The History of Stupidity Repeats Itself

I have this history of stupid, self-inflicted injuries. There was that time when I roasted a marshmallow on a fork over the stove and then put the fork in my mouth. My lips had a four pronged blister for a week! Or the time I accidentally cut off the middle of my eyebrow with a pair of scissors. I'm still trying to figure out how I managed that one. Well you know what they say, history repeats itself, and my history of self-inflicted injuries has repeated itself three times in the last three days! 

Saturday morning, I bought a new bike and I was so excited to break it in and go for a ride on the trails around Lake Fayetteville. Unfortunately, my new, purple Mongoose's maiden voyage was doomed to the same fate as the Titanic's voyage. It went down! And just as the captain went down with the Titanic, so too did I go down with my bike.....twice. There were a couple of tricky spots along the way with giant roots growing in the middle of the trail, and I apparently didn't maneuver them very well. I had my seat up too high and couldn't reach my feet down in time to catch myself, so I took a tumble into the brush! Fortunately, I managed to land on a nice pile of leaves. I took two falls before I realized I needed to lower my seat. (Why two and not one is beyond me.) I escaped with only a few minor scrapes and bruises and enjoyed the rest of the ride. Luckily, my new bike is just as resilient as me and held up beautifully to the abuse I inflicted. 

Sunday, our friends Zach and Anna, invited us over for dinner. I was in charge of the salad and decided that I just had to have candied nuts in it. Of course, I forgot to buy them earlier in the week, so I determined I would have to candy some nuts myself. Should be easy enough, I thought to myself. When I caramelized some sugar, it just smelled so delicious and I simply had to have a taste. (Hey, it's quality control. I gotta make sure I'm serving edible food.) In my glutinous state, I forgot that sugar caramelizes at 320 degrees and stuck my finger right in that lava goodness.  I now have a blistered index finger to remind me. 

Today, I was so proud of myself for waking up early to fix dinner and throw it in the crockpot before I left for work. Alyssa gave me a new recipe for cilantro lime chicken that I was eager to try. I chopped everything up, tossed it in the crockpot, and washed my hands with soap and water. Then, I went to go get ready for work. Imagine my surprise and pain, when I went to apply my makeup and realized the jalapeno residue remained on my hands! My eyes felt like I dumped gasoline on them and put a match to it. I couldn't even open my eyes the burning was so bad. I tried to splash some water on my face, but quickly realized that was a dumb idea too since I was still using my hands. I finally put my head under the faucet and attempted to extinguish the burning with running water. I was blinded for several minutes, and needless to say, I was late for work this morning and never bothered to reapply my makeup. I decided to go all natural rather than risk another eye scorching moment. I will say that dinner turned out quite tasty almost making the whole fiasco worth it….almost. My advice: wear gloves when cutting jalapenos!

The Unexpected Helper

Who knew dogs could be so helpful? When we first adopted Ollie, we had no idea how willing he would be to help out around the house. I only hope our future children can live up to Ollie's example and be just as productive.

This was right after I shaved him. I think he was a little depressed.

Ollie helped us plant our garden this spring. We thought he might like to weed the garden while we were gone at work, so we decided to put a fence around it. We wouldn't want him to overwork himself while we're away.

I was surprised to learn that Ollie enjoys quilting. He loves to help lay all the squares out and then lay out on all the squares to keep them in place.

Finally! A man who enjoys helping with the dishes. Boy, did I get lucky with this one!

Let Freedom Ring in the 15k

We ran in the Freedom 15k in Logan, UT on the 4th of July with some of my family. We learned a few things about freedom throughout the course of this race.

Nate learned that you are free to avoid running for over a year and wait until the last 2 weeks before the race to start your training, but this also entitles you to a week of pain in the aftermath! The finish line volunteers were sure he was about to pass out, but he pulled through! He actually got a pretty decent time as well.

Here is Nate, going strong and looking over at Ollie

 Laurel learned that you are free to train all you want at 1296 feet, but it will feel like you haven't done a darn thing to prepare when you run a race that starts at 5610 feet! Fortunately, the race was mostly downhill and I was proud that I didn't walk any of it.

Kyle (Laurel's brother) learned you are free to attempt to relive your glory days from high school, but you may discover you are not quite as glorious as you used to be! He was actually the first one done of our whole group, so I guess he's pretty glorious amongst the Feuz clan.

Brianne (Laurel's sister) learned that she is free to humble her sister and leave her in the dust after the first 3 miles. Oh how the mighty have fallen! She was the first of the girls to finish.

Paige (Laurel's aunt) learned that you are free to use the porta-potty as many times as you like before the race just to make sure you are prepared. The best strategy is as soon as you come out of the porta-potty, cut in line with someone else you know to make sure you get all four times in before the gun sounds.

Jeff (Brianne's husband) learned that you are free to read a book in the car as you wait for the runners to go by to cheer for them, but you will probably become engrossed in said book and miss half the people you were there to watch.

Kaley (Nate's sister) learned that you are free to set the leash down to take a picture, but Ollie will run through the throng of runners to try to reach Nate if you do so.

Mom and Emily (Laurel's sister) learned you are free to spectate on the middle of the big, fat hill but the runners may begrudge you for it. I know I wasn't the only one who's plans to walk up the hill were spoiled by the sight of our fans. That would be shameful to be caught walking! 

As you can see, many around me were walking, but I persevered for the sake of the fans.

Shara and Susan (Laurel's sister-in-law and niece) learned you are free to wait around after the race all day because Kyle is sure he will win the treadmill in the post race raffle, but the odds will never be in your favor. I don't know how Kyle planned on getting a treadmill home to Washington anyway.....

Mike (uncle), Colin (cousin), Rachel (cousin's wife), and Connor (cousin) also ran the race but I'm not sure what lessons of freedom they were taught along the way other than they are free to be a part of the crazy runner's club and pay money to go run 9.3 miles on a holiday. 

What a wonderful country we live in that allows us these freedoms and many more! We were grateful to celebrate the holiday with our family and take time to remember how very blessed we are indeed.

We had a much needed week-long vacation with my family. In addition to the race, we had a cookout in the canyon, went to the Bountiful temple, swam at Willard Bay with Kaley, spent time with extended family at the Anderson reunion, went waterskiing at Flaming Gorge in the rain, played horseshoes and ladderball, played in the pool, and just enjoyed not thinking about work for an entire week! We took Ollie with us for his first road trip and he had a grand time! He loved being in the car, looking out the window, and sleeping on my lap. Apparently, he was too lonely in the backseat.