Daddy runs a marathon!

Our (crazy?) awesome Dad ran his second marathon! Four years ago, he ran his first one and missed his goal time by three minutes! Last year he was all set to beat his time and try again, but an injury sidelined him and he couldn't run. So this year was the year. He trained all summer and worked hard in the gym. 

And it paid off! He had to get up REALLY early and in fact that went horribly wrong. He set his alarm for 3:45 PM instead of AM. Luckily, he was catching a ride with a friend (who also happened to sleep in, but his wife woke him up!) and that friend called and by some small miracle he heard the phone vibrate. It was kind of a crappy way to wake up, but it all shook out okay because the race actually started 40 minutes later than we thought.

We stayed at home and watched his progress on our phones as he made his way through the upper part of the course. He kept an amazing pace and it looked like he was going to make his goal time! We headed to the finish line to wait and cheer him on!

Dad took this beautiful photo from the run course!

We were so excited to see his Superman shirt almost 5 minutes before we expected him! He finished in 3:51! 12 minutes faster than four years ago!

He headed to the finish line and we found a spot to wait for him. And wait for him. And wait for him.

We started pretending we were on Splash Mountain!

Mom finally texted Dad because it was starting to be concerning how long it was taking him to find us. She just knew he had sat down and then couldn't get back up. And that's exactly what happened. He eventually got the energy to get on his feet and come find us. We were so happy to see him!

Mom made sure to get him drinking an ice cold recovery drink and made him stretch before we got to the van. Then she had him switch to some compression tights and covered his legs in Deep Blue to start the recovery process. We headed to grandma and grandpa's where she promptly made him get in an ice bath (with a slushy for sugar!) while we started swimming. 

Dad, we are so proud of you. We are even more proud that you could keep hanging out with us after!

The Party

I had so many ideas for my birthday party that it was hard to choose just one! I convinced my mom that we should do a Judy Hops obstacle course party at our house and we would play Nick's Hide and Seek and I even had something picked out for Chief Bogo. As it turned out, the daycare lady at Summit really wanted to promote their birthday parties and she asked Mom to let us have the party at Summit! So it morphed into a Judy Hops and Ninja obstacle course! It was a little last minute and Mom thought nobody would come because it was a big weekend in our church and the St. George Marathon was the next day, but NOPE! Everyone could come!

Mom made my favorite emoji cupcakes. 

We had a lot of fun running the track at Summit and tackling all our obstacles! Most of my friends had never been to our gym before.

It was a little tiring!

I love my friends!

We loved taking home all those balloons. Our car was jam packed! Miss Nichole was great and had done treat bags which Mom was really grateful for.

Our Siena

Guest post by Mom:

Oh my. Siena is nine years old. Pretty soon this blog really will be hers and my guest posts will be legitimate. She would probably love it if I would turn it over to her already. Maybe I should let her try posting.

Picturing Siena at nine years old has always caused me just a little anxiety. You see, I don't really love girls from about nine years old until like maybe fifteen! I know that I was one, but I think that actually makes it worse. I know that they are silly and extremely impressionable from and emotional and just plain weird and slightly obnoxious. So I've kind of been worrying that I wouldn't enjoy this phase very much. Much to my surprise, I really like nine year old Siena. She is still all those things up above when she is with her friends, but when she is one on one with me I really really like her.

She is maturing and taking responsibility in fun ways. She thinks through things and tries, genuinely, to be a nice big sister. She loves school still. This was the first year that she has had some setbacks in math. She completely understands the topic, but she has had trouble slowing down and reading the FULL instructions on tests. There was a lot of estimating and she was just solving. We have also encountered this a little bit in spelling. She just wants to move so quickly that she makes silly mistakes. However, she rarely has homework because she is always trying to finish it at school.

Siena and I have been working on piano for almost two years, but maybe only 18 months pretty solidly. She is doing so great for having to deal with me as her piano teacher. She is just like me when I was her age. Always trying to get away with as little piano practice as possible. It's so convenient to have me teach her and Cara, but they don't get recitals and I'm sure we would make more progress, but for now it works.

About Siena:
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Color: Purple (although she really loves all colors)
She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. (Or a famous performer!)
Favorite Movie: Zootopia (or Monster High anything or Ever After High or Studio C youtube)
Favorite Subject: Writing, maybe?
Best Friends: Carmendee, Jaylee, Amelia, Marissa
Favorite thing to do after school: Watch Youtube videos on the tablet (much to my dismay!)
Favorite Character: She LOVES Rey from Star Wars: Force Awakens

Here she is on her birthday morning! We gave her an Ever After High doll with a "room" and her Halloween costume.

Here is one of the examples of her growing up. She did Iva's hair for me one day. Complete with bows.

She also loves to hold and try and help with our new baby cousin, Logan. She's so gentle with him. She has such control!

And then this beauty. She has an old iPhone that uses wifi and her own Apple ID so that she can message me. I got this awesome text while I was at work one morning during fall break.

I just love her so much. She is truly a sweet person at her core.  We have always described her as tender hearted and it holds true. She is getting thicker skin which has been good for her, but she is always inclined to be nice which I couldn't ask for a better quality.

Love you, Siena!!!

The First Triathlon

Guest post by Mom:

Well due to my rather ridiculous inability to properly read a calendar, I missed my chance to compete in a sprint triathlon with my sisters. I was really upset when I first found out, but I did have two strokes of luck. The first stroke of luck was that the event coordinator for the Kokopelli that I was registered for allowed me to withdraw from the race and will let me use the entry toward a different tri! That's big. No wasted money! The second stroke of luck was that my gym, Summit Athletic Club, was putting on their very first triathlon just two weeks later. I hadn't trained very specifically for the race, but I had made an effort to swim and get some spin classes under my belt and I really wanted a chance to race.

And I got that chance! I made Siena sign up with me since she loves them so much and they had a kid distance too!

Me...after a training ride...or maybe before. I am smiling. 

The morning of the triathlon came. We were starting at the ridiculous hour of 7 am which in late September means that it is still dark! We also had a bit of a cold front come through so it was only 57 degrees when I had to jump in the pool. I borrowed my neighbor's bike which was really awesome of her.

My transition spot!

The swim went okay. I was a bit freaked out by my timing chip on my leg. It felt like it was going to come off and then it was just a bit overwhelming to know that once I started I really couldn't stop. I was doing the sprint distance which isn't that far, but it was still just a bit unnerving. 

I transitioned okay. I had made the choice to not swim in my tri shorts since it was going to be cold and I'm still glad I made that decision. It took me a minute longer in transition, but I was warmer than some of my counterparts. I had never really ridden my bike and I had never done the course before which was a bit of a mistake and left room for improvement but I was still pretty happy. There was a monster hill that I was NOT prepared for mentally. As I came back in to transition from bike to run, I saw my cheer squad!

Such a lovely photo.

I was so cold when I came back from being on my bike that I had to have someone else take off my helmet  and I tied my shoes terribly. I actually RE tied them during my run after I had warmed up. 

But I did it. I finished! I finished with a smile on my face! I probably could have pushed harder, but I figured it was more important to have enjoyed it. At least, that's Siena's philosophy!   

There were two other Summit trainers who did it with me for the first time too! The other gal wins triathlons, but I sure do love working with them! 

After I was done, Siena was up. She even colored on her swim cap to put a little flair into the race. She did the beginner distance which makes her happy.

Go, Siena, Go!

Siena took third in the beginning girls race! (There were only three competitors, but she really didn't care!)

 I should probably mention that I also talked my dad into doing the race with me! He did the Kokopelli two weeks before and then had the Huntsman Senior Games tri two weeks after. It was my goal to beat him and I beat him out the pool, but then I didn't see him on the bike. It confused me. I kept thinking he would overtake me, but it was a small tri to begin with and I almost saw nobody! It kind of worried me because it was an out and back course and on my way back I STILL didn't see him. Then, magically, there he was on the run course even though I was still on my bike. WHAT?! He didn't pass me!! Turns out, he got lost. He followed the wrong signs which was funny because I almost made the same mistake! My run split ended up being faster than his but we will never know if I could have beat him on the bike! He didn't do the same course!

Another full to the brim Saturday! (Okay...we might have snuck in a good two hour nap later, but that still made it full!)

 

Summit took a couple really great photos for us!