Update!

It has been such a long time since I blogged last, and there is so much to tell! First off, I started working as a server at Applebee's. It is actually a really fun job for me. This is my first time as a server, so it was a little intimidating/challenging at first. I have gotten a lot more confident and my tips have increased over the past few weeks. It's nice to have some extra cash flow :) I am still substitute teaching at Joel P. Jensen, but not as a long-term sub. I sub for different teachers around the school and it's really fun getting to know all the other students in the different grades. My students try to add me on myspace and facebook but for the most part I try to keep that part of my life private :) I am still on the job hunt for a teaching position for next school year. I've sent in my application to several school districts so hopefully I'll hear back soon! I was offered a job working at a charter school in Arizona (Legacy Traditional School) teaching k-8 grade PE and Health but I turned it down for a few different reasons. I'm hoping a job will be offered to me up in the Salt Lake area so I won't have to move.

I am training to run in the St. George marathon October 2nd. I will be running it with my sister-in-law Laura, and two good friends Angelyn and Stephanie. We find out if we got in the race (it's a lottery) on May 11th. We are crossing our fingers! In other news I went down to MOAB this weekend to mountain bike. I went with a really great group of people from Sandy. I rode on a sweet mountain bike my friend Val let me borrow. We rode Porcupine Rim on Saturday (in the rain-thunderstorm and lightning and all), which is a 16-mile trail (four miles up hill and the other 11 all downhill). I am getting a lot better at riding down hill on rough terrain. After the ride we drove into Moab and ate at Zax's pizza, came back to our campsite, and found our tent had been filled with water from the storm. Several of our group members' clothes got soaked including sleeping bags, pillows, and nice clothes they were going to wear for church on Sunday. We had a fun time fixing all of that. After our stomachs settled down from all the yummy pizza we headed out to ride Slickrock Bike Trail. This too is a challenging trail, but much different from Porcupine Rim. We only had enough sunlight to do the 3 mile practice loop, which was enough for us to have some fun and practice our technique. Even though I ended the day exhausted, I totally enjoyed every second of trip. The following morning we went to sacrament meeting (and of course I forgot my church clothes). It was still a really neat experience for me because I still felt completely welcome and comfortable. I think it was Elder Packer who said "if you don't smell smoke in sacrament then you are doing something wrong." I got up and bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel no matter where you are, who you are, what you do, or what you wear. After church we went on a couple of hikes through Arches including a trip to the Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch. I just love Moab.

I also will have the great opportunity to be an efy counselor this summer in Tacoma, Washington and near Portland, Oregon. I'm super excited to finally have this experience. I've been trying to be an efy counselor for the past 3 years and now I finally got in! I think I'm also going to be coaching at the BYU Volleyball Camps for two weeks. I will post pictures later of my trip. Adios!