still walking...

i know it's not the best thing, but i've been pretty pleased that i've been continuing walking even through the inclement weather. the last couple of days i've gone the weather actually hasn't been bad at all - one day i even got fairly warm. last night, however, it started snowing quite a bit. i was wondering if i was going to have the guts to go walking this morning. amazingly enough, i did. i got up just after 7 and got all dressed to go. i debated on going on one of my
shorter routes, but decided that i would wait and see how it actually was. i was surprised when i realized that i had passed both turn-offs before i knew it - i think i was working so hard at not falling. i ended up getting about 1000 more steps than i usually do on this same route because my steps were so small to ward off falling.

this is a picture i took with my phone to show in what conditions i was walking. thankfully it wasn't snowing, but it seemed like the plowed sidewalk was covered in a sheet of ice with a very thin layer of snow on top of that. it really wasn't very safe... i did stop walking to take this picture. i probably would have killed myself had i tried to keep walking. i'm not sure how easy it is to see, but this is the beginning of a long downward slope. a lot of my walk is either up or down - not a whole lot of flat ground. i must admit that made it a lot harder to keep from falling - i caught myself
from falling lots of times.

i'm really not sure how long i'll be able to safely keep up this walking in the mornings. i don't want to give it up because i know how good it is for me. it's been helping me feel so much better. the days that i don't go walking (very few, mostly weekends) i can really tell a difference in my body - and mentally as well. i think it's a very good thing for me to get out in the fresh air for some exercise.

well, there aren't very many pictures of me at all since i've been pregnant, so i had spencer take this one of me after i got back from my walk. it's really not very flattering, but this is an illustration of how ridiculous i'm willing to look to keep up the walking. hopefully it will be able to last quite a bit longer.

kirksville, mo, here we come (for now)!

well, since i'm sure there are so many who would like to hear our news, we'll finally share it. last friday spencer sent in his letter of intent to attend a.t. still university in kirksville, mo (he paid the non-refundable deposit on thursday). this school has seemed like a good option from the beginning. we were excited to hear about so many lds students and so many byu grads who end up in kirksville. one thing that i think is just wonderful is their student auxiliary association - basically a support system for wives and families. they even have date nights with babysitting provided!

we're still waiting to hear a final word from ok state in tulsa. spencer talked to the admissions secretary just today and heard that the next time they will go through names is during the second week of january. a lot of oklahoma has been covered in ice the past couple of weeks and i'm amazed to be able to say that i haven't been deterred from wanting to live there - even after hearing that our friends in tulsa were out of power for about a week!

osu is our first choice, but we're happy with a.t. still as well. we look forward to finding out for sure where we'll be, and we'll be sure to let everyone know. what's great is that we're at least heading somewhere.

merry christmas!

well, i finally pulled out our christmas tree. it's really the only christmas decoration we have. well, we do have a few other things, but there really isn't much space to put things out - especially because the little monkey likes to get his hands on anything and everything that gets put within his reach. he has really been enjoying the christmas tree with all the changing colors. i just wish he wasn't at the stage of walking right up to the camera every time he sees it come out. if i'm lucky i can get a couple of nice pictures without his face right up in the camera, but i'm having to be more sneaky...

here are the couple i got of benny and the christmas tree.