It's the most wonderful time of the year

We haven't updated this page since the start of the fall semester...and now it's the end. 

Here are some of the highlights of the fall:

-We enjoyed our first season of coaching XC together. The Olympus XC team was much bigger than in the past, and the performances improved throughout the season. We are now in the midst of winter training, and have 10-15 athletes faithfully coming. Todd set up a great end-of-the-season banquet in October that most of the athlete's families attended.

-Todd's job is going well, although he has some challenging students. He is getting to know the other teachers better this year. As always, he gets a kick out of using sarcasm and telling stories in class.

-My job is also going well. Things have slowed down now that the football season is over, but now we are in the swing of things with basketball. 

-I was accepted into the Boston Marathon. It was a close call, since they made the cut-off faster than previously due to increased number of runners wanting to participate, but I'm in!

-Bonnie came out to Utah for a quick visit. We enjoyed some hiking around SLC, along with a one night trip down to Canyonlands National Park in southern Utah.

-We traveled in Minnesota for Thanksgiving. Along with Thanksgiving celebration, we took a trip to Iowa for Grandma Kathaleen's 90th birthday and watched Grant's team in the 3rd round of the DIII football playoffs (all in a 4 day weekend!). 

-Now we are very much looking forward to almost 2 weeks in the midwest with our families! Leaving in just 3 days!

Hiking the Red Pine Trail 

The view from the "top"

Carving pumpkins

Whose is whose?

Trip down to Canyonlands with Bonnie

The Olympus XC Team at the Region Meet

And the school year begins...

This year the start of the school year didn't mean going back to school...for the first time in 20 years! I am enjoying my new position as a sports dietetics fellow at the University of Utah. We have moved into a beautiful new facility with an athlete dining hall, unbelievable athletic training room, fueling station (which I manage), football offices and locker room, and more. Moving into a new place at the start of camp for the fall sports was a bit chaotic, but we're feeling settled now. Our fall sports are off to a good start with a win at the first football game, 3 wins for volleyball, and 1-0-2 record for soccer.  Todd and I were able to go to the football game (knowing the right people is helpful!) and I was on the field for post-game recovery beverages.

Todd is enjoying his 3rd year at Olympus High School. He is teaching a new class (secondary math 3), which is a part of the new common core that Utah schools have adopted. He still does not have a textbook, so lesson planning can be challenging. We went to the first home football game at Olympus last Friday, and the home team came through with the win.

The high school cross country season is underway. Todd is once again the head coach and I have been "hired" as a volunteer coach. We have had 4 meets already. The team is looking better than last year already, and it continues to grow. We are looking forward to cooler weather for future races. Most of the races thus far have been in 90+ degree weather. Todd took the team to Park City for a team bonding trip a few weekends ago. They went for a trail run and then spent the afternoon at the Jordanelle Reservoir. Our last race was called the American Fork Grass Relays and involved jumping over haybales in the 10 mile relay race. At the end of each lap was the "gauntlet", which required the runners to jump over 10 consecutive haybales. The team really enjoyed this change of pace.

We enjoyed a visit from Uncle Bruce in July. We went on a couple of hikes and gave a tour of downtown Salt Lake. We browsed the downtown farmer's market on Saturday morning and also visited the Red Butte Gardens. We were thankful for some cooler weather during his visit, which made hiking and walking around town much more enjoyable!

Hiking on Rob's Trail in Park City with Uncle Bruce

Red Butte Gardens in full bloom

View from the cross country course at our first meet. Yes, there were cows on the course.

Back Home

I won't even attempt to tell you about our road trip as it would be impossible. Check out Anna's facebook page for pictures. After 33 days on the road we spent about a week at home before heading to Minnesota to visit my family. Before going we spent some time at our local farmer's market and the movie at the park which was Ice Age. We also celebrated our anniversary together by going out to lunch, watching Despicable Me 2, and eating tomales from the market.

In MN we went out to dinner at Ciao Bella with my family for our anniversary as well. It turned out to be an opportunity to celebrate a new job for Anna as well because she found out she received a fellowship position to continue working with the University of Utah sports teams as a sports dietitian the same day. Now that we are back from MN she will start her position while finishing studying for the RD exam. In MN we also visited the Mall of America, went to Valleyfair, watched the horse races at Canterbury Park, and went to a Twins game where they actually won! We enjoyed spending time with my family and Grant's girlfriend Alison and playing games as well. It was great to be able to spend some time with family.

Now that we are home Anna is working and I am getting ready for the fast approaching school year. Cross country also begins next Monday so that will keep me busy. We are also preparing for Anna's uncle to visit us which will be fun to have company in our new place.

Ready to go!

We are getting excited to leave on our West Coast Trip with Kyle and Kristen Mast in just a few days. Kyle and Kristen arrive in SLC from Florida tomorrow and we'll have a few days to show them around SLC before leaving. 

In other news, Todd is wrapping up his third school year as a teacher. This week is pretty low key, so he hasn't had to much to prepare for. The high school state meet was a few weekends ago. Three Olympus High School athletes finished in the top 8, and one girl broke the 400m school record! He created a cross country summer training plan and posted it to the cross country website he made and quite a few athletes have already begun training! 

I had the opportunity to attend the CPSDA Conference (Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietetics) in St. Louis a couple weeks ago. I was able to meet many sports dietitians from universities around the country. I learned a lot and made many valuable connections. I have been studying to take the RD exam, but the paperwork did not come through on time to take the test before leaving on our trip. I plan to take the exam shortly after returning to Utah. For now, I am going to be working ~10 hours a week for University of Utah Sports Nutrition. It will be the same type of work I did during my internship--only now I will be getting paid :). I can do the work while traveling, so it works out really well! 

I will try to post updates (or at least pictures to Facebook) during our trip to keep ya'll updated on where we are/have been.

A short (but eventful) Spring

Shortly after moving in to the new school, Anna and I moved to a townhome apartment much closer to my school. It is a little over a mile away and I now walk to school most mornings. We are really enjoying the new place, just yesterday we had friends over and grilled on our back patio.We picked up some new furnishings down at Ikea and got a washing machine at a church garage sale.
Anna was able to complete her Master's degree after successfully defending her review paper and graduated last weekend. Her parents were in town and we enjoyed spending time with them. We visited temple square which is very pretty this time of year, toured the Red Butte Gardens, went to the Olympic Park, went for a hike, and spent an evening up in Park City. Anna is now studying for her RD exam. She has also begun looking for jobs and had an interview at Lifetime Fitness but decided it wasn't a job she was interested in pursuing further. There is a possibility she could do some sports work back at the University of Utah after our trip so we are hopeful that may work out.
We have spent some quality time with friends over the last month as well. We took a long weekend with four other couples down to Lake Powell and rented a houseboat. The scenery was great and it was incredibly relaxing. We spent the days cruising around and hiking and then hung out in the evening. The water was cold (55 degrees), but that didn't deter us from using the waterslide. Anna also went to a baby shower for Jenna Moffatt who is due the beginning of July. Anna's program had an end of the year party which was a fun chance to hang out with the people in her program. There was also a Nutrition Department Banquet held at Rodizio Grill, an all you can eat Brazilian Steakhouse where I gained 4.5 pounds :).
We also celebrated my 25th birthday while Anna's parents were in town. We went out to eat in Park City the night before my birthday. The day of we played bean bags, enjoyed great weather, and ate apple pie. We also spent the evening at a track meet where both the Boys and Girls teams qualified in the Medley Relay for state. This past weekend was the region meet and both teams finished fourth and qualified quite a few individuals and another relay for state. It was a big improvement from last year and I am excited for the state meet this weekend. Tomorrow will be 94 degrees, it seems we have missed spring completely. We are starting to look forward to our big summer trip with Kyle and Kristen Mast, school will be done for me before I know it.

The Lake Powell Group

Our boat

Going off the slide 

Some of our many friends who helped us move

Anna and classmates at the Nutrition Banquet

Graduation!

Nutrition Class & Professors

Red Butte Garden

Mom & Dad

Todd's Birthday

Mom & Dad in Temple Square

The flowers were beautiful!

Coach Mitchell

Team Picture at the Region Championships

The Final Stretch

Hello All!
Time has flown by since I last posted. Here's what we've been up to:
1. We took a trip down to Kanab, UT with Jessie and Brian Strike in the middle of February. We escaped colder weather in SLC to enjoy hiking through slot canyons in Southern Utah. We hiked through the longest slot canyon in the world as well as several shorter ones. We also saw horseshoe bend in Arizona which is a hairpin turn in the Colorado River. We stopped in snow-covered Bryce Canyon National Park on our way home. That park is beautiful in every season!
2. Ben VanWyk drove out to SLC for a long (but actually quite short considering the LONG drive) weekend. We had amazing weather that weekend--mid 70's and sunny! I took him on a trail run to experience what Utah mountains are like :). We also joined Todd for a track practice at Olympus High school, hiked in Millcreek Canyon, toured temple square, picnicked in the park, and played lots of board and card games. It was a great weekend!
3. Coaching has been going well for Todd. His athletes keep getting faster and faster--and also more committed. The team has had two outdoor meets so far, only one of which was scored. Both the girls and boys teams finished second out of three schools.
4. I ran a 5k at the end of March. I've been wanting to get some speed back after marathon training, so Todd worked with me to set up a training plan. I really wanted to break 20:00, but ended up running a 20:01. Considering that the roads we were running on were covered in ice (out of the blue snow storm...) and I was sliding around, I guess it wasn't too bad :). I won my age group and was the 7th woman overall.
5. We've been watching A LOT of basketball. All of my brackets are terrible this year, but Todd has one that is doing really well (probably because he has MI winning it all). GO BLUE!
6. We spent Easter with our small group (which is actually quite large) from church. We had a potluck lunch at Liberty Park. It was a beautiful day so we stayed for most of the afternoon playing bean bags, spike ball, soccer, and other yard games.
7. Todd is currently on spring break. We had planned a trip down to Capital Reef National Park, but Todd ended up coming down with the flu. When he returns to school Monday, he will be teaching in the NEW Olympus High School building. His new classroom has a view of Mount Olympus. Currently, he has no desk, computer, smartboard, or projector in his classroom...so he is not sure how teaching will go Monday!
8. I am in the final stretch with school. Yesterday I made a list of all the things that need to get done before graduation. It is quite a list, but nice to finally see an end to the seemingly never-ended to-do list! I took my comprehensive exam for my focused area of study this past week, which is the last step before defending my project (which will happen on April 15). Spring football is in full swing, so I am once again spending a couple nights a week working with "high needs" athletes at training table meals. Since beginning weekly team nutrition talks with the football team and getting the coaching staff to also promote the importance of nutrition, there has been a tremendous change in how the athletes approach eating. I am SO BUSY at meals now since athletes who aren't required to check in with me would like advice or answers to their questions. It's incredibly rewarding to see our hard work pay off! I also lectured in my first college class last month! I gave a 80 minute "intro to sport nutrition" lecture in an undergraduate nutrition class. I was intimidated, but was glad to have (a rather large) group of interested students who were eager to learn.
9. I have my first interview next week! I am interviewing with Lifetime Fitness, a gym/resort in South Jordan, UT. The company is hiring registered dietitians at all of their locations. The dietitian will provide nutrition counseling services to club members and employees, as well as teach weight management classes. My interview is next Tuesday morning.
10. We have been making a lot of plans for our West Coast trip in June/July! Kyle and Kristen have booked their tickets and will be with us in Salt Lake City on the 4th of June and will fly out of Portland on the 30th of June. We have booked hotels in Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Francisco. We have made plans to stay with our college friend Brian Odegaard in Los Angeles, with Todd's aunt and uncle, Kim and David, in near Sacramento, and meet up with Jessie and Brian Strike near Mount Rainer National Park. We've started to look into hikes that we'd like to do in each of the 11 national parks we will be visiting. We can't wait!

Ben and Todd at the end of the Pipeline Trail in Millcreek Canyon

Ben and I

Easter at Liberty Park. Amanda, Hannah & Baby Gillian, and Landon.

Tuna & Todd (almost everyone in our small group has a dog!)

Andrew, Landon, Clint, and Jordan playing Spike ball. 

The girls--Jenna, Heidi, Jessie, Amanda, and I

I have a bunch of pictures from my Internship with University Athletics--I thought I'd share some to give you a glipse into what I've been up to. 

Teaching a Volleyball Cooking Class

Morning nutrition talk with the soccer team

Check out the author! ;)

Helping an athlete with nutrition choices at a training table meal

More training table

Making post-workout nutrition recommendations

Working at the smoothie bar

Nutrition talk with the football team

Lately...

Hi Family & Friends,
Since I'm having a lazy morning at the start of long (5 day!!!) weekend, I thought I would update you all on what's been happening lately.
About a month ago now (over the long weekend in January for Martin Luther King Jr. Day), Todd and I took a trip down to St. George, Utah, which is located in the southwest corner of Utah. We were eager to do some hiking and enjoy some warmer weather. We spent a day in Snow Canyon State Park doing some trail running and hiking. We also drove to Zion National Park (less than one hour away) and hiked to Observation Point, the highest peak in the park. The view was beautiful! Even though we've been to Zion twice now, it seems like there's much more to see. We're excited to hopefully return there this summer and hike Angel's Landing. The temperatures were much warmer in St. George than we've been having in SLC, so we enjoyed the warm sun!

Todd in a slot canyon in Snow Canyon State Park

View from the start of our trail run in Snow Canyon State Park

Heading up to Observation Point in Zion National Park

We made it!

Climbing on rocks in Snow Canyon National Park

St. George also gave us an escape from the inversion--the trapping of highly polluted air in the Salt Lake valley due to temperature gradients. Apparently we've had the nation's worse air quality for much of January. There's been talk that speed limits will be decreased, public transportation made free, and lower industrial activity--but nothing has happened. Below is a picture of what the inversion cloud hanging over the valley looks like most of the time....lovely right?

 

Todd and I have joined a church community group that meets on Wednesday nights. We've been going for about a month now and really enjoy it. Many of our friends also attend this group and we've been able to get to know some other people too. The group consists of about 12 couples. We are currently reading a book called "Imitating Jesus" by Lewie Clark. Our church is currently looking for a new building to meet in. Unfortunately, the school building that we are renting out has informed us that we will no longer be able to rent out the space starting in August. 

Todd is staying busy with school. Last night and tonight are parent/teacher conferences. He saw nearly 60 of his students' parents last night, so he is hoping for less parents tonight! Todd received a nice note from a student a couple days ago with some cookies. The note read said "You're the best math teacher I've ever had. You inspire me!". 

Todd coached at two indoor meets already. Both meets were held in the Olympic Oval, the building that hosted the Olympic speed skating in 2000. Since the track is on the outside of the 400m speed skating track, the track is oversized (about 450m), which makes for fast times! The distance squad is getting stronger and it seems like they are coming together like a team more and more. Todd had the opportunity to attend a Utah track coaches clinic a few weeks ago and learned some valuable information--especially about the events he may be required to coach this spring (such as the jumping events!). 

At the Olympic Oval

Todd coaching a Long Jumper :)

School has been going well for me. Despite taking a lot of credits, this semester has not been overwhelmingly busy! I am taking a class called "eating disorders in special populations" which I am loving! Since eating disorders are common in athletics, I can apply what I've been learning in my internship. I also think that eating disorder counseling would be a career I'd be interested in. I'm also taking Adv. Exercise Physiology II, Micronutrient Metabolism, and Advanced Sport Nutrition. As a part of the additional requirements for a specialization in Sports Dietetics, I am doing exercise testing in the campus health and fitness clinic (PEAK). I've nearly completed the required hours with cholesterol testing, BODPOD testing for body composition, and RMR testing. This clinic primarily serves University employees, but is also available to the SLC community.

I am still thoroughly enjoying my internship in the University of Utah Sports Nutrition Department. We've started some new projects--including doing weekly football nutrition talks and making plans for hydration testing. Talking to the entire football team before afternoon lifts is a bit intimidating! I am also working one-on-one with a couple of football players who need to gain/lose weight. Soccer talks, cooking classes, grocery store tours, and basketball training table still continue.

I signed up for a 5K at the end of March. Todd's been "coaching" me! I've been doing more miles and also more speed work, which has been going really well so far. Last weekend I went for a snowy trail run and spotted a moose! I was only about 2 miles up the mountain from our house--not even in Park City!

We are heading out of town again this weekend (Saturday through Monday) with Jessie and Brain Strike, friends from church. We are going down to Kanab, Utah, which is just 7 miles north of Arizona. It is a short drive from many national parks, the Grand Staircase national monument, and Lake Powell. We haven't made definite plans yet, but are looking to do a lot of hiking. 

Lastly, I'd like to ask everyone to keep Todd's Grandma Mastbergen in their prayers. She had a heart attack last week Friday and had a stroke on Tuesday. I don't know the latest news on how she is doing, but please pray for strength for Grandma, peace for the family, and wisdom for the doctors. Thank You!