End of a Primary Era...

Today I was released as the Primary President of the North Canyon 6th Ward after 4 years... The children had their annual Sacrament Meeting Program and did a fabulous job! I couldn't have asked for a better gift on my last day on the job. All of my family in-state came (Hailey, Riley, Michelle, dad, Garrett & Julia) and I received the nicest comments from so many people. A wonderful day, yet sad to say goodbye to my cute 75 Primary friends...

Junior Primary

Senior Primary

Weekend Races

I've spent the last two Saturdays in Midway participating in super fun races. Both weekends were cold! We've all wanted to do a Dirty Dash so we signed up a few days prior and wore our oldest and grungiest clothes. It was 3 miles of mud, obstacles, pits of mud, slides, bubbles, etc. We all stayed together and made it through in about an hour. Very fun!

The next week I ran the Woman of Steel Relay which I've done several times and still love it. You're supposed to have 6 runners run three, 3-mile legs. We get 9 runners and run two, 3-miles legs. Piece of cake. It's beautiful scenery but never fails to rain and be very cold. We barely missed the rain this year but it was still very cold. Everyone gets one easy leg and then a moderate or very hard leg. Fun day!

 First runner!

We placed 7th out of 62 teams!

 Very fun to run with these two and I'm glad they're good sports and willing to do races with me!

Mother Daughter Day in Hollywood

Hillary and I each had a free Saturday and we hadn't seen each other for several months so we planned a fun day in sunny California. Hillary picked me up at 7:30 am from the Long Beach airport and we headed to Hollywood. Grabbed a light breakfast, did a little sightseeing at Grauman's Chinese Theater, Dolby Theater, La La Land Store and then went on a 4-hour Best of Hollywood Food Tour.

Our food tour started with homemade chips, two salsas, flavored water and Mexican tacos at Loteria Grill on Hollywood Blvd.

Next we had three types of delicious pizza at Mozza2Go, owned by famed TV chef Mario Batali.

Probably the best pastrami sandwich I ever had was at Greenblatt's Deli, a Hollywood landmark opened since 1926.

John Kelly Chocolates is a family-owned chocolate shop and every flavor we tasted was amazing!

 Finished up at Mashti Malone's Ice Cream Parlor and tasted some interesting flavors with lavender, orange blossom, saffron, and rose water.

After the food tour we drove to Griffith Park Observatory and hiked four miles to the Hollywood sign, took a quick picture and then started the trek back so I could make it back to the airport by 7:30 pm--12 hours after I arrived. Perfect weather, perfect company--perfect day!!

Costa Rica Highlights!

Costa Rica has been on my bucket list but I only wanted to travel there with someone who was fluent in Spanish. So glad Garrett wanted to go with me and was the perfect companion and chauffeur.

Our first full day was spent in the Arenal area touring the Mistico Hanging Bridges, hiking to the base of the Arenal Volcano, a wonderful Costa Rican lunch and swimming at La Fortuna waterfall. We spent our first two nights at Volcano Lodge and Hot Springs and loved coming home after a full day of touring to relax in the natural hot springs at the hotel...

We went on a 2-1/2 hour river rafting adventure in Class III-IV rapids down the Rio Tenorio which was absolutely crazy! I posted several pictures so you could see just how huge these rapids were!

We spent the next night at Hacienda Guachipelin which is close to Rincon National Park. We enjoyed the Volcanic Mud Hot Springs onsite and the other hotel amenities. Our next day included a full day of horseback riding, tubing and ziplining...

Our next three nights were spent at the Riu Guanacaste All-Inclusive Resort on the beach. It was beautiful and the food was so good too.

Our next adventure was another winner. ATV riding across beaches, through rivers and over mountains. We had a pro surfer take us to Tamarindo Beach and teach us how to surf. Garrett and I were both able to get up many times--Garrett, of course, much better of the two of us...

Garrett negotiated a wonderful hour-long massage with a mother-son team in the souvenir village. They did a fabulous job or a great rate!

After we checked out of the resort Sunday morning we drove to a ward in Liberia and attended Sacrament Meeting. The members were kind and a couple of the speakers referred to Garrett in their talk as they had a chance to talk to him before the meeting began.

Our last night was spent in San Jose close to the airport so we could do a little sightseeing on our last day and then head to the airport. We were so excited to find the temple on our drive!

Garrett and I had such a fun 9 days together and said Pura Vida more than we probably wanted... :)