Tri Again...

One year ago, I decided I need to stop pining away for a baby.

After multiple miscarriages, I was starting to go crazy.

One year ago

I found something hard to do.

Physically hard.

If my body wouldn't let me carry a baby,

I might as well work the muscles in a different way.

Eventually it helped my emotional heart as well.

I invited women around me to join me in a triathlon.

Many women came out of the wood work to participate in the race or support.

ONE YEAR LATER,

I wanted to see if I was any better than the year before.

I'd fallen off my bike more than I care to remember.

My ankle and knee still smarting I did the next race.

The morning was cold.

Too cold to stand around in a swimsuit.

 

My leg cramped in the middle of the swim, but I persevered. 

I swam a little slower than planned but faster than last year.

 Swimming is my favorite part usually of the whole event.

 

I asked Sweetheart to take pictures.

He followed me through transitions to take my picture. 

My boys ran the last bit of the race with me.

Hurricane insisted on "helping" me by holding my hand.

When he would trip, I would just haul him up and keep going.

They were super excited to cross the finish line.

So much so they thought they should get a medal.

They each went to the award's table and took the 1st place medal.

Hurricane went to the car with his medal without telling anyone where he went.

I wish I could stay his disappearing act is unusual but it isn't.

They both cried when they had to give the medals back.

I was a little faster.
So there was some improvement.

Andrea, Jackie, Me, Marilee

These are some of the lovely ladies that did it. 

Jackie did her first ever. Her family cheered her along the way! 

Spooky Run

The PTA sponsors a Spooky Run for a fundraiser.

I want to promote healthy lifestyle and supporting the school is a good way to do it.

Last year, Sweetheart ran with us.

He went to a water reclamation class this year.

So one of our babysitters ran with us.

 

The boys wanted a costume.

Ten minutes before the event I cut up 2 of Daddy's work shirts.

The cuts were made into capes.

Even though Edna Moles says, "No capes!",

the capes helped me keep an eye on where the boys were.

Underfoot ran 9/10 of the 5K race.

Hurricane ran and rode in the stroller.

We did it in a remarkable 46.35 time. 

*****

This is also the 500th post.

That's amazing as well.

The 3 Kings Deliver

Last Christmas the 3 Kings brought Hurricane the promised gift of a train ride on a real train.

In his 2013 goals, he listed he wanted to go on a real train.

(He really wanted to go on a 100 real trains in 2013.)

The 3 Kings delivered train tickets while we were in Utah.

Underfoot was over the moon to go on the train.

The train went down Provo Canyon on the Heber Valley Railroad.

At Vivian Park, we were allowed to get off the train and walk around.

After boarding the train, the boys got back into the book they had been reading.

They read until the train started. They found their own seats and sat alone.

Part way through the ride, the train stops and 2 robbers get on the train to "rob" the passengers.

We were asked to put our hands up and empty our "goods."

The robber gave the children chocolate gold pieces.

The gold pieces didn't last very long.

On the ride, Sweetheart wanted to read his book. 

The ride was about 2 hours long.

Each boy spent time "reading" with their Dad. 

They just spent some quiet time together.

Hurricane wanted to take pictures with the camera.

He moved the camera so much most if not all the pictures were blurred.

Underfoot was willing to take multiple photos 

until we got a picture without me having a double chin.

 

The weather was beautiful.

The colors again were striking.

Hurricane prayed over and over again to have snow.

The snow came to the high mountains.

Camping

Sweetheart wrote about our camping trip:

Wendy had promised the boys she would take them camping 

and needed to follow through even though she wrecked. 

They went camping and after work, I joined them for the evening.

cut from the campfire

Hurricane fell over at the campfire and 

cut the back of his head about 1/2 inch. 

Another family joined us and the boys played with their children and slept well. 

I returned to town to go to work.

healed cut

Tuesday Wendy decided to take the boys on a hike.

When they started, she thought they'd do a little hike. 

Instead they went on about a 4 to 5 mile hike.

The boys did a GREAT job! 

Underfoot asked to return only once, and Hurricane hiked a little slow at times. It took them about 4 hours. After supper, Hurricane fell into the fire. Miraculously, he burned only the bottom of his shoes. We are grateful for the miraculous protection he received. The boys fell asleep at 7:15 pm and then woke up at 6:30 am. As soon as breakfast was over, she brought everyone home.

Run or Dye

Almost a year ago, we participated in a race called the Color Vibe.

Hurricane asked that we do it again. 

He liked it very much because we ended up looking like this!

We arrived at the race early enough to have a "clean" family photo!

When we were about to leave for the run, 

Sweetheart discovered that ALL the wheels on the stroller were flat.

Hurricane got to run some and ride in the flattened-tire stroller.

Underfoot ran!

The WHOLE 5K!

The first part was VERY HARD with tears!

We started to run 3 minutes and walk 1 minute.

What an incredible change in attitude!

When he saw the finish line, he ran the last 1/4 of mile of the course!

My neighbor who gave me the double stroller for the party bus!

She found this race and invited us to join her team.

We got a $5 discount to join the team!

We finished with colors on us! 

The green stained our skin for about 2 days.

Hummingbird Triathlon

I participated in the Hummingbird Triathlon.

My hair the night before. I had a few nerves.

I completed the race in just a hair over two hours (2.00.10.) 

The length was an 800 meter swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. 

In my preparations for the race, I accidentally fell over 

and could not get my shoe unclipped from my pedal. 

My left wrist absorbed the impact. 

As a family, they took her to an urgent care facility for 

an x-ray because I was in a lot of pain 

(I rarely let Sweetheart know that anything hurts, 

so when I say anything he knows the pain is extreme...) 

My wrist was not broken but badly bruised. 

The race was one week after the accident. 

This is the bruise on the day of the race.

No pictures were taken of the event.

We opted to stay the night in a hotel 

so that we didn't have to get up so early in the morning. 

The boys went swimming three times in the hotel pool. 

They loved it! They said, "Mama should do more triathlons!"

Bunsen Peak

Bunsen Peak is named after the same man 

who the Bunsen Burner was named.

 The trail is 2.1 miles long one way.

The ascent was hard with a 1,278 ft elevation change.

We trained to hike but weren't prepared for this.

Underfoot started to struggle once we got toward the top.

His Uncle Beck came by to offer to carry him to the top.

I asked him not to help Underfoot to the top 

because Underfoot needed to conquer the mountain on his own.

Hurricane started to cry as well. 

Since he was hiking with Dad, 

Sweetheart helped him get to the top.

He was glad to see his cousins at the top.

Once we reached the top,

Underfoot was SO PROUD of himself.

He kept saying that he made it.

I'm grateful to Uncle Beck to not help him.

Sweetheart was our rock.

He kept us going and was positive.

I was tired - physically and emotionally.

There was a lot of changes in the last 3 weeks.

Even with the excitement of the changes,

I was tired.

Our sons were blessed to have their Dad.

We made it to the top. 

Our descent was hard as well.

I had promised that I wouldn't carry our boys on any of the hikes.

Near the end, they needed to be carried a little.

The car was a welcome site.

We know we can do hard things.

Yellowstone Grand Canyon

The first stop on the itinerary was the

GRAND CANYON OF YELLOWSTONE.

This is the end of hike...

It is good to see what size of group we are.

And this isn't all of us still......

 We hiked the southern rim.

Parents held on to children along the edge of the path.

T-Bone is pictured here with one of his favorite girls.

Goldilocks stayed closed to her boyfriend (a.k.a. her Dad.)

 Just to prove I participated and 

wasn't behind the camera the whole time.

CF and Sparky made a good team.

Sparky and CF helped each other down the trail.

Sparky likes gum.

Aunt M is married to T-Bone.

T-Bone named himself before a surgery.

After 4 children, multiple surgeries, multiple moves,

they are very passionate about each other. 

Mr. Nature loves his Mom A LOT!

She give him the opportunities to grow.

He'll still sit on her lap.

Auntie M let the children hold onto her backpack straps.

She pretended that she was a horse and the straps were reins.

Underfoot used his first aid kit he carried.

One of his cousin's slipped and fell.

She needed a band-aid.

Underfoot provided 1st aid for her.

I'm sure glad we went on all those hikes to prepare.

Sweetheart and Uncle A took a rest 

before we climbed down the steps to the Lower Falls.

We went down Uncle Tom's Trail.

The trail is a series of paved paths 

and a staircase of 328 stair one way.

All the planning and organization goes to Noodles.

She read.

She planned.

She traveled.

She created a tour guide.

She can tell you about Yellowstone.

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

As we would pass other hikers on the path,

they would say, 

"I don't envy you to have to carry them  up."

We didn't carry our boys one step of the way!

They conquered this hike with flying colors!

The falls are 308 feet.

To put that in perspective,

Niagara Falls are 167 feet.

So the falls are almost 2x the height.

The view is spectacular!

Here is the crew that hiked to the bottom. 

A nice lady from Poland took our picture.

She carried her own tripod in to take her picture.

We did the first part of the day!

We hiked out of the canyon for lunch.

The children still had energy and played!