IRONMAN 2008!!

We had so much fun this year!! We took our 4-runner on the 13 hour drive and arrived in Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday morning. We spent the 4 days before the race visiting friends (Aggens), going to movies, swimming in the pool 4-5 times a day (no kidding), hanging with family and preparing for the race. No back problems this year, no crashes! The kids did a one mile race called the Ironkids. We brought Skippy who was a hit! John did awesome and recovered amazingly fast. We are all so proud of him! The day after he promised that he'd never do this race again... We all know what that means. Now, a week later, he's got his plans for next year! My favorite quote:
"IRONMAN is every person, trying to find out what he can do: Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles... BRAG the rest of your life."
John, thank you for being such a motivation to me and the kids! You truly are our superhero!

IRONMAN 2007 - Last Year

So, We're off to Coeur d'Alene today for John's second Ironman Triathlon race! I am so proud of him and so excited. We are hoping for a much better experience (physically) this year. I'm sure many of you, including John himself will have a passing thought of: Can he do this? Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles!! Well, let's recap on what happened at last years race and put those thoughts where they belong...

John's story is truly one of determination and will. John arrived in Coeur d'Alene full of excitement and anticipation for his first Ironman Race. Unfortunately, his excitement soon turned to extreme disappointment when his back went out the Thursday before the race. This was no ordinary back spasm... It changed the shape of his back, not allowing him to stand straight. There was nothing left to do, but to find a local chiropractor to see if they could fix it. We were so blessed to find David Aggen, who came in two to three times a day, even on his days off, leaving a family bbq...all to adjust John's back. We were initially told that the race was off - there was no way John would be able to race like that. But, with Davids help and our faith in John... he got him to the starting line. David even showed up to adjust John's back at 5am before the race and stayed to watch the start and was there at the finish to support John. It was wonderful to find such a great friend in Coeur d'Alene.
The back problem didn't seem like much of an issue once race time came around. But, the problems were just starting. The wind was so powerful on the lake and creating such choppy waters, that they created a duathlon for athletes to just do the bike and run if they chose not to risk the water. It didn't seem to matter to John and he made it out of the water in great time!
All was going well until two small kids ran into the street causing John to crash on his bike, setting him back. His hand was pretty scrapped up, his legs and shoulders and his helmet was cracked. He, of course, kept clear of the medics so they wouldn't pull him out of the race and kept on going.
Next was the run... he was struggling a bit with his breathing, but kept on running to the finish!! It was the most amazing experience to see him finish such a large goal! I could have never imagined the impact that race has one you, as an athlete and as a spectator/supporter. The motivation, the emotion, the thrill...
After the race, Johns breathing didn't improve and we took him to the hospital in Montana on his way home to discover he had collapsed his right lung when he crashed on his bike. He spent some time in the hospital, and immediately signed up for the next year...
So, here we are... headed back to complete the race with 2 full lungs!! I am so proud of John and all his training and his dedication! I am his #1 fan!!

Remodel: A dang good reason for suicide

Some background: Our home was build in the 1950's. It has it's charm and it's character and well, it's flaws (which I'm sure would be debatable if we pressed rewind to the 1960's). Most of all, it's got lot's of potential that we are just about to crack into :) Of course, not very easily dealing with plaster walls. So, we begin the remodel - Kitchen, basement (bye bye pine walls!), bathroom, outside (landscaping, fencing, roofing). Some of the outside will be moved to next spring and John and I have already made some major improvements in the landscaping department. Mainly, we're getting the house ready to sell in the next year or two. So, anyway, here are pictures to begin our journey... The demo:
Kitchen:
Ripping out cabinets

Some soffit we took down to open the room and it left a huge hole in the ceiling...Curse the many contractors who said it would just pop off! Notice the dust!!

Patching things up

We let the kids go crazy with permanent markers on the Counters. That was fun!!

The basement:
Taking down the pine walls - that's a lot of wood!


We're doing most of this ourselves, so it's going to be a slow, but fun process... I'll keep you all updated on the progress.

Summer Time!!

ONE MORE DAY!!!! We have been counting down the days for our Summer to begin!! It's finally here and we are all so giddy in our house. The last day of school is tomorrow (May 30), and also my last day of work!! Full time anyway - I'll still be making my presence known to the slave drivers down at Millennia once a week :) I'll miss them, but come on, there's no comparison to the heartache one feels when away from your kids all day. What a blessing to be able to play with my favorite people in the whole world all day!! Thank you to my wonderful Superman of a husband who will be working his bum off while i spend all his money and sit by the pool sipping diet coke all day... Isn't that what Stay-at-home Mom's do all day? :)

Here are some updated pictures of our dog. He's a bit of a punk, but man, he's cute. His ears have popped up, except for when he's tired... then they droop. He's lazy.

Game 4 - Round 2 vs LAKERS

John and I got to go to the BEST game of the year on Sunday! These are two of our friends from the games - Art and Dot Stevens. They have the same seats every year, so we've spent the past few years getting to know them. They are so fun and we actually keep in touch and trash talk visiting teams through email before the games. They are great!

Action Shot of 4 on Kobe. Does he make it? Negative!!

"Boo Hoo - my aching back".

Just a fun picture to show that Utah does have an occasional (non-local) celebrity to grace the halls of the Energy Solutions Arena during a game. Course they were cheering for the Lakers, so...

To quote the many signs posted about - the only good Laker is a SALT LAKER!
ps- this is a delayed post and I won't mention last nights game and how Boozer has pained me... Let's think of happy, winning thoughts and how we're going to tie it up again on Friday!!! GO JAZZ!!

Charlotte's Web

John and I took the kids to another play at the Children's Theater of Salt Lake. This time it was Charlottes Web. Our kids love this Theater... we are so lucky to have something like this for kids in Salt Lake. If you've never been, you should check it out: HERE

A date with the Jazz... oh, and John too

John and I cheered on the Jazz at Game 6 of Round One against the Rockets! My work has Row 5 season tickets every year and we were fortunate to score some for the playoffs. Here are some fun pictures to share

What's John looking at??


Some actions shots...


Go JAZZ!