NYC MARATHON!

after

before




Two Sundays ago, November 1st, I ran the NYC marathon- my first! I absolutely loved it and would run it again in a heart beat. I ran it with my Dad and it was the coolest experience. It is one of the 5 world marathons and is said to be the biggest in the world. There were 44,000 runners and 2 million spectators, needless to say it was loud and entertaining!

We arrived Wednesday and because we were part of team ING we stayed at the Hilton with all of the other runners- legit runners that is, far from anything we were :). We wandered the city and had fun for a few days, ate lots of carbs, and spent some time at the Met. We had to take it easy to save our legs so we had to take cabs everywhere and limit walking. The city was sooooo busy because not only was the marathon happening, but the Yankees were in the world series and it was the Rock and Rock hall of fame. It would take 45 minutes to get a cab and the streets were flooded with people. But it was fun to see the city like that.

I was giddy the night before the race but finally fell into a semi deep sleep but woke up every hour on the hour. We had to get up at 5 30 to be in the lobby by six to get on the buses and drive out to Staten Island. The bus ride took almost 2 hours but we finally arrived. It was fun talking to everyone on the bus and finding out where they were from. We finally got there and it was madness, runners all over the place! We finally found the ING tent and had out bagels and gatorade and tried to get rid of the butterflies, but that never happened. All of sudden everyone went to their assigned group and we were directed to the start line. the first group went at 9 then 920 then 940 then 1000 we were off! We went over the Verazano Bridge then through old parts of Brooklyn that were so cool and then through queens then the Bronx then Harlem then into Manhatten. It was really hilly, which we didnt expect, but there is so much energy there you cant help but love it. The altitude was a huge help, i didnt get winded ever but my legs felt like rocks after mile 6, it was the weirdest feeling in the world. I was like a little kid the whole time, taking in the scenery, trying no to think of my legs! I was lucky enough not to hit the wall and have a great experience. My dad had a back issue at mile 16 where every step was intense pain but we did it together and he busted it out, so impressive for an old man, just kidding dad! If that would have happened to me, I am not sure I would have finished. We ran every step of the way together until 22 when Trevor jumped in and ran the last part and I went ahead with a nice lady I met haha. Once you get into Central Park you know you are close and the crowds are insane. I saw Columbus circle then i saw the mile 26 banner and I couldn't stop smiling, I really did it! Crossing the finish line was such a relief but the second you stop running you legs get so tight you want to cry. My dad finished right after me and we headed out to find Trev and my mom. All in all, we loved and are so glad we got to do it together. We are going to run the San Diego or Orange County next! We're addicted. my dad is already running again, and me, I havent seen my running shoes since and am loving it temporarily. I'll lace them up soon! Thanks Trev and Mom for putting up with us and for being our biggest fans!

NYC US OPEN- a little late!

times square's new paved street
packed house for the depressing Roddick/Isner Match

best day of tennis we have EVER seen
me and Rafa :)
We love the US Open!!

I know this is super late but I am so bad about uploading pictures! This is from the US Open in September. We had so much fun and saw the best tennis yet! We had tickets for friday and sunday but on Friday found out that the Saturday matches were Fed Roddick and Maria so we quickly bought tickets on stub hub before they sold out and then decided we would scalp our sunday tickets. We have never really seen scalpers but on Saturday it was INSANE, people were flooding the boardwalk trying to get tickets. The open just gets more and more popular and more and more crowded! We love new york and can't wait to go back next year. Thanks again pops!

Trials

So, some of you may know that I am currently training for the NYC marathon that i will run in 3 weeks, holy cow. I decided to run it about a year ago with my dad and we have been training since. I was never a runner, I was a tennis player, enough said. It is quite amazing how actually training for something really does work wonders. I used to dread running 3 miles and now feel so lucky when I only have to run 15, so weird. I am kind of obsessed with running now but recently my knee started to hurt. Then it started to hurt worse. Then I went to the doctor and was told I have tendonitis in my left knee, oh joy. So I wanted to scream, then cry, then go run. The doctor said I wasn't fitted properly for shoes, thank you Boulder Running Company (NEVER GO THERE). So i ice it, i take baths, but it still kind of hurts. Im so close, yet so far away. I decided I wanted to have my old shoe back that I can't find anywhere so I called around and ended up talking to a really nice new yorker who told me to take it easy and let my knee heel and just maintain myself for the next 3 weeks. I was on such a high all day and felt so relieved until today I woke up and my knee hurt again. I have never been so discouraged. It probably doesnt help that I am on my feet all day and never give my knee a break but regardless of the pain, I will run this marathon. I read today that when you start to taper your whole body kind of freaks out and doesnt know what to do because it has become so dependent on running. So that helped me not cry tonight. I am trying to stay positive and for now am just seeing this as a nice little obstacle that hopefully goes away. Maybe I'm just extremely physically drained. Maybe I am going crazy from the running who knows. But if my knee doesnt get better, I will need to be checked into an institution because I WILL go crazy. But I guess if running a marathon didnt kind of suck, everyone would do it, right?

Mom's 50th Birthday Surprise!!

So.... my mom is going to be 50 in January and because of her there is now a tradition that every time a sister turns 50 they get surprised with a trip, Terri went to San Francisco and we surprised my mom with Seattle. We decided to do it early because January is a blah time of year and we could totally catch her off guard this early :). So for months we have been planning this and it finally came to surprise her. Terri, my mom's older sister, made a suprise card and sent it to me and then i was going to strategically place it in her mailbox two days before. I gave it to Trevor to take to the office and get the mail key from my dad but they all of a sudden i get a phone call from my mom saying she is so excited and freaking out. My dad, who wasnt going on the trip, decided he wanted to give it to her so he just handed it to her haha. so she was thrilled and started packing and trying on all her outfits.

We left early, she picked me up at 5 am and we headed to the airport. We got in 40 minutes early which was 2 hours before the rest of the group so we hopped on the bus and made our way into the city just to find out they had been able to get us adjoining rooms and we could check in right then, beautiful! the hotel was great, it was on the water front, and so beautiful. We explored the city, ate great food, and couldnt keep ourselves away from the market. We went everyday, got flowers, bread, cheese, fish, and fruit. It was amazing. We went to Bainbridge island, which i fell in love with. It was the most gorgeous place I have EVER seen. you would think you are in a forest of pine trees but houses are nestled in the trees on the lake, i want to live there someday. We had perfect weather which just added to the trip. We all loved Seattle and had so much that we decided anytime any girl in the family hits a decade, we are going on a trip :) Happy Early Birthday Mom, I love you!!!





bainbridge, the cutest island ever.
the five of us on the harbor tour
pikes market, our favorite place of the trip
me and my bestest cousin
the guy at the market that said my mom was hot



cool/totally gross gum wall

My Dad Rocks!

So, for the past 5 years of my life I have gone to the US Open over Labor Day weekend. I live for it. We decided to go one year, fell in love, and the rest is history. Then my brother came home from his mission, we dragged him along, and now he is an Andy fan for life. I get excited all year long to go. This year we decided, we would just be moving home, we were going to Lake Powell, and life would just be too crazy to go. Every time commercials came on, we all sighed, wondering how we would survive. Trevor even said the other day, "it feels so wrong to not be going, its a part of us." Ditto. So I recently got hired at Nordstrom, which I am very excited about. My family was planning on going up to the mountains for the weekend and I was sure I wouldn't be able to go because of work because they were short staffed and needed someone to start ASAP. I was talking to my dad on facebook, how weird, and he asked if I could start after Labor Day because it would be fun to all six be together before little Elizabeth joins us all. I was so stressed because I was sure there was no way and I would have to start next week and my manager would already think I was a slacker. I told my dad I didn't believe him and there had to be something more to it. He just told me to ask for it off. I was even more stressed. I was like DAD JUST TELL ME, YOU ARE STRESSING ME OUT. and he said well thats your decision to be stressed. He then tells me to go to bed and call him in the morning and he will explain. I automatically say "Dad are we going to the US open?" and he says "No way, this last minute? you're out of your mind". It was worth a shot right? Then he calls and asks for my mom and she says "wow that sounds like fun". I finally got so mad and told my mom to tell me what the heck was going on. She didnt budge. Then my dad calls and finally has to tell me whats going on and says "if you can get work off we are going to the US Open" I freaked out and called my manager right away to give her some sob story about how I needed to go on this vacation but before I could dig my own grave she says "training will start the 14th"! I run inside and yell DAD BOOK THE TICKETS. he then says I have to stay home and watch maddie while the other 5 go because it took me so long to figure it out. Funny! We are all sooooo excited and I can't wait to go. My dad is so thoughtful and i am so lucky to have him as a dad!! THANKS DAD!!

Graduation Day

So last Friday, which seems like forever ago, Trev and I graduated. Oh, what a glorious day. Both of our parents came out to help us pack and clean before we headed out the next morning. Needless to say we graduated, ate, and then packed and cleaned for the rest of the day. Our parents helped so much, what a blessing. Graduation was bitter sweet. I was so excited to get out of Provo but I was kind of sad to leave BYU. I actually did enjoy BYU and have lots of memories there. That stage of my life is over, and I'm onto real life, which is definitely an adjustment but one i am more than willing to make. I will post pictures of our new place soon, once it is fully intact. I am really glad I walked at Graduation and was able to experience that. It was so amazing to see how proud my parents were and I wouldn't have missed that for the world!

Disaster Zone

Packing is the devil, I hate it. My house is complete chaos and I cant function in the insanity. I should be reading 150 pages of text for my final tomorrow but I can't get motivated. Probably because I haven't had Diet Coke today and I took a coma this afternoon. It is so weird that I'm moving. Coming to Provo was the HARDEST transition of my life. Needless to say I cried all day, every day, and had severe anxiety attacks. Now, for another transition. Packing up my little apartment it hit me that I'm leaving our first place. The beginning of our lives together was here and so many memories. As much as this place drove me crazy, I will look back and probably long for the simplicity of life I enjoyed while living here. I hated, more like loathed Provo from day one. I never let myself like it.

Now, as I'm leaving, I am finally realized the quality of life I lived here. Everything is in walking distance, I didnt have a grown up job, and most of my friends were just a hop, skip, and a jump away. I'm excited for our new adventure but nervous as well. I have never wanted to be a part of the real world and now that I have a mortgage, need to find a full time job, and can't milk my parents for anymore, I am longing for Freshman year, well not really. I hated Freshman year. Hate is too strong of a word, if not for Nicole being my roommate, I may have gone off the deep end! But I finally get to go back to Colorado and start a life there. Trevor is a business man now and I just want to decorate my house with an unlimited budget (I wish). Hopefully I can get my dream job at the Ritz Carlton (I just had my 3rd interview!) and Trevor and I can explore the world (and it's golf courses) together! I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. I didnt realize how lucky I was to see Trevor all day, we do everything together. Now, we will be apart all day and he already told me I can't be the annoying wife that calls all day :)


p.s. andy roddick lost again today, and I am extremely upset.

HOME SWEET HOME

This last week, Trev and I made the 8 hour trek home to buy our new house! About an hour away from home, I saw lighting that wouldn't stop. Trevor then told me it was an electrical storm which entertained us for 45 minutes, literally it didnt stop for almost an hour. I commented "It's weird its not raining with all of this lightning." I spoke too soon. We had just gotten off the freeway and were on our way to Trevor's house when it instantly downpoured with pea sized hail. Never in my life have I been so terrified. Cars were stopped everywhere and I was yelling "dont hurt my new car" while trevor was yelling "DEFROST, DEFROST" as he was running red lights through major intersections to find cover. My hands were over my face and eyes. Neither of us could see a thing, total white out. We finally got to cover at a gas station and had to wait it out. Let's just say the tornando sirens went off in Littleton. But we finally got home, with no hail damage.

I thought going home would be so fun and relaxing but little did I know it was going to be so exhausting. We furniture shopped for 4 strait days, 9 am to 9 pm. I never want to see another couch, kitchen table, or bedroom set. the first day it was fun, oh yay we are getting a new house, and the second day I wanted to level every furniture sales person because all furniture means is me spending money! You would think I was deciding whether or not to send America to war, when really I was just deciding what couch i wanted. My mom and trevor wanted to kill me and then my brother politely said, "isn't it just a couch?" Wednesday we celebrated Trev's birthday, the big 24! we had a big barbaque and he got all of his presents. Thursday we headed to my parents house. Friday we had a very cool experience. My dad is a corportae sponsor for Zuma Rescue Ranch, which is a ranch in Sedalia that pairs battered horses with foster children to help both of them heal. My dad was on TV and then that night we all went to a charity event they were having. It was at a huge stable on 350 acres with beautiful views. The writer of Dances with Wolves was there and we got to meet him and have him sign our books. He was an amazing guy. It was an awesome experience. We then went to Big Bills pizza, yummmmmm. I'm craving it right now. Saturday I shopped all day and found nothing i wanted, so sad. But just being at park meadows mall made my day. we went to Benihanas on saturday to celebrate me and trevor and my brothers birthdays. I'm still full! We went to our new ward on sunday and loved it! we have such a nice bishop.

It is so weird to think I won't be in provo anymore. It was such a hard transition into college, who knows what it will be like to be in the real world. I wont miss Provo, but i will miss our friends and how close and easy everything is. We are by far the youngest people in our ward, but I think it will be fun. I'm up for the challenge and can't wait to start a new chapter in our life!!

Mourning

If not for my calling at church that I am unable to be absent from, I would have been up at 7 watching Wimbledon. Instead I had to DVR it, and watch it at 11. My phone rang at 8 from my brother and I ignored the call knowing that the second i picked up the phone he would tell me what was going on before i could say anything, i was correct. i called him back and he yells "and you had given up on andy" I told him I would in fact KILL him if he ruined it for me. my family gets joy out of runing things like that. SO church was sooooo long but I got home and flipped on the TV to find out that trevor already knew what had happened and he too wanted to ruin it for me.

Andy wins the first 7-5, oh my goodness my heart is beating way too fast. 2nd set tie breaker. Andy has 4 set points, he doesnt convert. Fed wins the second. I suddenly want to injure Federer and let him live happily ever after with his 14 other titles. He's not the best, he is just selfish. Another tie break in the third. Andy are you trying to kill me. Side note: in High School I was so obsessed with Andy Roddick that I would cry, yes cry and leave the house when he lost. Fed takes the third. i don't lose hope, Andy wants this too bad. A break in the fouth, he can do it. He does. two sets all, and no tie break in the fifth, this is going to be good. 12 all in the fifth, this has to be some sort of record. Is Andy really running Fed like this. No one can break serve. 14 all. Fed serves, love game. Andy serves, he is down 0-30 then its 30-30 then deuce then add roddick then add federer. andy shanks the ball. Fed jumps up and down, I scream in disgust. My heart aches for Andy Roddick, he deserved it. the look on his face broke my heart, I have never seen someone work harder for something to lose it so fast. He made the comeback of his life this year, and I hope he wins another major, and i hope its Wimbledon, the tennis world owes it to him. you should all google the speaches from after the match. Pete Sampras was there, who shared the 14 record with Federer before the match. Andy gets up and says "Sorry Pete, I tried to hold him off for ya" then Federer annoyingly says, "Andy I know what it feels like, i lost last year". no you dont fed, shutup. andy replies, "but you had 5 before that" case and point. Federer is getting old and yes his is good but no i dont enjoy watching him all the time. I predict andy wins the open. we love you Andy!

SCRABBLE

So Sunday night I convinced Trev to play scrabble with me, his least favorite game. We decided we didn't have time to play Monopoly and we didnt want to end the night on a bad note, which always happens when we play that particular game. So I found our scrabble board to be quite hilarious. Before I explain, I must let you know that last time we played trevor quit because i got a tripple word score with quiz which was worth 40 points. He claimed quiz was an abbreviation for quizical. So this game started with wool, by me, and then Jill by Trevor.
Me: "We aren't doing names"
Trev: "Then go ahead and challenge it"
I dont challenge.
next comes Omar.
Me: "Omar are you kidding me?"
Trev: "It's a word, challenge if you want."
I dont challenge.
Next comes Mig
Me: "thats a joke, I will not give you that one."
Trev: "Then callenge it."
I callenge. Mig is a word.
Needless to say I still won, well I think I did, the score sheet conveniently was wripped up before we had time to count. Trev let me use IRS and a few other questionable words, but I wouldn't give him Bendy, so he went with Bends. All in all it was fun, and I have come to find that you can tell a lot about a person by their scrabble board.

WIMBLEDON

June 22 marked the start of a fabulous two weeks in the Tripp household. Needless to say Trevor and I woke up and instead of heading straight for the mini wheats, we went straight for the remote to watch Wimbledon.

Sadly the first thing we saw was that Serena Williams was winning. It seems as though they mistakenly put her in the women's draw this year instead of the men's. Lucky for Andy. Roger won, thank heavens. Trevor claims that we are "Fed Nation" and he will win his 15th Major a week from Sunday, we can only hope.

It is funny how Golf and Tennis consume our television time. I used to despise golf and feel as though watching paint dry would be more entertaining but recently it entertains me and i take wonderful naps while watching it on Sundays. We are just lucky that the time changes isnt like it is in Australia and Trevor can actually sleep during the night as opposed to being glued to the TV.

I will keep you posted throughout the next two weeks on the emotional ups and downs we are about to experience. Hopefully next year we will be at Wimbledon- if that is what we decide we want our graduation present to be :)

Daddy-Daughter Tripp :)

Last week, my dad treated me to a daddy daughter trip to Cozumel for a weekend of Scuba Diving. It was so much fun! Trev stayed home and worked extra shifts so i could go have fun, thanks trev! We have 10 dives in 3 days, we were busy people! but will still had plenty of time to lay out and explore cozumel. a couple nights we just drove around the town to explore, it was fun, until we hit a moto dude that cut us off- no damage and no mexican police got involved so that was good. clay and his dad came too so clay used his spanish to get us out of the situtation. we had a great guide, erick, who is a local, and was amazing. we did such cool dives, and my favorite was devil's throat- 110 feet through caves. i about had an anurism before i went under but i did it and was so thrilled. the time flew but it was such a fun trip and i had so much fun with my dad! thanks dad!












the crew on the boat



erick took us here, it was so good, we went twice
me and erick, i was tired
our last dive of the trip
gotta love daddy daughter trips!

MOM'S DAY!

So, this past weekend my mom came to visit me and trevor(he worked the whole time) but still got some new sperry's out of it. i am kind of sad to move back to Colorado because that means no more visits from my mom where she spoils me. the first night we went to this amazing pizza place that was a little too out there for trevor but it is at the top of my list. thursday we went to the mall and then to CPK for lunch because trevor was distraught we forced him to go elsewhere the night before. we watched bride wars and went fabric shopping for hours. friday was a perfect day. we woke up went golfing with trevor and his friend mitch, went to cafe rio, trevor headed work, and we went to the spa. there is this amazing aesthetics school by us that has their own salon and it is soooo cheap. saturday we spent the whole day out shopping at home stores and at the Rack and then had her mother's day dinner at the cheesecake factory on my dad :). we took her to the airport today to rent a car and head up to see her sisters. it was so much fun to have her here and i was so glad i got to spend mothers day with her. i made her berry french toast this morning. she is the most amazing woman i know and it takes a saint to put up with me. no matter what outrageously rude things i said or how unhelpful i was in highschool she did SO much for me. i realize more now that i am older just how lucky i was to have her as a mom and she is my hero.

since trevor never looks at slash reads this blog i will talk about his mom for him. kenna is an awesome mother-in-law. she sends us grocery store gift cards that make our lives so much easier and always sends cute cards for every holiday. for valentines day i got new kitchen canisters and for easter new clothes from the gap, could a girl ask for more!? trevor is her only boy and her golden child and i am so glad so let me take over raising him haha. i can see a lot of his mom in him and she definately raised him well. i never thought my husband would have opinions about home decor but thanks to kenna he knows exactly where the furniture should go and if our house didn't look good he would let me know. 

we are so lucky to have great moms that do so much for us and we cant wait to move back to colorado and see them more often and to pawn our children off on them :)

p.s. my mom bought children clothes for her unborn grandchild whom she doesnt know the sex of- i love you!!

we love you!!!!

San Francisco!!

This past weekend we finished Winter semester and headed to San Francisco for the weekend. We counted it as our one year anniversary, just a month early. We had so much fun and are sad to be back in Utah. We got there and headed strait to the our hotel in Union Square that was awesome. We then shopped around- went crazy at the Gap-they were having a killer sale- and then went to china town and ate at Pantarei, which is my favorite italian restaurant ever! We spent the next two days do all the touristy things- the wharf, the bridge, the park, the ferry, etc. We always took afternoon naps and had killer desserts every night, especially at Ghiradelli Square. It was so much fun to get away for a few days and now we are back at school and back to our normal, crazy lives, for another 3 months!

the trolley was my favorite part!

saturday morning we walked the boardwalk

the golden gate bridge- amazing

the bug show at the academy of sciences

china town!!

EASTER!

So, this is the first Easter I have ever been away from my family so I was excited to start new traditions for Trevor and I. Last night I made a huge batch of sugar cookies and decorated all of them. Making sugar cookies is my new favorite thing to do and I have a new theme each month and give them to the people I visit teach. We went to bed early- midnight, which is an hour earlier than most schoolnights. We had a good hashbrown and egg casserole thing for breakfast that was kind of a disaster cuz it took an hour longer to cook than usual and we didnt even have time to eat it before church. After church we watched the masters and wanted tiger to win so badly but he didn't pull through for us. We also decided next year we are going to go to the masters. I have found if it involves golf, Trevor is willing to go. I made a ham for the first time, twice baked potatoes, got croissants from a French bakery, and had fruit and vegetables with an apple crisp for dessert. I was so happy that it all turned out. Tausha and Katie and Kyle and their friend Ken came over. We then played catch phrase and stopped playing because Trevor is the biggest cheater on earth. I have decided that I really like Easter and can't wait to have easter egg hunts when i have kids in 5 years haha. But it was really fun and getting Trevor an easter basket was so fun! But i never realized how expensive easter dinner is- definately going to look forward to having it at mom's next year :)

Spring Breakin' in AZ

so for Skippy's spring break the Tripp family headed down to AZ to stay at an awesome hotel. Trev, Tausha, and I met the rest of the family there and got there really early on Friday morning and spent the day basking in the sun, it was amazing to be in warm weather again. We had forgotten what it was like after living in dreary utah. We went to In n out and the mall that night and got all of our easter presents- gotta love Kenna :). The next day Taush and I ran 12 miles and had a lot of fun. We couldn't walk for the rest of the day but it cancelled out everything we ate that day, so it was definitely worth it. We then got to go to the NCAA sweet sixteen UConn against Mizzou game. It was so awesome. It was at the Cardinal's new stadium. Trev and Winston got to sit courtside while me and the girls sat club level (darn :). It was so much fun and was an awesome game. We spent the rest of the time at the pool and saw Knowing (the weirdest movie ever!!) We also got to see Jack and Kerry and Karli and Desmond. It was so much fun to see them. Trev went golfing monday while i sat in the sun and got a sun rash that was brutal. We were so sad to leave but so grateful for all Winston and Kenna did for us! Coming back to the cold was brutal!

Trev going down the slide at the hotel
Us with Tausha and Skippy
Last day at the pool
Trev and I at the NCAA game

the lazy river at the hotel

VEGAS!

trev at the M&M store, the racing car!

the 16 flavors of coke- so much fun

at the Bellagio's new flower display!

at the game where byu lost

This weekend we went to Vegas for the Mountain West Conference Championships. Trevor, being the huge BYU fan can't live without going. We drove down Thursday morning and got there right before the first game then got some In N Out, went to the Rack, and watched a movie and went to bed. we didn't stay on the strip but we got VIP treatment by the Leavitts (Trev's mission companion Dixon's family). They live 15 minutes outside the strip in a gorgeous house and they take us in as their own. Friday we went to the pool all day, got fried, got some baja fresh and were back to watching basketball. we got awesome seats thanks to wade. Then we went to Luv It, a frozen custard place in probably the worst part of the strip, but holy cow it was AMAZING. Trevor is still craving it. Saturday, Trevor played TPC with Dixon and Wade, I saw my friend Whitney and went shopping. Then we went to Geisha's (it's like Benihana's) and then to the strip for some fun. We tried the 16 coke flavors from around the world, avoid the beverly, we all almost threw up! We woke up this morning and headed out. It was the greatest weekend ever and the Leavitts are WAY too good to us. We can't wait for next year!

Pajama-Rama

so....I am in an event planning class at BYU and I am loving it. We are planning an event for March 5th at the kids on the move building in orem. It is going to be an event centered around healthy sleeping habits since it is sleep awareness week!  there are going to be health snacks, crafts, story telling, and a presentation by the chief nutritionist for Doterra, a company specializing in essential oils that help you sleep. I'm super excited and it should be really fun! It's from 6:30-8:30 on March 5th! If anyone wants to come it is free of charge and will be lots of fun!!!