ABC

Yesterday, I had an awesome experience. I was contacted a few weeks ago by a professor at BYU to come and be a guest speaker in a recreation management classroom. In the email, he mentioned I was a "distinguished graduate of the program." I have been looking forward to this since then. Yesterday the day arrived. I got to campus early to make sure that I got parking and to class on time. I pulled into the lot they told us to park in, and there was no parking. I circled the lot for about 25 minutes. At this point, I was starting to panic as I was late. Luckily, I found a parking spot close at that point. I ran to the classroom and made my way down the long set of stairs of the auditorium to my seat at the front.

Once I sat down, the fun part began. There were 3 of us presenting to this class. The class we were presenting to was not a class that I took as it's a part of the new program they are implementing being part of the business school. This was an intro to the major class that introduces you to everything that is recreation management. The three of us were there to tell our backgrounds, what we do now, how we got into the major, what we would have done differently in school and other such things. My favorite question to answer was what would I have done differently in school. The other two girls talked about how they would have volunteered or worked more. When I got up, I said that was the one thing I didn't regret as I had worked almost 40 hours a week while going through the major and had as volunteered a lot. I wish I had paid more attention in classes that I didn't think I had needed to know, like finance or commercial business. Now this is where it got funny, the professor teaching this class and leading the discussion happens to be the same professor who I took commercial recreation from 4 years ago. At this point he butted in and said "Oh you mean like that one time you told me that you would never need to know any of the information I was teaching in my class?" The class was laughing so hard as I explained that I had in fact told him I would never need to know that information because I was always going to work in community recreation. They laughed even harder because I now work in commercial recreation. Oh the irony.

After we got through the questions, it was opened up for classroom questions. It was fun to hear the questions from students and remember where I was just a few years ago. After class ended the professor and another took the three of us to lunch at Brick Oven. I realized again that I don't love Brick Oven, but it was a good lunch. They brought the new curriculum over to get our opinions on it. It was a fun discussion and great to see the direction that my program is going. They really appreciated our comments and took notice on the few suggestions I had to change it. All in all, it was a great experience and so much fun to still be apart of my alma mater. I love it!

One Week

Well, I'm a day late posting, but the results are in. I lost 3 pounds this past week! Go me! I went to the gym only 3 out of the 7 days, but this week I'm striving for better. I won't be up to 6 yet, but hopefully 5 out of the 7 days. Food is a slight struggle as I still have treats in my house, but I'm tracking everything and staying within my allotment.

I'm planning on taking measurements so I can see where I'm losing inches. That will hopefully be very exciting too (especially when my stomach goes down. I'm excited to see progress while working out as well. I've been doing 2 miles every time I go to the gym. And I'm watching the time go down. I'm planning on upping the mileage soon and seeing if I can keep the pace. My problem is I get real bored and want to stop out of boredom. Any suggestions for that? I was thinking maybe a book on tape or something? But I don't know if that would solve it either. I've been listening to music, and I've tried watching the TV shows I like (tonight X factor was on) but that doesn't seem to help.

I'm thinking goal for next month is a lazy ironman. Basically, you complete the equivalent of an ironman within the month. 26.2 running miles, 112 biking miles, and 2.4 swimming miles. Anyone in with me for January? ;)

Thanks to everyone for the support this week! And for those that have joined with afar! Lets keep going together!

Eye of the Tiger

I've decided to renew my efforts at an old goal. So I am starting a fresh. Since my wedding a year and a half ago, I have put on about 20 pounds. This is hard for me to swallow. I don't feel like I am doing anything different than I was before but the weight keeps packing on. And I don't like it one bit. So I'm going to do something about it. I have a gym membership that I have been using fairly regularly, but now I plan to go as close to daily as I can (tonight I had a commitment with scouts, so I couldn't go tonight, but last night I did some pretty serious working out at the gym.

I have also joined weight watchers online to track food consumption and be better about what I eat. I am sticking to it. My goal is 30 pounds weight loss. I don't do well if I am not accountable, and being accountable to myself isn't good enough, I lose the motivation and come up with excuses. So I am going to use this blog for accountability. And encouragement you can give would be delightful. I'll blog any progress weekly on Tuesdays. I am looking forward to the change this will hopefully being permanently bringing to my life. I am ready for it!

We Didn't Start The Fire

One year ago today was the fire. We had a massive fire in our parking garage. Thankfully, there was no such fire last night in our garage (not that I thought there would be). Because of the year mark, my memory has been returning the to all the things I've learned in the last year. Here is a list of things in case of fire in my life again:

1. Always grab shoes. It's cold out there. Especially barefoot.
2. Grab a cell phone. It's impossible to make a phone call without a cell phone.
3. Grab keys (Jordan was good and did grab these, but I lost my head).

I am very grateful for where we live. This is a great place. In the year since the fire, our apartment has been professionally cleaned 3 times, carpets cleaned, air ducts cleaned, and our entire bathroom redone. Our landlord is so great to work with. We love our little place and will be here as long as we are in Provo. One little fluke of a fire didn't scare us away. This place is too good to allow that. :)

Rehab

Pinterest. I've heard about it. I even created an account. But that was the extend of it. I made up every excuse in the book and I didn't see the point of it. That all changed about 24 hours ago. I had the app downloaded to the new iPhone. It had been on my iPad for months, but I didn't feel the need to look at it. Yesterday, I opened the app to see what all the fuss was about. I see friends "pin" things pretty consistently on Facebook, but what does that really mean. As the app loaded, I was still doubting that I would be on the app longer than 3 minutes. The it loaded and my eyes were opened.

Here was a whole new world. All these things I want to try. Recipes, DIY projects, new hair dos, sewing projects for the sewing machine I have but haven't learned to use yet, everything I could possibly imagine. Next thing I know, it's time to get ready for work. This morning I was back at it. The only way I have to describe my new relationship with Pinterest is an addiction. The only song I could think of is "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse, because I'm not going to be ending this relationship anytime soon. Happy Pinning!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Christmas came early this year to the Haws household. We received all of our presents this week! We are so excited for our gifts and the enjoyment they will bring to our lives over the next long while! This means actual Christmas will be small at our house, but we will enjoy our new toys then too.

In case you can't tell what the picture is, it's our new iPad mini and iPhone 5's! Jordan is letting me use the mini, and he's excited to take over the old iPad. Wins all around. So Merry Christmas in November!

P.S. If you see me the next couple of days I will not be using the phone yet. My contract on my old phone doesn't end till Tuesday, so we aren't officially switching till then.

In The Still Of The Night

Normally I despise snow. Normally I can't stand the stuff. I like to visit snow. I don't like to live in snow. The past two years, Utah has had mild winters. They have been cold, but there hasn't been snow in any major quantities. That all changed on Friday. Friday it started. It came down in large amounts. I left for work around 3 wearing my winter coat for the first time in years. I was unhappy about this fact. The snow came down the entire time I was at work. When I came out of work around midnight, I almost didn't recognize my car. I was NOT happy. I made my way to the white lump and brushed the snow off. As I drove home, I tried to count my blessings to improve my mood. I came up with being grateful that I had an under ground garage to park in. Now this weekend is my worst weekend work wise. I run a training meeting at 7am on Saturday. So after working till midnight, I came home to get some sleep and was back out the door by 6:45am.

As I got to my car, I discovered another reason to be grateful. Our apartment complex a heated ramp. I got into the car and made my way up the ramp easily. Then I got to the road. There were cars coming so I had to stop. As I started to go, my tires started spinning. I was not moving. The ramp is heated, however the sidewalk and the driveway leading to the street were not. They were covered in snow. I starting having a moment of freak out. Then I tried reversing. Luckily that worked. I was able to reverse and get some momentum and make it onto the road. I felt like I was 16 and learning how to drive again. The roads were so bad. I made it to work with no issue and had a successful meeting.

Heading back home was much easier I made it and settled in for a winter nap. Unfortunately I couldn't hibernate for all of winter. I got back up and headed back to work for the night. Around midnight, I got to my car. Again, it was covered in snow, and the snow was still coming. After scrapping off the car grumbling to myself the whole time, I started the drive home. It was tough again as the road was just getting coated with snow.

I was sitting there bracing myself for the long winter this is going to be, when I stepped outside myself. I looked outside and realized how gorgeous it was. The sky turns a purple hue the makes it looks slightly light. The snow makes everything look pretty, even if it sometimes isn't so pretty. I got caught up in the beauty of it. Driving in the snow, watching it gently fall to the earth, I realized this is just another way that The Lord shows His love for us. Through the snow this night I had a tender mercy. The Lord reminded me of His Love for me and how much He cares for me. So the snow and I are no longer enemies. We have made peace. I'm sure there will be points where snow and I are fighting. But overall I can appreciate snow on a new level.

When I got home, I took a couple of pictures. They don't show the beauty quite as well as it looked that night, but I'll keep trying for a better shot next time it snows.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

On Saturday, we went to the Jazz game.  We went to cheer for the Clippers.  Preston came with us, and it was so much fun.  We went to see Lamar Odom and Blake Griffin play, but unfortunately, neither of them played since it was a pre-season game. In a couple of weeks, the Lakers are coming, and it's regular season, so we are thinking about going up so I can watch Kobe play.  :) Here are some pictures!

Energy Solutions Arena

The Clippers.

The tip-off. (Pres was having fun with my new lens)

Oh look, it's us.

Why Georgia

Last week, Jordan and I got to go to the south so that he could interview for a PA school down there.  We left on Tuesday and flew back to Utah on Friday.  It was a whirlwind of a trip, but so much fun.  I took my camera with me to get some pictures, but then I totally forgot it at the house every day.  Oh well.

Tuesday started off fairly exciting.  Our flight was scheduled to leave around 1:45 pm.  I (obviously not thinking very clearly) decided we would leave around 12:15 and stop and get lunch on the way.  We stopped for lunch, but the drive through line was way too long, so we moved on.  We stopped at Deseret Book for a Turkish Book of Mormon for my Dad (if you are curious, ask him the story, it's pretty cool).  So we continued on our way.  As we pulled into a spot in the economy lot, Jordan asked me what time our flight was at.  I said 1:45.  He asked if I was aware that it was 1:15.  At that point it clicked, that I was grossly wrong in calculating the leaving time.  So we grabbed our stuff and ran.  The bus was luckily at the station, we hopped on and worried.  The bus ride seemed to take forever but we finally got to the airport around 1:30.  We ran to security hoping the line was short, but no avail, the line was longer than usual.  I looked at a TSA agent and asked if there was anything he could do to help us out, since our flight was in less than 20 minutes.  He joked around with us, and then let us through the fast lane.  Security still seemed to drag, but finally we were through, with only minutes to spare.  I knew at this point, there was no way we could possibly make it, but still we ran.  We got to the gate, and much to our surprise, the door was still open and a gate agent was there.  We boarded the plane, and literally took off minutes later.

Luckily, the rest of the day was pretty calm, we had a layover in Denver and then arrived in Jacksonville.  Since my parents were in Italy, their car was at the airport in Jacksonville, we picked it up and drove to their house.  It was pretty late, so not much happened that night.

We woke up early, for us, the next day (Wednesday) and drove up to Georgia.  After stopping at the Townhouse in Savannah, we headed to Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  Yum! I love it! We headed downtown to South University.  We sat through a couple information sessions and then went on a tour of downtown.  I love that city.  If you have never gone to Savannah, just know it is seriously the most beautiful city.  We ate dinner that night with some current students, and they told us about how awesome the school is.  It was a great day. 

The next day was Jordan's interview.  Crazy.  He felt like it went really well, so hopefully we'll be hearing back soon.  We drove down to Jacksonville after his interview and had Panera Bread for lunch.  Then because we love it so much, had some Panera for dinner too.  Oh delicious food.  I miss you while in Utah. We just relaxed for the rest of the day.

All in all, it was a great vacation and fun to spend time together just the two of us. 

The Spirit of God

I love General Conference.  There are many different reasons, mostly for the light it brings to my life, but also because it brings people together.  This General Conference weekend was no exception.  A few years ago, in my single years, I started a tradition.  In between the Sunday sessions of General Conference, I would hold a crepe party.  The concept was simple, my house provided the crepes, and all the guests would bring toppings.  Throughout my years at BYU, there were 7 crepe parties at my apartments. They were a huge success, at it's largest, 200+ people came.  People would stay for conference and fun was had all around. Due to some life circumstances, I stopped having crepe parties.

This year, a couple of my old roommates and dear friends decided it was time for them to throw a crepe party.  They invited me to come and reprise my old roll.  I was able to go and cook crepes! I loved it! The crepes were delicious.

Doesn't that look good?

Jordan loved it too!

Later that night we headed up north to my aunts house for a barbeque.  We had a lot of fun with all the cousins and enjoyed great company!

Torree enjoying her food.

Malika getting some tater tots.

Marlee eating an apple she picked from the tree. 

All in all, it was a great General Conference weekend.  We loved it!

16 Candles

Today is my wonderful husbands birthday.  He is 24 today.  (I know the title is misleading, but I am having a theme with my titles to only use song titles, and this one is one of my favorite birthday songs). While for the most part it was a normal day (sometimes it sucks to be a grown up), we did have some fun for his birthday! 

When Jord got home from school, we went to Red Robin for his birthday dinner!

At Red Robin.

He loves Red Robin... Can you tell?

Then we came home and Preston joined us for opening gifts!  Jord loved his gifts.  (Vanessa, thanks for introducing us to Telestrations! It's our new favorite game and definitely made a great gift!)

With his gifts.

We finished up with some Apple Pie and ice cream.  It was delicious!

The Apple Pie.

All in all a good birthday, hopefully. :)

Living on a Prayer

Exciting news.  Jordan has gotten an interview with South University.  It's our number 1 choice for PA school.  I can't even tell you how excited I am. Jordan is pretty excited too. :) But since he doesn't write on here, I'm expressing my excitement.  The interview is on Oct. 17 and 18.  We are still working out the details, but I will most likely be going with him!  This is such a blessing and the halfway point in the application process.  We made it past the first checkpoint, and the only thing that is between now and getting in is the interview.  Prayers would be great, and be sure to tell Jordan congrats! He's done a lot of hard work to get to this point!

That's What I Love About Sunday

Sunday's are the best.  Seriously.  Today was no different.  We started off the day with a Regional Stake Conference with Elder Oakes presiding and speaking. It was amazing.  Such great speakers, and definitely topics that were a blessing to hear today! It was for all of Utah County and 146 stakes were in attendance via broadcast.  That's amazing.  One of the speakers commented that he remembers at a conference 56 years ago when they announced that there were 200 stakes in the Church.  Insane to think how much the Church is growing!

After Stake Conference I partook in a much needed nap (I was pretty grumpy, I worked late last night).  But then my brother Preston came over for dinner and a bike ride! We all went together for a ride on the Provo River Trail.  It was an adventure, that's for sure.  After a bumpy start (handlebars coming lose, bike seat malfunctions, crashing into a wall, don't worry no one was hurt) we had a very pleasant ride that we plan on doing again.  

The three of us on our bike ride.

Later that night, I cut Jordan's hair.  I've been putting it off for weeks when he's been asking because I'm not very good.  We bought clippers a while ago as a money saving technique, however the problem is, I kind of suck at cutting his hair.  I have a friend who cuts hair and he was going to teach me some tricks, however our schedules have never matched up, so I finally gave in and just cut Jordan's hair tonight.  I decided to try a few new things tonight to see if I could do a better cut than just buzzing it. Fail.  It ended up buzzed again.  He's happy though.

See how happy he is to have it short?

 

I am really bad at getting straight lines.  We'll keep practicing though.

All the hair after.  There was a lot.

 I should have taken pictures all the way through.  There were some pretty funny looks in the middle of the cut when I would try something and it would be hilarious looking.  However, I didn't think about it until after the fact.  Besides being super itchy now from his hair, it's been an excellent Sunday!

The Start of Something New

I've been thinking about doing this for a while.  Joining the blogging world.  Excuses always built up, but I never got around to it.  However, apparently today is the day.  I (we) started a blog.  We are Jordan and Kara.  Jordan may occasionally post, but for the most part, it will probably be me (Kara).  It's slightly exciting to be in the blog world, and should be fun to keep up with.  I can't promise that I'll be very good at this, however I'm excited to try it.  I love following the blogs of others and especially love reading about kids growing.  While we don't have kids, I'm hoping I can be great at keeping a blog entertaining. :) Jordan will be graduating officially from BYU in December, and we are applying for graduate schools right now.  So there may be exciting times coming for us.  Currently I am just working and Jordan is just finishing up school, nothing too exciting, but we love life!