Just Rannin' Around

Tuesday, June 18, 2013


Summer has a way of making time speed up . . .

Or maybe it is that I am trying to get a million things squeezed in that time only seems to be moving more quickly.

I have been out and going as often as possible and I will share just a couple of the adventures . . .

First off was the 50-mile bike ride up in Cache Valley (thank you Uncle Troy and Aunt Tracy for letting us crash at your house the night before).  It was a beautiful ride with amazing friends.  It was a bit stinky in places as we passed cows and even worse a pig farm, but overall it was enjoyable.  I was pretty dang proud of myself for finishing it in three hours and eighteen minutes.  Had there not been the straight uphill climb for about 3 miles near the end of the ride, I probably would have come in under the three hour mark.  I definitely wasn’t prepared for that uphill when my legs were already tired.  However, asthma and all, I made it up that hill without stopping once and even managed to not fall under six-miles an hour.  There was a super reward after the hill and it came in the form of straight downhill.  I am an adrenaline junky and so as everyone else freaked out a bit about the speeds we were catching, I was smiling from ear to ear all the way down! 
 
  

The more I ride my bike, the more I fall in love with the sport.  I’ve spent almost every Saturday morning on my bike since it has gotten warm.  While riding the stress of life just gets left behind and I’m able to clear my mind. 

The Saturday morning after our 50-miler, I decided that I would go hiking instead.  With a friend in tow we headed up the mountain up by Alta.  We had been hiking for about an hour and were of course talking and laughing (which means we were NOT being quiet in any sense of the word) when suddenly both of us stopped dead in our tracks and went absolutely silent at almost the exact same second.  We exchanged a glance, turned around and very quickly and just as quietly headed back down the trail.  When we had gotten a good distance away both of us started breathing again.  Then we, again quietly, discussed what had just occurred.  Yes, both of us had heard it . . . a bear.  Gratefully it had growled a warning at us rather than making an appearance. 

In all of my years of hiking the mountains in Utah, I have never had anything like this happen.  It scared me more than I could imagine.  We hadn’t seen any other hikers all day long until we hit the trailhead.  A father and his three children were just starting the trail.  We informed him what had just happened and he said, “That doesn’t surprise me, I was up here a week ago and we saw bear tracks.”  What the heck!  Why bring children up that same trail.  At least he did turn around on the trail and didn’t take them up any further. 

I’ve done so many more things including spending time with my family up at the cabin, Blaze game (these games are a ton of fun by the way) with my cute nephew, trips up to Park City, and general playing as often as possible.  I haven’t been camping yet though and that is definitely on the list of things that need to happen before this summer passes by . . . anyone want to go?

Monday, June 03, 2013


“Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be.  Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.”

A couple of weeks ago I was called into the Bishop’s office.  I was extended another calling.  After an extensive discussion I told them that I was more than happy to accept the calling but that I did have some time limitations that might cause some hesitation on the part of the new president.  After discussing it with her, they decided that it would be better to extend the calling to someone else.  The biggest issue was that I was unable to attend a weekly presidency meeting because they held it during the day.  The rest of them are stay-at-home moms.  Honestly I was a little relieved.  I really do love being a Gospel Doctrine teacher but like I’ve previously stated, I’ve never held this calling for a full year and it is just about four months away from hitting that mark so it didn’t surprise me that that they wanted to change me. 

Last Sunday I was bluntly told that I was wasting my life.  Yes, in those exact words.  Had they not come from a 90-year old member of the ward that I have truly grown to love, I may have told him where to go and how to get there.  Instead I just wrapped my arm around him and listened to him explain the statement.  He told me that I should be working for the church at the Institute as a teacher.  He said that the rising generation needed me and my love and knowledge of the scriptures.  This is a gentleman that worked for the church under the CES umbrella his entire life and traveled the world setting up the program.  Instead of being offended, I decided to take it as a compliment. 

This Sunday they split our ward.  We all knew it was coming.  My ward is over 800 active members strong.  It looks like Stake Conference every week as we fill up not only the chapel but the entire gym and two other overflow rooms.  When they announced the new boundaries I realized that I would be going to the newly formed ward which means automatic release of callings.  They have asked us to continue performing our current callings until both wards can get completely reorganized.  So I’m not too positive that I will still be a Gospel Doctrine teacher when the dust settles.  When the bishop of the new ward was announced, I couldn’t hold the tears back.  The Lord definitely showed me a tender mercy with the call.  I’ve grown really close to one particular couple during my short time in this ward.  They have taken me under their wings and made me feel so loved.  Yesterday he was sustained as the new bishop of my new ward.  It was a very comforting feeling.  I suppose that I shouldn’t become so attached to people but there always seems to be at least one couple that really becomes attached to me as my “parents” and watch out for me.  I feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful people in my life all of whom I am still in contact with. 

It will be exciting to see all the changes.  I’ve been involved in a lot of ward splits but I’ve always stayed in the existing ward.  This will be a new learning experience to be in a newly created ward starting from ground zero.  I know I’m weird, but I’m kind of excited for the changes.


 

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