Did you hear???

President Monson announced yesterday that Arizona is getting TWO more L.D.S. Temples.One will be located in Gilbert and another in the Gila Valley. Yippy, I'm so excited!

Mesa, Az temple


Snowflake, Az Temple

Good book

I heard Kyle go out the front door this afternoon. After he was gone for about a minute I went to see what he was up too. (he never goes out the front door without us, just the back door)
I opened the door and here is what I found.

When I asked him what he was doing he said that his teacher told him today that books can teach you anything and he wants to learn how to drive so he's reading this book. (When he was helping me clean the car the other day he saw the owners manual in the glove box) :)

Shaping up

I loved the routine I was in while training for the triathlon. I wanted so badly to complete it, and that gave me so much movitation to get my workouts in. I loved the way it made me feel and I've been worried about keeping up with it. Well now I've committed myself to something else to help keep me motivated. I am joining my friends Biggest Loser Contest.

Angie has started a new blog (in addition to her already super cute blog) dedicated to living a healthier life style while inspiring each other and keeping each other in check. She invited and I decided to take up the "challenge," and track my progress. I thought I'd also post about my progress here too. So if any of you have some advice I'd love to hear it.

I am going to just take it one day at a time and do my best to become the healthiest I can be. Today I went on a nice long bike ride with some other fun ladies in my ward. Cute little Becca zonked right out. We also "danced" together. Becca loves music and can really jam. I jumped around dancing all over. Now wouldn't you love to see a picture of that!!! Day 1 down 83 left to go!

p.s. this song seriously made me smile when I found it online. I can totally picture Candace and I doing one of our many workouts to this song. Man were we ever active. good times.

catching some Zzz's....

From about 6 weeks old, Becca has taken sleep very seriously. She can fall asleep just like that, and does not like to be woken up. I think she may just be the easiest baby EVER!

"hey Mom...we had a lock down at school today"

That's right folks...That's the first thing my kids said when coming home from school today. That is not something you ever want to hear so needless to say panic sunk in. This is one of those times I am really glad Ryan does what he does for a living and he was able to get the scoop for me. Apprently there was an armed Robbery at a couple of banks. The police were chasing him when the guy turned into the neighborhood. Both of the nearby neighborhood schools were locked down. I am still planning on finding out more info in the morning but I am glad that's all it was.

I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling very uneasy and not quite right. Nervous about the boys and their safety, It scares me to death to have to send the kids out into this yucky scary world. Which led to me freaking myself out about Ryan's job and what I would do if anything happened to him. I couldn't stop thinkin about the heartache and struggle my very dear friend is going through and feeling completely helpless. My heart was just feeling heavy and hurting. It was pretty intense for the little sweeties at school. I was scared and I wasn't even there so on our way home from my friends house I asked Jaden to tell me about what had happened. Here is how it went.
Me-what did you have to do during the lock down?
J-everybody had to sit down and Ms. Carrasco had to lock the classroom door and she couldn't open it until the police came and told we were safe.
me-did you see the police man
J-no but I wanted it to be daddy
Me-I'm glad you were ok and that you did what Mrs. Edman (the principal) told you to.
J-I was scared so I said a prayer to Jesus in my head.
Me-Oh that was a good idea. What did you pray for?
J-that I would be brave and that Kyle and no one else in my school would get hurt
Me-how did you feel after you prayed
J-I was still a little bit scared but my heart wasn't "beeping" so fast. Heavenly Father heard my prayer mommy!
Me-yes he did didnt' he.
J-yes, and the answer was yes this time.
Me-Oh I'm so glad
J-yes me too, some times the answer has to be no, like when you and dad have to say no, but today it could be yes.

Holy cow. I could not stop the tears. Thank you my sweet little Jaden. You always bring me so much comfort and joy. I love seeing your testimony grow and appreciate your example and the peace that you were able to bring to your troubled mommy.

I am so grateful for the beliefs of my church and the peace that we can find during these hard times as we speak to our Father in Heaven who absolutely knows what we are feeling during our times of heartache.

WE DID IT!!!

I can't believe it, we really did it. Saturday my best friend Amy and I competed in the Las Vegas triathlon. I got 455th place. I know that sounds horrible but there were 900 competitors in all, and I was just so happy to finish it.

Here we are getting ready for the big race. Amy's father-in-law got us wet suits to wear and boy was I glad to have one. The water was ice cold. brrr...

They had us in age groups. Amy is younger than me and since I'm the big 3-0 I had to wait 3 minutes after her to go. It was fun to get to watch her start.

Here is my group running into the water. You can't tell but I'm in the center of the group. The swim was 600 Meters and my time was 36:26. When I got out of the water and was running to the transition area, there was Ryan waiting for me and cheering me on. It was so great to see him. It's like it gave me a burst of energy to see how supportive of me he is. Thanks hun!


Then on to the bikes. It was a circle course with 2 really big hills. We had to do it twice. The second time around my bike wouldn't shift into gear. I had to pull off to the side and luckily some guy was able to un-jam the chain for me. I was bummed that it happened but grateful that he was there and able to help me get back up and running. My bike time was 56;14

I saw Ryan right as I was starting my run. Again it was so nice to see him and hear his words of encouragement. (I love husbands). Now here was the really frusterating part. I was running my little heart out and going down this really really steep hill when this crabby old man on a golf cart came up to me and said "what are you doing, are you giving up" at this point I'm sweating like a pig and trying my hardest so I said "No... I thought I was doing good" to which he said "you're way off course, you should be over there and you need to get off my golf course" I was so stunned at how rude he was and said "ok, sorry, but the sign pointed this way" So I turned around and RAN up the steep him. He drove up ahead of me and I saw him stop 6 or 7 other ladies as well. When I finally got back up the steep hill he was arguing with another lady and she had him turn the sign so it was a little more clear. When I finally got back on the course I came to the real hill that I was supposed to run and boy was I beat. The guy had made me so mad though that I wasn't about to slow down in a way it pushed me harder. I'm sure I would have other wize walked part of it (so thank you grumpy old man for helping me run faster than I ever have before) but when your running up hill it doesn't seem all that fast. Needless to say my run time was a lot worse than I had hoped for. When I ran it at home I've been able to do it in 40 mins. But my 3.1 mile run for the race was 56:14. I wonder what it would have been with out my detour. Oh well. I'm still happy with it.

FINALLY, the finish line. I MADE it. What an amazing feeling! It was incredible, I still can't believe we did it, I kept thinking that with each stroke, spin or step about how much closer I was to reaching my goal to better health. I really loved training for this and plan on keeping up a good work out routine.

Thank you Amy for doing this with me. Thank you Ryan and Tom for being so supportive and such great "cheerleaders" and Tom for great picture taking. Thanks Christy for taking care of the kids for us along with Lauralee and Carolee for showing them such a fun time. It was so great to get to see everybody again. And thanks to everyone who called and emailed and left comments on the blog wishing me good luck. It really helped a lot and I really appreciate it. I'm so grateful to have such supportive friends and family. Golly you'd think I just won an emmy or something huh. LOL but I really do appreciate all of you and your support.

4 more days!

I can't believe it, only have 4 more days til the triathlon. It's a 6oo meter swim followed by a 12 mile bike ride and finishing with a 3.1 mile run. I have so many mixed emotions running through me. I am excited, nervous, scared, anxious, overwhelmed, but most of all trying to not think about it too much so I don't freak myself out. Ryan told me the other night I chanted "I gotta keep running, I gotta keep running" in my sleep. ha ha. I guess it's constantly on my brain even as I sleep. Ryan has been such a great support and motivator for me. Also I'm really grateful to my friend Becky who started this whole thing. It's helped me get back on a workout schedule which hasn't happened since little Becca came. I love working out. I love the way it makes me feel, and adventually the way it will make me look. :) My friends Becky Amy, Holly, Jana and Tammy for being so fun to work out with. And I'm really really looking forward to this fun little get a way with just Ryan and friends. I guess NBC is going to be taping the race. YIKES!!! Stay tuned for how it all goes. :)

Here I am after a run and bike ride. Vegas or bust!