2010 Share a Smile Triathlon

Today was the Share a Smile Triathlon. I sponsored a Lean Bodies Health and Fitness team and there were about 15 of us all in matching shirts. I was hoping for top three in my age group but I placed fourth. It's ok though because ... are you ready for this?

LEAN BODIES HEALTH AND FITNESS PLACED FIRST in the team division!!! WOOT, WOOT! I am still so shocked. Way to go to EVERYONE on the team!

Caleb also did the triathlon! He did so great and had such a fun time! I am so proud of him for doing something kind of scary and hard. He said he even wants to do it again next year. His time was 8:30 and he swan 25 yards, biked 2/3 mile and ran 1/3 mile. Brandon even said he sprinted to the finish line! WAY TO GO CALEB!!! I am sad I didn't get to see him because our race started right after the kids swim.


Here's my little recap so that I can check back next year to compare notes. Skip if you want, this may be boring.

Swim: Feeling good. At the beginning of the line because my swim time is on the faster end. My fastest time in training was 6:57 for 400m. I stood with the 7 min people. I passed one person and got passed by two which I am thinking is inevitable in a pool swim. But because of the passings my time was approx 8:10 min. I flip turned the whole swim so I was proud of that.

T1: I forgot to set my iphone up for the ipod to be all ready to go so I had to do that during the transition. Lame. I put on my helmet, garmin and ipod, put on socks and shoes and headed out. T1 time was about 2:30.




Bike: Bike felt great. My goal average speed was high 17's or 18mph. My average speed was 17.4mph which matches my fastest speed but I was hoping for faster. The bike was also 11 miles instead of the advertised 10 miles so my goal time was a few minutes too fast for an 11 mile ride. But I like that course. It includes a steep but short hill and some good slight downhills where I was going 23 mph easy. Bike time was 37:24 min for 10.87 miles. Fastest speed 29.2 mph.

T2: I rode in, changed my shoes, changed from a helmet to a hat and then ran off... in the WRONG DIRECTION!!! AH! I noticed it pretty quick though and turned around. T1 was about 1:10.


Run: When I started running, my calves immediately cramped up worse than they ever have in my life. They felt like tight tennis balls. It was aweful. I actually had to stop and stretch on the curb. I couldn't get my speed under a 10:30 min/mile for about the first mile. After that, I could speed up a bit to about a 9:30 pace and the last mile was in the 8's. I finished at a 6:27 pace. My average pace was 9:20 min/mile. This run was 3.35 miles, longer than the advertised 3.1. My time for 3.35 miles was 31:25. I was hoping for a 9 min average/mile and a time of 28 (if it was 3.1 miles).

Overall, my time was 1:20:50. My goal was 1:13 but that was based off the shorter distances. So when you account for that, I was pretty close. I came in fourth in my age group.

I have to tell you about a friend I met. When I was biking up the first hill I was right behind her and we were cheering each other on. I passed her after the hill but then she passed me again and we were together on the second hill cheering each other on again. Then I was right behind her in the run, so I caught up to her. We ran together for a bit. When we were on the last mile, she said "We need to finish together." I said, "Wanna hold hands as we finish?" And she said, "Yeah, let's do it." Our speed was pretty fast (for me) that last mile and I give her all the credit. I couldn't have done it without her. Around the Scera Shell, we grabbed hands and finished at the exact same time! Thanks Abby! You were awesome!

Anyway, I was a little disappointed with the fourth place finish. (Third just sounds so much better.) But the person who placed second and third beat me by like 6 minutes so it's ok. But finding out our team WON in the team division made me giddy with excitement!!! I still can't believe it. I have a small trophy I get to keep and I get a huge trophy to keep for a year and then I turn it in next year. I am so excited! GREAT JOB to everyone on the LBHF team! You guys were AWESOME!!!

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ETA: There were errors in the calculations and our team did NOT actually place first. I think we were third. No hard feelings though. :-)

Hey, I at least got a picture with the trophy, right?

First day of school!

Here is Caleb on his first day of 2nd grade:

Brynley started Kindergarten yesterday:

Before school she was asking why she had to bring here folder to school. I said, "Because that is what you will bring your homework home in and take it back to school in." She got the biggest grin and started giggling. She is so excited to be joining her big brother at school! And Caleb says he loves finding her after school. It is so cute picking them up and seeing them wait there together in their adorable little uniforms!

Our weekend adventures

Our next door neighbors, the Josephson's, invited us up to a cabin in WY this last weekend. We had quite a few adventures over three days!

We left on Friday and went up to Bear Lake to play for a few hours. The kids LOVE it up there. We met Mitch and Kendall and hung out for a while before going to the cabin in Afton, WY.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist including a picture of the cutest bare bum and tan lines on the planet:

When we got to the cabin it was dark out and the generator wasn't working right so the power kept going off and on. But no biggie, because we just went to bed.

The next morning I got up and went running and when I came back everyone was outside because the carbon monoxide detector was going off. Mitch and Brandon couldn't get a hold of the owner of the house to see if this was a common glitch or something, so we hurried and left for Jackson Hole about three hours before we planned on leaving.

We were about to drive off when I looked at the tire on Mitch and Kendall's car and it was completely flat to the rim. The boys changed the tire and we were on our way.

Jackson Hole was fun but kind of boring with little kids if you don't have anything big planned. We took a stage coach ride, had ice cream, threw rocks into Snake River and just hung out until the shoot out at 6pm.







The biggies loved the shoot out but baby didn't love it so much. In the beginning she kept saying, "BOOM! I like it!" after each gun shot but when they started to come more often she got a little scared.


This guy reminded me of Owen Wilson:




After Jackson, we went back to the cabin and hung out and chatted until bed time. At 11:30pm when we were all asleep, the carbon monoxide detector went off again. I was not able to sleep because I kept thinking Aubrey was going to die or something because we were in the room right next to the utility room. The boys did something to it and I finally fell back asleep only for it to go off again at 1:30am. We ended up moving the detector into our room because if the levels weren't going up in our room we wouldn't die. That made me feel better.

In the morning Brandon and Mitch went mountain biking but came back after 20 minutes because Mitch's derailer fell off his bike. Oops. Can't ride without that.

Then we decided the trip was doomed and we needed to be on our way, so we cleaned and packed up and left.
This is the awesome cabin we stayed at:



We had an awesome time and had a lot of fun adventures! Thanks Josephson's for having us along!

Happy 7th Birthday Caleb!

Today is Caleb's birthday. I seriously can't believe it. I know I probably say that every year, but this year I really mean it. I can't believe I have a 7 year old. Caleb is incredible. He is so kind and loving and concerned about others. He loves his sisters and watches out for them *most* of the time. (C'mon, what kind of brother wouldn't have a *most* right there). Caleb is a good example to his friends and I have been told that by his friend's moms numerous times. Caleb really has a special place in my heart and we love him so much.

Caleb loves:

-playing with his bff, Jackson
-swimming
-Star Wars
-movie nights
-legos (he's really good at these)
-cereal
-riding his bike

He had a star wars party today. He had 5 friends come over and we played Star Wars games and did a Jedi Training Course. He had a great time!

Big River at the Outdoor Sundance Theater

On Monday Brandon and I went to see Big River up at Sundance. I was in this play as a kid but I haven't seen it for 15 years. It was so good! All the music brought back so many memories and emotions. Being outside in the cool, crisp air and spending a good 6 hours alone with Brandon was so much fun. We loved it.

Happy 5th Birthday Brynley!

I can't believe my little girl is already 5 and will be starting Kindergarten this year. Brynley is incredible. She has a smile (and dimple!) that will make your heart melt and an attitude that could make you scream! But even her sassy-ness just adds to her wonderful personality. She is the type who can leave you guessing as to how to handle her and then turn right and say, "I love you Mommy" (which she says a million times a day) and make you melt into the ground. She is such a wonderful, spunky addition to our family and we love her so much!

Brynley loves:
-Barbies
-Princesses
-Her scooter
-Milk, milk and more milk
-Make up (I know!)
-Sponge Bob
-Playing with London, Quincey and Makelle
-Changing her clothes
-Anything pink and girly

We love you so much Bryley!

ULCER - Utah Lake Century Epic Ride

This last Saturday Brandon and his brother Jeremy rode the ULCER! They finished the whole 111 miles averaging 18.9 mph! Brandon didn't train for this event besides two 45 mile rides so I am so happy for him that he finished and finished well! I think they had a great time and Brandon even says he might do it again!

The Grotto

We hiked the Grotto up Payson Canyon again this year. It did not go well. Everyone ended the outing mad.

We started happy:



But Caleb got mad because he forgot the water was about 40 degrees and didn't want to get in:

Then Brynley was mad ... I don't remember why. I'm sure it was something good.

Then Aubrey was sad because we were leaving and she didn't want to but mom and dad didn't want to stay there with mad big kids.


Maybe we'll try it again next year.

Fort Columbia and Grandma's House - Our trip to Seattle

Last week we went to WA to visit with Brandon's family. We had such a great time! We started the vacation by staying in a vacation house at Fort Columbia which is right where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. The house was HUGE! It housed our family, Jeremy and Angie and kids, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Jordan. The halls were long and wide and perfect for running up and down while screaming.




There were bunkers to play in, paths to hike, light houses to visit and all sorts of fun stuff.






After a few days there we went to Grandma's house in Seattle. We stayed there for a few days.

While we were there Grandpa, Brandon, Jeremy, Collin and Jordan hiked up to Rachel Lake and camped.









Us girls and kids stayed home and did crafts, did a "cousin photo shoot" and had salads for dinner. Now if that's not a girl's day I don't know what is.














On our last day we went to Northwest Trek which is kind of like a sarfari mixed with a zoo. You ride a train around and see all sorts of moose, bison, big horn sheep, deer, etc. It was really cool and the kids loved it.


She was a little bugged Grandma pulled the plug

We had so much fun up there with all of Brandon's family. We love going there when everyone is there. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us invade your house and make a huge mess of it! We loved every minute!