Back in the Saddle

After a long hiatus, I am back in the saddle, literally...my bike saddle, that is. It's not that I haven't been riding my bike. I have been doing it here and there, just not consistently. After my half-ironman in August, I was completely burned out. I needed a break. My family needed me to take a break. I just didn't know I needed THIS long of a break. After almost 4 months, 10 lbs., and tons of junk food, I've started training again.

In a fit of exercise madness last spring, I signed up for another half-ironman in April 2009. This was even before I had started training for the one I did in August. "How hard can it be," I told myself. Well, now I am kinda regretting signing up. I really hate being cold, and now I have to train all winter long.

There are a few positives that will come out of this, though.

1. I will probably lose the weight I have gained.

2. I am taking the whole family with me to San Diego, and we are staying in a condo right on the beach!

3. After this race I'll feel pretty entitled in taking the whole summer off and vegging.

So this week marked the beginning of my 20 week training plan. It feels so good to be working toward something again. It feels so good to push my body to its limits. And, it feels so good to finally ride my bike several times in the week. I love her so much (my bike). I view the world so differently when I'm in her saddle. Everything is beautiful, and life just makes sense.

So to help motivate me, I am posting some pictures of my race I finished in July.

Here we all are before the race, showing off our muscles and our body marking. Yes, they mark you with your age on the back of you calf with permanent marker.

Here is the mass swim start. There is usually a lot of thrashing and swimming over the top of people, but since this was an all women's race, it was pretty civil.

This is me on the run. Yes, I look like I'm walking, but I was just sooooo slow. It was so hot and I was hurting and feeling every mile.

Sweet success and a cold shower. I was so glad to be done!

Sick

I sit here sick as my boys and Chris are outside raking leaves. I am really sad because I want to be out there. We have so much fun raking leaves every year, jumping in them, and having leaf fights, and I'm so sad I'm missing it.

So, I'll drown my sorrows in this tag:

~10 years ago
Chris and I had just gotten married in May and pregnant 6 weeks later. I'm sad to say we fought a ton, and if it hadn't been for me being preggo, our marriage may not have survived. Don't worry, we're ok now. We missed the honeymoon stage of being married, and are celebrating it now ;)

~5 Things On Today's To-Do List
What was on my to do list (until I got sick) was:
1. Ride my bike
2. Rake leaves
3. Grocery shop
4. Go for a run
5. Go for a hike and out to dinner w/Chris (it's his b-day tomorrow)

~Snacks I Enjoy
Heck, I enjoy everything, but mostly I love to eat cold cereal, yogurt, and anything with sugar in it (I'm an addict).

~Things I would do if I suddenly became a billionaire
Build our dream home (passive solar, off grid home)
Hire a maid
Travel to the Bahamas
Take a Disney cruise
Buy a carbon bike
Eat all organic, homemade food
Make sure all my nieces could attend college
Give money to my parents and in-laws so they could retire

~3 Bad Habits
1. Picking out other people's bad punctuation and spelling. I don't know why, but it sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
2. Being too critical with my kids. I yell at them way too much instead of sitting them down and explaining things to them.
3. Spending too much time on the computer.

~5 Places I've lived
1. Hurricane
2. New York
3. St. George
4. Provo; Provo; Provo (we moved several times while there)
5. Blanding

~5 Jobs I've Had
1. Table Busser
2. Nanny
3. Cashier at a grocery store
4. Administrative Assistant
5. and my most favorite job of all.....DOMESTIC GODDESS

~5 Things People Don't Know About Me
1. I had braces and cosmetic dentistry done as an adult. I think I look just enough different that people look at me and wonder, but can't put their finger on it.
2. Chris plucks my eyebrows for me every Saturday night...sweet huh?! He loves doing it.
3. I love day dreaming. I am always wondering about and looking for the next best thing. I think it drives Chris nutty. He thrives on consistency. He'd love to stay in the same place, doing the same things for the rest of his life.
4. I have terrible circulation and very low blood pressure. My feet and hands are always cold, and whenever I stand up from sitting or lying down, I almost always get light headed, see spots, or black out for a few seconds.
5. I am ticklish on my head. I know this sounds so weird, but Chris knows the exact spot and he loves to see me squirm. I'm also a sucker for a good head rub!

Tag: Jilyn & Teala...that means you have to cut and paste and answer these questions on your blog!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

He passed!

Horray, Chris passed! Well, at least the first half of this grueling test. It is the CMBA exam, which will make him a Certified Master of Business something or other...who cares?! Now he has several more weeks of studying, then he will take the second half of the test, then write a paper, and he's done with his degree. I will be so excited for this to be over. It has taken so much of his time, but it will be worth it.

After the degree is finished, he will need to study his pants off for several months, then take the CPA exam. This is all part of our master plan. Ya'll will find out what that entails probably in the next few months after all this is over with. I am so stinkin proud of Chris. We agreed that if he gets all this over with by spring time, he can get a season pass to the golf course. He'll be in heaven all summer!

Nice little boys....

Calvin and I were sitting in the sun together a few days ago. He looked at me and said, "mom, I think you hit puberty...you're getting a mustache." I guess I need to wax!

Anden told me the other day that he hopes he's as fat as me someday.

I hope they are only saying these things to me, and not other lady's. They might not take it as well.

St. George

I love life here in Blanding, but I really dislike being cold. I am also a person who likes change and thrives on the next best thing. I know that's not one of my best qualities. Me, Chris, and the fam went to St. George this weekend. We dropped the kiddos off at my moms house (thanks mom, you're the best!), and headed off to a bed and breakfast. In the morning we both had a race at Snow Canyon. The weather was so incredible. I want to move back. Actually, I want Chris to buy me a condo there, so we can live there in the winter. The race was beautiful, too!

I was so lucky to see a good friend from high school. I hadn't seen her in several years, and we were able to hook up for lunch. I just feel bad for Chris, since he had to sit there and listen to us reminisce all during lunch.

Here are all the boys at trunk or treat. Braxton was a vampire. The older he gets, the more bloody and scary he wants his costume. What ever happened to cows and dinosaurs?

Calvin wanted to be a ninja. We already had the costume, and he BEGGED me to paint his face black. I told him that ninjas don't paint their faces black (since their mom's don't want to worry about black face paint rubbing off onto everything ;), but he really, really wanted me to paint it. I succumbed. The minute he saw his face in the mirror, he started crying huge alligator tears. He hated it. This kid HAS to look perfect. He begged me to wash it off, but every mom knows black face paint never comes off on the first washing, plus we were already late for trunk or treat. I told him we were leaving, and he declared that he would not be trick or treating. When we got there it was too hard for him to watch the fun and not be involved, so he washed it himself with baby wipes and felt like he looked pretty darn good afterwards. That's why his face looks the way it does.

Exhausted

Oh my heavens, I had huge plans to put a Halloween post up complete with pictures, but I just can't do it.

To start off, my newest news is that I am not working with the Young Women's anymore. I got released on Sunday. Can I just tell you that I love those young ladies! I am going to miss them so much! Chris and I have gone to the same church for six years, and I have been in the Young Women's for most of that time. I'm kinda sad, but I know the new leaders will do a fabulous job and the girls will love them.

I have a confession. When I was training for my half-ironman, I ate, slept, and drank swimming, biking, and running. It was all I had time for. Well, after I finished, without even consciously realizing it, I filled my time with internet and more internet. I can't even tell you exactly what I was doing. Definitely nothing productive. My house and family were really starting to show the effects of my laziness. So, I am turning a new leaf. After finally being honest with myself about how much time I was wasting, I am now only going to check email and anything else in the evening after the kids go to bed. I started this today, and I can already tell a difference. It's time to climb out of this mess I have dug myself into. It's really hard for me to admit this because it makes me feel like such a terrible mother and wife, but I need to make a change.

So that is why I'm not posting pictures or anything else for now. I am completely exhausted. I need sleep.