Triathlon

 

 

I am the Mia Maid Counselor in our ward.

Can I just say how FUN my group of girls are?!

When I was put into this calling I was really nervous.

I knew it as going to be a lot of work and a big time commitment.

But these girls make my calling so enjoyable!!

Casey and I say all of the time how lucky I am that I have this group to be with.

He actually just got a new church calling and gets to teach some of these girls

in Sunday school.

Poor them I guess, Goodman overload:)

 

10 months ago the Teachers quorum invited us to do a triathlon with them that they

had done the previous year. Without even asking the girls  I said yes!

I knew they were capable of hard things and I really wanted a good motivation

to exercise better and have a hard goal in mind to accomplish.

 

We started training 4 months before hand.

I made an exercise chart for them to mark off and do at home.

We dedicated mutual nights to running and had a big bike

ride with the Teachers one Saturday.

 

Before we knew it we were ready to take off for the big race!!

It was up in Pima. Only six of my Mia Maids could come so we

were able to all fit in my car!

We watched Maleficent on the way up and I enjoyed

listening to all of their boy crushes:)

I love how open they are with me!

 

When we arrived we went to the big camping spot and dropped off our stuff.

We then headed over to the stake center where we checked in, got our race number

marked on our bodies and got our backpack of goods.

 

It was a MAD HOUSE.

There were 1600 racers.

 

Here we are in single file line, squished in the building waiting our turn

to get our stuff.

 

 

 

I ran into my aunt Jori!!

She and my uncle were with their youth group.

And she was running the race!

There were all sorts of age groups there participating which made me more at ease.

 



 

After you got checked in you went out into the parking lot for a dance!

It was SO FUN. I don't know why I get a high off of dancing in big groups.

I'm pretty sure I got some glances for the crazy, middle aged lady getting her groove on:)

 

The dance ended at 9:30 and we headed back to the camping grounds.

It was in a huge softball field, kind of like at the inter stake center.

Boys on one side, girls on the other with porta-potties in the middle:)

 

We did not come prepared for staying warm:/

The Teachers quorum leader said it was best to sleep under the stars to make clean

up the next morning easier. Which it was, but man did we FREEZE our tushies off that night!

I was so cold I wore my Ugg boots to bed!!!

We tried to get as snugged together as possible on the tarp. 

Some girls took cover in the car during the night to stay warmer as well as Sheri my advisor.

I hadn't been happier to see 5am in all my life!

Oh, and it didn't help that I had had a sore throat that whole week.

By morning I had NO VOICE and my nose was a faucet!

 

 Once we were thawed out and had some food in us we were back in good spirits.

But then the nerves started setting in.

I was most nervous about the swimming portion.

I had heard horror stories about how cold the water is.

I HATE being in cold water.

I know it would only be for a few laps, but still!!

 

 

The layout of the race was:

3 laps in the high school pool.

6 miles on your bike.

 1.8 mile run.

 

Here we are getting our stuff ready



Riding over to the starting line.

Waiting in line to get our timers put on our legs.



 

Setting up our bikes and getting ready for the swim

This is Sheri my advisor.

LOVE her, she is so amazing.



 Getting closer to the start!!

Final line-up to jump into the icy, cold water!:/

You can see the ankle things they used to keep track of our time.

 

Some how I got pushed to the front of the line and went in FIRST!

As I was running to the guy in charge of my

lane he was yelling: just jump in, don't think

about it!

Basically was ready to shove me in if I hesitated and stopped!

 

I clinched my teeth and took the plunge!

I let out a pathetic yelp because I had no voice and swam as fast as

 my frozen, numb body could go!

 

Here we are after the swim, running to the next transition!

I literally could not feel my legs!!

I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of the pool but you can kind of

see it in the background.

 



 

We threw on our shoes, shirt and were off!

 

 

This is where we started to separate from each other and go at our own

pace.

I was proud of myself and stayed up with Aleah, the girl in the pink shirt who

is pretty athletic.

The first 3 miles were uphill and challenging.

The last 3 gave you a nice break before the run.

 

We passed our bikes off to the helpers and started running!

 



AHH, the finish line:)

It was so fun to see my girls cross that line and see the smile on their faces!

 

2 of my girls beat me!:)

Aleah got the fastest time with 57 minutes.

My time was 1 hour, 1 minute, 27 seconds.

Not bad for being sick!

 



 

Showing off our well deserved medals!

 



 

After loading everything up we

went to the temple for some pictures.

I have never been to the Gila Valley temple so it was fun to finally see it.

 



We hit up Subway for lunch then drove back to the valley.

I was BEAT by the time we got home.

I remember thinking, this is why girls don't do camp outings every

month like the boys.

We couldn't hack it!!

Thank goodness I have a month before girls camp to recover!

I ended up having to miss church and went to urgent care.

I was hacking up a lung and literally couldn't make a peep.

I had laryngitis and didn't get my voice back for 10 days!

I always thought it would be fun to loose my voice until I couldn't yell at my kids.

Haha.

But what a great time I had.

We will remember this for a LONG time!
In fact I am already looking forward to next year!:)

 

 



Spring stuff

 

 

This was the first year I was actually excited for spring break.

We usually never go anywhere for spring break, this year included.

I didn't really have anything exciting planned, except for sleeping in!!!

 

I tried to have one big activity planned each day.

The first day we went to Riverview park.

And we must have had fun because we stayed over 4 hours!

I'm sure glad I packed lots of snacks and stopped at Walgreens for sunscreen.

Even then Lindi had a major swimsuit outline on her body, oops.

She was just starting her bass tan for the summer, right?:)

 

I don't know why I don't have any other pictures of our daily adventures, but we swam a lot in

our neighborhood pool and went to Mesquite pool with cousins.

We had a random cold day thrown into the week of 90 degree weather.

It rained and you needed jackets.

That was the night I took Rusty and Lindi to the Easter Pageant dress rehearsal.

Casey was with Lane at his baseball practice.

My mom and Craig were part of the multitude again.

I brought our big umbrella and got front row seats and it was awesome to watch!

Lindi sat in her little camping chair the WHOLE TIME!

I was so worried about taking them by myself and in the cold rain.

It turned out to be a great experience.

I sat next to a very pregnant lady.

We started chit chatting and asking if we knew anybody in the pageant.

I mentioned my family then she rubbed her belly and said that baby Jesus was inside!

She couldn't be induced for a couple more days so she was praying he would make it in time.

I think in the long run they used a couple different babies.

We also got to see one of the 10 virgins get proposed to!

I guess her lamp was full that night:)

Baseball season started again!

Rusty is playingT-ball and oh boy, was he excited about it!

They both had opening ceremonies on the same Saturday as well as their first games.

I knew I was in for it when Saturday morning  I was sleeping in my bed I could feel

a tap, then a whisper of  "mom, is it time to leave?" I opened my eyes to find 2, fully dressed boys

in their baseball uniforms. I looked at the clock and it was 6am.

Seriously? I grunted NOOO, go back to bed!!

 

I needed my rest because we were at the baseball fields from 9-3 that day!

 



 

 

(Lanes best friend Griffen. They are on separate teams for the first time this year)

 

I do LOVE baseball season.

Even if every night of the week we have to rush off to practice or games.

I love to watch my kids excel at things they enjoy doing!

Lane is on the farm league this year and it SO fun to watch compared to coach pitch.

He is a natural at this sport.

He lucked out with an amazing coach who works really hard with them to up their skills.

He has been pitching a little bit. The first time was so nerve racking to watch!!

He did great, only pegged a boy once:/

And ended up striking out 3 batters!

 

 

To go from Lanes intense games to Rusty's is kind of comical.

It takes the whole team to go after a grounder.

 Then they all dog pile on top of the ball!

That cute smile of his is my favorite.

 



 

We had cousins in town twice this month!

This was on a Sunday evening after dinner.

Eating their hot fudge sundaes on the tramp.

It's the simple things in life:)

 

 



 My dad took us to the RS broadcast!

China King is becoming our tradition afterwards.

 

 

Too many choices so we do family style and order one of everything!!

Minus the cooked goose hanging by its neck in the window.

Sharon taught us well:)

 

 

And we are no light weights so Nielson concretes were calling our name!

Go big or go home.

Or for us, go home big:)

David joined us for that segment.

I bought a half inch curling iron for Lindi's hair and curled it for the first time.

It turned out ADORABLE!!!

She sat really great.
 Until she reached up and grabbed the curling iron while I was in the
middle of curling a piece of hair.

I don't think it got her too bad.

Then she didn't want anything to do with getting her hair done!

I found some wheels on the bus videos on you tube that distracted her long enough to finish the rest.

 

 We had our Goodman Easter party that evening and when she walked in everybody

said it looked like she was going to a wedding or something!

 

I doubt she will get her hair curled much more.

I tried the following week and when I pulled the curling iron out of the cupboard to plug in

she ran the other direction screaming NOOO, no hair, no!!

Hahaha, I scared her for life:/



The three legged Easter hunt was a blast, as usual!

 

That Saturday we went to the Goodman's during priesthood session.

Stephanie threw an impromptu birthday party for Dallin.

They enjoyed dying Easter eggs. SO glad I didn't have to make the mess at my house:)

Thanks Grammy for being brave and letting 12 kids fulfill their Easter egg dying dreams on your

kitchen table!

 She got so into it and would have sat there for hours dipping if we let her!

See, in all of the pics she wouldn't take her eyes off of her project!

 

 

 Easter was on General Conference weekend.

Double score!!

I am a bad mom and didn't get any pictures of the kids WITH their baskets.

I was taking advantage of sleeping in since we have 8:30 church for the rest of our lives! (so lame).

But I smiled in bed as I could hear them yelling at each in excitement with what was in their baskets.

And the boys with a happy voice pointing out to Lindi what was in hers.

Makes a mama's heart sing!

 

 We ate Easter lunch at my parents then some of us watched the afternoon session.

I tried so hard but I was doped up on Benadryl and keeping my eyes open was not an option!

I had a weird allergic reaction to either a vitamin I took or a peanut butter egg. I ate both at the same time. My face started itching and burning then it spread to my chest and arms. I started turning red with a splotchy red rash! It was crazy how fast it started to spread.

 

I stole this from Stephanie's blog.

I don't even remember Lindi picking my nose!

 

We had another Easter egg hunt for the kids.

You can never have too many!

 

 

These pictures of the girls are my favorite!!

Nothing like cute girlies in cute spring clothes!