Iowa business trip

Hello! Kristin's writing. Here I am in Iowa in my little hotel room. What a crazy trip so far! First of all, there were two flights on the way here. On the first, it was a plane FULL of screaming children; some screaming in glee, some in sadness. The loudest happened to be kids of my old college friends from USU. All I know is the guy next to me and I were rudely awoken every couple minutes. Maddening! I felt a little like this lady:

Next flight- I sat by another guy who just happened to be....yep you guessed it! A hardcore runner. Awesome! So of course I talked his ear off. Shane- remember, I'm expecting you to comment! :) I got some great advice from him. BTW, he's currently training for an iron man triathlon! For those who don't know, that's a race that involves a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a marathon (26.2 miles) run, raced in that order and without a break. I'm amazed people can even consider that! Shane and I commented to each other how inspiring it is to talk to fellow runners. It's so motivating. He told me I should use a roller to work on some of my tight muscles- he swears by that thing! And he told me about how much it helps him to hire a running coach (which Danna is doing right now!). We also talked about his love for his Garmin watch (jealous) and how he runs without gels/Gatorade/energy bars. It made me psyched to keep improving.

Then my luggage got lost. Ugh. I had to buy new stuff that night at Target, including running clothes! However I was cheered by our lovely hotel- I love hotels! It's been a blast having my own room and chillin. It is SOOOO cold here. I worked out in the hotel exercise room instead, which was great! I wish I had a gym membership. I also did cardio, some core strengthening and strength training for my deltoids and biceps. Tomorrow will be my 3rd and last workout here. Sad. Goodbye Mariott! Thanks for having a copy of the BoM since mine was lost for a bit. I didn't wanna miss my scripture study (I haven't missed in 15 years!!).
This is a shot of my room off the website. Sweet! I also got to bond with some rad co-workers of mine. We had a blast and ate some good food. We almost nearly died when my crazy boss Chris did a few wild tricks in our rental car. He's crazy!

I'm excited to get home though. I get homesick for Matt, and running-sick to run with D. :) I don't miss working or facing the difficult aspects of my new calling (but I do love the girls!). I'm excited to see the episode of my favorite show (The Bachelor! Yes, I'm a nerd.), and to stop having all-day meetings. Goodbye Iowa!

XOXO
~K

It's a very Vegas Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone, it's Danna!

Ok, I'll be honest- since I usually am about this kind of stuff. Christmas and I are not really on speaking terms. In fact we would consider ourselves frenemies. The reason for the holiday- Yes, I'm on board. The endless to-do lists- not so much. I have thought about it this year, and this is what I find to be true. Christmas-time= double yuck. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day= Super fun. There are a few things I enjoy about Christmas- Handel's Messiah, looking at OTHER peoples Christmas lights, Dinner with Adam's family, The Christmas Concert downtown, Presents from ADAM! (he is a good gift giver...seriously good,) Crazy Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas morning with just the two of us, Hot Chocolate and Steamers with biscotti, buying stuff for Adam that he would not buy for himself. And the best tradition of all- Leaving it all behind to to go to UNChristmas Las Vegas!

We (probably best said, ME) like to go down and stay in Mandalay Bay- the best Vegas resort. There are a few things I know how to do- Vegas is one of them. Well- Vegas for Mormons that is! This year we decided to come back in time for Actual Christmas. So we went last weekend and early this week. Let me tell you how surprised we were when we found out that we had been upgraded to a totally sweet suite! For Free! Here we were paying 70 bucks a night, for a $750 room. This is my kind of Merry Christmas Surprise! We even had a private elevator to get to our chi chi room. It was bigger than my house! Marble floors, two lounge areas, a tv over the huge tub. HEAVEN!!!!

I told Adam to just leave me there- I was NOT going back. We had a riot. Adam hiked in red rocks while I lost consciousness in the spa. We ate at the buffets like refugees. I shopped for my new smaller body- which is way fun- let me tell you. We read a book together and spent time talking. That is my idea of Christmas!

Of course- my MOTHER emailed me to remind me of the 2 days rule. Which is... All runners should take a rest day. It is important. Sometimes we even go 2 days with out running. BUT- never, ever should you not run three days in a row. It is then a habit to not run, and can be very dangerous! So- I put on a tank top and shorts(!!!!) and ran the strip. It was fun to see everything and be totally entertained while running. There were guys handing out those disgusting fliers, and then I saw people from a local church carrying a GIANT cross. Only in Vegas. I did lots of stairs on the overpass street crossings. My calves were sore for days! Great shake-it-up run. Vacation running is super fun. It's a great way to see your destination.

Well- I hope you all have a beautiful Christmas that does not involve grinches like me. I'm going to go for a run now to cope. Merry Christmas!

Adventurous Washington weekend

This is Kristin, posting to you live from Washington (state). Matt and I came to see our friends Matt and Alicia Curtis for Matt C's 30th Bday.

First of all, it's a 13 hour drive from SLC so we drove all night long. This was a rough night for many reasons. The weather was rainy and verrrry foggy, the roads were icy, and I had a hard time sleeping soundly (despite the fact that Matt is an excellent night/snow driver/stay-up -all-nighter. Alicia offered to get us a hotel room, but much to my disappointment, Matt said he'd prefer she just put the money toward our gas fill-ups to help with the over-all cost of the trip. I was bummed. :)

At about 2:30 Matt and I had a super scary experience in a snowy mountain. The battery light kept coming on, the head and dash lights kept getting dimmer, and the wipers kept getting slower. So did the car. Seriously, just writing about it gives me anxiety- it was so freaky! We couldn't find an exit and didn't think we'd make it to the next one (we later learned it was 20 more minutes away anyway). The car slowly came to a puttering stop and we barely made it off the road. We sat shivering and said a prayer. To make a long story short we had a long tow to the nearest town (which was behind us) and cost over $300! Then the alternator needed repair which cost ~$300. We had to sit and wait for the repair shop to open, wait for parts, wait for repairs... Oh and while we waited Matt slipped on the ice and dislocated his shoulder (again!!!) and we bummed a ride to the emergency room. Rough trip, eh?

Well, it was amazing to see our prayers answered in so many ways. On that mountain there was no phone reception, but somehow I just happened to have a bar left when we needed to call the police and tow truck (and Dad). We found the only spot where there was adequate shoulder to pull over. The repair shop said it would be 2 days but we found a nice local teen who fixed it for us that day (and ran to other towns looking for parts). The hospital had no drugs for Matt, but he was able to stand the "re-location" drug-free! What a stud! He's so awesome and tough. The towns people we amazing- offering rides, buying us breakfast, finding a mechanic. It was this hilariously classic small town where EVERYONE knew each other, and knew who we were within a couple hours. The town is called Cle Elum, Washington, and I think the following pictures sum it up.


I found them under Google images for Cle Elum. They are very Cle Elum-ish. Matt agrees.

FINALLY after a 24-hour+ journey, we were back on the road. We got to our friends' house, and went straight to the movie theater for Avatar in IMAX 3-D! It was so awesome, people. Then we went to Red Robin- Matt and Matt's favorite restaurant. Then we came home and crashed (poor Matt hadn't slept since we got up on Thursday)!

The trip was fun and therapeutic for all of us I think (once we got there!). We all love talking, and playing games. They are such good friends to us! We're leaving tomorrow morning. Needless to say I am dreading the drive home, but we decided to do it during the day this time.

During the trip I did get to go on a run! My foot is feeling better and better, and I had no pain at all! I ran around some of the neighborhoods and business areas (I may have done about 4 miles?) and had a great time. Seattle's weather is usually cloudy and misty or rainy. The air was completely saturated with mist and it was really refreshing to run through. It felt like running inside a humidifier! I loved seeing all the trees covered with moss. It was nice to have no snow. My new hat was perfect for the mist and the cool (see Suzy's post a week or so ago).

I love going running when I'm out of town! You get to check out new trails, new weather, and see the area from a runner's perspective. I also love passing fellow runners and sharing that, "We are awesome for being out here in this wet/cold weather" look.

Anyone ever run in a cool city while on vacation? We wanna hear about it.