We Run. We Bike. We Swim. We Tri.

We did it.

We finished our very first triathlon!

And here is the story...

We awoke at 4am on Thanksgiving morning after a very hectic week. We had trouble sleeping the night before due to crazy dreams of stolen bikes and a serious case of the nerves. I had washed my swim suit the night before and carried it around the house with me before bed. While setting up my brother Matt's air mattress, I set the swim suit in Emma's toy bin. At 4am the next morning, my brain was not working on all cylinders and I nearly had a nervous breakdown when I could not find my swim suit. After a series of prayers and hyperventilating, I happened to look in the toy bin and saw my suit. Not a great way to start off the day.

We arrived early, set up our gear in the transition area, got our arms and legs marked with our number and went to the bathroom 5, 8 or 17 times. There was a youth triathlon before the adult race, so we had to wait for that to complete. More time for our nerves to get the best of us.

We began a few minutes behind schedule and the men started the run 10 minutes before the women. Below is Greg beginning the run in his gray t-shirt. We were some of the only competitors that were not in "official race gear". Next time we will learn. It's all about looking the part. After all, it's not what is on the inside that counts, right?
Here I am finishing the two mile run. I was glad that this triathlon was backwards of most (usually you swim, bike, run) because the running is my least favorite event, and it was nice to get it over with.
And here I am taking off for the bike ride. I was feeling pretty good going into the bike, but mostly because I knew my sweet bike would pull through for me. :)
Greg really made up some time on the bike. He was cruising along at some sweet speeds and clearly enjoyed this portion of the race the most. He has turned into quite the little cyclist.
My brother Matt also joined us in the triathlon. We were pumped to have him competing with us. And for training a total of THREE WEEKS as compared to our SIX MONTHS. It wasn't too shabby that he only lost to me by one minute (and Greg by three). He claims he is hooked on triathlons, so hopefully we will compete together again in the future. Unfortunately, he borrowed a 10-year-old mountain bike, that made his bike ride very strenuous. If he would have been on my bike, he would have killed my time.
And off to the swim. Greg kinda sorta maybe stopped training for the swim portion all together, so this was a difficult leg for him. BUT - I'm proud of him for completing it!
Swimming was my favorite event of all three, but I was completely and utterly exhausted when I jumped in the pool. The 12-mile bike ride really took it out of me. My swim time was an entire three minutes slower than I usually swim a 400. Had I known that Greg was a mere two minutes ahead of me on total time, I would have swam the Michael Phelps out of that pool. But, alas, I didn't and so I took my sweet time. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
And the main goal of it all - WE FINISHED!! Here is Matt crossing the finish line! Total time of 1:24.
And here I am - HALELUJAH - total time of 1:23!! Sadly, we didn't catch Greg on camera, but he did finish in a total time of 1:21!!
We felt so good after the race. You must know that Greg and I are not athletes. Well, who am I kidding, anyone who knows us, knows that we are not athletes. So, to take our artsy/music selves and finish a race like this was REALLY REALLY big for us. We basically started with no skills at all, and worked up to finish a triathlon.

Matt actually took the place of my Aunt Sharron who was originally going to complete the triathlon with us. She injured her foot and was not able to compete, but was gracious enough to give Matt her spot. We made a t-shirt the day before that said "Run 4 Sharron". :)
And here are all three competitors (plus Emma).
And the MAIN reason we finished the race - was our extremely AWESOME cheering section. How amazing is this? My ENTIRE family who came to town for Thanksgiving ALL came to the race, including my Aunt Sharron and Greg's Dad and Grandpa (from New Mexico). Never mind all of the preparation that the Thanksgiving meal took and the shear exhaustion from traveling. They got up at a horribly early hour to drive all the way to Goodyear and support us. I'm tearing up even as I write it. Words can not express how much this meant to us. Every step of the way, I could hear them all yelling and cheering us on. It was really an incredible experience and my favorite part of the entire triathlon. Our family supports us in everything we do. Not just in word, but in action. YOU GUYS ROCK!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! You will never know how much that affected us.
Until our next triathlon...

Produce Produce Produce by the Pound (CHEAP!)

Superstition Ranch Market
4755 E Main St, Mesa, AZ 85205
(Off of Main Street, about 1/2 mile EAST of Greenfield on the SOUTH side of the road)

For any Arizona friends out there - I have recently RE-discovered this wonderful establishment to purchase produce! Many of you probably already know about it... but I thought I would pass along the info, just in case.

I went a few years ago, but forgot about it until my SIL Michelle reminded me! I mostly get all my produce through Bountiful Baskets Produce Co-Op. I still concur that Bountiful Baskets is cheaper and closer to me, but only by a smidge, and you do NOT get to choose which produce you receive. Which can be a REAL down side to the co-op... especially if I have a particular meal already in mind. Now, to give you a disclaimer, not ALL of the prices are amazing, you have to look for the produce that is insanely cheap and stick with it. Sometimes a good grocery store sale will beat their prices hands down. My rule of thumb is anything that is less than .75/lb is probably cheaper than the grocery store. And as you can see below, I mostly stay under .50/lb!

For a run down of the prices I received last week (11/11/09) to also convert you...here it goes. These blow grocery store prices OUT OF THE WATER:

Zucchini - .34/lb
Red Bell Peppers - .34/lb
Yellow Onions - .25/lb.
Cantaloupe - .25/each
Navel Oranges - .49/lb.
Fuji Apples - .49/lb.
Tomatoes - .69/lb.
Blackberries - .34/each container
Cucumbers - .34/lb.
Pears - .25/lb.
Kiwi - .34/each

Happy Produce Shopping!!

The Toddler Triathlete

What?!? You don't eat lunch with your goggles on? Food could splash in your eyes, you know.

Emma continues to be such an absolute delight. She is seriously at such a darling stage, I am tempted to follow her around the house all day and video tape all the hysterical things she does. At 22 months old, here are some of my favorite things about Emma:

• She still has a shoe fetish and will go all the way upstairs to retrieve my shoes if she wants to go shopping.
• We call her "Sir Mix Alot" with her singing. She now knows an array of songs, which she combines into ONE glorious song when she is singing around the house. Last night she sang, "A-B-C-D-E-F-G How I wonder what you are Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z". She'll throw in people's names to make the song interesting. At about any time throughout the day she is singing something. It is really adorable.
• We still play the game... Who loves "fill in the person's name?". To which she screams "I do!". Yesterday after eating a particularly tasty PB&J sandwich she cries out, "Who Loves Peanuts? I DO!!!" When I laughed she continued the game for 15 more minutes.
• When she wants to get out of bed we will hear her say, "Mommy Hold You. OK." If I don't come she will replace the first phrase with "Daddy Hold You. OK". You can guess which parent buckles when he/she hears this pathetic plea.
• She is obsessed with the colors of our cars and our bikes. Many times a day she will yell "Mommy White" when she sees my car. This is fine at the house, but I get a little embarrassed out in public as I don't want people to think I am raising a cultural purist. :)
• She loves Barney and sings his closing "I Love You" song all day. Wherever she is in the house, she will run and find me for a huge hug when she gets to the line, "great big hug".
• For the first time this week she drew some scribbles and then identified those scribbles as an airplane. She really loves to color, but when she colors she INSISTS that any adult present in the home must color with her.
• When Greg gets home from work she wants NOBODY but her Daddy. She does not let me read to her or play with her or bathe her. Greg thinks it's adorable and I LOVE the reprieve. When she talks about her Daddy through the day, she always says "Daddy so nice. Daddy handsome." That he is my friends. That he is.
  
• Whenever she sees my cell phone she asks to "Call Glen, Call Glen".
• She loves to have her diaper changed. As soon as she poops, she will promptly come and find me and say "poopy, change you, ok". Then she will run to the living room, lie down on the rug and wait for me to come and change her. As soon as I change her, she will say "trash" and run the diaper to the trash, even without a prompting from me. The only annoying part is when she is not poopy, but insists on a diaper change... we think because she has just peed and she gets confused. Still. Who wants to waste expensive diapers on silly pee.
• She LOVES to play in the dirt. Especially the dirt that is covering my precious flowers. I have gotten mad at her a few times and now she scolds herself. So whenever she starts playing with the dirt in my flowers I hear a very stern "EMMA!" come from her little mouth. It's nice because I don't have to say it, I just give her that motherly look that tells her to stop.
• We borrowed Greg's dad's truck a few weeks ago. Emma is obsessed with trucks and now whenever she sees Grandpa Ray she exclaims "Grandpa Ray Truck!". She thinks that is his name... and I don't think he minds one bit.
• She is starting to take an affection to dolls. I caught her last week giving a doll a bottle at my Aunt's house saying "there go. there go.". Today she tried to change her doll's diaper. When she got frustrated with the task, she came running inside screaming "Mommy help you."
• Emma thinks farting is hysterical. Every time she farts, she dies laughing and says "Emma toot. Emma toot." Seriously how did kids know this is funny? Does farting ever NOT get funny? Not in our world, evidently.
• I have a "Children's Songs CD" in my car. Within 10 seconds of getting into the car. Every. Single. Time. Emma asks for the "ABC Song. OK." How can I resist? We sometimes listen to it 15 times in a row - and I pray for short trips.
  
• She LOVES the website starfall.com (a great website for teaching children the ABC's). Now when Greg or I are on the computer, she comes running at full speed yelling, "Fall. Lap. OK." Just as a side note: Her favorite letter is "M" and she asks for it first every time.
  
• Last Sunday we were practicing with the stake choirs for our upcoming stake conference. I am playing my violin with the children's choir and Greg is singing with the adult choir. Both choirs were singing a combined version of "I am a Child of God" and Emma and I were sitting in the back of the room to listen. As soon as she recognized the song she started singing full voice to the lyrics. When they were finished she was so excited she starting YELLING "YEA! YEA!" and clapping fanatically. The whole choir erupted in laughter. She then noticed Greg in the choir and yelled even louder, "Daddy! HI! Daddy!". More laughter followed. She certainly does not mind being the center of attention. Wonder where she gets that from?
  
• We just love our little miracle daughter!! We feel so grateful to be her parents.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersehen, Good-bye

Is it us?

Do we emit a foul body odor?

I swear I brush my teeth at LEAST once every few weeks... but our dear friends just keep abandoning us! It's really horrible. Last week our close friends Trent and Sarah and precious chubby Rowan left the inferno of Phoenix for the sinful inferno of Las Vegas.

I don't really like to talk about it. But, if I must, I best do it here for the world wide web to feel my pain.

(BTW, don't answer the odor question TRENT, it was rhetorical.)

Pictured above are the three of them all decked out as "Newsies" for Halloween. And pictured below at their going away "packing party". The invitation went a little something like this... "Come over for a farewell BBQ with us, and if you happen to move a couch or bed while you're here, we wouldn't mind." Clever, those two. Very clever.

The Porters moved into the Kyrene Ward the very same Sunday as Greg and I. August of 2006. We had them over for dinner with the Leavitts, a few weeks later. We laughed so hard our cheeks (on the face, not the bum, GEEZ) hurt. We haven't stopped laughing since. :) How lucky we are to have friends like the Porters. They are the kind of people that buoy you up and support you and invite you over for game night and babysit your kid and kick your booty in exercise class and joust back and forth with sarcastic jabs. What better friends could you want?

As our last "Hoorah" - we went down to Casa Grande on Saturday to watch Sarah, Bonnie and our friend Holly participate in a triathlon. As Greg and I have our triathlon in almost 2 weeks, we thought it would also be wise to see what these events were all about. It got us so excited!!!

Sorry Sarah - you knew this picture would end up here. She borrowed my new road bike and took it on it's maiden triathlon voyage!! Just one minor set back - the helmet on backwards. We laughed at her the entire 40 minutes she was riding. Just glad she didn't have her swimsuit on backwards as well. In her defense, it was my helmet and she had only worn it once before. Still funny. Man though... isn't that a SEXY bike???

Holly crossing the finish line. I just love this picture. I was so proud of all my friends!! It was the first triathlon for all three of them and they did SO AWESOME!!! GO GIRLS!

My brush with fame! Sione (from last season's The Biggest Loser) was also in the race. I was so star struck that I actually went up and talked to him. Mumbled on about how impressed I was with his weight loss and more jumbling about how I thought it was cool that he was still so active. I'm sure I was embarrassing, but he was SO nice and cordial.

The girls after the race! WHEW!

And why in the WORLD would you do a triathlon if not to consume MAJOR calories at IHOP afterward? Oh wait. I didn't do the triathlon, but still consumed calories. Oops. In any case, IHOP was our last supper with the Porters before they hit the road to their new abode in Vegas.

So long Porters!!! You will be GREATLY missed in Arizona!!! Come back again real soon. We'll leave the light on for ya'.

BOO!

If baby elephants and their accompanying "peanuts" scare you... let this be your warning that the next few images could make you queasy and irritable.

We enjoyed a great Halloween. Complete with a family run through Kiwanis Park and a most excellent ward party. Here are Greg and Emma on the hayride for the kiddos. They ride up and down a rural street in Tempe and the home owners hand them candy. It is a fun tradition in our ward and one that I was pleased for Emma to experience. Judging by her chocolate covered mouth in this picture, I think we can safely assume that she was pleased as well.

Trying to win our church's pumpkin carving contest, Greg carved a "CTR" in our pumpkins. It reminds all pumpkins of the world to always "Choose the Right". Heaven help us all if even the produce of the world starts choosing the wrong. :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Trial by Jury

“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” - Thomas Jefferson

I was summoned to jury duty for the VERY FIRST time. I reported to duty yesterday and although inconvenienced with child care arrangement, I somewhat enjoyed the experience because it satisfied my curiosity about the process.

I'm not sure how I made it 13 years as a registered voter without a jury duty summons, but I did. I was starting to take it personally, so you can imagine the relief when it was finally MY TIME. :)

I called the night before and reported to the Maricopa County Courthouse Downtown at 8am on Monday morning. The trickiest part of the whole day was locating the stupid free parking lot amidst all of the one way streets. Seriously hate one way streets. Why would ANYONE think that was a great idea for city planning?

I waited in the large jury holding room for almost 90 minutes (reading and listening to my IPOD) until they called my name. Myself and 60 of my fellow community citizens marched to the center of the room and followed the bailiff to meet our judge and the potential case. As I followed the masses through the courthouse, I couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude for our country's judicial system. Every system has imperfections, but what a blessing it is to live in a free country with an organized court system that allows for a trial by jury, if desired.

Sat myself down on the wooden benches in the courtroom for almost 2 1/2 hours while the judge spoke to us of the case details (homicide) and sifted through members of the potential jury. This was such a unique process to me, because suddenly I was allowed a magnified window into the lives of 59 complete strangers. They became my closest non-acquaintances. I know who is divorced, married, sick, unemployed, financially challenged, suffered death in the family, had children shot, had uncles killed, where they work, where their spouses work, and most importantly where they stand on many major social and cultural issues. As we broke for lunch, I was so intrigued by their lives I wanted to go talk to them about their stories and invite them to dinner. :)

When it came to my turn, they breezed right over my information and focused on Greg. What type of law? How long? Where does he practice? Does he know the other attorney on the jury? And then the judge asked his first name. Which apparently is because the judge was an attorney at Fennemore (Greg's Law Firm) for years and wanted to know whether he knew him. GEEEEEEEEEZ people. Who is the potential juror here? ME or GREG?

Nope. I was not chosen for the jury. I guess they generally choose from the top of the list and I was #59. Although grateful for the day's experience, I was also glad that I didn't have to find emergency child care for Emma for 6 days. And thrilled that I didn't have to listen or SEE gruesome details regarding a homicide.

A HUGE thank you to Bonnie and JJ who watched my daughter all day long as I became fast friends with strangers in my community and completed my civic duty with pride. THANK YOU GUYS!!

“When you go into court, you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty” - Norm Crosby

PS - On a complete side note, I rode my new bike for the FIRST time this morning (10 miles) and all I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Move over swimming, there's a new favorite in town.

Our New Babies!!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our new babies. They cost SIGNIFICANTLY less than our first baby... so we are also pleased with that. And word on the street is - they won't keep us up in the middle of the night OR poop in the bath tub. My kind of babies.

So pumped to be the proud owners of road bikes!! We have been desperately trying to find used bikes for the last 3 months with no success. So, we purchased these new on Saturday morning from Tempe Bike. Got home with them around 12:30pm and by 1:00pm Greg hopped in the saddle and rode 12 miles. Don't ask about his sore bum, because he would love to tell you about it, and I promise you don't want to know. These either makes us official "triathletes in training" or crazies with about $1,000 less in the bank account.

My Fall Fix

No offense to you folks out there who just LOVE yourselves some desert landscape...

But, my preference is lush rolling hills, lined with beautiful trees and thoroughbred horses. Of course my favorite time to view such scenery is in the Fall, when those beautiful trees are spotted with rainbows of Fall colors and the crisp in the air requires a light jacket and warm soup.

For this reason, I grabbed my sister and my daughter and we flew to Kentucky to experience a "true Fall season" - away from cactus and rock. OK, OK - and to see my family.

We had such a wonderful time, it's hard to know where to begin.

So sit back, and enjoy the 478 pictures (give or take a few) from my trip home.

And before the travel log ensues, I have to thank my wonderful husband for sponsoring our trip. Why didn't Greg come you say? Sweet hubby of mine has limited vacation time due to billable hours that SUCK his life away... but was willing to let Emma and I party without him. He's just swell I tell you. Just swell. Thanks sweetheart! WE LOVE YOU!

The Marcums (Sean and Amber) were kind (or crazy!) enough to have us over for dessert on Sunday evening after church. They have three darling kids with #4 on the way and we always love partying it up with them. Emma loved all the attention.

Emma has a fetish with small chairs. She insisted that Grandpa join her. I won't assume or surmise who's bottom fit better into the small surface area.

Cousin Aliya (Matt and Corinda's daughter) is 4 months younger than Emma and they really had a fun time playing. Monday morning the girls chose to wake up Aunt Laura by jumping on her bed. How could you not wake up on the right side of the bed with this face smiling at you?

True or False? Aliya has the infamous "Krebs Eyes".

We took the girls to Keeneland on Monday. Keeneland is Lexington's famous race track (featured in movies such as Seabiscuit and Dreamer). The horses were not racing that day, but we walked around the grounds and said hello to the horses in their stalls.

You will not find prettier (or more expensive) horses around. Absolutely gorgeous animals.

Tuesday we went to Boyd Orchards to get in some pumpkin/fall fever. On the weekends they charge for their activities, but as we went during the week everything was FREE. WOO HOO!

Grandma with the girls. My mom is so cute with the grandkids and they just love her.

Our ward had an activity after church on Sunday, for some unknown reason, Emma felt the need to guard this circle in the middle of the room. She spent at least 20 minutes just standing on the circle and smiling over at our table. In one fateful moment another man stood on her circle and she flipped a lid. How could he not have known this was HER special circle? :)

Her little feet fit perfectly in the little circle. Maybe I should start drawing circle on my tile floor? Think of the hours of fun that could provide?

We coordinate all of our outfits when I visit home. DUH.

My neighborhood goes NUTSO for Halloween. This house was down the street and Emma LOVED to visit and see the scary spider and pumpkins. $10 to the first person who can "I SPY" little Emma peeping.

Aunt Laura and Uncle Glen were kind enough to take Emma to the park. Swings are like smiles. They bring the same joy, wherever you are in the world.

Oh how Emma loves her Unlce Glen (Nen Nen). She probably called his name 4,578 times a day and he answered with joy every single time. What a great uncle. When we are back in Arizona Emma asks to call him at LEAST once a day.

And what would a trip to Kentucky be without a little "food time" with Grandpa?

I'm pretty sure Laura was more scared than Emma...

Music lessons with Grandma. They let her share the bench for awhile, but then kicked her off for more space. They'll be to Carnegie Hall any day.

A "nature walk" with the family.

More pictures from Boyd Orchards... I love this picture because you can see GORGEOUS Kentucky in the background. Just LOVE. MY. HOME. STATE. It was seriously so therapeutic to see green again. Greg always gets nervous when I go to Kentucky, because the two weeks that follow are always filled with longing to move back East.

Ashlee - this one's for you!! :)

At this point in the trip my camera batteries died... although this is the very same camera that we thought was broken. A little flick of my finger at the lens and WALA! The camera was fixed.

Thursday and Friday we took a road trip to Atlanta. I visited my long time friend, Lara (Saville) Dahl and her husband, Greg. She got us comp tickets to see her perform in this orchestra of Mozart's "Magic Flute". It was an opera/ballet performance and it was spectacular! I also got to see Lara's beautiful new home in her gorgeous Peachtree City. They treated my like royalty with waffles for breakfast and homemade pizza for lunch! YUM!! Unfortunately, it was a short trip and we left after less than 24 hours... but quality over quantity is what I always appreciate. Thanks Lara and Greg for a WONDERFUL visit!