Summer of Seals ~ 2011

Three years ago, was the first annual summer of seals competition. It was for a small group of guys, and involved doing a 500M swim, two minutes to do as many push-ups as you could, two minutes to do as many sit-ups as you could, max pull-ups, and a 1.5 mile run.

Kevin's been doing this for the past three years, I've been dying to join him, and this year I was finally able to! It made our evening workouts so much more fun that we could do it together, or even with our teams when we were doing run throughs.

We worked hard all summer long, trying to improve our times and performances. I had a REALLY long way to go, and Kevin was just fine tuning. We're both slightly competitive people, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to push myself.

Weight loss is also a component of the competition, and because of that, alot of us got to the venue that mornning with empty stomachs. Not a great idea when you're pushing yourself as hard as we all were, but that's just kinda how it is.  So, after the weigh-in we all ate a little bit, then it was time to get started.

There were around 150 people who signed up, I don't think everyone was there that day, but it was still a pretty big number. Kevin was near the front of the pack to get in the pool.

Although our swim times weren't too far from each other, we decided that he would go first, and I'd start the swim as he started the run. That way, we could both help the other person through the max out portion. So Kevin started and I hung back till the end.

By the way, a bunch of these pictures were taken by timeless photography, a sister-in-law of one of the guys who helped put on the event. Some of the pictures are mine as well, buta bunch came from facebook where she posted the pictures, so thanks to her for doing that, the pictures were awesome!

I was helping Kevin time his splits so that he could hopefully get the time he was aiming for to get the max points. He missed it by about 20 seconds, but it was still a great showing!

This was my team,  Jenn, Monica, me, Aly, and Allie.

Here I am doing my chin-ups. I got 8.5,  couldn't quite make it up on that last one, but I tried.

The run, where Allie killed me.:) I posted this picture to make it look like we ran together....we didn't. She started a minute after me, and still beat me, she was passing me here, not running with me! She was great motivation for me in the run though, and I had so much fun being on her team this year!

Here was our whole team after it was all done. Such awesome ladies! We had so much fun doing all the run throughs together and with our hubbies.

After the run with two of the ladies husbands behind us. Why is Kevin not there you ask? I wondered the exact same thing! In fact, he was noticably missing during most of my competition, not there to hold my feet, or help push me on the pull-ups, or cheer me on in the run.

Unfortunately, he tried some energy thing/drink and because it was on an empty stomach it didn't sit to well and he spent quite awhile after he was done, throwing up. I felt bad for him, and have never seen him do that, but sometimes that's just what happens!

After it was all over, and we were waiting for the results. Kevin and Sean were hanging out in the pool. I had to run home to grab the girls and their swimsuits so they could jump in the pool too.

The Awards Ceremony:

There were team scores, as well as individual. We had been working really hard all summer, and our team rocked it, and won first place!! Way to go ladies!

Bonus, our husbands teams won first place too!

After that, they handed out awards to whoever got the most pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups for the men and women.

Kevin is a stud. Seriously. He got 120 push-ups, and won that. He got 111 sit-ups and won that as well. Then, he got 27 pull-ups, and won that by alot.:)

I was kinda proud of him!:)

 He had to go collect all his medals.

Then, they awarded the mens winner, and what do ya know, Kevin won it all! He'd been trying his best for three years, and this year he finally did it. I'd like to think I was his lucky charm, but I kinda doubt it, he's just super motivated and commited.

Then it was the womens turn. While I didn't do quite as well as Kevin and win all the strength events, I did

tie with three other girls, one of whom was Allie, (one of the girls isn't there), in the pull-ups.

Then it was time for the womens individual winner. I was lucky enough to have won the whole thing!

Kevin really pushed me, and we both went into it trying to both do our best, and hopefully be able to win the competition.

These two ladies took second,  by only one point. But remember, weight loss was counted in the points too. Seriously, look at these cute skinny girls, and it's no wonder that I would be able to have more weight loss than them!

Me sporting my medals!

This is Kim, who took second, but without weight loss being counted, she won by one point, and I tied for second with bonnie (the girl in the red from the picture earlier).

Me and Allie, she did awesome, and next time we're going to teach her how to really improve on her swim! I really only beat her because of the swim, she beat me in two other events, but the points just worked out to where I won, really though, she's a rockstar, and pushed me through the whole thing.

Me and my main squeeze. The man who pushes me and keeps me motivated everyday. I think we've found a new love of competition. In fact, he's been looking into other races/competitions/triathalons we could do together. I am so grateful to have him in my life, and for the dedicated man he is.  I'm sure we'll grow old together finding things we can do together to keep us active and having fun. Actually, we just signed up to do the amazing race with some friends here in houston in three weeks. We're super excited about that too, last time we did it  was a blast!!

(please ignore the odd positioning of our hands:)

Jason and Jen, one of the other couples on our teams. These two are so much fun, and we've had a blast being able to hang out with them and have mini parties at their house after our run throughs. We've missed seeing them all the time since the competition ended.

Here we all are minus a couple of oru team members. It was so much fun, and definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone.

We're already ready to go for next year...bring it!:)

Wild about Halli

Just about a month ago, the unthinkable happened.

Yep, Halli turned 8! I have no idea how she got to be so old so quick, but here she is, a big 8 year old.

We, of course, had to have a fun fabulous party for the girl, and she decided on "wild about Halli", with zebra print everywhere!

I am no master cake maker, but I was pretty happy with how this cake turned out. Well, maybe not the flower so much, since it just looks like a blob of frosting, but I kinda love the zebra print!

She had a pool party with her friends and their families. Let's just say, it's a good thing my inlaws have a large pool! We set up the food outside, in the path of the setting sun, so all the chocolate could be all melted by the time the evening was over. That's just what happens when you have and outdoor party when it's over 100 degrees outside.

I made a bunch of food for the party, and was a semi-pro at dipping things in chocolate by the time it was over.

We had all Halli's favorite sweets and candies.....if they went with the colors!:)

A close-up of the very sloppy flower. I love the color of it though!

Just so you don't think I'm lying about the candy colors matching. Halli LOVES reeses peanut butter cups and REALLY wanted them at the party. I looked all over for easter ones, since they're wrapped in the right colors, but no luck. Then I found out my mom had small squares of colored tinfoil at home I could use! Yep, I wrapped each candy in their new wrapper....maybe I shouldn't admit to that,:)

Halli's other favorite candy is nerds, so they were of course on the table.

There were mint brownie bites, that looked like zebra print too. Another one of her favorites.

We filled the pool up, as well as all the little tummies that were there!

The kids all thoroughly enjoyed themselves....but really, who wouldn't?

then, it was finally cake time.

there was a little breeze, but again, that's what you deal with when you have a party outside.

thank goodnes it was a kinda big cake. There were a whole lotta mouths to feed.

The inside was super fun and Zebra print too!  I saw this on pinterest and just HAD to try it out, I love how it turned out.

All-in-all, it was a great party, we had so much fun with some really awesome friends and family, and Halli absolutely loved all of it, and isn't that what really matters?

Ten on thursday

I know I haven't done this in awhile, but since I'm so incredibly far behind with my blogging, I figured this would give me a quick update of life right now....not way back in July.:)

1) school is in full swing, soccer has started, ALL the birthday parties are OVER:), JJ takes super consistent naps everyday, and I'm finally feeling like life is settling down a little bit from the summer craziness. We had alot of fun this summer, and, although I hate the daily morning routine of school, it's nice to have some sort of a schedule to get back to.

2. We're in the process of teaching Peyton how to ride her bike. It's kinda slow going, but she's doing well, and she is most definitely not a quitter, even after a few falls. She's a tough cookie and with a little prompting will always get back on her bike and try again. We'll probably head to the park this weekend and really get her going, I can't wait till she can ride her bike too, such a huge accomplishment!

3. We've been walking to school everyday to pick Halli and Blake up and walk them home. It's SOO nice that the school is so close, I just wish it would start to cool off a little, I'm tired of needing a shower after pick up.

4. Lexie and JJ are becoming fast friends as they spend more and more time together without the other girls. It's so fun to watch your kids grow up and really start liking, or disliking depending on the day, their siblings. Granted, the poor boy gets locked out of rooms quite a bit so they can all play without him, but when it's just him and Lexie, there's none of that. She's a great big sis and actually pretty protective of her "J".

5. I am amazed when I'm driving around just how brown everything is. The drought has been awful, and the trees are all dying. I guess the only good thing is that it might actually look like fall this year. Not that the leaves are changing colors, but their dying, so they look sorta fallish. At least in pictures you won't be able to tell the difference!:)

6. Our whole family is home this weekend, and we have NOTHING planned. Besides a soccer game, oh, and young mens volleyball that Kevin has to coach, but other than that, we've got a free weekend!:) It has been a VERY long time, like early July, since we've had a free weekend with nothing to do, and we're both actually home. This means we may actually get around to running some major errands that have been put on hold for way too long.

7. I was cleaning out our garage today, (only because it was so bad I kept running over things and breaking them...oops), and I found my old high jump spikes from college. Those things used to be glued to me, and sometimes I miss those good ol' days.:) Track was such a HUGE part of my life, and then I got married, started having babies, and I've left it all behind. I'm a little jealous that Kevin still gets to have basketball pretty consistently. Not that I could high jump right now if I wanted to, but it was fun, and sometimes I miss the competition, and the sense of accomplishment I got from it. Oh, and another thing, I couldn't even put the shoes on, cause they're too small. Dang pregnancies that have caused my feet to grow an extra size bigger...so sad.:(

8. I am slightly addicted to pinterest, and all the pretty things that can be found there. I've made a few of the foods I've seen on there, and most were pretty dang good. Let me just say, that if you haven't been on there, it may be a good idea to avoid it, cause it really is addicting. Now, anyone can pin anything (pin is another way of saying bookmark) they find online. I may have been very pleasantly suprised to see a couple of the parties I've done pinned on pinterest. It's kinda fun to see some random person has liked a photo from a party and wanted to save it, very flattering!:)

9. A little bit about our JJ, He's a sweetie. A squishy little man that has the most adorable smile and laughs so easily. But lately. Lately that little man has had quite the whiney streak, and it's starting to get on my nerves. Just a little. He wants to be held, but then he won't sit while you're holding him. He wants up, then down, and when I need him to want to be held, when we're out, that's when he wants to be down wandering. This is nothing new really, most kids his age do it. It's a super cute, adorable age but at the same time, it can be so very hard! Church is miserable, (only 4 more months till nursery!!!), but I wouldn't change it for anything. He's got me completely wrapped around his fingers and I wouldn't have it any other way! (well, maybe a little less whiney way, just sayin.)

10. Today Lexie wanted to go outside to play, after being out there for a little bit by herself, she came knocking at the door to come back in....holding her skirt. She wasn't wearing her underpants either. For some reason this little lady thinks it's perfectly normal to go pee in the grass. She thinks she's a boy! She's been potty trained since january, but still has her bouts of accidents, and bed wetting. Hopefully we'll see less and less of it, as it can get pretty old pretty quick. Today wasn't an accident at all though, it was just our silly Lexie thinking it's funny to pee in the grass...that girl!

A getaway with my Halli

Way back in July, I was able to take Halli on a little mommy, daughter weekend trip. Kevin and I talked about this for awhile, and had originally planned to find her baptism dress out there, but we found a pattern she liked better, so my mom ended up making it.

But we wanted to be able to take this small opportunity to let me spend some good quality time with her, go to temple square, talk with her a little bit about baptism, and just get to spend some time together and have fun. Boy, did we have fun! It's amazing how much you can do in a day without babies and naps, and tantrums!

We flew in on wednesday afternoon, and spent some time with my grandparents. They took us out to dinner, and we spent the night at their place. After picking up our rental car thursday morning, I ran into salt lake to get my hair done, (I miss my old hairdresser, he's awesome!!), then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening visiting old friends that I didn't get pictures of. I've missed all my friends from college, and Halli really enjoyed having some kids to play with....finally! She kept telling me how much she missed her sisters, so sweet.

Friday morning we were off to temple square. It is so gorgeous there, and Halli was just amazed as we walked around all the flowers and fountians. Then we headed into the Joseph Smith building to go see the movie they were playing. Can I just say that 1) it was an amazing movie, and 2) It was a perfect movie for her to see right before getting baptized.

Before the movie we wandered around the building, and Halli and I were both in awe at it's beauty. Seriously, such a gorgeous building!

This next picture is blurry, but I had to add it cause it just shows her amazement at everything she was seeing. I love being able to see things through my childrens eyes, and to watch them experience something for the first time.

Again, it's a little blurry, but I just loved watching her take it all in.

She did this all by herself. We walked into the lobby of the movie theatre, waiting to go in and we were a little early so no one else was there yet. She walked up to the statues of Joseph and Hyrum, pulled out her scriptures and just started reading right there. I hope she continues to love to read her scriptures always. She's got a great start so far.

We were still really early, so we decided to wander around a little bit more before the movie, and headed up to the top floor. Such a gorgeous view!

After the movie, we headed out to temple square, went to the visitors center, and saw the christus. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her cause there were too many people there, I can't blame her, I probably would have been the same way.

Then we headed over to the conference center. Again, it's a magnificent building, and she was just amazed at everything she saw.

We had to get a picture in front of the temple too. Halli was having fun watching the newly married couples come out of the temple too.

After leaving there we headed up to Mrs. Cavanaughs chocolate factory for a little tour. We met my grandparents there, and took my cousin Maggie with us. Although, I don't have a picture of her either, dang me!

It was a short little tour, but it was fun, as were the sweets at the end. We made sure to load up on some delicous chocolate.

Me, Halli and my grandma & grandpa. We had so much fun with them, and I look forward to heading back when it's Peytons turn!

After all that, we headed down to my old roomie's house to stay for the rest of the visit. When we got there, we gathered Halli and her kiddos and went out to do a little photoshoot with them all. I got a couple good ones of Halli, and a few of her kids too, so here are just a couple, I won't bore you with all of them!

And here is my BFF from college, Kristen, and her three kids. They were kinda done with pictures by this point, but they're a cute little bunch! Her little girls are Peyton and Lexie's age, so Halli felt right at home with them, and they were running around together all weekend.

Saturday was spent at thanksgiving point, where I seemed to get more pictures of Kristens kids than Halli, so those pictures are on their way to you soon Kristen, I promise!

It was a perfect weekend to spend with Halli wandering around my old stomping ground. We plan on continuing this tradition with each of the kids, and I look forward to it.