Is the Summer Really over? Picture and commentary overload!

So the summer is really over and I never posted as much as I intended to of all the fun --birthdays and trips and all. This will be a long, and picture heavy edition of Mmm.....air for documentation and for all my faithful family and friends who click away and find a slacking blog where so much potential is possible. Also--I'm warning you now about a pair of shorts I found at Wal-mart on clearance for $3! I thought they were a steal and they FIT--so I wore them everywhere this summer. But no one told me how unflattering they were--I mean I've always known that plaid added width--but I wasn't worried because these shorts fit... see if you can spy them throughout the photos because in a few years...and seconds we'll all ask...what was she thinking?

Paige's Birthday! It was so much fun. Can you believe she's two?
Addie's last day of Kindergarten. And just below it a picture of my beloved Kindergarten Taxi. Sheri and Denise, the other gal with a Kindergartner, picked Addie up every day for a whole year. They just understood about loading 4 to take 1....and jumped in and saved me. Thank you Angels!
Paige being two again. Cupcakes and candles. She was so tired after Church she fell asleep on the couch....what balance.
The 4th. What can I say but I love this holiday! Here is Stuart at the Murray parade--and the perks of this parade are: Starts early, very short, lots of candy! And a free flag for coming.
And for my sister Sharon and my cousin Carly. Chuckle.
And here we were later that day at Copperton park, swinging and eating snow cones!
Our summer ritual of riding bikes before it got too hot. On this particular morning I stuck Stu in the jogger to pump something or pull out something.
Now in the evenings we would bike as a family. This all started with the triathlon training. I was looking on KSL to find some type of bike that worked. I read many that sounded like this: "Been in our garage for a while, needs a little love, great bike!" I thought to myself...We've had bikes in our garage since we've been married, that need a little love..... James' mission bike and the bike my beloved roommate, Nicholle from SUU, gave me right after I got off my mission. Around 15 years old but let's love 'em alright? A couple of tubes later and TaDa...biking family. And a little side note about Nicholle's bike (the Manitoba). We triathletes are convinced the bike is magical. It has only two gears...hard and very hard, and only back breaks, but that bike can haul. What ever effort I cranked into it--it performed. Marisa almost rode it in the race--so it was almost famous but, sincere love only for this neon yellow, '90's beauty! Thanks Nicholle.
Here is Addie with all the Art work from Kindergarten. I had this idea of taking pictures of her holding each one, or of them by themselves and then do some cute scrapbook page with all of it, well, this is as far as it got. She was not interested in even holding one and I couldn't handle it on the counter any longer so I just held them up and snapped the shot and into the trash it went. That egg Humpty is cute though.
LAGOON! So this year for lagoon, James wasn't able to get assigned to do it with his second job wink wink, so we took another route. Goldenwest credit union offered two free passes if you opened a checking account. Percentage wise, it was still a good return for having our $25 for the next six months.
And doesn't this next shot just sum up the exhaustion of the place?

While waiting in line for this ride the operator informed Addie she was too tall and she should go ride any roller coaster in the park. That was all she needed to try the White roller coaster! Weeeee.
First glimpse of the shorts....
The 24th of July!
What a nasty wasp bite! There was a nest under the mailbox--she didn't even know I was taking a picture..knocked out with Benedryl.
Family reunion in Lava Hot Springs. This was the start of a fun trip to Wyoming with a day of fun first at the pool with cousins. Paige and Meg--Cu-ute.
Monica and Neil--way to make the drive guys. Hiking up to Phelps Lake overlook.
Shawna and her beautiful Gabe! You want to eat him...I know. Miles and Robyn too. Cooking out. Paige could hardly lift the roaster. Addie's hair lasted 4 DAYS-- a new hair record.
Now we go every year and we don't need to stop at the turn outs because we go every year....but I just can't help taking shots of these beauties...even from the car. Mmm....air.So Miles fell on his face, and while Robyn dished love, I grabbed the camera.
My mom's birthday! Donna made a heavenly ganache covered BT cake. Yummmm.
I'll have some...and I'll share....Wondering what shorts I'm wearing under the table? I'll never tell. Stuart and the new kitty.
An afternoon relaxing by the pool... in our backyard.
I was lucky enough to go with my sister Sharon to St. George to see two plays at Tuacan. During the day we played with my cousin Andrea and her kids at a splash pad.
Can you believe it rained through all of Sound of Music? Not heavy enough to cancel the show but annoying enough to wish they had...those shorts again...and for a confirmation of the afformentioned width issue click herescroll about half way down--different shorts--same 3 buck rack. Addie really enjoyed the VonTrapp children.
The Allen Family Reunion. What fun!
My georgous cousins, Whitney, baby Jane, Andrea, Clair, Sydney and my sister Sharon
Grandma and Grandpa Allen with Stu.
Charles and Julie and the Beaver too. Justin and Ali weren't there and I asked Stephen for news. He said they had just moved to Seattle Washington with his job about a month ago, just one week after Ali had had a little boy (can't remember the name so sorry). Eden so wanted a girl.
Donna and Stuart!
Hi Aunt Jeanne! It was so fun to see you!
Uncle Charlie teasing Stuart. The next one is too dark but if you look close the expressions of the two are hilarious. Stuart doesn't know wether to laugh or cry.
Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum offered $2 Tuesdays during August...So we went; but so did every other mother, with young children desperate for cool summer entertainment, in a two county radius. We had fun but each one of the kids got lost so after we couldn't find Paige on the way out -- We knew we were smart to be leaving. Thanks Robyn and Ian for the fun time--kind of.

Ben walking stealthy....

Oh a sign....Now what is this? The gang....
Stuart's one and only sign language sign. Can you guess what he wants?

Potato head creativity....
This is the end of this endless blog entry. If you made it this far you win a trip to my house for a plaid shorts burning.....And thank you blogger for added cutting and pasting options...it's about time!

Jodanelle Triathlon 2008! Check!

Right before we started! I had to do some cropping--the lycra was soooo unforgiving!

Marisa and her station all set! Is this transition area intimidating or what?
James hanging out by the only shade, the ambulance, until they had to move it to help the hypothermic shaking man out of the water.

I have a billion thoughts to tell so --hold on to your blogging bum....

First off--I have no recollection of nerves like these ever....my wedding? the MTC? child birth? first day of teaching? Nothing compares to the start of a triathlon--or the 24 hours prior. Yes, for the whole day before, my body was teaming with...adrenaline?...is that was it was? And ohhh the mental chatter...."will I finish? will I drown? Will I fall off the bike and need lots of plastic surgery? Will I look the part or stick out like a phony?...will Benjamin still think I'm cool if I'm not first!"

Second--we (Marisa and Amber) spent the night before at the cabin which was wonderful--Thanks mom & dad. We picked up our race packets the night before and ran into a teacher I used to teach with at Monte Vista...Marty...(Amy...remember Marty Davis? She totally kicked my butt and she's close to retirement!) We did some pasta and marshmallow roasting and hit the hay but I didn't sleep much. Around 3:30am I awoke to regretfully reviewed the whole coarse in my mind and listen to the deep breathing cadences of my babies to lull me back to sleep....at around 5:30.

Third--Everyone came out to watch. James wrangled 4 kids for 4 hours--his own personal triathlon, or should I say, quadathlon. Thank You James..... My mom, dad, Tall Paul, Donna, Robyn, Dave, Ian, and Miles. The Johnsons, and Smiths! Thanks for your cheering!

Fourth-- The race. The swim was cool but I got kicked a bunch. That's incentive to swim faster next time. The bike was the best--and really it's all about the bike these days. I borrowed Bevan's road bike and it performed! There is a big hill coming out of Francis that I've gone done a couple of times before--but with caution because it's so steep. During the race, I just let gravity do the work--and hit 42MPH! What a thrill. I forgot to drink anything while riding and left the bike to run the 5K relying on the first mile water station. It was a loooooong first mile. It felt like running on marshmallows and I just kept thinking about water. The run was the toughest...but I finished, and I was not the last one, just 5 minutes short of my 2 hr goal! Kudos goes out to my Idaho coach and wardrobe assistant, Vanessa, and Marisa and Amber for all those killer bricks!

Fifth-- Post race, I was 'an hungered... and could not be full.' After 2 cookies, a bagel, a cream cheese packet (ran out of bagel and sucked the rest down), an apple, 5 water bottles, I was ready to have lunch.
I am still in awe that I did it and wasn't prepared for this consequence: "Well if I can do this ... I can____________ fill in the blank." My list is long of impossible feats: keeping the kitchen clean...never loose my temper again...finish every single craft/home improvement project I've started....climb the grand....
The race review in my head is intense too....Did I push myself as much as I could have? Why did I let those buff old (our age was on our calf) ladies pass me? I might just have to do it again to know.... but no promises.

Lastly, thanks for all the comments of good luck. I can now get back to my regularly scheduled life, events, and happenings that are worth more noting than they have been getting lately because of this dinosaur of a goal that is now past! I didn't drowned, no surgery is needed, I blended in with the rest of the rookies and Ben gave me a high five when he saw me on the run! I'll take it!

Done with the swim! Note to self: take off dorky cap asap next time.
Donna chased me down at the end of the bike to snap this one. Again some cropping to help me out. High Five from Ben....It may look like I'm walking but I was running....really.....

The finish! At last! Again some cropping, but you get the idea.

Triathalon Training update

Earlier this summer I signed up for the Jordanelle Triathlon and was a little surprised myself because I could almost run for 3 minutes with out stopping and I didn't have a bike. Fast forward 2+ months and I think I'm ready.

The perks of the triathlon are these:

#1 I haven't tired of anyone of the areas of training/competition.
#2 Training with Marisa (my running coach) and Amber (Michael Phelps in girl form) has been super enjoyable.
#3 Unbelievability.....let me explain. This past Saturday we hauled all the bikes to Jordanelle to do a trial clinic. The water wasn't too cold and the bike course, a dream, compared to biking in the city where cars are everywhere. After the three events, I thought in my head, "I-did-that-mmmm-wow-never-thought-I-would-be-able-to-and-I-did-unbelievable".
#4 This really isn't a perk long term, but I've been able to eat anything for the last two weeks! I have lost a total of about 2 ounces from all the training, but I bet I've got a boat load of muscle underneath my post pregnancy lumpiness.

I can't wait for Saturday!

Breaking News and Backlog!

So for the breaking news....Ben has taken off, literally. He's training wheel free and loving it!

But he has to pedal twice as much to keep up with the rest of us because his bike is so little.

Earlier this month we spent a few days at the cabin where we hiked...

rode the Yerf Dog with Donna...

And had s'mores. mmmmm this is my favorite thing...roasting marshmallows in the pit up at the cabin. It's not too hot, the smoke follows beauty, and everyone likes their s'more a particular way. Ben likes the marshmallows roasted for him... Addie doesn't mind marshmallow all over her face....
And then there's Paige, who experienced her first s'more.....verdict...?Delish....
Yep... really good, And the Lighting McQueen T-shirt she's sporting is basic neglect. Leaving the pool earlier there was nothing for her to wear so Ben said she could wear his shirt. We roasted the marshmallows about 5 hours later, don't ask me why there wasn't time to find some better clothing options for her, I'll plead: cabin inflicted laziness....

SO...Gooooood.
My mom has a new cat that goes every where with her, even to Maverick to share an ice cream cone... Now Oreo, the cat, being the newest baby in the family (Stuart is old news) he gets carried every where. Bevan is doing the duty now. The grand kids love him, and he really is a fine fellow and friendly, so Stu's not too bitter.

And the smoke was chasing Kim, Emma, and Ali. Ahhh I love the cabin.

San Fransisco!

James is going to an Oracle conference in September and I hadn't considered going with him...until I did a little reading on Frommers about what to do if you only have one day...two days.... three days....

Here's the link to day three....doesn't this sound so fun? Why have I not done it yet? I think it's all the biking I've been doing--but a loop. No Backtracking!

So should I go with him? Have you ever been? Wouldn't it be so fun?

If you know anyone...

Looking for a preschool for this fall, I've had some slots come open! Word of mouth is the best type of advertising so if you wouldn't mind passing along my number... and if you can tear the numbers of this I'll be really impressed.