My Rehab Run

The Salt Lake City Marathon did not go well for me this year. Without getting into detail, I will just say that my knee and hip ache just thinking about the 19 mile marker. After the marathon I went to see an ortho doc. She gave me a nice 'old man' brace for me knee. I looked at it and thought there was no way it was going to help anything.

I told family members that if they did not see a blog post about the Timpanogos half marathon, that it didn't go well. As you can see, I am blogging about it, and it went well.

I reported to American Fork High School at 5:00 this morning and boarded a bus that took me to the start line at Tibble Fork Reservoir. The race came down the canyon, past the Timpanogos Cave trailhead and back to the high school. The scenery was incredible. I will do this run again.

I didn't want to push it too hard, but I did have 2 goals: Finish in within 2 hours and without injury. I reached one of my goals. I am a firm believer in my new knee brace. I feel great. My unofficial finish time was 2:00:50. We'll see what the official time was. Either way, I can't feel bad about it.

Now that I can run without pain, I can keep training. In September I will run the Mt. Nebo half, another race with a serious elevation drop. The goal for that will be to beat my Timp time. But if I don't blog about it, you'll know why...

Mt. Timpanogos behind the start line

I'm no cupcake...

People who work with and for me are always surprised when they meet Kate. The first question is usually something to the effect of: "How did you, get a woman like her?" The second question is more like: "How can she be so thin, when she bakes as well as she does?" The answer is easy: she doesn't eat anything she bakes. She has a taste-tester: me. She makes some of the best cupcakes I have ever sampled. As I type this, she is in the kitchen, making cream cheese frosting for Oreo cupcakes to take to a family party.

In addition to taking her baked wares to parties, we have shared these treats with neighbors and co-workers. Another comment I usually hear is: "These are so good, she should go into business." When I mention this to her, she dismisses it. She finds relaxation in baking for other people. If she had to do it for work, she wouldn't enjoy it as much.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Vanilla buttermilk with vanilla frosting

Poundcake with brown butter glaze

Spice with cream cheese frosting

Coconut with meringue frosting

Oreo (It should be noted that Kate hated these ones, because the chunks of Oreo wouldn't pass through the frosting nozzle, so she had to spread frosting with a knife and they weren't as 'pretty')

Buttermilk vanilla with vanilla frosting

Assorted, on the 'tree' (presentation is everything)

Vanilla with Yankees decorations, for Bean's birthday party

And my favorite, chocolate with chocolate frosting. And yes, she shaved her own chocolate as an added touch. Also, if you're wondering, that is a cupcake courier. How else would I transport nine dozen cupcakes to work?

There are others that are not pictured, such as the Oreo cheesecake and the red velvet cake. People ask me why I run so much. Now that you've seen these, can you understand why I do?

Beating the Heat

No, my title has nothing to do with the awesome finish to this year's NBA finals. Rather, this summer has been busy. So busy that it is hard for me to believe that it is already half over. Where has the time gone?



Summer started with the end of the dance season.




With the end of the dance season, soccer season, tee-ball season and school, I wondered: What would the kids do with their time? Would they be bored all summer? The answer, of course, was: no, you dumb bastard. Hell no.


Last month Whitney had the opportunity to attend girls camp again. As always, 'camp' does not mean the same thing for the girls as it does for me. The girls and young women's leaders 'camped' here:



During my stay as a Priesthood leader, I got the chance to camp here:




Unlike the girls, I had no running water, no heat, no power and curling iron. Not that I am complaining. After all, I also did not have to listen to the girls who were up until 3AM dancing and singing, and I was there just one night. The location was green and beautiful. And best of all, I was well fed, which is a tradition of girls camp.


And of course, this past week we performed our duties as Americans, and celebrated the 4th of July by grilling and lighting the street on fire.

Little did Pat know that the blanket she brought out for rain protection for Isaac would soon be used to smother a fire caused by an errant rocket...

A scary combination: that facial expression, coupled with a firework called 'Conqueror'...

Kate and I decided that season passes to Cowabunga Bay were a great investment. The kids have already been at least a dozen times, and never tire of it.

There's the Lazy River for those who just want to chill...

...and a 1,000 gallon deluge for those looking to have their shorts taken down by the splash.

Sometimes the ride down the water slide ends with a smile...

...and other times it ends with an enema...

The purpose of this picture was to capture P-Man coming down the green slide. I realized later that the giant feet in the blue slide belonged to Whitney.

Before a 1,200 gallon shower...

...and after...

Yep. All in all, it's been a pretty great summer. And it's only half over...