Team Allred

Today Jonny and I competed in a Triathlon  as a 2 man relay team. I did the swim and Jonny did the bike ride and run. It was a sprint so the swim was a little 600 yards the bike ride was 13 miles and the run was a 5K. Jonny participated in a Sprint Triathalon before but he thought it would be fun for the 2 of us to compete together.


Neither of us spent much time training but we didn't do too bad. We finsihed altogether with a time time of 1 hr 30 min. It was 6 place out of 10 or 11 teams. The best time was 1 hr 4 min . My swim time was 13 min 30 sec which I was disapointed in . The Triathalon took place at the Riverton Aqautic center so it was not an open water swim. I enjoyed waiting my turn to get into the pool and visiting with the other racers.

Our team name was just Team Allred. Not very creative but after arguing for 5 min to come up with a creative team name and not agreeing on anything we gave up and just went with Team Allred. It was fun getting out of the pool rushing to to meet Jonny at his bike and passing of the chip. I really enjoy doing 5k's and other races because I live the adrenalian rush of getting to end and realizing that I accomplished something, even though I never come in 1st.

I am hoping that I can train and do all three events in a triathalon soon . Doing the race with my husband was fun and a good bonding experience.

Taken before the race started. Jonny is sporting his signature bandana that he wears everytime he runs

That is me standing on the ramp wating for my turn to get in the pool and start

                    I am the one wearing the green cap. The other  swimmer was right behind me the whole time but never passed me.

 Jonny starting the bike portion. He was excited because last time he didn't have a road bike so he did it with a mountain bike. A friend found this bike at a yard sale for $26 . It took $100 for new tires and a tune up. Still a very good deal

                                                             Starting the run

                                               Jonny trying to beat the other racer. He didn't beat him but was close. The man he was racing against told him after that he was glad that Jonny was racing against him because it pushed him harder

Well I can't find my cell phone which is driving me crazy. I have no idea where is could be and it is driving me crazy. I know it is somewhere in the house because I had it yesterday morning. And the only place we went yesterday was to the park and I didn't have my phone with me then , because I could not find it. The girls and I did take our dog Lugwig on a walk yesterday morning, so we after I realized the phone was no where in sight we got into the car and retraced out steps, which might have been in vain because I had dropped in probably 8 hours before , anyway I did get to listen to a little bit of Prairie Home Compain on the drive. I forgot how funny that radio show is. 

I have lost my phone before and it has always seemed to show up after a few hours but this is now going on 24 hours missing. I have been losing things a lot lately. The other day I got out a package of glue stick so I could do a project, got distracted by one of the kids , came back and could not find those glue sticks anywhere, and I had just had them a minute ago.I think I am going crazy , or maybe it is just because I have a 3 year old. She has been the culprit once or 2 when things have gone missing. My home is not spotless but it is not so cluttered that things get lost in piles of stuff. I put things away when  I am done , most of the time except for my shoes which is something that drives my poor husband crazy. Sadly the shoe thing has worn off on the girls. So Jonny is constantly going around the house picking up piles of shoes and putting them away. Which is nice of him but then when he does that the girls and I can't find our shoes, after looking all over we finally go to our closest and there they are.  Then there are times at the end of the day I just throw everything into a laundry hamper, there have been things in that hamper for months.

Anyway in the process of writing this blog I found my phone. I put it out on facebook that I needed to find my phone so can someone please call me. My sister called , and luckily it was while I was in the process of walking out to check in my car. I heard Roxett music ( all my sisters ring tone) coming from the grass. There was my phone laying in the grass. It turns out that yesterday the girls and I sat in the front lawn eating popcicles and I left my phone there.

My husband is going to invent a pager for my cell phone that attaches to the wall ( so I can't lose the pager) that way when I can't find my phone when he is at work I can use the pager.

 My birthday was extended this year. The Tuesday before my birthday we celebrated because Jonny thought he was going to be out of town, on Saturday. So Tuesday morning he annouced to me that he was taking the girls to the store with him to pick out my birthday presents ( He is so sneaky). I actaully thought that the best present was him  taking the girls and giving me the house to myself for an hour. They came back and although Jonny tried to be somewhat sneaky LaNea came into the house and annouced what her and Hannah had picked out for me. Which were little butterflies on a stick that I could stick in my flower garden. I said well atleast I will be surpirsed by what they look like. . Jonny could not really hide the swing that he  bought me  since he had to set it up in the backyard , and I could look out the window at anytime and see what he was doing. So he came in and showed me the picture on the intruction manuel and said surprise. Needless to say I didn't open any gifts that were wrapped up, although the girls bought big bows to attach to my butterflies. That night after dinner Jonny put one candle on my piece of strawberry shortcake and the girls and Jonny sang Happy Birthday.
Saturday the day of my birthday it turned out Jonny wasn't out of town. So we went down to the city park where they had a bunch of booths set up as part of Rivertons town celebration. We strolled through the boths buying popcorn for the girls, then sat on the grass and enjoyed  big glasses of leomnade given to us by politian. I entered a raffle for a GPS and won!

Later we went to Pizza Hut for lunch(as my birthday lunch) where we enjoyed telling LaNea jokes and listen to her trying to tell us jokes. She is not at the age when she really gets the concept. One example  "Knock knock" "who's there" "Strawberry" "Strawberry who" "Strawberry Shortcake!" She would say a joke and we didn't have to pretend to laugh!

Later that day we took a family walk , which is something our family very much enjoys doing together, down to Smiths to buy ice Cream and a cake mix for yet another birthday cake (Jonny's idea) . Since it was my birthday I was allowed to pick the ice cream flavor and much to Jonny's dissapointment I picked Pistachio Almond , I had never tried it before and I must tell you that now it is my favorite flavor. Maybe because it reminds me alot of the pistachio dessert my Mom and sister would make when I was growing up so  it has a touch of nostalgia for me.Saturday to me was a perfect day. One of those days you can't plan, or force  but just happens. It made realize again why I love my husband so much !

So this year was a good birthday and like many years of my life was celebrated over a weeks time. The only strange thing about this birthday is that I got a personal birthday card in the mail, and I don't regonize the name of the person who sent it. Sad I know I have never been good at names . It must be from a lady in my ward who makes it a habit to send a card to every women in Relief Society on her birthday which I think it sweet. Anyway I hope that is the case and not someone who I should remember .

                                                      My butterflies from the girls. It is very hard to get Hannah to look at the camera for a picture

Our 4th of July was a little different this year. It was our first year where we didn't spend it  with either of our families. That was a little hard for me . Last minute we decided we would go to Utah. So we packed up the car at 5:00 in the evening on the 3rd and headed out. The girls were excited as they always are when we tell them we will be going to Utah. As we started heading up South Pass just after  Lander our Blazer started to lose power. So we pulled over at a beautiful spot where cow paths wove through the trees. The girls and I went exploring while Jonny tried to figure out what was wrong with the car. He came back with the bad news that he wasn't sure what was wrong with the car but it just didn't sound right we would not be making trip after all. LaNea was very upset, she kept saying but I want to go play with Jaden , Kate and Wyatt. We told her we were sorry but the car wasn't working. The blow was softened a bit when we went on a short hike and promised banana splits when we returned home. On arriving home we unloaded the car , then Jonny and LaNea headed to Smiths to get stuff for banana splits and items for a picnic the next day, by this time LaNea was completely over her disappointment . On our way through Lander we had noticed there was a carnival getting set up so we decided that would be part of our activities for the next day

In the morning we headed to a Mountain Man randevous ( I know I spelled that wrong) so Jonny could find out about signing up for a Muzzle loader shoot. Then we headed to Lander to go to the Carnival ( this was in our other car a Toyota that thanks to my brother in law Rosse's parents we got for free) It is not dependable  enough to drive to Utah but it could do  a 20 min drive to Lander). We had no idea when it was going to start but we assumed it would start in the morning right after the parade. We were wrong the carnival wasn't going to start until 5:00 and it was only 12:00. So we decided to head back home and grill hot dog's and have a picnic in our yard while the girls played in the kiddy pool. Then head back to Lander at 5:00 for the carnival. Instead of heading back to Riverton , the way we came Jonny decided we would drive through the reservation ( which a co-worker said was just as fast) . Well 1 hour later we made it home, it should only take 20 minutes. It was 100 degrees that day and the Toyota AC doesn't work. Needless to say the girls and I were a bit cranky when we got home.

We quickly recovered from out hot car ride , and set out the picnic, which looked yummy, Hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad, water melon, chips, lemonade and cookies. The girls ate and played in the pool while Jonny and I sat in the shade and relaxed . Jonny left for a while to go to the shooting range.

When 5:00 arrived we piled in the car again and once again headed for Lander ( we didn't go through the reservation again instead we stuck to the highway ) . We got there and were met by the wife of one of Jonny's co-workers. They live in Lander and have 4 kids 2 the same age as our girls they were the same people we camped with a few weeks before ( We didn't plan it that way but the husbands got to talking at work and realized they were both planning on camping at the same campground the same days so we decided that we would camp next to each other ) . They are from Idaho and are like us members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, so we have a lot in common. We were excited to see them and had fun constantly bumping into them through out the carnival.

We decided to get each girl a wrist band , we also bought one for Jonny , so he could ride some of the rides Hannah was to small to ride on her own. Since the wrist bands were $15 each we decided that I would just be the spectator. But I think I had as much fun as the girls. I enjoyed watching their faces as the experienced the sensations of the rides. LaNea really liked the paratrooper and kept asking to ride it with Jonny.Since Hannah was too small for that ride, she did a lot of rides on the dragon roller coaster, which very much resembles the Puff the Magic Dragon ride at Lagoon.

I believe that one requirement to be a carnival worker is that you have to be friendly. That wasn't the case at  this carnival. I would try to make small talk with them , or joke with them while watching the kids ride and most didn't even crack a smile. I asked one guy if he enjoyed traveling around from city to city and he just scowled. Oh well I guess I am too much like my dad that way, I expect everyone to gladly talk to me a complete stranger. All in all we had a great time. I am glad that we make it a rule to always carry around a case of water in our vehicles, we went threw 4 bottles of water that evening.

Poor Jonny who was not as young as he once was , started getting  motion sickness. But he was a trooper and kept riding the rides with the girls, even the spinning teacup ride. I kept thinking of that you tube video of the screaming dad at the amusement park , who after screaming like a little girl , bravely tells his daughter he will ride again. Good dads are everywhere :)

Since even public fire work shows were band this year. We saw no fireworks except for 1 or 2 illegal ones we saw go off around town. All in all it was a great 4th , even though we weren't able to go spend it with our extended family we had a wonderful time with our little family .

Today is July 15th and I just finished blogging about the 4th . So probably in another 2 weeks I will blog about my birthday which was yesterday, but which was also a wonderful day.

Hannah trying to walk and drink her leamonade at one time

Daddy is such a trooper

Hannah riding the dragon coaster which is much like Puff the Magic Dragon at Lagoon

Hannah kept wanting to ride this train even though all it did was go around in a circle. Most of the time she was the only kid riding it

By the way our blazer is fixed now. Jonny ended up just replacing the fuel pump.

Well here it goes my first post as a blogger. I have toyed with the idea of a blog for years. Especailly after seeing an Oprah episode about a women who started a blog and ended up making about $10,000 a month off of it, but being realistic I decided that hoping to make it rich is not a good reason to start a blog. I figured I am not politcal , I can't share great recipes or craft ideas  or gossip about celebrities so I never started one .

Then one day last week while I was on the phone with my mom she suggested I start a blog, then a few days later my older sister suggested the same thing . I gave it some thought and decided maybe it wasn't such a silly idea after all. I know lots of people who have blogs to keep far away family updated , I also know others who write them in place of a journal,( but  I am not going to to write in here all the things I write in my journal) , I also know others who do it as a form of stress relief. So after considering all the reasons why people start a blog here I am writing one. So if you are interested in keeping up with the current events in the life of my small family you have come to the right place. I won't promise regualar posts . I sat down a few days ago attempting to start one, thinking I had a chance because the girls were playing together nicely, but alas not 5 minuites later I am asked to push someone on the swing, other times I had to play checkers, clean up messes, read stories, chase a naked 3 year old ........

Tommorow I plan on blogging about our 4th of July .