Fall has finally arrived!

Hello friends and family!
We are happy that cooler weather has arrived in Salt Lake City. The temperatures seem to have settled in the 60's and 70's now and we are seeing (limited) color changes in the trees. The mountains are quite pretty with red trees covering them and there is even a bit of snow at the peaks.
Last weekend Todd and I traveled to Chicago for the Chicago marathon. After many miles of training, I was finally able to toe the line. After planning to race with Kristen Mast, we were unable to find each other among the 40,000 runners before the race. I was so thankful to bump into a high school friend (rival?) who ran for another school in our conference, Sarah Brewer. I was able to keep up with her for the first half of the marathon. It was great to have someone by my side! Thanks to friends from high school and college, and of course Todd, who jumped in to the race with me, I ran only 2 miles without a friend by my side. Despite slowing down in the second half of the race, I ran the time I was hoping to run! Thanks to all my friends and family who cheered me on! 
Unfortunately, Todd had to fly back to Utah a few hours after the marathon concluded. However, I was able to enjoy a week in MI with my family. I was able to catch up with many  MI friends, and even stopped in to see coaches and teammates at Calvin's cross country practice. We celebrated my mom's birthday on Thursday with a nice dinner at the Bostwick Lake Inn, went for a few bike rides, checked out some houses in the Parade of Homes, played games, made puzzles, helped my friend Amanda Haagsma put together favors for her upcoming wedding, went shopping, and relaxed. The past week was exactly what I needed in order to be re-energized for the remainder of this stressful semester. 
Meanwhile, Todd's team had its regional meet on Tuesday. Both teams ran well and there were a lot of personal bests. Unfortunately, the boys came up only 5 points short of making the state meet. However, two boys and one girl will compete at the state meet since they qualified individually. The state meet is this week Wednesday. Todd also had parent-teacher conferences recently. He saw parents of 126 students over the course of 2 nights. It was a busy time, but nice to meet some of the parents.

Making favors with Maxine, Amanda, and Mom for Amanda's wedding

The beautiful fall colors I've been missing!

The beautiful view from the land that my parents bought.

Lake Michigan!

Todd and Jake. Thanks for running the last several miles with me!

Bonnie, Paula, and Holly. I was able to spot my fans by this sign! Thanks for coming to cheer me on!

The Calvin group--runners and cheerers!

Thank-you to the parents (and Uncle Bruce!) who cheered us on!

Todd and I. 

That's all for now! Hopefully by the time I next post, I will have submitted my manuscript for publication! We'll see...

School is underway

Anna and I are both several weeks into the school year. This year I am teaching an extra period and teaching the new common core Math 2 Honors to go with my Precalculus and Precalculus Honors courses. The Precalculus sections are off to a great start but the Math 2 has been more of a challenge because we do not have a textbook. Preparing lessons for it and finding assignments for the students has been time-consuming. We are also over half way into the cross country season. It has been a lot of fun to coach and the boys have a pretty good shot to make the state meet. The girls are not quite as strong but we should have an individual qualifier.

Anna has some very challenging and time-consuming courses herself, and then an easy statistics course. Her internship with the sports teams is going well and the Utah football team picked up a big victory against BYU last night. Her "free time" is spent making progress on her thesis which will hopefully be finished in October. We are three weeks away from her Chicago marathon and she is excited to run it but also excited for a break from the training it requires. It will be fun for us to be back in the Midwest and see some of our friends at the race.

We are becoming bigger Utah sports fans and have attended games of a few different sports. It's fun for Anna to see the athletes she works with perform well. We also attended an Olympus football game the other weekend. My students provide us with a number of entertaining reactions when they see me with Anna.

Over Labor Day weekend we did get a chance to escape our busy routines and take a trip to the Uinta mountain range for some backpacking with our friends Mark and Jenna Moffatt. We hiked to and camped at Long Lake. Mark and I went cliff jumping and we had a great time out in such a beautiful wilderness area. Hopefully we will get another chance to camp before the weather turns too cold as the first signs of fall are approaching.

Bowling with Classmates for a pre-wedding Party for Sara

With friends at the Utah vs. NCU game

Big win! 41-0

The view of long lake from our campsite

Todd and Mark cliff jumping!

Visitors and the Return of School

As usual, life here in SLC is keeping us busy. We are both preparing for our return to school, with Anna looking forward to classes and me wishing I had a longer break. Anna has been busy with the Utah sports teams, especially the football team. She attends a team meal at least once a day and is enjoying working with the athletes. While it keeps her busy, it is not without a few perks, namely good food and a lack of cooking for me. I have been spending most of my days tutoring for the ACT after morning cross country practice. The team is improving and the boys are looking like they could be alright after seeing them at our 2-mile time trial.

We also were lucky enough to have my family out to stay for a week in Park City. We spent some time relaxing at the resort pool and played a round of miniature golf, but most of the time we were exploring the area. A highlight was racing down the Olympic bobsled course at 60+ mph and experiencing 5 G's. We also tried out the zipline and alpine slide and spent some time watching the Olympic aerialists go flying into the pool. We hiked up to Timpanogos Cave which is a National Monument and took a tour. Grant and I played two rounds of golf on some spectacular courses. Playing with 80 year old Dale and Alice was entertaining. It was a great time for us, and we are looking forward to hosting more guests. Come visit.

 Mini Golf

 Olympic Aerialist

 Ready to Bobsled

 View from Olympic Park

 Hiking to the cave

 Mom and Dad

 We made it to the entrance

 Stalactites

 Will eventually become a cave column

 Grant

 Family Picture 1

 Family Picture 2

 Golf

 Walking to the slide

Anna coming down

Sunshine and Summertime

Hello all!
We have been very busy, but still have managed to squeeze in some fun times!
We'll start our update with the 4th of July. We went to the Real Salt Lake Soccer game with 3 other couples and then watched a great fireworks show afterwards at the stadium. Unfortunately the game ended 0-0, but we still had a great time.
The following weekend we went to the Jordanelle Reservoir to swim and soak up some sun with our friends Mark and Jenna. It was nice to have some cool water to swim in since the air temperatures had been 100 and above for several days!
Last weekend we celebrated our 1st anniversary with a weekend getaway to Deer Valley up by Park City. We stayed at the Chateaux at Silver Lake. The hotel had a great restaurant where we enjoyed a 3 course meal. We also got the opportunity to just relax in the hot tub and by the fire pit in the courtyard and spent quality time together. The weather was much cooler up in Park City and we welcomed the break from the heat!
This weekend Todd ran the Draper Days 5K. The race went alright for Todd, but the good news was that one of his athletes was only 1 second behind him. Todd has recently been asked to be the head coach of the Boys and Girls' Cross Country teams this fall. He is really looking forward to this opportunity! After the race, we went up to Park City for Caleb and Amanda's wedding. Their ceremony was beautiful and centered around their relationship with Christ. The mountains make a wonderful backdrop! We played croquet and rode the chair lift up to the top of the mountain after the ceremony. Dinner and dancing were a great opportunity to meet some new people as well as spend some time with our SLC friends.
Despite all of these events, Anna managed to finish up her internship at the VA and received a thumbs up to continue her Focused Area of Study which will be writing a review article for publication on "Hot Topics in Sports Nutrition for the Elite Athlete". She will now start working with the University of Utah athletes along with the campus Sports Dietitian. She completed her longest run ever this morning--16 miles--in preparation for the Chicago Marathon.
We are now looking forward to having the Mitchells come to Park City for a week! We will enjoy a week with family and of course, watching the Olympics :).

RSL Soccer Game for the 4th of July

Celebrating our 1st Anniversary!

Todd with his "appetizer"

View from Deer Valley over Park City

The Resort we stayed at

Caleb & Amanda's wedding

Riding the Chairlift

Caleb & Amanda

With the Strikes, Brian & Jessie

News from the Beehive State

Hello to all our friends and family! We miss you all!
A lot has happened since my last blog post, so here's the latest:
1. We took a trip down to New Mexico to celebrate with Jesi Hale and David Dornbos on their wedding day. The wedding took place at the Hale residence--the landscape was beautiful! Since Jesi is part Navajo, the ceremony reflected many Navajo traditions. We loved it! It was so great to see many friends from Calvin at the wedding. We saw friends from Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, California, Texas, Colorado, and Michigan! We were able to explore a bit the morning of the wedding and visited the Gallup Flea Market and went on a hike that included some impromptu crack climbing. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but it was worth it!
2. I started my clinical rotation at the VA hospital. I've completed 3 of 7 weeks of this rotation and there has been ups and downs. I enjoyed the outpatient portions which included counseling and classes for diabetes, weight management, and heart health as well as home-based visits. While not all of the patients are easy to work with, some are really funny--whether or not they are trying to be. Also, Dr. Oz seems to the #1 competitor with dietitians--most patients would rather believe him that us. It's hard to convince a faithful Dr. Oz viewer that he actually has no formal education in nutrition. For the last week and a half I've been doing inpatient dietetics. Unfortunately this is much more overwhelming. Most of the patients I talk with are really sick and don't want to be bothered with nutrition questions. Although I've had a few who have told me to come back anytime to talk because I remind them of their granddaughter :). A highlight of my inpatient experience happened yesterday--I got to watch PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) line insertion surgery. A PICC line is a long, flexible tube that is inserted into a vein in the upper arm and advanced until the tip reaches Superior Vena Cava (in the chest near the heart). I watched this surgery because total parental nutrition (which is used when an individual's intestines are not functioning) is given through a PICC line. Unfortunately this surgery went terribly wrong. The surgery normally takes 15 minutes, and this one took 1.75 hours! After looking at x-rays it turned out that the PICC line was in an artery going up to the brain (a life threatening error) and it was yanked out immediately. Wow!
3. Our friends in SLC, Caleb and Amanda, are getting married next month! We helped Amanda move her stuff to their new apartment (only 1.5 blocks from her old apartment) a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure we'll help Caleb with his stuff in about a month. Their apartment is only 1.5 blocks from our place. We also went to a couples shower for them--and it was camping themed! All the couples participated in a couples camping tournament. Unfortunately Todd and I could not throw a frisbee straight to save our lives, so we didn't advance past the first round. With a little help, Caleb and Amanda won after throwing bags blindfolded, racing in sleeping bags, and setting up a tent in record time.
4. Todd has set the bar high for all men by taking over all of the cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, and laundry for the summer! It's been so wonderful. I wouldn't say he enjoys it...but he doesn't complain too much. My dad says he is setting a bad example...haha!
5. Todd has two students he is tutoring 1 to 2 times per week. Both students wanted some help with ACT preparation. He is also holding morning practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the XC team. He is excited about a few new athletes who have been showing up that may have some potential. Todd is VERY excited about the new TV we just bought...he's been researching them for over 4 months now. I wasn't that excited until I found out we now have TV land....hooray for I Love Lucy and the Andy Griffith Show!
6. We wish we could have celebrated with our fathers on Father's Day. We are so thankful to have loving, supportive, Christian fathers!
I think that's all for now. Happy Summer!

Hiking around in Gallup, NM

Sawyer showing how its done. This is NOT as easy as it may appear.

Jesi and David

Lauren and Todd playing bags

XC girls reunited!

Caleb and Amanda after winning the Couples Camping Challenge

Todd happily watching sports on our new TV

It's June!

Hello again!
So far June has brought two days around 90 degrees...much warmer than I'd like. But, early next week the temperatures won't reach 70, so it won't be lasting too long!
I've completed my first rotation for my summer internship. 4 weeks of food service management are complete! It was a great learning experience and I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed it. I wasn't terribly excited about either the VA or the food service rotation, but I was proved wrong. I stayed busy with menu planning, safety and accuracy audits, meetings, plate waste studies, in-service for food service workers. and more. On Monday I begin the clinical rotation at the VA, which will be 7 weeks long. 
I just began work on my Non-thesis project on Nutrition for the elite athlete. I will be proposing my project to any interestied faculty on July 20. There is a lot of work to do between now and then! 
Todd just finished up school yesterday. He has signed a contract for next year and will be teaching one additional class. He will also be coaching cross country this fall. There will be practice a couple times a week starting mid-summer. Todd got some nice notes from students to thank him for being a great teacher. He certainly was a favorite teacher of many of the students!
We've both been running faithfully. Todd has decided to get in really good 5K shape once again. He is trying to ease into it slowly to avoid the injuries that he so often gets. My marathon training plan starts Monday so I've been building miles in anticipation of beginning that plan. 
We've been enjoying nice weather this past month. We grilled out a few times; once at a beautiful park near our house. We decided to spend a night at Steiner State Park over Memorial Day weekend. There was a nice reservoir with a great beach, but the water was still very cold. Earlier this week Grandpa and Grandma Mitchell stopped by Salt Lake City on their way to California for the wine festival. We showed them around SLC and then they took us to dinner at a restaurant on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The food was delicious and the view was very nice. It was so great to see family!
We have a big trip coming up next weekend! We are going down to New Mexico for the wedding of David Dornbos and Jesi Hale. We are looking forward to celebrating with them and seeing many of our friends. I can't take any work off, so we'll be spending most of the 2 1/2 days on the road. I'm looking forward to some relaxing time on the road for reading more of the book my Grandma VanWyk wrote. She wrote a book using all of the letters she wrote to family members beginning after her marriage. Reading about her life in New Jersey raising 6 boys and a girl has been so interesting. Thanks for writing this book Grandma!
I think that's all for now! 

Updation

Hello from Todd,

Anna is enjoying her last day off before starting her internship at the VA tomorrow by having me do the blog entry. We bought Anna a bike today from our neighbor so that she has another transportation option for getting to that internship as she has found the bus to be both a blessing and a curse depending on when she gets out of class. I had a great birthday hanging out with Anna and our friends Mark and Jenna. Thank you all for the cards/gifts. My team is getting ready for the region meet Wednesday and Thursday and we are hoping to qualify a few athletes to the state meet. I also got asked to be an assistant coach for cross country this fall as well.

The biggest news to report is of Matt and Holly's visit out this past weekend. We had a great time with them here in SLC and especially down in Zion National Park.We spent two days backpacking and a third day hiking while I played hooky from school Monday (the students were jealous). We saw lizards, frogs, a large salamander, mule deer and wild turkey but the most exciting thing to see was the scenery itself. For our day hike we went up the Narrows, which is essentially a hike straight up the Virgin River with about 70% of the hike in knee to waist water (or deeper). We rented special water boots and neoprene socks to keep our feet warm because the water was about 45 degrees. Everyone else we saw was wearing wet or dry suits but we toughed it out and had a great time. The best parts included hiking up a beautiful side canyon, standing in the wall street section with 2000+ foot cliffs on both sides, and herding some mule deer down the canyon. Anna and I will definitely be heading back because there are some great hikes in Zion that we would still like to do. Thanks for coming out to visit Matt and Holly.

Peace.

View from the top of the mountain that we live on the base of

Holly and Anna

Stopping for a break along the La Verkin Creek Trail in Zion National Park

Dinner at our campsite

Holly and Matt by the Virgin River

Waterfall by the lower emerald pool

Matt and Todd

Holly and Anna wearing their "water boots"

The water was DEEP at times

Anna & Todd

Holly & Matt

Holly & Matt at the Red Butte Gardens at the U of U

Making homemade pizzas