I DID IT without shoes, but I DID IT!

As most of you know one of my goals was to do a Triathlon this year. So yesterday May 20th 2010 in Woodlake, NC I did my first triathlon. It was a Sprint which consisted of 600yds swim, 17.2 bike, and 3 mile run. The first thought that ran threw my head when getting into the cold water was, 'Why am I doing this, I'm crazy' but I pushed on. I swam getting kick only twice which was not as bad as the nightmares I had envisioned. Once finished I ran and got all my bike stuff on and grabbed my bike to start the bike portion. It was a beautiful bike trail with amazing trees all around (thank you N. Carolina). About mile 7 my right shoe was giving me a lot of trouble. I finally decided to just take it off. So for the next two miles I rode with just one shoe(my shoes are the clip on to the peddle kind).
WITH SHOES

Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but Thursday night at a church Relief Society Meeting I slipped on some water on our nicely redone wood floors, bruising up my knee pretty bad. My knee started to give me a lot of problems. So at about the half way point I just ditched both of them (I gave them to the nice man who helps pump up flat tires) and rode the rest of the bike ride in socks.
NO SHOES

I had to stop twice and walk my bike up the hills because it was getting to much for my feet digging into the bike peddles. I finished the bike portion and changed into my tennis shoes. I started to run but at this point my knee wanted none of that, so I walked as fast as I could. I would run until I couldn't and then walk and until the end of the race I ran and walked, ran and walked. About a 1/2 mile from the finish line a little old Grandma who was the very last person passed me. This left me as the very last person. Now most people might take this as a defeat, but not me. Their were so many times I wanted to quit and be finished. Honestly I would have had numerous reasons to stop, but I didn't. I kept going! As I got to the finish line I had a great friend named Amanda waiting for me who said, "I couldn't let you do this all by yourself." I am so blessed!

Billy so wanted to be there and by all means was there just not physically. He called me on my ride home from the race. I think he was shocked and a little surprised by it all. This was an amazing experience and I am so glad I did it!

Raising Arizona

Zona:"Mom what drink do you want from Wal-mart?"
Mom: "Oh I would love to have a Dr. Pepper....but only if it has cherry in it!"
Zona: "Well you can have an Orange soda!"
Mom: "But I said I wanted a DP with cherry!"
Zona: "Mooommmmmm! We don't drink caffeine!"

*Side note, Zona is right we don't drink caffeine or pop for that matter. But to be honest with you, if I'm going to cheat it is only DP with Cherry. My sister Tracey let me sip some of hers once when I was pregnant with Parker and feeling very nauseous. Since then I've loved it and I can't go back to the regular stuff. But I only drink it when I've had a really, really bad day and I deserve one (which isn't to often).

Yeah Baby! Mrytle Beach

Ireland with her Body Board

So this weekend the kids and I went to Myrtle Beach for a much needed vacation. The kids body boarded and had a great time with all the fun things the hotel had to offer; waterpark, cool playgrounds, and an amazing beach! I very much needed the break and stressfree vacation.

Parker and How He Rolls




Broc Buried Alive

Raising Our (Silly) Kids

So yesterday at the store the kids asked me to get a watermelon. Seeing as there's not very many of us I got a small watermelon. Not thinking much of the seedless watermelon I picked out. When we cut into it after dinner I got a multitude of grumbles and complaints because the watermelon had no seeds in it. Honestly as a kid I hated the seeds. However our kids wanted to spit them at each other like their mouths were a machine gun. Who knew?!!!!

Because He Loves Me

So Billy sent me two different bouquets one for our Anniversary and one about a week later for Mother's Day. I wanted to show everyone these beautiful flowers. The picture doesn't do them justice. But they are very beautiful and smell great! Thanks Billy I love them and you too!

Remember Our Culture Visitors

Parker, Broc, Eva, Ireland, Arizona, and Jess

So this past Friday night we were honored to have 2 young performers from the Remember Our Culture group stay at our home. The group is about 50 college enrolled students from either Brigham Young University or Utah
Valley University.

The girls we had stay at our house were both of Native American decent and from Arizona (the state of course). The group is made up of all different kinds of decent like, South America, Philippines, Japan, Korea, China, Native America, Mexico, Africa, the Polynesian Islands, and the Mediterranean Sea. It was a real honor to have them come and stay with us. They stayed Friday Night and we were able to see them perform Saturday Night at the Methodist University Auditorium.
They perform dances from all of the different areas the group members descend from. Jess and Eva were both Native American. They made me laugh, cry, and feel very very appreciative while in our home. Laugh: Because they kept referring to the people from Lumberton, NC (the place they stayed at the night before) as 'the Lumbees'. Cry: Because they shared there testimonies with me and what strength they have. Appreciative: They were so very polite. They cleaned up breakfast. Played with the kids. They even babysat (The whole group as a service project babysat for Military families) and even left a nice hand written thank you card. I am very grateful for meeting this great group of kids.

* For more info check out www.roctheplanet.org

Broc's First Piano Recital

So Broc started piano lessons last October. He has been going once a week since then. We only have an electric piano and have been looking for a nice 'actual' piano for sometime now. So with that being said he really doesn't get the chance to practices as much as he should. So my naive thinking, thought he hadn't really learned a whole lot. But boy was I completely surprised when I saw him very respectfully walk up to the big piano, sit down, and begin to play. He did a fantastic job! He said he messed up but I didn't even notice. If he did he just keep going and the song sounded great. Boy is he growing up so big!
*Sidenote-I have a good friend moving to Germany and she doesn't want to take her piano and so she is giving it to us.......How great is that! And Lisa thanks for the closer (better) picture!