Triathlon!

I did a triathlon yesterday. It was awesome! Powertri sanctioned it and it was at our facility, so I didn't have drive anywhere far this time! I really don't know why I get such a thrill out of these races, but they are a blast to do! Thanks to my cousin Peter and to Natalie, I was able to have a few pictures of my race yesterday. It was a very chilly morning getting ready to jump in for the swim. My feet went numb against the cold cement. Once I dove in the pool, however, I stopped noticing the cold. The bike course also heated me up. I would have to say that 80% of the bike course was spent going uphill. It was a killer ride, but I loved it! My mom is really starting to get into triathlon's with me. She's been working on her tri lingo, and I think she's got it down now. :) Anyways, here are some pictures from my race yesterday. Can't wait to race another one! Jumping out of the pool and starting my run to the transition area to get on my bike. This transition run was quite a long one.
This is me running towards the finish line. The run ended inside the Olympic Oval.

Starting the run after the bike.

Starting the run.

Me coming into the transition area after the bike course, and transitioning to the run.

Cole Steven Wilson

Cole Steven Wilson was born April 20th, at 8:15pm. He is my sister Maddie, and brother-in-law Ben's baby and he is the cutest baby ever! He is my first nephew and I love him so much! We finally got to go see baby Cole tonight for the first time. Here are the pictures. My dad is now a grandpa. He's old. And he is so excited to finally have his boy scout!
My mom is the proudest new grandma ever! You can tell by this picture that she loves little Cole and is so proud of Maddie and Ben.

Baby Cole Wilson! You can tell he is definately a wilson! He's adorable!

I love my nephew! I'm so happy for Maddie and Ben! What an amazing experience this has been and will be for them.

Maddie is one proud new mom! She loves her baby boy more than words could ever express. I love this picture.

Maddie is going to hate my for putting this picture on my blog, but I think it is way cute and really a precious moment. Ben is a great dad allerady. He does not let little Cole get out of his sight. What a cute family these three are.

I love you Cole!

Weekly Adventures

I love this week! The weather has been awesome! Monday it rained like crazy. I LOVE rain! Then, the sun came out and the temperature became warmer. I've been playing outside all week! I love walking on campus in the spring. All the trees are blossoming and students finally look happy to be alive. I look forward to my one-mile walk to get to class now, and the mile walk back to my car. I could do it every day! I've also been playing outside with my work-outs and it has been AWESOME! I am also very excited right now because I finally was able to get all registered for my triathlon that I'm doing next week. Below are some pictures from my weekly work-out adventures of this past week. I was soaked on Monday after running through the rainstorm! It was the coolest run I've ever done!
I tried to get the full effect of my rainsoaked clothes. This picture doesn't really do any justice to how wet I got.

I finally got my bike up and running and road out to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. What a beautiful temple and what a great location looking out over the valley.

Looking out over the valley from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Re-thinking Life

My women's health class at school has kind of been depressing me these past couple of weeks. The topics we have been discussing related to women's health have been very sad topics. I have this class on Tuesday nights, which means that's where I was tonight. Tonight we were discussing cancer. My professor gears each topic towards women. However, the entire class session tonight, the only person on my mind was my Grandpa Stapley who passed away last fall from leukemia. At the beginning of class, I thought I would only get depressed due to our family's recent experience with cancer. But as my professor lectured, she said some things about cancer that I have never thought much of before. One thing that she said about cancer is that it does not matter if you are the cancer patient or if the cancer patient is a loved one of yours, you learn things going through the cancer and cancer treatment process that you could never learn otherwise. This statement really hit me, and caused me to rethink what my family went through last fall with my grandpa. Something I realized tonight that I never really realized before is how brave my grandpa was through his cancer. I never once saw fear from him. He did everything the doctors asked him to do, no complaining, and no questions asked. He never feared his cancer. In my eyes, he never let his cancer win, because he fought it the entire time. I realized from this that there really is no reason to fear in life. The Lord has a plan for each of us. Yes, bad things happen sometimes, but we always have to learn that we are in the Lord's hand and whatever way life takes us is where the Lord knows we need to be. I think that is why my grandpa was so brave - he knew this was the Lord's plan for him. The Lord's plan was not for my grandpa to survive the cancer. The Lord's plan was to call my grandpa back home to him. I truly believe that my grandpa knew the entire process of his cancer, that he needed to go back to Heavenly Father and do a different kind of very important work. I never knew a class at school could cause me to think this deeply about the subject. Usually I go to class, learn what the professor wants me to learn, and leave. I had a completely different experience tonight. I'm really greatful for my professor's comments tonight. It was good for me to let something I try so hard to not think about come back into my thoughts. My Grandpa Stapley is one of the most AMAZING people I have ever met. I'm so glad I am his granddaughter.

The Weirdest Things Crack Me Up!

Tonight, I got the best ab work out of my life laughing uncontrollably! Natalie was sitting at the table doing her homework. My mom was on the couch and I was laying on the other couch. Emily decided to come sit on my feet and asked me to teach her. After about 5 seconds of Emily sitting on my feet, I feel this huge rumble coming from Emily's rear end. All I'm thinking to myself is "no way, no way, Emily just ripped one on me..." Emily shot up from the couch scared to death at what just happened, when we both realized her phone was in her back pocket at the time and she had just received a text message. What a relief! Emily and I could not stop laughing at what had just happened. In the meantime, Natalie got really mad at us and was trying to tell us to knock it off. No matter how hard I tried, the laughing just could not stop. Natalie decided she had to head downstairs to do homework, but needed my laptop cord to charger her computer. (f.y.i. her cord died a month or so ago so she has to borrow mine all the time). As she grabbed my chord from me she yelled "just so you know, I taking this whether you like it or not!" We sat there for a minute and then Emily broke the silence with "was that supposed to be a threat Natalie?" Natalie freaked out! I started laughing again and then Emily decided to add one more comment. "Natalie, do you even know what just happened?" I seriously don't know why, but Emily's comments cracked me up! It must have been the way she said them. I'm not sure. All I know is that it was hilarious! My abs are going to be soar tomorrow!

Eating Disorder Awareness

This semester, I have been working on a big project about eating disorders and the impact they have on pregnancy. I've done quite a bit of work on eating disorders throughout my degree program at the U. It has always been a subject I have been quite passionate about. As I have been doing my research for this project, I came across some random eating disorder commercials. I really wish these commercials would be put on t.v. more often. So many Americans suffer from eating disorders. The statistics really do sadden me. I've learned the signs to look for in a person who you may suspect an eating disorder. Everytime I see someone when I'm in public who I can immediately tell has an eating disorder, it really breaks my heart. I think what makes me feel the most sad for people with eating disorders is not they way that they look, but the cause of their eating disorder. Lots of times the cause is not all about physical appearance. Lots of time it becomes a person's way of dealing with difficulties in their life. What people don't understand, are how dangerous the consequences of an eating disorder are. Television needs to brodcast more commercials on eating disorder awareness. As a Health Promotion person and in 5 more weeks, a Health Educator, I just couldn't resist putting these two commercials I found, on my blog. One of them is slightly graphic, so be warned before you watch them, but they are reality, which some people are afraid to face. I just wish eathing disorder awareness was taken more seriously than it is. Watch these videos, and maybe you will better understand where I'm coming from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwZhEnSWvg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tOucGDXAtA

Way to start spring break 2010!

Spring break 2010 has officially begun! Actually, I've been on spring break since Thursdays, as I only have to go to campus Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Despite that fact, the fun didn't really begin until yesterday and today. Today, Natalie and I went to a mission farewell for our good friend Erin. She is going to be serving in the Vancover, Canada mission and I know that she will do a great job there. She spoke on service and sacrifice in church today, and she did not mess around! She nailed her topic! Here is a picture of Natalie and me with Erin. Yesterday was a busy day filled with food and fun. My aunt Judy and cousin Annie put together an amazing baby shower for my pregnant sister Maddie. They did such a good job, and I have to say Annie makes the absolute yummiest treats! I was a bit stressed as I arrived to the baby shower due to this thing we call "life," but ended up leaving the shower on a much happier note. Thanks Judy and Annie for putting together a fun shower for Maddie!

After the baby shower, Natalie and I had to rush to a wedding reception. It was quite an interesting wedding. The colors were bright orange and bright blue. I think I'm still trying to process that one.....But at least my friend who got married was able to find a boy decent enough for her. I'm far too picky to even try to find one right now, so until then I'll keep supporting my friends at their receptions. I think I'm allready booked for at least two more receptions this summer and possibly a third.

Grandma Stapley and an aunt and cousin with her two children were in town this weekend for the baby shower. After the wedding reception, we were all invited to go out to dinner with them. We went to Olive Garden and got stuffed!

Somehow I managed to participate in all of this while sick! I'm quite proud of myself. I do have to mention though that I came home from the farewell today and crashed for a few hours. This is now day four of being sick and whatever I've got gets worse everyday. Day one started with a soar throat. Day two had a soar throat that hurt even worse than day one. On day three I woke up hoarse and could not even swallow. I went to the baby shower, reception, and dinner feeling pretty lousy. By the end of day three the soar throat was not the only symptom. I developed a cough, and my nose and ears became plugged. Day four, this morning, I woke up not able to swallow again, have runny nose, swollen glands, gross hacking cough, and my chest hurts so bad inside from coughing. I'm scared talking to people, because I sound like a smoker. And I'm just wiped out! Whoever decided to infect me with this did a really good job! I'm bummed that I can't run or swim until I am better. Thank goodness I have spring break to try and get rid of this germ.

I Love...

Sunshine.

Flowers.

Running.

Music.

Family.

Friends.

Being happy.

Hard work.

Sleep.

Breakfast.

Water.

Church.

My life!

Graduation Preparation

Getting ready to graduate from college is not as much fun as it sounds. In fact, I am finding it quite hectic and really stressful! The process began last fall. I had to apply for graduation before November 1st to be considered for spring 2010 commencement. I had to run around campus and get my advisor for my major and the advisor for my minor to sign off my application. When I turned my application into the registrar's office, the lady there made me really nervous. She explained that I have to check my university e-mail on a daily basis from then up until my degree is put on my transcripts, which happens after graduation. She says there are emails that will be sent out, some asking for replies. All the replies have a 5 day reply limit. After 5 days, if you have not replied, your graduation information will no longer be applicable. So far, I'm doing well with the emails. What I'm stressing out about now is the process of getting graduation stuff completed. I'm wanting to order my announcements here shortly, but have to wait for my next paycheck. I hope I haven't waited too long. I'm also beginning my application process to training programs and possible jobs. I have no idea what is going to happen to my life this summer. My bosses at work are getting ready to send out schedule request forms, and I have no idea how I'm going to respond to them. Do I sign up for shifts, and then if I get a job just apologize and give up my shifts? Or do I not sign up for any and work on job hunting? Or should I just sign up for a small amount in case I do find a job? I'm thinking of going with the last idea. I really am scared of the unknown. And I'm really scared of change. But, even with all of this going on, I still am super excited to graduate with my Bachelor's degree. I can't believe its almost here. Only 9 more week to go, and I will be a college graduate! I just have to stay strong with everything until then.

Quick Trip Weekend

We were able to make a quick trip down to Summit this weekend. Two of my cousins blessed their babies today. My cousin Sarah and her husband Bryson blessed baby Isabell. She is absolutely adorable! My cousin Jordan blessed her baby boy who was named after my Grandpa, DeeEl. He has the prettiest blue eyes a baby could have! Both babies were very well behaved in church. Haha! It was just an over-nighter, quick trip, but it was really nice. It was good to see our family. And the best part of this trip was that we brought Grandma back to Salt Lake with us for the week! It should be a fun week for her as she will be going out with all of her sisters that live up here, going to a Jazz game with our dad, dinners and many other activities with us. We are glad to have her with us for the week.

While we were in Summit, we were able to make a stop at the cemetery. Grandpa's gravestone is now in place and it looks magnificant! Grandma takes really good care of Grandpa's grave. She loves him so much, as do all of us. It is still so strange to visit Summit and not have Grandpa there. But I'm so happy to know that he is in an amazing place right now. And I'm so happy to know that he is watching over our Stapley clan.

Below is a picture I took by the Summit cemetery, looking at the Summit mountains. It was so snowy down in Southern Utah! It was beautiful! Saturday night my dad and I walked the town of Summit (which is only about 3 blocks big) at about 11:00 at night. It is a very dark town at night, which is one of my favorite parts about it! On a clear night, you can see a billion stars in the sky since there are no city lights! As we were walking, we saw a deer down the sidewalk. Summit is seriously deer country! At night's they all come down from the mountains and roam the town. During the fall, they eat all the fallen apples from the apple trees. My dad and I were trying to get as close to this deer as we could. However, we were not sneaky enough. It spotted us and hopped away. I always love going down to Summit. It is the best getaway from the city life. But its always good to come back home after the fun is over.

Music Video of the Week: Everyday American by Sugarland

I love this music vedio. It makes me want to go play in a grocery store.

Guess What Comes Out Today?

Brand new Lady Antebellum CD!!!!!! Too bad I just paid tuition last week and am too broke to breath. At least I can listen to the new song "Need You Now" for free online. :)

Because sometimes asking the right question is the answer.

This semester, I've found myself another awesome Insititute class! It is called "The Gosepl and the Productive Life." Yesterday my teacher gave us a really neat handout that really got me thinking about my life and where I am right now. I have posted it below so you all can start thinking about your life and what things are important and what things are not. I realized that I am holding onto a lot of things that I just need to let go of to be a happier person. Read these questions for yourself and see if you are happy with your life at this point or if there are changes that you can make. (F.Y.I. I did not post all the questions my teacher gave me. There are a lot, so I picked some of the really good ones.)

1. How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don't like and like so many things we don't do?
4. When it's all said and done, will you have said more than you've done?
5. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
6. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
7. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
8. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
9. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
10. How come the things that make you happy don't make everyone happy?
11. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What's holding you back?
12. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
13. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe that it makes the elevator move faster?
14. Why are you, you?
15. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
16. What are you most greatful for?
17. Would you rather loose all your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
18. Do you remember the time 5 years ago you were really upset? Does it really matter now?
19. At what time in your past have you felt the most passionate and alive?
20. If not now, then when?
21. If you haven't achieved it yet, what do you have to loose?
22. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
23. Would you reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive and famous?
24. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
25. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
26. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
27. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
28. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

We are FREAKS!

I've been going through some pictures and videos from 2009 and discovered 2 hilarious videos Natalie and I made last summer that we never posted. We made these videos as sort of a joke with one of our favorite families in our ward. Seriously, these are like watching Napoleon Dynamite: I can watch them over and over again, and I still laugh out loud. You'll have to pause the music at the bottom of my blog so you can hear the videos. Enjoy!

Dang Books!

I went and bought my books for spring semester which starts on Monday. I'm excited for spring semester, because I graduate at the end of this semester with my Bachelor's degree! Buying books always makes me hurt, because the bookstore sucks in so much money from students. Books are overpriced. While I was at the bookstore today, I did something I've been seriously dreaming to do for years. I am a senior in college. Ever since I was a freshman, I've always wanted my very own Utah zip-up hoodie. I've never had the extra spending money to get one since I'm always scrimping and saving every last penny I have to pay my tuition each semester. Finally, I had some special Christmas money from Santa. I was going to put my money from Santa towards my tuition, but Santa instructed me that I was to use it for something fun for myself. With some of this money, I was able to get my very own zip-up hoodie today! I was so excited! The new hoodie is pictured above. :)

No Answer Yet....

I had an ultrasound last week. My doctor still cannot figure out what is wrong with me. The ultrasound came back normal, so I had to go get a HIDA scan on my gallbladder today. This was kind of a cool test. They injected a dye into my blood stream that makes my gallbladder glow. I had to lay under a screen for 45 minutes as it took pictures of my gallbladder. The best part about this test was the warmed-up blankets they piled on top of me. The tech running the test caters to any discomfort you can get during the test. It made me feel real special. After the 45 minutes of that, they inject a tracer medication that goes into the gallbladder. On the screen, this will show if the gallbladder is functioning properly or not. This is another 30 minutes of laying under the screen. The only problem with this part of the test, is that it will initiate the pain that I've been having. It didn't initiate as severe of pain as I experience in my abdomen, but it was definately making it hurt. I won't get the results from this test back for another couple of days. I'm so tired of going through test after test after test. I just want to know what is causing this pain. It's been more painful lately too, so I'm getting a little nervous. Hopefully some answers come soon - I've been waiting for an answer since before Thanksgiving. Oh well though. The only good part of all this is that I've been able to learn so much more about my body. I've even gotten to see some of my insides!

Climb Every Mountain

Over the weekend, my family and I were able to go to Summit to vist my grandmother. I was excited to go, because I hadn't seen my grandma since my grandpa's funeral in November. While we were there we were able to have a little Christmas with grandma and also helped her clean out some of grandpa's cloths and other things. I love to see and hear how much my grandma loves my grandpa. She constantly talks about him and his life, and I love to listen to all the stories she has of him. I learned one story from my grandma this weekend that I was not aware of, and it is rather touching. For those of you who know my grandpa, he was an amazing pianist. He never played the piano with music in front of him. He could play any song, but he would only play by ear. It was always such a magical thing when I was little to tell him about a song such as "It's a Small World," and within seconds he would figure out how to play it on the piano. A few days before he passed away, he wanted to play the piano one more time with the Master Singers. Weak and wobbily, my uncles helped him get up the stairs to the piano. One of the last songs he played on the piano was "Climb Every Mountain." I wish I could have been there to hear him play this that day. Since my grandma told us about this special experience, I have not been able to stop thinking about this song and the powerful lyrics that make this song what it is. I just had to post it on my blog so I can always listen to this song and think of my grandpa and how he truly did "climb every mountain" in his life, no matter how steep each mountain was.

Memory, all alone in the moonlight!

This past semester was seriously a semester from heck! I was a wreck throughout the semester. Many times I never did my hair or make-up during the week. I was too stressed to care for myself. I never even had a chance to blog. :( Now that the I'm recovered from the semester, I'm going to get back into my blog. This upcoming semester is my last semester of college, and I'm sure I'll have lots to tell.

I had a nice Christmas with my family yesterday, despite the fact that I'm dealing with some stomach issues. Before Thanksgiving, I got pretty sick. I was really tired and drained all the time, and had a slight loss of appetite. I thought nothing of it, as it could have been caused by all the stress I was under. Then, I started to get this really bad throbbing pain in the upper left side of my abdomen. I let it go for a week without telling my parents, until it became so painfull that it hurt to breath. I went to my doctor just before Thanksgiving, and he ran a buttload of tests. He felt for a spleen tip, but found nothing. Then he sent me to his x-ray tech and she ran a chest x-ray, which came up normal. He had his nurse come in and she ran an EKG on me to see if the lining around my heart was inflamed. Thankfully the lining was fine but my doctor discovered a small heart condition I've had my whole life. Its not anything bad, it is just the way my heart was developed, but he sent me to a cardiologist for further testing just to be safe. The week after Thanksgiving I had an echo done on my heart and a stress test. Results came out normal and my heart is extremely healthy, which makes me happy. My doctor put me on a prescription as he decided to treat me for inflammation of the lining of my stomach. He said if the pain did not go away, than he had another diagnosis. The pain still exists, so this week, just before Chriatmas, I went back to my doctor. Again he felt for a spleen tip, and found nothing. He is sending me to another doctor on Tuesday morning to have an ultra-sound of my stomach and gallbladder. If the ultra-sound does not find what he is looking for, I have to have and endoscopy, where they stick a tube down the throat and go right into the stomach. Yuck! Hopefully he finds what he needs on the ultra-sound! I have a lesson to you all with this story. Whatever is going on in my body, I caused myself by not handling massive amounts of stress well. There was a lot of really bad stuff going on in my personal life, and I never tried to de-stress. I have gone out in the community and taught stress management techniques to a needy populaion for my major, but I actually can't do the techniques myself. Had I used them, this all probably would not be happenning. But this kind of stuff makes life exciting, right? Moral of the story, we all experience stress, but make sure ya'll handle it in healthy ways. If you want me to teach you about it, I can do that. I'll keep an update of my ultra-sound to see if my gallbladder and stomach are boys or girls. :)

In Loving Memory of Dee El Stapley

My Grandpa, Dee El Stapley, was one of the best people to ever walk the earth, in my opinion. Not a day went by during my grandpa's life that he was not helping someone else. He touched the lives of hundreds. He was a teacher, received his PhD. from BYU, became a Superintendent of Iron County School District, served 2 missions with my Grandma, and taught us all the most important lessons of life. The last lesson he taught me before he passed away was to endure to the end. My grandpa was diagnosed with leukemia on September 8th 2009. He was very brave as he fought a courageous battle with the fast growing cancer. I'll never forget the day the doctors gave my grandpa the news that he only had a few days left to live. As all of our hearts broke upon hearing these words, my grandpa refused to let it get him down. Upon hearing this news, all my grandp could say was that he had no regrets whatsoever on his life. How many of us could say that right now and truly mean it? His life was a legacy to me. After much pain, my grandfather passed away peacefully in his hom on November 12th, 2009, only 2 months after the diagnosis. My family and I were so blessed to have my grandpa and grandma live with us in our home for the 2 months of his treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. This is the time in which my grandpa taught me how to endure to the end. I watched my grandpa go through what I consider the most difficult, painful, challenging illness. I won't go into detail about his treatment, but I can say it was rough. It was almost too dificult to watch my grandpa go through it. But he never gave up. He never let it get him down. Everytime I would as my grandpa how he was feeling, no matter how aweful I could tell he felt, his answer was always the same. He always told me he felt "pretty darn good." I think this is going to be my motto for the rest of my life. Even when things are at rock bottom, I want to be able to say that I'm pretty darn good. I'm so blessed to have had the influence of my grandpa in my life. I will always remember him. I will follow his example. I love him and am so glad he is my grandpa. Here are some pictures from his funeral, which was probably the best funeral my grandpa could have been given. He is amazing. These are all my grandpa's brothers. Joe, Bryce, Michael.
Grandpa's beautiful casket.
My dad helped his brother's and one brother-in-law carry my grandpa to his final resting place.
Family is so important.
My aunt DeAnn with Grandma.

Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?