Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Jordanelle TRI

We spent last weekend in Park City for a little staycation, for the Jordanelle Triathlon, and some boating. We stayed at our timeshare at the Westgate, and my sister, Brianne and her family stayed with us. She did the Triathlon also.

We had a good carbo-loading dinner of spaghetti and chicken the night before. Yumm!

And we enjoyed some swimming with the kids!




Saturday morning, on our way to the race, we got to see the Tour of Utah bike ride pass by us. It was pretty awesome! They were moving so fast. I can't believe how many bikers there are! Here are some of them heading towards Timpanogos:

Race morning. Body marking. At this point I feel like I could throw up. This was my 7th triathlon, but my FIRST attempt at the Olympic distance, which is twice the distance I've done in the past. Eeeek!

Here are Brianne and I before the race. My race starts about 30 minutes before the sprint distance. So we didn't race together at all.

I'm one of those green heads floating in the water, waiting to start. The swim went pretty smoothly. Not too many people bumping into me. It was fun!

Swim to bike transition.

They had a fun area to entertain all the kids while waiting for the racers. They had crafts and face-painting. The girls loved it! I really appreciate Kevin for bringing the kids and watching them at all my races. I know it's hard to keep them entertained for so long, but it means SO much to me to have them waiting for me at the finish line! Thanks, Kev. xoxoxox

Face painting......

Kev didn't get a shot of me finishing, but here's the back of me right after I finished......

We did it! Brianne finished her sprint in 1:38:06, and was 7th in her age division. She has a 3 month-old baby!

Exhausted!

Here we are waiting for the shuttle to take us back to our cars. Ryker has had enough.

I have to be honest though. I am pretty disappointed in my times. I know I was under-trained. I missed SO many training days! I had done the distances in training, but only one brick (bike to run) workout, and not enough biking or running. And I paid for it. Dearly. I cannot believe how hard the run was for me, and that's normally my best discipline. I have to blame part of it on the heat. In training, I only ran in the evenings after Kevin got home. So it was always cooler. Big mistake. If you're going to be running a race in the heat, train in the heat! It was in the 90's on Saturday. My body couldn't take it. I poured water all over myself every chance I got, and drank lots and lots of gatorade, but I can't believe how tough of a time I was having. The swim was great, just like in my training. The bike was okay, but my tires were low, and I failed to pump them up before the race, so I think that made it even harder! But the run, I'd call it more like a walk. I had to stop and walk WAY too much. My head was pounding, and I was getting the chills from being so hot. My lips were so dry, and I just wanted to be DONE!
Here are my times:

Swim (1500 meters): 36:02 Pace:2:24.2
T1: 4:05 (WAY too long! I forgot my quick laces so I had to tie my shoes, and I wasted time putting stupid gloves on for the bike.)
Bike (25 miles): 1:43:43 Pace: 14.4 mph (weak.)
Run (5.7 miles): 1:00:40 Pace: 10:38 (Aahhh!)
Total race time: 3:26:20.65
I know I'm being kind of hard on myself, but I know I can do better than this! And I hated that feeling of being under-trained! I went running last night and just ran all of my frustration out as hard as I could. I've learned from this experience, and I know what to do for the next Olympic tri, which is in Daybreak on Sept. 19th.
Bring it on.

Okay, so then we tried to go boating at Jordanelle with some friends. Nope. It was "full", too many boats. So we tried Rockport, about 15 minutes away. No luck. So we jetted over to Echo, and had a marvelous time! I just sat in a chair most of the time and hung out on the beach to relax. The kids had a blast!















Kevin has been practicing and practicing, and he finally landed his first 360!! Great job, honey!
So, there's my really long post about our fun weekend!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Asia


Over the July 24th weekend, my dad, brothers, some cousins, and uncles went on a hike up in the Salt River Mountains in Wyoming. My dad brought his 2 horses, Asia and Brandy. During their ride/hike, they came to a snow field and didn't want to take the horses across. So they tied them up. Everyone continued on to a lake, took pictures, and when they returned, Brandy was still there, but Asia was gone and her reins were still tied to the tree. My brothers first discovered this. They started looking around and noticed that she was clear down at the bottom of the mountain, my brother said about 500 feet down. They saw her hoofprints where she had began to slip, and apparently stumble and roll down the mountain side, which was very steep according to my brother. But she was standing, swishing her tail, so they knew she wasn't dead. So long story short, my brother got to her and she was in horrible shape. Part of the skin on her face was torn and hanging down. The skin of both of her eyes was cut and hanging, so she couldn't see. She had horrible gashes and cuts on her neck. I have pictures, but they're too graphic, so I decided not to post them. Anyway, she was able to walk, even though she couldn't really see, and my dad had to lead her out of the canyon about 6 miles. She was seen at the vet in Star Valley, stayed there for a few days, then she was brought home. She had a puncture wound in one of her front knees, but it was looking okay, but the vet said to keep an eye on it.
Well, about 2 weeks after this accident, she started favoring her knee, and it was becoming swollen. Her eyes and her neck scars were healing well though. She could also see just fine. My dad took her into the vet and she was very concerned about it. Basically, if a horse has leg problems, they usually have to be put down.
Asia had a hairline fracture that broke away, so this past Tuesday, they had to put her down.
I'm so sad that my dad has to go through this pain, he loved his horse so much. He fed and saw her twice a day ever since he bought her a few years ago. He rode her hundreds of miles. He cared greatly for her. She was an awesome horse, and one of the most gentle I've known. He said he's never had a horse that was so "personable". She'd just walk up to you, and nudge you on the back to say hi. She was interested in you, while the other horses don't always want much to do with you. It's so unfortunate, but I'm glad he got to have her while he did. I think she helped him through some rough times, and she was a good friend for him.
I can't believe we've lost 2 horses within a few weeks, but I guess that's life, and you just have to deal with it the best you can.
I collected a bunch of pictures of Asia and my dad on the many rides we've been on, and made them into a slideshow, so if you want to see it, click here.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

My brown eyed girl

On August 16, 2004, my sweet Trinidee was born!



And we celebrated her 5th birthday on Sunday, August 16, 2009. That morning before church, she opened her presents and had some time to play with them.
We had dinner at Kevin's parents house Sunday night, and celebrated the 3 August b-days: Me, Trin, & Toby. There are so many people in the family now that one cake isn't enough anymore. Kevin bought this princess cake for Trin the night before. It was hard juggling 2 cakes, singing happy birthday, and keeping kids from lighting themselves on fire with the candles.


Trin was concentrating on blowing out the candles, and slanted the cake a little too far forward. And this is what happened...........









But, she saved her princesses!

Trinidee loves to: COLOR, put puzzles together, spend time with family, swing on the swingset, hang on the top bar of the swingset and go from one end to the other, (she's got some strong hands!), get her nails painted, play with barbies, paint, swim, go to Discovery Gateway, go to hotels, Disneyland, and she LOVES birthdays!
When she's excited to do something, she'll say, "I can't wait, I'm so exciting!" She also says, "you did that on purfose."
She just started Kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. She goes for a half day from 12:05-3:20.
Trinidee is a very independent little girl, and she has her own unique personality. I'm so happy I have such a sweet daughter. And I can't believe she's already 5 years old!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRINIDEE!

Young Women's Camp

We had our ward's Young Women's camp over August 11-14. It was a fun and successful year! We had a lot of fun doing crafts, playing games, relaxing, eating yummy food, hiking, feeling the spirit, and just enjoying nature. The girls did a great job of getting along. We were able to go boating the last day at Starvation, until a HUGE storm blew in. It was raining SO hard, and the wind was blowing things all over the place. We packed up and left about an hour earlier than we wanted to. Right after we got the boat loaded up and ready to go, the storm was completely gone and it was sunny and hot again. Whatever! We still had a good time ;)
This has been my 6th year in a row going to girls camp, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it! Thanks, girls, for another fun year!









Monday, August 17, 2009

Catching up.....

Okay, I'm finally doing it. I'm catching my blog up!
Let's start back on July 24th, Pioneer Day. We went to a friends house and did fireworks in the street. Pretty simple. It was fun to watch the kids get SO excited over the fireworks!


Then the next day, we went up to Pineview Reservoir with my 3 girlfriends from high school and their families. We had a blast! It was a nice warm day, and the kids loved playing on the beach.


Bailee even knee-boarded for the first time! Kevin just got in the water with her and helped her get on, then we just slowly started going & she held on! I'm so impressed! Then she would just let go after a few seconds. It was so cute!


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On July 28, we went to another playgroup in our ward. This time it was at a park in Daybreak, right by the "lake". The kids loved playing on the beach. Bailee was already back in school, so it was just Trin, Ryker and I. Here's some pics of the people that were there:














On July 31, we headed up to the barn in Wyoming for the Garrett reunion, (Kevin's mom's side). We had a lot of fun, and I took way too many pics to post, so if you want to see them, I made a slide show. Just click here.






On August 4, I had the awesome privilege of going to a photography workshop given by Michael Andrew.
I cannot say enough about this guy. He teaches photography to beginner and intermediate photographers. He's also a very successful wedding photographer. He explains things in a way that makes sense. If you ever want to learn more about photography, he has FREE online classes, just go to his website: http://www.michaelthementor.com/
Our workshop lasted from 9:00am to about 11:00pm. I learned SO much that day! I'm so excited to get my photography business going, and I don't think I could have done it without this guy's help. He's awesome! Thanks, Michael! And Jess, thanks for telling me about him, it was good to spend the day with you :)




Here's my birthday party, Aug. 7:

I was actually supposed to be up in the Uinta's on my b-day, but the thunderstorm warning was pretty bad, and up there, you don't want to get caught in that, especially with horses. So I ended up staying home. Kev & I went out to dinner that night at Johnny Carino's, and went to a few stores in Jordan Landing. It was good to spend time with just my family. Oh, and I got a new bike rack for my car! Thanks, Kev!
On Saturday, August 8, my dad and I went on a quick ride up Rose Canyon in Herriman. It was great to get "back in the saddle" since I haven't gone riding at all this year!
This is a nice view of the SL valley.


And my niece, Maci, (not to be confused with my other niece, Hadlee, in the previous post) was blessed on July 12, but I took these pics of her in her blessing dress on Aug. 9. Isn't she a cutie?



Okay, next post: Girls Camp!