And This Is Me...

I am... strong and competitive, but will give into those I love because I love to make people happy, that makes me happy.

I know...that one day I'll figure out where I am really going.

I once...drove two hours in ridiculous traffic just so I could see someone I love.

I wish...I had more time for me.

I hate...traffic, okay, I hate driving in general.

I hear... I have big biceps for a girl, not always my favorite feature.

I crave... security and stability. I try to associate myself with people I feel safe with.

I search... for the hidden meaning in everything. (can we say overanalyzer)

I wonder... what kind of mom I'll be (don't worry, I still have a LONG time to wonder about it)

I regret... not standing up for myself more.

I care... too much for those that don't really care so much about me.

I always... try to be the best at what I do.

I am not... good at staying away from sugar .

I believe... that it will all work out in the end.

I dance... in my underwear, alot.

I sing... all the time.

I don't always... think before I speak, but at least it's the truth.

I win...end of story.

I listen... to other people's theories...sometimes they make me laugh.

I can usually be found... running.

I am happy about... being a Roos.

I tag....Reb, Bree and Chelsey

Adventures with Noelle

Going to get some "Pizza Pie"

For the better part of July my sister and niece were in town from Arizona and since I don't live at home anymore, I didn't get to see Noelle quite as much as I would have liked. For the first week or so of them being here she wanted nothing to do with me and would quite frankly just tell me to go away. I became somewhat disconcerted over this and felt that Noelle and I needed to spend some time together without the distraction of her many admirers.


So, Jelly and I decide that a good trip to the Costco is a good idea. Unfortunately for me, she falls asleep on the way there and I spend a good 5-10 minutes trying to get her to stay awake and sit in the cart. We roam throughout the Costco for a while and then as we are leaving I buy her some "Pizza Pie" as she calls it. I am told that she will eat at least 2/3 of the slice...hmm, this did not happen. We head back to my apartment and she ends up sitting on the counter watching Ice Age eating graham crackers and milk...oh, and how could we forget the chocolate!
Waiting for Grandpa Ted to come kiss her goodnight.

It is getting close to bedtime so we venture back to my parents house to get her to bed. I think she told me 17 times that she had to go to the bathroom and ended up parading around underwear-less for a good half an hour. She kept telling me she was "waiting for Grandpa Ted" to come home. She even told me to call him because he wasn't coming home fast enough. Eventually he makes it home and she kisses him good night and she hops in bed. How am I supposed to know she doesn't usually sleep with a lot pillows? She just lies down and I hear a little mumbling before she is out...or I was, I can't remember. The next thing I know, it's an hour and a half later and time for me to go home.

Showing Jack some muscles.



All in all, I adore this kid and even though she knows I'm a sucker I will give her chocolate and buy her pizza pie any time she wants. I'll even steal more of Mr. Army's graham crackers to keep her content :)

To Buy or Not To Buy...

I am sort of a complex person when it comes to purchases because I either take 6 months to 2 years deciding on every feature of the product that is necessary for fulfilling my supposed "needs" or I don't even think about it and just buy...

When it came to buying my first car, I started out looking into what would be the best bang for my buck since cars are not an investment they are basically just a money pit. I wanted a Volkswagon and quickly moved on realizing that I was not willing to take it to the dealership every time the car had one of its 87 lights appear. I finally decided on the Corolla...and then I researched for the next year which Corolla would be the best for me, and the cutest of course because people would see me driving this thing and I would not want to look anything less than amazing in it. Sadly, that really went through my head. Anyways, after two years I had decided I wanted a Corolla XRS because it was cute and reliable, but also sporty and fast even though to this day I don't know how to fully utilize these functions. I also knew that XRSs were not easy to come by in Utah and therefore decided I would "settle" for the S. Luckily, one fateful day I found my XRS and have been happy with it ever since.

Then comes purchases like the hiking boots. "Kate, you're going to need hiking boots for backpacking," says Ben. I just reply with "Okay, let's go to REI." 20 minutes at the REI, two pairs tried on, decide to go with the cuter ones (wow, for not being much a girlie girl, I sure care about the cuteness of my stuff). Ben is amazed that I didn't even flinch at the decision. My thoughts are...if I find something else that is better, I can always bring them back.

Well, I made another "6 month to 2 year decision" purchase...finally! I bought a laptop. Again, this is more of a money pit than an investment, but I feel that with building my own and getting the features that I need, and maybe a little more than I need, I can justify it. Also, I am walking away debt free from the ordeal which makes it that much better.

This blog was probably a waste of your time, but here is a picture of my new toy!

Know When to Turn Around...

On Saturday Rebekah and I completed another one of our many races. We decided to do a 10K from East Canyon to Jeremy Ranch and back to prepare ourselves for the 24th of July 10K.

Beck has this huge fear that in a race she is going to miss the turn around and end up going in the wrong direction. Being the great sister that I am, I decided to put her fears to rest and not turn around when I was supposed to. Sure, I did not do this on purpose, but now she knows that it will all work out eventually. In all honesty, I thought as I was passing the turn around (that only had a little sign on the ground that was being covered up by people) "Maybe this is where I should be turning around..." but none of the people I was running with were 10K runners and therefore, they did not turn around. Basically, I end up going about a mile in the wrong direction and spend the rest of the race sprinting to complete it with Rebekah. I failed by about 2-3 minutes. Beck can now say that she has beaten me in a race and no longer has to worry about failing to turn around at the right point, since that only happens once in a lifetime, to one family, right? Let's hope.

All in all, it was one of the hardest races I have run and need to learn to prepare more effectively so this doesn't happen again! Words to the wise...get enough sleep, don't eat chocolate the night before, and most importantly...know your course!

If you want a better telling of this story and some pictures...visit this posting :)

http://thegoldelement.blogspot.com/2008/07/canyon-to-canyon.html

Online Map and Our Demise

Mr. Army and I decided that we would spend the 4th of July with his family up at Cedar Hollow just passed Kamas. It would be been a great evening to relax before dinner and games had we not printed off a map from the Camperworld website.

Thinking that we were prepared with our Google map in hand, we ventured up to where we thought the camp site was. Once we had gone way too far, Mr. Army decides to turn around and proclaim that his navigator had been sleeping on the job...its true, I was engrossed in Sudoku and not paying attention to where we were. I felt bad for about 5 minutes when I realized that where we were supposed to be was no where to be found.

This picture is when we stopped at the camper station, after an hour of driving around, to "regain our bearings" and found that there was no Knotty Pine or Cedar Hollow anywhere on the map (even though Mr. Army insisted on continuing to look after we had established it was no on the map). We decided it was best to call someone that had been up there so we could have some guidance as to where we were supposed to be.
Megan gave us directions, but I don't think the message was conveyed quite as it should have been because as we came down the mountain just as Jess called and said she was right by us and was willing to show us where to go. Based on our own intuition, the google map and Megan's directions, we would have never made it to Cedar Hollows. But after three hours of driving and becoming a little bit "testy" as Mr. Army likes to put it, we made it there just in time for a wonderful dinner! Here are some more pictures of us lost...
Waiting for Mr. Army to get off the phone knowing that we are definitely not in the right place.

I got bored waiting for him so I pulled out the camera and started shooting some photos. These were my favorite :)
Mr. Army came looking for me after he got off the phone with Megan...I found him like this- "I'm a tree...you can't see me"

Birthday fun!

So, I have found that some people actually read my blog and when I don't update here, but do update facebook some people are out of the loop, so here I am, being somewhat on top of things!

Birthday recap:

Last Wednesday was my birthday and it kind of snuck up on me because before I knew it, it was the Monday before and everyone kept asking what I wanted to do for the "big day" and the usual response appears "I don't know". Thankfully people took charge for me and it turned out to be a wonderful birthday.

I went to work, which was the best part (please read my sarcarsm) and my team took me out to lunch. If you haven't been to Cafe Trio, you should go, now. After work, I went to see the fam for a while before I went home to get ready for dinner. I must say that watching my mom play her Nintendo DS that she got for her birthday was a lot more entertaining than you would think. I digress. Mr. Army decided that he was going to take me to dinner and since I have this indecisive complex especially when it comes to food, he even picked a restaurant. Ztejas, my favorite! He knows me well I guess. We had a great dinner and went home to find quite the array of people waiting for cake and ice cream. I knew that Megan was putting something together, but I was still surprised and excited to see that people wanted to spend my birthday with me...Okay, who am I kidding? They just wanted cake. Regardless, it was fun and we even convinced Jess to come down from Kaysville to hang out with us. On Friday night I went to dinner with my family, which is always a good time. Its good to go out with them especially since I don't see them as much anymore.

...what do you give for the 22nd birthday?

So, Natalie from work made a joke about how for her 22nd birthday her aunt bought her a bike and she pretty much had the "why in the world would you get this for me?" attitude about it. Then she asked what I wanted for my birthday. Without hesitation I say, "A bike...seriously." I have wanted to start training for triathlons, but didn't have a bike to even practice with. My parents were so gracious to buy me a road bike for my birthday and they even picked it out. It is perfect, end of story.

Along with the triathlon training, I am also considering a marathon, but sometimes, most of the time, I have some trouble after the run. Not because I can't run long distances; it is that I have some foot problems, swelling, blistering etc. afterward. So, Mr. Army found this video that teaches you how to run most effectively. I haven't watched it yet, but can't wait to see what I can learn!

...I also found out that I am going to New York in August with the Heiner girls and my airfare and most of hotel will be paid for. Talk about some exciting news! I can't wait to go and see Wicked! New York here we come!

Here are some pictures taken at the cake and ice cream shindig. Others on picture page.

Ma Jensen dishing up some German chocolate cake she made!

People think that Mr. Army and I look more alike then him and Megan. You decide.

Mr. Army and his fork masterpiece. I guess this was during the lull of his evening :)

All I wanted was a good picture of us. This is what we got!
Happy Birthday to Me!