Dax's Birthday, and Thanksgiving

Well, a lot has happened in the past two months. Dax had his third birthday on November 1st. We celebrated down in Cedar City with the Andrews, as well as in SLC with the Zollinger family. He had a great time. He told Grandma Teresa that he wanted a monster cake, and that is just what he got. Right after he blew out the candles he licked the frosting. I thought that was so cute. Of course that is the piece that he got.
After that we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Bass side of the family in Hunting Utah. It was so much fun. I was looking foreward to running around the farm, but it was too muddy, so I ran along the highway. I loved that because I was running on hills. We have only one hill in Delta, and it is not that big, so when my wole run was on a hill I wasn't sure how to handle it. All in all, I had to work a lot harder. Thanksgiving dinner/lunch was so good I think that I ate enough, and then some more. Dax had a lot of fun playing with cousin Matt's kids, and uncle Mike's kids, and Riley just tried to stay away from Kendra, who kept whalloping on her. After spending some time in Huntington, we traveled to Cedar to spend time with Rene and Teresa, and to get some Christmas shopping done. When I had a Walmart I didn't like it much, and now that I don't have one I still don't like it, but I appreciate it a lot more. Then we went home back to Delta, and put up our Christmas tree and other decorations. Dax and Riley had a lot of fun setting everything up. I think that Dax had the most fun setting up his and Riley's very own tree in their room.
A lot more has happened since then, and I will catch up with that later when I have more time.

Beautiful Riley

Riley just turned nine months last week, but I went to get her pictures taken when she was eight months old. I got them back and now I am posting them so you can see how cute she is.

Halloween, and State VB

This year we were at my parents home in South Jordan for Halloween. I was not able to be there for all of the dress up, or trick-or-treating because I was at UVU coaching volleyball at the State Tournament. Jeremy said that Dax and Riley had a lot of fun. They went to visit their cousin Ed, who dressed up as the cutest wookiee ever. Dax was a cowboy, and Riley was a bumble bee. Dax had been looking forward to Halloween for quite some time, and didn't have to collect much of anything besides a shirt and a horse. He already had boots, Wranglers, guns and holsters, badge, and hat. You see, all of these are common items in Delta, UT for little boys. Ha Ha.

I was told Riley was missing me, and was being pretty fussy and clingy. Then Stephanie and Jordan came over, and Riley took to Steph as if she were me. We do look alike in some ways, but the resemblance must have been enough to fool Riley. Steph ended up as my impersonator for the evening, taking the kids around trick-or-treating so Jeremy could get them on camera. Thanks for the help Steph.


Here is a picture of Riley and her cousin Ryan. Two little black cats crawling all over the place.

Kokopelli Triathlon

On Sept 20th we went down to St. George to compete in the Kokopelli Triathlon. My Dad, Jeremy, and I had been training long and hard for this race. Last year I did the Summer Games triathlon, and convinced my Dad and Jeremy to do another one with me this year. It had to be later in the summer because I had to get back in shape after Riley was born.
Race morning finally came. It seemed like we had been training forever. We made sure that our bike tires were pumped up, set up our transition area, picked up our timing chips, and put on our wetsuits. Then we just waited to start. I think that was the worst part. All of the training that we did came down to this morning. There were about 800 athletes competing, so they started everyone out in different waves, Intermediate and Relay groups went first, starting at 7:50 am. Then they started the Sprint divisions after that. Around 8:00 am I gave my Dad a hug and wished him good luck. He made his way down to the dock and they started his group. Then I gave Jeremy a hug before he went down to the dock. They started his group soon after my Dad's, and then it was my turn. As I waited in the water with all of the other million pink caps, which seemed like forever, the race director said that our wave was going to be delayed because they had to pick up two men out of the water that were not going to finish the race and bring them back to the dock. The first thing that went through my mind was, "oh no, please don't let it be Jeremy or my Dad". They were both so worried about the swim leg of the race, I hoped that they didn't freeze up and not want to finish. Luckily it was some guy that dislocated his shoulder and some other guy. I was so relieved Jeremy and my Dad were out there somewhere still swimming. Then they gave us one minute heads-up before they blew the horn to start my group. We all started situating ourselves to get a place to start. Some place themselves in the very front, and some try to stay back and avoid the kicking and hitting of the swim start. I placed myself right behind the competitive ladies in the front. I knew I was not the fastest swimmer in the group, but I knew I wanted to get a good spot. They blew the horn and everyone was scrambling to get a spot to swim. People getting kicked and hit left and right just to get an edge on the other racers. I loved it. It didn't take me more than 50 m to get my own spot.
I guess Jeremy's experience was not so great. He made sure that he had a good easy spot to start with so he didn't have to fight for position. A few minutes into the swim he started to sight, or make sure that he was swimming in the right direction, and then out of no where...wham! Some guy kicked Jeremy right in the neck, just under his jaw. Jeremy was struggling for air, swallowing more water than he would like. One of the guys in a kayak noticed Jeremy struggling came over and let him hold on and recover. Jeremy held on for a few minutes just dry heaving. After a few minutes Jeremy decided that all of his hard work training all spring and summer would not be wasted, and he finished the swim. As you can see in the pictures he was elated to be done with the swim leg.
After we finished the swim we had to run up the ramp into the transition area and get ready for the bike leg of the race. I don't think that any of us had too much trouble on the bike, except for my Dad.
There were a few sharp turns on the course where there would be volunteers telling us to slow down for the turn. My Dad acknowledged the warning and thought he was going slow enough, but he still flew off of the race course...twice. Once on the way out, and once on the way back to the transition area. Both times he avoided falling and getting road rash. Good thing they decided to go with tape to block off the course instead of cement barriers.
There was one part of the bike that was tough to get through. It is almost a mile long and 6% grade. The great thing about going up a huge steep hill in an out-and-back course is that you get to go down it too. On the way down the hill I looked at my bike computer and I was cruising at over 40 mph! That was so fun, and the crazy thing about it, there were some people going faster than I was.
After we got back to the transition area, we had to get ready for the final leg of the race, the run. The race directors decided to change the run from the paved road to an off road, sandy run. We agreed that this part of the race was one of the hardest because we didn't train on sand, so our times were all a few minutes slower that what we were predicting. At the finish line, a bunch of our family were there cheering us on. For me, that helped out a lot.
We all did a great job in the race. I took 102nd out of 527 total racers, 22nd out of 235 women, and 10th out of 52 women in my age division. My total time was 1:31:12.9.
Jeremy took 201st out of 527 total racers, 139th out of 281 men, and 27th out of 59 men in his age division. Jeremy's total time was 1:40:09.6.
My Dad placed 168th out of 527 total racers, 125 out of 231 men, and 7th out of 14 in his age division. His total time was 1:37:14.5.
I hope my Dad and Jeremy were not too upset that they got beat by a girl.
After the race was all over Jeremy and I knew that we wanted to do more races next season. My Dad wanted to give himself a day or so to decide weather or not he had that much fun to do more. About a week after the race we were all talking about how much fun the race was and doing another triathlon next year.

Moving

I forgot to mention that we moved into a new home here in Delta. Good rentals are far and few between here, so when we had the opportunity to move into this nice place we jumped right on it. Some of our good friends, the Brians, told us that they were moving out to Southerland. They knew that we were trying to find some other place to live, and they asked us if we were interested in moving into their home (which is actually their brother's home). We moved between our Lake Powell trips back in August. Thanks to Rene and Teresa we were all moved in a day. Our new home is only .4 mi. from our old home, and it is so much bigger and nicer! I am grateful for our friends who are always looking out for us.

Lake Powell II

We had the opportunity to go to Lake Powell again at the end of August. We had a lot of fun. The temperatures were much cooler than the first trip, but we were not able to ski much at all. Jeremy and Jared skied once, and that was about it. Instead, we went to see the Indian ruins one day, and we went down to Iceberg Canyon for another day trip. Besides that we just hung out on the boat and in the water having fun.








Our little family had an exciting time because Dax must have caught a bug, or got food poisoning the second night. He was up all night barfing his little guts out every half hour. After that night he just was not his normal excited, go go go self. He just laid on the couch and slept all the next day. The last few days were better. He wanted to go swim, play in the sand, build a fire, and even go off of the slide. We had to call our trip off a day early so I could get back to Delta to coach. As always, all good things come to an end. We are already excited for the trip next year!

Running Millard County 5k's

This picture has nothing to do with this entry, I just like it. This summer my Dad, Jeremy and I have been training for a triathlon in Sept. As part of our training, Jeremy and I have entered into some of the local races in Millard County. Our first race was in Hinkley, where Jeremy and I both took 2nd place in our age divisions. The second race was the Millard County fair race in Delta. Jeremy took 2nd again in his age division and I won the overall women's division, and they race director said that I was only 4 seconds off from breaking the womens record. That sounds pretty cool to be the overall winner, but this race was a lot smaller than the others that we have raced in. Still, on that day I was the fastest woman in Delta, UT. The last race of the summer was Saturday in Oak City. It was all down hill out of the canyon, so Jeremy and I are still hobbling. Jeremy wasn't feeling very well, and he ran it in 24:12. That was my fastest 5K race time ever. I ran it in 23:29. I did have an advantage. I was pushing Dax and Riley in the stroller, or I should say that they were pulling me down the mountain. I did not try to hold back and slow down, I just let my legs go, and I flew down the mountain. I had a lot of fun.

Coaching Volleyball

I recently had the opportunity to take a position as an assistant volleyball coach at Delta High School. I have always wanted to coach on the High School level, and now I finally get the chance to. At first I was not sure if I could juggle work and kids, but I was assured by Deb, the head coach, that everything will work out. She has got lots of connections with a lot of girls that are more than willing to help watch Dax and Riley. So far it is going very well. Last week we had tryouts, and now we are starting practice. Next week is our first game, and I am anxious to see which team I end up coaching. I will either be with the JV, or the Freshmen. I never thought that I would ever say this, but... GO RABBITS!

Two Teeth, and Sitting Up.

Just after we got back from vacation Riley got two brand new teeth. On Sunday the 10th I was checking her gums because they had been bothering her and sure enough there were two little teeth poking through her little red gums. After they had broke through she was so much happier.
The next day on the 11th, Riley was sitting up all by herself. She does a great job of correcting herself when she starts to tip over. She has a bit of a round bottom still and tips over a little bit now and then, but she has gotten better every day.

More on Lake Powell

We had so much fun, and did so much at Lake Powell that I wasn't able to finish everything that I wanted to write about.
Everyone was able to make it except for Jared. He was was still in Minnesota for work, but we are excited to see him at the next Powell trip at the end of the month.
Dax loved hunting lizards with McCall. I think he would hunt all day with McCall if she would let him. They took water guns and sprayed the lizard when they found them. When the lizard was stunned is when they were able to grab the lizard and put it in their bucket. They found and caught a few lizards and they gave them names.
He also loved hiking with Jordan and looking for firewood with him. He was very excited about making a fire for dinner.
We had a few days of afternoon thunderstorms. We would all get out of the water and out of the rain, but Dax did not care that we were calling him inside to get out of the storm. He just stayed in the lake and enjoyed the raindrops, until he knew he was going to get into trouble.



Jeremy and I are very grateful for Dax and Riley's aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I don't know if we would have survived the trip if they were not so willing to help us watch, hold, feed, change, and play with Dax and Riley.

Lake Powell

There has been a good reason that I have not been keeping up on the blog. We have been at Lake Powell with my family. Every year in the last week of July and first part of August we all go to Lake Powell to get away from everything back at home. This year we drove down to Halls instead of parking it in Bullfrog. I think that Powell is so beautiful, I consider it my heaven here on earth.
This year was much different than those in the past. We had three little ones to look after and to keep cool. Dax was looking forward to this vacation months in advance, almost every day he would ask if it was our turn to go on Papa Mark's boat, and he was so excited when we were finally there on the lake. He did not stop for one minute for the first two days. He had no fear of the water, which is a good thing and at the same time a bad thing. On the back of the houseboat there is a water slide that has about a five foot drop to the water from the end of the slide. I thought that maybe by the end of the trip he could go off of it with us, but he asked Jeremy if he would go with him the very first day. I thought for sure he would be a little afraid or shocked when he came up, but before he could wipe his face or take another breath he said, "Let's go again!" He also tried slaloming, wake boarding, wake skating, and tubing but his favorite was jumping off of the back deck of the houseboat with his arms spread out and eyes wide, yelling, "To infinity and beyond!" Andrea found a Spiderman fishing pole and Dax imediatly took claim to it and wanted to fish every minute of that day, and the next.
I must say, it was a challenge trying to keep Riley, and her chubby cheeked cousin, Ryan cool. Almost every hour we had the two little girls in the water. The two little girls loved kicking around in their little yellow tubes, and the only place that they took a real nap was on the ski boat. Everywhere else was too hot for them to sleep. It seemed as soon as the engine started up their eyes became heavy, and were shut until everyone was done taking their turns on the skis, or wake boards.
Jeremy is getting so good on the ski. Before the trip he had been reading some tips online that would he could use to help him cut harder. I must say that those tips helped because he skied a lot harder, and he looked so good...almost as good as my Dad.
This year was my first year back that I wasn't pregnant, so I tried to wake board again. It was like riding a bike. I got up just fine, and had a fun time with it. I can't do anything awesome like McCall, so I just go out and have a good time. On the last day I decided that I needed to learn how to ski because I was the only one who didn't know how to do both, wake board and ski. I got up just fine, but I was pretty scared once I got going, I screamed a lot. I tried it again, and felt a lot better. I will keep trying to get better. I just love being out on the lake.
Well, all good things come to an end, and we had to clean up and hand the houseboat over to the next family. We were sad to go back home, but at the same time we were looking forward to the next Lake Powell trip in September.

Rollie Pollie Riley

On Saturday the 12th Riley started rolling over from her back to her tummy. Now she can practically get to whatever she wants. It is great that she is developing and learning new things, but that means she is growing up. I just hope that she doesn't grow up too fast on us.

The Ponderosas

Last weekend we went camping up by Oak City with some of our friends, the Stanworths and the Bryans, in a place called the Ponderosas. The kids had so much fun. The moment we got there Dax was digging in the dirt, and playing down by the creek with Madeline, Hyat, Anna, Seth and Ian. At first it was a challenge trying to establish boundaries for the kids. They all kept running away and getting too close to the fire or the stream, but after a while they understood what they could and couldn't do. Dax loved throwing rocks into the stream, finding sticks for the fire, and eating the camp food. Jeremy and I were so impressed with how well Dax ate while we were up there because usually when he is having so much fun he wont stop to eat anything, but he sat down with the rest of the kids and ate dinner and breakfast. One of the cutest things that he did was he and Madeline pulled their chairs over by the bank of the creek and just sat there and watched and talked. When it was time to go all of the kids were so tired and didn't want to leave. Dax and the other kids cried when we were taking down the tents and loading up our cars. I guess we will just have to go camping up there again. I wouldn't mind one bit.

Diving for Prizes

Dax went to the pool last week to dive for prizes. Every month in the summer all of the kids in Delta get to dive for prizes. The lifeguards put colored washers at the bottom of the pool, or the stairs for the little kids, and they get to pick them up, and turn them in for prizes. Dax just goes to town when they blow the whistle to start. He gets so many washers that he has to give me his handfuls so he can keep picking them up. Both times that we have been Dax has come away with a lot of toys and candy. Last month he walked away with six buckets and shovels, some plastic toys, and a few pieces of candy. This month he won two patriotic pinwheels, two slap bracelets, a sticky hand toy, and a bunch of candy. I am glad that he has so much fun in the pool. I'm sure we will be going to the pool every week practicing for next month.

4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we went to the West Jordan parade. I think this picture describes the how much Dax enjoyed it. Let's just say it wasn't worth the hour wait that we had. Thanks to my Mom, we were able to get a spot on the Wells Fargo exit. The parade was pretty lame, with only two or three truly decorated floats. The rest of the "floats" were just cars or four wheelers driving down the street handing out little advertisement papers. We left early because Dax decided to lay down and take a nap. If he wasn't going to watch the parade, then neither were we. Later that night we went to see the West Jordan fireworks. Again, we waited at least an hour, and then finally at about 11:00 p.m., and still no fireworks, we decided to go home and do a few of Stephanie and Jordan's fireworks. So all in all, our 4th of July ended up as a disappointment, but we still had a lot of fun playing outside in the pool in the backyard, and having fun with the family.

Big Girl Food

Riley started eating cereal from a spoon at the end of last month. I think she really likes it, especially when I put a little juice in it for her. She always wants to try the food that we are eating. She loves to taste watermelon, tomatoes, crackers, pickles, and anything else that she can get her hands on. Since everything that she grabs at, and gets a hold of, goes strait to her mouth. This last weekend at Grammie Sally's, and Papa Mark's house she got a whole lot of good stuff to try, including applesauce and even chocolate licorice.

Little Fishes

After spending some time in Cedar City we all went down with Jeremy for his work meeting to St. George. We stayed in the Abbey Inn, and had so much fun. They had a great outdoor kiddie pool that we all played in. Dax is like a little fish. He loves to put his head in the water and hold his breath, or blow bubbles like a motor boat. He also finds enjoyment splashing the rest of us, including Riley. She doesn't mind much at all. She just takes a minute, rubs her eyes, and goes back to laughing at all of the silly stuff Dax is doing in the pool. The second day in St. George we did some shopping and then we come across a water park on Main St. Dax had so much fun in the fountain. He played in the fountain, the little waterfall, and stream for about two hours. It's a good thing that I had a bottle of sunscreen in the car.

MMMMM....BARDS!

Summer Games this year was a lot of fun. I played with two of my sisters, Steph and Bree, my cousin Sher, and two of my friends, Lindsay and Cheryl. I had so much fun playing, and we didn't do too bad either. We took 6th out of 20 teams in total. I know I am getting older, but I still want to keep my edge, and play competitively with all of the young bucks. We had a lot of family and friends come to cheer us on. We love to have that support. Thank you.