Easter Week

Knowing that Jesse would be working on Easter Sunday we tried to make the most of the week. Tuesday night we dyed Easter Eggs after dinner. One of the dye kits I found had stickers to make faces and some orange fuzz to make hair. Both of the boys loved to make faces on the eggs, especially the fuzzy hair.

 

When we were finished Ryker came up to me and told me thank you for letting him do that activity and how much he loved it. Made me feel good to hear the sincere gratitude from him. He's so dear. I love his tender little heart. He can make me feel so loved. 

 Last night when I got home from work I made a little Easter dinner. Simple, but the boys got a kick out of it. Mostly Ryker. Cy didn't seem to care much. He wasn't feeling all too well yesterday. Ryker loved it so much that he asked me to make a bunny face again for breakfast this morning. So I did. Funny how you make their food into a face and they seem to like the food more than ever. Haha.

 After we ate our breakfast dinner we explained that the "Easter Bunny" came earlier to our house so that we could have a family Easter Egg hunt together. Of course Ryker was better than Cy at finding the hidden eggs. But Ryker was sweet and would bring Cy some eggs.

 Yup. They are in their jammies. We are cool like that.

 Had to get a picture with this guy since we wouldn't get one today. I love him.

 This morning the boys woke up to another visit from the Easter Bunny.  They each got a suit, bow ties, stickers, glow stick, a puzzle and the movie Frozen to share.

Jesse went off to work and the boys and I went to church. I was dying when I got them all dressed up in their suits and bow ties. They look like little handsome men. I can't imagine how handsome they are going to be when they are all grown up.

 Now all the Easter Egg dying, food, candy, baskets, new clothes  and traditions are all fun. But let us not forget that Jesus is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. Because of Him death is not the end, and life takes on new meaning. We can change, we can start over- and we can live again with God.

On the InstaGram a lot of people are hash tagging #BecauseOfHim with their reasons why/how the Savior's atonement has made an impact in their personal lives. That phrase "Because of Him" speaks so loudly to me. Such a simple statement and yet it has so much meaning behind it.

Because of Him I get to be with my family forever.
Because of Him I can make everyday a fresh start.
Because of Him the mistakes I make today can be made right tomorrow.
Because of Him I will never be alone in my trials.

The list can go on and on. I am so grateful to my Savior for His sacrifice he made for everyone. Today in church we had an awesome reminder of his loving sacrifice. One thing that struck me today was the fact that he was nearly alone in hours of agony and suffering. And he did it so that none of us would ever feel that way. He knows EXACTLY how I feel. It's such a wonderful thing.

2014 Legacy Duathlon

Yesterday I participated in the Legacy Duathlon for the second year in a row. I was feeling a little sentimental about this race because this was were I got my start last year. Over this year I have grown to love the guys and girls on this team. They are good people. I love that none of us have to be elite athletes to be on this team. We all have jobs and families to take care of, but we do this for ourselves. Weekend Warriors is what Rolynn likes to call us. I like that.

 

I ended up being the only girl yesterday. At the last minute Rolynn and Timalee were having a hard time finding a sitter for their girls, so Timalee decided to stay out this race. So I had to hold my own with these awesome guys. Left to right: Me, Ryan Daley, Rolynn Snow, Jeff Lewis and Brett Gilmore (Manager).

 



Last year I did the short course (1.5 mile run, 11.2 mile bike, then 1.5 mile run again) and this year I was contemplating doing the long course instead (which is double the length of everything). When I was registering I really couldn't decide. Should I try the long one to see how I do? Or do the short one and beat my time from last year? Jesse ended up talking me into the short one. A great easy opening for the season. Everyone else (except Ryan) decided to do the short course as well.

They let the long course people go first followed by the short course. One person at a time, every 15 seconds. This picture of Rolynn and I was right before it was our turns to start the run. We were getting ourselves all pumped up.

 

 

 This is coming in after the first run. It was perfect weather and I was feeling good. The 1.5 miles took me about 11ish minutes.

 

Transitioned into my bike stuff fast and was on my way. Within the first mile I realize that my left shifters on my bike weren't shifting at all. So I could only be in the highest gear on the right side. When I would go down a hill I couldn't shift anymore to pedal faster. It made me really frustrated. I was pedaling as hard as I could to keep going. Sometimes to pedal seemed pointless because my wheels were going faster than I could pedal, but I didn't just want to coast. So I kept on pedaling. haha.

 

Got back from the bike and was feeling grateful at this point that I had decided to only do the short distance because of how my bike was acting. 22 miles would have been really sucky without a shifter working properly.

 

Second run I just wanted to push it as hard as I could to make up for the mishap on the bike.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 1 hour and 22 seconds. Shaved off 4 min minutes from my time last year. Granted last year was cold and windy and this year was clear and sunny, but I'll take it. I was happy to have a placed 3rd in the overall women short course category. 2nd in my age division. I found this quote online that is so fitting...

 

"Everyone is life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine." -John Trautmann

 

I love it! I'm using that from now on. Racing is my rush!

I was so proud of my fellow teammates who too placed in their age divisions. Every single one of us that raced yesterday stood on the podium. It's good stuff. Rolynn took 3rd. Ryan took 3rd (long course) and Jeff took 2nd. Way to go team!

I know it's just a short course and nothing spectacular like an Iron Man or something. But I still had fun doing it. Isn't that what it's about? Having fun? A great way to start out the season. 

Top Gear Tri Team Training Weekend

Last weekend Jesse and I headed down to St George with the Top Gear Tri Team. Not all of the team was able to make it down, but that's ok. We were looking forward to being with the Snow's and the Daleys. Jesse didn't really know them all that well yet, since he was schooling all last year when I was developing these relationships. So I was eager for him to get to know these great people.

 

A big thanks to Jesse's mom and dad for taking the boys for us. We thought about bringing them along, but we were planning on riding our bikes, swimming laps and running, but we thought they would have more fun with grandma and grandpa.

 

Thursday morning (April 3) I was in charge of getting the car all packed because Jesse was working until 11am and we were convoying down with the Snow's around noon. I'm not gonna lie it was a hectic morning running Ryker to school, going to the grocery store, stopping by the bike shop to get my new bike and make sure everything was packed. But luckily everything came together just fine. We met up with the Snow's on Bangerter Highway after we dropped the off at Mike and Heidi's.

 

We split up the drive in shifts so that Jesse could sleep. He had just come off of a 27 hour shift.

 

When we arrived in St George we got settled into our condo then went to dinner.

 Friday morning we met at the lap pool and Rolynn had some swim exercises for us to do. Once we were done with that we all changed our clothes and went on a bike ride up through Snow Canyon. From our condo to the top of Snow Canyon and back was 25 miles. It was a great ride. Especially since a lot of us haven't been on the bike since the late fall.

The afternoon was spent getting ready for dinner and running errands in town.

 Saturday morning we met for a run. This year Altra Running is sponsoring us, so we each got a free pair of Altra's. I got Jesse's at a discounted price (another perk for being sponsored). So far I am loving this shoe so much. The toe box is wider than your typical running shoe. It's meant to let your toes spread. Also they are zero drop soul. More of natural run.

 After our 5 mile run (Ryan Daley did 7ish miles) we got ready for another bike ride. This time we drove to Sand Hollow. The start of it has some killer hills. Maybe I'm weird but I kinda like climbing these hills. It gives you an intense burn with a spiked heart rate at times you feel like you want to quit. But overcoming that and arriving at the top is the reward. It reminds me of how life can be. We have moments we want to throw in the towel, but when we keep pushing forward the Lord blesses us with our reward.

 This particular hill had these words of encouragement written on them. I loved it.

 That evening the boys went to the Priesthood session at a nearby church. I am grateful for men who respect their Priesthood, even on vacation. Doesn't hurt they're super good lookin... especially the one on the left ;-)

While they were getting spiritually uplifted the girls went shopping.
We met back at the condo to play games and have treats.

This weekend was so much fun. Good people make great friends. Great friends make a perfect team. A mixture of fun, hard work and tons of laughs made for a great time together. I love these guys.

I'm honored to be a part of such a good group of people. They accepted me from the beginning and did the same for Jesse. It's a matter of fact, he's been asked to officially be a part of the team. Yay!!! It's going to be great.

Something to look forward to... Jesse and I signed up to participate in the Splash n Sprint Tri in May. He'll get to represent Top Gear on that race right along with the rest of the team. It's going to be awesome.