A bunch

We have had a bunch of new things going on lately, so I just went on a blogging rant. Make sure you take a gander. There are about 5 or 6 posts.

Nauvoo

Since we got a sweet new ride, we were itching for a road trip. Trav's parents have been really wanting to go see the sites in Nauvoo. Off we went! Trav and I have been before, which was a good thing, because we quickly came to realize that you can't see too many sites with a two year old. Or at least our two year old. She about "remodeled" Brigham Young's home. We did find some kid friendly activities, and stuck with them while Trav's Dad took his own tour of the place. Avery loved the pioneer dress up place. Although, if you ask her if she is a pioneer, she responds, "No, I'm just a princess."

We swam a lot in the hotel pool and just hung out. It was pretty relaxing. I really enjoyed the carriage ride and all the church history stories I learned. Oh and of course I have to mention that I won the church history trivia game given by Trav's dad at the end of the trip. Woo woo!

Just taking a pee pee break on the side of the rode. (both of them

Peeping Avery

I think she would have made it as a pioneer child

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More lovely visitors

After my parents left, Trav's came. We did a lot as well! They are real go getters, we went car shopping, park hopping, went to Nauvoo, took lots of naps, ate lots of good food and got our Mumu and Grandpa time in. I think by the end, they were ready to go home, sleeping in a basement on an air mattress for 13 days would be wearing on anyone! Thanks for all the meals, hotel room, and presents you bought for us. Our girls love you, and so do we!

Look at what we are sportin' now

I don't even care about the stigma of the mini van. I'm 28, have 2 kids, its super convenient and roomy and easy. I'm just in that stage, one day I will be out of it. Travis has wanted one for years. We love it. We call her Paige, cause look at her license plate. There will be lots of fun memories in her. Can't wait!

TRI

Every year we always look forward to the Ft. Leavenworth sprint triathlon. I don't know why I look forward to these events so much, because I'm usually pretty miserable during the races. I think it must be like labor, its really no fun during the event, but afterwords you forget how hard it was and end up doing it again. It really was so much fun. My good pals did it with me, along with my pops. He is 53 years old and only trained for about one in a half weeks. Kind of crazy Sid!

So just a quick synopsis of the race. First you swim 200 meters in a pool. They have you jump in 10 seconds apart from each other (there are timing chips involved so you know your time exactly). The swim for me was good. The guy in front of me was a backstroker. I tried to pass him up, but he was so long. I couldn't lose to a backstroker.

So after you swim, you run half naked to your bike. You have to put your shirt, socks, shoes, helmet, etc on and then ya just start pedaling with all of your might. The bike is the longest event in a tri. It was about 13 miles. I LOVED it. I felt so dang free! That is until the darn hills. They were never ending towards the end. And the crappy thing about it was that I accidently dropped my water bottle on mile 3 of the bike, and I didn't stop to pick it up, so I was feeling a little bit dry at the end. As I was finishing the bike, I saw my mom walking up the street with my girls. That was pretty cool for me.

After the bike, you have to change from your bike shoes to your running shoes. By this time, my legs felt like jello. But I had to start running. The first mile was miserable. I swear it took forever to get to. But after I saw that one mile marker, I caught my second wind and I decided to just book it and be done.

Finishing felt so spectacular. What a relief!

I think the reason I do these races is because I need to feel like I'm something besides a mom. I know a lot of women have side jobs, or do awesome crafts, or bake etc. I think this type of thing defines me as me, not me as a mom or a wife. Get it? Got it. Good.

Here are the pics to prove it.

This one is of all the girlies in my neighborhood who did it. No, I'm not sucking in. I promise. (I had to, look at all the hotties I'm standing next to.)

So you know at the end of movies that are based on a true story, they show a picture of the real person and you read a little fact about them. Well I'm going to do that right here on my blog with the gang. Just imagine really sentimental music in the background.

This was Sarah's first triathlon. She finished 6th in her age division. Her dog had puppies two nights before and so she was running on no sleep. She currently resides in Olathe Kansas as of 2011 and lives with her daughter, Evelyn and husband, Jim. (Oh and all those new puppies).

This was Milli's 2nd triathlon. She took 3rd in her age division. She definitely needs to work on her bike time and transitions. Her husband Travis had to miss the race, this was the first race he missed. They are still married as of 2011 with two daughters.

This was Rachel Kanooth's 3rd triathlon. She finished 4th in her age division. She enjoyed the taste of Milli's dust for most of the race. She and her husband, Leif, are currently in the process of moving to Tampa Florida so Leif can do a medical residency. Boo! We will miss Rachel's spunky spirit (see below)!

Jesse Washburn (the man sitting next to kim) has finished so many races, we can't even document them here. He was the ring leader for this triathlon, as he tried to convert many people to endure this race. Jesse unfortunately took a wrong turn on the bike and didn't place this year. This is the first year he has not placed. Maybe he shouldn't go so fast on his bike and next time the traffic controller will be able to wave him in the right direction. Poor Jesse! He is making his wife and kids move with him to Rapid City, South Dakota to do a dumb medical residency.

Kim Washburn has also done quite a few triathlons. She finished #1 in her age group. She is a very good biker, and Milli will miss going out on rides together. She is a good wife and follows her husband to crazy places like South Dakota. They will be residing there with their 2 girls for 3 years.

This was Jana Johnson's first triathlon. She not only ran a great race, but she was Milli's hair stylist before the race. Along with intense training, Jana enjoys Quicktrip runs, watching old films and playing strategic board games. She is the best friend a gal can have!

This was Sid's first triathlon. He finished 7th in his age category. He currently resides in Draper, UT. His goal in life is to never run a full marathon.

Tammy was the babysitter/photographer. Little do a lot of people know is that Tammy could have done this sprint triathlon, and beat a lot of people, but she refused to do it due to the 4 lap swim.

Later that day, the group got back together and had a BBQ bash. The athletes felt that since they accomplished such a feat, they could eat whatever they wanted. The truth is though, that realistically they all really only worked out for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, mostly in anaerobic respiration, thus burning muscle, not fat. But don't tell them that.

Pee Pee in the Potty

Avery is officially potty trained!!! That's right, no more nasty diapers. I'm so happy because I really didn't want to have 2 in diapers at the same time. Right when I was about to run out of "gift" diapers for Brooklyn, Avery was potty trained, so we haven't had to buy double diapers yet. Since we have been to lots of races and things like that, we have had to take Avery behind trees and have her squat to go pee pee. I guess she thinks its a normal thing to do, because the other day, I saw her doing this in our neighbors yard.

We may need to have a small conversation with her about potty etiquette. But I do have to say I'm proud of her for not peepeeing in her pants!

Lovely visitors

Grandma Tam and Grandpa Sid came to visit! It was a quick one. And it went by in a blur! What did we even do? Oh yeah, we played, went to the park, swung on swings, ate healthy food (they are on a kick), did a triathlon (more on that to come), blessed Brooklyn, went to the zoo and just hung out! Our kids love their grandparents!

Oh yeah, we asked my dad to hold Brooklyn while we got dinner ready, and he came up with this "awesome" invention. I kind of think its torturous for a 3 monther.

Cinco de mustache

Another cinco de mustache has come and gone.

We ate the Cafe Rio yummy recipes.

We beat down a pinata.

We grew mustaches.

We drank horchata.

Its always a fiesta to remember.

Well hopefully they remember it after downing those.

Oh come on, its just orange pop.

Or was it?

Hope everyone had a great Cinco de Mustache! I would just like to thank Chris for adding such beauty to the only family shot that both kids are actually looking at the camera. He's pretty much apart of the family anyways I guess.

One special girl

Travis had to work a 30 hour shift on Mother's day, so I didn't get breakfast in bed or the chance to sleep in. But that was OK because he got off work at noon and we went to church and were able to bless sweet Brooklyn. I was a little nervous that Travis would be "tired drunk" and would forget what to say, but he really was in tune with the Spirit and he gave an amazing blessing. That is something that I will remember on my 3rd mother's day. But Trav, you really aren't off of the hook. Next Sunday I'm expecting breakfast in bed, sleeping in, dishes done and time to myself. Love you! Enjoy these pictures of Brooklyn. She is such a neat baby.

Gettin' healthy... or die trying

I have a confession to make. I didn't gain very much weight when I was pregnant. In fact when I got home from the hospital after having Brooklyn, I only weighed 2 pounds more than the day I found out I was pregnant. I'm sure you are wanting to swear at me and punch your computer and hate me. But the reason I am finally confessing this is because I totally blew it after the pregnancy! I forgot that my body is weird and that I really pack on LBS during breastfeeding. I know a lot of women lose tons of weight during breastfeeding, but for some reason I just pack on the pounds. On top of that, life was crazy after the pregnancy. Brooklyn had to have surgery, my grandpa died, I was unexpectantly in Utah for a month without a husband, I was famished from breastfeeding and I forgot that nuts have a lot of calories. You see, my parents are health freaks lately. They don't have much junk in the house, so while I was staying with them, I pounded almonds like the end of the world was coming. What I'm saying is, I got chubs.When I was in Utah and Travis would call me to check in, I was always hogging down on something. One time he called me and I actually lied to him after he asked me, "are you eating again!"Anyways, when I came home from Utah, I was not fitting in my jeans, which I fit perfectly into 4 weeks previous (and post-pregnant). I gained about 6-7 pounds in 5 weeks.

Travis also has a confession that I will tell. Research hospital is a great hospital to work for because they provide free food from sun up to sun down. Travis really likes pancakes, and ironically, they make great ones. He likes to pound them every early morning. With that and 4 years of mostly studying and limited exercise unfortunately, his waste line has also expanded through the years.

It was time.

A lot of friends in our neighborhood have confessions as well, but I will leave that for them. Long story short, we decided to do a neighborhood weight loss competition. There were 20 people involved, 5 teams of 4 . We did a month long "lifestyle change." We based it off of the game on diet. I picked this diet because it isn't another one of those fad diets, where you lose 10 pounds a week. Its a diet that focuses on eating all things in moderation (sound familiar)? It helps you with portion sizes, balancing carbs, fats and protein and eating natural foods. It is a competition. You get points for eating 5 meals per day, sleeping 7 hours a night, drinking 3 liters of water, exercising 20 minutes, changing a bad habit, picking a good habit and communicating with your team. We were on teams of 4. This was serious because each person put 20 bucks in the pot. After 4 weeks of doing it, I was fitting back into my jeans, I was feeling great, I was detoxed from my sugar addiction and I was $150 richer! Our team barely squeaked out a W, it really was a close one!

We have been off of the diet for almost two weeks. I have splurged a little, but I feel like I have picked up really great habits. I really don't need to stuff my face as much as I have been, I don't need a dessert every night, I loved doing the habits, my teeth have never been flossed so much in their life! I feel like Travis and I got a lot closer too. We were totally on a mission. It is kind of funny though, because we know its the right way to live, but it is so easy to go back to bad habits, and of course we have slipped a little bit. The part I hated about the diet was that it was so regimented. I felt like I was on a breastfeeding schedule because I had to eat every 4 hours or I would lose points, but not sooner than 2 hours apart. I felt like I was always fighting the clock and trying to figure out when to squeeze my next meal in, etc. It was really fun to do with a group, and I felt like I couldn't cheat because I would let my team down. I do recommend this if you need to lose a few pounds, or even to just get into good eating habits.

Going along with the theme of being healthy, I ran in the Kansas City temple first annual 5K last Saturday. Kansas City is finally getting a temple, and the whole exterior is finished. What better way for us Mormon's to party hardy than by running a race! I haven't ran an actual 5K race in awhile, and I forgot how hard 5K's are. Its such a short distance that you feel like you don't need to pace yourself, so I ran hard throughout the whole race. I seriously about died on the last stretch. I ended up finishing first out of the girls with a time of 21:26. I can't lie, my friend Rachel would have probably beat me, but she had to stop and tie her shoe two times, and I only beat her by about 20 seconds, bad luck Rach! Here are some pics:

Me and my girls

Kim, Rach, Me and Brooklyn. Look how red faced I was

Accepting the awards, the temple is in the background (side note: Avery is pretty much potty trained, but we kind of forgot to ask her if she needed to go potty through the whole race, and she totally pooed her pants on that podium)

The people were nice enough to offer snacks for the runners... oh and their kids?

Sugar crash!

I think she got bored

So that is our little success story. I swear the older you get, the harder it is to keep up these days! My parents are coming in town this week, I hope they leave their evil nuts at home! Sid and I are doing a sprint triathlon. Stay tuned!