My very first triathlon sprint. Lake Padden Tri (Try, try, and try again)

Warning. This post has picture of a middle aged fat lady in a wet suit and swim wear attempting (and succeeding) to do really stupid stuff.



This was my transistion area. The goal is to be here as little as possible. I don't have my transition times yet but i think the longest i was there was under 5 minutes and that was getting out of the wet suit and putting on my running gear.


This is me in the ever so sexy wet suit. I am so lucky I could not see this picture until after the competition or I would have spent the swimming portion in the car, under a tarp, weeping softly to myself.

We all go to wear these lovely neon green swim caps. They said it was for visablility. Daniel quickly found a flaw in their plan. As he witnessed several swimmers going under. "Once they go down, mom, you can't see the swim cap." Hmmmm.

I trained a whooping one week for the swim. And only because I am cheap. I did not want to spend the money of an actual gym membership and I did not want to pay for two weeks.

About 50 yards into the swim it occurred to me that I am tired, I am in over my head, and I am tired of having water splashed in my face, nose, mouth and getting kicked. Really tired of getting kicked. The water was less than warm. A lot less. 99% of the swimmers had on wet suits too. 99% of the swimmers in wet suits looked a heck of a lot better than I did. Luckily, I did make it through the swim. I found my pace, and found my happy place and took it one stroke at a time. Exetremely happy to see the shore and have my feet touch solid ground.

I covered myself in Body Glide before I put on the wet suit and the stuff worked fantastically. The suit slid right off. Hopped up on the bike and was off! I really, really love that they started the course off on an up hill. Just like I really,really, love this picuture of me.

About 10 minutes into the ride I realized that I am very, very wore out. My legs are noodles and I am breathing really,really hard. I felt myself panicking again just like I did in the water. I had to remind myself of my goals, first was to hydrate while I rode and the second was to make up for lost time in the water.

DONE!! you can tell by the ecstatic look on my face how happy I was to be done. I reached my goal of under two hours. I did not die, vomits, pass out or crash. those were my other goals of things NOT to do.

I can say at this point and time I do not see myself doing a full triathlon again. First off the training takes up a lot of time. Secondly, it is insane. I am used to doing crazy. But insane was a whole new gig. They do have a relay team option. Any one wanna sign up?

I was worried my kids would be bored during the race. But no! They got to see people drowning and being pulled out of the water, people wiping out on bikes around sharp turns, and someone got hit by a car! They did not get to see the actual accident but did witness the clean up. I would call that a successful day.

Road Trip!!

This weekend I had a Triathlon sprint at Lake Padden which just happens to be down the road from my brother's house. WOW! how handy is that??

well on the way over we stopped at the usual points of intrest...every friggen rest stop between Spokane and Bellingham. There are approx. 10. Of course we stopped off at Vantage and took in the lovely sights.

Kids by native american pictographs.
My little Maria cheesing for the camera while eating cheesy gold fish crackers.

My crew.

After the race Carlos, Rachel and the their kiddos took off to a wedding so I took the kids down to Larrabee Bay and let them check out the tide pools.

The found lots of little crabs and limpets.

Anna with her collection of sea shells

Maria found a purple sea star at the end of this out cropping of rocks.

Jakey with his pet crab he tried to take home.

My merry band of travelers.

It was a nice weekend. Very busy, but we had great weather, which is amazing for that side of the state. I get to go back again on the 9th of july. the kids get to stay with friends. I am sure they will be happy to not have to make the trip again.

One Year

This song has been my anthem for my year. It is funny yet, sad.

I cannot believe it has been a year. There were times I did not think I would make it to this day. But I guess I had no say in the matter. Life continues, Needs had to be met. Obligations, church callings, kids, family. The world does not give a break to the greiving. In some ways it is good. It is important to stay the course. In other ways it is incredible frustrating and sometimes....JUST NOT FAIR!

So I have been thinking a lot this past week on what I have learned through this past year.

1. I hate the word, "should" I have heard it a lot from well meaning people. They don't know how much it grates on my nerves because I don't want to hurt their feelings.

2. I am tired of people saying they know exactly what I am going through. And then proceed to tell me how they have witnessed someone else close to them going through the greiving process. They have no idea what I am going through. Grief is a very personal and selfish thing. I don't want to hear how hard you have it with your husband working too much, or how tired you are, or how busy you life is. Therefor they know....exactly how I feel. Because I am willing to bet.......you don't. And in complete and total honesty, I hope you never do know exactly how I feel.

3. Why, oh, why to people have the need to tell me when they hear a story on the news, or through the grapevine of some other young mother that has lost her husband. Believe it or not, it does not bring comfort, peace or a feeling of, "Gee I am so glad that's not me."

4. There may be stages of grief but they don't stop once you reached the last one. They loop. Around, and around and around. Lately I have been so angry inside I could just punch someone! When I get like this I have learned to keep to myself and not to socialize with others much. Other days, I still want to cry, and cry and cry. But like I stated before, life continues, chores to do, children to care for and obligations to meet.

5.Going through the grieving process is a personal journey. Many will tell you how you should be feeling and coping and put expectations on you. You will let them down, and dissapoint them. I have learned to get over this. I cannot grieve for them or on behalf of them.

6. I no longer want to hear how strong I am. That I am a trooper. That I am doing so good keeping it all together. It makes me feel so bad because I am not strong, or a trooper and I am not keeping it together very well at all. It is just a personality I put out there.

7. To portray myself as having it all together. I have found when I am struggling and floundering and let those close to me know it, they tend to panic. It is not something they are comfortable with. So I keep it in.

I cannot believe it has been an year. well not quite one year. In ten minutes it will be a year. and then.....another year begins.

The new and improved tree fort.

Okay, I want all my readers, yes all three of you, to appreciate what I went through to upload these pictures! Stupid blogger kept losing them after I would upload them. This is round 4 and I finally had to resort to uploading one and a time.

We built a tree fort several years ago. This past spring it finally colapsed. With Ike on it at the time. No worries, the fort was not too badly ruined. We were able to salvage several pieces. I cannot say the same for Ike.

My dad came over for two afternoons and helped built a bigger, better and stronger tree fort. That one quickly exploded so had to settle for this one.

The man himself. Yes, he is muttering to himself in this picture. I think he is saying, "Put down the dang camera and help me pull this nail out of my finger."

Our fabulously patched together floor. We reused plywood and siding that we had laying around. Some of it was already painted with chalk board paint. now they can play tic tac toe, dots, hang man, or leave threating notes to eachother. I am voting on the threating notes.

I got the license plate collection thanks to a moonless night and several un-suspecting neighbors.

Daniel got to use the, BIG DOG, as grampa liked to call it.

Securing the floor.

All that is left is to put up the railings. Several sleep overs are already planned. Anna Nelson and I call first dibbs!

Isaac's Graduation Video #2

And now for a break from our regularly scheduled program.

Well Blogger is not really thrilled uploading vidoes. I got one up and will try to get more of them up.


Isaac graduated from Hamblen Elementry last night. Yep, he is a middle schooler now, and so very excited to move onto Chase.

Vertie, Barb and Katie were able to come and share in the festivities. It was very nice to have them there and I know it meant a lot to Isaac.


Getting his certificate from the prinicipal, Dr. Forsythe with is teacher Mrs. Justice.


Standing up with some of his classmates.

Anna playing with the camera. The kids were sorta bored. They really drug this out. So I let each of the kids take turns playing with the camera. The girls took pictures of our family. Jakey took pictures of the people behind us. I don't want to post them because I don't know who they are but what cracked me up is that they actually did poses for these pictures.

The Hamblen Elementry 6th grade class of 2011

Our traditional family photo outside the school. Yes, Ike is just thrilled to have his picture taken with us.

Jakey bumming a ride off of Aunt Katie.

Papa and Grandma with Ike. The also bought him a new bike for his graduation. WOW!! He rode it this morning the moment after he got dressed.

the powers that be

i would like to meet the man or woman that came up with idea that we (the consumers) would want our love of ice cream mixed with digust of snotty noses.

tidbits from girls school program

How to give a CAT a pill

I must say I did not come up with this. I shamelessly stole it from my friends facebook notes. But I laughed so hard I knew I had to share it on here as many of my friends and followers are avid cat lovers. I knew they would get a kick out of it.

Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from yard.
Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.
Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with rubber band.
Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
Call fire department to retrieve the friggin' cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil-wrap.
Tie the little bastard's front paws to rear paws with twine and bind tightly to leg of dining room table, find heavy duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
Consume remainder of Scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
Arrange for Humane Society to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.
How to Give a DOG a pill
Wrap it in bacon.

well, i was not expecting this.

What is that on Jenn's stove top??

Isaac thought it would be fun to have a candle outside while we were sitting around the fire on Sunday. I decided that it was prolly not the best idea. He walked in the door and set it on the back burner and ran back out.

Monday morning......

I fire up the skillet and fry up some sausage and eggs for breakfast. As I remove the skillet I see the remenets of Ike's candle melted in a pool in my back burner. It had rolled under the skillet so I did not see it. Not really wanting to deal with it at the time I wondered off onto bigger and better things.

When it had cooled I scraped it all off.