More triathlon highlights!

Here's the gang - trying to decide if we REALLY want to do this!
Here's me - and Lezlie in the bright green hat. She said we'd be able to find her at the bottom of the pool with that cap on! ha!!

Taking off to bike - with Kayla's bike helmet on. Let's just say I'll be getting my own helmet for the next one!

Running in at the end of 3.2 miles, 10.2. miles biking, and 400 meters swimming!

Miss Lezlie, me, Lettie and Ryan Peterson. We made it and it was awesome! Thanks Bruce's wife for the photos!

Halloween - Triathlon - Addi-bug!!!

So there are tons of things that have been happening here!


First let's hit on Halloween. Our ward had their trunk or treat party last night. We had the chili and cornbread, hot dogs, homemade rootbeer, etc. It was great. There were a bunch of games and things for the kids to do, and then we did the trunk or treat. The kids had a blast, and the parents had fun too! Then we went home and Lane took the kids trick or treating to the neighborhood outside our back gates - because there are only 5 families in our neighborhood so far (bummer - picture the cartoon circulating about the kids out trick or treating and saying, "Halloween really sucks this year!" because every house is dark and has a foreclosure or for sale sign out front). But . . . I digress . . .

I didn't go trick or treating with the kids because I had to get ready for my sprint triathlon the next morning. I was excited and a little nervous! You know you never sleep well the night before a race, and that was the case with me - darnit!

I hit the bed early (10:30) and had to get up at 4:30 to go pick up my friend Lezlie at 5:15 and meet a group down there to go. We drove to Coolidge to the Central Arizona College. We registered and set up all our stuff and were a little nervous. I was especially nervous about the swimming part! I haven't trained once for the swim! ugh! Anyway, I survived the swim (400 meters), ran and got on my bike and rode 10.2 miles, then put my bike away and got my running shoes on, and Lezlie and I ran the 5 K together. I did it all in 1 hr. 22 mins and 58 secs. I took 10th out of 30 in my age division. So, not too bad for the first try. I definitely learned a few things on this though! Here are the tips for when YOU try a sprint triathlon:



1) Bring goggles and a swim cap - it is much easier. I borrowed some from a lady there that I knew - thank heaven!

2) Have a mile counter and speedometer on your bike. I had no idea how far I had gone, nor how fast I was going. I could have gone faster, but was trying to pace myself, and had no idea how much farther I had to go.

3) Drink water while on the bike.

4) When running, also drink water! (It would help if the water station actually had water and not just ice! They truly were out of water! )


5) Don't drop your drawers and go pee in front of everyone if you have to go - hmm. . . course there wasn't really a place for anyone to go since we were running in a dirt field! (By the way - a lady did this in front of one of the guys who went with us!)

6) When you're done, drink more water.

7) Don't wait until too late to eat and drink. I, unfortunately only ate a banana at 6, and we didn't eat until about noon. I discovered I had maybe drank 2 or 3 cups of water through the whole thing. Can you say dehydration? I was sooooooo sick driving back to Pnoenix. My head hurt like crazy and I couldn't decide if I wanted to curl up in the fetal position in the back seat or just puke and hope that would make me feel better. Once I got some food and water in me I felt less nauseus, but I still had a massive headache, so I came home and went to bed for an hour, and woke up feeling a new woman! :)




Now that I've done it, you know I have to do another one and cut my time down!




Here's me and Lezlie with our number - we were official! I will post more pictures when my friend sends them to me.





On a side note - Lezlie came with only 2 weeks notice and did great! We finished with basically the same time - even though she has short little legs! :) You're awesome Lezlie - get ready for Anthem!!!!!!


Finally, Addi-bug has learned a new trick - how to climb through the doggie door! It is a door from the patio into a storage room where we keep the lawn stuff and Sandy's food. She watched Sandy go through . . .

Then she thought about it . . .




Then she went through . . .



And was very proud of herself!

Shock, evaluation, and Savannah - isms

Yesterday we heard that Lane's cousin's 8 month old baby girl has neuroblastoma - a cancer - that is stage 4 - in her organs, bone marrow, everywhere. She starts chemotherapy tomorrow. Yet again, my heart has been made so heavy by the challenges people have to face in life. Unfortunately, I slipped back into the "why" and "it's not fair" frame of mind. It is so hard to keep your eye on faith and the eternal perspective of life when things like this hit. This sweet family has a son with Down's Syndrome, and you would kind of think THAT will be their challenge, and now they have to face THIS! Why? Why? Why? Only the Lord knows, and I just have to keep reminding myself to put my trust in him and the plan. My heart breaks for Justin and Kari and we of course are praying for them. I have done some reading on it, and if it is a certain type of neuroblastoma, it is highly curable, so that is very encouraging. Anyway, we are adding them to our growing list of friends and family with heavy problems in need of heavy blessings.

So tonight the kids were all ready for bed, and I happened upon my husband's cousin's blog (this blog hopping is crazy! Everyone knows everyone eventually!). Savannah was saying, "Mom, come and put me to bed!" I said, "OK, you go down and I"ll be there in a second (I wanted to finish reading this post of his cousins). She then says, "What's more important mom? Your kids? or reading someone's blog?" Isn't this crazy that 7 year olds talk about blogs and stuff? Wow, a whole new vocabulary!

Then, after tucking her in and saying prayers, I told her about daddy's cousin's baby having cancer and how we need to pray for her because she is getting chemotherapy, etc. Here's the conversation:
Savannah: Is she going to lose all her hair?
Me: Well, she's so young she really doesn't have any.
S: But she has eyebrows and eyelashes.
Me: You're right
S: Mom, you know the only good thing about chemotherapy?
Me: What?
S: You lose your arm hair. I don't like having hairy arms.

Umm... I guess there is a bright side to everything huh?

Conner

So the Primary President told me this story about Conner:

In church on Sunday, they asked if everyone had fun watching conference. Lots of people raised their hands and said "I did, I watched" etc. My son? He grabs his head with his hands, and says, "Oh no Conference! I can't take it any more!!"

Hmm... where did we go wrong?

SAN CARLOS!!!

We went to San Carlos, Mexico last week with 6 other families. Thanks Janet for getting this all together!

We all went and stayed in the same Condos down there and really had a blast. I hardly saw Conner and Savannah the whole time we were there. (Good thing they know how to swim, right?)

Savannah in a rare moment out of the water....

Kayla - you're supposed to ride with the wave, not against it!
Some of "the girls" on our trip. Let's make it annual!!!

We were there for 4 days, and here are some of the valuable lessons I learned on this trip:

1) Don't take a 14 month old to the beach.

2) If you DO take a 14 month old to the beach, never leave the door open, and if you DO leave the door open even for a second, check the path to the beach and you are sure to find said 14 month old running for the ocean.

Me and the culprit - at the scene of the crime!

3) When taking a 14 month old to the beach - be sure you bring along a darling 20 year old girl named Kandyce to help take care of any 14 month olds you may have. (Actually, Kandyce, or any member of the Greene family will do! :) We love the Greenes!)

Kandyce, her crew, and a bucket of crabs!

4) Be ready to eat pans of brownies each night.

5) Try not to look at your huge stomach the next morning as you put on your swimsuit!

6) Don't innocently dump the ice water from your cooler off the balcony of your condo. People may be on their patio underneath you! :)

7) 12 people really can fit in an 8 person condo - and comfortably!

8) Sand can get in a lot of places.

9) Seaweed takes a LONG time to get out of your hair. (Just ask Kayla)

10) Don't drop your digital camera on the table at the McDonalds on the way down, because you will have no camera for your whole trip - and borrow other people's pictures to remember you really were there!

And finally . . .

11) Don't try to take family pictures at the beach!! Below is the proof.

Umm... I don't think this will be the Christmas card this year!!!

Unless, I guess we could photoshop Conner's head onto his body, and use this one, right? HA!!

Oh well, we had a blast and hope to go again next year!

Hey! We did it!

OK, how scary is it that all it takes to finally get my background right is asking my daughter and her 14 year old friend to patiently walk me through the whole thing?! It's easy . . . you just click this, then that, then here, then there, and don't forget to change this, then voila! There it is! By the way mom . . . you are so slow!

Thanks to a friend from the ward who called and offered up her daughter's services - I was going to take her up on it after we got back from Mexico, but now I don't have to! :)

On the same lines of scary stuff our kids can do . . . have any of you ever asked your kid to send a text for you because you are being responsible and driving and don't want to text while you drive? So you give them a long, detailed, 3 sentence message, and they toss the phone back to you exactly 3 seconds later. "What's wrong? Don't you want to send the message for me?" Yeah, I already did! "What? How? How is that humanly possible?"

Addi-bug!!!

So why is it by the 4th kid you almost don't know they exist because of lack of pictures? It couldn't be because every time you go to get the camera someone else has, spilled something, started crying, thrown up, peed their pants, etc. could it? If I don't shape up I'm going to have to start showing Addison baby pictures of Savannah and telling her it is her! (I could probably get away with that because they look so much alike)

Anyway, Kayla spent some "sister" time with Addison, and this is what she came up with:

Addison sure loves Kayla. Sometimes she only wants her and not me - which frankly is OK!

Addison is now running everywhere. Apparently walking just won't get her where she needs to go fast enough. The world will end if she doesn't run over to a spot on the grass, look, point and say doggie (everything is doggie) and run over somewhere else and point and look, then run somewhere else. Then she'll break out laughing for no reason - but something was hilarious and only she knows it! Dang, they are so cute you really could eat them couldn't you?