One of those awesome parent moments

There's genious in the way Heavenly Father humbles us as parents. Sometimes it's done by the love of our little children.

We had a good day today, the kids and I. Yes I got impatient at times and we never made it beyond the backyard, but it wasn't too bad. I got the dining room floor swept and kitchen table all cleaned off and wiped down today (which is a bigger task here than it should be), and when I was putting the table cloth on I told Mckayla it's too bad we didn't have anything pretty like flowers to put on the table. She was busy with Talm and didn't say much. Well I went swimming after dinner and came home to her grabbing my hand and telling me to close my eyes. So with my eyes closed she led me into the kitchen, had me open them, and showed me her super sweet surprise. She'd gotten some fake flowers and put them in a vase on the table, all on her own. So sweet!

She gives me little presents all the time, things she finds around the house and wraps them up in various fabrics or old wrapping paper she can find, but this was really special. I didn't even think she was listening really, and then she does something like this? I was so touched and am even a little emotional writing about it. Oh my sweet babies. They sure inspire me to be a better mom.

Cute kids and a run!

Look at my cuties. This was after church today. I would've liked to get more of Mckayla's cute curly hair and a real smile from Talm and Kaityln, but oh well, they're still the cutest kids I know (I'm not biased, right?).

My friend Heidi and I ran the Bonneville Shorline Trail in Draper yesterday. I've been up there before, but Heidi hadn't, and I got to break her into the world of real trail running. I'm not so sure she loves it like I do ;-)
We encountered a mother and two baby deer about oh, 15 feet in front of us on the trail after coming around the corner. Me being paranoid as I am around animals hid behind Heidi asking "Deer don't charge, right?". They of course went up the hill a few minutes later, but not before me getting pics. I do have to say I'm kind of dissapointed in my camera phone, it didn't do so great yesterday.
After Heidi had to go I caught this cool pic of a double rainbow. It made me think of my Grandma Ann that passed away a few weeks ago. Love you Grandma.
Then of course, I got caught in a thunderstorm on the trail. Me and storms lately, geez. I managed to find a nice rock shelter though. Not the most plush, but did cover me on 3 sides from the wind and rain. I didn't get to go as far as I would've liked, so I'll have to hit it up again after St George in 13 days :-) I'm way excited to run it, but not so much for the drive (Kaitlyn doesn't travel well in the car) and accomodations. We're camping in an RV park which looks nice, I just hope we don't get stuck on some random pad of grass they point out to us and look silly as the only tent amongst all the RV's that cost more than my home. So if anyone knows of any cheap/free condo's or hotel rooms, let me know...;-)

"All is well, all is well"

My Grandma Ann's funeral was today. It was a lovely service with a simple lighthearted feeling to it, much like my Grandma. My sister set up a wonderful arrangement of pictures at the viewing from her life. Some great stories from her childhood were shared by her sister Linda. My Grandma was in a family of 5 girls (and ironically raised 5 boys) and her sister said one night the girls were up giggling. Their father told them they'd be in trouble if he had to come in again, so my Grandma set up jacks in the dark hallway so they'd hear him coming next time. She also wanted badly to go to President Grant's funeral service when she was in high school. After talking her dad into taking them they were a bit late. Well they ended up sitting on the stand for the services. Linda also shared how again when the girls were in high school they had their first evening dance. My Grandma raised the money to buy her sister, not herself, a new dress for it. Linda said it is still the most beautiful dress she's owned.

My Grandma's eldest son Steven shared some neat memories from her time raising them as well. She was notorious for keeping the house warm. If there was a baby around it never dipped beow 85. Her boys would leave the house bundled in long sleeves and coats and one son would walk to school with his coat unzipped and shirt unbuttoned just to cool down. A cousin of mine who has a 5 month old baby is living with them. The cousin had layed her baby on a blanket in the living room by the screen door. Grandma called her sister to ask if she thought the baby would catch cold. Her sister assured Grandma the baby would be fine as it was 93 degrees outside. :-) She taught her boys hard work and love for their family.

I had a few other touching experiences this week leading up to the funeral. My Grandparents have had this macaw (big blue and yellow jungle bird) for the last 25 years that my Dad gave them when he owned a pet store. Well that bird doesn't like anyone but my Grandma, and sometimes my Grandpa and Dad, but other than that he squaks his head off if anyone else is in the house (within view or not). Well tuesday, the day my Grandma died he didn't make a sound all day and there were a ton of people in and out of the house. The only sound he made all day their Bishop heard. The bird (who could talk) was crying like a baby. Then 2 days later, thursday, he died. These birds live to be 80 years old, and he was only 30 and was in fine health before that. It's so interesting how the spirit works. What a special blessing we have to have that spirit with us.
I also had the opportunity to do a music number at the funeral with my cousin Ashley. I played the flute and she played the piano. I got my flute out about 6 months ago, and not since high school before that. When I got it out last winter I couldn't remember any of the fingerings at all, so it didn't even dawn on me to use it for the funeral. Well wednesday I just decided to get it out, looked up the first fingering, and took off playing like normal after that. I'd been practicing all week long, and think my Grandma was with with me during that time as she was a very musical person. I found the experience again very touching to note how the spirit works.

I'm so glad to have had my Grandma as long as I have. I don't remember any of my great-grandparents, and I hope Mckayla will. Grandma was a wonderful person who will certainly be missed. I hope and pray that my Grandpa, Dad and uncles with be comforted at this time and know that all is well. I know that if we live according to the commandments of the Lord and keep our covenants, covenants which started 56 years ago when my Grandparents were married, we'll see her again and be together forever as a family.

There is a card at the bottom of this frame my Grandpa wrote to my Grandma with his love on their anniversary. It was very touching.



My beauties



and the sweet innocence of youth.

Families can be together forever!

Till we meet again

My sweet Grandma Allan died yesterday morning. She was healthy and happy and died peacefully in her sleep. It was certainly unexpected, which makes it more difficult in some ways. My sister has some great pictures of my Grandma and our kids on her blog, and I hope to find more pictures soon to post, but I chose this one above because I think it summarizes my Grandma well. She loved her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and especially babies I think. She was always so happy to have us and would have done anything to accomodate us. She was always the last to sit down at meals after making sure everyone had everything they needed, and she was always the last one to sit down after the meal because she'd never allow anyone to help clean up. My Grandparents are modest people, living comfortably on little, but always did so much to make holiday's great for us. I'm sure they did more than they really could. One thing she passed on was pancake eating. She made the most wonderful thin pancakes when we'd sleep over, and topped them with butter and sugar. I've always enjoyed pancakes that way and now my little Mckayla has followed suit.
I mentioned they always did more for us than they really could. When I was 17 they drove up with me to Couer d'Alene, Idaho for the 2001 National Triathlon Championships. It was a LONG drive, but we did it. I got to spend such neat time with them, talking and enjoying the scenery. They've always been so excited to see me race, and have only been able to a handful of times, and this race is one they always talk about, still, 7 years later.
While I will certainly miss her, I know she is fine. She's in the arms of our Heavenly Father, and with her loved ones. I pray that she'll watch over our little family and maybe grace us with her presence in those times when I'm not as patient and loving and generous as a mother as I should be, as she was.

My Grandma, my Dad, and my Grandpa at our wedding.

If you could, pray for my sweet Grandpa. He suffering from Alzheimer's and I'm afraid this time is and will be awfully difficult for him.

Save a life

I stole this post from my friend Heidi's blog (sorry Heidi, just savin' lives!)

One of my online friends made me aware of a bone marrow drive being sponsored by the NASCAR Foundation that will cover the costs associated with tissue typing, ordinarily $52. If you meet the donor eligibility criteria, you can send away for the free kit between now and the 22nd of September. All that is required is a very simple and painless cheek swab sample to get you on the bone marrow donor registry. Please do it. I cannot think of a better way to spend 5 minutes. You could save a life.
Like she said, this isn't donating bone marrow right now, it's just getting typed for it and getting put on a list. Your chances of getting asked to donate are 1 in 20,000, but just think, if it was your loved one that needed the donation, wouldn't you be praying for a donor? Let's do what we can to help.

The Bear Lake Brawl

Meaning the drive up there and back with the kids. Haha, not really, but it sure felt like it at times. Kaitlyn is not a fan of driving, at all. Mckayla and Talmage are great, especially when there's a movie on. No, the Bear Lake Brawl was the latest of my triathlon's this season. We drove up Thursday night and didn't get up there till dark. We quickly set up camp, climbed in the tent and froze our tails off. The low dipped down to 40 degrees. Yikes!!! Mckayla and Talmage did great, no complaints at all from them, but Jer never warmed up and Kaitlyn's face and hands were cold despite her eskimo style bundling. Once she woke up at 2am I brought her in with me and she did ok the rest of the night, which I might say was very long. I was probably checking the clock every hour hoping it was morning, and the sight of sunshine finally was a welcome sight.
Anyway, Friday was a fun, laid back day. We drove into Garden City, restrained ourselves from Raspberry Shakes aka: not a good prerace meal (you know you have a husband who loves you when he doesn't get one either so I don't get cravings), and we played on the beach. I was so excited for the kids to play in the water because it is so shallow for so long. Even out at the no-wake buoys which must have been 150-200 yards off shore it was only 4 feet deep. But they only wanted to play in the sand. Silly kids, I can buy you sand from Home Depot. It was very good castle building sand though.

Talmage loves getting Dad wet

The kids' self made sleeping accomodations, rocks and sand.

Well friday night came along and we knew we couldn't do another cold night like before. So we cleared out the van, filled up the tent, and set up camp in the van. It actually worked out really well! Jer and I slept on the floor on the kids pads and could spread our legs out almost all the way. Mckayla and Talmage slept on the back seat layed down flat, then we put the cooler and other food in the front seat. Jer and the kids watched a movie on the bench while I went to bed early with Kaitlyn too. We all slept all night, warm, and I woke up to the windows all fogged up.

Mckayla caught a moth. She has a new found talent for catching flying insects
The race went well. The swim was pretty wavy though, it really felt like good ocean experience save the salt water. It was a little chaotic getting started since none of us really knew exactly where we were supposed to go thanks to a last minute course change, and we didn't hear the horn go off, so just kind of got started on our own after people on the shore were waving us forward. The swim was very unique though in that it is clear, and so shallow so far out that I had to run the last 150 yards of so before getting out of the water.
The bike was good, although I've learned to not trust any race director that describes their course as "pretty flat". It wasn't bad though. It didn't feel quite as fast or as easy as I'd like, but the time was pretty good. And lucky for me, the run was great! It was a 2 loop course and Jer and the kids got to see me on the first loop. It was so great seeing them waving and cheering. I knew I was in 5th or 6th place overall going into the run, so their cheering and passing 2 people early on in the run gave me the added push so I could try to finish in the top 3. I wasn't sure of the time, but ended up out racing Jer and the kids (Mckayla was very sad to not see me finish), and came away with a great time of 2:29 which I believe is faster than Spudman, and that was a downstream smooth water swim. I'm still awaiting final results (I'm thinking 3rd or 4th overall though) as the lovely timing company botched results....again. I'll let you all know when I know though. Oh and Talmage loved my body marking. He would grab my calf and say "O Mama, O" and "numbers mama" because there's an O for Olympic, the distance I went, and 25 for my age. Cute boy.

The rest of Saturday was spent getting famous Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes, playing at the beach, and geocaching. What is geocaching you might ask? Pretty stinkin cool, that's what! Every state park (as far as I'm aware) has GPS units you can use for free. You get a unit, they give you coordinates, and it leads you to a destination. They stock each location with fun "treasures". So we went to the Bear Lake Marina, and were lead to a tree with a metal box hanging from it. Inside were little Bear Lake beverage insulators that look like life jackets, and sunglass holders (chums?). So cool! The kids thought it was so much fun to follow the arrows on the GPS and change our direction to go along with what it told us, and of course, were thrilled to find treasure at the end. There was also this traveling toy. They ask you to take it, log online where you found it, then return it to another state park's box. Anyway, we had a great time, and I can't wait to do it again!
Our attempt at a family picture; the camera died taking our best one, of course.

Holy Hail !

Sounds bad, doesn't it? :-) I had a great trail run planned this morning, but with the Corner Canyon fire of last week and the heavy rains of last night, my friend Heidi who ran with me and I decided the conditions weren't favorable, or very safe for that matter. So we decided to run on the Jordan River Parkway. I ran 4 miles before meeting up with Heidi and then we ran almost 10 together. Just as we were within 1/2 mile of her car we saw a giant black cloud looming ahead. She said I had better turn around since I still had 4 miles left to get back to my car. Since it wasn't raining or windy yet I said no as I wanted to finish my run. Just as I turned around it started sprinkling, then a minute later raining hard, then a minute later it was hailing. HARD! Seriously, I was running for cover. I've never looked for shelter on a run, but I ran as fast as I could to the first tree I could stand under. That hail really hurt. I called Heidi and asked her to come get me. The only problem was I was close to a mile away from any road. So after getting off the phone I decided I had to make a run for it. Again, that hail really hurt. As you can see I had welts all over my legs from it and was soaked to the bone and freezing. I ran at a very quick clip crunching over the hail that was covering the trail, praying I would get to her car safely, and not get struck by lightning. I'm happy to report my prayers were answered and I got home fine. I do wish I'd gotten those last 4 miles in though. Call me crazy.

That last picture isn't the clearest (my cell phone was FOGGED up!), but the path is covered with hail and there's a river of water running over it.