I finally registered for the St. George Marathon. I ended up only registering with my brother Josh. The others in the group have decided that what seemed like a good idea at the time, really is not a very good idea after beginning to actually run. Even though I registered for the St. George Marathon, that does not mean that I will actually be chosen to run. The St. George Marathon only allows a limited number of runners to participate each year due to accommodation issues. That means that at the first of May, a computer will randomly choose the lucky individuals to run the race. I hope I have better luck at this drawing then the California Lottery. I have my computer programmed to check for the results of the lottery drawing the first of May and as soon as I find out I will be sure to post.

The new puppy, Maddie, is doing great. Last night was our first night of Puppy School at the local Petsmart. There are 6 puppies in the class. Maddie just wanted to play with the other puppies, she wasn’t interested in the clicker or treats. She now weighs a whopping 8.4 lbs. She is the BIG girl in class. The other puppies are all very small toy varieties. As soon as we got home, I had to review what we learned in class. “LOOK” consists of me saying, “Maddie—LOOK” and then holding a puppy treat on my forehead and then as soon as Maddie looked at the treat clicking the little clicker and rewarding her with the treat. Boy do I look silly with puppy treats on my forehead.

I attempted writing this last night…but was interrupted by the new addition to the family. She stepped right in the middle of my laptop and erased the post before I finished, so now that I am at work…(Don’t tell my boss) I am going to retype everything. For the last few months I have been feeling that something or someone was missing from my life. I am guessing that is the feeling that women get when they desire to have another child. I felt like I needed to have a child. For those of you that you know me, I don’t have any children, I would love to have a little copy of myself running around, but we all know that isn’t the best thing for this world so instead I have a dog that I treat like a child. She is a 7 year old Boxer named T-ko. Of course I think she is the cutest princess that anyone could ever have and I spoil her every chance I get.

The last couple of months, I have been thinking that T-ko needed a little sister. Unlike women that have children, I had to pick out all the details. I had to pick out the gender, the breed, a breeder, the coloring and of course a name. I decided on a French Bulldog. Our friend Shar Quinney has a French Bulldog named Lola that I had fallen in love with and I thought it was a close representation to a Boxer like my Princess. Now the issue was finding a breeder. I researched breeders from California to Vermont, looking at litters of puppies. I had to find a puppy that came from an excellent Breeder, which bred to AKC standard and for a special little girl that I knew, would fit right in with my crazy life.  I ended up finding the perfect breeder in Utah of all places. I picked up my little girl on March 6th. There is nothing like that excitement of bringing home a new little baby girl. I was so excited for T-ko to meet her new little sister. I wasn’t really worried about how T-ko would react. She has been around many other dogs and has always been great with them. I still didn’t have a name for the new little girl so I called her Thing 1. T-ko was excellent with Thing 1 just like I had assumed she would be. It was funny to see T-ko run around the kitchen island and Thing 1 chasing her and sliding on the tile floor at each corner.

I anticipate the next few weeks of that sweet puppy breath, the middle of the night bathroom breaks, the potty training and those loving French Bulldog Puppy kisses.

On New Year’s Eve, we all sat around drinking champagne and talking about things we wanted to do for the upcoming year. When it came to my turn, I blurted out, “I want to run a marathon”. Somewhere deep down I really do want to run a marathon, but I can’t run to the end of the drive way let alone 26.2 miles. Maybe it was the champagne and the innocent gathering of friends or me trying to impress them, whatever it was I told everyone I was going to run a marathon. Really my goal was to run a marathon before I was 30. Well I missed that goal, so maybe by telling everyone that I want to run a marathon I will feel some obligation to actually complete this asinine goal. In order to give me the most time to train for a marathon before winter hits, I chose the St. George marathon. It is a great marathon for first time runners, most of the race is downhill.

I convinced my brother and his girlfriend, Josh and Annie; and my brother and sister-in-law, Clay and Celecia to run the race with me. Now I really have to run this race….I can’t back out on everyone now. I am actually excited to run a marathon with them. It will be a HUGE accomplishment for all of us. I managed my first marathon training session today. I ran on the treadmill for exactly .65 miles and had to stop. I walked the rest of the way to complete 1 mile. Who said 26 miles was going to be easy?

My niece Ryelee turned one year old last weekend, so the whole family got together to celebrate. It was good to be around everyone and just hang out. My brother Zack, who is the grill master, grilled up hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone. Both of my nieces have to be the cutest little girls in the world, they have the most beautiful blue eyes and gorgeous smiles. Check out my pictures to see them.

Stay tuned for more information on the Champagne Marathon 2008.

I finally decided to start a blog and join the masses. Hopefully, this will make it easier for everyone to keep up with my crazy life.

Rick and I just got back from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We needed to escape the cold December weather and enjoy some sun. We went  down with our friends Ryan and Stacey and our new friends Mor and Joel to celebrate my birthday and the New Years. We had an incredible time sitting by the pool and relaxing. For my birthday, we met up with some friends, Mike and Chuanna Zimonja and some of their friends for dinner at a great restaurant called Trio. The food was incredible, I recommend trying it if you are in Puerto Vallarta, and I had a great time with everyone. It was by far the best birthday I have had. Rick really outdid himself this year and I am going to have a hard time matching the experience for his next birthday.

For New Years we went to downtown Puerto Vallarta and had a wonderful dinner at Vitea. The restaurant sits right at the edge of the ocean and you can see all of Puerto Vallarta. At midnight we celebrated with all of Puerto Vallarta with fireworks and champagne. Coming back to Salt Lake City and 8 degree weather and more snow was a bitter cold change from the wonderful 80 degree weather in Mexico.

Here is to a wonderful New Year. I hope it is filled with many new and wonderful adventures.