We (and You) can TOTALLY do HARD things

I love the challenge of a good challenge. Striving to enjoy the challenge whilst in the middle of it, and loving the feeling of making through to the end of a good challenge.

Saturday #1, Provo River half marathon.....truly one of the most beautiful runs ever!

AND.............my very own PERSONAL BEST RECORD EVER PEOPLE!

Not horn tooting. Just sayin.

My PBR is still loads slower than a truck load of people, but the fact that I beat the time that my last 4 races have been, made my whole entire live-long day. Smiles were a plenty that day.

Mucho thanks to fabulous husband who gave up a chance at gaining his own PBRE (Personal Best Record Ever) to runright along side of me and cheer me on. Husbands rock!

Thanks Stef for the invite, and Stef's dad for the pre-running pep talks. Sister-in laws and their fathers rock!

So....last Saturday Jason and I were planning our annual hike to the top of mount Timpanogos. NOT to the cave, people....but to the shed that's on the tip top of the WHOLE ENTIRE MOUNTAIN. 11,700-ish feet or so.

It's a bit of a monster hike - but OH so worth it. You'd think after doing it once or twice the hike would get a little easier, but it's still a tough one to do.

We had a great idea this year, husband and I. Let's invite the teenagery boys to join us. One of them agreed, so long as his cousin would come with. But boy number 2 said no thanks, not interested, and WHY would anyone want to do that anyway?

Preparations were made. More Nelsons decided to come. Some came all the way from St. George to make the hike. Hooray for more people!

Son #2 made a 'night-before' surprise announcement that he'd actually be joining us for the hike. Hooray for son #2.

We went. All 11 of us. From age 13 to 50, and headed to the Timpanooke trail head. 5 of us made it to the summit. Breath taking and spectacular!

3 more made it to the Saddle. and 3 made it to the meadow just below. Absolutely beautiful!

We headed down in the dark, and even had a chance to practice some scouting skills. Ran into 2 girls, one injured, and neither with a light - trying to navigate their way to the bottom (minus a good foot, and minus any sort of light source). All the boys considered their "good turn daily' done for the day. Returned missionary cousin even donated his sweatshirt to be sacrificed in the name of bandages to wrap the girls foot in. Quite an adventure - 13 people hiking in single-file down the trail.

Challenge #2 conquered: Making it to the summit with Husband, and 2 teenagery boys. Completely Awesome.

What a blessing that we CAN do hard things. And that sometimes we even CHOOSE to do hard things. Isn't that what makes us grow? Truly a lesson I hope my children learn (and me too actually), that life isn't meant to be all-easy-all-the-time. It's alright to take a risk, set a goal, and work to accomplish it, and smile while you're in the middle of it. I know that not all 'hard things' are physical things, those just happened to be the things we've done here over the last couple of weeks. But sure has reminded me of 'other' hard things we each deal with in life. Everyone has them. And in a way that's comforting. Everyone has a struggle, or two, or ten. We're all here doing the best we can, and hopefully striving for better each day. Hooray for good people to cheer us on. Hooray for divine intervention that seems to come right when it's needed. Hooray for easier days (cause truly, everyone needs one of those every once in a while too, right?), and mostly.....a BIG WHOPPING hooray for just doing hard things.

GO FIGHT WIN!