5K

I ran in the 19th annual Frank Kush 5K run this morning. I have a friend (Jeremy) who has never run a 5K and wanted to do it, so I trained with him and we ran today. It was a nice morning to be out running and the course was around Tempe Town Lake. Overall we did pretty well, ran the whole thing which was Jeremy's goal. Nice way to spend the morning.

Gratitude

So these thoughts come from a combination of something that my sister posted and something that President Thomas S. Monson talked about during General Conference this last weekend. President Monson said that

"We need to focus on our blessings rather than focus on the things we lack"

So I've been thinking a ton this week about the things that I am grateful for and trying to think of ways that I could express that gratitude. So here is a list of things that I am grateful for (in no particular order):

1. a job that challenges me
   
2. my house
3. my car
4. my health
5. wonderful supportive parents
6. concerned grandparents
7. my siblings
   
8. the gospel
9. good friends
10. opportunities to travel
11. cooler weather
12. the rain
13. plants in my backyard that are still alive
14. orange Thai silk flats that go with anything
15. my favorite jeans
16. playing ultimate frisbee with friends
17. cleats when I play ultimate frisbee
18. air conditioning
19. good music
20. my piano and the ability to play it
21. my Savior
22. the Temple (specifically the Mesa Temple)
23. the daily reminders that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me
24. Thanksgiving with the family
25. airplanes that make travel possible
26. my journals (they are funny to go back and read... crazy to see how I have changed)
27. my computer
28. my camera
29. my memory (even though I wonder if I'm losing it sometimes)
30. the beauty of the earth around me
31. family vacations and all the good memories
32. good books
33. the ability to change and grow

I'm sure there are more I'll just have continue to add to this list.

Believing Christ

Our Relief Society recently finished ready Believing Christ by Stephen R. Robinson for our book club. It was an amazing book, I would recommend it to anyone. The book talks about the "good news" of the Gospel. It gave me a really different perspective about the Atonement than I had ever thought about. We all understand that the gospel requires that we be perfect to return to live with our Heavenly Father. The good news of the gospel is that a way has been provided by Jesus Christ that we can become perfect and return to live with Heavenly Father. The author talked about how we often think that we must perfect ourselves and than turn to the Savior, but it doesn't work like that. I think there are definitely times that I find myself doing this in my life. The problem is that when we try to perfect ourselves and than turn to the Lord we are denying ourselves the blessings of the Atonement. We are asked to do all that we can do and than through the grace of God, Christ will step in and make up whatever the difference is between our efforts and the perfection required by Heavenly Father. So in essence "the good news of the gospel is good news to me not because it promises that other people who are better than I am can be saved, but because it promises that I can be saved- wretched, inadequate, and imperfect me." This gives me hope that no matter what I'm doing as long as I'm doing the best that I am able I have a wonderful Savior who can make up the difference for any of my shortcomings. It makes me only want to do better.

Kina Grannis

This week I was so excited cause I got to go to a concert. It was for a wonderful musician Kina Grannis. (Check out her music here) I was introduced to Kina's Music through my brother, who was good friends with her older sister in high school. The concert was at Martini Ranch a local venue here for up and coming artists. It was fun to be in such a small concert. The other two people that also played for Kina were good. Imaginary Friend and Ry Cummings were her opening acts were good. I love new music and I'm really a big fan of Kina's music.

Grammar Too!

So I was kindly reminded today that I am NOT an English person. I know that spelling has never been my forte. But even with the invention of spell check I realized that I am still no good. I might be able to spell the words correctly, but that doesn't mean that I got the word right. Grammar has also never been my forte either. Glad that at least I'm good at math.

Conference

So I realize that I've posted a ton today... just trying to get caught up from one month of not posting. But I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed conference today. I really enjoyed President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's message about remembering the fundamentals and keeping an eye on the things that are most important. I also enjoyed Elder Richard G. Scott's message. I really liked this quote

"We become what we want to be, by being what we want to become each day"

I am excited for another day tomorrow full of inspiration.

Cinnamon Rolls

So it was a little tradition that I started I think when I was in college, but I always make cinnamon rolls over conference weekend. So since it's conference weekend I decided to make cinnamon rolls. This is my favorite recipe, because it's super easy and really good.

3 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup oil
5 Tbsp yeast

Combine above ingredients in a large bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes. This will allow the yeast to activate and rise. 10 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix 5 cups of flour into the yeast mixture. Add salt, eggs and remaining flour. Pour onto floured board and knead until smooth. Let dough rest for 15 minutes.
Divide dough in half and roll each half out to approximately 12" x 30". Melt butter and spread evenly over each rolled dough (1/4 cup on each). Sprinkle each rolled dough with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 Tbsp cinnamon. Roll up and slice into 20 rolls (I usually use dental floss to slice the rolls that way they don't get squished). Place on a large cookie sheet. Let the rolls rise for 20 minutes. Bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Now for the best part... the icing.

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp milk

Combined above ingredients. Frost rolls when warm and enjoy!

Softball

So that is one of the things that has been keeping me busy lately. Apparently after winning the championship with my last team, I've decided that softball is the game for me. Actually I play softball on Tuesday nights with my ward softball team. Friday night is my other softball team. It's the team that is made up of some coworkers. Actually the coach is the one who let me borrow the glove I've been using for all the softball games. Last time I borrowed it he said that he would let me borrow it as long as I promised to play on his team. Well no promises to how good I am, but I'm always willing to play. Actually I think with all the playing I'm doing that I'm probably getting better. I've even spent a little time at the batting cages so that I could get more comfortable with being up to bat. I'll keep you updated on how things go.

Hot weather

So I was excited about the fact that is was September because we were suppose to be done with the 100 degree weather... well I guess that was only true for 6 of the 30 days. So here is to hoping that it actually cools down in October.

Ward Campout

The following weekend I headed up to Show Low Arizona for our ward camp out. I don't know if I would call it so much camping, we all pitched tents on a beautiful grassy lawn. We hung out around the large campfire that we started with a torch thrower and they also had some music playing on the speakers. They were even showing a movie on a big screen later. Not what I would consider camping, but still tons of fun. We had tons of people from our ward there which makes it really fun. The next morning we got up spent some time hanging out on the swings, than decided to go for a hike. It was so pretty up in the mountains. The sky was blue (there was even one cloud in the sky). There was even a beautiful meadow with tons of yellow wild flowers.

Tombstone

So I realize that my last post was at the beginning of September... and now it's October. Apparently time does go really fast. I've been keeping busy lately though, but it's time to finally get caught up.

A few weeks ago I went down on Saturday with a friend to Tombstone, Arizona. Tombstone is an old mining town that is located southeast of Tucson. Apparently it's also a famous for some western gun flights. There have also been some famous movies about the area. Even without any knowledge of this background I enjoyed walking around the old town just checking it out. We also watched a shot out at the OK Corral (which apparently is one of the shot outs that Tombstone is famous for). It was a fun day trip for the weekend.