Toughman!

Okay so my dad does triathlons. Last year was a weird year for our family and Dad had to drop out of the half Ironman that takes place in St. George. It was a sore spot for him and Mom and we were hoping that 2016 would be a better year. Unfortunately though, Dad couldn't sign up for it because we were out of work and it just didn't seem like that's what you should spend money on.

Well Utah County does it's own form of this race, but it's called a half Toughman. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run just like the half Ironman. Dad signed up for this one and we have all been watching him train and getting quite excited. The swim for this one takes place in Utah Lake which is kind of a gross lake to begin with, but just as we were headed up to Provo for the race we found out that Utah Lake had been closed. There was a toxic algae bloom going on and it could make you sick!

The race organizers tried everything to save the swim, but it just wasn't to be. Dad was a bit disappointed, but he was going to do the race no matter what. They ended up having everyone run the 1.2 mile distance and then do a slip n slide before transitioning to their bikes. Dad was only one of five guys in his wave that did the slide! Can you believe it? They all passed up a slip in slide! Crazy.

The Preslar ladies came down with us to Provo to cheer him on at the finish line. Emma, Cara, and I all sat and made up cheers as the finishers came in.

Dad did a FANTASTIC job. He finished just under his goal time of 5 hours. (With a swim, he would have hoped to be under 6.) He was pretty surprised to find out he averaged over 21 mph on his bike. He scared all of us little cheerleaders waiting for him because he got the dry heaves just after he crossed. Mom sat with him and got him moving and he bounced back quickly after that.

I promise his name is on here. He placed tenth in his age group!

Sam at NINE months!

Guest post by Mom:

We are officially leaving the baby stage behind it feels like! I even put our swing out in the garage. It just wasn't getting used...ever.

Sam finally decided to be mobile, but just BARELY. He's been scooching and rolling and everything but crawling to get around and this last week he finally put it together. He preferred to try and stand. Right now we are fighting the battle of him trying to pull himself up on EVERYTHING stable or not stable. He falls and crashes a lot.

I feel like he got ornery this month. Maybe he's growing. Maybe he's hungry. Or maybe he's just frustrated that he can't get where he needs to go fast enough or stand up. He has cried a lot more this month than he ever has. Even the daycare at the gym noticed that it's been harder to keep him happy. I hope it's a phase.

He also got LOUD this month. The last ten days it is like someone put a quarter in his slot. He's started yelling for attention. He loves to bang his toys on the ground. Everything becomes a drumstick.

We have no teeth still which is a blessing for this Momma. He likes to bite when he nurses. I think I would be in trouble if he had teeth in there. He loves food. I feel like every week he understands eating more. His appetite seems to increase. He loves to be handed a cracker or breadstick or pizza crust and just gnaw away at it. I think graham crackers might be his favorite.

At the beginning of this month, I noticed that every time I picked Sam up he would wrap his fingers into my hair at the base of my neck. Just his right hand and EVERY TIME I picked him up. He didn't pull my hair, it was more like he just wanted to hold me close and probably make sure I couldn't put him down. I loved it. I just realized that he hasn't been doing it as much, but it felt like he was giving me a special hug or that he was showing me that he loved me. He hasn't been quite as cuddly this month as we are transitioning to mobile baby. He wriggles and squirms and twists and turns and it is not nearly so much fun to hold him. I'm also pretty sure he's heavy. I don't notice it. He seems like this tiny thing to me (probably just compared to his big sisters), but other people think I have biceps of steel after they hold him for a bit. I haven't weighed him and his 9 month appt isn't until August 1 so we will find out then!

All of our kids have loved pulling out our DVDs. Sam just discovered them. I anticipate that these will be all over my floor for the next two months!

Wet

Honestly, we have a LOT of photos of us in swim suits! These were actually before the fourth of July. We had the splash pad to ourselves on Main Street for over an hour. It was crazy.

Sam has learned how to sleep in very loud situations. He likes to crash on Mom while we are at the pool.

Iva went down the hydrotube the weekend of the Fourth for the first time....we think. Maybe she did it last year. Either way, it wasn't really a win. She has gone two more times, but really doesn't like it. 

The Fourth Of July

Hey now that it is almost the 24th of July maybe we should blog about our 4th of July!

We actually had a pretty great Fourth. We basically did a homegrown St. George celebration. Mom and Dad signed us all up for the Uncle Sam 4k which was at 6:30 in the morning!

They gave us these awesome shirts, beards, and hats!

We accidentally forgot the wheel for our bike trailer/stroller so we smashed Iva and Sam into our single stroller (that is basically broken as it is NINE years old!) and made the best of it.

Cara was a champ of a runner and they only walked to get a drink!

I did pretty great myself except for the fact that my shoes were too small and so my feet hurt quite a bit. (Mom finally got me some new shoes about a week later and discovered that I now fit TWO sizes bigger than what I was wearing. She felt terrible!)

It was still pretty hot even though it was only 6:30 in the morning!

After the race, Mom went and picked up some breakfast (because St. George apparently dropped a major ball and did NOT have a pancake breakfast even though they had advertised it) and then we hung around waited for a parade that ended up starting 45 minutes later than it said it would. Fun parade, but very long. We left it a little early and Mom graciously bought us a few tickets to play in the bounce houses and things. Because we left early, there were no lines and Iva even had a bounce house to herself!

We eventually left the park and headed to our favorite stomping grounds for lunch. CITY POOL! We made the most of our time there and Aunt Becca even joined us for a bit even though we don't have proof via photos.

We ended up at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but Grandpa had to work so it was just our family with Grandma and Uncle E lighting off a few fountains. Luckily though everyone else in St. George lights off aerials so we got quite the show just by sitting outside.

While the cat is gone, the mice will play!

Dad went up to Suzuki Institute in SLC for TEN WHOLE DAYS during June. This meant we were left only with Mom...so actually that might mean that the cat stayed home and the head mouse left. We still managed to stay busy and squeeze in some more fun things so that we wouldn't just think about how much we missed Dad.

We of course played at city pool while eating Mom's favorite fruit, white nectarines!

We hung out at Grandma's quite a bit.

Oh look...more city pool!

We also dyed our hair! Once we went swimming, it faded fairly quickly, but it was fun!

Mom even got in on the action. Actually....her hair is even still kind of a tinge of pink. Her dye kept spreading when she would brush it after showering!

City pool...again. We are die hards.

I got to go to a birthday party too.

On the summer solstice, we started the day at the lake with my Mom's uncle Nick and aunt Emily. It was so fun. (Grandma and Grandpa were there too!)

We ended that day by staying out until the sun went down. This was at 8:30 at night!

Iva got her first big girl braids!

We paid dearly for our lake fun though with the WORST case of swimmers itch we have ever gotten. Cara's legs still have spots. They don't itch anymore thankfully, but they are taking forever to fade.

We slept in Mom and Dad's bed a lot.

Mom generally just hung in there with us.

We rode the carousel which ended up scaring Iva which surprised us all.

Mom let us give her a makeover too.

Oh and we went back to city pool!

 ]

We also pulled out Cara's first tooth (thanks to the help of Aunt Angie!) and my SEVENTH tooth right before Dad came back home.

We were glad when he came home, but I think we survived it pretty well. Everyone was on good behavior and Mom even took us to see Finding Dory which we loved. And just like that...it's JULY! Hopefully we make this month count too!