Podium Charging

The 5 Most Important Decisions You Will Ever Make:

1. Choose to believe in yourself. What would you try if you knew you could not fail?
2. Choose to do the work which your goals require. Remember the law of the harvest.
3. Choose to put God first in your life.
4. Choose to stay away from "avalanche zones." Don't do anything where the holy ghost couldn't be present.
5. Choose to bring others with you across the finish line. Life is a team sport

I made my debut on national television. On the Today show. In my bikini no less. On the opening credits. I'm tempted to point out to Kate Upton that even She hasn't achieved this type of fame yet. Apparently, I was filmed at the beach on the fourth of July...as stock footage. Which NBC then used as the opening for their show and for their segment on sunscreen scamming. So on the first day of my vacation in Utah I woke up at 6 am to a screen shot my friend posted of me on the Today show. To be fair, it was me and Ryan...so I guess this means we will have to share next year's SI swimsuit cover. Kidding. The whole thing was so bizarre, I still don't know how neither of us noticed a cameraman filming us. Needless to say, it was my first morning of vacation and I got no sleep as I skyrocketed out of bed and raced down the stairs to see it for myself.

Can you believe it's Monday?! I spent the past three days with some of my very best friends, how lucky am I?? Really, really lucky...and blessed. It had been a year since I had been home; I was looking forward to seeing my family, that familiar feeling of sitting on the kitchen bar stools and chatting, playing with the dogs, playing games, driving my car, and sitting in the jacuzzi staring at the stars. What I didn't anticipate was the immense amount of effort and sacrifice that everyone made on my behalf. I kind of made a list, of things that I wanted to do. Ok, not kind of....I typed a list. Down to the hour. (At first I thought I was being too OCD, until I saw Chloe's method of packing for BYU-confirmation that it runs in the family) I honestly thought we'd get maybe half of the things done. It turns out, not only are we a family with various amounts of OCD, but I get my insane amount of energy from both parents. We played tennis, picked raspberries, ate at Teriyaki, went for a run in the mountains, went paddleboarding with the dogs, played the piano, went to Chloe's concert and my dad came home early from work to take me to the gun club. Not to mention some epic scooter rides...Vespas for life. My cousins drove up to spend time with me, my grandparents took us all to dinner, my dad, after riding an insane race uphill, played doubles tennis and then still took everyone on a horseback ride, followed up by sushi, then built us a fire to roast smores. The sacrifices were endless this weekend, and to each of my family members, it meant more to me than I can express.

Saturday morning I was reminded once again, that we are missing one of us. As we stood at the top of the Snowbird hill climb, what looked like a skinny boy in his teens, with blonde hair, charged past us to claim first place. Waves of nostalgia crashed down on me, as I thought of Pete. In the summer you could find him doing laps up and down the Colony road, or hear the TV blaring from the family room as he pedaled away on his stationary bike. The snowbird hill climb was Pete's first major race. It's a grueling 10 mile, 3,500 ft of climbing, perfect for the type of person that doesn't feel pain the way normal people do. This year my dad raced it alone, no Pete. He wanted to podium, but it wasn't meant to be this year. To his credit however, he gave it his all, and I was proud of him. I expect he will break all of his records when he races again next year. As we drove down the hill, my mom told me that Pete had said the race is just one long climb of intense pain. "Euwww," I said, wrinkling my nose a bit. "That sounds....Awful." She agreed. But one of the amazing things about biking is overcoming that pain. A sport like no other.

In addition to getting to spend time with my family, I got two unexpected surprises. One was from Grandpa Glenn, a small thumb drive with over 200 talks by general authorities and church leaders, to put on my phone and listen to as I head out to work. This includes a number of talks by people such as Joseph F. Smith, Spencer W. Kimball, people that I've never heard speak before. That little thumbdrive is worth its weight in gold...and then some. My other surprise was a gift from Grandad, to help me survive in NYC, extremely generous and kind of him.

On Sunday, we played croquet on the lawn, uncovering new sides to the Johnson competitive instinct. We developed a catch-phrase to describe our efforts, using my dad's desire to podium as a reflection of our effort. "Did you podium" or the verb "podium" became every day jargon.

I have a sign that hangs in my room, listing those 5 Most Important Decisions, but my favorite one is the last, number 5: Choose to bring others with you across the finish line. Being with my family has never made that more profound. Despite our differences or the fact that we don't always share physical space, there is a unity among us that works towards helping each other reach the finish line, despite being at different points in life. It is such a strong and unique bond, and I'm so grateful to be a part of that. I see it most acutely with my parents and siblings, as they help me and I help them. We're a team. And I'd like to add, a team that's going to podium! But I also see my larger team, a team that includes grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, second cousins, great uncles; all of us working to bring each other across the finish line of life.

Charging it to the podium in NYC,

Lo

Kokomo

"Off the Florida keys, there's a place called Kokomo. That's where, you want to go, to get away from it all. Bodies in the sand, tropical drink melting in your hand, we'll be falling in love, to the rhythm of a steel drum band. Way down in Kokomo..."

As Elle Woods once said, "Congratulations [intern] class of [2012], We Did It!!!" I've never been so proud, or honored. Or exhausted...at least I thought. Until the next morning, at 8 am I found myself bound for the Bronx. I was handing out high fives like candy. Self-appointed team cheerleader all the way. 15 tons of produce, 3 hours of lifting 35 lb watermelon, 700 people later...my eyes could no longer focus as I trudged home. I've found that when you reach the point of total exhaustion, you really only have two choices: take a nap. or workout. Obviously, the gym won out. As I ran on the treadmill, I had the entire gym to myself. I realized that over the past week, this was the only 2 hours I've had all to myself. What a week. One of my favorite songs, "Delirious" came on as I headed home from the gym. Appropriate.

When Sunday rolled around, I half-wished I could take 5 days on a tiny island in the middle of the caribbean. No cell coverage, no men (sorry!), nothing but waves crashing on the beach and lots of time to sleep and read. The only problem with this plan is, the faster you go the less you want to slow down. And the more you work, the more you want to play, and the more sleep you want to give up. I just sent a list to my parents of what I want to do in PC, and my dad wrote back that he will need a vacation after my visit. This coming from the man that looks better at (almost) 50 than he did when he was 30!! Can't wait to cheer him on at his race. Followed up by racing horses through the mountains.

This week's sunday lesson was on revelation and meekness. Both interesting topics. Key points I took away were that, 1. heavenly father knows me best; he has a plan for me, and that it's really best if I get lost in the day to day of life rather that stress early. Operating on trust and faith, while so hard in the short-term, is well worth it in the long-term.

Second, some of the strongest men in history have been meek. Meek is not a weakness. It's controlled strength. It is utilizing control over incredible amounts of power. What an interesting and fun concept, one that I hadn't thought of before. Then we talked about what it means to turn the other cheek. In the "olden" days, to hit someone with the back of your hand was an insult. But to turn the cheek is actually strength. For one thing, you aren't showing the same cheek that was injured, and secondly, for the hand to strike you again, it has to come back towards you, palm side...which is a sign of friendship.

Sunday was also the end of the Olympics. Kim, who is beyond incredible (and not just at lifting watermelon), sent me this article today, about the soul of the Olympics by Frank Bruni, a New York Times writer. I may have felt too much soul today as the article immediately brought me to tears, but...here are some key points, which I believe to be absolutely true:

"...the Olympics have affirmed that human potential is just about infinite and that the human soul is good. They’ve presented two solid weeks of parables, most of which underscored the great rewards possible when great risk is taken and the prospect of glory on the far side of sacrifice.

The Olympics have reminded us that any grand achievement begins with a leap of faith and draws lavishly from a wellspring of pure confidence. And that what has been accomplished to date has no bearing on what can be accomplished in time."

Love,
Lo

P.S. more pics from Europe!

Summer Love

"But we must never forget that we are all individuals with our own needs and problems, our own hopes and dreams, our own faith and convictions. Some are strong, some weak, but we all try. We have problems to deal with - they are serious and difficult. We need one another to build and strengthen one another. We must never lose sight of the fact that we are to 'succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.'" -Gordon B. Hinckley

It's a Monday morning and I'm happily working to the sound of Imagine Dragon's Radioactive. Music makes or break a day. And shout out to Creed for sending me his playlist, I'm in heaven. I'm two weeks away from home and my impatience is nearing a record high. I want to see my family so bad, they sent me pics from Telluride this weekend, riding scooters and hiking. I wanted to be there. It seems so funny to me that I still have so far to come...my parents are easing into the empty-nester life while I haven't even started my own family. All in due time, right?

A couple things made this past week. I made an online purchase (no not one of those infomercials) that I was So Excited about. There's a seminary student manual for the book of mormon, complete with learning activities for each chapter. There's even a page at the front that lets your record your progress and breaks down the reading into a chapter a day. This is just the kind of organization I needed to get back on track with my scripture studying. The Best part is, (ok Now I sound like an infomercial), it's ONLY $3.50 and FREE shipping! Throw your hands in the air if you love lds pricing. It arrived on Tuesday and I practically danced to the elevator when I got the mail. Already, I'm getting so much more out of my scripture reading, but more importantly, my retention has increased dramatically. Which really, is what I was going for.

One of my favorite quotes from institute this week: "Self-reliance is a prerequisite to service. Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. Teaching cannot come from the unlearned. And most important of all, spiritual guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak. We are all self-reliant in some areas and dependent in others. Therefore, each of us should strive to help others in areas where we have strengths. At the same time, pride should not prevent us from graciously accepting the helping hand of another when we have a real need. To do so denies another person the opportunity to participate in a sanctifying experience." -Marion G. Romney.

Something I'm inherently grateful for is the incredible amount of people that I have around me that are self-reliant in such powerful ways. Tuesday was another hard day. I was nearing the end of the day and just about ready to cry. I had a pounding headache. I opened a blank email, typed in my mom's address, and for 30 minutes I poured my thoughts into this letter. It was this list, of everything I was stressed about, upset about, and why. It was my innermost secrets- feelings of inadequacy, worries and fears. When I had nothing left to say, I told her how much I loved her, and thanked her for letting me spill my thoughts to her. It's never been more true than that moment, confessing your fears, releases them. Rather than feeling defeated, that one simple exercise got rid of my worries. James Harden tweeted this week "I can always depend on my mama." Mothers are incredibly special that way, there for you at every moment in life.

It's august, which means almost the end of summer. Couldn't be more sad. How do you sum up 3 months of warm weather, beach days, beach volleyball and football, movies on the roof, summer institute, barbecues, incessant sweating, tennis on the water, and dance parties? Pretty easily actually. It was the summer of love. I gained a love for so many things, one of which was meeting new people. I made so many great friends this summer, and realized that I love hearing people's stories, how they got where they are. Maybe it's the east coast, but there are So Many interesting people! So much diversity, and inspiring personalities and stories. I learned a ton from every person I met and am loving these opportunities to get to know people.

Before I end this week's recap, I have to give a shout out to my little brother Pete. I bore my testimony yesterday on the importance of missionary work. If you're going to share yourself with those around you, you should probably make sure it's the biggest and most important part of you. While you can have many friends, across many areas of your life, make sure the person they know is consistent and true to who you are, and not just pieces of you. I'm more interested in my friends' differences than in my friends' similarities, so missionary work is often sharing what makes you different...it can be as easy as that.

Love,
Lo