There is no one alive that is youer than you

"Today you are you! that is truer than true! there is no one alive who is you-er than you! shout loud, I am lucky to be what I am! Thank goodness i'm not just a clam or a ham or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam! I am what I am!"   

"I AM I! ME! I am I! And I may not know why but I know that I like it. Three cheers! I AM I!"

- Dear Old Dr. Seuss 

I am I and I'm grateful for that. I like skateboards and singing and acrobats.  Sitting under the stars makes my head feel clear and I'm the kind of girl that likes nature to be near.  I find that I love broccoli, I'm one of few who like fruitcake.  I miss the ocean like crazy, I'd rhyme more... but I'm lazy. 

I felt like after I quoted Dr. Seuss I had to keep rhyming.  Even now, typing this feels so wrong.  

I probably have a cursing problem... the other day I resolved to stop swearing.  There is, after all, a plethora of creative words to express my feelings out there (see what I did there).  I am fairly confident that God read my thoughts and promptly decided to give me a small test.  I walked past our side table, knocked over our lamp, and it shattered. I love that lamp... my resolve dissolved. **Don't worry Mom I jumped back on the "clean language" wagon.

But anyways,

 I have spent the last two days listening to my church's, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, General Conference.  I hope that everyone who had the chance to watch or listen feels uplifted! 
Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately is how looking back, my biggest regrets are times when I wasn't as kind or thoughtful as I could have been.  AND what do you know, one of the themes of  conference was kindness... I know that I have been a little sassy of late, and I have made so many justifications for it.  So, I am now super charged with kindness.  Bring it on challenging individuals in my life who test my patience, I will be kind to you! 

Check out conference if you haven't and don't forget to make the world a better place today! 

Marathon Recap

We ran a marathon, it was hard.

Yes, I did almost waste precious energy crying a couple times around mile 15.

Yes, Chase did leave me around mile 17 because I kept yelling "SAVE YOURSELF!" (He may have left out of embarrassment...)

Yes, it is possible to get a second wind at mile 20.

Yes, I caught back up to Chase and ended up being the one to cheer him on to the finish line. (Who da thunk?)

Yes, I will probably run another someday. (I know I said never again... But it's been a week now)

Every time I do something hard, something that that I don't quite feel confident enough to do, I grow. Running 26.2 miles fell into this category.

(my rock on sign is backward I know....)

And on another note. I just wanted to tell everyone how important it is that you love yourself.
Love your body, take care of it, there are people following your example and attitude toward it. Put good wholesome food in it. Exercise, so that you can use your body to enjoy the world! Don't spend your life cooped up working.  Work hard, play hard, sleep like a rock.

Life's To Short To Fold Fitted Sheets

Life update.


Merry Christmas Season!!!!

Remember how I am running a marathon in 35 days 10 hours and 15 minutes? I realize now how flawed my decision making process was, when I made the decision to participate in a 26.2 mile race. I simply overlooked one fundamental fact...  RUNNING SUCKS.  As Ann Perkins once said...

Why not just back out you ask? Change my distance? Thats really just not who I am.  I've invested to much time, and way to much energy now.  Just pray for me.  Not that I finish the race, I am fairly confident I can do that, more that I can have a better attitude, so I can keep the human friends I have (Bob Hope would never leave me).


On a more uplifting note.  I wanted to share about how grateful I am for this time of year, and the greatness it brings out in people.

Today I had to last minute run to the store because we ran out of olive oil, and the missionaries were on their way over for dinner (I refused to change what was on the menu).  On the way home I pulled up to the stop light and made awkward eye contact with the man next to me.  I was listening to Christmas music, and my window was half way down. So, in an attempt to make it more, or less awkward, you can decide, I started singing and dancing.
This man happened to be listening to the same station, and he made me look like the new elf on the block with his dance moves!!!  He made my heart grow 3 sizes!

I am happy there are happy dancing people in the world.  Thank you if you are one of them.

HINT HINT: Dancing enthusiastically makes me happy,  if you have lived with me for the last two and a half years and want to know what I want for Christmas... A choreographed dance performance to single ladies would make me happy. (cough cough Husband)

So We Decided to Run A Marathon

Everyone's doing it. Are you?

Trust me I am super "hip"...  After my brothers wedding last weekend my Grandma told me that I can really "cut a rug", that's right people, who wants to hit the disco? I am super "hip", in large because of my dancing skills, so you should obviously trust me.  Sign up for a marathon.  It cant be that hard right?

http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/arizona  This is the one we are doing...join us. do it...  We are only a few weeks into training. Its not to late. If Chase can find time to train for it, so can you.
 I know, I know, I make a compelling and intellectual argument.

I guess I will finish this blog with another "Liz is Crazy" blurb.

Tamra and I find ourselves playing Snap Chat truth or dare on occasion.  It was one of our favorite games when we were the young age of 20...  Chase was studying in our room, door shut, obviously.  Tamra dared me to slide some spoons under the door. So I did, no big deal. What proves I am crazy is that Chase never said anything about those spoons.  Nothing! 3 days later I brought it up.  He didn't think it was weird behavior for me, and was actually a little surprised I did it due to a dare.

I am a weirdo, and not even the cool kind of weird.  It is also clear to me that I need to try harder to not distract Chase.  The weather is finally getting cool enough to go outside so that's good. Who wants to slackline?

Reactivating Facebook

So I reactivated my Facebook.  Did you even notice I was gone? If you did, true friend award to you! 

Why did I reactivate it you ask?

 The simple answer is, Chase made me. (Also my Birthday is coming up...what would a Birthday be without Facebook? spsh...human interaction, what?)----cough cough November 22---

 I commented on something from his Facebook...He kindly explained that sharing Facebook was like sharing a toothbrush, even though we may tangle tongues and exchange germs from time to time, sharing a toothbrush, and Facebook, is just gross.  

If my analogy doesn't make sense, or maybe offends you, sorry... kind of. 

SO ANYWAY! Fellow bloggers, do you ever look back on posts you made long, or not so long ago and think "What the heck man, I used to be so freaken funny/wise/beautiful/etc?".  Am I alone in this? please someone agree with me, out of pity at the very least.  

NOW, every time I write a post I second guess myself like crazy.  Why in the world is my blog writing voice feeling so squelched?  If you too are suffering from post (haha get it) traumatic stress syndrome, repeat after me.  I'M AWESOME...I'M AWESOME...I'M AWESOME... 

I do recognize that a large part of having something funny to write about, came from living close to the ever so hilariously, weird, and awesome family that I was born into.  Maybe they just made my creative juices flow more freely?

anyways...

To sum up my blog post for today I thought I'd share a blurb from the "Liz Is Crazy" file.  

Chase studies...LIKE A LOT! I pretty much don't see him except for at dinner every night and church on Sundays...  I wish I was being dramatic.  

This translates into a lot of evenings spent with my friends, and a lot of evenings spent alone.  

Welp, the other night I was alone and made myself laugh...I started to laugh uncontrollably hard and snorted.  At first this made me tear up from laughing even harder....and then the tears turned into "I may be a little bit pathetic laughing here all alone so hard" tears.   

Yep.  Now you can feel better about yourself.  You're welcome:) 

Happy Tuesday!

    

We're at it again.

You know what they say... Work hard, Play hard.  We try our best to live by that mantra.

I LOVE spending time with Chase.  He is full of good advice and knowledge.  I can not tell you how grateful I am that I married this hard working, fun loving man.

SO OUR TRIP!

We started our first leg... a 13 hour drive to Boise, ID.  Why I didn't take more pictures there escapes me.

Chase and I found Idaho extremely beautiful...and it is! But maybe we have been in AZ to long?

We got to play with our good friends Nick and Whitney.  And meet a new good friend Joseph Jensen, Whitneys man.  He took us geo cashing, chalking, and swimming in a dead fish river (aka Eagle Island). AND showed us a fantastic sushi place.  Food and fun? He knows our hearts well. 

Why I didn't take pictures with Tamra, Whitney J. and Neil is a mystery.  But this is Tamra's babe.  My best friend has a baby? weird.  I must be growing up or something.  I also had my first Trampoline gym experience.  LOVED IT! I am in the pre requisite club to the millionaire club (the 5am club),  and if all goes to plan we may or may not have trampoline floors someday. 

I also got to meet for the first time ever my Cuz/Aunt Jennys beautiful baby girl Kaitlin.  This baby girl is one tough cookie.

 On to Oregon/Washington.  My brother got married in the LDS temple!!!! and to one of my dearest friends.  I can not tell you how happy this makes me.  I have always been proud of that boy.  Who wouldn't be? he has accomplished so much.  And he is the coolest.  I love having an extreme professional athlete as a brother! ...It makes me cooler right?

 And we met my nephew baby Sam!!

After dancing the night away at the beautiful reception we left for Yosemite!

 Pictures and words can not describe how beautiful Yosemite is.  Please go. Please? just do it. And don't forget to invite us. There are a plethora of beautiful hikes, biking trails, views, etc.

 The wildlife in Yosemite is fearless, and some animals are overweight.  It breaks my heart.

 We think we could make the Varsity Cheer Squad

(for some reason I find Chase irresistible with a shirt tied around his head, what a sexy beast!)

 ....We love Ansel Adams...and the name Ansel

 We probably ran out of food.  Chase insisted that this can of beans was gourmet.

  One of our favorite things to do while camping is rock scrambling up rivers, and polar dipping.  The water here was SO COLD! so after the first day, there was no force in the universe that could have got me back into that water (in the early am).

 We tried to spend all of our time out and about just soaking in the beauty,

"The harder you work, the luckier you get" -a wise soul

"Here, in this rich wilderness, we dreamed that over the next ridge, beyond the next stream, freedom lay forever" -Newmans

Chase Loves Medical School

Life is grand.

Before Chase and I came to Arizona and started our adventure here, we talked to a lot of people about what our experience might be like.  Everything we were told was so shiny and bright that it blurred my vision.  It wasn't just the good things that seemed like they would be unreal, it was the hardships we were told about as well.  

Well, it wasn't long before it felt like things got real.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  Everything we had been told about what we would experience in some way, big or small, has come true.  

for example

Sometimes it's hard when Chase has exams Friday, Monday, Friday, Monday. (Maybe a Wednesday in there too.)

When we're going through those weeks I feel like marching right up to some professors and asking why they feel the need to torture my poor sweet innocent husband. I mean for heavens sake its not finals week, and the overwhelming majority of what he learns from courses like Neurology, he will never use during his career as a Podiatric Surgeon (sounds cooler than Podiatrist). ...Wait, what do you mean year two is harder?

Oh, and by the way Mr. Fantastically rich and in charge of Midwestern University, (Chase says I sound bitter) why does Neurology account for 7 credits in my Husbands GPA?  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the flaw in that logic.  Give it some thought ...I'll give you $40,000 a year ;)

Anyways,

We survived year one, and overall it has been an amazing year.  We have made so many great friends!  We really could not have been more blessed.


So far, not too much of our personalities have been sucked out of us.  Once in a while though someone who is in a residency program bears their testimony.  They remind us of how good we have it now, and how much of a personality sucker residency can be. Those are the testimony meetings I always leave feeling ridiculously scared of what our future holds...ha...ha..I'm joking...kind of.

It's no big deal really though right? Our friends and families will beat personalities back into us when its all over? right?

There are day's that are hard for me, and days I think are the best days of my life.  Other days are spent in the quiet calm of the temple.  I love those days.  I need more of those days.  Who wants to go to the temple? It means we get to go to Cafe Rio (YUM!).


Anyways this is my medical school rant.  Doesn't make sense? Sorry mate.  Happy Fathers day everyone! And if you can, watch Doctor Who, it's the best thing that will ever happen to you.