An Ironman (at least half thereof)

Saturday Dad (Scott) completed a Half Ironman race. It was a grueling 5 hours and 40 minutes of nonstop physical exertion, covering 70.3 miles in southern Utah county. It included 1.2 miles of swimming, which Scott recorded the 3rd fastest time out of the 400 participants, then a 56 mile bike ride and ending with a half marathon, 13.1 mile run. It was fun and enjoyable for the first 3 hours, Scott then had a few issues that made the last 2 and a half hours a bit more painful, but he survived and finished in the top 20%. It was a goal he had wanted to complete for many years and is glad to check it off and hopes his legs will someday forgive him.

Summertime Fun

Well we have been having lots of fun times this summer, including the past few weeks. Here are some of the highlights:

Gardening. Amazingly enough our garden is flourishing with Zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, water mellow, cantaloupe and peppers.


Finding fun critters in the yard like this (dead) tarantula.

A bigger trampoline. All the kids have learned how to do flips on it in just a matter of days.

Seadooing at Pineview. It was quite a challenge with only one adult, but we figured it out and had a blast on and in the water as well as playing in the sand. See Cam's Aztec fortress below.

 

Hikes behind our home.

 

 

Fathers and Sons Outling

It has been around 20 years since I was able to go on a Father and Sons camp out with my own father. Well this weekend he happened to be in Utah when our Ward held our annual trip. It was great fun to be there with Dad and my boys. The boys got filthy sliding down a shell hill side like they were skiing. They did clean up a bit before we left, taking a Polar Bear Plunge into the nearby creek that was well colder than 50 degrees.

Kylers Birthday Party

Kyler and a few of his friends had a blast yesterday afternoon celebrating his 6th birthday with water activities. Water slide, squirt gun wars, water balloon toss, etc.

 

 

 

 

Dallyn's Baptism

Dallyn was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints yesterday, and we are so very proud of him for following both his Savior's example and his Mother's wishes to do so. It was a memorable and spiritual day. Filled with a sweet spirit, undoubtedly coming from Heidi as she watched over the proceedings and smiled down at her sweet boy, and filled with lots of family come to show their love and support of Dallyn.

 

Triathlons

Partially out of insanity, and partially to try and maintain some level of sanity, I elected to participate in 4 triathlons this summer. Both the training and the racing pushes my physical and mental stability to its limits, but also gives me a break from some of the stresses and realities of life. The first one I did was the Spudman in Idaho, along with over a dozen friends from our Ward. It was a lot of fun, very draining, but I did not perform at the level I had expected to. (By the way, I not only raced through the course, but then had to race back to Logan to hopefully make it in time for my Mom's wedding, which I did with a few minutes to spare.) The second one I did yesterday morning here in Bountiful, and performed much better. Out of the 200ish participants I came in 9th and felt really good doing so. It was also fun to have my kids and two sets of parents there cheering me on. Two down, two to go, with the hardest on Aug 25th, a Half Ironman.

 

My new triathlon shirt

If you looked closely at the shirt I was wearing the past two triathlons, you'd notice it has a big Orabrush across the back. I convinced my boss that it would be a good investment for him to purchase a group of running shirts for all friends and I to wear at the Spudman, great publicity for the Company and all. Well that was not my motivation. I also got him to add a nice little memorial to the sleeve.