Mother's Day

This year was so sweet because I have Ryker in school now where they do fun little projects for the mother's. This last week he came home with this questionnaire he answered about me. I died laughing at how cute it is. I don't know if you can read it, but i'll type it out to make it clear.

 

My moms name is; Ashley

She is: 29 years old and weighs: 900 lbs.

My favorite meal she makes is: Broccoli and Chicken

My least favorite meal she makes is: Shrimp

My favorite thing to do with my mom is: Go on a Cruise

My mom is good at: Exercising

My mom is proud of me because: I clean my room

I love my mom because: she makes me dinner and takes me on rides.

 

Haha I was so tickled by this. Especiallt since and weight 900lbs and am good at exersing. Haha. 

 And painted this for me.

 ...along with this drawing. I felt loved. Such a dear sweet boy.

 Today Jesse had to work, so I got to be single mom today for Mother's Day. And that's ok. It's how it's going to be for the next 20 plus years. There are bound to have some Mother's Days that he won't be around for.

Look at their faces. Don't you just want to squish them? I just love these boys. Even when I don't know what to do with them and wishing I had a manual that told me what to do for them. I just love them to pieces.

This evening I had my family over and I cooked Sunday dinner. I didn't think it was right to have my Mom cook Sunday Dinner on Mother's day. So I took care of it. Which, you know I enjoy cooking. So it was nice.

2014 Splash N Sprint

Yesterday Jesse and I participated in the Triathlon at the South Davis Rec Center. I was so excited about this one because it was Jesse's first triathlon. The past several weeks we have been attending the Masters Swim class at the Rec Center to help us improve our swimming skills. Man, there is way more to swimming that you'd think there was. Sheesh. I'm humbled every time I get in that pool.

 

(Also a big thank you goes out to my brother Tyson and his fiancé for watching our boys so Jesse and I could attend these classes. Thanks guys. Love you).

 

Anyway, my point that I'm trying to get at is how nice it has been to have Jesse and I could go to these classes together (when he isn't working). And afterwards we can talk about what we have improved on and what we need to work on. I love that we can do these things together now that school isn't taking up every spare minute of his time.

 

Friday it down poured several times and we were hoping it would clear out by yesterday morning. But with some grey skies and chilly temperatures it wasn't looking to great. But the show must go on.

 

We all lined up at the edge of the pool. Rolynn and Jesse stayed back at the 12:00 minute group, but I kept telling them they should come up with the 7:00 minute group with me. But they wouldn't. So I started before they did.

 

My swim felt stronger than any of the other swims I had done. I think the class is helping. I usually would get out of the pool totally gassed. But this time I felt so great during the whole thing and came out not feeling gassed at all. It was my fastest swim yet.

 

The weather held out for me ok, by the last mile of the run it started to rain pretty good. But by this point I didn't mind so much. I crossed the finish line and I saw that Jesse was coming in from the bike. He told me that it was hailing so hard during the ride he thought he would be bleeding. Poor thing. And he still had to go run. But he kept with it and finished strong. I was so proud of him. He finished with a time of 1:15:39. That's faster than my first triathlon. How awesome is that? I am so proud of him. And I am looking forward to watching him improve with every race. 

 Timalee was so dear to offer her services to watch our boys while Jesse and I raced. I owe her big time. She was able to get some pictures of us while we were transitioning and finishing. So photo credit to her on this picture. I thought this was a cool one of me putting my finishers medal on. I finished with a time of 1:11:07 and placing 3rd in my age division.

 Post race we were all trying to warm back up from being wet from not swimming, but from the rain and wind. Happy to be there though. And happy to be a part of a great team. I love that Jesse is on it with me now. It's going to be fun doing this together.

 Ryan and I showing off our water bottles we won for placing in our age division.

I found a quote that seemed so applicable for this race day. Yes of course we always want ideal weather conditions when we are racing, but that isn't always the case. We suck it up and do it. And we do it well. "If the word quit is part of your vocabulary, then the word finish is likely not." - B.G. Jett

Despite yucky weather none of us quit. We all finished strong.

9 years...

Wednesday May 7th was our 9th Anniversary. To celebrate Jesse and I went out on a simple date. Our big trip back in February was suppose to be for our anniversary, and both of us just bought new bikes, so we just wanted to keep things small.

 

Our plan was to go to dinner and a movie, but we were kinda early for dinner. We were both starving though. So to make things interesting and fun, we went to dessert first. Haha. Our favorite place to go lately is called YogurtLand. It's by far the yummiest self-serve frozen yogurt place we have had. We are hooked. I have to admit I try not to go more than once a week, but I struggle with that. It's just so scrumptious and kinda guilt free. 

 Once it was time for dinner we went to our go-to favorite restaurant. Mikado. Mmm Mmm Mmmmm. It's always so so good.

 Of course we had to take a picture while we were at dinner. We took several pictures before we took this one. And by this time we were feeling goofy so we have our excited faces on. Haha. This is what 9 years of marriage looks like.

After dinner we went to a movie. It had been so long since we had gone to see a movie that wasn't a kid movie, that we had so many options it was almost hard to pick. But we finally chose to see the new Captain America movie. As we were thinking about it, we are pretty sure we haven't seen a movie in 2014 that was for us, we have gone for the boys. Before kids we were up on all the latest movies, now we are up on all the latest kids movies. A time and a season for everything. And we are in the season of kids.

Even though it was a simple night, it was still very nice to have a night alone with Jesse. I feel very blessed to have him in my life. I would marry him over and over again. Every year with him seems to get sweeter and sweeter. I am so thrilled that we have let our relationship continue to grow stronger and stronger each year. I had a couple of clients mention to me that not very many couples that 9 years now a days. So that made me feel good. We have come a long way together.  9 years ago I only had a small glimpse of how perfect Jesse was for me. I look forward to the years ahead.

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.

Individual Updates...

I got to thinking that I should give a little update about each of us. Let's begin with the oldest.

 

Jesse:

 

About two months ago Jesse mentioned to me that he was feeling like he wanted to leave SSL Fire Department. I told him I would support him with whatever he decided to do. The next day or so he got wind that SSL was looking to fill a full time position, and Jesse was the next guy on the list.

 

Over the next week or so he was debating between staying with Ogden fulltime or leaving them and going fulltime with SSL. He made a list of pros and cons trying to weigh them out. But was still having a hard time coming to a conclusion.

 

Then South Jordon called him and asked him to interview. So he went, but still felt unsure where he was suppose to be. He kept saying to me "When you figure out my life let me know." Haha. I felt just as conflicted as he did. The only thing I could suggest was to pray about it. Over the course of a week or so we both were praying what we should do. At the same time it was crazy that he could not only have the option between two fire departments, but possibly three if the interview went well.

 

A few days after the interview South Jordon emailed him and said it wasn't going to be a good match. I'm pretty sure Jesse was relieved because it narrowed down the options for him to just 2.

 

He finally felt that staying with Ogden was the best thing right now. And I support that all the way. The day that SSL called him to offer him the full time position is when Jesse told them that he was leaving them. I know it was a really hard decision for him to make, but knowing it was the right one, made it a little easier.

 

Now his days off are actual days off. Not filled with another job. So he took on a project. Which he hasn't been able to do in awhile, so I was thrilled.  He built us some garden boxes. Where they are located is actually where a big tree used to be. We had it removed in the fall. Our little gardens next to that tree in the past never grew very well because there wasn't enough sunshine. But now it should grow just great because there is sunshine most of the day. I'm excited about it. And to boot, they are kinda cute. I feel like they will give our backyard a nice added touch.

 

I really am so lucky to have such a hard working, dedicated and handy husband. I swear he can do anything he puts his mind to. He has found favor with everyone he works with in Ogden. His captains all love him and the firemen he works with all like him. It's nice for him now to not be in the new guy status anymore and that he's found his place among everyone. Ya know, he such a positive and hard working person it's not hard to like him and it doesn't surprise me he's liked so much in Ogden.

 

The middle of April, Jesse has an interview for the Paramedic position that is opening up. He'll be interviewing against two other firemen that want the position as well. So we are looking forward to that. I have a feeling he stands a very good chance because of how much the captains like him. But you never know. I'll keep you posted about that.

 



Ashley:

I have been staying busy with household chores, taking care of the boys, preparing Relief Society lessons, managing a full clientele at the salon, exercising (training will be starting soon), and cooking.

I have loved my calling as a Relief Society teacher. Which surprises me to say because in the past I recall saying "I couldn't ever teach relief society". And here I am and loving it. It gives me something to study and helps me keep a spiritual focus. The most rewarding thing is when the sisters tell me that my "lesson touched their hearts". As a teacher I pray all the time that I can be the Lord's tool to help the sisters feel his love for them. So it's an answer to my prayers when I find out it worked. Gets me excited for the next lesson.

I have been blessed to build up a clientele as a hairdresser so quickly and to be so full. As of lately I have been booked three weeks out. Its wonderful, but also hard when I get my last minute clients needing to get in. I want to accommodate everyone, but it can't always be that way. My schedule (Wed through Sat) only can hold so many clients.

Racing season is coming up and that gets me excited to start training and see what this summer has to bring. My biggest goal this summer is to complete an Olympic Length Tri. So I hope that'll work out for me. Just gotta find one and pick it.

Cooking is another passion of mine. I love finding healthy clean recipes. There is nothing more rewarding than cooking a delicious meal that it is guilt free. Such a great feeling when you try something new and it's wonderful! These were my two favorites from this last week. Salmon on the BBQ is to die for.

....and coconut waffles with berries. Yum. 

Ryker:

This kid will always be my kind, thoughtful and very smart boy. I am always amazed that at such a young age he could be so mindful of others feelings. He is so tender hearted.

He has been loving Kindergarten. His reading level continues to impress me every time I hear him read. He'll sound out some long words and I'll think to myself  "I'll need to help him with this one"...but then he gets it. He seems to grasp new concepts really quickly and loves learning. I think he is going to love 1st grade.

I also call him my social butterfly. He is very outgoing, not shy and everyone in his class likes him. There has been a girl in his class that he likes to talk a lot about. I'm pretty sure he likes her. I don't know why because she is kinda mean to all the boys in the class. He'll come home and tell me about they things that she said and did to him. I have to remind him to be nice to her since she is a girl.  It makes me chuckle that I'm already hearing about girl problems with my 6 year old. Just a little preview of the teenage years

Ryker loves all of his family members. Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, Parents and Especially his brother. Him and Cy can be the best of friends and play so well. I laughed when I found about 15 pictures on my phone one day of the two of them and all their silly faces they were posed for. They are goobers.

Cyrus:

He is my pendulum child. On one side of it he's so sweet and melting your heart, then on the other side he can be down right naughty. For example; One morning we were sitting around the breakfast table when Jesse came home from work. When Jesse sat down with us, Cyrus wouldn't stop kissing him. He'd kiss Jesse's left cheek, then turn Jesse's whole head to kiss the right cheek. Then kiss him on the lips. I loved seeing this display of affection for his dad. He surely missed his daddy.

Also lately he has been singing "I am a child of God" non stop. He'll even just talk the words to me. One time while eating dinner he was singing it. I started recording it. As he comes to the words "with parents kind and dear" he grabs Jesse's neck and sings those words while looking into Jesse's eyes. I about died with the extreme cuteness being displayed by a 3 year old. I have watched that video over and over again and my heart turns to mush every time that part plays.

Then swing the pendulum the other way for example; While Jesse was filling the garden boxes with dirt the boys were in the bed of the truck with the dirt. Jesse was shoveling the dirt into the boxes and the boys were using their hands to throw some in. Our truck is a 4 door, and Jesse had the back 2 doors open so he could listen to some music. Well when Jesse's back was turned Cyrus was chucking handfuls after handfuls of dirt into the cab of the truck. There is a thin layer of dirt all over the back of the truck at the moment. Thankfully a little vacuuming will fix it. But the things this kid comes up with is down right naughty. He's too creative and busy.

Potty training still isn't completed. He still manages to soil is underwear on a daily basis. It's super frustrating. And he seems to hold it until we put a pullup on him for naptime/bedtime. This last Thursday while Heidi was here watching the boys, she put Cy down for a nap. A few hours later when she heard him wake up, she went down stairs to find a disaster. Apparently he soiled his pullup right after he went to bed, then proceeded to change his own pullup. But a 3 year old trying to take a poopy pullup off and put a new one on, isn't the best thing. I guess it was everywhere. On the sheets, the floor, the dresser and blankets. Oh when Heidi told me about this I felt terrible that she had to clean all that up.

See what I mean about pendulum child?

Well that is us in a nutshell. 

Homeward Bound/Day#10 (Sun; Mar 2)

So that's a wrap. All we had left to do was head home and make everyone jealous of our ridiculously brown skin.

Getting away from it all was amazing, but we were ready to get home to snuggle and squeeze our boys.

St. Maarten/Day #9 (Sat; Mar 1)

St. Maarten. I learned from my homework online before we got there that there are two sides to this island. One side is Dutch and the other side is French. Not by choice, but we happened to stay on the Dutch side the entire time we were there. The Dutch side is spelled "St. Maarten" and the French side is "St. Martin". Kinda funny.

 Originally we were going to go to Orient Beach, because a friend of mine suggested it. But at the last minute we decided to go to Dawn Beach because there was snorkeling there and the taxi ride was cheaper since it was closer to the pier than Orient Beach.

 

Our taxi driver was a very nice lady. She told us she would come back and pick us up whenever we wanted to go back. So we arranged a time for her to come back and get us.

 

We got all set up with our beach chairs and umbrella. Read our books for a little bit, then decided to walk up the beach to check things out. Today was going to be another lazy day. With it being the last day we just wanted to relax. Started off the cruise with relaxing and wanted to end it that way.

 

The beach was not crowded at all. Which I loved. I had read and seen pictures beforehand that Orient Beach was a busy one. So I was glad we decided to go with this beach instead. It was nice not having to find a spot amongst the bodies on the sand.

 

 

After some relaxing we went out snorkeling. There was quite the reef out there. It was pretty cool.



 Kind of a fun picture out in the ocean.

 I thought this was a great shot that Jesse took of me. It looks so peaceful down there. I find it so cool that it can be that way while the surface is totally wavy. So much calmer below the surface. Too bad I can't hold my breath for very long.

 You want to know my favorite part about this picture? And you might find me silly, but it's Jesse's hand around my arm. It's that soft gentle touch that makes me feel safe when I'm with him. Just that small gesture shows love and affection to me and I like it.

The remaining time left, we read and soaked up the last drop of sun we could. When our taxi driver had returned I was bummed. The day had gone by too fast. 

 We did still have an hour or so left before we had to board the ship. So we asked her to take us to the downtown shopping center. We had some last minute shopping to be done.

 It was kind of a cute little "mall", so to speak.

 When we purchased everything that we needed, it was time to walk back to the pier. With a heavy heart we headed back for the last time.

 I seriously didn't want this vacation to end. We had connected on a whole new level. And we needed that. To get away from the everyday mundane day to day chores that cause us to become robots. Help us to break free from all of that and to become just "US" for that small moment of time. Me and him. To be spontaneous, adventurous and to have fun, made for the best vacation I have  EVER been on. Hopefully Jesse feels the same.

 That night all the servers in the dining room sang us a farewell song. Boo hoo. Is it really over?

 Left to right: Doug and Maureen Hess, Renaldo, Lloyd, Darko and us.

So sad saying goodbye. It seems you just get to know them and you have to bid them farewell. Luckily Maureen gave me her email, so we have been emailing back and forth since we have been home. It will be cool if we can keep it up.