I Thought I Had Seen It All...

Last weekend I took a trip down to Moab. I have been to Moab several times, at least every year for the last 6 years. It is one of my favorite places to go because it is an easy get-away since it is only a few hours from home but is also exotic enough with the red rock and amazing arches. Because I have been there so many times, I thought I had seen it all. In fact, I was with two of my friends (both named Emily, oddly enough) who hadn't been and I thought I was going to act as experienced tour guide for them.

A couple of different times during the week leading up to my trip I had been told about a hike to an arch called "Negro Bills". I wondered how good it could be since I considered myself such a Moab expert and hadn't ever even heard about it. Well, we decided to try it out and I am so glad that we did. It was unlike any other hike I have been on in Moab. In a place that is definitely a red rock desert, it was actually quite lush! It is not in Arches National Park, which is probably one of the reasons I hadn't heard of it before. It has a beautiful little river that you follow up for about 4 miles until you come to the back of the canyon which ends with a beautiful black arch. I guess that is why they call it "Negro Bills"...even though we never figured out who Bill was we were sure glad he discovered this arch.

No Trespassing!

Sometimes I feel myself going down the scary road...do you know the one I mean? The scary road that begins with negative thoughts and has all sorts of pot holes and blind curves that lead to nothing but trouble? Thoughts like "I am not thin enough, not pretty enough, not fun enough...just plain not enough" OR "I will be happy when I lose weight, when I get married, when my butt stops jiggling when I walk, when...(fill in the blank)?

Well, I have decided that I am going to post a huge NO TRESPASSING sign at the beginning of that scary road. Fortunately, I have good friends in my life who can help me recognize when I have started down that path and can help me get off of it quickly and back on the road of happiness and contentment.

The mind is a powerful thing and I know that for me once I let negative thoughts start to pollute my brain waves those negative thoughts become toxic and start poisioning my life. No more! I am going to live by the "No Trespassing" mantra...I think I will have some T-shirts made! Who wants one?

The Last 10 Years

So, after my last post I realized what an ugly leg I have and started feeling bad...so to cheer myself up I decided to follow some advice from my friend Rachel and think about the top 25 things that I have done or have happened to me in the past 10 years...here goes:

1. Served and returned from a wonderful mission in Hawaii
2. Graduated with a B.S. from Southern Utah University
3. Got a passport (aka a ticket to the world!)
4. Moved to Australia
5. Moved back to Utah
6. Moved to New Mexico
7. Moved to Arizona
8. Moved back to Utah
9. Realized it wasn't very fun to actually move, and decided to just go on vacations instead :)
10. Got my insurance and securities licenses
11. Started an insurance agency
12. Traveled to Egypt
13. Went on 4 cruises (3 to Mexico and 1 to the Carribbean)
14. Experienced my first hurricane on the Carribbean cruise...and was subsequently stranded in Florida for 4 days.
15. Traveled to Guatemala.

16. Traveled to Cancun.
17. Left insurance to enter the world of banking and investments.
18. Traveled to Europe (Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia)
19. Bought a condo
20. Realized I have wrecked 3 different rental cars...I recommend ALWAYS getting the insurance.

21. Lost 98 pounds...still a bit more to go!

22. Gave birth to triplets...if you are confused...see the previous post below from February

23. Am officially the last single still standing in my family...but it's ok...I have 18 wonderful nieces and nephews and 6 fantastic brothers and sisters in law.

24. Realized it's time for another vacation.
25. My passport expires next week...it's time to start again!

FORE!

I was recently enjoying a day on the golf course with a friend. We were on our second hole which was a long par 5 and I had just set up to hit my second shot when from out of nowhere a ball came from behind us and hit me in the leg. I was completely shocked at first and my friend jumped out of the cart and started asking me if I was ok. I was. In fact, I immediately started laughing uncontrollably. Apparently a group in back of us teed off because they thought we were further up than we actually were. I thought about the odds of being hit like that and it really seems quite remarkable. To be in the exact spot on a huge course where a small little ball can find you and inflict bodily harm is simply amazing. I have been hit with many types of balls in my life and always thought that a golf ball would have to be one of the most painful since it is so hard, and what I learned is that it isn't as bad asI would have imagined. However, because I am a little proud of my battle wound, I had to post a picture. You can see the little red circle where the ball actually hit and then the HUGE bruise around it. It is totally awesome!

I wanna be a Rockstar baby!

So...a couple nights ago I had a very interesting dream. I dreamed that Guns 'N Roses were coming to town to perform. As part of their visit to Salt Lake City, they were also putting on a special concert for Wells Fargo employees who had won a contest. The only caviat to the contest was that it was at 5am. Axl Rose decided that he didn't want to sing at 5am, so he called me and asked me if I would fill in for him. Of course, I accepted. The only condition was that it had to be a secret that it was me, I had to dress, act, and sing just like him so that nobody knew it was really me. I got all dressed up, got into character, went out on stage and totally pulled it off. Nobody knew it was me wearing that red bandana singing "Sweet Child of Mine".

The next morning, I woke up with a smile on my face thinking about how funny I am that I had such a dream. Later that day, I was sitting with a client in my office when "Sweet Child of Mine" started playing over the radio. He stopped our conversation and told me how much he liked that song. I immediately started laughing and told him about my dream the night before. When I finished, he proceeded to interpret the dream for me. He thinks that it means that I feel like I am not being recognized at my job for good work that I am doing, like I am in a disguise or something. I was surprised at his interpretation since I just thought it meant that I had a deep rooted desire to be a rockstar.

I wonder if I should tell him that a few nights later I had a dream that it finally came out that I am the one who really wrote the song "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and that Def Leppard has totally ripped me off!

Another New Experience

I had the opportunity of going to the Draper Temple Dedication on Sunday and though it was a long day, I had a wonderful time! We had to be on a bus to ride to the temple at 11:30am even though our session didn't start until 2:00pm. We had to sit in the chapel of a Stake Center until it was time to go into the temple. Fortunately my friends and I planned ahead and packed enough treats and water to feed the entire congregation, which was a good thing because it turned out to be a great way to make new friends.

When we got in the temple, we were seated in one of the sealing rooms and with a couple of flat screens in front of us. Even though we weren't in the same room as the Prophet and other General Authorities, the Spirit was still very strong. There were several excellent speakers, and as always, President Monson's caring personality shined through as he made personal comments and greetings to members of the congregation with him in the Celestial Room.

How fortunate I feel to have so many temples so close to me. I was thinking about it and there are literally 5 temples (soon to be 6 with the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple) within 25 minutes of my house. I love it!

You don't know what you don't know...ya know?

So...since my last post when I delivered my triplets I have been on a bit of a roller coaster of illness...actually it was less like a roller coaster and more like a free fall since there didn't seem to be any 'ups' only 'downs' on my health ride the past few weeks. It turned out that I had one more kidney stone still in my kidney that was more than double the size of the 3 others that I had already passed. That 4th stone started passing, but got stuck about a week and a half ago. Unfortunately, my doctor didn't think it was going to pass without help so I ended up having surgery this past week to break up the stone. Since then I have finally been able to pass the last stone! For me, worse than the pain caused by the stone was the nausea, dizziness, and fevers which accompanied it. I have been fortunate to have enjoyed good health for most of my life and what has surprised me the most the past few days is that I didn't know how sick I have been feeling until I started feeling good again. And I also learned first hand how priceless our health really is, I guess we really don't know what we don't know...ya know?