Tri for Fun

Last weekend, we went to Sactown, so that I could do a sprint triathlon with the fam. It was originally just going to be me and Sayer that went, but Nate ended up getting hired for a gig in San Fran, and they flew his whole band out, as well as paid them, so it worked out perfect. He and Asher came out on Saturday, and we made it a little family vacation.

Getting set up in the transition area. Ben is in the red tank on the left by the tree, and Whit is in the blue tank by the bike rack.

Looking hot in our swim caps, right before the swim. Look how small my head looks... abnormally small if you ask me. This picture is my motivation for getting back to my pre-baby body, because all I see here, is BLAH!!

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked doing the triathlon. My favorite part was, surprisingly enough, the swimming. I totally got in my groove, and felt like I could have kept going for another 1/2 mile. The hardest part about the swim was that I kept veering of course, as it was a triangle, and like I said, I was in the swimming zone, and didn't like to have to look up to see where I needed to turn. But all was well, and I made it in without having to backtrack too much.

The bike was by far the worst part. I guess I am not a fan of a sport where things besides my muscles are hurting. More specifically, my wrists and my rear. My muscles felt fine, though, so that was good. I guess if I had biked a little more, that wouldn't be as big of an issue, as I am told you get used to it. Yeah, but how long do I have to wait for that to happen??

Hailey

Lexi

Lazin' about after the race, looking glamorous as ever.

The run was great. It was of course, a little hard, as we were tired and hot by that point, not to mention, we were running on gravel and dirt, which isn't the easiest. But we came in at about 2:04, which, considering that we took our sweet time in the transition area in between each leg, was something we were pretty proud of for our first tri. I definitely see many more triathlons in my future, despite my lack of enthusiasm for the bike, I will just have to put a little more effort towards that next time. It was also fun doing it with the fam. Whit, Hailey and I stuck together for the most part, and Hailey and I had a grand time watching all the 40+ ladies pass us on the bike, along with some very interestingly dressed males. One guy was seriously wearing his banana-hammock speedo on his bike. Awesome!

My dad, our friends Doug and Danny Hansen. Danny got first place in his age division, 20-24, and 10th place overall. Way to go!!

Lexi got 3rd place in her division

Hailey got 4th place in her division. Me and Whit, sadly, did not place in our division. Oh well! ;)

The rest of our trip was very nice. Filled with lots of relaxation, reading, visiting, and good food. What more could you want out of a vacation? Oh, and we also went to the zoo, which turned out to be a much sadder zoo than I remembered from my elementary years. It left MUCH to be desired!

Sayer's Blessing

Our little family.  Asher was having a VERY rough day!

The other reason my whole family was in town was for Sayer's blessing. Ben and Whit were already coming to town, so we thought it would work out nice to do it then. Nate's parents were able to come down too, which was so nice of them. It's so nice to have so much family around for occasions like this.  I just realized that I didn't get pictures of anyone else that was there, besides my family.  Lame.  Nate's brother Andy came with his family, his brother Mackay and his girlfriend Natania, all of my sisters, my Aunt Bobby and Uncle Gordon, cousin Stephanie and her 3 cute kids, cousin Karie and her husband Eric, cousin Aaron and his wife Audrey, Aunt LJ, and Aunt Karen.  We had a luncheon at my house afterwards, with nummy food.  It was a very full house, but so fun to visit with everyone.  Thanks everyone for coming!

 Sisters...

Ashley, Alexis, Whitney, Hailey, Me, Jillian

Dad, Mom
Ashley, Alexis, Whitney, Hailey, Me, Jillian

Nate gave Sayer a beautiful blessing. The part that stuck out the most to Nate was that he would be a peacemaker in our family. I really can tell that he has such a sweet disposition, even though he is sad a lot these days. It's like he is trying so hard to be happy, but his little tummy gets in the way. I know it will pass, and I can't wait to see his little personality come out. Sayer was so good during the blessing. Nate said he was asleep the whole time until the end when he held him up.

I love Sayer's eyes, they look so cute in this picture

Whit and Sayer

Sad baby Sayer

More sad Sayer. He still looks so sweet and so cute!  Unfortunately, we didn't get any nice pictures of him not crying.  Oh well.

My mom made his blessing outfit, and it turned out SO cute. It looks like kind of a raw silk material. I loved it, and of course, Sayer looked so precious.

Marathon and more...

Asher, Kadin and Whit

My sister Whit and her husband Ben ran the SLC marathon this weekend. Whit and the boys came into to town a few days early to hang out with us. It actually ended up being quite the busy week, so I felt like I didn't get to visit with my sis too much, but that's ok. It was also hard when we did have down time, as that was usually taken up with feeding Sayer, and talking over a crying baby (as that is what feeding time consists of these days) is not the easiest thing. Whit was so great to take over though, and soothe the poor little guy, when I needed a break.

Jill and Joelie

Ben and Whit did an awesome job in the marathon. It was Ben's first and he said is was "awesome"!. Congrats Ben and Whit for finishing with an awesome time!

Lexi, Asher, Mom and Dad at the Gateway, where the marathon ended

Nate, Hailey, Lexi

Kadi (Ben's sister), Doug (Ben's bro), Jackie (Doug's wife), Whit and Kadin

Mom, Dad, Me (with my new doo, thanks Ash!!)

Asher asleep in the stroller

Sweet baby Sayer

After they finished, we went to lunch at CPK, which was delish. It was a miracle to have both of our children asleep at a busy restaurant. That is really unheard of for Asher, especially when there is food involved. We later found out that he was sick, which is why he was so abnormally tired and sad.

Grandpa was so nice to sit and read to Asher when he wasn't feeling well. It has been so fun to see my dad with mine and Whit's boys, he is such a good grandpa, very doting. He just thinks his grandsons are so cute.

Just another cute picture of Sayer

Conference Weekend

Andy snuggling with Ally and Asher

This is a little late, but I had to document our conference weekend. We spent pretty much the whole weekend going back and forth, from Provo to Sandy, where Nate's brother Andy and his wife live. We had so much fun hanging out with them, and Kacey was so gracious to host us for 3 days in a row!!

I really enjoyed conference, at least the talks that I got to hear. I loved Elder Ballard's talk, for obvious reasons, of course. We often hear talks about mothers, but I thought this was kind of a different approach than what we normally hear. It actually came on at the funniest time too. Us wives were giving our husbands a hard time about the way they help out with the kids. Don't get me wrong, they all do a great job and are so helpful, but sometimes they don't do it exactly the way we would like them to, or in the timely manner that we would like them to. Just as we were finishing up our fun conversation, Elder Ballard gets up and starts talking about how wonderful mothers are and how husbands need to be more aware of the needs of their wives, and all that good stuff. It was perfect timing!

We forgot Asher's jammies the first night we were up there, so he got to wear some of his cousin Ally's... aren't they cute?! Purple is a good color on him!

Asher enjoying the swing set in the Olson's backyard. He could play for days at that house, and probably into all hours of the night, if we let him.

Andy, Duffy, Nate, MacKay, Bart

This picture is from the following week, fast Sunday. Duffy and Tessa came into town to visit friends and family, and Heidi was in town to see the new babe and to visit, so we all got together for a break the fast dinner, again, at Andy and Kacey's. I was up stairs feeding Sayer, and when I came down, this was what I saw, all the Olson brothers sitting together talking, I thought it was such a cool picture, and a rare occasion for them all to be together.

Thanksgiving week...

We got to spend the last 9 days in Spokane, WA with Nate's awesome family. It was so great to be with family for so long, just relaxing and eating far too much good food. Asher was a little unsure of all his cousins at first, so I didn't end up going to Seattle to visit University of WA with Nate as planned, but after a couple of days he warmed up, and by the end they were all great little buds.

We had a great Thanksgiving day. In the morning we started out watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, but actually ended up watching more of E True Hollywood story of Jessica Simpson and some of the Top Chef marathon. After that, most of the fam headed over to Mom and Dad Olson's to pick up the leaves and see their cute new (actually, very OLD, built in 1910 or something) house. The little boys had so much fun picking up and playing in the leaves, and running up and down the little hill in the front yard, despite how freezing cold it was. About an hour before the Turkey was supposed to be done, we checked on it and it was totally done. Whoops! So we had to scramble around trying to get everything else ready, as we thought we had plenty of time for all the prep. It all came together nicely and we had a delicious dinner of Turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, gravy, green salad, roasted cherry tomatoes, homemade rolls, followed by pie. My pumpkin pie turned out great, but for some reason my chocolate pie didn't set correctly. I was way bummed as it wasn't nearly as good, oh well. The rest of the evening was pretty quiet and relaxing, but it was a very nice day.

Asher and Parker









Of course, on Friday, we decided to brave the crowds, and hit Target and the Mall. Neither were bad at all. I scored on some awesome deals at Macy's...they have THE BEST sales!! It's pretty crazy how quickly everyone transitions into Christmas mode. Not that I'm complaining...I am way pumped for Christmas, and am almost done with my shopping!

On Saturday, Lizza, Duffy and I took the kiddos to this play place called Mobius. It is indoors and has the coolest things to do inside. There is a little gated play place for the little ones, and then all sorts of stuff for older kids. There was a stage with instruments and costumes to try on, a corner with little cars where they drive and learn all about traffic signals, and so many other things. So fun! I wish we had something like that in Provo, it would be such a hit, especially in the winter! Lizza said they paid $60 for a family pass (no mattter how big your family is) for a year...so worth it! They also change the little activities around, so it's not always the same stuff. Genius! Later that night, Nate's sister Lizza and her husband Zach blessed their 4th baby boy on Saturday night at home, which was so nice. Little Cooper is such a cutie, and looked like such a doll in his little satin blessing romper! It was actually really neat to do it at home with just family and the bishop, very intimate.

At Mobius...












Cooper's blessing...












Besides those things, we didn't do too much else besides just hang out, watch movies, play pictionary, and eat food. I would say it was a successful vacation. Asher was great the whole time, even on the flights he wasn't too bad, just very wiggly! This morning, our flight was at 5:30am, so we had to wake him up at 4:00am. He was busy busy the whole flight, and then right as we were landing, he fell asleep on Nate's lap. Awesome timing, right?!

Here are some other fun pictures from the week:
Cooper in his star thingy...doesn't he look so precious?!

This is the view from the house. We woke up to this one morning...gorgeous!

Doesn't Asher look so cute all bundled up in his new coat?!

What can we say? A kids gotta have his caffeine!;) (FYI, Asher doesn't know how to drink from a straw, so don't worry, he's not really drinking it!)

What a little goof-ball!

No, he is not yawning, he loves to make funny faces like this. What a silly kid! I love this picture, he looks like a hippo with his two front teeth, which by the way, he just barely got...it's about time!