Saturday, October 25, 2008

I tri'd

Last Tuesday some friends told us about a local triathlon that was a couple of days away. Steff told me about it so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was a 'super sprint' triathlon so it wasn't really too bad.... right? Hey, it shouldn't matter that I haven't swam since June, only run twice in the last year and haven't ridden a road bike for like 8 years... why should that bother me?

Holy crap. I thought I'd just breeze through it and get a feel for how these things worked. Let's just say that it hurt. I could barely drag my keester out of the pool, wrecked on my bike about 200 yards after I got on it, and thought my legs were going to fall off on the run. At the end of the day, I finished and actually achieved my goal of doing it in under one hour (I guess I don't set my sights too high goal-wise). I did it in 54 minutes and took 37th place!!! Yipee!!

Here's the proof:

The Pre-race



Entering the Pool



Riding the bike off



Off on the run


Coming up on the finish line



P.S. Um.... only 40 people participated. I just couldn't lead you on like that....

Friday, October 24, 2008

Trick or Treat on Main Street

Just wanted to remind all our fellow Spanish Forkians that the Trick or Treat on Main Street is tomorrow...Saturday, October 25 from 1pm-3pm. We've done this the past three years and it has been really fun. Hope to see you all there!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Matt's 6 quirks

grumble grumble Tagged by Wendi. grumble grumble grumble.

Let's get this over with.

1. I'm pigeon toed. If you google 'pigeon toed', the second link down says "Pigeon Toed is not normal.' Thanks a lot, jerk. I'm thinking of writing the author of the article a letter telling her that her face 'is not normal.'

2. Peanut butter is the nectar of the devil himself. As the holidays approach, please be courteous and keep any PB treats far far away from us. Especially (cardinal sin) don't mix a plate of perfectly good treats in with PB treats. PB pollutes everything. The whole plate becomes worthless.

3. Speaking of treats. I like them. Fact is 6 out of 7 nights a week I end the day with a snack while winding down. Steff makes CC cookies and makes the dough into balls, then freezes them. Each night, I take three or four of them out and cook them. I toss them on the cookie sheet, set it to 350, set the timer for 15 mins (that accounts for the pre-heat, which I just consider defrosting time) and put a glass of milk in the freezer to start chilling. I like my cookies goooey, and my milk almost frozen. Yum.

4. I wish I could have my hair shaggy but apparently that's not 'grown up.' If I had my druthers, I'd have my hair like this:



5. I've met and hung out with a few musicians in the past. My favorites were Sting and Jack Johnson. The lamest, mostly because I expected it would be cool and it wasn't, was Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. They were lame. I don't do autographs, although Jack Johnson gave me a poster that said, "Thanks for helping me get my start in Utah," but that's another story for another time.

6. I'm not sure whether to say I have a high pain threshold or that I'm accident prone. I sorta think one leads to the other. I've had my head sewn shut by a buddy with a needle and thread, I've got screws in various places in my body that hold bones together, and only half my nose works because I've broken it so many times. I've also got a couple random protrusions on my body caused from bones pressing against skin.

That's me. Tag whoever feels so inclined. I'm not one to carry these on endlessly...

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Perfect School Picture...

Let me preface this post by saying we really don't want to brag or make any of you who may've not got the best picture jealous, but we thought we'd share our story and Charlie's school picture.

Now, I don't know about you guys, but we look forward to getting our kids' school pictures. Now, when we say 'getting' them, we don't necessarily mean taking them, but rather that moment when your kids bring them home from school for you to see. It's exciting. Sorta like a mini, early Christmas.

And why is it that getting the pictures is exciting? It's because you put so much darn effort into getting that kid ready, hoping he doesn't screw it up, expecting a good picture so you don't have to take them to some photo place later in the year. At least that is our take on things.

It was the typical 'first ever school picture' scenario. Total first child antics here (even though Charlie is not the first child, this was our first experience with official school pictures).

It started with the pre-order. The packet came from school full of choices. Did we want the 8 X 10? What about wallets? Would Grandmas and Grandpas want 5 X 7s? All the questions... After significant consideration, we went for the B packet with the 'Amber' background. Pre-order - Check.

Next we needed to find the perfect cute little outfit. Steff wanted something that brought out his eyes, Matt wanted him to look tough. Steff wanted this, Matt wanted that... and on and on it went. Finally we decided to set him up with a striped blue sweater, styled hair, etc. The Look - Check.

Finally picture day came and the morning was spent keeping him from smearing syrup on his clothes, bloodying his lip or anything else that could foil our plans for the perfect picture. As the clock ticked closer to the time when the bus would arrive, final primping and styling took place. At long last the bus came and we sent Chuckles off to school having done all we could to set the stage for the perfect school picture. Execution - Check.

Then we waited. Waited and waited.

This morning we were pleasantly surprised when Charlie's teacher sent the pictures home in his backpack. Finally the time had come. Our mini early Christmas was here.
We opened the pictures and....










-- Wait for it --
















-- Suspense building --
















-- Now you're starting to know how we felt waiting --


















-- Ta Da!!! --





















What the? Are you serious? Was Stevie Wonder taking this picture? Good grief people.

Stupid mini early Christmas present....

Saturday, October 04, 2008

6 Quirky Things About Me...

Tagged by Tammy

1. I feel the need to brush my teeth for long periods of time. I usually brush between 10-20 minutes at a time. If I don't, I always think I will get a headache. Matt can't understand why I brush so long and I can't understand how he can brush so fast.


2. I LOVE to eat salt. I add extra salt to everything. When I make things like salsa, I add the normal amount to make everyone else happy and then sprinkle more on each chip dipped in salsa for myself. When I was little, I remember my sister making a mixture of salt, water and flour in her hand and we would hide behind one of the chairs and eat it. I love to suck on rock salt and I love to eat salt on lemons. Matt and I have an ongoing debate about putting salt or powdered sugar (gross!) on your grapefruit. I'm sure you can guess what side I am on. ;)

3. I love the rain. I like the sound of it and I really love to listen to it as I'm drifting off to sleep. It makes me feel cozy and safe in my house. I remember being little and laying in my Mom's bed (we took turns sleeping there when my Dad was on trips...he was a pilot) and watching storms through the sliding glass door. She would always talk about how lucky we were to have a nice, warm house and bed. Now I do that with Winston and I think he loves them too. Plus, you get to cook yummy comfort food on cold, rainy days and it's fun to eat!

4. I have the same two recurring dreams. One is that I discover I can breath under water. I am always in huge, deep, beautiful swimming pool. I am swimming under water and realize that I can breath. In the dream, I am always so excited and feel like I always knew I could do it, I just had to figure out how. Then I swim around for hours and play in the water. Whenever I wake up from that dream, I feel really happy and relaxed. I love it.

The other one is that I am in school and it is near the end of the semester. I suddenly realize I have forgotten to go to one of my classes the whole semester and now I am not going to pass and I will not graduate with all my classmates. Sometimes it's college, sometimes it's High School. Either way, I hate it and I'm always so relieved to wake up. The funniest thing is that Matt has this same dream. What does that say about us?

5. I'm a fidgety person. For some reason, I just can't sit still. There always has to be a foot moving or a toe tapping. I play with my hair and touch my face or wiggle my leg. It's not from nerves or anything, I just have a hard time sitting still. Sometimes I think I got this from my Grandma Smith. We always laughed how she could never hold her feet still while she was sitting. Sometimes, while we are watching tv on the couch, Matt will have to ask me to stop moving my foot against his leg because I am rubbing it raw. I never even realize I am doing it. Oopsie.

6. I love to read. With a lifestyle where there aren't many breaks, it is a way to escape and forget all my worries for a bit. Unfortunately, the only time I have to do it is at night and I end up staying up a bit later than I should sometimes. Fortunately, Matt loves to read just as much as me (we both love Louise L'amour) and we can occasionally take turns watching the kids while the other one reads a book in the bath. It's the best when it's raining or snowing and you can open the bathroom window (but keep the blinds closed!) and let a nice stream of cool air in while you are in the steaming hot bath water. Heaven!

I hope these made sense and fell under the quirky category. It was kind of hard to concentrate while Charlie climbed and jumped repeatedly on me. He actually climbed on the back of the couch and jumped on my head several times. Seriously. I finally (gently) pushed him off the couch and said "go away!" and he laughed and climbed right back on. Why do they always have to be right where I am and in the middle of what I am trying to do?! Grrrrr!

Now I tag Lorri, Wendi, Gayle and Becca. Have tons of fun.

Friday, October 03, 2008

The Spanish Fork Kite Festival... waaay later.

A few weeks ago we went to the first annual Spanish Fork Kite Festival. The kids had a good time. Spanish Fork is a really cool city. They do some pretty awesome activities. So here was our evening at the kite festival:

They had a bunch of huge kites flying for the kids to watch.



They also had a fun activity where they let the kids decorate their own kites and then they could go and fly them.



Winston thought it was pretty awesome.



His kite actually got up in the air and we flew it for a while.



Even Mom had a grand old time snapping pictures and cheering on Winston. What a trooper. Good old fashion family fun.