Improvement

Yesterday I ran my first race of the season. It was the Pink series 5k. It's a breast cancer run. Last year I ran my first 5k ever at about this same time. It's always great when you can look back and see that you have made improvements and that all your hours of running have actually accomplished something. Last year my time for the 5k was 38 minutes. I run 4 miles in that time now. My time yesterday at the 5k was 26:48. Woohoo!!! 11 minutes faster AND I went running for 5 miles after. What has this running done to me!? Next week is the Provo half. I won't have a Julie to run with me so we'll see how it goes.
After the run yesterday I went to lunch with my friends Janel and Daniel. I went to college with both of them and they are just so great. Their kids are so cute and it was fun to sit and chat with them for a while. It's been about a year and a half since I've seen them.
Last night my roommate had some friends over and we talked and played games. I'm really glad she likes to do things like that. I like to meet new people but I'm not one to organize it. Hurray for new roommates and hurray for summer!

Final results for April

Final week of April. I get another A for my challenge. Yesterday I did two recipes. The foil pack chicken dinner was very yummy.

I had to cook mine longer than the recipe said. I think my chicken was bigger than what the recipe called for. It was still delicious. The coconut bars didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. They definitely don't taste like Girl Scout Samoa cookies, but they're okay. Oh well.

Happy Birthday

Once upon a time, 26 years ago, there was a little boy born.
He had an older sister, she was just 14 months older than him and they were the best of friends. A little brother. A built in buddy to play with and get into trouble with and to love.
As time went by, more little people joined the family and as always happens with time, things changed.
Kids like to fight and teenagers are moody and just over 13 years from when the boy joined the family, the last thing the girl ever said to him was, "I hate you". Now this sounds worse than it actually is. She had made cookies and they weren't turning out so she was abandoning them and the boy took over and they turned out just fine for him, thus the "I hate you" comment. It was said as a joke, but still it's the last thing that was said. Oh the things I would change if I could. What an awful June morning, when we lost my brother Brad.

Now it's 13 years later and I don't know why, but this year I'm really struggling. I haven't ever had a hard time on his birthday or the day he died. I'm not sure why this year is different. Maybe it's the fact that this year is the year he's been gone as long as he was here. I don't know, but what I do know is that I really miss him. I was running the other day and was thinking about what a kind and soft heart he had. He really loved people. I wonder who he would have become and what he'd be doing now. I'm really grateful to know that God has a plan and that my family has been sealed in God's holy temple so I know I'll see him again and that he is in a better place doing an important work.

Happy Birthday Brad. I love you and miss you.

Life

Do you ever just feel so overwhelmed? I felt like that yesterday. It's really nothing, but I was thinking about it and decided that life can't always be so easy. (Obviously) We don't grow without trials and life can't always be smooth sailing. It's nothing big and I'm sure it will actually help me out in the long run. Just gotta keep a good perspective on things.

More April

What a week. Somehow I got tricked talked into running a half marathon in May. I have NOT been training, so this week began my training. I'll probably die, but I said that last time too. This week I ran 22 miles. Yuck.
I feel like a lot happened and now that I'm sitting down to write it I can't think of anything. Friday night I had a date with Jay (my fake fiance). Sadly I killed all his plans by going to plasma. Poor Julia hit a tendon and I almost hit her. It hurt so bad and my arm was pretty much out of commission for the rest of the night. We ended up going to dinner and watching a movie. We had talked about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang earlier this month and decided we needed to watch it, so my arm gave us an excuse to sit and watch a movie instead of going out and doing some other date thing.
Saturday morning was my long run. 8 miles. The actually running wasn't bad, it was the after that wasn't much fun. So tired and not feeling well aren't really my favorite things. I had Aubrey and Rick over for pancakes since it was the end of the week and I hadn't done my 2 recipes.
Ricotta Souffle Pancakes were pretty tasty.
My friend Tammy does a food blog and I got it from there. Mine definitely didn't turn out as pretty as hers, but they tasted okay. I should just get a pancake griddle. I think it'd help.
After pancakes I made these beauties.
Thin Mint gooey cake bars Seriously they were so easy and SO good. You could just substitute any mint cookie, keebler grasshopper or the like for the thin mints since they are seasonal. Really good. Yum.
I took them to the Sister Reunion we had for my mission and they were a hit.
The reunion was SO fun. I love seeing the sisters from the mission. Elders are great, but we really had such a great time together as sisters and I was always with sisters so we did fun stuff together on p-day. It was a "Sevilla Seis" reunion with everyone else invited to attend as well. I love the mission and I LOVE these girls.
Thanks Camille for letting us use your house and for not hating me (anymore)for my "mean" joke. I love you!
Sunday I got up and started on my 2 recipes for this week. That's right I decided to not be a slacker and Aubrey volunteered me to make dinner on Sunday. I decided to go with Chilean Empanadas which I love.
They weren't too difficult but did take some time. My dough didn't chill as long as it was suppose to . . . woops. They still turned out. I also made pretzel jello salad.
I love this, but hadn't ever made it myself. It turned out okay.
For dinner I invited Aubrey, Jay, Rick and Emma.
We had a lovely time. We played "Have you ever Smurfed?" Which can be very funny.
Dinner was followed by an Easter Musical Fireside in my stake and then Disney movie night where we watched Sleeping Beauty. I did manage to get a nap in before dinner, but it seems my body didn't take it as well as it use to since I was up until 1 unable to sleep. Oh well.

April Awareness?

So we had March Madness and my home teacher asked me what I'd be doing for April Awareness. What the heck is April Awareness? Aware of what? I guess aware of new foods for me. Week one of my April challenge is a go.

I started off the week by crossing something off the bucket list.

That's right I hiked the Y. It's definitely something to do just to say you've done it. It wasn't very exciting. Anyway.

For week one I made Butter Chicken and Cream Cheese rolls. Thank you pinterest.

My review for the chicken was that it was a bit bland. Jay ate with me and he said it was fine.

The Cream Cheese rolls were tasty, but I should have cooked them a little bit longer I think.

(I cooked them for 11 minutes)They just didn't turn out as pretty as the picture with the recipe.

March Madness

Good thing I hadn't gotten far since everything I had just got erased. Oh computers. I did two things for March Madness other than the normal basketball thing. My April Fools joke was a whole new kind of madness for me, but that's another story. You can read about it here.

The second one has to do with my New Year's challenge. If you missed the results for February you can read about it here. I didn't post it until recently since it had to do with dating and I was working on the aforementioned April Fools joke.

So March Madness. Deb, one of the greatest people ever, invited me and a whole bunch of other girls from our Relief Society to do her version of March Madness. Read The Book of Mormon in a month.

I was very hesitant to take on this challenge. I love to read, but what a daunting task. 531 pages of scripture. That's 18 pages a day! This isn't Harry Potter, where you just can't put it down and can read for hours and hours. This is scripture. For those who have read The Book of Mormon you know what I'm talking about. In the end I decided that I could do it. That is, afterall, what a challenge is about. Pushing yourself.

The beginning was amazing! I found it very easy to keep up with the reading schedule and I was really getting a lot out of it. As time went on, it got more difficult and I'm ashamed to say, it may not have been the quality reading it should have been. After a week of always being 2 days behind I finally caught up.

I would have made it if I hadn't decided to go to the movies on Saturday night. We Bought a Zoo. See it. So good. Anyway, when I got home from the movie at 12:15. I sat down and finished the last 6 pages. April 1, 2012 12:30 a.m. I finished The Book of Mormon.

What an amazing book that truly testifies of Christ, gives us answers to our questions and guidance for our lives. I know it is a book of God. What a great blessing to have it in my life.

I give myself an A on this challenge. I'd give myself an A+ but I missed it by 30 minutes.

April Fools

So in case you missed it, I'm neither engaged nor married. It was an April Fools joke. Why start so early and go so all out? Because no one believes you when you change your relationship status 2 days before April 1st. I figured if I was going to pull a prank I might as well go all out. Many thanks to my immediate family for going with it. They didn't want to, but they lied for me. As well as: the 232nd ward, Aubrey, Katie, Sarah, Pam, many members of the 233rd ward, my cousin Emma and especially Richard and Jay for being in the pictures with me. Couldn't have done it without you.

4/1/12
Glad it's over. Love you all. Thanks for believing me and being happy for me. I'll understand if you don't get excited for me when it really happens, since you already went to the trouble with this one. But I promise to never lie/joke about my relationship status. Don't hate me for too long, it was after all a joke. THe whole point was to fool people, thus "April Fools".
So in case you care, this is how I felt during the whole thing.

A log of my April Fools joke

3/8/12

Today is day 3 of my prank for April Fools. I've been very surprised by the whole thing. I knew people would be excited but I didn't really understand how much. So far it's been hilarious and stressful and I've felt awful. I'm no good at lying. Especially face to face. But today I have just felt so loved. My boss from when I worked at BYU-I text me and asked me why I hadn't told him personally. He said, "I don't know if I approve" like I need his approval, but still . . . love it.

The people calling me and offering to help are so great, it makes me feel bad that it's not for real. Another favorite comment I've gotten is my basketball coach from high school "Congrats Cathy! We're super excited for you ... does he need a talk from your bb coach to make sure he knows he's the luckiest man alive?" Seriously I almost cried over that one.

I really hope people just take this for what it is: A very elaborate prank. I don't mean to make anyone mad or hurt their feelings. Obviously it's a lie, but it's not a lie I want people to believe forever. Maybe that's me justifying, but really I think it's so funny.

Another comment my sister got about it was "Never thought that'd happen". Real nice. Thanks for that one. I'll not name who actually said it, but still, thanks for the vote of confidence.

So I hope everyone will forgive me. Laugh it off. And I promise to never lie about my relationship status ever again.

3/9/12

I feel better today. Maybe it's because I haven't lied to anyone today. :) It's back to being funny again. Now my issue is trying to figure out how to play it up without over or under doing it. I'm sure most people think it's ridiculous and that we'll cancel it. Maybe I'd feel the same way.

3/12/12

So yesterday was "engagement pictures". How ridiculous can I be? Apparently very. :) My friend's brother was going to come and do them and at the last minute, I mean the very last, he bailed. (Aubrey called to see where he was and he said sorry, not coming). Helpful. So she called her friend Jay who said yes and came over 2 minutes later. I had met Jay twice before. It was so ridiculous taking pictures, but we had loads of fun. Jay was a great sport about the whole thing.

I have decided to tell my ward because it's just too hard to lie to people face to face. Sadly I missed telling the truth to one girl who I had already told I was getting married and she told her roommate who announced it at ward council. Oops. The Relief Society president talked to the bishop and told him what's up so now I just have to deal with those people who were at ward council. Too funny. This whole thing just makes me laugh.

3/13/12
So obviously there are people who know that this is a joke. My ward, my immediate family, and some friends who live here in Provo that I hang out with all the time who would never believe me. I LOVE that they go along with it. Be Jordan's friend on facebook, comment on his facebook, comment on our pictures, it seriously cracks me up. Wow I think I'm so funny. Don't hate me.

Something funny that keeps coming up: "What if you and Jay really got married?" That would be hilarious! Such a great story and I bet you all would be more forgiving of my deception. :) Jay is great. I still don't know him at all, but anyone who is willing to come be in some fake engagements, on short notice, with a girl he barely knows gets points in my book.

3/14/12
Sometimes I think maybe everyone knows and they have all conspired against me. They are going to make me really work for it and make me feel as guilty as possible and that will be their joke on me. If that's the case, I think it's working. Probably, I'm just paranoid.

3/16/12

Remember how I still do fun things with my friends but I can't talk about it because I should be doing fun things with Jordan? Yeah, that's a lame consequence of lying. How do liars live this way? I do not like it. So last night I was hanging out with Aubrey and we were kinda bored and so we went to the movies. Well we went to the movie theater, we didn't actually see a movie. Her friend was at the movies, by himself, so we went and painted the windows on his car with hearts and stuff. Ridiculous. Best part is the text she got. "Aubrey you are so dead". lol. THEN her backdoor neighbor is one of those people who I am just really sarcastic and kind of snarky with. I don't know what it is. There are just a couple people who really bring that out in me. Anyway he really hates Monday's. Aubrey has been sending him "inspirational" (shall we call them?) things all week. Last night, we went and painted his car as well with TGIF. Man we think we're so funny and clever. Good times.

3/19/12

The big Stake Spring Fling was this last weekend. It was a BLAST! It was fun to put on a big poofy dress and go dance around like a fool. Earlier in the day I went to lunch with Denae and her brother Garet. That was fun. I was sure that by the end of lunch the truth would be told, but it never happened. I thought about it, but I guess my conscience is disappearing or something.

The dance was good, except for the prick of guilt (guess I do still have it) that came when my friend Aaron, who I grew up with, came and congratulated me. Oh man. Other than that, it was delightful. People just ask me how my "engagement" is going since they all know I'm a big liar face. They are anxious to see how the hate mail pours in. Remember people, this is a JOKE. A very extended, elaborate, JOKE. Not lies. Jokes. right. . . jokes. keep telling yourself that Cathy.

9:30 p.m. I wish I had a real Jordan Bateman. :(

3/21/12

The countdown has officially begun. I know people are always anxious and counting down until they get married and I'm counting down as well, until I'm unengaged. 1 and half weeks and the jig will be up. Cat out of the bag. Beans spilled. I can't wait!

3/23/12

When someone asks you what your fiance's name is and you go J....... Jordan because you have to think about it and almost say Jay instead, you know that lying just isn't your thing.

3/26/12

The final week. I am so SO excited. I actually hung out with Jay last night and today we became facebook friends. I wanted him to be able to see all that happens this weekend.

3/28/12

This last week is going by faster than I thought it would. I'm just so excited to see what happens and for the whole thing to be over. I think i'll never do an April Fools joke again.

3/29/12

I may or may not have been freaking out a bit last night when my sister called and during the conversation I found out she didn't know where the pictures were. YIKES! The engagement thing is a set-up for the real joke which is me getting married. Without the pictures it kind of wouldn't work. My whole joke and a month of lying gone. Luckily she found the pictures today. :) 3 days. 3 more days.

3/30/12

Happy fake wedding day to me!! My favorite was actually telling someone in person that i got married this morning and seeing their reaction. If I could just replay it over and over. Priceless.