Swim, Bike, Run, Nap

Hey all, it's Joni. Paul is in Boston this week and he asked me to blog about the last little while.
Most of my adult life I have had a goal to complete an Olympic triathlon. This might surprise some of you because I didn't dare share it until it was finished for fear of failure/wimping out. I set my sights on the Vernal Dino-tri and trained for a few months. FINALLY I can say I am a real-deal triathlete!!

3 hrs nervous sleep

+

1 mile swim
25 mile bike
6.5 mile run

= Meatloaf, cookies, a NAP, and a deep feeling of satisfaction.

Here are some pics of the journey.

Night before bike set-up at Red Fleet lake. I talked Andrea into doing it too - here we are starting to get really nervous for the first time.



Two smarties who forgot to bring jackets at 5:30am to catch the race shuttle. BRRRrrrrRRRRR... lesson learned.



Red Fleet (behind us) is a gorgeous lake - to look at. Swimming in it's 65 degree water at 7:00am is, well, shocking. There was no "wading in" either. It was a deep water start, meaning we had to jump off the dock and wait for the start while treading water. Sheeesh.



We come from a family of triathletes and here we are with our uncle Don. He is an accomplished Iron Man and is in training to to another soon. These are nice little practice drills for him. Me too. .... right.



Here is our wave headed out for the first of two 1/2 mile laps around the lake.



Catching my breath at the post-swim, pre-bike transition.



Mile 24 of the bike. Is it just me or do I look like a 3rd grader riding to Grandma's house after school?



During the entire swim and bike I just kept thinking "Okay, you've been running for 12 years, just get to the run and you will be alright". Have I ever run after a swim and bike? Definitely not. It was a HARD run, but still fun... Yay for rhymes.

Fast forward to the red-faced finish line.



Only in Vernal would they give out trophies made of rocks. Ha ha, love it!



It felt SO good to cross that one off my list. I'm thinking triathlons might be like having a baby. Here are some similarities.

- A long period of build up and anxiety
- The "what did I get myself into" feeling right before it starts
- The "never again" feeling during
- Total happiness upon completion
- The "well maybe one more" feeling after the pain is gone.

Over all it was a great experience. Not so great? The food poisoning I picked up from a 7-11 taquito on the drive back to Colorado. About 24 hrs after eating it I started feeling sick and next thing I knew I was in the fetal position on my bathroom floor. I had NO idea there were that many liquids in my body, and that they could be expelled with such speed and ferociousness. I really thought I was going to die for a while. Luckily, I had people watching over me (since Paul is in Boston), taking care of Ellie when I was too weak to pick her up. Sounds pretty dramatic, I know. But that's really how it was. I'm feeling 100% better now though. You know you are over it when you can have chili for lunch - and that's what I did today - so don't worry!

Last week we took Ellie to her first baseball game. Rockies vs. Red Sox. I don't have time to upload more pics, but it was a good time! I think Ell made friends with half the people in the stadium!





WOW this blog is loooong. Thanks for sticking it out. Gotta run!

Back from the dead...for just a few minutes

I don't know what bug I caught, but I have not had any desire to write a blog, check blogs, look at Facebook, or even check my email regularly for a long, long time. My phone basically just serves as an alarm clock, and the Wii just decided not to turn on ever again. The washing machine and disposal even stopped working, I'm starting to feel like Jermiah Johnson...minus the beard...come to think of it I don't even know who Jermiah Johnson is so scratch that. Since we first moved here and we didn't have internet for 3 weeks, I just lost the desire.

We only have basic cable, and for the first time in about 9 years I don't even have ESPN. Crazy thing is that I like it. I feel obligated to write a blog because we have a sweet little girl that is growing up way too fast, and it would be down right mean to not provide the occasional update. So that's where I've been, don't hate on me for it.
Ellie has learned how to give us "five", she claps and waves, and she grabs onto everything. She's still got a million dollar smile and stops random people in their tracks all the time. I'm not sure where her charm came from but she is simply adorable.We bought a portable fire pit that we absolutely love. Sitting by the fire, talking, and eating S'mores is one of my favorite things. Plus our yard is the perfect place for it.
We've had dinner a couple of times on the porch. Dilly loves the horses, cows and dogs next door so much that her favorite thing to do now is run away.
Everyone getting geared up for the Bolder Boulder...which includes writing "HI" in Andrea's armpits.We've spent some time in Denver with Joel and Erin, including the sidewalk chalk festival and trying Ethiopian food for the first time. It was actually pretty crowded despite the picture.We love the Colorado skies, always changing. This is the view from our front yard... and our backyard

Alive and Well

Just so everyone knows, we made it to Colorado and are still alive and well. I (Joni)don't have much time at the moment, but here is a quick list of things I've learned in the past month:

1. Prairie Dogs bark. Or chirp? I don't know how to explain it, but they definitely communicate loudly at me as I pass their holes on my new running route.



2. Ellie's head is the exact circumference of a Quaker Rice Cake bag. Enough said.


3. Big brothers never grow out of it.



We had good times visiting friends and family recently and are happy to be settling in - for the next 10 months at least! More to come in the near future.

Passing time

First time trying sweet potatoes, the expression says it all...

I'm back in North Carolina for a few days before the big move back west, I miss my girls a ton and I find myself watching videos and looking at pictures to get me by. I have been deep cleaning the house to prepare for the movers, then I'll have to clean again after they leave. It doesn't make much sense I know, but I can only play so much Dr Mario before going crazy.

New York was fun, I love that city. This trip to NYC was great because I saw a lot of things I haven't seen before. I met up with Mike and Jen and we ate at Dumont in Brooklyn. I also had the opportunity to eat lunch and sing karaoke with the chiefs of FDNY, they were so cool and totally crazy. One of the chiefs accidentally spilled the beans about where we were going on our big secret night on the town, turned out to be a dinner cruise in a glass boat around Manhattan...because he felt bad for giving away the secret, he had a FDNY boat spray water from all directions up in the air as our boat left the harbor. They only do that on special occasions and we were all moved by it. I felt like I was 2nd grader hanging on every word when I listened to their stories, and I admire and respect those who put their lives in danger to help others.

We got to see some behind the scenes stuff too like the Today Show set, I danced on the floor of studio 6b (Jimmy Fallon/Conan O'Brien), and we ran into Ann Curry. Joni probably hates me for not taking pictures of everything, it was funny because she watches the Today show every day. It would be like Joni touring ESPN without me and not taking pictures...sorry.

I found out last week I will be going to Bangalore, India for a week in August for work. How crazy is that? I never once thought I would set foot in India, pretty cool stuff.

Ellie has been a rock star touring all of Utah this week. We are amazed at how much she smiles and is open to being held by so many people. She is definately loved by many and missed, I was sad as I folded her little socks last night, and I'm catching a small glimpse of how hard it would be to be a grandparent and live far away. When I brought Dilly home from the kennel she ran straight to Ellie's room to see her only to find that they were gone. We will see them soon, but until then...its more cleaning, moping, staring out the window and Dr Mario.

In limbo

Time is flyin' by, we spent our last weekend together in this place. Hard to believe 8 months has come and gone already, and we are feeling ready to move on to our next adventure. I feel like I'm getting old because this whole moving-around-the-country to-a-new-state-every-year thing is starting to wear me down. We've got one more 10 month stop and then we hope to "settle" for at least a couple of years. We have been thankful to see some of our family in the South before leaving. We spent last weekend in DC, and the past two weekends Jen and Steve have stopped in for a few hours. Joni's good friend Andrea also stopped in for a visit on Easter weekend.

Now we are in limbo...feeling like we've checked out of here already...but also soaking in the beautiful North Carolina spring while we still can. The pollen has hit us hard, all the cars are covered in it, but its still really pretty. We tried to hit up Duke campus one more time but its so crowded you can't even find a place to park now that the weather is so beautiful. I'm boring myself talking about the weather...on to some pictures.


We put our table out on the porch for Easter dinner. My little table top tiki torch sets the mood and it keeps bugs away...there's an endorsement for you tiki lovers out there...Not that setting the mood with my 5 month old and wife's friend was on my mind.



We even had some time to play some Bocce ball, lucky Alyssa was the scorekeeper and she had me winning one million gagillion to one.



And one last stop to Maple View Farms for freshly made ice cream from the creamery.


Next week I'm off to New York for the week and Joni is heading off to see family in Utah. We'll be apart 2 weeks, and it will be sad to be away from my girls for so long. Dilly and I will hold down the fort and drive across the country when I get back. Until then, if we don't see ya...good afternoon, good evening. and goodnight.

We took one last trip to DC to see the city and the Jefferies, did I spell that right? Last time we were there it was freezing and rainy in January, so the sun was a welcome sight.
We took the Metro into Arlington cemetary and hung out there for the morning. The place is way bigger than I thought. The graves were all divided up into the different wars in our nation's history. I think the one big thing I got out of it was the magnitude of how many people died serving our country. It was wierd to see so many people walking around and touring a cemetary. There are many famous and influential people there, but now that they have all come and gone, the memory of the unknown soldiers is just as powerful as the most famous leaders.
We thought this picture was funny because of the fingers...maybe it was funnier while in the cemetary.

Usually we get to see quite a bit in the cities we visit while walking around, but DC is so spread out we were completely exhausted after seeing just a few of the main sights.



So many people were taking pictures of their feet looking up the Washington Monument, we thought the better picture was of them.

It was the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival and people were EVERYWHERE. We owe a BIG BIG thanks to Melecia and fam for babysitting Ellie for the day. I think we realized that she is such a good baby for us, but maybe not always around everyone else. I think she is getting old enough to recognize us and feel comfortable around us, but it takes a bit for her to warm up around other people now.


How can you not love that face..."huh?" The time went by too fast. It seemed like once Ellie was comfortable and we were all having fun we had to go.