HALLELUJAH - Praise ye the Lord.

So there is a song written by Leonard Cohen called Hallelujah. Cohen is a Jewish poet turned songwriter. I knew the definition of the word so I wanted to get to the bottom of the message he was trying to convey. I looked up the lyrics and I was struck by how it was talking about David in the Old Testament. He was a man highly favored of God who fell from grace. I thought about the ups and downs in his life and about how at the end of his life he devoted much time to writing the Psalms. I was impressed that although he could have chosen to curse God he wrote praises to his name instead. I also thought about Job. He probably had more reasons than most to curse God and he never did. Because of that he was blessed. We don’t only praise God when he does nice things for us or because we are richly blessed. We praise God because of his perfect attributes and character; because he is our Father in Heaven. We praise and worship him best when we strive to gain the characteristics he possesses. I couldn't find anything telling what Cohen's intentions were writing the song, so if you have any thoughts on the subject I would like to hear them. Those are my deep thoughts for today.

Land O'Lakes

I have just been on a trip to Minnesota. I forget how much I love it here. I was able to spend a bit of time with family and friends. It was my mom's birthday, who I have to say looks fantastic for a woman 70 years old. I also spent time with Marie and Ian. Ian is now three and a half months old. It must have been crabby time when this shot was taken. Luna is gettig to be a big little lady. Here she is at three and a half. She thinks she is a princess. I believe that Cinderella is her favorite and she wants to wear dresses everywhere she goes. I even saw some old High School friends one of which I have not seen since High School. For My mom's birthday we went to Minehaha Falls. That is one of my favorite places. There is a great hike that takes you down to the Mississippi River from the falls. But mostly this trip I enjoyed the lakes. I went for a run with my Aunt and we saw 4 lakes in a hour and a half run. We saw Brown Lake, Cedar Lake, another I can't think of the name of and Lake of the Isles. Here is a picture of Lake of the Isles with a great view of the Minneapolis skyline. Then two days later I went on a run around Lake Calhoon and I also ran up to Lake Harriet. I don't know why I wasn't more of a runner when I lived here. There are so many great places to go running. A few of the lakes are so close that you can canoe many at the same time. They are connected by these cool water ways. To finish up my trip we went to a dance in a hanger. They had people dresses up in World War two style, like these two... and then they had thes bag pipe guys who where amazing that came to play for us. It was just a really well done event. They had a live band and even had some professional swing dancers come and do a routine for us. Do we have anything like that in Utah? Here is Marla and me plaing near the war Jeep.The only thing I regret is that I didn't get a chance to do any rollerblading around Lake Harriet. I guess that will have to be a priority next time.

My Mom is Amazing!

I was watching an interview with Lenny Kravitz a few weeks ago and when the interviewer walked into his home she saw a picture of a woman that covered an entire wall. She asked him, “Who is that beautiful woman on your wall?” He said, “It is my mother. In every home I design I find a way to honor her.” Since then I have been thinking about the way I honor my mother. I think that the greatest thing I can do for her is to live my life in accordance with the things she has taught me and have respect for others. Here she is holding me.It is time to pay tribute to my mother. I know that Mother’s Day is past but it is going to be my mom’s 70th birthday on the 28th of May and I feel the need to tell you all that she is pretty great. This is us again the day I was baptized. I sure loved that pink coat I got for my 8th birthday. I tell my friends so many stories about her that are just funny and random. I also do the mom impersonation so people want to see if she really talks like that. When she does come to town they just want to meet her and they are all shocked when they find out that she is going to be turning 70. I guess that is the benefit of having children later in life, you stay young longer. Lucky me. I get to be with her in Minnesota on her birthday. She has been there for me through it all. Thanks a million Mom!

I am moving

I know that you are all not too surprised, seeing as how I like to move across the country every year or so. The shocking thing about this move is that I am going to be staying within my complex. I really can’t remember the last time I have stayed in one place for 2 years and 9 months. During the move I was trying to reach some pots and pans for Jen that were way back in the back of the cupboard and I didn’t think too much about it till Jen started to laugh at me. You know I really should have tried to see if I could fit my whole body in the cupboard. Once I got my shoulders in it was quite roomy.
I have two great new roommates to move in with, Heather and Marianne. I am looking forward to some fun times this summer.

I did it!!!

I can't believe that I finished in less than 2 hours. That is much better than I was planning on doing. In 2006 my time was 2:08:30 and in 2007 it was 2:09:19. This photo was taken a little bit before mile ten. We had three more miles to go. My good friend Brooke's parents were at Liberty Park to cheer us on. Brooke had just caught up to me before this picture was taken, so her timing was perfect. Here are my stats. My chip time was 1:59:43. I finished 1212/3819 overall 510/2341 of the women and 107/446 in my age division. My chip pace was 9:08. I didn't know I could run that fast that long. Brooke finished close behind me at 2:00:49 and my roommate Jen ran her first half ever at 2:33:26. Way to go gals! The marathon photos aren't out yet but I will post more when I get them.

Salt Lake Half..... Here I come?

I must be crazy because I think that I am going to run the Salt Lake Half Marathon. I have been putting off registration because I want to make sure there isn't going to be a major storm that morning. I really don't care to run in the cold. I hope that the race doesn't fill up before I register. I just started training for it a few weeks ago but I have already run 9 miles twice and I am going for 10 this weekend. Hopefully the weather behaves. Am I a non-committal wimp or what? Hopefully I will have some photo's to share in a few weeks.

Luna and Adin

I don’t know quite how she does it but when my niece Luna goes to daycare her little boyfriend Adin comes running to her and she will yell, “coat” and he will promptly take her coat off her. Then she will sit down on a nearby chair and yell “shoes” and he will pull her shoes off her feet. I am looking for the reason for this phenomenon. Is it just because she is so cute that this young man can help but serve her? If you have any ideas I would love to hear them.