Kearns Spring Sprint Triathlon

400m swim, 20k bike, 5k run

You'll have to ask Dad about this...

One and Only Ashton Graduate

Today, April 23, 2010 at 8:00AM I graduated from Brigham Young University.

Here are some pictures. It was pouring rain outside so there aren’t very many, but I got to keep my cap and gown so we might take more later, hopefully with Mom and Dad in them too.

Afterward we went to J Dawgs to celebrate…mmmm…J Dawgs has upgraded to an actual building now, not just that little shed, just so you know.

We're having a BBQ next Saturday for a real celebration because we have a too much going on this weekend. So come on over!

Half-in Fun

Dad and I ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon today, Saturday April 17th and it was a blast! We left the house at 5:30AM and made it to the starting line 12 minutes before the race began at 7AM. Because we cut it so close I didn't get a chance to go to the bathroom before we started so I ran the first 3 miles with a completely distended bladder….no bueno. I had to wait about 10 minutes in line to use the Honey Bucket and some girl had the nerve to cut in line. Dad kept walking while I did the potty dance, by the time I caught up with him he had gone .66 miles.

It was amazing how well Dad did. His hip has been really painful for him, so not only was he hurting every step of the way, but he hasn't been able to train so this was the most he's ever run, by about 7 miles! We stopped to walk for only a couple minutes on a few hills, but other than that, we ran the rest of the way. We finished 13.1 miles in 2:25:07 which is an 11:04 mile split. We finished about 25 seconds before the full marathon winner finished…crazy huh?

I had a lot of fun…I don't think Dad did though. We're supposed to do a sprint triathlon next Saturday, we'll see how he feels then. Give him a call! The race photos will be posted in a couple of days, but in the meantime, here we are after the race.

Peace Out OCJH

I'm done student teaching!!!

Common Sense: Apparently Not So Common

I go to Mom and Dad's house on the weekend. This is why:

I walk in every Sunday night and see a similar scene. This Sunday was the worst. I really don't understand what is SO complicated about dirtying a dish (MY dish, mind you) and rinsing it off (you don't even have to scrub) and putting it in the dishwasher. I usually end up doing those dishes and loading the dishwasher and then my beloved roommate, Kristen (who also goes home on the weekends) empties the dishwasher. We both take turns taking out the weekend trash Monday afternoons as well. We realize that we are just encouraging their behavior by doing the work of our other 2 pathetic roommates, but it is just disgusting and we can't live in that dumpsite. I don't know how they can.

But this Sunday night was the last straw. I vowed I would never wash another dish of someone else ever again. I only have to spend 2 more weeks living there, I thought I could handle it. So I went to bed.

I woke up Sunday morning at 5:30 and the mess was still there and I planned to just leave it. But there were so many dishes that I couldn't even reach under the faucet to rinse out my own cereal bowl to put in the dishwasher.

I opened the dishwasher to just stick it in there and then I found the problem--the dishwasher was full of clean dishes! Then it dawned on me: the dirty girls couldn't do their dishes because there was nowhere to put them and they couldn't put the clean dishes away because they don't know where the dishes go because they never unload the dishwasher. I wondered why they chose not to just clean the dishes by hand and wondered if it was because we were out of dish soap…

False.

I thought about leaving it all just a mess because it was now about 6am and I'm the only person awake then…but then I thought, I could get so much more satisfaction out of banging these pots, pans, and plates, and dumping the silverware tray around than I would walking in the door at 6pm that night and the mess having only grown more disgusting. So I clanged and slammed to my heart's content and cleaned the whole mess up. And guess what? It only took me about 6 minutes.

In conclusion, if you are the type of person who makes a mess and doesn't even consider cleaning up after yourself, could you please explain to me your thought process so that I can demonstrate Christlike love and empathy towards my fellow men? Thank you.

Michael Jordan's Lucky 23

Are you ready for this?! I graduate (from COLLEGE) two months from yesterday on April 23rd!!! And after today I will be officially halfway done with student teaching. Yahoo for school! Yahoo for me!

Puke and Fruit

Student teaching has been surprisingly good so far. I have learned a lot and each day I get more responsibility and gain more confidence as a teacher. I have also had some interesting "first" experiences. I have been flipped off, had a student throw up on the gym floor, had police come to interrogate a girl for stealing items out of the locker room, had a girl fart in class (very audibly), and had a wonderful student bring me an apple. Isn't that cute?

I know there will be many more instances similar to these if I continue to stay in education so I should get used to it. But there is one "first" that I hope to prolong as much as possible…parent-teacher conflict! All in all, I am starting to feel like a real teacher now and will catch myself actually having fun every once in a while.