The weakest link—Tour de Kill Me

By Steve Sokol and Kristin (in italics)

So, the Tour de Cure was on Saturday. This was my first significant bike event. I proposed that Kristin and one of my best friends, Jason Brock ride as well. Originally, we were planning to ride 100 miles. But poor weather hampered training—so we mutually decided that the 65 mile course would be more appropriate. Besides, Kristin and I were planning 100 miles in two weeks in the MS ride and Jason had the Spudman triathlon in a few weeks and he didn’t want to risk injury.

I was never aware that I had been signed up to ride 100 mile on this race. I was only doing this race to get the gear, and of course to stamp out Diabetes once and for all. Once I told Steve I wouldn’t ride that far, I was told it was 60 miles, once we arrived I learned that it was actually 65.

I’ve looked forward to this ride for months. Last year, Kristin rode 75 miles in the MS ride and had a fantastic experience. It sounded fun to have a long, leisurely ride through the countryside without having to hurry back for childcare. It reminded me of my mission when I used to ride all over the Czech countryside on our days off—I mean P-days.

Kristin as also excited to ride because we got a lot of great gear from my employer, SelectHealth. Jason was also excited because he did a half marathon and had several Olympic-length triathlons upcoming—so this would be yet another athletic accomplishment to add to his growing list.

Thanks to all my generous friends and my brother’s generous office workers, we got racing jerseys, long sleeved racing jerseys, a windbreaker and fabulous padded pants. What a score!

Unfortunately, the weather was looking very poor. Wednesday through Friday were all really cold and rainy. The forecast for Saturday was for major thunderstorms. So, we weren’t sure if we’d get to ride at all.

We should have looked at the weather and called off the ride. Next time. Next time.

On Friday night, we dropped our kids with their Aunt Erica and Uncle Jason for a pajama party. They were excited. Thank you for watching our kids for 24 hours. And sorry Sunny threw up in Alayna’s piggy bank (take that life savings!). The weather forecast also changed and it looked like there MIGHT be a break in the weather from around 7 AM to noon on Saturday. Perfect for the race. Still not a sure thing—but we planned to be there anyway.

We put together our provisions on Friday night and loaded the biked on the car. Kristin’s bike had a flat—which I was nearly able to fix myself. We took the almost repaired bike down to Josh Selleneit’s for inspection. He re-repaired the wheel and we were ready to go.


On Saturday morning, we arrived in Brigham City about 10 minutes later than we planned because the weather on the drive was extremely poor. Very windy with lots of rain. But as we approached Brigham City, the sky cleared up and it was almost sunny. We arrived in town just in time to see the first group of 100 mile riders leave. These were intrepid riders with rain-specific gear. As we got out of the car, the wind started blowing hard but there were no clouds so we prepared to ride.

I’m not sure why he thinks the sky cleared up at we pulled into Brigham City. Just as we arrived the tallest of trees we nearly bent over touching the ground from the high winds. As we exited our car into the local environment, I nearly froze solid. So not cool in the middle of June. We were each wearing five shirts, and were still freezing. It was also unpleasantly windy, but like idiots we forged on.

Let’s be honest, although we went up prepared to ride, I didn’t think we really would. Kristin and I brought books and we thought it was likely we’d sit in the car and wait for a brief break in the storm. There was a 25 mile course and we thought maybe we’d ride that during a brief break in the weather. But instead, conditions appeared good and we got ready to ride in our planned 65-mile course.

Conditions did not appear good, just barely barely do-able, and when I say do-able I mean try-able. So we tried it, again like idiots.

We left right away and Jason got us riding in a pace line. Kristin led first, but Jason quickly took over the lead. I found my place in the back—the easiest position. I knew Jason was a better rider than we were but I didn’t realize how much better until then.

That man is a machine.

We got to the first rest stop after 14 miles. This was the fastest 14 miles I had ever ridden. Drafting really does make a big difference. At the rest stop, we picked up another rider. Kristin’s friend Rachel from her triathlon class was at the stop. She had gotten a flat tire early in the race and her team had left her. She had ridden 100 miles one week previously and with the poor weather seemed glad to ride with us. It was nice to have two expert riders in our group.

We continued on and the ride was pretty pleasant. Nice countryside. Not too much wind. I kept up pretty good and didn’t hurt until about 21 miles in. But I was still moving pretty good and we got the second stop at 28 miles in.

It was nice except for the feeling of impending doom which I felt the entire race always imagining the worst case scenario which played out in reality pretty accurately.


At the second stop we ran into our neighbor Josh—the one who had fixed our tire the night before. He was doing the 100 mile loop and looked like a European tour rider.

We stopped here for less than five minutes. Just enough time for me to scarf down a fig bar and a rice crispy treat and use the honey bucket.



Our group started again quickly because we were trying to outrun the rain. The weather was deteriorating fast and we were about as far away from the finish as possible. There was some support on this ride but there was no way they could take everyone in so we really had no choice but to keep going. Around mile 35 there was a steep uphill. Rachel and Kristin rode right up. Jason stayed back to encourage me. I did make it up. I had to use my lowest gear and I was pretty slow but I made it. I never could have done this before my sinus surgery. Thank you Dr. Finlayson. Josh passed me on the way up—I can’t believe how fast he was going. I had to remark to Jason that I thought it was cool that my wife is tougher than I am.

This was the largest hill I have ever climbed, but thanks to Miley Cyrus’s The Climb, I made it singing the whole way. I felt really proud of myself for about a half second. After getting to the top I felt the wind that was blowing up on the ridge. It sort of ruined the thrill.


I got to the top, the wind REALLY started picking up. We were riding right into it now. From this point, Kristin started following Rachel and Jason started letting me draft pretty much exclusively. He really saved me. I just can’t give enough thanks to him for pulling me along and breaking most of the wind for me. Jason you’re my hero—I hope to be like you when I grow up.

This was the strongest wind I have ever been in during my lifetime. It pretty nearly blew me on my bike clean over dozens of times. They only way I could stay upright was to swerve into the wind which also happen to be into the traffic roadway.

I also realized at this point that cycling skill is often inversely related to equipment cost. My bike was without a doubt the most expensive in our group and yet I was by far the slowest. Equipment matters—but it really is all about training.

After 45 miles, Jason wisely recommended that we take a shortcut back. He and I had discussed this the day before and with the worsening weather we decided to get back as soon as possible. Our total mileage turned out to be 58 miles this way (instead of 65) so that was good. There were some downsides though. We didn’t see any other cyclists, which is less fun and less motivating. We also missed the three main rest stops. Most of all, we were off the support route. This was concerning, especially to Kristin as the wind picked up and up.

I knew we needed to get back asap, so I was down with taking the short cut, but it was terrifying to be out on the high prairie with no one around and no one out looking for you if something bad were to happen. I kept looking up at the clouds thinking one of them might reach down and swallow me up.




Jason really helped all of us—especially me. He would get ahead of me and then circle back to bring me along. The wind was expected to be 15 mph gusting to 30. We guesstimated that we were riding into 40 mph gusts. It turns out, that the gusts were actually 55 mph! This was a very severe, damaging storm and I’m not making it up, some of the damage near our route is on this video. Funnel clouds were spotted in the area.

We finally got to the outskirts of civilization and saw the enormous Wal-Mart hub with all the trucks pulling in and out. I saw it and thought we’d pass it by nearly immediately. After I first spotted it, I bet it took us nearly 30 minutes to actually get to it. Then once we were there it took us 10 minutes to ride across the front of it. The wind was so fierce we couldn’t ride much more than 8 or 10 mph. Also now we had huge trucks passing constantly nearly blowing us over. Terrifying.

We approached a bridge that went over the freeway and back to the park where we started. Again, I had to use my lowest gear to get to the top. Once I got there, I had to stay in the lowest gear even back down the large hill. It was so windy, I could only go 4 mph down the hill.

I knew the finish line was just around the corner and just over this bridge. Imagine my disappointment when I couldn’t see the park anywhere in sight. I swear they picked up the park and moved the whole thing about a mile farther down the road after we began the race.

The park, which I remember being just over the bridge was much further than I remembered (I guess it seems further alone into 55 mph wind going 4 mph at the end of the ride than it does in a 20 mph paceline). The other three finished before me. I got in and we all just left. There was a lunch but we just wanted to get out of the wind.

After we finished I sobbed for about 20 minutes. My face burned, my eyes were stinging and I was hammered. I was beyond words. There was a line for food. A long line. REALLY? I am supposed to wait in a line for food? NO THANKS. What kind of race makes people wait in a crazy long line for food? Diabetes really does suck.


I really did feel good about what we accomplished. And I did enjoy parts of the ride. All in all, it was pretty horrible and painful but we aren’t putting our bikes up for sale yet.

My bike is for sale. It’s red and very small. Has only been sprayed by one skunk.

I really am very proud of our fundraising and I hope we were able to make a difference in the fight against diabetes. Kristin and I raised $1200. Thank you Mindy Shipley, Emilee Eyre, Brandon Tucker, Sinika Swalberg, Tammy Wardle, Darla Wardle, Robert Wardle, Ryan Wardle, and Scott Wardle. And thank you Scott Wardle and all your coworkers at Merrick Bank for your unbelievable generosity. Jason also raised about $1000, mainly from coworkers at Zions Bank. Thank you all for your support and for making this painful day possible.

Post Script:

I needed a shower to feel better, I knew that would be the only thing that would relieve my deep pain, regret and sorrow for being so stupid as to take on a race when I knew conditions would make it un-ridable. Steve told me he would do anything to make me feel better so I told him I wanted to change my clothes and take a shower. The high winds and light rain made us unbelievably dirty and gross. I wanted Steve to take me to a motel to see if they would let us into a room for a shower, but then I saw a truck stop. (You know from my earlier post I like everything related to trucking and have always wanted to go into a Trucker Lounge I knew this was my chance. They sold us a shower for $10.00 and that included the towels and everything.)

As we were leaving Brigham City, we found a truck stop. Kristin wanted to check and see if they had showers. We both like truck stops and truckers but we neither of us had ever used a truck stop shower before. They did have showers for $10. Seriously, what a bargain. Kristin said that a truck stop shower would make her feel all better and that it would salvage this day. So, we wheeled our bikes into the trucker lounge (can’t leave them unlocked on the trunk rack) and enjoyed a wonderful hot shower. Everything was fine again.





And, if that was not enough indulgence, we stopped by Box Elder County’s most important attraction, Maddox. If you haven’t been there it is worth the drive. This place sells real food. They grow the beef out in the backyard. It’s amazing under any circumstance but as starved as we were it was extra good. The rolls are worth a visit themselves and I’ve never enjoyed a seafood cocktail as much in my life. Kristin had fried chicken and I had a sirloin steak. I also had four rolls and some cornbread—I think I deserved it.

So, the next day, Kristin was fine except for some decreased hand strength. She says she has about 50% strength in her hands. Me, I’m better than I expected. Still tired and quite sore. My right and left legs are sore in different places, which tells me that I wasn’t riding very evenly. Oh well I did finish (sort of).

Tiny toes take a bow

Well all our hard work paid off last night at Alyssa’s dance recital. I have basically lived my life to this point to make this happen. If anyone is guilty of living vicariously through their children, it’s me. I must say…TOTALLY worth it. She loved the whole experience, but as any helicopter parent would, I enjoyed it even more than she did.

She has been going to Ballet/Tap class once a week since August 2009. We had a Christmas recital which ended up being sort of an over-crowded nightmare. This one was at the Sandy Amphitheater, a perfect venue for a dance recital. She felt like such a star on the big stage.

Our preparation for the recital began the night before when we began the transformation into baby beauty queen. She has very long straight hair which doesn’t take kindly to curls. So separated her hair into three sections and made three “ballerina hairs” (buns). We left them in all night and all day until we got to the recital venue.

We had a non-dress rehearsal that morning at the venue where they practiced getting on and off the stage and performed one of their dances. Then it was off to Costco to get flowers. Several weeks ago she informed me that after her recital she would get and arm full of flowers. I decided to make that happen. She and Sunny even got to pick out the flowers.

We took them home and wrapped them up thanks to some good diagrams my florist-sister-in-law Jacquelynn provided me with over e-mail. We also wrapped some bouquets for her three cousins who were also dancing in this recital. I thought they all deserved an arm full of flowers (that’s why I’m the favorite Auntie).

Before we left our house I covered her already beautiful face with make-up which was so much fun for her (and me). After she got her blush, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, lipstick, liquid eyeliner and mascara, she looked at herself in the mirror and said… “Wow my eyes look just like yours mom!”

We then headed over to pick up Daddy at the train station in Sandy. We ate a quick bite at Chick-da-lay where we also changed her into her costume and hustled over to the venue.

Once we arrived I took her into the bathroom and freshened up her make-up and took her buns out to reveal the curls. And the curls didn’t disappoint! They were amazing. I must admit that with a face full of make-up and big-texas hair, she looked a little more like Jonbenet Ramsey than I care to admit.
She was stunning though, and I’m not just saying that because I am her mom.

We found her cousins and snapped a cute picture. How much fun is this?
Especially if you grew up with five brothers and never had access to this kind of stuff.

Then we showed Alyssa to her class section and she sat with them.


We found our seats next to Rick and Laura and new grandma (Steve’s mom). Regular grandma (my mom) was sick and couldn’t be there. Bummer.

They announced the show was about to begin and asked the mom’s of little girls to remember to come and change the girls shoes between the two numbers they would be performing in. Then it hit me that I never put Alyssa in her ballet slippers at all. I ran down to see if someone else did, but she was already gone backstage. Her shoe bag was still there and I glanced inside to see her slippers still there. So I grabbed them and found my way back stage just in the nick of time to get them on her before she danced. She just about danced in her sneakers.

Then her class took the stage.
Their dance was so stinking cute. You could have just cried about it. I did.
She looked a little shell shocked at first when she saw the crowd, but once she spotted her teacher in the front middle, she followed her prompts and danced away. Not always with the right moves, but who cares.
They were all so cute. Grr..I just loved it.

Then we waited through 20 or so other numbers which were all fun to see especially the ones with my nieces in. My little neice Hailey ended up being a real super star. She joined her class just a few months ago, and she lead her class in the dance. She knew all the moves and executed them expertly.

Then it was time for Alyssa’s second number. I was up front for the first one taking pictures, but stayed back to watch the second number and I’m glad I did. It was so cute. Steve and I just beamed as brightly as any parents could beam watching my life’s work dance away. So much parental pride, I have never felt anything like it.

At the end all the dancers when back on stage for one final bow.


I got these shots of Alyssa and Alayna right after it ended.
They were both so beautiful and so proud of themselves.


I found all the cousins and presented them their arm full of flowers and gathered them together for a picture with thier teacher Miss Tiffany.

Her teacher gave each girl a candy necklace. Alyssa was in heaven.


What a fun memory.
I’ll always remember this night. I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal to me, but it is.

Mother Trucker

So last Friday morning my friend Jen called me and asked me if I was ready for my dreams to come true. I was like…Yeah!

Jen’s Dad, Daniel Grover, is a truck driver and had spent the night at her house (which is near mine) with his truck. She knew I have always wanted to ride in a tractor-trailer since I was a little girl, but have never had the opportunity to do so. She made it happen for me.

First he showed me around the truck and explained somethings I have always wondered about when it comes to trucks.
He also told me a little about his business. DB and Daughters(he has no sons).

I climbed in the cab and couldn’t believe what a difference 5 or 6 feet makes in your perspective while you drive.
You can see so much more up there. Everything looks totally different.

For the next 40 or so minutes, I rode around on surface streets, highway and the interstate. I learned a lot about what truckers do what they haul and what kind of lifestyle the lead while they work.


Daniel said the best thing about being a driver is the view outside his window. Growing up on a farm he got used to seeing all kinds of things while he worked. Trucking also allows him to see different things while he works.

Here are my feet on the dash.
Booyah!

He told me that if I ever got in trouble on the side of the road that I should wave down a trucker.
He said they are generally happy to help cars, so keep that in mind friends.

It was very interesting, and it was just as cool as I thought it would be.
Tractor-trailer ride…Check.

About a month ago we came home from night at Butterfield park playing T-Ball. I came in the house to put things away with Sunny in tow. Alyssa lagged behind a little, but soon came running in screaming, “Mom mom, come and see…You’re never going to believe this!!!”

I ran outside immediately to see what the excitement was about and there it was. The most unbelievable double rainbow I have ever seen. It was so distinct and beautiful. We looked at it and ran next door to tell the neighbors about it. They also loved it.

We went in the back yard and we seriously saw the end of the rainbow a mile or so away. In 31 years I don’t think I have ever seen the end of a rainbow. I almost expected to see a pot of gold at the end of it, but no.

Picutres just can't do it justice.

Ever since then, Sunny has asked every single person she has come in contact with if the saw it. She says in her most mechanical voice… “Did you see that beautiful double rainbow?” She says it so clearly and distinctly. It’s just hard to believe a little baby can spit out a sentence like that. She also asked me first thing in the morning if I say the double rainbow every day since then.

I guess it really made an impression on her. She has always loved rainbows. I guess this was a living dream for her.

We had a sensationally successful passport launch last Saturday, but you already know that, because you were there.

I think everyone I have ever known came. I was truly overwhelmed. I had no idea that many people would actually show up. True I invited everyone I knew, but to have them actually show up was amazing.

I had a few aunts and uncles who drove for over an hour to be there. Not to mention my WW leaders, peeps from the paper, and old college roomies, and neighbors you guys all rock.
You are all Brett Michaels in my mind. I was sincerely touched by the effort so many of you made to be there and I know there were more who wanted to come and couldn’t make it.

Special thanks to Seagull Book--South Jordan for hosting the event and giving 20 percent off.
When all was said and done we sold close to 150 passports. There were 300 in the store and I was hoping to sell them all, but I think that may have been an unrealistic expectation because the registers for two solid hour were constantly ringing.

Also a big kiss to Robert, Darla and Gabriela who worked with Orson Gygi to bring our white chocolate temples. They were a big hit. Huge. They were a fun thing to have.

We signed so many copies of the passport that my hand ached afterward.
I found these supercool metallic sharpie markers and they worked very well.

Curtis and Kelly were more than gracious to put up with all the attention and sign all the passports. Thanks guys, I know that hundreds of people wanting your signature is not exactly your cup of tea. You both did great.

At one point we had all of team Temple Passport in the store, meaning Steve and Kelly along with Misty and Megan who providing a lot of insight and both an expertise in English they did a lot of editing for us.

I am so grateful so many people were willing to help me bring this idea into a reality.


Also special thanks to Charlie Sokol who bought more than a few to give to his pharmacy patients. Due to HIPPA he can’t reveal who they are, but I do know this much. He works at the Salt Lake Clinic and sees people whom we watch over a two-day conference each April and October. He reported to me last night that he has already placed one copy with a prominent wife of one of the 12. Exciting. Thanks Charlie.

All in all, I couldn’t have been more pleased. Thank you everyone for making us feel supported and loved. Also thanks for buying passports. Tell your friends.

If you were unable to attend the launch party feel free to browse on Deseretbook.com, you can view it and purchase it there, or visit your neighborhood Seagull Book or Deseret Book retail stores. If they don’t have it, ask for it and it’s likely they’ll start carrying it when they see the demand. These things are hot!

Did you laugh when I got sprayed by a skunk?

Hey everyone, remember that time I got sprayed by a skunk? If you missed it, click here. Well anyway...in an act of desperation I am asking to cash in on those laughs.

Steve's donors have finally stepped up in a big way. He is now ahead of me in the fund raising game for our bike races. He is only $30 dollars away from his goal and I am $40 away from hitting my goal.

I ask all of you who enjoyed reading and re-reading my unfortunate encounter with a skunk to consider a small donation to my bike race. All I really need is $10 from 4 people, or $20 from 2 people.

I have no doubt that Steve will have earned all his money by the end of today. Please help. It's super quick and easy to donate. Make it happen by clicking here!

Thank you to everyone who has already supported me, and thanks to those who are even considering it.

A how-to guide on getting glass shards out of a two-year-old’s hair

So I am in RS conducting the meeting when they nursery teachers bring in my Sunny Bunny. Obviously there was some trouble. I assumed it was a dirty diaper or a runny nose or worst-case…barf. But I was wrong. Barf was not worst case.

Worst case is actually when the window in the nursery room randomly falls out of the frame and breaks over the top of the nursery leaders head and showers the nursery kids with glass and your sweet sweet daughter is covered with thousands of tiny glass shards.

I had no idea what to do. It looked like someone had thrown a hand-full of rock salt in her hair. I started by taking her outside and carefully sliding her piggies and bows out of her hair, turning her upside down and gently shaking her. It was somewhat effective, but still left her head sparkling in the sunlight with all the microscopic glass pieces in her hair.

Another mom was outside with me picking glass out of her son’s hair and she mentioned she was thinking of taking him home and vacuuming his head. Then I noted there were vacuums inside and we both went in to vacuum our kid’s heads.
It was much more effective than the shaking we had done before. Sunny was a real trooper and didn’t cry much. She just kept looking at me and saying…“ I must be clean huh mom?”

After three vacuum sessions the only glass left were the microscopic pieces that were stuck to her scalp from natural oils and sweat. I was so freaked out about how I was going to get those out without giving her 10,000 tiny glass sliver cuts that I started to cry.

They also told me some of the kids had glass inside their clothes, so I removed them right there in the hall. Stripped her buck naked. Poor girl.

Steve found me at this point and we took her home and called the ER to see if they had any recommendations. They told us to ever so gently shampoo her hair and comb it out while it was soapy. So we laid her on the kitchen counter hanging her head over the sink and started shampooing and combing. She screamed through the whole thing saying again…“I must be clean momma!”

We blew her hair dry and took her back outside to see if the sunlight would still reflect glass pieces in her hair. It didn’t.

And that my friends is how to get glass shards out of your child’s hair. Shake, vacuum, shampoo.

The Utah Temple Passport--Wherever fine LDS products are sold

If you’re wondering what I have been doing for the last year….here it is.

This is the Utah Temple Passport—Tour Guide. I believe I have blogged about it once or twice, but in case you don’t know about it, I’ll tell you.

About a year ago during a casual conversation Steve mentioned how his little sister Hayley who was endowed that day would likely be filling her Temple Passport pretty fast because she married an awesome straight-arrow guy. After he said the words I recalled an idea that I’d had years ago, and poof, there it was. It all came to me in one thought, and I knew I had to find a way make this idea a reality.

My hope was to create a classic and fun memento that Latter-day Saints could use to create lasting memories involving their Temple Visits. I have a USA Sticker Passport I used in college to log and remember all the road trips that I have taken through different states with my friends. I think it was intended for kids but I love it and still have and still treasure this sticker passport dearly. I love to flip through it and reminisce about my trips.

A week or so after Steve’s comment about his sister which triggered my thought, I paid a visit to my friend Curtis who among other things is an extremely talented graphic artist. I explained to him my thoughts and asked him if he wanted to help me. We decided to be equal partners on this project. He and his beautiful wife were just as enthusiastic as Steve and I so we shook on it and began our journey together.

I gave him some descriptions of what it looked like in my head and he took my imagery and produced some incredible designs almost immediately. His designs were exactly what I had wanted, only better.

Curtis presented me with some Temple seals after just a few days. They were so professional, polished and perfect. It was then that I realized that we really had something, and that we would be successful.

My part was to collect data and information about each Temple and write a 150 word bio of interesting and little known facts about each temple. Steve was my inner voice through this process providing valuable insight, direction and praise (which I need to feed my ego).

Together Steve and I researched Temples using various resources including the Church News, The Church Almanac, and a few other books we found written about temples. We also visited BYU professor of religion Richard O. Cowan, who teaches the Temples religion classes. He was a very valuable resource that gave us many ideas of places we could look to gather information.

During the writing process we learned SO much about our temples. I was struck by the blood sweat and tears involved in the construction of these temples. I wept while sitting at my kitchen table as I read about the sacrifices that so many early saints made for construction of these temples. One man who lived in Brigham City walked up and over the mountain to work on the Logan temple every day for more than a decade. We think that attending the temple monthly is an amazing feat. Their dedication in building temples was simply incredible.

For months we researched, wrote, edited and re-wrote these little temple facts descriptions. Once we got to a place where we were satisfied, I e-mailed them to the biggest word nerd I know, my BFF growing up Misty. She edited them and gave me her insight about changes to make and how to improve them. In addition Kelly’s sister Meegan who has a degree in English edited the content and provided valuable insight and edits.

I am extremely proud of the textual content. I think it is interesting, intriguing, and educational. My hope is that everyone who uses the passport will feel the same way.

Writing and compiling the text was a long and at times tedious process, but all the while Curtis was working on the seals and layouts and they looked so good. His designs kept me motivated to keep going.

Once we had all the content, seals and the layouts, Curtis had our first prototype printed up. It looked amazing! Once we had the hard copy, we noticed right away some things to change and we began the revision process which went lightning fast compared to the compilation process.

When all was said and done we had a beautiful beautiful beautiful Temple Passport that looked exactly like the one that popped into my head originally, only better and more refined.

We showed our prototype to a former Vice President of Deseret Book who lives in my parents ward. He was very generous to offer his thought and insight to us. His words when he saw the passport were… “It’s cute, I don’t see any reasons why this couldn’t be published.”

He gave us some really important advice about the what to expect from the publishing industry and how to be successful in getting our book published avoiding contract pitfalls that many first-time authors fall into.

I contacted Cedar Fort Publishing first by phone to see if I could find out how best to submit my work and see if they were interested at all in it. I spoke to Jennifer Fielding their acquisitions editor. She was helpful and realistic. She told me that many people have the same ideas and the good ones usually have already been published. My stomach sunk when she told me that.

I told her about my idea right then, I had to know if they had already seen a million temple passports. She responded very eagerly by saying she had never seen or heard anything like that before and that she was very eager to see it. I personally dropped the passport off at their office in Springville just days after that conversation.

Steve drove me down and took this picture of me walking it in to their office.

Then started the waiting game. Jennifer Fielding told me It would probably only take a week or two for them to make a decision about the passport because it was so small and quick to read through. Three or four weeks then passed. We started to get very nervous. I finally got an e-mail saying they were interested and wanted to pursue a contract.

We were ecstatic! We were assigned to work with another editor at that point. At that point communications with Cedar Fort to be very slow and quite frustrating. I was very irritated with this editor, but…you know…you can’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Because things were moving so slow with Cedar Fort, we ended up submitting the passport to Deseret Book for consideration.
They passed. What were you thinking DB? This thing is going to be HUGE!

Anyway…to make a long story short…that editor we were working with got fired and we resumed working with my original contact Jennifer Fielding, who is wonderful. We sorted out our contract details and signed! It was a very exciting day!

Here is Curtis and I signing the contract together.

It took many months of our publishing experts working with vendors in China to actually manufacture the booklet. We hit several snags including Chinese New Year which apparently shuts down all the factories in China for an entire month. Really. Then, shipping the passports out of the China we hit more snags. Chinese customs refused to allow the passports to ship because they were concerned they would be used for missionary work in China.

Cedar Fort has someone named Jane on their staff who is from China. She called customs to explain what they were and that they were all coming to the US and they were all paid for, but she was unsuccessful at getting them out of Chinese limbo. In a clever thought, Jane called the mission home in Hong Kong who either paid a visit to or called Chinese customs and was able convince them to ship the books.

So here we are on the day they arrived. What a day.

Here is Jennifer, Jane and me celebrating their arrival.

Here I am leaving with 20 copies of the Passport. (I'm a dork for taking these pictures, I know.)

I arranged to have a release party at Seagull Book convincing the manager there that I could fill the store with people willing to buy the book at a time when otherwise the store would be empty. I was very happy when she along with their corporate offices agreed to host the party.

So in case you haven’t already heard, we are celebrating the release of our work at Seagull Book at The District in South Jordan on Saturday May 22 from 4 to 6p.m. You are cordially invited to attend. I am hoping to sell all three hundred copies they ordered for the release. There will be cookies.

This process has been a joy to be a part of. I have worked hard and learned a lot. About Curtis, I must say he is an artistic genius. The passport looks amazing because of him. I appreciate his time, talent and patience especially since he hasn’t gotten a dime for all his hard work. Kelly has been a wonderful resource in all this too offering her insight and opinion has improved the look and feel of the passport. Both her and Steve were an integral part of bringing the passport to life. Saying thank you for all their hard work is just not enough, but I’ll say it anyway.

THANK YOU

I hope to see all of you at the open house!

If you are unable to attend you can purchase your own Utah Temple Passport Here

Take That Neighborhood Pirates! I'm on to you!

Well you sucked two and a half hours of my life away (and by my life I mean Steve’s) but you can’t hold this girl down.

Thanks to you whomever you are (and it’s one of my neighbors who lives EXTREMELY close to me) QWEST shut my internet off for most the day because someone stole my wireless network to download copy written materials specifically, a movie called Cirque de Freak, Harry and the Half Blood Prince and Bruce Willis’ Surrogates. I had to wait for Tech Support (Steve) to get home to get this repaired. That means I had no idea how any you were progressing with Farmville or what any of you were making for dinner via facebook for nearly SIX HOURS. I don’t have a smart phone. I depend on my computer!

And getting it repaired was no easy task. First it was a 47:52 minute phone call to QWEST who told us why they shut it off and to talk them into turning it back on. Then it was another 40:35 to T-Moble/Lynksys to get the unsecured network (for our internet home phone) secured to ensure that this neighborhood pirate pilfers another ship in the neighborhood.

Let me tell you. It is pretty darn amazing that India can turn my internet on and off. I mean really…stop and think about that. “Tom” from India was speaking to me (Steve) and controlling my computer all the way from India. Wow.

I actually saw steam come out of Steve’s ears he was so frustrated trying to understand commands given in English by someone who spoke it so very poorly. He actually had to go out on the deck and have a cigarette during the phone call (do I need to say just kidding there? You all know we don’t smoke right? That was sarcasm).

Anyway. Two hours later. We have the internet and two secured wireless networks. So walk the plank pirate whomever you are, and don’t be surprised when I come knocking on your door to confront you about it…and you know I will. Either get your own provider or just get freaking Netflix. I mean really its nine dollars a month…and you can access all that crap I know you love. Isn’t it embarrassing that I know what you download? Yes…it is, QWEST e-mailed me your list of downloads. Cirque de Freak? Come on. Really?!?

Kristin vs Steve what we'd do for $$

Steve and I, as always, were watching Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice the other night. Even though the Donald is utterly ridiculous and the celebrities are so messed up, we really, really enjoy watching it. Most of the episodes boil down to which celebrity team can raise the most money in a single event for charity.

So during last night’s episode Steve challenged me to a fundraising event. Right away my hands and feet went numb, but we both need to raise at least $400 so we can both participate in the Diabetes Tour de Cure and the Bike MS 100 mile race this June. Combined each of us will ride at least 160 miles.

I accepted his challenge and now the race is on between me and Steve to see who can reach their fundraising goal first. With your help and the help of this blog and facebook, I think I can win this as long as some of you don’t go AWOL on me and put your money in Steve’s pot. Steve has his own friends.

Donating is super fast and easy…all you need to do is click this link for MS and this link for Diabetes and have a credit card handy (pick your disease). It takes just seconds. Or if you prefer, you can hand me cash or a check.

To donate online—or to see who is winning, click through the following links:

Kristin MS

Steve MS

Kristin Diabetes

Steve Diabetes

I'll just say it. I need your money. $5, $10, $25 or $50 would all be so helpful. I am willing to work for it too.

Here is what I am willing to do for your money…for a donation of…

$5--I will show you a magic trick. (You should know I took first place in not one, but two Stake Talent Competitions with my award winning magic tricks.

$10—Will get you a piece of jewelry (preferably a ring) cleaned with my jewelry cleaner. It’s very effective. Your ring will look brand new.

$25-- Will get your toenails painted.

$35 Will get your toenails painted and I will a create a cute little flower design for your big toes.

$50 Will get you a full pedicure, including flower, in my home using my jetted foot bath.

To donate click here.

Why MS and Diabetes?
MS: The reason I am riding for MS is because I really do hope to see a cure for this disease in my lifetime. I paid my way through college by working as a home health aide. I visited people in their homes and helped them with their daily shower. For someone suffering from symptoms MS a shower is a big painful deal. It is an unpredictable devastating disease that can strike anyone between usually between the ages of 20 and 50. If I can do anything to help what is currently an incurable disease I feel like I should.

Diabetes: I knew nothing about Juvenile Diabetes until my nephew was diagnosed at age five. Since then I have watched my brother and sister-in-law make tremendous strides to not only keep my nephew’s diabetes under control, but to help others in the school system to understand and be proactive about keeping diabetic kids safe and healthy while they are at school.

It is my hope to also see a cure for Juvenile Diabetes in my lifetime.

----------------
Steve’s equal opportunity message:
I don’t make as many friends as Kristin, but I think mine are more charitable and more generous. Everyone who donates MS or Diabetes through my pages will get a facebook shout out telling everyone what a great person you are. Everyone who donates $25 can get their 2010 taxes prepared. For $50 you can have a free financial analysis of your mortgage, debts, investments, retirement plan. I’ve read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and I think I could tell you what he’d say. I’m also willing to do resume updates for donations. Willing to negotiate. All items listed obo.

Again,

Steve MS

Steve Diabetes

Kristin MS

Kristin Diabetes

Check out my national food critic debut!

Check out my national debut as a food critic here.

Whoomp there it is!

Well folks...After a year long struggle to lose a measly five pounds, it finally happened! I lost it, and I'm not talking about my sanity. I lost the one measly pound that kept me from getting a new star sticker for my bookmark.


My new weight loss total (since April 2006) is 55.8 pounds less of me taking up space in the universe. You are all welcome. I’m just trying to do my part in world overcrowding.

This was a real struggle especially over the last month when I really started to care a lot more. Now the trick is to hold this one steady.

This is not the end of the journey...but I'm close. I have just about 10 to go. I am hoping to get there before I am 40.

Next time you see me, go ahead and pat me on the back.

Happy Easter, whatever

I normally don't aire my grievances on my blog, but someone tried to call me out about featuring my life as a fairytale on my blog. Which it definitely is not, although I do have some regular fairytale moments (and I don't mean to sound ungrateful for them by saying life is not a fairytale).

Here's the thing. I said I would lose my one pound, you know...under pressure. Well my Thursday night weigh-in came, and I was prepared. I had done the work, I'm not a slacker. I for sure know how to lose one measly pound by now. But...to my disappointment I actually gained 2.2 pounds instead of losing the one I had intended. I occasionally have gains. It happens pretty regularly, but I was not expecting this one and it got into my head a little this weekend.

I went on a weight-cation for Friday and Saturday. A super response to remedy the problem, and yes I do know better. Chocolate marshmellow bunnies are good.

Today we went to Steve's parents for dinner and a 1/3 mile race around their block, a bi-annual family tradition between sessions of general conference. I knew with all the athletic training I have been doing that I could beat them all or at least be competitive. Wrong again.

Steve's Dad and my sister-in-law both beat me by more than a minute. I was so out of breath after and coughing and had a little bit of an asthma attack. Nice.

Never mind that I seriously bust my butt most days of the week doing a combination of swim,bike, and running. There's more for me to feel sorry for about that race, but I'll end there since that is plenty of embarrassment for one day.

Having a week like this makes me I wonder why I put so much effort into self improvement.

So anyway...I'll try to think of something positive to say tomorrow to replace this sorry entry, but happy Easter everyone. I hope yours was better than mine. I hope you ate fewer treats than me.