Move Successful

I'm writing you from New Mexico and can't write more than that because I've got a BUSY day ahead of me and half of it is already over! We're here, we love it so far...and I'll tell you more later!

The Niece

Meet Haley...

In preparation for our Ragnar Relay coming up in June, Gary and I went and bought a reflective vest. That same night we dropped by my parent's house for a bit and my brother and his family were there...Haley is his daughter. Well, she saw the vest and HAD to wear it. I told her it was for running and that started a snowball of questions which included "Tara, where is your running watch?" "Tara, do you have that thing that counts your steps?" "Tara, what is this for?" while holding the head lamp to my face. After she put on the reflective vest, running watch, headlamp, and pedometer she was ready to race!
So we went out to the side walk and had a race around the cul-de-sac. There she is ready to hit START on the watch as soon as Uncle Gary gave the signal!
Here were the contestants. I'm sure glad I wasn't TOO far behind Haley because I didn't have any of that safety gear on and something bad could have happened!

On your mark...

Oh wait! One race was just not enough! She marched right in that house after the first run and made EVERYONE come outside for another race... "...except pregnant people. Mom, you don't have to race." she says to Shannon. To which Shannon THANKED her graciously.

It was fun! She's cute...we'll sure miss her when we move to New Mexico in TWO days! And yes, I carry my running stuff around with me pretty much everywhere...it's in my car right now! You never know when you might want to go for a run. (lame, eh?)

Did you know that?

1) According to Weather Bureau records going back over 50 years, Albuquerque receives 78% of all available sunshine.

2) That we're moving to Albuquerque, NM? Yes, you read right! This happy little couple is moving to New Mexico. Is it possible to be totally excited and totally sad at the same time? I'm really excited for a new fun adventure and a big change in life, but totally sad to be moving so far away from my family.

3) Albuquerque is located at the junction of two interstate highways: East- West Interstate 40 and North-South Interstate 25, better known as the "Pan American Highway." (so there will be NO excuses for not coming to visit us)

4) Within a day's drive from Albuquerque are nine national monuments (Aztec Ruins, Bandelier, Capulin Mountain, Salinas, Ft. Union, El Morro, Pecos, White Sands, and Gila Cliff Dwellings), and a national park (Carlsbad Caverns National Park).

5) Petroglyph Park, 9.2 miles northwest of Albuquerque, contains the world's oldest art form and is a fascinating art gallery of an ancient civilization.

6) Golf is played year-round in Albuquerque. It is one of the few cities in the nation in which you can play tennis in the middle of winter in the city, or ski on excellent mountain slopes less than 30 minutes away.

7) Albuquerque is equidistant from Los Angeles to Kansas City, from New Orleans to San Francisco, from Phoenix to Denver, and from Salt Lake City to Dallas.

8) Albuquerque's Rio Grande zoo is one of the most attractive in the southwest. In addition to elephants, monkeys, cats, giraffes, and seals, it has a children's zoo, fowls, reptiles, and a world famous exhibit of hoofed animals, including a rare herd of Greater Kudu.

9) Albuquerque is the Hot Air Balloon Capital of the U.S. The city hosts the largest international hot air balloon competition in the world and draws crowds of more than 1.5 million people.

10) The most important question that many "New Mexicans" need to answer each day is "Red or Green?" This refers to their love of red and green chile. The Rio Grande Valley is the only location in the world that Green Chile is grown. This is truly the flavor of the Southwest. With the Hatch Chile Festival on Labor Day weekend and the New Mexico Wine and Chile Festival on Memorial Weekend, there are plenty of opportunities to explore the love of this highly addictive vegetable. (I'm sure I'll be posting more about this one later!)

11) That the company that Gary will be working for "Heads Up Landscaping" is the company that landscaped the Albuquerque Temple?

I woke up to this yesterday

Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day!

Identity Theft

I dropped by my Mom's yesterday to pick up some {junk} mail. I ALMOST ripped them up because I can't tell you how many Credit Card applications I get. Yeah, you all get them too, you know what I'm talking about. But something told me to open this one up. Well, SURE GLAD I DID! Inside envelope #1 was a statement for a Sears Mastercard and a $7,000 balance on it! What did I buy? NOTHING. Oh that's right, SOMEONE ELSE opened up this card in my name and bought a $700.00 TV and $6000.00 in "Fine Jewlery." Envelope #2 - My unactivated Sears Mastercard.

Now, I could rant and rave and stomp my feet about how DUMB some salesman has GOT to be to just sell someone $6,000 worth of jewlery. Is that not a red flag even a little bit?!? I suppose it could have been an online purchase, but STILL...GRRR! This system is messed up!

So, I spent about an hour last night talking to Mastercard, Some Credit Beureu company, and The Police Department. What a LAME Cinco de Mayo celebration!

What gets me is this...this person had my correct name with middle initial, social, birthday, and address. I'm not sure WHERE they got it from, but the bottom line is, they did. BUT, they had the WRONG phone number. So I ask her what it is and she says: "I'm not allowed to give it to you because it could cause conflict" Excuse me but, LADY, I'M THE ONE CONFLICTED, NOW GIVE ME THAT NUMBER SO I CAN GO PICK UP MY TV AND "FINE JEWLERY!" In order to get this phone number, I have to file a police report. You BETTER believe I'm filing one TODAY! In fact, as soon as I finish this blog, I'm going for a walk to the Police Department.

I'll keep you posted! Everyone I talked to last night is assuring me that this is NOT going to blow my credit nor am I going to have to pay this back. PLEASE tell me this is true! As much as I'd like that Jewlery that I'll never see, I'd rather keep my $7,000!

My Husband is a Graduate!!!

I wish I had more pictures, but my camera died. UGH! Gary Graduated and some of our family members came into town for the celebration!
Gary and Aaron, my cousin...It's Aaron's fault that Gary and I are married! Thanks Aaron! He's going to Dental School in California this fall and we'll miss them TONS!

This is Gary's Parents! We are so glad they were able to come out for Gary's Graduation! We don't get to see them as much as we'd like to so it was really fun to spend so much time with them while there were here!

This is Gary and his friend Noah who is going to take us up in an air plane one day really soon!!! (Right Noah?)

Salt Lake Marathon

...or 5K.

I'm SO sad I didn't run the 1/2 marathon! Anyone who knows me well knows that Saturdays are SACRED to me. I have a very hard time committing to do ANYTHING on Saturday mornings because I love to take nice, long, nature filled runs...well, for the three Saturdays leading up to this race, I had to make some MAJOR sacrificas an was unable to get in my long runs.

Needless to say, I just didn't feel I could run this race without those. So, it was the 5k for me...but that was still REALLY fun! Gary and I ran and both got our Personal Best times!!! We also ran it with Gary's brother and two of his sisters! It was a first race for all three of them! I think they had lots of fun too! Maybe one of these days I'll get Brandon, Jason, and Dallin to run a 5k with me! :) (Yes, MAJOR Hint boys! Ryan's done it!)
Yes, that says 5:12AM! The race started at 7:30 so we had to get up plenty early enough to get things "flowing"...if you know what I mean! :)

The night before we laid out our things...Gary is MUCH more organized than I am, but I sure love my pink Asics!

The weather was SO nice during our run. As soon as we finished, this hard core wind picked up...it was SO windy, I was actually glad for a few minutes that I hadn't signed up for the 1/2 cause I would have still been running in it!