Technology is amazing

I am sitting here on my lunch break (yes my lunch break is taking place at 4:30pm) with my cell phone and am able to do a blog entry...how amazing is that. The world we live in today is so incredible. Information at the touch of a button, we can visit other countries without leaving our homes, letters have been replaced by something called Skype, work is completed quicker and more simply than before. Isn't it amazing to be living today?

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My First 5k

Dad and I

My first racing #

My dad and I both completed our first 5k yesterday morning! We decided the week of Christmas to run the Matanzas 5K in St. Augustine. I had just recently started training and thought I would be ready by today. Well, I did okay but could have used more training as this really cold weather the past month deterred me from running outdoors when it was 20 degrees plus howling winds.

We received our registration packets this morning at 8 AM and weighed in as we were both eligible for the Clydesdale division. It sounds pretty bad right? For women you just have to weigh over 150 pounds to be eligible. I only remember being less than that when I got married (then again I was exercising an hour a day 5-6 times a week, and only eating Special K twice a day and a lean cuisine for dinner). We thought we might as well try for an opportunity for a prize.

There were over 1800 people at the race that went through the heart of Historic St. Augustine. I ended about what I figured I would, which is not bad considering how my running has tapered off to be non-existent the past few weeks. I wanted to make it under 40 minutes, but ended up about 40 minutes and 15 seconds. The gun time for me was 41 minutes and 2 seconds, but I wasn't at the front, I was at the back when the gun went off. I am happy with my first results and that I only ended up walking 3 minutes total during the race.

The finish line while people were still arriving in the morning

The starting line

This is how they timed us

I thought my dad would be there waiting for me once I finished cheering me on while I crossed the finish line, he wasn't though. Funny how he is what almost 61 years old and he beat me by about 9 minutes, he runs a lot though.

He told me that the whole time he was trying to keep up with the guy that was on CRUTCHES running barefoot in front of him so he didn't have the chance to pay attention to the scenary around him. My dad wasn't able to keep up with him. After the race the barefoot guy on crutches running barefoot won 5th place in his division for his run, he was 79 years old! It makes me feel a little better that he raced the 300 meters in the olympics back in the 60's. Come on, crutches though?

the course layout

I was amazed at how many people ran barefoot or ran with these really weird shoes that I actually saw by chance in a shoe store earlier this week. They are the ones that have a rubber lining for the bottom of the foot and each toe is individually wrapped. I heard some guy say that he runs barefoot normally but wasn't sure if the road would be wet which if it was he wears those shoes so it wouldn't tear up his feet.

We stayed for the awards ceremony which took forever. Won't do that again. It became freezing cold, colder than when we were running as the wind had picked up. My mom and Omar kept calling to see where we were to know how much longer we would be. I told my dad we could go any time. Finally after they announced the male Clydesdale division winners he said we could go. I was like well we might as well wait a minute to hear the female Clydesdale division winner then, but we didn't. My dad cracks me up.

3 mile marker - only .10 of a mile left

I finished!

It was a good experience, now to really start training for my next 5k so I won't walk any of it. Any suggestions?

Look what we found?

My friend Brianna and I went walking on Jacksonville Beach this morning. Look what we found?

Jellyfish

Starfish - it was alive still so we threw it back

January 11, 2011: The Party of a Lifetime

6:30-8:30 PM was Omar's citizenship party. I decided when he first was applying for citizenship back before the 4th of July that we were going to have a "Welcome to America" party for him. After all part of my major was party planning, so we have to celebrate everything I can think of. I bought all the decorations after 4th of July to get stuff 50-75% off (that's the only way we roll around here-discounts and coupons) and have been storing them in our spare bedroom closet. I can say that now we are set for some hot 4th of July parties in the future with our yard signs, flags galore, lanterns, signs, and so on.

We invited people that Omar was friends with: The Schreibers, the Southerlands, the Jagodas. there were 3 families that weren't able to make it, the Hills, the Fosters, and the Clancys.

Omar grilled, we had hot dogs, and then his favorites: spicy sausages, potato salad, chips and cheesy chili dip, my Aunt Nancy's famous sweet potato goodness (everyone dies when they try this stuff). We also had coleslaw my mom makes this amazingly, but Omar doesn't like it, I just thought it is very American. Kelly made this yummy cake that was very patriotic, Wave Your Flag Cheesecake, and the cupcakes.

I had some games prepared but we only ended up really doing one because everyone was having a nice time without the games just eating and talking. There were kids at this party, which is not a typical thing for our parties since we really have nothing for children to do at our house. But we had a red white and blue blanket for the kids to sit on, they ate, they colored patriotic pictures, and thank goodness we actually had a movie for them (this was unplanned, but as a party planner you have to roll with the punches),  American Legends, they loved it. We were going to play a musical chair version game for the kids to get their cupcakes, but ran out of time.

The adults only played one game, see if you can become a citizen by passing the citizenship test. There were 2 prizes for those that got the most right, my mom couldn't participate to win as she knows every answer and it wouldn't be fun (poor mom). The first prize went to Allison Schreiber who got a U.S puzzle and the 2nd prize went to my sister Lindsey who won a U.S. Presidents trivia board game.

Every participant got a confetti popper, lets just say we should have popped them in our house, we STILL have that sparkly confetti everywhere in our yard and the neighbors (oops). Then on to Omar's fireworks to end the night with a bang. This is all he cared about and he had actually snuck outside to do some testers while we played the game in side, he is so child-like! Some of our neighbors came out to watch the show and the neighbor kids did sparklers with us. We pre-warned the neighbors about the fireworks so we wouldn't have anyone made at us, good move on our end. The party was very fun...and there will never be another one like it again.

January 11, 2011: The In-Between

I have a people-pleasing husband. After his ceremony we went to lunch and since it was Omar's day we told him to decide. Of course his first answer was "Golden Corral," his favorite restaurant of all time. So sad I know. That is like the favorite of senior citizens because of the discount and little tiny children possibly, but a grown adult! I have been to Golden Corral more as a married person than in my entire life. There were some complaints and so Omar changed his mind to Jason's Deli. As we approached it, which it is right across from Golden Corral, we asked if he was sure, he changed his mind back to Golden Corral. So we did...yum yum!

After eating we went to Old St. Augustine to walk around. My mom after bringing groups of history teachers all around FL to St. Augustine and having historians come and talk to them knows all these interesting facts and places I didn't even know existed. So we went there and my mom did a little tour. We visited some museum, but found that it was only open Wed-Sat.

We walked around the cemetery that I now want to be buried in, it was SO gorgeous. The only catch was that you have to be catholic, well I can change religions to be buried there, no problem.

We went into a gorgeous tiny little chapel in that cemetery

We went to Flagler College

We went to the Antique Mall that inside what used to the largest swimming pool in the world

Then we went shopping: I got Omar a citizenship gift of 49er's items and rock candy (maybe you are starting to see that I am married to a little child); mom looked for her favorite garden store which we found out has since closed much to her disappointment

We went home to get the party started.

January 11, 2011: A Date to Remember

Tuesday Omar took the oath for citizenship. My Aunt Nancy, mom, dad, and 2 sisters, Lindsey and Kelly came and stayed the night to join us in this once in a lifetime event that most people do not experience. Monday night was spend with cooking for the party the next day, watching football (of course I didn't do that), and playing Settlers of Catan.

Tuesday morning we were out the door by 8:30 AM to make it Florida State College theater for the ceremony. We walked into the large reception hall where a huge line was snaking around. They almost wouldn't let us in because it was so full. Omar got in line and we were pushed to go find a seat upstairs. It was then time to wait. Omar had to be there by 9:15 AM which he was, but obviously he must have been the last to arrive, I didn't know people would arrive so early for this thing. We assumed it must start at 10 AM.

Check out how many people are becoming citizens!

We were not able to see Omar come in and sit down or during the whole ceremony. I was worried that maybe they turned him away and he had been sitting outside the whole time, phoneless. He had to turn in his green card (he has never called it that though, he refers to it as his resident card), and also a piece a paper with questions filled out. A few days prior to the ceremony he asked me to bring it to him. We read the questions and the first one I checked off as yes. It asked have you married. YES, he married. So then it showed he would need to bring his marriage certificate with him. He expressed that he already gave them a copy and I then realized that I didn't understand the instructions well. The instructions were have you done any of these things since your interview a few months ago. OOPS, we checked off the wrong answer. We switched to "no" but the damage was done. I was afraid maybe immigration would say, "sorry, you will have to try again another time since you didn't read the instructions properly."

Nancy, Craig, and Kelly waiting for the ceremony to begin

The Certificates

At 10 AM the ceremony began. Flags were raised, the national anthem was sung, a speech was given regarding how this should be a memorable day and how close it is to Martin Luther King Jr holiday which represents something that this country is all about, freedom. The Social Security office spoke a few times telling us a TON of information of the next steps and papers, and who knows what else we need to do. Finally it came time for the calling of names.

There were 109 names read that day, I was beginning to wonder if Omar really was in there because many rows had past and still no Omar, there was really no one left. To my relief he was #108.

Our very own #108, due to his name they were confused on where to have him sit so they made him last, he missed a lot of the beginning of the ceremony

I was amazed at how many people were becoming citizens and how they all were from Bosnia and the Philippines. There was maybe 10 people from Latin countries, which was a shocker to me. I guess they don't for 1 of 2 reasons: One, they are just like Omar, lazy to get their citizenship, after all Omar could have been a citizen long before we were married and he is now only the 2nd in his family to do the work to become one. His mom and brother have now started the process. Two, they are probably mostly illegal and that is why they aren't able to become citizens.

Omar finally looked proud as he took his certificate and waived his little American flag. He has really not cared much about this whole thing to begin with.

When we walked back out to the reception hall there was a whole other shift of people waiting to do the same thing we did, I wonder how many shifts they do and how often they do them. It is crazy how much of a melting pot our country really is. Omar wished that he had that shift because then his date and time would have been really cool... 1/11/11 at 11 AM.

Omar signed up to vote after he became a citizen, let the Party wars begin!

Erica's 33rd

The Birthday Girl

So Erica Foster turned 33 yesterday and we celebrated by attending her party at her favorite restaurant Roy's. It is a Hawaiian fusion restaurant. It is delicious. We had a nice time seeing some old friends from Big Brothers that I haven't seen since really I left last April, as well as I made some new friends.

I didn't take any of these pics - I have no clue what happened here with the coloring

The gift Omar and I gave her - it might not be what you think, I bet Jeff was dissappointed!

The group at Roys

Erica and her husband Jeff will probably only be stationed here for a few more months since Jeff is in the Coast Guard. Erica is really one of the first friends that I made when I moved here and I will really miss her when she leaves. She is so spunky, outspoken, fun, and sometimes adventurous (when you force her to be). I have celebrated her past 2 birthdays with her, I hope to celebrate many more with her.

Part 2: The Lord's Blessings, The "Hard" Things

Brother Rowland did not end up having surgery. When he was first taken to the hospital a pace maker was put in and it seems that the pace maker is doing well. Brother and Sister Rowland felt that at this time the surgery is not needed to fix the problem with his heart, as it is a very risky procedure. My mom is Lena's (Brother Rowland's daughter) seminary teacher. My mom shared this with me regarding seminary this past week...
"I love that Lena likened it to D & C 82:3 (a scripture mastery) - "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, when ye do not what I say ye have no promise"  She said her dad's patriarchal blessing said he would live a long life if he followed the Lord.  This experience was a witness to that."

I have thought about Michael, Brother Rowland's oldest son, who is on a mission currently in Italy. I find it interesting that "hard" things seem to happen when missionaries are away from him. I am not sure if Michael is aware of what happened, but I think that maybe the Lord allows these things to happen while someone is serving Him and His children full-time so he can bless and help the family. Sometimes those blessings and help are not what we would desire or see as a blessing or help.

I think back to the "hard" things that happened in mine own family while I was serving and there are a few lessons that I learned.
Hard things:

*Help prove the faith of the one serving. To realize that the Lord is in control, and even though the missionary might think it is best to go home and help, that really there is nothing they can do to help and the best help is by being the Lord's hands so he can take care of the family.

*Teach the missionary to decide who is #1 in their life, the Lord or their family. Our goal ultimately is to return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, if we live worthy for our family to be eternal than we will be with them later FOREVER, we need to prove now who we trust so we can accomplish an eternal family. I think of Elder Bednar's (one of the 12 apostles) triangle that he shared before. Even with our own spouse, the Lord is the tip of the triangle and the only way we will get closer in the triangle to our spouse is by getting closer to the Lord. When things happened to my family on the mission I created something to help remind me of this and sent it out on May 1, 2006.

*Allow us to give our will to the Lord. When Christ was on the cross he said, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Luke 22:42)." Christ always did the will of the Father, and we must become like Christ. The only thing we truly have to give is our will.

*Strengthens testimony. Something that hit me on my mission was when Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (one of the 12 apostles) came a few weeks before the end of my mission to speak to us as his best and oldest friend is my mission president. He asked us why serving a mission is so important. His answer was a surprise to me. He told us that it is great that we find souls looking for Christ and we baptize them, but ultimately the importance of a mission is that they, the Prophet and Apostles, truly care about saving our souls - the missionaries!!! I was astounded.

The scripture in D&C 18:15 is true: "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" That one soul is me, He cares about my soul first before I can go help save the souls of others. The whole goal of a mission was to truly convert me. Hard things help that conversion because you have to trust the Lord is in control. If you are not able to trust that then you are not truly converted.

*Sometimes cause us to question, "WHY?", when really we need to question, "What am I to learn from this?" This is still something that I sometimes struggle with the "hard" things that happen to me.

Blessing of Being Where the Lord Expects You to Be

Sometimes I feel I have become lazy when it comes to the Lord. I dread sometimes the things that brought me so much peace and joy before...my church meetings. I could probably give you some good reasons as to why maybe it would be okay for me to have a break and not be where the Lord expects me to be. This week, however, I have had a good reminder of how the Lord blesses those who are doing what he asks and expects.
Jim Rowland, my old Bishop,and my family's current home teacher (who diligently visits every month) for I think now over 10 years is someone that I admire. He is such an example to me of someone who is optimistic, serves others, a great father, and constantly thinks of others.

Well my sister called me the other day and told me that Sunday he passed out at church. Everyone tried to take him home, but he refused and had someone drive him to his Stake High Council meeting. In the meeting he blacked out and actually died for a few minutes. The current stake president began doing CPR on him.

That same Sunday there was another ward member who was a doctor who had surgery on his leg and had been out of church for 2 weeks. He was going to take this Sunday off, but thought he should come. He by random had an oxygen tank in his trunk and they used that to give him while the ambulance arrived. The paramedics had to shock him a few times to get his heart going again. They said that if he hadn't been there and those doctors along with the oxygen hadn't worked on him that he would have not been able to be revived. Basically if he had been at home when it happened he would have died! Heart disease runs in his family and I believe his father died in his early 40's.

Here he had passed out and could have easily said that he should go home and rest, but he was adamant about going to his church meeting. Then there was someone still recovery from an injury and went to church and ended up saving someone's life. Tomorrow he has open heart surgery and we are fasting for him. I have a strong testimony of the power of the fast. I know that everything is in the Lord's hands as to how things will go...but this has been a testament to me of how important it is to be where the Lord expects you to be.

New Year's Resolutions

This year we actually remembered to do my family tradition of eating black-eyed peas. Here was our meal...not too shabby.

So now that we are going to have good luck...here are a few of our New Year's Resolutions...(we tried to be realistic). Each month on Fast Sunday (the first Sunday of the month) we are going to try to make a tradition of checking up on how our resolutions are doing.

Kate: Run a 10K, debt free by August 1st, develop a relationship with the scriptures again, travel out of the country, read at least 5 non-fiction books
Omar: Eating no more than 2 times/week fast food, not spending money from his checking account with exception of bills, give Kate a massage every week, improve personal scripture study, try to look like I did on the mission (I'm not sure how realistic this last one is...have you seen him?) let me show you.


Omar in NY on his mission prior to 9/11 (see the Twin Towers)

 First of all he has hair...I would die for him to have that again!

No New Year's Kiss

Our New Year's have been cursed it seems since we have been married...not once have we kissed when it turned midnight...
*Our first year we were in Utah and Megan Spilsbury (sister-in-law) and I were in a huge crowd watching David Archuleta sing while our lame husbands were upstairs in the VIP area sitting on a sofa
*Our second year we went to a party that ended early and we were so tired that we went to bed
*This year Omar watched the FSU game and then he went to sleep again. (there seems to be a trend)
So one of my New Year's resolutions is that we will be together this time...I think maybe we will have our own party...I'm thinking: games, fondue, and kissing at midnight!