still a little weary of doing the 7-day challenge. Here's a little guide to show where you are going to be sore the day after your work-out.



Day five is actually your bum but I didn't want to scare away what few readers I have with a photo of that. I wasn't sore at all on day 6 or 7. You aren't too sore but it feels like you worked out. If you missed the last work-out Wednesday here is the challenge. And I seriously want to hear about it if you tried the challenge. I did it and I want to keep it going. I'm going to be super buff! It really felt great to say that I could do it all and it only took me about 15 minutes each day (except day 6 and 7). TRY IT, you don't have anything to loose... except for maybe a few pounds.

Yard Sale Success!

As I mentioned on Thursday, we had a yard sale and it was fabulous. Here's some tips I learned:

• Don't try and do everything yourself. Assign everybody one task (i.e. put up signs, handle money, walk around, take goods to a donation center, etc.). These tasks seemed simple but if you try and do all of them by yourself you get overwhelmed very quickly.
• Using a spreadsheet with a multi-family yard sale is crucial. I made one that added up totals after each customer and balanced itself (give me a break I'm a teller, for crying out loud). This made it so easy to see instantly how much each person had made.
• Putting ads on KSL and Craigslist brings in the people. I put a map on each website and I also created an event on facebook.

This was a great way to clean out the house, get some extra cash, and let someone turn your junk into treasures.

Austin's Birthday Surprise!

So Austin's birthday was in May, but I'm new to blogging and apparently pretty bad at it, so that is why I did not post this sooner. For my Love's 24th I set up a scavenger hunt with 24 things I love about him (it was hard to narrow it down). Here he is looking for the clues: they were all over the house, garden, mailbox, and his car. Some of the clues came with little presents like candy or toys. It was so much fun. At the end I gave him the big present: his Sanuks! He loves them. Happy Friday!!!

Headbands & Bracelets for Sale...Sorry SOLD OUT!

At the beginning of July we had a huge yard sale with my sister and our friends. It was a great success and contributed greatly to our "cruise" fund. At the yard sale I decided to make some easy headbands and bracelets from old t-shirts that I found online...somewhere. I can't remember where I saw this but if you deserve the credit for this brilliant design, then take it- it's yours.

Step 1: Find an old t-shirt that you are willing to cut up. I think that it has to have some polyester in it or it won't stretch when you get to step 4. Austin and I got two extra large men's t-shirts for volunteering at a race. We were never going to wear them so I thought these were perfect for this project.

Step 2: Cut the seams off the bottom of the t-shirt. If you don't it will mess you up when you get to step 4. Next, cut the shirt up the side and along the sleeve, so that the shirt is cut in half. This makes it easy for you to make long strips along the bottom of the shirt.

Step 3: Cut the shirt into 6 long strips. I made mine about an inch wide and I left them all connected at the top. It made it a lot easier to weave. NOTE: I tried cutting some of the headbands into 4 strips or 8 and this changes the width of the band. 4 strips was a lot easier to weave and may be a good way to start until you get the hang of weaving.

Step 4: Pull the pieces to that they stretch and roll into long strings.

Step 5: Get ready to weave! This was the hardest/longest step. Start with the farthest string on your right and weave it under and over the other strings. Continue with the next string on the right. When you start, it looks wrong but keep going and it will turn out fine.

Step 6: When you think it's about done. Put it around your head to measure the length your want. REMEMBER: it will stretch so cut it accordingly and leave enough room for step 7...

Step 7: Using Velcro, attach the two ends together. At first I tried sewing them together but I decided that it was easier to put on and take off with the Velcro.

BONUS! Step 8: For fun colors, try dying or bleaching your headbands. I put this whole headband in the bleach and got a wonderful white headband (great contrast for brunettes like me). I also tried just dying parts of the shirt before I cut it up and it was a wonderful tie-dye effect. Depending on how you dilute your bleach, you can get a variety of colors (i.e. the more water the less color will be taken out of the shirt).

Step 9: Sport your headbands with pride. Or sell them like I did. I sold mine for 25 cents or 5 for $1. I had a few come and buy 5 each and one lady bought the my whole supply. I made about $10 bucks off of them (that's a big ticket item at a yard sale).

7 Day Workout Challenge!

I saw this on KSL's Studio 5 website, thought I'd give it a try, and I added days 6 and 7 to make it a full week. I'm only on day 3 (squats) and it's been great so far. I did the crunches just fine but the push-ups were killer. I can't raise my arms above my head today but that only means that it works! If you try it out let me know how you felt. I really like it...so far. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Breakfast Burritos

I've been loving looking at ways to make meals and freeze them. At Money Saving Mom she makes a lot of freezer meals in just one hour every week. I've tried some of them and I love having them all ready to go and I just have to reheat them. Click here for the link to the breakfast burritos. Yummers...

I think I made about 15 and they lasted the whole month. They were so good for any meal. I definitely recommend them to anyone!

Rule of 72

This is going to be a short but very sa-weet post. Well, I had no idea about this little formula but it's really cool when you are planning investments. Here it is:

72/interest rate =

Years to double your money

For example, let's say you get 2% (interest rate) on a certificate at your financial institution.

72 / 2 = 36

So, it will take 36 years for that money to double.

Pretty cool, eh? It does help you see how your money can work for you. Have a great Monday!

Happiness.

Just a few thoughts to brighten your Sabbath.

"Happiness consists more in small conveniences of pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life." - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."  - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)



Being happy. Also, being patriotic....



"If you aren't happy, why aren't you?"

Abs.

I hate having a pooch. It's always there haunting my sanity and blocking the view of my toes... OK it's not that bad but I do have a little belly bulge that needs to be conquered. When I do run (rare occasion), I like to do some ab work-outs after, that way I don't feel as guilty when I stuff my face with chocolate cake. These are my favorites (I made up the names because I'm awesome and totally qualified to do that):

Bicycle:
-Laying with your back on the floor, hands holding your head, twist your elbow toward the opposite knee. Repeat with the opposite arm and leg. I think this one works best if you hold it for 1 second.

Regular:
Ya know... up, down, up, down, up down... one hundred, thousand times...

Twist and Shout:
Sit with your legs out in front of you. Raise your legs so your body is in a "crunching" position. Twist your arms from side to side, keeping your legs raised.

FEEL THE BURN!!!

Do you have any good ab workouts I can add?

Burgers and Shrimp Salad

Oh you just gotta love summer BBQ's. In honor of their arrival, I have dedicated this post to them. We'll with every good BBQ you have some yummy pasta salad's and that is my tasty treat for today. This is super easy and if I could I would eat this everyday for every meal for the rest of my life.

Shrimp Salad:

• 1 box of bow tie pasta
• 1 bottle of thousand island dressing
• 1 can of shrimp
• 1 diced cucumber (optional)

Cook pasta as directed. Run under cold water and drain. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. ENJOY!

Like I said very VERY easy and very delicious! Happy Tuesday, friends!


Are you salivating yet?



Freebies

I don't know about you but I love getting free things. Did you ever go to a fair and just take all of the free swag that business give out to lure young children to your booth. LOVE THAT! I'm in the making for becoming a hoarder. Anyway, Austin and I are trying to save some $$$ and that gets hard when you just want to splurge on something with your hard earned cash. Introducing

FREEBIES!

They are mostly samples of a product that the company wants you to try out. I started doing this back when I posted about getting the magazines. Then, I looked into it more. I found websites like Money Saving Mom and Freebies 2 Deals. If you "like" them on Facebook they post updates about great deals and freebies. So far I've only gotten shampoo samples but it takes 4 to 6 weeks for them to come in the mail and I'm just getting started. Most of the deals come from the companies directly but Walmart and Target have a "samples" page on their website that you can get samples through as well.



Just love seeing these when I open my mailbox.



Today.

I think this is a good summer quote. I love summer and everyday in it. Even though I love going to school and learning, it's wonderful to just LIVE during summer.

"No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy the sunlight today, mix good cheer with friends today, then enjoy it and bless God for it. Do not look back on happiness or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated of it." - Henry Ward Beecher

We're dorks.

Shopping Trip! Part I

Hello there everybody! Well for today's dose of thriftiness I've decided to post about my recent shopping trip. I bought a whole month's worth of groceries for $147! That may not seem great to you but it was awesome for me. I ended up saving about $15 using price matches and coupons. Have you ever watched the show 'Extreme Couponers'? These folks are crazy about getting lots of stuff for practically nothing. I'm not one to coupon, price match, or play the drug store game but I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the first step in the master plan (I know that it's a lot like the last 'Money Monday but hang with me):

• Create a Meal Calendar for the whole month. At first this is really daunting. I thought "How in the world am I supposed to come up with 30 meals?" But you don't have to do that at all. I just came up with a few meals that are easy and that we like and just made the schedule off that. My meal calendar is this:

Sunday = Dinner at Parents House

(Need I explain?)

Monday = Brinner

( Breakfast for Dinner. I have muffins and eggs, french toast, omelets, and breakfast burritos)

Tuesday = Tastes like Chicken

(Just an easy chicken meal. There's chicken casserole, chicken rolls, BBQ chicken, and crockpot chicken.)

Wednesday = Hamburger Helper

(Select varieties of everybody's 30 minute meal.)

Thursday = Pasta Pleasers

(Had to have this somewhere saying as we are both Italian. There's shrimp salad w/ hamburgers, bowtie pasta with Italian Dressing, and classic Spaghetti.)

Friday = Leftover Clean-out

(Waste not, want not)

Saturday = Something New

(I left this day for something exciting to try. Recipes include porkchops with potatoes, pulled pork sandwiches, and yummy desserts!)

Pretty simple, eh? I pretty much did the same thing for lunches, I thought of 4 lunches that are easy (sandwiches, smoothies, etc.) and rotated them every four days. For breakfasts we pretty much only eat cereal so that was a sinch. Remember that you don't have to stick to a schedule when making the meals, this step is just to help you prepare your list. I go to the grocery store once a month for the big trip and then little trips for milk, bread, eggs, etc. I've found that it saves me money to do less trips but you should always do what works for you.

Next Thrify Thursday I will be talking about making 'the list'....you know the one.

Stadium Mile

Austin, Me, Mandy (sister), Dad, Dan (brother), Gracie (niece), Sammy (nephew) at the Ogden Marathon. We did the relay together and finished 47th out of 117 teams. I think it was rigged...

Happy Wednesday! Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week....I was busy with...life. Anyway this one is just a short and sweet work-out. It's a really good one for running that gets your footwork down while conditioning. A stadium mile is usually done on a standard football stadium track. You run the curves and when you get to the stairs you go up and down. Continue this for the four laps.
    I like to change up what I do on each lap for the stairs. The first lap I just run straight up. The second lap I hop on the just right foot, run down, hop on just the left foot, run down, and hop on both feet. This really pushes your calves (ye be warned!). The third lap I like to "ski hop" up the stairs. To do this, you keep both feet together and start on the right side of the step. When you jump up, you will aim for the left side of the next step. You alternate sides with each step keeping your feet together looking like a skier, thus the "ski hop". For the last lap, I like to push myself and sprint up the stairs as fast as I can. It really makes you feel good when you finish!

Happy running to you!

Smoothies!

Howdy! Well for today's tasty treat, I decided to make something yummy for summer. My mom used to make these smoothies for me in the morning while I got ready for school. I love them.

Ingredients:
1/2 of a banana
1 plain/strawberry small yogurt
1/2 cup of orange juice
Directions:
Add all ingrediants in a blender and let it crush it all up.


Does anyone have any favorite smoothie recipes they would be willing to share? I would love to try them!

Grocery Shopping

Oh, Hi! There is a reason I started with budgeting before diving right into Grocery Shopping. You have to know how much you want/have to spend for grocery shopping or else you don't know if you are saving any money really. My sister really helped me with this. I already had set up my budget but she showed me how to make that money go farther. Here are a few of the tips I picked up:

1. Make a list. If you go in with a plan you will always have a more successful trip. I like to organize it into aisles in the store. From there I put how much I expect to pay next to it. While I shop I put how much I actually spent next to each item. This serves two purposes: the first is seeing if you can spend more in one area and less in another and the second is to keep for your next trip to help you estimate prices. Then, before I check out I add up my totals and make sure that I am under budget.
2. Make a meal calendar. This is important for making the list knowing how much of each item you will need. There is a great template for this on Microsoft Word. When you open a new document go to calendars and you will find it there.
3. Plan shopping trips. I usually go every 2 weeks. I've tried going every week and that didn't work for me and I usually spent more at each trip. Currently, I bought groceries for the whole month (except perishables) and only doing one trip this month. I'll tell you what I think when this month is over...
4. Look over adds and coupons! I'm not very good at this right now. However, I am trying and I have seen a difference. I just go to Walmart with my adds and have them price match everything. I haven't been great at couponing. Partly, because I don't have a printer and I don't get the news paper. I still get the red plum adds so I guess I should be better than I am. Oh well, I'm still working on it.

I didn't think about this but it was mentioned to me that as gas prices go up so do prices on food. SCARY! Anyway, feel free to leave some other tips that you know of, I'm just a beginner with all of this.

President Thomas S. Monson- The Divine Gift of Gratitude

"My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.

As I close this morning, it is my prayer that in addition to all else for which we are grateful, we may ever reflect our gratitude for out Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ... He taught us how to pray. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. His life is a legacy of love. The sick he healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved.

Ultimately, He stood alone. Some Apostles doubted; one betrayed Him. The Roman soldiers pierced His side. The angry mob took His life. There yet rings from Golgotha's hill His compassionate words: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Who was this "man of sorrows, ... acquainted with grief?" Who is this "King of glory", this Lord of lords? He is our Master. He is our Savior. He is the Son of God. He is the Author of Our Salvation. He beckons, "Follow me." He instructs, "Go, and do thou likewise." He pleads, "Keep my commandments."

Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His words. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude.

My sincere, heartfelt prayer is that we may in our individual lives reflect that marvelous virtues of gratitude. May it permeate our very souls, now and evermore. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen."

Spick-and-Span Saturday

I made a decision! I decided that I have a few cleaning projects to do anyway so why not blog about it. Plus I always love to see the before and after pics. This will be a fun/hard working day but I'm sure it will be good blogging and make my home a bit more like heaven on earth. Some of the upcoming projects include:

• Getting rid of old clothes
• Organizing teaching materials
• Cleaning the office

This will be a very productive day....I hope! Well before I end this post I want to share this little site. Its got some good tips for cleaning your car. (I will probably try some and share them sometime...my car really needs it).

Dad's Birthday

Hooray for Fridays! It was my dad's birthday a couple of days ago and we went bowling as a family. It was so much fun and the little kids were adorable (as usual). Here's some pics from the fun b-day party.

Now, I just want to add that I take all of my pictures with my phone. That's why they aren't so great. Sorry but crappy pictures are better than no pictures.

Free Magazine Subscription!

Did the word 'free' catch your eye? Well you saw right. I found this on one of my new favorite websites: Money Saving Mom. They have coupons, freebies, etc. Click here for a direct link to the magazine offer.Did I mention it's for a whole year!?! It says it's just Martha Stewart Living but there is also Cosmo, Marie Claire, Seventeen, and many more to choose from. It's a little bit of surveys and polls but I thought it was worth it. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I registered with another email account and took the same quizzes, challenges, pledges, etc. and got 2 more magazines. Three 1-year magazines subscriptions fo' free? That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Bendin' it like Beckham.

Hello people! It's workout time baybee! For this week, I decided that my workouts usually need a little friendly competition. I need to know what I'm working for and usually that involves a race, beating a time, or in today's case scoring some goals. One of the best ways for me to work out is playing soccer. I'm nuts for it. I've played my whole life and I'm still convinced its the best sport on the planet...and so is the majority of the earth so don't try arguing with me about that, mmmk? Anyway, I just wanted to post that even if it isn't playing soccer, a sport can be a great motivator for working out. It helps keep your mind off of the strain on your body, you get to meet great people, and most importantly you get to win (JK). So, go outside with your spouse, friends, or family and kick,throw, bump, hit, or dribble a ball around. Or even better, get a team together and join a rec league. Shameless plug: if you need a sub for any sport give me a call. I'm a sports slut...I'll do it anytime, anywhere. (TMI?)



The Glory Days



Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Cups

Time for Brinner? I don't know about you but me and my husband love breakfast for dinner. Thanks to a wonderful episode of Scrubs we lovingly refer to it as Brinner. Well if you want to add a new little something to your Brinner repertoire you should try out this recipe. It's really good and it was pretty easy to make. It's also really good for an appetizer. Here's how mine turned out:

They looked a lot like the picture on the website, this one is just not a great picture...sorry! If you try them, let me know how they go or any tips/tricks you used. Thanks!

Budgeting Part 2

Mo' Money Mo' Problems! I wish I could find that one out the hard way. It sounds great to be rich someday...but that day is not today so onward to budgeting. I think the easiest/crucial part of making a budget is to just analyse what you spend in a month. The formula for my budget is this:

Income-Needs*=Savings

*Needs includes car payments, food, rent, utilities, and wants. I think that is so important that you budget for your wants too (i.e. clothes, going out to eat, candy runs at work, etc). It is very important to know where every dollar is going for two reasons:

1. Fraud! There are so many scammers out there and if you carefully keep track of every penny you will know which charges are yours and which ones aren't.
2. Saving money! If you give yourself a limit you will spend less than if you  just shop without a dollar amount in mind. It will also keep you from overdrawn charges on your checking and building interest on your credit cards or overdraft accounts.

I keep a very tight budget and look at it every Friday to make sure my bills are paid and my money is where it's supposed to be. There's a great template for budgeting here. Also, America First has nice budgeting calculators to see how you can save by changing your budget. Have fun with your money!

Mother's day Afterthought.

Hey there folks! After mother's day I thought about how much my mom means to me (and hopefully you did too). I also started thinking about what it means to be a women in the world. We joke that during women's conference it's all about building up womanhood and during the priesthood session the men get bashed about everything they do wrong, but I think that there is a reason for that. WARNING: the following my come off as being a hard-core feminist that is not, however, my intention. Women are put down, demeaned, and attacked everyday by the media and society. We are forced to look at magazine's, TV commercials, and movies that show us what we "should" be. It is something that I really hate but on Mother's day, we celebrate the women who drive minivans, cheer at soccer games, have hips that don't lie, have bad hair-days to help with science fair projects, and go without make-up to drive their kids to school in the morning. These women are real and they are beautiful. They are our moms. I don't know anyone that can say they that they think their mom isn't beautiful. Mine sure is...right?

Girls, lets remember our moms when we look at our wrinkles, muffin tops, and kankles and know that she thinks your beautiful in every way.

Service Saturday???

Greetings! I still don't know how I feel about Service Saturday. I mean I want to serve others just don't want to post about it. So, Service Saturday will be going away...so sorry. However, this means that I need some help with coming up with another project to do this day. I have some ideas but I'd love to hear what you think or what you would like to see or even what you like to read on other blogs. Let me know and I'd love to get a new hobby to blog about. (Austin, my husband, said I should do Sexy Saturday... I think this blog should stay a little innocent.)

Waterfall Canyon

Date Night Day! My husband works every Friday night so most of our dates are during the day. A couple of weeks ago we decided to visit a place that is pretty special to us. Waterfall Canyon! This was our first date, first kiss, and where we got engaged! Pretty awesome, right? Well, we chose a great day for hiking. There was a ton of water coming down and it was such a perfect temperature for hiking- a little warm on the way up and then when you got to the waterfall it cooled you down. I love him!

Potted Present

Hello again! I'm really happy about this post because there are pictures to go with it (I love it when people put lots of pictures on blogs). This all started with needed a Mother's Day gift for my wonderful mother. I ordered a canvas picture of the grand kids for her and it turned out horrible and it came 2 days before Mother's Day! PANIC! What do I get her? I know that she loves plants so I thought I could just buy her some flowers and call it good. Then inspiration kicked in! And this is what happened:



Pot $7, vinyl $1, flowers $5. Project total: $13!

Needless to say, she loved it! I started thinking this would be a fun summer wedding gift for friends. You could get  different colored vinyl and put their names and the day they got married or just initials with some embellishments. Leave a comment and let me know if you could like this as a gift? I definitely would.

Run, Forest! RUN!

Aloha! Today's workout is just a simple run around the neighborhood. Last summer, my dad started to get into running. He eventually wants to run a marathon. Anyway, he's been signing up for all sorts of 5k races. It's very cool to see a 57 year old do these kind of things. I think my dad is Super Man. Anyway, for Christmas my dad signed up my siblings, my husband, and I up for the Ogden Marathon Relay. We drew legs of the race and I got the end which is only a 5k (3.2 miles) . My dad got the hardest leg which is 5.2 miles and mostly uphill. He's such a trooper! I went with him last Saturday to run the actual leg and it was H.A.R.D. It starts in Eden, my the soccer fields and ends at 'The Oaks' restaurant. It was a pretty tough run but I just want to say that taking a run outside in the fresh air was so nice, and the valley is such a beautiful place! If you have any favorite running spots, leave a comment so I can try it out. Thanks!