A successful and enjoyable weekend!!

With Tim being gone to West Virginia for work, the kids and I decided to go down to Keller, TX to visit our friends, the Johansens. We left on Thursday and came back on Sunday. We all had a blast. It was so much fun. Between us, we have kids ages newborn, 1, 2, 3, and 4 which sounds like it would drive you crazy but the kids were good. The kids did great playing together and we just enjoyed being able to hang out and spend some time together. We went to their neighborhood pool which was fun for the kids. Also Ben and I did a triathlon on Saturday morning. It was in a small town in Texas and we were still pretty tired/exhausted from the previous one so we took this as an easy one to gain more experience. He did very well and I am happy with my results. I have been really enjoying doing triathlons so I hope I am able to keep training for them. It was such a fun experience and I am so glad to get to do it with great friends. Later that day we took the kids to the park and Alicia got to use my bike to see how she likes it and SHE LOVED IT!!! At first she didn't want to try it but we want her to join us to do some triathlons with us; though she is a runner and we don't like runners very much(just kidding). Anyways she got so excited about riding that we all went to the bike store and got her some bike shorts, shirts, gloves among other things. Now she needs a bike, pretty important, huh?! Anyways, this has been a very enjoyable and successful weekend for me. I had a blast doing another triathlon and being with my friends and their kids. Alicia, Ben, and I are now training for Alicia's first triathlon in August and I am so excited to do it with her. At the same time we are all starting our training for the BIG race in September. Thank you so much Ben and Alicia for everything you did for us. We had a great time there and will miss you guys!!



Ashley was so excited to go to Texas, can you tell?

I love Kaylee. She is one of the cutest girls I have seen. I babysat her and the other kids on Friday morning and this is what she asked for: ice cream.

The kids, Alicia, and Ben at the pool on Friday afternoon.

Lucas coming down the slide with Ben. Ashley was scared to do it.

After finishing the triathlon. What a great feeling to be done!!

Alicia and her biking coach, her husband Ben.


Ashley and Brent.
Kaylee and Lucas riding with me to church. It was cute to have them together but I couldn't imagine having both a 1 and a 2 year old!!!

Triathlon #2

I had an awesome weekend. I think it has been one of the best weekends in a long time for me. I did the OKCCC Triathlon and I am very pleased with my time but more importantly I am happy that I was able to do it with friends. Friday afternoon the Johansens came to stay with us and we had such a good time with them. My friend Ben and I made fun of each other about being some of the first ones to get in the water ( Ben was # 18 and I was # 25 out of 200) and thinking that we'd be the some of the last ones to cross the Finish Line. It was a pathetic thought that we had. That night we all went to Macaroni Grill for dinner to get some carbs ( I love races!!!...no really:) I wanted to eat by 4:00pm but we didn't eat until 7:00pm so I knew that was going to mess me up ( just kidding Ben and Alicia, it didn't mess me up) Later at home I wanted to practice my transition again but we had a pretty heavy storm so we stayed inside and prepared our bags for the race. I can't put in words how much fun the whole experience was for me. I just really enjoyed it. And of course I couldn't sleep because I was so nervous about everything. Saturday morning Ben and I left the house around 5:45am to go to OKCCC. There we set everything up in the transition area and then went to warm up by swimming a little bit. This triathlon was done in a 50 meter pool. At first I was kind of overwhelmed since I have been training in a 25 yard pool but pretty quickly I forgot about that and enjoyed the swimming.

The swimming was better than last time but I got lost..how??? Well, I did a flip turn and since the lanes were so wide I actually didn't go all the way to the other lane but stayed in the same lane. BIG MISTAKE!!! I started swimming in the same lane again so I stopped, hoping that someone would notice what I did but no one said anything so I kept swimming and then stopped again and this time I moved to the next lane where I was supposed to be. The guy that was behind me (#26) passed me so I had to pick up my pace and pass him again. I did it so I was proud of myself and I even got there at the same time as the girl that left before me (#24). I tried hard to make up for my mistake but I didn't have much time since it was the end of the swimming portion. Tough I am not very happy with what happened in the pool I'll take it as another learning experience.

Biking was great!! I loved it. I guess I wasn't as tired from swimming as I was two weeks ago so I was able to start and to finish strong. I love the feeling of your legs burning and hurting like crazy. I don't know why I get such a feeling whenever I swim or bike but it sure feels good. It definitely doesn't feel like that when I run.

Running was tough. I don't have the same feelings about running as I do about biking and swimming. My heart rate was low so I can't complain about that except that my legs were tired and I just couldn't go any faster. The sad part is that as I was approaching the Finish Lane I see the first woman from my age group passing me. I didn't let anyone pass me on the bike so I knew I was going first unless there was a swimmer there that went before me that I didn't know about. Anyways I tried to keep up with her but I just couldn't. She wasn't running; she was sprinting. She was a runner. I don't like runners. They have so much time to catch up with us. The have the last 20 to 30 min to make up for their weakness and win the race. Great for them and not too good for someone like me who isn't a runner. Anyhow, she beat me and won first place and I got 2nd. Her time 1:20:10 vs mine 1:21:04. It may not seem like much to you but as you could probably imagine I wish I could go back in time and change a few things to make up for the 56 second difference. I am not complaining; I am very proud of myself and my achievements. I am grateful to be blessed to do this because it surely brings lots of excitement and happiness to me and my family. And last but not least I am so proud of my friends Gissella, Sherrie and Ben. I trained with Sherrie and Gissella and I pushed them so hard almost every day ( I pushed Gissella even this morning as I ran with her for her last 2 miles. She hates me but she loves me too:). I am so proud of them. And Ben, though I didn't train with him I am so proud that he did it. We were so anxious/nervous last night and he did a great job today. Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot to me.

This is me and my friend Sherrie.

p.s stay tuned for more pictures!

Here are some videos that I am putting here mostly for my mom to see me swim in the triathlon.

Happy Birthday Ashley!!!

I just wanted to share this picture of her cake before I put the icing on. It's a big cupcake and I love it. I am so happy with this cake pan.


Ashley opening her birthday gifts.


Thinking of a wish. I am wishing she could be fully potty trained and I hope she is wishing the same thing.


Ashley and her new pajamas aka "pajamages." from Grandma Dorius.


After jumping so much they decided to take a break. Aren't they cute?


This is where we keep our animals...just kidding. I love our trampoline. The kids have been there all week long. The thing that I like the most is that you get to zip them up so they can't get out. They love it and we do too. We are going to have a good summer in our backyard:)


Ashley at the Circus trying some of the outfits on. She didn't know what was going on...


If you go to the circus you have to take pictures with the clowns, right?


Lucas screaming..."Leave me alone. You look weird"


Our backyard full of kids.


The kids getting the goodies from the Pinata.


This is my little princess.


At the baseball game. We missed the Andersons!!


Ashley and her new birthday dress from Grandma Dorius.


Ashley right before blowing out her birthday candles!!


Tim and Ashley. I really like this picture.

Ashley turned 3 on Sunday June 1 and we made sure she felt as special as she is for us. The celebrations started on Saturday afternoon after my race when we all went out to buy gifts/decorations for the birthday party!! Sunday was pretty much low key. We woke her up and she was so happy to get the gifts from her grandparents and from us. Every gift was perfect for her and she loved them all. Later we had dinner with the Lusks and as always it was fun to have them here with us. After dinner Tim and I set up the trampoline that Ashley and Lucas got for their birthdays from their grandparents. Ashley couldn't wait to start jumping on it. That night she jumped till past 10pm. Tim and Ashley had such a great time and I enjoyed watching them play and laugh together.

On Tuesday we had the kids from Nursery come to celebrate her birthday and they all had a good time. We had pizza, juice, cupcakes, ice cream and popsicles. We also had a pinata with lots of goodies!!! Ashley loved her birthday party. She was so happy to have all of her friends from playgroup at her house and especially loved getting birthday gifts. As I said before, every gift was so special to her and I am so glad for that.

Tuesday night we took her to a baseball game (Tim's idea) since she enjoys that quite a bit. As expected, she had fun and enjoyed asking questions about the game to her dad. I think she just enjoys spending time with her dad and watching any kind of sport. Tim and Ashley have a pretty neat relationship. She adores him and he adores her too.

The last thing we did for her birthday was take her to the Circus on Friday night. Lucas' birthday is on the 28th so it was part of his birthday present too. The kids loved it and we were pretty impressed. It was a great show. We all had a good time and we are so glad for the blessing of having them both in our lives. Happy Birthday, Ashley!!

Love,
Mom

El Reno Triathlon!!!

Well, I don't even know where to start this. First of all I did finish the race and I enjoyed every part of it so much that I am excited about doing it again in 2 weeks and most importantly doing it with FRIENDS :)
First I want to say Thanks to Tim and my kids. Their support meant so much to me. I honestly couldn't have done it without them. Also thanks to my friend Marlene for her support and her advice to get me ready for the race.
The race was great. We got there around 6:30am to set up my stuff and I wanted to get in the lake to warm up but it was so windy and cool that no one was swimming so I decided to hang out with Tim and the kids. At 7:15am we had the meeting where they go over some basic rules. At this time I realized I haven't gotten my timing chip yet and everyone else was wearing one so I was panicking trying to find the person that had them. By the time we found the person with the chips the referee had already asked the men (the first wave of swimmers) to get in the water. Of course I was not handling this very well and I couldn't even put it on my ankle ( well, I didn't know how since I have never done it before). Once I got that done I kissed the kids and Tim and off I went to the water. Surprisingly enough, I was calm. I know how to swim so I knew I would do just fine. The gun went off and here I was starting my first triathlon. Swimming in the lake is CRAZY!!!!! You bump into so many people and it's a MESS!! Plus you are constantly checking for the buoys to make sure you are going the right way and with the wind that we had it was hard to swim against the waves but the worst thing was passing the slower men who were pretty much resting there on their backs. On the other hand it felt good to pass people since I knew I wasn't going to be passing many people later in the bike and run so I enjoyed it as much as I could:)
The transition from swimming to biking didn't go as smoothly as I was hoping for. I put my biking shoes on (which by the way I decided to use for the race on Friday and for more details about my decision contact Ben and about my first fall from the bike contact Jared), my helmet, and my sunglasses and left the area when I realized that my chain had come off. I was so mad. I tried to fix it but I couldn't so someone came to help me. The bike ride was very tough. It was very windy and it just killed my time. I checked my time at 7 miles and I realized that I wasn't going to meet my goal. My legs felt fine but my heart rate was very high. I was working very hard trying to go somewhere and the wind kept pushing me the other way. I hated that. I wasn't very happy with my biking time and experience but I learned a few things that I need to improve on so I'll work on them. The transition from biking to running wasn't bad because I just had to change my shoes and take my helmet off. Running was HORRIBLE!!!! I won't ever forget that as I was leaving the area I was telling myself that I was just going to walk and right at that moment Tim yelled " Go, Baby, go... You can do it" So I turned around I looked at them and saw my beautiful family and I just couldn't walk. I run till the end...and they were at the finish line. Thanks!!! It was so worth it. It was a pretty neat experience and the beginning of something great. Thanks to all for your love and support!!!