Winter!

Well, winter has officially come. We have snow that is sticking on the ground. Last Sunday I woke up to find snow on the ground. However, by the afternoon it had melted. All week we had the cold winter wind. I had to put the outside on my light fall coat. (It's still not cold enough for my winter coat.) Yesterday it snowed and it stayed all day. It has been snowing lightly on and off all day.

A nice day at the beach.

The lagoon is already half way frozen.

I thought this looked pretty cool as I was out walking. Each blade of grass is covered in a case of ice.

Now only about eight more months until summer.

Surprise trip to Utah

A week or so after I arrived I got a phone call telling me to buy a ticket back to Utah. My sister Stacy had decided to marry her long time boyfriend, Dave. So a few hours after I ran my first race, I jumped on a plane and headed back to Salt Lake.

It was fun to see the family again. Not to mention the trees and mountains. Here are some pictures of Dad, Robert, Adrienne, Brooklen, and Hurley out on Whitney Reservoir. Not only can I look at these pictures and see family, I can remember that there are places in the world where it's green and things grow taller than four inches.

Pictures of the wedding site at the 10th Ward Building. Didn't I do a great job setting it up. (Well, I did have a little help. O.K., a lot of help)

The Bride and Groom (To quote the invitation . . . finally.)

Spaghetti Run

This year I've had a few students on the cross-country team who keep inviting me to work out with them. I've done it a few times and I have to say, even though I run on the treadmill everyday, I am out of shape. They leave me in the dust. They've been begging me to run in the Spaghetti Run this year. It's the annual fund raiser for their team.

Well, I agreed and so I competed in my first race on the 5th of Sep

tember. It was a 5K or about 3.2 miles for those of you who hate the metric system. (You know metric is really easier if you'd just accept it.) I ran against a few other adults and the cross-country teams from all over the slope. Considering it was my first race and I was running against high school runners, I think that placing

22nd was pretty good. That was out of just over 50 people, so I'm right in the middle. Next time though, my goal is to break 30 min.

The runners at the beginning of the race. I'm the bright yellow sweatshirt in the back.

Here are a few of the cross-country team. Many former and current students.

Aaron (The winner of the race. Too old to be one of mine.)

Nasuayaaq

(Try saying that one.)

Flora

(Fastest girl on the team. Also the one who keeps bugging me about running with them)

Eric

(A student from my days back in Nuiqsut)

Overall, it was a really good time and we had good spaghetti and stuff to eat after.