50 by 50

I turn 50 next year so I made a bucket list of 50 things I am going to do/try/accomplish in the coming year. Now, I already have a list of 100 life goals so I tried not to duplicate anything. 1) take an iFly ride (skydiving simulator) 2) do a triathlon 3) visit 5 temples I haven't been to before 4) have a mammogram 5) go on a girl's trip 6) read a classic I haven't read before 7) redecorate my bedroom 8) give up one thing that isn't good for me 9) learn a new skill *10) hike to Lake Blanche 11) have a picnic in the mountains **12) try 4 new restaurants 13) make a new friend 14) have a picnic on a beach 15) go to a drive in movie 16) finish a project 17) write a letter to myself to open in 10 years 18) have a family portrait taken **19) do 50 random acts of kindness *20) give myself a facial 21) get a pedicure 22) handwrite a letter to each of my parents 23) see a glacier 24) make a really great cupcake 25) have a weekend getaway with Kevin 26) ride a floatplane in Alaska 27) go wild raspberry picking 28) have a movie marathon 29) try a new fitness class 30) see the Northern Lights *31) dine al fresco 32) try the Riverton Hospital cafeteria 33) try Top Golf 34) lose 20 pounds 35) play pickleball 36) visit 2 states I've never been to before 37) attend a hot air balloon festival 38) paint the downstairs family room 39) do a 1000 piece puzzle 40) play a game of tennis with Kevin 41) sew myself 2 new skirts *42) attend the NCAA track and field championships 43) attend a few food truck nights 44) host a game night 45) do vacation books 46) write my Grandma Searle's life history 47) attend a new community event *48) go to some yard sales 49) go to the downtown Farmer's Market 50) build a footrest to go with the couch downstairs

More on First Day

McKayla is starting her 2nd year at UVU. She is not technically a sophomore because she earned a lot of college credits while still in high school. On the other hand, she can't even apply for the nursing program until January so she still has at least 3 years of school to go. Maybe that does make her a sophomore. She is still running track/cross-country for UVU and happy to let them pay for her schooling. She has been injured but is slowly working her way back. McKayla loves chicken cordon bleu and chicken poppyseed pasta salad. Her favorite dessert is anything mint. Her favorite candy is Twix tand Tootsie Rolls. Favorite subject is health. Her favorite hobby is sleeping and she would rather run than swim or bike. She'd rather go camping than stay in a hotel. Of Menchie's, Cold Stone, or Jamba Juice, she would pick Cold Stone and she'd pick Cafe Rio over Panda Express though her favorite place to eat is Village Inn and Ivie's Juice Bar. She'd rather watch soccer than football or basketball. Her favorite TV show is White Collar (and she and I love to watch it on Netflix every time we have a spare hour together) . She preferred the movie "Divergent" over "home" or "Meet the Mormons". Her plan is to become a nurse and she thinks she'd like to be in a hospital nursery. Shanley is a senior Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese and her favorite candy is Skittles. Language Arts is her favorite subject. Dance is her favorite hobby and her favorite place to eat is Chik-Fil-A. She would pick Menchie's over Cold Stone or Jamba Juice and Panda Express over Cafe Rio. She'd rather swim than bike or tun and she prefers staying in a hotel over camping. She'd rather watch football than basketball or soccer. Her favorite show is One Tree Hill and she liked the movie "The Longest Ride". She wants to be a nurse. Alec is still serving a church service mission. His favorite food is pepperoni deep dish pizza from Little Caesar's. His favorite dessert is brownies and his favorite candy is Reese's (and has been for at least 17 years). His favorite thing to do is listen to music (his current favorite is the soundtrack from Les Miserables). Alec would rather go to Jamba Juice than Cold Stone or Menchie's and he'd pick Panda Express over Cafe Rio. He prefers watching soccer over football or basketball. He loves to camp but he also loves to stay in a hotel. He prefers swimming over biking or running but he'd prefer bowling over all of those. He gives the best hugs!

First Day of School

I  really need to finish my Maui posts but I am interrupting them (already delayed for Trek, family reunion, and BYU Education Week) to post first day of school photos.

McKayla and Shanley started yesterday.  McKayla is 19 and in her 2nd year at UVU (Utah Valley University).  I didn't get to take her picture until after school since she begins her day with cross-country team practice at 6:30 am (after catching the train at 5:30 am).

Shanley is 17 (for 9 more days) and is a senior at Riverton High. She is only attending school for half days and then has work release and is working more than full-time. She has math, English, seminary, and a PE. She is working full-time as a CNA at Carrington Court and still working a few hours a week for the Howards doing shipping. I didn't get to take her picture until this morning (2nd day) because she overslept the first day and was in way too much of a hurry to allow pictures and then she went straight to the shipping job then straight to her CNA job. She didn't get home until 10:30 and by then she was in scrubs (plus I was asleep) so pics today.

Chandler is a freshman (or actually a 9th grader at Oquirrh Hills Middle School) and is 14. His first day was today. I am excited that he gets to start seminary.

Chandler is 5'4" and weighs 100 pounds. His favorite food is noodles and vegetables with Mr. Yoshida's sauce. His favorite dessert is s'mores dip and favorite candy is Mike and Ike's. He loves math, running, the TV show "Burn Notice". Given the choice of Menchie's, Cold Stone, or Jamba Juice, he picks Cold Stone. He likes Panda Express over Cafe Rio. He'd rather run than swim or bike. Camping is better than a hotel and soccer is better than basketball or football. Out of the movies "Divergent", "Home" or "Meet the Mormons", he'd rather watch "Meet the Mormons". He has no clue what he wants to be when he grows up.

Maui - day one

As usual, since we fly standby, the trip to Maui was not simple. Kevin and the kids were able to take a Delta flight to San Francisco and then a United flight from there to Maui. I have given up my United flight benefits so my parents could have them so I couldn't fly United. Their flights were both delayed. I ended up buying a ZED fare on US Airways so I flew Delta from SLC to Phoenix and then US Airways to Maui. I ended up arriving 2 hours prior to the rest of the family so I had time to get the rental car and go food shopping at Costco. We got to the condo and liked it. It had everything we needed - plenty of towels, boogie boards, snorkel equipment, beach chairs, beach umbrella, cooler, etc. It was almost sundown so we rushed to the beach to watch the sunset. It was beautiful!!!

We spent an hour or so walking the beach and playing in the water. Loved it!

Handcart Days

One week ago McKayla and I ran the Handcart Days races in Bountiful. She ran the half marathon and I ran the 5K. They were really great races for both of us! I had what I like to call my "old lady PR" meaning it was the fastest 5K I've run in years. (I have never been fast but I keep slowing down with age.) McKayla was slower than she would have liked (she ran a 1:44) but was happy with her time considering (a) she has not run hardly at all due to her injury, (b) it was still faster than the only other half marathon she's run 5 years ago, (c) she actually ran pain-free (a first since April) and (d) she was still fast enough to be the 8th overall woman and 1st in her age group. She is awesome like that! The most exciting thing was the pain-free part. I had rubbed her out hard enough to bruise her the night before. I don't know if it was the massage or just that she has finally healed, but it worked! She had tried to run just 6 miles on 2 previous days during the week and was unable to because of pain. Now she seems to have turned a corner. She has run pain-free since the half-marathon. Now she is just working on building back up her mileage and getting back in shape. She did win a belt buckle for her 1st place age division win. Here is the two of us after our races:

Maui bound

We are off today for Maui for a few days of family fun! We've rented a condo in Kihei and plan to mostly play in the water. We have boogie boards and snorkel equipment. The highlight for the kids is that I have them scheduled for surfing lessons.

Discovery Center

This past week I went to the Family Search Discovery Center with McKayla, Michael, Chandler, my parents, Henry and Laurie, Jake, Erica, and Rachel. It was really cool! I learned that there are 670 Marvelles in the United States and 38,524 people with the last name of Lawton. I also got to take pictures of what I would look like if I were Chinese or English or Armenian. McKayla took one as a Samoan and it turned out great! I also learned that 56% of my ancestors come from the U.S., 32% from the United Kingdom, 8% Norway, 4% Ireland, and 1% France. There was info on my birth year and so on. They give you an iPad when you enter and you log in using your LDS account number and then when you logout, the info is emailed to you.