September update

Here is a quick recap of September. It seems like I am always playing catch up on this blog.

This little hooligan started 2nd grade

 And my Deko-son started Kindergarten :( So sad when they go to school. I told Randy that Tripp was my best friend and then he had to go to school. So Deko became my best friend, and now he is in school too. I guess Raidon is next.

 This face is perfect for how he feels about school. The first week, he wouldn't get on the bus and I had to carry him onto it. Then he would try to run off the bus and the driver had to stick her arm out so he wouldn't escape. She drove off a few times with him laying in the middle aisle. Such a stinker!

 We all went to school to drop him off on his first day.

 Baine loved the ladybug chairs

 I didn't want to leave him. I wasn't ready. Randy and the little boys were waiting for me to leave in the hall. When he got home after his first day I asked him how it went. He said he cried a little bit because he was away from me for sooo long! I love my sweet boy!

We also went to Braden and Kyle's cross country meet. We didn't get there in time to see Kyle run due to helping out with an eagle scout project, but we were able to support Braden. You will have to click on the pic to make it bigger to see it -their bellies say B dawg. We found out that red lipstick is hard to get off. They were all branded for about a week until it came off completely.

Wool Riders

A friend of mine got us free tickets to go to the fair and the only thing my boys wanted to do was ride the sheep! We were a little worried that Deklan would back out when it came to his turn, but he did awesome! Randy said that Tripp and Deklan were dancing to the music and headbutting each other with their helmets while they were waiting for their turn

 Tripp had a little wild sheep. It takes the announcer awhile to open the gate because his sheep kept squishing Tripp's leg on the side of the pen. So he wasn't able to get centered on the sheep before the gate opened. Here is Tripp's ride:

And the announcer calls him Tripp, but this is actually Deklan. Right after Tripp rode his sheep the announcer offered $100 to the first kid who could ride the sheep to the other side of the pen. Needless to say, Deko's sheep had other plans.

It was fun to watch!

Wonder Woman Triathlon

Somehow Jenny convinced me to do a triathlon with her, and I'm glad she did. This is a picture of the area in front of the Y where we kept our bikes. And yes, that is a man dressed as a cheerleader on the left side. He even had pompoms while cheering on the side of the road.

  

Jenny got in the pool right before me and she got out of the pool when I had a lane and a half to go or 75 more yards. She is super fast. I passed one lady in the swim part and 2 ladies passed me. I felt like I was going faster than I had in my practices. I didn't eat anything before the race and after I got out of the pool, I was super dizzy. There were metal bleachers by the pool that I had to sit on for a few minutes so I wouldn't pass out walking to my bike. I have never felt that dizzy before in my life! Once I got to my bike, I downed a protein bar and drank a lot of water while putting on my bike shorts, shoes, camel-back, and helmet. Then I jumped on my bike and was off.

(Here is a pic of Jenny and I before I knew what I was getting myself into.)

 

On the bike ride, I continued to drink water and ate another granola bar. I was surprised at how many people I passed on the bike. I lost count after 15. I felt like I was doing well. I even passed a road sign that had a radar on it and it picked me up. It said I was going 15 mph. I thought that was cool to see. I had done all my training on a mountain bike and my friend lent me her hybrid bike for the race. When we arrived at Jenny's house the night before the race, we noticed the back tire was completely flat. So Randy and Brian had to run to the store for a new tube and get it repaired before the race in the morning. I was a bit nervous that it would go flat again, but I had no troubles.

(Showing off our number "tats" right before the swim.)

Once I finished the bike part, I put my bike and helmet away and took off my camel-back and then headed out for the final run part. When I started the run, my legs felt like lead. They felt so heavy! After about a mile, I got used to it. I think I passed about 10 ladies on the run. Brian, Randy, and all the crazy boys kept going to different spots throughout the race to stop and cheer us on. It was so fun to see them each time and I always knew when they were near because I could hear Titon's and Diesol's squeals for miles :)

(happily exhausted at the finish line)

Somehow I managed to kick it in the last 100 yards of the race and finished strong despite being totally exhausted. I finished 19th out of 60 women in 1 hour and 41 mins. It was so incredibly fun being part of this Relief Society triathlon and I can't wait to beat my time next year. We couldn't have done it without our amazing support team! We took this after eating at Shari's.

 Any ladies ready to join me next September?

Vay-cay-shun! Oh Yeah!

We had a wonderful 2 week vacation in Idaho. My boys created lots of great memories this summer and a lot of them are from the time we spent in Idaho.

This was on our drive to Idaho. We seemed to stop at Burger King a lot. We love the $1.49 for 10 chicken nugget deal!

 Tire swing at Jensen's Grove

 Here is the Rexburg temple. So beautiful!

 I took the boys to a school playground in Idaho Falls while my mom prepared dinner for us.

 My mom and Dan went to the Idaho Falls zoo with us. I forgot how small that place is. We were able to go through the whole zoo pretty quickly.

 I think the boys' favorite part was the lions.

 My favorite was the camels. Those things are huge!

 Baine would not leave these poor goats alone. He even went in to the barn that he wasn't supposed to go into. Naughty little thing!

 We also visited the Idaho Falls temple and the visitors center. I love this pic of Raidon hugging Jesus. What a sweetheart!

 We didn't know it was under construction, so this was as close as we could get to it.

 We went across the river from the temple and walked around on the trails.

 There were all these interesting art pieces that the boys loved playing on.

 We also went to Blast Off with Darcy and Arlo. It had a large indoor play area for the kids and arcade games.

 Tripp and Deko even did a little rock climbing wall.

 And I had to take the boys to Memorial park to check out the tanks. We would have gone inside the other one but it was super wet underneath where you crawl into it.

We did a lot more fun things with lots of family while we were there, I just didn't get any pics of it. We went to Nico's birthday party where I forgot about the loud off-key singing of the birthday song. But hearing it and singing along brought back so many memories of past birthday parties. We also went to Brandon's going away party before he started culinary school in Portland. We had several barbecues and ate lots of good food. We also went to a birthday celebration for Konnor. It was so great being able to see everyone again and how much they have grown. I could have stayed for 2 more weeks ;) When we got home, my boys kept asking when we can go to Idaho again. So glad they loved it. 

Big 5 Man

My Deko turned 5 earlier this month and is starting Kindergarten in a few weeks. So sad, why do they have to grow up so fast? We were super busy on his birthday. We went to a magician at the library with Alyssa,

 then went to the super jump in the mall,

 (These kiddos had a blast!)

 ate an ice cream cake -this was two layers of homemade funfetti cake with a cake batter ice cream layer in the middle, so sugary, so yummy!

 We also went to Taco Bell for dinner. It is a popular birthday destination in this house :)

And then we went to a movie in the park. We watched Big Hero 6.

 It was super fun and a bit cold. Good thing we brought plenty of blankets to stay warm.

So glad this crazy little man is part of our family. The fun keeps rolling with this guy around. Love you Deko Monster!

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 29 today, woo hoo, right? I have a friend who told me that it all goes downhill after 30, so I plan on living it up this year! My birthday started a day early with Randy surprising me with a gift certificate for a mani/pedi at a salon. I haven't had a manicure since our wedding. I put the fake nails on and everything and the lady told me to never put nails on again since my "nail beds were so pretty." Deal! Those suckers are a pain and are not for me. I chose a nice hot pink color for the polish and then she added glitter. (I'm training for a triathlon and this morning on my 15 mile bike ride I kept looking at my nails cuz as Raidon says, "so pretty!" and I almost crashed.)

 But the gifts don't end there, he also scheduled a 1 hour massage and 1 hour facial. -What is a facial? I guess I will find out next week at my appointment. Can you tell I'm not used to being pampered?
I made myself this delicious German Chocolate cheesecake cake for my birthday. Yes, you heard right. Delicious sugary fatness, but hey, it's my birthday and time to indulge. Too bad my family only ate 1 small row of this sweet concoction. This tempting thing needs to leave my home immediately!

 And apparently I'm 4 today, according to candles :)

And please ignore the bags under my eyes, I have been getting up at 6:30 every morning for the triathlon training and am feeling exhausted. Here's to a great year!