5 miles

This morning I ran 5 miles with my roommate Annie.  

Some of you may be thinking, "Big deal, Shannon. I can run 26.2 miles."  Well that really is great!

But I don't think I've ever gone that far without really stopping (we won't count our little excursion into the park...we stopped for a second for a drink).  

It felt so great!  

And I probably could have gone further, but we made it to the car, so we figured we would stop. :)  

I'm pretty sure the Harry Potter shirt I was wearing gave me the magical energy.  After all, it is the day before Harry's birthday!

Stewart Falls

I've wanted to hike up to Stewart Falls all summer.  It's a great hike...not too hard, not too long, and a beautiful view of the Sundance area.  

I've heard too many stories of girls who go hiking alone and go missing, so I had to wait for someone who would go with me.

And the winner was....CARIE!  She had a couple days off work last week, so she came with me!

There were a lot of people on the trail.  There were a lot of kids from Aspen Grove camps and lots of runners from a BYU cross country camp (including a former student...she is one of my all-time favorites, so it was fun to see her!)

Thanks for coming with me, Carie!  It may have been hot that day, but it was worth it!

Quilts

I've been working on a couple of quilts this summer.  One is for a Stake service project.  I don't have a picture of that one yet.  It's cute but simple...6" blocks in yellow, white, and black.  I think I'll just tie it if I ever get around to putting the border on it.

This one was super quick and easy, but I think it's fun!  I'm hoping to get it quilted with the thread that is multi-colored.

This is one that has been in the works for about 2 years.  

I'll be honest...I love it.

When I went to a FACS Summer Conference 2 years ago, I saw a quilt that looked similar to this.  I loved it and wanted it!  Over the next few months, I collected fabric (some from leftover student projects, my own leftovers, and some that I just bought).  

Last summer, I finally started to cut and piece it.  I made the little pinwheel blocks last year.  Then I put it away and forgot about it.  

I was at my friend Heather's the other day, and her amazing and super organized craft room made me want to quilt!  

So I came home and pulled it out again!  I worked on it most of last Friday and finished it Saturday morning.  I also managed to finish a season of Lost in the process :)

Now I just need to take them in and get them quilted.  Then the binding.

What am I doing with these?  Who knows.  I've got a pretty good idea for the first one.  Most say I should keep the second one for myself.  But I don't plan on having a baby anytime soon.  And I told myself that I need to stop keeping everything I make.  I already have a bunch of baby quilts stashed at home from my 4-H days.  Perhaps if I weren't so lazy and made bigger quilts, it wouldn't be so hard to find a use :)

2000 Flushes

My roommates and I are always up for a good experiment to keep us entertained.  We bought one of those things you put into the back of the toilet that cleans it when it flushes.  It was one of the 2000 Flushes kind, so we thought we'd conduct a little experiment...

Does a 2000 Flushes tablet really last for 2000 flushes?

So here's what we did...

Yup, we made a tally after each flush.  It was always fun to see the reaction of guests when they would use our bathroom.  

We gave up after a little over a month.  I came home from Arizona and saw that the little tablet was pretty much gone and our toilet was getting gross (sorry, but it was).

Our conclusion:  It does NOT last for 2000 flushes.  

Maybe in a public restroom where it is used more than 4-6 times a day.

Sweet Summertime!

 I finally got around to taking pictures off my camera.  I figured if I didn't post them right now, I never would.  Here are a few things I've been up to this summer...

I went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm Country with Katie, Katie, and cutie little Lucas.

I went home to Montana for the 4th.  Brent and Allison were also there for the weekend.  Brent successfully survived the evening of fireworks without starting on fire or having a bottle rocket land in his pocket (that would be my dad's story from several years ago)

Sunset from the little swing chair in our backyard.

Our air conditioning didn't work for a few days. It was not very fun!  These pictures say it was 84 degrees (and you can obviously see that Joleen and I were NOT happy about that), but I do believe it made it up to 87 in our house at one point.  Long story, but it works now...and that's all that matters!

I took off this vent cover thingie (good word usage, right?) the other day, and this is what I saw.  I can just imagine the previous people who lived here wondering where their baby spoons and forks had disappeared.  I'm sure the kids had fun putting it through the mysterious gaps in the wall!

I know I haven't posted in a long time, but I've been soooo busy.  

What have I been doing?

• Watching two seasons of Lost.

• Pretending to quilt.

• Sleeping in every morning.

• Reading books.

Okay, so I haven't really been busy at all.  I have no excuse for why I haven't blogged (other than my internet being out for a week...that was a pretty good excuse in my opinion)

So I've decided to do at least one post a week.  These posts will give you a little fact about Shannon that you may or may not know.  

For example....

I can't fall asleep on my back.

I can try and try, but I will try for 3 hours on my back before I finally give in and roll over to my side.

So there you go.  Don't you feel better that you know that little thing about me?

ShicShoppe Giveaway!

Now I know how much some of you LOVE blog giveaways

(*ahem*...Jackie)

So I want to tell you about my pal Sal's giveaway on her blog

 (Sorry, Sally...I couldn't resist the my pal Sal thing...it's been years since I've said that!)

ShicShoppe makes these stinking cute little girl dresses, onesies, jewelry (for we grown-ups too!) 

And I must mention that her models are pretty cute too!

She's working on getting the word out, so she's having a giveaway!

The winner gets an item of choice from ShicShoppe!

I don't necessarily care if I win (see previous post about how I'm not very competitive), but I want to help get the word out!

Go check out Shic Shoppe!