Turkey Run

I started my Thanksgiving off with a Turkey Run. I ran most of the three mile course I did (could do up to five, but I pushed too hard training last Saturday and my old fracture is giving me some pain) and it was wonderful. It was so beautiful this morning and it makes it hard not to be thankful for the amazing blessings in my life!

Blessing number 1, living in beautiful Utah. This was at the end of the run and I just struck me how lucky I was to be so blessed to be surrounded by such beautiful scenery all the time. I love seeing the mountains in the background of everything and I love crisp cool air in the mornings.

I am so blessed to be blessed with amazing friends who have become my family. Being so far from my own family I have been so blessed to have amazing people come into my life. In no particular order the ones I feel most grateful for this year are: Logan, Chantal, Melinda, Tricia, Kari and Peter. There are so many more but it is this small set who have truly been such blessings to me this year by being listening ears, shoulders to cry on, late night texts about Taylor Lautner or Hugh Jackman, temple buddies, encouraging messages or telling me that no matter what others say or act like, that I am a beautiful and sweet person.

I am grateful for the gym and my trainer. You have to bored of this by now but the changes in my life have been staggering and a whole new world has opened up to me because of it. 6 days a week I am at the gym working out and I love the person I have become because of that one little fact.

I am so blessed, to know of my worth. I can move mountains, soothe troubled souls, lend a shoulder when needed and I can build and strengthen those around me. How blessed I am!

I am most grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father who has taught me that as long as I do what I know to be right, things will work out. Every time. It may not be in a week, a month or even a year, but in the end it will.

Those are just a few of the things I am thankful for today. Now that that is out of the way, on the the last bit of Black Friday planning...

More About the Weekend

Well my friends, it may take days to tell you everything that happened in the last few days. So let me fill you in about a few details about friday and I'll get to the rest in the next day or so.

(Me and Logan in front of the Ogden Temple...and my wonderful new blue coat...blue wool...so nice!)

We started bright and early on friday morning at 6:30am for a 7am session at the Ogden temple. A great way to start the day, in the hometown temple. The Ogden temple had been closed for cleaning for the last few weeks and it was the first time I had the chance to go back and I was so grateful for it.

(Kari and I in front of the Bountiful Temple...so cute!)

After our session there we headed to a 10am session in Bountiful. What a blessing it is to live in Utah and be able to drive 20 minutes and hit a temple. Every drive was 20 minutes to the next temple.

(Me in front of the Salt Lake Temple)

A 1pm session in Salt Lake City was next. A live session was very interesting to experience. A good way to break up the day for sure. It was cool to see and feel the history of that temple. It is definitely very different than other temples.

(Logan in front of the Jordan River Temple)

A 4:20 session at Jordan River was very cool. Funny to ride the escalators up and down in that temple, but surprisingly like the Ogden inside.

(Kari and Logan in front of the Mount Timpanogos)

And a 7:30 session was planned for the Mount Timpanogos Temple, but it was so full that they were unsure that we would even be able to make it into the 8pm session! So we took the chance to do initories instead. A great way to end a day! It was funny to see that this temple was almost exactly like the Bountiful temple.

A long day for sure. We were all totally exhausted and ready to sleep by the end but...it was the most amazing day as well.

I was so blessed to feel such peace and to know more deeply how loved I am. So many amazing experiences and quiet moments of reassurance made it such a special day. It truly was one of the best days of my life. I was so blessed to share it with two very good friends as well.

Kari, I got to know her from her our mid-singles committee but we quickly bonded. We have gotten to be friends and did our big super saturday craft day together. We are the same age and have similar difficulties and we love to craft! From quilts to scrapbooking...we enjoy each other. We became closer and felt less alone in our struggles at the end of the day.

(Kari and I in front of the Ogden Temple)
Logan, oh you guys know that story. He has been such a great friend to me over the last year. He truly is family to me. The chance to share such a big day with him felt right. I am so happy that he has found some happiness lately.


(Logan and I in the car between SLC and Jordan River)
We, Kari, Logan and I, made the goal to attend all the temples in Utah this spring and have already started planning the next trip. I am so blessed to have such good friends who can and want to share these amazing experiences with me.

Temple 5k

First I am going to start off saying that this was one of the most amazing days of my life. I knew it would be pretty unique and interesting, but I had no idea that it would affect me so much.

We did it, 5 temples, one day. 4 sessions and one set of initiatories...we couldn't get into the last session, it was packed! But can I tell you the peace and joy that fill me even now, the next day? It is amazing.

We are planning another 4k in the spring hitting Draper, Mount Timpanogos, Provo and Manti and I am already excited.

I have a lot to do this morning but I wanted to get this out there as soon as I could. I'll add a picture or two, but will do a more detailed post later. I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Kari, Me and Logan in front of the Salt Lake Temple