St. George Vacation

We went to St. George a little bit ago, but I wanted to write a little bit about it. We were able to go down with our very good friends, Jeff and Jenna to a condo for a few days. It was so nice to get away. We will be going on more vacations in August and September, but this was what we needed to hang in there until then. We went swimming, played tennis, played Rock Band and just hung out. I was able to go to Zion's for the first time and hiked up to the Emerald Pools. Aidan wasn't so happy about the hike while doing it, but afterwards was talking about it like he loved it. Somehow while we were there I lost my camera, but luckily Jenna took a bunch of pictures of us, so I will get them eventually and post them. I was so worried because while I can replace the camera, I can't replace the pictures. I am so glad Jenna took so many so I won't be without them to share and scrapbook. I am so grateful for such good friends. It's rare to find couples to hang out with where everyone gets along so well and we are all such great friends.

I have to mention that Aidan and Hunter (they have the exact same birthday to the day. Crazy!) were so naughty together. They didn't really fight but it was like every little naughty thought that crossed one of their minds they acted on. One morning they got knives out and were playing with them and each got a little cut. They ran away from the condo to the park, too. Crazy little boys!

Triathlons and a Marathon

So...I just went out for a bike ride on my new road bike that I got for Mother's Day (thanks, babe!) and I just have to talk about the insanity and pure joy that comes along with training for a triathlon and soon to be marathon. I am doing a sprint distance( .5 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike and a 5K run) tri on June 7th. Then on July 26th Spencer and I will be racing in an Olympic distance tri (twice as much as a sprint) in Burley Idaho called the Spudman. Spencer and I will do a half marathon on Aug. 23rd and then on September 7th I am doing another Olympic tri. To end the season, on October 4th, Spencer, my best friend Jenna and I will be running in the St. George marathon.

I am so scared sometimes. I feel like I cannot possibly do this and yet, 2 years ago I did 2 triathlons with a torn meniscus. Obviously I can do it. Now that I have my road bike (even though I fell today. Those clip in pedals are super tricky.) and I am not trying to ride Walmart's cheapest mountain bike, I feel a lot more confident in the biking. I can already swim a mile in the pool consistently (On Monday I did it in 40 minutes! Go me! If I can just get it down to 35 that would be perfect.) Running this year seems so hard to me though. It is so strange because running was always my thing. I thought of myself as a "runner". But I knew last year when I saw people biking and was jealous that I couldn't because I was pregnant with Madelyn, I knew I was a triathlete.

Now that I am positive that this is boring to everyone but myself, I will stop venting. This is such a huge part of my life right now and is so important to me that I just had to write it down. But I truly feel so proud of myself when I do this because I am proving to myself that I am not a quitter. I finish what I start.

My sweet boy!

I just have to write down a little bit of my sweet Aidan today. He truly is the sweetest little boy I could have ever imagined. I can't even express how much joy one boy can bring into my life (and to think I never wanted a boy! Only 5 girls!) and I am so thankful for him every day. He adores Madelyn and can make her laugh more than the rest of us combined. So tonight when saying prayers he said, "We thank thee for our baby and her giggles and her smiles. We love our baby." Can I just say that my heart melted? This isn't the first time he has said things like that, but he is still saying it all the time is what amazes me. Madelyn is so lucky to have him for her big brother. I know he will always protect her. We are all so lucky to have him in our family.

The beginning of blogging!

So, after seeing everyone and their dog blogging, and loving what I have seen, I have finally succumbed! I have loved being able to see so many of the fun things of my friends and family members and want to share a little bit of our lives with those people that we love. So the adventure of blogging has begun. I hope I can record some of the precious moments of my children's lives that seem to slip away so easily from memories . I am the luckiest person in the world. I have the most amazing husband and three beautiful children who I am so grateful to have in my life. I have the best group of friends, who keep me grounded and help me know that I am not the only mom in the world who feels like they are going crazy. Plus, they keep me in constant supply of very entertaining books to read. So I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world and despite the trials we all go through, that life truly is beautiful.