Christmas Fun (December 09)

So I'm getting there... Slowly, but surely, I'm getting caught up to the present. In this entry, I'm going to try to capture some of the Christmas festivities of December. We had a busy month and for me, it seems like there is never time to enjoy the season because there is so much to do. I wish I could sit down and play and sing Christmas music, read a few more Christmas stories, spend more time with those I love, and have more time to contemplate what Christmas is really about. Maybe I'll get better at planning and preparing, or I'll just leave some things out that aren't as important. We'll have to see what I can do to change things. Anyway, back to the fun activities (and they were worthwhile because for all of them I was with people I love).

First of all, we were able to take the kids for an early viewing of Santa on the 13th. Our Elementary School has an annual "Breakfast With Santa (and the Grinch)" and we eat pancakes, sausage, and fruit and stand in line for pictures with Santa and the Grinch. Here are the kids enjoying breakfast:They did a great job with the backgrounds this year (we have an awesome PTA) and the kids did pretty well. William and Caleb were fine with Santa, even though Caleb looks like he's ready to hop down.
However, the Grinch was a little scary for them. William wouldn't even go up to sit by him and Caleb was NOT happy that I put him on the Grinch's lap!


The weekend before Christmas, we were able to head up to St. George and visit with Chad, Ulma and Jen (who happened to be there for work that weekend). On the way up, we were able to capture some of the snow left in the Gorge. It was really pretty.


While we were up there, we did some shopping (I love St. George shopping for some reason) and we were able to go over to Tuacon (for those of you who don't know or who have forgotten, it's an outdoor theater really close to St. George) and see the Live Nativity. They did a great job and it was just the right amount of time (not too long for the kids, but long enough to get a feel for the events that transpired so long ago). I loved the music they used. It was a nice to show the kids, and remind ourselves, why we are celebrating Christmas. Here's a picture of the Nativity:

Here were are trying to keep warm in our seats: (from left to right: Aries (Ulma's cousin), Ulma, Chad, me (holding Caleb), Zach, Jen, Kaitlyn, and Jen's friend Jori is holding William. Ryan is taking the picture, of course)

Here's another picture of the whole group enjoying the lights and the grounds around Tuacon:

The kids were able to see Santa one more time, this time individually. We told them to tell him one thing they wanted most. William asked for chocolate!

It was very cold that night and we were able to go sit by the fire and warm up:


I made Ryan get a picture of the entrance to Tuacon as we were leaving. I loved the lights and water together:

On the way back to Chad and Ulma's, we stopped to get a night shot of the St. George Temple. This was taken from the hill on the North end of town...

We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks Chad, Ulma and Jen!

A December Birthday... (December 08)

The older I get, the less "to do" I want about my birthdays. It's hard enough for me to digest that I'm over thirty (yes, I'm still in denial) and each year brings me closer to the big 40 (really not looking forward to that). Anyway, Ryan still wanted to do something with the family, and it is fun to see everyone and get together (and of course, eat and not have to cook). We ended up going to the Macaroni Grill - yes, I love Italian - and we had a good time. I still can't believe I'm moving farther from thirty, but my kids will keep me young (I also can't believe there are four of them now). Here's the long table (lots of family!) with everyone. The only bad thing was that the table was so long it was hard to talk to everyone. Sorry about that!


Here I am trying to blow out my only candle. That thing didn't want to go out!


William also made a bee-line for my seat as soon as he saw the piece of cake. He wasn't going to miss out on that!

Before...


After...



And NO, I did not eat all of it myself. Although I think I could have :) Thanks everyone for a fun birthday and for the great gifts!

Snow In Vegas! (December)

I know it's old news, but snowing in Vegas is a big deal! Especially when it snows two different days pretty close together. While I don't think that they needed to close down school for it, I guess that's what happens when it snows here. We were able to get a few good shots of it snowing from our backyard.

Here's another shot up towards the elementary school. This was the Monday snow storm and the kids are actually in school during this picture.


Ryan was able to take some great shots of the snow on the surrounding mountains.


It was fun to see all of the foothills and surrounding mountains and hills covered in snow that do not regularly have anything at all.
The kids had a good time playing in it also, even though it snowed so late on Wednesday that we had to wait until Thursday and it melted a little before we got to it...
Caleb walking around in it:


William with a snow ball:

Zach's Final Fall Hockey Game! (November)

Zach had a great season of Hockey (Roller Hockey, that is) this past fall. His team for the season was the Flames and he was able to get the red jerseys this season (his favorite color). He had a great time and really improved on his defensive skills. In fact, he played back on defense 9 1/2 out of ten times (he gets that from his mom - always liking defense more than offense). He is learning to skate backwards and "poke" check to get the puck away from the other players.

His team ended up getting first place for the season and on November 24th, they had the championship of the tournament for their age bracket. The tournament had started a few weeks before (during my triathlon) and as the first place team, they played the fourth place team. Unfortunately, they had a bad game and ended up losing. They began the journey up the loser's bracket the following Saturday (Nov. 22nd) by playing the 3rd place team and winning. On Monday, the 24th, they played the 4th place team again and won. They had an hour to rest and eat some oranges and get ready for the championship. Luckily, they were able to rest enough and played an amazing game and won again! Good job Zach! Here's a picture of his team getting their trophies:

The little guy on the far left is (was?) only four years old. He started the season not being able to get up if he fell and only being able to grip the hockey stick if it was placed just right in his glove. By the end of the season he could get up by himself and was even beginning to move toward the puck. He was fun to watch. As you can see, they all worked very hard and we had a great season!

Good Job Zach! We look forward to another fun season!

My First Triathlon (November 2008)

I know most of you already know this, but this past November I ran a "Beginner" triathlon in St. George. I wanted a goal to work toward to get in shape. Otherwise, it's hard to get out of bed and run (or bike or swim) - especially now that it's cold outside. Anyway, I actually enjoyed training for it and I got really excited to do an athletic event again (I miss High School Sports!) I was pretty nervous before it started - you can ask poor Ryan who had to hear all about it and listen to me agonize about it - but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (probably because it was only a beginner's distance).Here's me before the race started. Zach says he can see the nervousness in my eyes!

Now I'll take you through the race from the bystander's point of view (thanks for taking the pics Ryan!) This is me in line waiting to start the race. I met a great lady (Tracy in the blue) from the Salt Lake area that I got to know and I'll look for this Spring.


Here is me swimming and "gasping" for air!

In this shot I'm in my first transition from the swim to the bike. It was only in the upper 40's when we started the race, so that's why I'm wearing all the clothes. While it made for a comfortable race after the swim, it made me take way too long in the transition area. I took over 3 minutes and if I would have cut off two, I could have almost won the beginning distance for women!


Now I'm taking my bike up the path for the 5 mile ride...

Ryan and I had gone to check in and view the course the night before the race. Although it was dark, I made him drive the bike course so I would know what to expect. I was scared to death because there were a lot of hills and I hadn't practiced any at all (where do you have hills in Vegas?!) It ended up not being as bad as I had anticipated, thank goodness! Here I come down into the parking lot after my bike ride.


The run was the last part and I have to admit that I thought it wouldn't be too bad because I've done a lot of running to practice (or so I thought...) I guess it's a lot different when you don't have to swim 200 meters and ride 5 miles on a bike BEFORE doing that run. Anyway, here I come down one of the last hills into the home stretch. What a great feeling it was to run that last 100 meters knowing I was almost done (especially compared to the first 100 meters knowing I had a mile and a half still to run!)

Overall, it was a great experience for me. As for results, here goes:

In the Beginner Distance I placed 20th out of about 68 runners total (men, women and teenagers).
I placed 8th out of all of the women (all ages and I'm not sure how many - I didn't want to keep on counting).
In my age group I placed 3rd (men and women - about 10 total)
In my age group of females I placed 1st! (about 3 or 4 total)

I was about 8 minutes off the fastest time (a male) and about 2 minutes off the fastest female. I'm sure the results will be quite different when I try it again in April as I'll be going twice the distance...