baby boy, missionary sister, bike races, broken arm, missionaries, and a trip back to Italy

So life has been pretty eventful in the last few weeks.

-This little guy is getting bigger and cuter by the day.

-I see more of Kathy now that she's in the MTC than I ever did otherwise. It helps that she is locked in the MTC and can't leave. I see her almost every day and she comes and speaks Russian to me. I have no idea what she's saying but it sounds complicated and impressive. She is quite the celebrity among the Italian missionaries. They stop by my room to excitedly say that they saw her or that she talked to them or that she said hi to them or that she looked at them. They think she's really cool, and it's not just because she's my younger sister. She's really nice to them.

-I rode (kind of) in this:
Now if you you know me at all, you'll know that "totally pinkalicious" doesn't even begin to describe anything about me. But all the proceeds of this all womens' race (biggest in the country) go to researching breast cancer so it was a worthy cause. You can bet that I wore exactly what Little Red is wearing on this jersey. Plus shoes of course.

We were all signed up to do the 68-mile course and things were going great. I was riding with my neighbors from Holladay, Cindy and Katie. It had been raining in the morning so the trail was a little wet. We got to some railroad tracks and saw that two women had fallen just past the tracks. Katie tried to negotiate the tracks but her wheel slipped and she didn't have time to unclip before hitting the ground. I was behind her and saw her fall but it wasn't until I got off my bike and over to her that I realized how bad it was. Her arm snapped right in two- a pretty nasty compound fracture. I guess it's a good thing that kind of thing doesn't make me cringe because I sat by her trying to cover her arm from her view for a good 20 minutes until we could get an ambulance for her. So instead of finishing the race, we ended up taking a lovely ride through the valley to the hospital in Logan. They gave Katie some pain meds and we sat and talked in the ER until her husband could get there. She had to go in to surgery and stay the night and now has two metal plates in her arm. Quite the experience, huh?

- I sent off my ninth district of missionaries. Nine! I just counted and I've taught over 100 Italian missionaries.

-I'm looking around online for the best prices for a trip back to Italy. I'm going with my MTC companion, Lora Hudson, and we're going just after Christmas and staying for three weeks. I can't even stand how excited I am. Lora and I served in three of the same cities so we'll be going back to Rome, Prato, and Ladispoli. Lora also served on the island Sardegna so we'll go out there as well. I've never been there so I'm thrilled to see it. We'll make stops in Florence, possibly Pisa and Siena, and may take a quick trip up north to Genova and Venice. I can't even wait.