The Floating Trailer Park

Have you ever heard the song, "Redneck Yacht Club"? I always thought it was a funny song but I never expected to find myself experiencing it. I'm pretty sure we stumbled across the redneck float club this weekend. We decided to go on a float trip down the Elk River. We were expecting a quite, peaceful day on the water, but as you will soon see, we could not have been more wrong!

Saturday morning we packed our cooler, drove up to Missouri, rented a canoe and set off down the river. It wasn't long before we came across what looked like the Jersey Shore rowing crew. A group of rowdy, tattooed coeds in their twenties, drinking beer, smoking, and making out. We laughed to ourselves at how trashy they looked as we quickly paddled past them. We passed several more similar rafts and began to feel that we were in the middle of a spring break-type gathering. We were in for a surprise (and not a pleasant one) as we rounded the next bend and there it was: the floating trailer park! Hundreds of canoes, rafts, kayaks and tubes we're berthed in the widest part of the river, of which 99% of the occupants were intoxicated. We saw all ages of people from teenagers on up to grandpas who could be described as anything but classy. It took us a good fifteen minutes just to maneuver through the mass. I won't go into great detail of what we beheld because this is a family-friendly blog and it wasn't a family-friendly sight! The best description I could come up with is Mardi Gras meets Vegas, meets MTV Spring Break redneck edition. I will say the one positive note was the wonders it did for my body image issues: seeing enough middle-aged women with beer bellies clad in very skimpy bikinis made me look at my body in a whole new light! 

We saw many of these floating beer coolers along the way

Once we got through that area, we hoped we'd passed the worst of it. Unfortunately, it didn't get better from there. We kept paddling faster and faster in search of a white trash-free zone, but somehow never came upon it. I was hoping to find a spot to get out and swim for a while, but was deterred by watching people throw their beer cans and cigarette butts overboard and spit their chewing tobacco in the water. When I saw a father throw up in the river from being so wasted, that was the nail in the coffin. I didn't even want to put my feet in the water after that.

It was a LONG 8 mile journey. I'm sure we were the fastest ones on the river but that wasn't difficult considering many were too inebriated to even find their paddles. In the beginning, all I could think about was all the great material I would have for my next blog post, but the more we saw, the worse I felt. I mean can you imagine if that was your father throwing up in the river or your mother exposing herself for a string of Mardi Gras beads? What kind of message does that send to your kids? It’s no wonder that we are seeing the moral degradation of our society when parents are teaching their children that it is acceptable to exercise no self control as long as you are having “fun.” I am so grateful that I was raised in a home with high moral standards and taught from a young age to reject the “fun” the world has to offer. The world can only offer temporary happiness. And calling it happiness is even a stretch. I can’t imagine drinking yourself silly, giving yourself lung cancer, or contracting an STD can make you very happy.  No thank you for me! I think I’ll pass on those and choose the eternal things that will provide lasting happiness: family, friends, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Herdin' the Sheep

It all started with that dam run! Last summer Nate, Bryson, and I decided to run a race together (the Dam Night Run), and Kaley decided she wanted in on the fun (or rather "fun" as some would say). She told us she was going to get in shape and come run a 5k with us next summer. Well, it's next summer and................we all ran a 5k on Memorial Day!

Brady and Kaley (Nate's brother and sister) came to Arkansas for a whole week. They win the prize for the longest visit. We'd love for someone to try and top that. (hint, hint: come visit us!) The paramount event for the week was the First Annual - or not so annual- Shepherd 5k.

There weren't any races around so we created our own. We had grandiose ideas for making shirts, bibs, a fancy finish line, the works. And while none of those ideas actually emerged into reality, the important thing was the running part of the race did!There was a lot of trash talk beforehand, but when all was said and done, Brady came forth to wear the victor's crown of laurel leaves, or rather just a crown of sweat. Nate insists he would have won had he not been forced to answer the call of Nature along the way! Some of us we're just glad to be able to finish. I've been resting my leg since our half back in April, and let me tell you, seven weeks sedentary makes for seven days soreness for Laurel! Ok, not really seven days, but I sure felt pretty out of shape, and I just liked the alliteration of that sentence.

Kaley deserves a paragraph of recognition. Heck, she could write a whole book about her journey. Kaley is such an inspiration to me of where hard work can take you. Since last summer, she has lost 50 pounds! Not only does she look fantastic, but she is in such great shape too.  I was huffing and puffing keeping up with her during the race! She is amazing so I feel the need to toot her horn for her for all to hear. For those of you who know Kaley, let her know you agree with me that she is awesome, amazing, fantastic, and inspiring. And Kaley, I'm serious about that book thing; Paris Hilton wrote an autobiography and I'm not even sure she can read, yet people read it! I would read yours over hers any day!

Overheard in a Waiting Room

Normally while in a waiting room, I read a magazine or watch t.v. Not today. A better form of entertainment presented itself during my wait: eavesdropping!
A woman on her cell phone, "I'm just sitting here waiting to have my boobs smashed flat."
That woman's friend, also on a cell phone, "I'm at the hospital with ____ for her mammogram....no I couldn't get my tongue pierced today because all the tattoo places are closed on Sunday and Monday."
Apparently, I wasn't the only one listening to the conversation because the old man sitting next to me made a disgusted face upon hearing about the tongue piercing and promptly turned to me, "How are you supposed to eat with one of them things in your tongue? I guess that's why we're all so different. To each his own."
Next, the man's teenage grandson walked into the room asking where his mom was. The old man replied, "She ain't comin. Your appointment is canceled today." The boy asked why no one had told him. The man's response was. "Well, seein as your mom put me in charge, I'd thought I'd let you check out of school early anyway." "Awesome! Thanks, grandpa."
It's always interesting to get a small glimpse into people's lives through eavesdropping. I wonder what people think of me when they hear my conversations?

Daddy-Daughter-Husband Campout

Me+ Nate+ my dad+ camping+ fishing+ hiking+ dutch oven cooking= So much fun!

Good thing there are cows in Arkansas because where cows are, there my dad will be also. He speaks at conferences and goes to meetings about cattle all over the world. This past weekend he got to come here for some meetings! Well, he didn’t quite attend them all; we talked him into playing hooky and fishing instead!

Dad flew into Bentonville on Friday afternoon and then we headed for the hills. We took him camping at the Petit Jean State Park which was conveniently located 20 minutes from the town he had meetings in. On the way, we stopped for some good ole southern barbeque at Penguin Ed’s, compliments of Dad’s business expenses!

Saturday morning we were excited to use our new camp stove and griddle that my parents gave us for Christmas. Unfortunately, we forgot the griddle at home, so we had to turn our Dutch oven lids over and cook on top of them. But the stove worked great and made things so convenient. After breakfast, the men did their fishing while I sat on the bank in my chair reading Twilight. All parties involved were happy with this arrangement. Nate caught the first (and only fish) of the day, and was thrilled at the opportunity to impress my dad!


That afternoon Dad figured he better make an appearance at his meetings, so Nate and I went hiking while he was gone. Petit Jean is a beautiful park with cool rock formations, great trails, and the largest waterfall in Arkansas.

Dinner was awesome! I enjoyed it because I didn’t have to make it and it was delicious. Dad and Nate made Dutch oven potatoes, steak, and peach cobbler. Yum! After dinner we sat around the fire and Nate got to know my dad’s “wild side” as he told stories from his high school and college days.

Sunday morning we packed up and made it home in time to go to church. We even had time to shower which I’m sure our fellow church members appreciated. What a great camping trip!

The Half Marathon Shuffle

Note to self: running 13.1 miles with a stress fracture in your femur does not make for a pleasant race. Who knew?

Nate and I completed the Bentonville Half Marathon on Saturday! I've always been a runner and enjoyed running in races like this. Nate always found it pointless to run without a ball. However, since meeting me, I've slowly been converting him to the world of running. We started with a couple 5ks to ease into the idea, and then I begged and begged for us to do the half marathon together. For my birthday Nate signed us up! What a sweet husband I have!

We spent the last few months waking up early on Saturday mornings to complete our long runs. Yet another reason my husband is so sweet; he's not a big fan of the early morning Saturday business. Training was going great until I developed a stress fracture in my femur. I know, the femur is supposed to be the strongest bone in the body, but apparently my body doesn't know that. I didn't want to let all my training go to waste or make Nate do the race on his own when he only signed up because of me, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and do the race anyway. However, I was wise enough to stop my training runs and switch to cross training activities for the last several weeks before the race to take some pressure off my leg.

The morning of the race was beautiful! It had been rainy and cold all week, but the sun came out for a perfect day of racing weather on Saturday. We lined up at the start line and before we knew it, the gun had sounded. We got off to a great start! We were hitting our goal pace with ease and feeling strong. That is until about mile 4 when I started to have excruciating pain in my leg. Ok, maybe excruciating is too strong of a word, at least at this point of the race, but it was quite painful. Since we still had over 9 miles to go, I knew we'd be in for a LONG race. But I figured after so many miles my legs usually go numb and I can't feel any pain, so I would just have to push through for a couple more miles until the numbness kicked in. Unfortunately, that numbness never came, and the pain only got worse and worse with each mile.

Now is where I have to stopped and praise Nate! He stayed with me the entire time, always encouraging me and not allowing me to quit. He pushed me to keep going but allowed me to set the pace at one where it was possible for me to continue. It was a slow pace compared to our training runs and our goal pace (hence the name of the post, the half marathon shuffle!) but he never made me feel like I was holding him back. Like I said, I have the sweetest husband!!!

Thanks Derek and Katie for being awesome fans!

I also have to give a shout out to our fans! Our friends Derek and Katie made it to several spots throughout the course to cheer for us and take pictures. They even made t-shirts with our names on them! It's always motivational knowing you have friends somewhere on the course and you don't want to be caught walking when they see you! Bryson also road his bike down to the course and got some good pictures too. We're glad to have photo proof that we actually completed this event together, and we were happy that we had people support us! Thank you Derek, Katie, and Bryson.

Nate doing some fist pumping for Bryson and me trying to smile

Besides our personal fans, Bentonville townspeople were great fans too. We ran through a bunch of neighborhoods and I was surprised at how many people were outside on their driveways cheering for us. Some even had music blaring out of their cars or live bands playing. The atmosphere was a lot of fun. That was Nate's favorite part about the race. He actually felt pretty good most of the way and really enjoyed the race. He didn't even put his earphones in because he was just excited to listen to the crowds cheering!

With the help of our fans, the crowd, and lots of praying we managed to reach the finish line, join hands, and raise our arms triumphantly. It was a dramatic moment. This was my fifth and slowest half marathon, yet I am still proud of this one. I seriously wanted to drop out at several points of the race and let Nate go on with out me, but he didn't let me and I didn't let myself. So while it was a disappointing time, it was still a rewarding finish. We're planning on doing another one someday so I can redeem myself with a more satisfying time and Nate can set a true PR not a pity PR, but for now we'll be focusing on recovery! We're pretty sore today! Also I plan on taking the next 6-8 weeks off of running to allow my stress fracture to heal. It was a wonderful experience to run a half marathon with my husband and hopefully we can continue to make running a part of our lives together.

We really did cross the line with out arms held in the air. Unfortunately we put them down before this photo was snapped.

Nate Can Rent a Car

A quarter of a century. Wow! My husband has been around for a long time. Not really, but I still like to tease him about it. In order to draw out the celebration and make life more exciting, we decided a proper birthday should consist of several days of festivities. His birthday was a week ago, but we still have plans for continued celebration! Events have and will consist of: eating Thai food, going to the movies, watching basketball, making pottery (Nate is really good at this) eating tacos and pie with friends, eating teriyaki chicken with Bryson and Alyssa, opening gifts, and going to the dirt race car track. Perhaps you noticed that several of the events consisted of eating delicious meals. If you know Nate at all, this probably won’t surprise you. If we get bored in the next month or so, we may add in some more celebrations in the name of Nate’s birthday. How long can we make a birthday last???

Here's a picture of Nate opening a present from his parents. I was informed that this is how a man opens a present.

The Blizzard of 2011

When we moved to Arkansas, I was misled concerning the weather. I was told it would be quite mild with very little snow. Nothing like the Utah winters I've endured over the last four year. Apparently, the Utah winter decided to follow me. Two weeks ago Northwest Arkansas topped the 24 hour snowfall record, the single storm snowfall record, and the seasonal snowfall record for at least the last 70 years! We got 2 feet of snow dumped on us in one day. Just my luck!
For those of you still back in Utah, a blizzard of this nature wouldn't be out of the ordinary. But Arkansas is just not equipped to deal with that much snow. I swear there must be only one plow in the whole county, because most roads seemed to go untouched for days. Even if a road did get plowed, you never knew how much of the road was actually cleared. Sometimes I would drive down a road and suddenly the lane would end with a big pile of snow. Not only was the city not prepared for this kind of storm, the people weren't either. When the snow first started, there was a run on Wal-Mart. I was there to pick up a prescription and I couldn't believe how crazy it was. It looked like Black Friday shopping except everyone's carts were full of food, batteries, flashlights, bottled water, and other emergency preparedness supplies. The shelves were literally cleared off!
The high point of the storm was Nate and I were both able to work from home for a few days. I could get used to sitting in bed in my pajamas while working. It was nice to be able to do the laundry, clean up the kitchen, and make dinner during my breaks. I'm not normally a fan of blizzards, but I quite enjoyed my time working from home.
The strange thing was it went from -16 degrees to 69 degrees in a matter of days. This last week we were outside in shorts and flip flops. Hard to believe we just had a blizzard. Crazy!