If you looked up 'genius' in the dictionary you'd see a pic of C'era

8 of us gathered around a small table, about the size of a foot rest. The cards were put in front of me and I was to choose one. The game was called 'bang' which I had never heard of  before. (http://www.gateplay.com/bang-the-bullet-card-game-set.aspx) I am not so much a fan of learning how to play new games, especially when I am tired and things aren't exactly explained very clearly.

I only knew one person in the room full of people, Stephen, he was to my left. The guy to my right started some small talk with me and asked if I were in school and what I did for work. We will call him Matt. I started to explain what I did when Stephen piped in with: 'she's a genius.' We all chuckled a little and continued to play. Matt was 'killed' off pretty quickly in the game and so I took the opportunity to ask him about some of the cards I had in my hand since I knew he wouldn't be bias in me living or dying in the game. 

After a couple of questions Matt realized I hadn't played this game before and was shocked. He said he had never met anyone who could pick up on this game so quickly. Stephen said 'I told you she is a genius.' Matt asked if I really were a genius so I asked him what his definition of genius was. Stephen interrupted with 'She is a genius. If you looked up 'genius'  in the dictionary you'd see a picture of C'era. She's going to be my sugar mama.' (this didn't go over so well with his girlfriend who was sitting to his left)

This quickly changed Matt's perception of me and he became intrigued in me and my life. I propose that perception is everything. It affects the way you live and view your life. If we labored to change our perception to a positive one, I believe our life can be how we perceive it to be. Try it out this week and tell me how it goes. View your life the way you want it to be and live this next week that way.

 Amusing as all this might be, it is nice to know someone thinks I am a genius, well 2 people now haha.

Such a pain in the knee

“I’m super-girl & I’m here to save the world, but I wanna know, who’s gonna save me..”

The shadows danced throughout the school bus as the moonlight poured into the windows. The anticipation was leaking from everyone's pores. The occupants on the bus were surprisingly quiet, most listening to their music getting pumped for the race. I sat next to a 29 year old girl who has run this marathon a few times and has qualified for Boston. She wasn't too chatty but humored my questions about the course.

I was on one of the last buses to reach the top of the canyon. I joined the throngs of people lining up at the Port-a-Potties. It was a bit chilly up there but the excitement of the runners warmed up the scene.

That's when the race started!!!!! I couldn't believe it really started. The lines to the bathroom quickly became smaller. This race is chip timed. Meaning we have a chip on our shoe which is unique to our start and stop time when we cross the start and finish line. So I wasn’t worried that it had started. That’s when the announcer said: “WE ARE CLOSING THE ROAD!” What?! I hurried and used the potty, ripped off my warmer clothes revealing my super-girl outfit and took off running.

I was told by the professionals to take the first half of the course easy; that you will make up for it the second half -Dumb idea. I took my time and was still passing hundreds of people. I wish they would just move out of the way, like passing in a car. Instead the quicker ones would have to run off the pavement through the weeds to pass the slower folks.

I saw many people I had grown up with on the sides of the road cheering us on. And many who I didn’t know shouted and cheered for SUPER-GIRL! This was very helpful since the second half of the race I was in a lot of pain. My knee was killing me and so were my shins. I didn’t warm-up nor stretch and I was really feeling it! But hey, i beat my old time by 10 min. :]

My 1st nephew

I am an Aunt!!!

Westin Skyler Francis
new born (below)
3 months (right)

Relay4Life

WOW! So much fun, if you like running in a relay team for 24 hrs :)
Our Team: Dr. Dave's Team took first place!! This was my first year participating and the seventh straight year this team has taken 1st! We won by half a mile. I ran a little over 24 miles for the team, and at a fast pace! Most my miles were under 7.25, which for me is pretty good :)

We each took turns running for 15 min. At the St. George Hansen Stadium Track. I was third in rotation and often after my run was able to rest for an hour and a half before I would throw out another 15 min. Then at night we took turn running for 70min straight. My turn was at 4:50am - my usual running time - so I did fairly well - running 37 laps during that time. After my 70 min I had a 30 min rest - then did another 15 and continued in our rotation until noon.

It was a great experience and I met a lot of awesome people!

Holi Festival

I had heard about it a few years ago - but somehow I forget about it each year. This year I was reminded about it two days before. So we decided to jump in the car and go up Saturday after we went rock climbing in St. George.

The Holi AKA Color Festival is a Hindu tradition from India. It has relevance between good verses evil, and good winning. It also has to do with ushering in spring and luck through throwing colored chalk powder on each other.

We definitely did NOT get as covered as others. Maybe next year!! We had a great time and plan on going back to Spanish Fork many more springs to come to help everyone celebrate at the Hira Krishna temple there.