1/4 mile swim, 14 mile bike ride and a 5K run

So, a few months ago a friend of mine (Kami) told me she was going to do a triathlon. I sat there with my mouth dropped open in amazement. How do people do that? Then she told me that I should do it with her. I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed some more. I even went as far as to say I am not athletic at all and I don't know how to swim. Plus it has been about ten years since I have seriously worked out. She said she could teach me to swim and none of that mattered. I said no thanks and thought maybe she could find someone else to sucker into it. Anyway, for whatever reason in a moment of insanity I started to think about it. I went back and forth and before I knew it I told her I would do it with her. WHAT????? I said that out loud, surely I must have been mistaken. Anyway, I think my pride got to me because once I said it I never looked back. Sure enough Kami taught me how to swim and that is how I began to train for the triathlon. I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to do it in the end as it seemed like every time I tried to workout something happened. I hurt my ankle, my kid was up all night, we were sick, my kids were sick, trips to Utah etc.

I attempted to do the Fourth of July 5K run. This was the length of the last portion of the triathlon. I was DYING! I had to walk and the hills were killer. I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Anyway, 38 minutes later I made it back to the church. Again, my pride got the best of me and I kept going. I even signed up for the event with hopes that I wouldn't chicken out because I am too cheap to lose 50 bucks.

In the meantime, I was trying to invite everyone I knew to do it with me. If we were all in pain maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad. I only had one other taker! Tiffany decided to do it as well. We finally got to the last week and I felt as ready as I would get. I started to get excited.

The morning of the triathlon I think I was so out of my element I didn't know what to do with myself. So, I went around posing for pictures and making goofy faces. Here is the proof that I did it!

This is Tiff, me and Kami with our fancy markings.

Here we are getting ready to get into the Lake at 7:00 in the morning. Who thought that was a good idea? Our cap color indicated what heat we were in.
Really, are you kidding me? I am going to swim now?
Here I am trudging out of the water. Nope, you don't see any other swimmers getting out of the water because, yes, that is right, I got out DEAD LAST! I just kept saying I didn't want to be last. Oh well, the swim was my weak spot. You got to give me a break as I just learned how!
Good thing I used to bike in my former days. It helped me make up some time.
Yup, that is me, running to the finish line. It truly happened. One hour and 37 minutes later.
Tiff and I proudly displaying our "I did it" medals.
This was a very empowering moment. I highly encourage you all to do something like this. If I can do it you can as well. Next May I am going to do my first half marathon. Anyone is welcome to join me!

Lucky

In honor of Matt's 29th birthday on the 29th of August and our 7th Anniversary the 24th of August I thought I would take a minute to talk about Matt. Ever since I had seen Matt I knew I wanted to marry someone just like him. In my patience and persistance I finally convinced him to date me just in time for him to serve a mission. It all worked out and by the time I came home from my mission we were finally ready to get married. At the time I had no idea what luck I had come across in convincing him to date me. Here are a couple of reasons why I love Matt:

1. He can air guitar like a champ and even tried out for Wheel of Fortune with me. We got called back to second tryouts and they are this week.


2. He looks hot in a sumo wrestling outfit. Grrrrr


3. He is always up for hanging out with my friends.


4. He is always willing to dress up.


5. He can remodel or fix anything! (Our house looks fabulous)


6. He is always willing to do anything and go on any adventure.


7. He tolerates me when I dress our kids like him and even poses for a picture.


8. He is always willing to play with the boys and has been great in letting me escape from the house to workout.


9. He can win a football game in a pinch with his gazelle like speed and even won me an IPOD touch in an obstacle course.



10. And last but not least he always takes care of business time. Specifically, but not limited to, getting a new job at Microsoft and being a great EQP.

In the words of Jason Mraz
Lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday! Here's to seven lucky years!

Hey there Caidaway here's to you

Recently we lost a beloved nephew in our family. Caiden Wilson was an energetic boy with a constant smile on his face. He loved life and he was willing to do anything. He was always happy to play with anyone that was around. His six years of life were always lived to the fullest. In the lyrics of one of his favorite songs by Plain White T's

"You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Caidaway here's to you
This one's for you"



We miss you and your smile Caiden.

I never thought I would be grateful for rain

All winter long I am complaining about seeing the sun. Then when the summer hits we are crazy busy trying to soak up as much sun as possible. We typically include a few extended trips to places with guaranteed sun. If it is sunny here we get outside at least twice a day and love every minute of it. I have to say that today as it started to rain I have never been so grateful for it. First off the weekend hit temperatures of 95 degrees. That is HOT in Seattle! Especially when air conditioning is considered a luxury that we just can't afford. When our thermostat stayed at 80 degrees for two days I thought I was going to go crazy from all of the heat crabbiness. I have been relieved as I have seen our thermostat steadily climb down to the low 70s. Also, to be honest I feel like we haven't slowed down in quite awhile it has been an exceptionally sunny summer!) and I just wanted a reason to stay inside. Thanks rain, but please make sure you only stay for one day!

Gardening in the Northwest.

Here are the results of my pathetic garden. Gardening in the Northwest is a joke! It is more cost effective to buy vegetables than plant them, but the taste of a fresh tomato is priceless so I keep on trying. It would probably be a tiny bit more successful if I didn't have so some many things going against me. If the sun would shine in June they would get a better start, but it usually doesn't come out until at least the 4th of July. Cole sometimes likes to pick the flowers before they turn into anything and has also been known to pick the green "balls." Matt had a run in with the tomatoes when he was trying to save them from his window installations and accidentally left plastic on them in the hot sun. A few plants bit the dust and had to be replaced. With all of the obstacles we have had a few ripe ones so far and they have tasted delicious! Even though Matt doesn't agree it is all worth it. I have been able to grow potatoes but hey, if you can't grow potatoes you might as well not even plant flowers.

It's been a good week

We have had an eventful and sunny week. It started out with us checking out our friends pool and house that is in the process of being built. Cole and Ethan loved watching all the trucks. They didn't know where to turn between the bulldozer, tree chipper and loader! When we took a tour of the house Cole was excited because he found some Red Bull with a little left to sip! Watch out, Cole on caffeine would be a scary sight.





That night we went to get Cole's batman pajamas from the dryer and much to our dismay there was red all over them. We started pulling out all of the laundry only to discover that everything was covered in red marks. I had dried a crayon in the dryer. I never thought that would happen to me as Cole has only colored with crayons twice in his entire life and they both happened to be that week. Needless to say I was really sad until I found out that you can get crayon out of everything. It just take a lot of scrubbing!



Some people can say that they have never been stung by a bee. I have only been stung once when I accidentally stepped on one. At the ripe old age of 10 months Ethan was stung by a bee! We were playing happily in the backyard when all of a sudden Ethan starts crying and batting at his ear. I picked him up and found the stinger still attached. I have no idea why the bee decided to attack but Ethan wasn't very pleased for the moment. Luckily he perked right up as soon as I pulled out the watermelon. Ethan's favorite fruit!





This week Cole got to play with his best friend Macy a lot! They love to play in the water. This was round 2 for swimming on this particular day.



We ended the week with the ward campout. The boys were happy to play in the dirt and run around. Cole was looking for monsters the entire night thanks to the TV show "Word World." We were trying to convince him that all monsters are nice. Everyone slept pretty well especially since it was really warm. I don't think it got down past 70 degrees. In the morning we were able to take a trip down to the river where Cole loved playing in the water. (Ethan missed out because he decided to catch up on some sleep.

Don't let your son pee in the "forest"

I learned a very important lesson. Never let your child pee outside. Because if you do, it is something they want to do on a regular basis. In my desperate attempts to potty train Cole I allowed this to happen. Cole needed to go and there was no potty in sight. He had yet been successful in "holding" it so I took him to the forest. (Remember we live in a green place so it looks like a forest wherever we go) Now it is his favorite pasttime to tell me when he knows there is no potty. He specifically remembers at this particular park that he gets to pee outside if he has the need. Even worse is that he has also gone poop outside. Again, we had no toilet in sight so I did what I had to do. It is truly becoming a problem. In case you have not learned this important lesson I thought I would pass along my insights!

Why we love Utah

This year we have spent a LOT of time in Utah. Here are a few of the reasons why we love Utah.




We get to go swimming at the pool in the sun!




Cole and Ethan get to play with the dog water and pretend to be dogs!


Cole gets to play with Mya in the water.




We get to go to museums.





We get to spend time with family like when we went hiking with Aunt Kathy, Emma and Mya.

There are many other reasons why we love Utah but we don't have picture documentation. Here are a few:
We see our friends.
We always get new haircuts.
The sky is blue and the sun almost always shines.
We stay with Nanny and Grandad.
Everyone has dogs to play with.
There are plenty of cousins to sword fight with.
We play Rock Band.

I've succombed....

I think I am the last person to create a blog but here we go! We are ready to post our crazy life for all to blog stalk. For our first post I find it appropriate to talk about our motorcyle and four wheeling adventure. If you know me very well you know that I am a neat freak and I hate to be dirty. I also tend to be conservative. This post is in honor of breaking with tradition by blogging and riding motorcycles!

My brother Byron took us all out to the desert to enjoy the thrill of riding. Cole and Ethan enjoyed riding in the go cart and four wheeler. Cole even got to ride on the little motorcyle while I drove! I got to ride behind my brother on the large motorcyle and fourwheeler. Luckily, he is a seasoned driver. I clung to him as tight as I could and then when we got to the top he would show me what we had just climbed just in time for us to ride down. Here are the pictures of proof. If you look closely you will see that we are all caked in dirt. I had no where to put Ethan other than right smack in the dirt and he enjoyed every minute of it. He started putting handfuls of rocks right into his mouth. Yummy!



Can you see the dirt?



Cole loved going for rides!



Ethan eating dirt.



Thanks Byron for a great day!