Post Ragnar Vegas Trip

It worked out perfectly that Bryan had a conference in Vegas starting the day after Ragnar ended.  We rented a condo and me and some of the girls stayed in it Saturday night.  They all left in the morning and I spent the day relaxing while Bryan and the boys left the major snow storm of Salt Lake City and drove down.
What a perfect way for me to recover!  It warmed up a little bit over the time we were there, enough to sit in the hot tub or sit by the pool and read.



The boys had a blast playing with each other in the pools and hot tub. 

They all spent many hours playing in the putting green.  Jonah probably could have stayed there all day if we had let him. 

We went to the Ethel M chocolate factory and toured and had some yummy peanut brittle.  Yes Brandon and Jacob think they are so funny.

They had these amazing cactus gardens there and they were all light up and ready for the holiday season.

Maybe the funnest part of the trip was Bryan having a microsoft sponsored party one night at Mandalay Bay with a private concert from Bon Jovi!  It was very cool.  I begged people for an extra wristband and found one to let me in.  Good times!
The boys and I flew home Wednesday night so Brandon didn't miss too much school.  Jonah was so excited to fly home.  He slept most of the way and did not wake up as I carried him through the airport, out to my Dad picking us up and all the way home.

A very nice little break from the daily and busy school days!

Vegas Ragnar

Third time at Vegas Ragnar and my sixth overall.  I actually gave up my official spot on the team about 3 weeks before the race.  I have been dealing with a couple hip issues and they were so inconsistent I gave my spot to Kylie, but came along as an alternate.  It was weird not being an actual runner, but I ended up running 3 legs.  I filled in for someone sick and ran with young Ali at night and ran with Jenny on one of her legs.  I felt better about being able to do the running I wanted to.  It was quite cold for the whole thing so it was hard to enjoy supporting each other.  We did something we had never done and rented a hotel room.  It just worked out that it was at 2 of the major exchanges so we got to sleep in it twice.  That was different, but very nice.  I missed having Whitney there terribly.  Hopefully we can run together again soon.
 
Me, Brianne, Kylie, Ali, Jen, Steve

Overlooking Lake Mead

Cheering on Kylie

Halloween 2012

(Can you tell my goal this week is to get caught up?)

Probably my favorite holiday, Halloween!  I love dressing up and looking at other people dressed up.  I don’t mind the kit kats I end up with at the end of the day either.

I didn’t plan what I was going to be until it was time to be dressed up.  So not as good as I wanted to.  Brandon was still at football practice when things got started.  He did later on dress up, but no one followed my instructions of taking a picture of him.

Jacob dressed up as some crazy hobo/clown, I wasn’t thrilled with it.  Jonah was a DARLING spider.  I loved the costume and luckily was able to convince him that it was what he wanted to be.

The night was fantastic.  It was about 70 degrees.  Lovely weather to walk around the neighborhood and enjoy greeting all our friends.

Marles

My best dog, at least during this stage of my life, died October 30.  He actually is not my dog, but has been just as much my dog as any.  Nate bought him as a new pup back in 2001.  He spent several years trying to stay alive in Logan while Nate was a college student.  He then spent years living wherever Nate was and that meant for about 3 years he lived with us.  He also spent weeks at a time with us while Nate would be traveling.  Sometimes he would just come over for a vacations.
He was the sweetest dog.  I spent many hours running with him, feeding him, scooping up dog poop and just having him in my company.  My kids adored him.  Jacob insisted he was his dog for many years.  Marley was so gentle with the kids, I never had to worry.  Boy that week was a tear jerker as he had to leave this life.  I had told him it was OK for him to die and that we would spent many hours together in the next life.
I am a dog lover and being a baby sitter to dogs is the perfect solution for us.  We don’t have to have the responsibility, but get to spend lots of time with them.

Saying goodbye to old Grandpa Marles

What a cute boy.  With Bentley looking in.

Football 2012

I am going to try to slowly get this record of our family caught up!

Brandon and Jacob both played football this year.  I wasn’t so sure about Jacob playing, but he reminded me that I let Brandon play when he was 10 so I needed to let him as well.  I am happy to report that we made it through another season with no injuries!

Jacob played several defensive positions and was an excellent hitter.  His coach knew he could always count on him to be doing what he should be doing.

Brandon started out the season continuing as center, he switched to another lineman spot and was very good at it.  His team went from last year not winning a single game to this year playing in the championship game!  They played hard in the snow for the title, but ended up losing.  Still a fantastic season.

Jonah, Bryan and I were excellent spectators!  Poor baby had to sit through a lot of football games this season.

School, again

My not so favorite day of the year came again.  Now we are 3 weeks into the school year and I stand by my preference for care free summer days.

Big 8th grader, cannot believe it!

And 5th grade???  I remember everything  about 5th grade.

Baby started a few days after the others.  Another year of preschool, he loves it of course!

Labor Day Triathlon 2012

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do the triathlon this year due to a hip issue. (hip impingement, torn cartilage and bursitis, blah blah blah)  I didn’t run for a whole month and it was terrible.  I hated the feeling of not running.  Anyways a few days before the tri, I got the OK to start running again…..such a great feeling!  Brandon and Jacob wanted to do it with me so I signed them up for the novice division and I did the sprint.

Nice action shot of me after the swim and getting ready to ride.  I think after all the tri’s I have done I have finally figured out what to wear, that is always my biggest stress.

The pictures of the swim don’t ever work out.

Brando starting the ride.

Jacob getting started.

I guess there are no pictures of me biking, we have enough of those anyways.

After the ride I got back to quickly change shoes and run and found Jacob hysterically crying at my spot.  It turns out that his brakes were on for the whole bike ride so it was impossibly hard for him to ride.  Bryan found him and got him to the end, but he didn’t want to finish out the run.  The poor kid, he still had fun in the end.

So proud of them!

We always have fun when we tri!

My overall time is similar to the past ones, but I keep improving on the swim.