Pizza Pizzaza

All of these pictures were recycled from Summer's blog (sorry!).  We just thought that it would be a shame not to mention how great a fast food cook Ben would make... especially at a pizza joint!  Good times!  P.S. Get some new movie speakers that don't suck!

Dinosaurs!

Two dollar Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point rocked in August!  This was one of the days we went to the dinosaur museum.  The line wrapped clear around the building to get in the first time!  It was so crowded that keeping track of the kids was pretty hard.  Easton did one of his disappearing acts and it took us 20 minutes to find him at the front counter, in care of one of the employees.  Scared the heck out of us!

Camping

This is our favorite campsite in Utah County.  It's at the end of the road past Timpanookie campground and takes a serious vehicle to get to.  We took our piece of junk Mazda, and seriously thought we would have to leave it on the side of the road forever!  Miraculously, the Mazda made it and earned it's new, prestigious nickname: The Golden Nugget, Part Deux!  Honestly, we drove for a couple of hairy hours to get to the site just to eat and sleep the night; left first thing in the morning.  Was it worth it?  Oh yeah!

Always eating dirt!

The Golden Nugget, Part Deux (in the background)

Sliding Rock...Again

Art and Sierra have moved :(  This was one of our last little outings together.  As you can see, Art is physically unable to do anything without the "hang-loose" sign.  Have fun in Michigan!

"F-U-"

When I was pregnant with the little dude (at that time I didn't know I was going to name him Phoenix) we were talking to my Father-in-law's friends, Mark and Randy.  Mark is the flamboyant one and Randy is the serious one in their relationship.  This Marky guy is a character....soooo funny.  Anyway, he was born in the same month as Phoenix would be and was telling me a little bit about our future Leo (their sign).  First off, Marky told me you will have problems with the "F" word.  I was silent, not really knowing what to say then he went on:  "F-U" (I was thinking please don't spell it) then he finished the word with, "N" and laughed frivolously.  Oh my gosh, I was dying of laughter, it was so unexpected.  So Phoenix is our "fun" baby.  He's actually been a difficult baby, cute, but difficult.  I call him Phoenix the fireball.  Those big blue eyes make him look so sweet and innocent.  I always tell people, "good thing he's cute or else......." Anyway, Happy birthday to Phoenix; I can't believe he's one!

Ice-Cream Trance

We recently hung out with Art and Sierra (pre-yard sale).  Phoenix ate a lot of dirt and an ice-cream truck was hanging around with some creepy guy driving it that waved at all the kids.  It reminded me of the Pied Piper story.  You can see in the video how transfixed the kids were by the weirdo, ice-cream man and his van.

Wind Rivers Wyoming

I just got back from a trip to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming.  It was one of the raddest places I have ever been!  The fishing was supposed to be killer, but I didn't take a fly reel and the trout weren't taking spinners so we ate a lot of MRE's!  The trip seriously rocked except for the weight of the pack I carried.  You can see from the group picture that there were a lot of girls... my pack weighed over 70 pounds!  After 30 plus miles of hiking, my body is done.  I have been sleeping ever since I got back.  Thanks for watching the kids, Steph!

Spudman Triathlon 2008

Yea, I did it...my first triathlon.  It was so amazing for me, such a positive experience.  So here's the overview:  It was an olympic tri so a mile swim, 26 miles on the bike, and the run was a 10K (6.2 miles I think).  Approximately two months before the race I pulled a ligament or tendon in my ankle when I was doing some crazy dance moves with my sisters at a party.  I kept doing stuff on it so it didn't heal.  So I put most of my training efforts into swimming which is good cause I had no idea how to swim right.  A lady in our ward let me borrow her road bike and I went biking with her a couple of times before the race.  I tried running again about two weeks before the race and felt so discouraged because of my ankle, wondering if I'd be able to do the race at all.  A doctor looked at it, told me that nothing was seriously wrong with it and it should heal fine in a few weeks.  It must have been partially mental cause from that point on it started rapidly healing.  The race was finally here. I was excited but of course nervous cause I didn't feel all the way ready.  Everyone told me to know how to change a flat cause it's a common thing I guess.  I learned the day before but prayed my guts out that I wouldn't get one.  I knew the race would be over for me if I did. 

 I actually did decent considering it was my first race and I could have trained a lot better.  I finished 8th in my division but should have done elite division cause I would have finished 5th!  I swam the mile in 18 min. (although it was in the snake river), I averaged 21 mph on the bike and averaged an 8 min. mile on the run.  My transitions amazingly enough were smooth and quick (I guess it's important).  Ben was such a great cheerleader and support for me. I don't know what I would do without him. He originally made fun of the spandex shorts I had to wear but then stopped when he realized that EVERYBODY wore them.  Somehow if Ben ever did a triathlon, I still don't think he would wear spandex shorts. 

It wasn't all happy though.  An older man that was in the group after me drown and they couldn't revive him.  Ben saw them administering cpr to him and had to turn away cause it was so sad to see.  I feel for his family.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Canyoneering In Zion

On our way to Havasupai we decided to make a short side jaunt to Zion's to rappel Keyhole Canyon.  It was cold and smelled like dirty socks.  Art was a good sport like last time and let me ride/drown him during the deep swim.

Our Havasupai Adventure

This place was crazy!