California

June 2013 was basically split into two parts: family reunion and job interviews. First the fun part, my mom surprised us all and flew to Utah to help my sister with her new baby, which meant she got to join us for out family reunion in California. I think it says a lot about my family that even with my parents in another country, we still worked out a time to spend a week together. Sadly we still missed having my brother, his wife, my brother-in-law, and my dad with us. For the drive out, I had my niece and nephew in my car, and I had a great time introducing them to 80s rock music. Needless to say, my niece had a new list of music groups and songs she wanted to download. We gathered in Folsom at my siblings houses and spent time in San Francisco and Yosemite. The pictures capture the great time we all had.

Grandma is in town

Alcatraz

Boat from Alcatraz to San Francisco

Lombard Street

Yosemite

Hiking the Mist Trail

Hiking the Mist Trail

To be two again

Yosemite Falls

Playing at the campsite

Taking a break from hiking

My kids

Yosemite redwoods

Practicing the musical number for my nephew's baptism

Happy Father's Day

While my mom was visiting, I had an accident. We were watching the kids play in the cul-de-sac when a car turned the corner. I saw my two-year-old nephew in the street and ran towards him to make sure the car didn't hit him. My feet got the better of me and slid second base style over the paver stones. I'd never been to the ER before nor had stitches. It was weird having someone other than my dad take care of me. But I got all stitched up and a year later (as I'm writing this) the scar is barely visible.

ER shots

My niece wrote me a cute note after the fall

While in California, I had the distinct impression that I should go to DC (well Northern Virginia) soon with the intention of seeing if I could live there. I had a job interview lined up the Monday after the reunion in San Francisco for a position located in Virginia. The interview was fine but I wasn't in love with the role or the company, but I felt I should move in this direction. I came back from the interview with the prayer that I'll go where the Lord wants me to go even if I'm not in love with the job and that maybe it's just one more step to get me to where I need to be. Then the miracle. I arrived at work after having this conversation with the Lord (we do that a lot while I'm driving) and saw an email from the SVP at Eloqua (the company I went skiing with back in February). He asked if I was interested in a job. Within a week I was chatting with a Sr. Director for a product management position. They basically said, "We can teach you to be a product manager. We can't teach you to think like a marketer. And we need a marketer." I knew this was my answer. This job was going to happen. It was based in northern Virginia and I already had a ticket to fly there the week after to see if this was going to be a good fit for me. The wheels were in motion and my life was about to change in a fantastic new direction.

The Worst Injury

I won’t deny it. Not at all. I completely admit it. I am accident prone. I like to blame it on my strabismus and lack of depth perception when objects are flying at me. That would account for the broken left index finger (twice!) while playing basketball and football and the severely jammed right fingers while playing inter tube water polo. No I’m not making that last one up. Played on an intramural team. You may make fun of me but at least we won our t-shirt!

At least with all of the above I was moving. Not with the broken hand. I had already rollerbladed ten miles when two blocks from my apartment, when I was standing still, I lost my balance and fell. Yes, I am that coordinated. Spiral fracture, hand surgery, three screws, and six weeks of physical therapy.

However, those injuries were nothing. I am here to tell you the worst injury to have, and I am pretty sure my mom would agree with me on this one not counting a total hip replacement surgery, is a foot injury. Completely stops you from doing anything. Yes with the others I needed help doing my hair and getting dressed but at least I could move! Three years ago I suffered a lisfranc sprain jumping off my parents' porch in shoes two sizes too big. I know. A brilliant move on my part. I couldn’t walk without pain for six months. Not fun. At all.

Last week I was being smart (i.e. climbing on the shelves in my parents’ storage room and trying to move boxes while balancing on plastic containers) and fell when a weakened plastic box snapped under the pressure of Mabel and myself. You have to be extra coordinated to bruise the bottom of your foot. And which foot do you think it was? You guessed it! The same one as three years ago. Gratefully the swelling and bruising are subsiding and I’m getting back on my running schedule, but with every step I’m reminded that foot injuries are the worst.

He's Fat...He's a Fatty

I injured my foot last October and my doctor (aka dad) ordered me off it until it healed. This completely changed my life. For the first two months I hobbled. Not until recently have I felt confident in my abilities to walk without too much pain. All of this means I haven't been able to work out for six months. I have been trying for the past month to work back up to the stamina I had before so I could lose all the stupid weight I gained. Well last week I hit my goal in distance! And my foot only bothered me slightly. I am determined to drop all the weight I gained by July 1st because we have a family picture. The funny bit about this family picture and the Lake Powell trip afterward is I am not the only member of the family who wants to look good. At least seven of us have publicly said we want to look good for the pictures...mostly the Lake Powell pictures. My family is so funny. I had to attach a picture I took at Annette's graduation. It was at the bottom of the stairs near the RB and the Fieldhouse at BYU.