Albuquerque Balloon Festival

I went to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in October. They launched over 700 balloons. One year they did 1,000, but they found that it was too many, so they restricted the number of entries. I drove down there and met up with Elizabeth Temus and her brother Joe (who, by the way, is going on his mission to Russia soon). We had a blast! Elizabeth knew one of the balloon owners, Ohio (yes, that's his real name), so we got to be part of the chase crew. It was so much fun. Some day I will ride in a balloon, not just fill it up and send it off.

Somewhere around 5am, I think. We had to leave the house at 4am because we were part or the chase crew for one of the balloons - Dawn Song.

Filling up the balloon. It was pretty hot standing there near the flame.

Packing the balloon up after it landed.

Cherry Creek Duathlon here I come!

So last semester I bought myself a cycling shirt.

I promised myself that if I bought it, I would start cycling. And so...about 6 months later, I finally bought a bike (mine's black, not red). I got it from bikesdirect.com and I put it together myself! I'm so proud of me. :)

I took her for a maiden voyage a couple of days ago but had some trouble with the gears (these were put together before the bike came to me--not my fault). I've made some adjustments, and am taking her for "maiden voyage part deux" tomorrow morning. I hope to eventually participate in a duathlon they hold here every year at Cherry Creek State Park. It's a 5k run, 30k bike, 5k run. If training goes well, I will do it in May. If not, next May. Either way, I'm going to do it. I'll put before and after pictures up of my bike, and maybe a few of the "maiden voyage part deux".

Any ideas for a name for the bike? So far I've decided it's a she because I keep saying "her" when I refer to it.

Maybe I should update this...

The latest news is that I have a cool job in Denver, and that life is good. I do forensic accounting, which is an adventure every day. On Friday we went out to see a burned up antique store regarding an insurance claim. The police detectives were there trying to determine whether it was arsen while we were wandering around trying to figure out how to value the loss of inventory. I smelled like smoke until my lunch break when I went home and took a shower. My own scent was giving me a headache. My nose and throat hurt for a while, which makes me wonder why anyone would start smoking. Seriously, it can't be fun. I was only in the building for about 1hr, but I could feel the affects of it. And it's not like there was smoke in the building, just the stench of burned up stuff.

Life is just great. Can I just tell you how nice it is to be done with school? I feel better, I even look better, and I finally have time to be social again. I feel like my old self before I was hit with the semi truck that was the accounting program.

Last week I organized a group of people to go up to the Cheyene Frontier Days Rodeo . Did you know that it's the largest rodeo in the world? I got to wear my cowboy had and eat expensive greasy food, which included a rather large funnel cake. I had to share it with 3 other people. I heard they had deep fried candy bars there, but I'm not brave enough to venture into the unknown world of 1,000 calorie snacks. Good times. There was a huge thunderstorm during the rodeo, so the arena turned into a gigantic mud puddle. It was like watching mud wrestling, but better.

My favorite event was the wild horse race. Teams of 3 guys try to race wild horses. One guys holds the rope, one puts the saddle on, and one rides it. Believe me, when the track is one big mud river, it's pretty entertaining. A lot of guys got dragged through the mud by those horses. I think 4 or 5 of the 15+ riders actually got on their horses and rode once around the track.

Denver is awesome--I absolutely love it here. It's a great place to be if you're outdoorsy. I think my favorite thing about summer here is that it's hot during the day, but always cools off at night with a nice thunderstorm. It's fairly green, there's mountains in the east, state parks everywhere, and a million bike/running paths. Heaven.

Hey, do you guys all remember Zac Christensen from the 2nd Ward? He's in my Ward here! Well, he's gone for the summer, but he will be back soon. I can't believe Kat was here in Denver and I didn't even know. I've been living here since June 6, but I guess there's no way anyone could have known, since I have neglected my blog. Sorry. I am repenting, and will try to post more often.

If any of you ever take a trip to Denver, call me. :)

Whew!

I'm still alive, really, I am

Ok, I know it's been a long time, but I’ve been busy, ok? Here’s the long and the short of it:

~GRADUATED!!! My whole family came up, so that was nice. Can I just say how awesome I feel that I am the first person on both sides of my extended family to get a master’s degree?! I feel like a pioneer. J

~I’ve been searching for jobs, and just received 2 job offers—one in Irvine, CA with Moss Adams doing forensic accounting, and one with RGL Forensic Accountants and Consultants in Denver, CO, also doing forensic accounting. Can you believe that one of the firms offers 25 paid days of + 8 paid holidays every year?! Is that crazy or what?! I’m a real person with a real job (as soon as I pick one)!

The best part about interviewing was that they were dying to have me! The managing partner at Moss Adams asked me what it would take to get me to work for their firm. I felt like I had the power to bargain with them. What fun! When I was still in the airport coming back from CA, another company called me to see if I could fly out for an interview (Houston, TX). I am pretty sure I would pick one of these two companies over them, so I’ll just have to tell them they were too late. I feel so wanted! Now if only I could get this kind of thing to happen with my dating life…

~I’m going backpacking this weekend with my brother up in Logan, and I finally get to use my new sweet Mountainsmith backpack. Heaven!

That's all my knews. I'll let you know where I end up in the next few days.

I miss you guys!

Stuff

I'm still injured, so I haven't been able to play for the last month, but I am trying to take care of myself and hope that I will play soon.

I'm graduating in April! Yay! :) I still don't have a job lined up. :( I just don't know where I want to be.

Blogger is making me get a Google account to continue blogging. So annoying! I don't need another email--I have 2 already. :(

Jen Harms is getting married! Ahhhh! I'm so excited for her.

Sara Mize (used to live in #70 with Jen) had a baby boy 4 months ago and he's soooo cute! She's also training for a half marathon. Wow.

I'm still looking for my true love, so if any of you have seen him, tell him to hurry up and call me. ;)

I have a new nephew (as of Dec. 5). He weighed 9lbs 15oz (almost 10lbs!) and passed the 15lb mark last month. He's so huge!

I am soooo ready for spring.

Elizabeth Temus gets back from her mission in South Korea next Thursday, I think.

That's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well.

Results of the Stanford tournament

A couple of pictures from our Stanford tournament. Here are the scores. We were seeded 1st after these games in the tournament (above Stanford, which is ranked #1 in the nation).

BYU - 15, Cal Berkley - 0
BYU - 30, Oregon - 10
BYU - 48, UCLA - 0

The 10 points Oregon scored against us were when we were playing 2 girls down because they got sent to the "sin bin" for getting yellow cards.

I played lock, which is a forward position that participates in the scrum (pictured below). I am not in that picture, but I am in the team picture.

Stanford here I come!

Or Sanford, I'm not sure. We have a tournament in Cali this Saturday and I don't know if it's at Stanford University in Palo Alto or if it's in Sanford, CA (near LA). I guess I'll find out when I get there. Wish me luck (since I've never played in a real game before).

Go Cougs!