ReMax 100 takes a Ski Trip

A group of co-workers at ReMax 100 decided to take a ski trip to Liberty Mountain in Pennsylvania. To tell you the truth, I've only heard bad things about skiing on the east coast.....ice skiing and short runs! I love skiing but I don't like to fall down so therefore, I'm a cautious skier. Ice skiing was a little scarry for me but, it was a great chance to get to know some of the people in my office that I don't get to see much. I'm all for trying new things and was very glad that I went. It was a cold day but the sun was shining and the skies were blue. Our first run up the mountain I got quite a chuckle looking down (while on the chair lift) and seeing nothing but rocks and grass.....where is the snow? We saw the snow machines working hard and sure enough, on the top there it was....SNOW! It certainly isn't skiing like I know it, because I've only skied out West, but all in all... it wasn't bad. It didn't take long to get down the hill and there wasn't any lines to get on the chair lift. Some of my co-workers were kind enough to hang with me while I tested the snow on the green runs a few times and then we went to the back side of the mountain where the snow and the runs were much better. It was a GREAT day! I hear that the conditions aren't always as good as they were that day... we were lucky not to have too much ice on the slopes. All in all, if I want to go skiing and I can't get out West, I would certainly do it again!

Myrtle Beach Marathon - WE DID IT!!!

Ninon, Debra, Lisa and I have all been anxiously awaiting the Myrtle Beach Marathon. This was the first marathon for all but Lisa (who actually runs and has done 4 before). We decided to break into this easy and signed up to walk the half-marathon. We drove 8 hours on Friday to get there....great company and it was a nice drive. Got there just in time to get registered and pick up our packets, have a really late dinner and get to bed.

Just to give you a little background of why this is a big deal for me, Ninon and I were walking last week, the day of the "melting ice" and I somehow hurt my knee only 3 miles into the walk, probably not the smartest thing, but I continued to walk another 6 miles on this hurt knee because I wanted to get that longer walk in before the half-marathon. I let the knee heal the rest of the week and it felt pretty good the day of the marathon. I took my knee brace but felt that I could probably do it without it....big mistake!

The marathon started at 6:30 a.m. on February 14, Valentine's Day, and we were all excited for the race. The crowds were huge, I think I heard around 6,000 people and we all started at the same time, the runners and walkers, the half-marathoners and the marathoners, so it was a bit of a bottle neck at the beginning. We decided that we would at least run across the starting line and the finish line....just to say we ran a little :). We get about 3 miles into it and Lisa and Debra get the itch to pick up the pace. I didn't want to put more stress on my knee so I stayed back and Ninon, being the good friend that she is, decided to stay behind with me. It was soon after that that my knee gave out. I had to walk another 2 miles before I could find a first aid station to wrap my knee. The Dr. told me the wrap probably wouldn't help but I was determined to continue. We walked about 1/2 mile and I had to call Cliff to bring me my knee brace...by the time he found where we were (we didn't stop walking) it was another 2miles. The knee brace helped alot so we continued but not at the fastest pace. It was fun to have everyone on the sidelines cheer us on and I certainly wasn't going to stop after coming all that way. Since we had our cell phones, we found out that Lisa decided to run after about mile 4 and Debra continued her fast pace walk and found a nice family to walk with. Lisa made it in 2:46 hours, Debra in 3:20 and Ninon and I in 3:46 with still around 100 people behind us. I feel pretty good that 1, I finished and 2, I wasn't last!!! YEAH!!!! It started raining the last 3/4 of a mile so we were soaking wet, cold and by the time the race ended, my knee was killing me but I was still smiling and glad I could mark one more thing off my Bucket List.

Our husbands took us out for breakfast, shopping at the outlet mall and to a nice restaurant for dinner then we went back to the condo to play games. We had a wonderful Valentine's Day and one we will never forget! After we all went to church on Sunday, we drove the 8 hours back home. Next time, we will have to go a day or two early so we can see Myrtle Beach!

I can see how people get addicted to the marathons. We are already planning our next one!

Sounds of Ice Melting

Have you ever listened to the sound of ice melting on a lake? Ninon and I were taking our walk around Centennial Lake on Monday, it was around 8:30 a.m., it was really cold but the sun was coming up and getting more intense, the skies were blue, and it was going to be a beautiful day. That's when we heard the strangest noise. At first I thought something fell in the lake but we didn't see anything so we continued to walk. Then we heard another noise, almost like a long screeching sound....I thought maybe it was some kind of bird but we couldn't think of what bird would make that kind of noise. The noises continued, there we were hypnotized by the icy wonder of the lake. The sound was nothing that I have ever heard before....almost like an electrical boing echoing under the water that was followed by strange pulses and crackling. That is when we realized that what we were hearing was the sound of the lake melting. As we watched the shoreline, we could see that it was the sound of the ice breaking up. It was a magical moment and probably one I'll never hear again. Who would have ever thought the sound of ice melting could be magical, but it was! The lake was very crowded that day and we could see people all around the lake stop and try to figure out what the sound was. I hope I have the opportunity to hear that again!

A Whirlwind Trip to Utah!

The whole purpose of going to Utah was to attend the Miche Bag Conference... the nice thing about having family there is we always have many more people to see and places to go. Lisa went out on Wednesday and I arrived on Thursday. I got into town and we immediately went to see our Uncle Bob who has been very sick and in the hospital for over a month now. It was great to see both him and my Aunt Ruth and to see for myself that he is doing better. They are very special people and I love to visit them when I can. After we left there, we went to my cousin's(Peggy) house so we could meet up and go to dinner with her, Dixie and my Aunt Kathalee. She lives in a beautiful home that overlooks Bountiful and the valley. The sunset was beautiful as we stood on the back balcony and looked down into the valley. I wish I could have gotten a good picture.....they were all blurry!!! We went to a place called Iggy's for dinner, where they had big screen TV's and I got to see JD on TV at the Sun's game. We got to our hotel late and got up early to head to the conference.

Friday was the first day of the conference. It was a wonderful conference, very informative, they have a lot of new products coming on and have developed systems to make our lives easier. They took us to dinner at "The Roof" restaurant which overlooks the Salt Lake Temple and that was a beautiful site....the dinner was really good too!! The conference finished up early on Saturday afternoon. We were going to go skiing but both Lisa and I got a little stomach bug the night before and didn't dare! Besides that, we had alot of people to see. Lisa's daughter, Emily, is going to school at BYU so we went to Provo to pick her up and then met my other sister, Amber, and her family at the grand opening of a new bakery called "Sweet Tooth Fairy" (it was featured on Rachel Ray's show). I blew my diet and had to taste almost everything they had......very good!!! Another friend, Ruth, met us there too! I think we took up the whole store.

Sunday we went to the blessing of my Nephew's (Kyle) son. Morrison is sooooo cute and such a good baby. The blessing was at a spanish branch and we didn't understand a word they were speaking but it was a very special day. I even sang the hymns in Spanish! I think most of the congregation was family! Amber's parents were very kind to invite us to dinner with all the family and we spent a wonderful afternoon visiting.

The Superbowl came on and we still had alot to do so we saw a little of the first quarter and then headed for the hospital again to see Uncle Bob where we watched until half time. There were more of his family there so we got to visit a little with more family members....I love big families!! As soon as half time came on we left to drive to Springville to see Lisa's brother-in-law and I got to see a little more of the game. Only 8 minutes left when we left. I wish I could have seen the whole thing, it was an exciting game....the Cardinals did GREAT!!!! We took Emily back to Provo and headed back to our hotel in SL. It was an exhausting weekend but tons of fun! Everytime I go out there, I want to move back. The mountains are amazing and were so beautiful with all the snow on them.