Creative Cousin

I promised my cousin I would post this back in May. My cousin Rachel and her husband have designed jewelry, key chains, pins and all kinds of stuff for Deseret Book and there own own business (PointEmblems.com). You can find the following at DeseretBook.com (type Point Emblems in the search bar) or visit your local Desert Book I saw them there last week in the store. I think you all will find the items just as cute as I did. I love to give my family kudos and this deserves a big one...WAY TO GO RACHEL and BRIAN!!!!!

CTR ear rings and necklaces. They even have Ladybug ones that are too cute for words.

Baptism necklace. I LOVE THIS ONE!!! (They make it in gold also.)

Young Women charm bracelet (they even make a necklace). All of the charms are detachable.

Army of Helaman key chain and tie pin

Summer is Here!!!

With the temperatures hitting 112 degrees the pool is where we love to be. Here is how we are spending our summer...

Renae our little princess

I love my Big Guy (aka. Kyle)

My parent taking advantage of the pool

LIFE

These past few weeks have been CRAZY!!!

After the tri was Women's Conference. I just love going up to the "Y" (BYU) and spending some girl time with my mom, aunt, sisters, and this time my wonderful friend Marie. Marie and I even got to catch up with one of our friends from Snow College Amber. It is so much fun running into old friends and being away from our husbands and kids. The conference was good and the focus was on the "Family." The best part for me is the drive. I get to spend 6 hours there and 6 hours back with my mom and aunt. The conversations and the topics are so much fun. It is nice to know that the issues I am having is my life are not uncommon and are survivable.

While I was at Women's Conference Camille had her new baby girl "Danielle" blessed. It was a full weekend that was non stop.

Before leaving Provo we made a stop at the Adult Care Center where my aunt Vickie lives. What a special spirit she is. She is my mom's half sister. She is living well pass most mentally handicap people do and the only thing we can think to as why...is she has a mission in life and is not going to leave until she fulfills it.

What a weekend but it is not over yet. Every time I go out of town Matt surprises me with something he has done on the "honey do" list. For example when I went to Florida for a work conference last year I came home with my cat de-clawed. This time I was hoping for my backyard to be done...well I sort of got that. Matt stuccoed the back wall. He tells me this is the first step to getting the plants in...will see.

After Women's Conference was my good friend's wedding. My friend Ciara has been searching for the perfect man for sometime and she has finally found him. I am so excited for them.

Kyle as a dancing foul. He was dancing with everyone Ciara, me and even little Zoie. You go dude!!!

Just when I thought I could breath I had to spend a week in a training for work. The training was for radKIDS ( http://www.radkids.org ). Anyone with children you have to look into this program. There is no other child safety program out there like this one. This is an empowerment program that teaches kids how to be safe and how to defend themselves if they are ever being kidnapped or abused. This is not stranger danger because that program does not work. Look into it. I am now a certified teacher of this program and can't wait to put my kids through the program. Ed Smart (Elizabeth Smart's dad) is a big supporter of the radKIDS program. The other program I learned about and can run is the PRIDE program ( http://www.thejoyfulchild.org ) it is a child based neighborhood watch. Look into this one too. Let me know if you have any questions about either program.

Now I can breath!!!! At least for a minute.

Life is so busy. I have realized that I just have to take it one day at a time. Life is short and you do have to enjoy every moment you can get.

Triathlon

I had so much fun. All the hard work and long hours of exercising paid off. I went into this triathlon just wanting to finish and not come in last. I gave myself a goal of finishing first and in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Here are my stats…I finished at a time of 55min 38sec (average time was 42-57min); overall I finished 81st of 116; out of the females in my age group I finished 10th of 16. I surprised myself.


For those of you that don’t know what my triathlon entailed, I had to swim 8 laps (in a pool), bike 5 miles and then run 1.5 miles. This was my first triathlon I had ever competed in so I was just trying to figure everything out and finish.

As I stated in the blog before I had some fears so to follow up on some of those here I go. I did not get lost it really is easy to know where to go; I remembered where I parked my bike; my legs did work after the bike though they hurt, I did not take out the camera guy instead I have sent an e-mail to the photo company asking them not to post my swimming picture so we will see if they follow through with it, and lastly I was walking the next day. The thing that hurts the most is the sunburn I received waiting for my time to be posted.

The hardest part for me was the bike. The swim was comfortable for me. Matt said I looked relaxed in the pool and I was. The guy next to me was making me laugh until he started floating on his back. That part did not bother me; it was when he rolled over and splashed me in the face as I was taking a breath. I recovered fast. Transition from the pool to the bike was interesting. This is the part where you have to remember where you parked. I found it okay and started to get my shorts on over my wet bathing suit, socks on semi wet feet are fun but the hard part was getting my bike off the rack. The bikes are so packed in that my handle bars got stuck on the girl’s bike next to me. After freeing my bike off I went. I knew I had 3 hills from hell to get up and then it was downhill from there. The sportsmanship was wonderful. Everyone was cheering each other on, it was great. Getting off my bike was just like I practiced…I told myself get off and keep moving or your legs will refuse to work. I once again found my spot with a little help from Matt pointing it out. In the mean time our friend was yelling at me to stop messing with my helmet and get my bike put up first. The support from my friends was wonderful, I could not have asked for anything more. At this point I told myself I am almost done. As I was running/jogging out of the bike area I found the one hole in the grass, I did not fall. Coming into the finish I wanted to cry, cheer, and scream all at the same time. This is an experience I will never forget. I have had so much fun and I am hooked I am already planning on doing the one in November.

Here are a few pictures:

This is before the swim

This is after the bike. We had to walk our bike into the transition area. This is the part where your legs want to stop working. Coming into the finish line!!!