The Big K

I'm officially a mother of a Kindergartner. It's kinda cool! Several people have asked me if I am emotionally OK with it? I hear that a bunch of moms cried when their first one went off the Kindergarten. Maybe something is wrong with me, but I didn't. He's so excited about the whole thing I can't help but be excited with him.

 

Yesterday was the first day of school, but Kindergarten technically doesn't start until Thursday. So maybe that's part of the reason I'm not feeling super emotional about the whole situation (even though that isn't really my personality). Ryker will be attending Bountiful Elementary this year. His teacher is Miss Wilkinson. She's brand new to the school. So it'll be good. She seems very sweet. I'm sure Ryker will love her. He thinks the world of everyone.

First things first... The Flag Ceremony!  It's pretty cool that Ryker knows the pledge of allegiance (Thanks to his preschool teacher, Miss Eggett). He quoted it word for word.

 After the flag ceremony, the Kindergartners got to meet their teacher and explore the classroom. While he was doing that I was signing up for the time he'd do his Kindergarten Testing and days that I can volunteer in the classroom. I signed him up to do his testing Tuesday. Then Wednesday he doesn't have school. So the first few days are quite the cake walk. He's eager to go on Thursday.

We are excited about this coming year. It'll be fun to learn and grow with him. I'm so proud of him! He's such a sweet boy!

Christmas in August

Our 2nd annual Christmas in Park City Girls weekend came to pass this last weekend. Heidi started this tradition last year and we continued it this year. We went to dinner Friday night. It was a beautiful night and we were able to sit outside. 

 We found this restaurant last year and loved it so much that we came back for more. This was the first place I found that I would like Sushi. I'm still really picky about it, but I'm getting better. I still struggle with the seaweed so I have to ask for rice paper.

 I'm still not OK with the raw fish laying on top of it. I struggled getting that one down. But the other ones were really yummy.

 After dinner we went over to cold stone and again sat outside. We were all able to just relax and talk about whatever. What I love about this weekend was hanging out with three amazing woman I wouldn't have been able to meet if it weren't for Jesse. I'm a lucky girl. Very few people can say they love to be with their Mother in law and Sisters in law without the husbands being there.

Once we had our fill of ice cream and chatting outside, we all headed over to the hotel to check in. We stopped at Walmart to get some goodies and playing cards. We stayed up really late just laughing, munching, and having a pleasant time with one another.

The next morning we all got ready to go, ate breakfast and headed over to the Tanger Outlets.

 Mom gave each of us $100 bill to spend on whatever we wanted.

We all had such a good time finding clothes for each other and getting giddy over the good deals we found.

I love these three girls So much. Technically I shouldn't get along this well with my inlaws. But we all agree that we are lucky and very easy going.

Rinse, Ride, Run, Repeat

I've been holding off a few days to post this one because I have been waiting for the results to be posted online. I knew my time right after the race, but I couldn't remember the exact time.

 

Saturday I got to participate in Layton's 5th Annual Triathlon. It has a little twist on it. Not like the others ones I've done this summer. This one was Swim, Bike, Run... then Swim, Bike, Run again. Hence their logo..."Rinse, Ride, Run, Repeat". The only difference for me was the races I've been doing consisted of 350m swim, 12 mile bike and a 5k. But this one was Swim 300m, Bike 5.5miles, Run 1.5 Miles and Repeat.

 

Before the race I was feeling a little grumpy about the idea of splitting it up and having to get back in the pool again. Also that I'd be swimming more than I was used to. But turns out I really liked it. I want to do it again next year.

 

The options for the race were the Mini Sprint and the Sprint Distance. The Mini Sprint meant the participants raced through the course once and not repeating it. The "Mini" racers got to go first, while the "Sprint" racers waited by the pool watching them all get in one at a time, every 15 seconds.

 

While I am waiting, I'm just talking with the girls around me and looking at their legs. Why? Well our ages are written on our calves, so I could size up my competition. And I see one girl that looks about my age and I got this vibe from her that she was some serious competition. I see that she's 26 years old and I was right. She was in my age bracket.

 

Finally the sprint racers can start. I swim my 300m, transition into my bike and while I'm riding that girl catches up with me and passes me. GUH. I'm trying to keep up and for some reason I just couldn't. But she doesn't get too far ahead of me. I could see her the whole ride.

 

I make it back into the transition area and felt like I had a really fast transition. When I run out to the road I realize why my transition was so fast... I STILL HAD MY BIKE SHOES ON!!! Gosh! You've got to be kidding? But there was no way I was running back to change. It was too late. I missed my chance. So I ran with my bike shoes on. Not very fast. But half way I couldn't take it anymore and I ran the last half in my socks. I actually have a good pace once I took those silly bike shoes off. People were probably wondering why the heck I was running with shoes in hand and only socks on my feet.

 

I get back into the pool after my first 1.5mile run and I actually catch up to my competition girl and passed her in the pool. I could tell the second time swimming I was feeling more tired than the first. But I knew I could make up any slowness I had during the swim, on my bike and on the run.

 Once again that chicca caught up with me on her bike and passed me. I couldn't figure out why. But all I could do was push it as hard as I could. During the bike ride I was repeating in my head all the things that I needed to make sure I transitioned into. #1 was running shoes.

This time my transition was perfect. And the best part was that I got out of the transition area a little before my competition girl. We were pretty much running side by side the first half. Which I was ok with, but I knew near the end I needed to pick up the pace even more and I couldn't allow her to finish before me.

(About this picture...Jesse and the boys came up to support me and cheer me on. I love this picture because The three of them were lined up ready to give me high fives. Cy was the first. Jesse was a great photographer and a great support. Right after I passed him on the run he says to me "Last part you're almost done, push hard". With the boys echoing "push hard" as I ran by I felt stronger knowing they were there to support me.)

 The last half of the run this girl (which I found out was Stephanie while we were running side by side) started to fall behind. But not much. I knew I had to keep this strong pace. As the finish line approached I gave everything I had to finish strong. You can see in this picture that Stephanie wasn't too far behind me.

 Kuddos to Jesse's phone photography. I cropped it and adjusted the coloring on it. But I love this picture. It just shows "That moment" of crossing the finish line just perfectly.

 My finishing time was 1:23:51. Which put me 3rd OVERALL in the woman's category. And even though I finished before Stephanie she got a time of 1:23:23. She was 28 seconds faster than me. I was 28 seconds away from 2nd Overall. It's almost painful how close that is. But in reality to place OVERALL is pretty cool.

For placing in the overall category they gave me this plaque. Pretty sweet huh? Since I placed overall then they pulled me out of my age group. In which I placed 2nd in my age group. 

 

 

 

 Ryan and Sarah Dayley also raced. Sarah took 2nd in her age group for the Mini Sprint. Ryan also took 2nd in his age group for the Sprint. Top Gear Team did well!It's been a joy to by on the Team. We aren't professionals by any means. But I have made new friends that are pretty awesome people. Inside and Out. I have so much love and respect for them. It's only been a short while that we've become friends, but they treat me like we've been friends forever.

Some more stats about the race. The first half (lap 1) my time was 42:41 minutes (3rd overall). Lap 2 was 41:09 (1st overall). I was happy to see that I was faster the second time around. I was worried I'd be out of gas and just be alot slower the second time around. I could blame the first half being slower on my bike shoes issue.

Anyway! That was my fun weekend! I have to admit I was on a high for a few days afterwards. It always feels good to place in your division, but to plave overall.. Man it felt good!