This Weekend

This weekend went by super fast, but it was a great one. On Friday, we went on a double date with our good friends, Ryan and Kailyn Slaugh, to a restaurant in Provo called Molly's. It was our first time, but Ryan and Kailyn have been here before and love it. Molly's catered at their wedding. Molly's is a cafeteria-style restaurant where you stand in line and order the food you want. Their dishes are homestyle cooking and everything on the menu looked delicious. Molly's is usually open only for lunch, but this Friday was the first night that they were open for dinner. I had a pulled pork sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy, while Blaine had beef brisket with salad and potatoes. The portions were large and everything was oh so good. I shared a chocolate cream cheese cake with Kailyn, but when we were about to leave, a waitress came by asking us if we wanted to take more cake home. Free cake is always awesome. We will definitely be going back to Molly's! After Molly's, they came over to our place and met Rue. I think Rue really liked them :) We had such a good time with Ryan and Kailyn. We miss living so close to them and being in the same ward together!

On Saturday night, I ran my first 5k with my good friends, Mechaella Matute and Kailyn. I've been wanting to start running for a while now, even though I've never really liked running. Over the summer, I saw a livingsocial for a 5k that benefited a family with a dad who has multiple sclerosis and decided to do it. And these awesome girls decided to do it with me, too. Nina signed up as well, but who knew that she was going to be 16 weeks pregnant and super sick in September! :) I've been running with Mechaella a couple of times a week. Having a running buddy has helped me tremendously! Even though I have improved since I've started running, I'm still not that great. It was not until this past Monday that I actually completed 3.1 miles. I felt totally unprepared for Saturday. 

So this 5k is one of its kind in Utah. It was a night-time 5k. It's called Run the Rave. Everybody wears glow sticks and little paper luminaires were lighting our path. It was really cool. There was paint to paint yourself with, but we weren't really interested in that. It stains your clothes and smelled weird. When we arrived and registered, we realized that we would be running on the beach of the Great Salt Lake. This made me really nervous since running on sand is much harder than running on pavement! There were some parts in the sand that were pretty firm and others that felt like quicksand. It smelled really bad the whole race. We didn't realize this till we were done, but there were dead birds on the beach. Thank goodness it was too dark for us to see them. Nasty! It was also kind of chilly, but that problem was solved once we started moving. The breeze of the lake felt nice while we were running. Also, there were monstrous mosquitoes. I had long pants and a long sleeved shirt on, but I felt bad for Mechaella and Kailyn! I didn't think about the possibility of mosquitoes! But regardless, the 5k was a ton of fun. Blaine and Rue came to support us. Ryan had to work and couldn't come. We ran it together in 32:08. That's my best time ever. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Kailyn and Mechaella. They were so supportive and stayed with me at the times that I just wanted to slow down or stop altogether!

Love them!

Before the race - feeling empowered! 

Sweaty & glad to be done! 

We're planning on running another 5k together on September 29 for Operation Smile in Provo. It's an organization that raises money for children with cleft lip and cleft palate. I can see this whole running thing really becoming a hobby. It's a great way to be charitable and be fit!