Fall Wrap-Ups

 Well the kids' fall school sports are now pretty much over. Mountain biking actually finishes up this coming weekend at its State Competition, but my boys didn't qualify and so it's pretty much over for them. They may or may not go to practices this week - more likely may not as climbing is starting this week . . . Emmy finished up XC with a final fun-run race this past Saturday. It was a relay - the coaches paired up team members and each member runs 2, 1-mile laps. But you alternate - you run, then partner runs, then you run again, and finally partner. She had fun and enjoyed, while crying a lot, the XC experience. :)

So last weekend Ben took the boys up to Eagle for their second and final mountain bike race. The weather wasn't super great and Miles' race got cut a little short due to the rain, but it worked out okay and the boys had a good time. They left Friday so they could join in the pre-ride and team-dinner. Then they camped out at the fairgrounds. Then raced on Saturday. They stayed for the whole thing, got caught in a traffic-jam due to an accident, and made it home by 11ish that night. I had really wanted to go as a family, but the girls had their own things going on (b-day parties, etc.) and so I stayed behind with them.

Here are pictures in random order:

While the boys were off in Eagle, Emmy had invited some friends to go and play at the gym - the perks of working there! So from 8-10pm on Friday, Emmy and Lucy and a few of their friends had the gym to themselves. They tumbled, played Hunger Games, and of course made some Reels (a new favorite past-time). Fun, fun.

I guess I can't upload the reels, so whatever. Here's a sample of what they did all night. :)

Then this Saturday, as I have mentioned, Emmy finished up her XC season. She and her teammate, Brandon, took 4th place in the co-ed division. Yay!

Pre-race. It was cold - 32 degrees at this point. But beautiful!

Go Emmy! She was the 2nd and 4th lap runner. The start of a race stresses her out and so she didn't want to start. :)

And bringing in the finish - yay!

Brandon and Emmy and their medals.

Before the race, Lucy and I went to get donuts for the family. Yummy! Emmy then went to work at the gym - her coach asked if she'd help out for a few hours at a couple birthday parties. Emmy was super-excited and had a fun time.  Then we went back to the gym a couple hours later (after I had spent a couple hours of mowing with Jonas . . .) and cleaned. Oh what a day. Ben is actually on-call this weekend and has been called in 5 times! It's a record! Once on Friday evening, three times on Saturday, and once this morning (Sunday). We'll see if he gets any more . . . Crazy.

After cleaning, Lucy came and the girls tumbled a bit:

And, finally, Jonas and I are done with mowing - YAY!!!!!!!!!!! It's such a pain, haha. I think Jonas will just keep two lawns for next year and he'll be able to drive himself - hip, hip, hooray. The girls might take a few of his, so I am not done with it yet . . . 

My pretty *ugly* toes after mowing. :)

It's felt like winter all week here, but will warm up to the 60s this week and will feel more fall-ish. Love it.

Black CanyonTriathlon 2021

 Four out of the six of us decided to participate in the Black Canyon Triathlon. Lucy decided to form a team (which she managed on her own) as she's not really adept at swimming. She got one of Emmy's best-friends, Holly, to be the swimmer, she was to be the biker, and her new friend, Peyton, to be the runner. Emmy, myself, and Ben decided we would all do it on our own. Emmy is still in the 11-14 age-range and so her distances were less than the adult distances, so it would be a perfect time for her to try it on her own.

We only did a few official triathlon trainings. But Emmy did her swim-team thing over the summer, she's running a lot with XC, and she can bike just fine. Lucy did the bike route a few times. Ben did one bike-to-run training. I just mainly did my normal weekly exercise, which includes biking, swimming, and running. Just not all together.

Lucy:

Like I said, she figured out her team. Then I made them all shirts (per Lucy's demand/request). Team Yoda - with their shirts saying Swim I Must, Bike I Must, or Run I Must. They turned out pretty great. There were only two teams in Lucy's division - we know the other team members well and knew it would be a close race between the two! And it was! Lucy's team took first, winning by about 45 seconds. :) They were excited and had a lot of fun.

Lucy waiting at the transition zone.

And Lucy's off!

And Lucy's back!

And runner Peyton is off!

Team Yoda all done - awesome job!

Holly, Peyton, and Lucy at the awards taking home 1st place. Yay! :)

Here are their results for fun and future reference:

Emmy:

Emmy had to swim 200 meters (4 laps/8 lengths at our pool), bike 8.7 kilometers (about 5 1/2 miles) and run 2.5K (about 1.6 miles). She did amazing and took first place in her division (out of 7). However, the 2nd-place finisher was a full 14-minutes behind Emmy. So I am being honest yet not humble when I say she crushed her competitors. :) She was so happy and felt great.

Here are her results:

Emmy waiting in line to start!

Emmy all done with her swim and now to bike. (It was a bit cold - low 40s. But luckily the sun came out in time for her bike ride and she felt great.)

And she's back.  Emmy and I shared my road bike. It was totally an advantage for Emmy - she said she passed lots of people (kids). But I figured since she was doing the whole thing, she deserved to ride a speedier road bike. :)

And a strong running finish for Emmy! Yay!

Emmy - definitely a cute and strong athlete!

Emmy taking home the 1st place at awards. Yay!

Ben and I

So this was Ben's first sprint triathlon. He was a little worried about 1. Not taking first place (haha) and 2. The run. Ben has a bad knee and usually can't run much over a mile without it really hurting. But he did it and ran fast (the knee was hurting, but apparently not enough to really slow him down). And, of course, he came in first! (Well . . . technically Ben was 2nd in his age-division, but the overall winner was in Ben's group and so that winner got taken out of the age-division and thus Ben took first!) The only thing I beat Ben in was the first transition. :) Man, I was fast at that! Haha, I will take my wins where I get them.

The girls and their friends stayed a hung out while we did our race. They had finished by 9am, but Ben and I didn't even start until 9:30 and finished around 11:00. They just played on the grass, made Instagram reels, cheered for us whenever we made it to the transition area, etc. They were cute cheerleaders!

All of us all done!

We had a couple of hours between finishing and coming back for awards. The girls and their friends came home with us. Emmy took Holly out to eat at Hiro. Lucy took her friends to Crash Burger. I loved that they could all walk there from our house - so perfect. It was a fun day for everyone. We went back for awards and it was super-awesome that three of them all took home 1st! Me? I just barely missed placing - I got 4th. But I did beat my time from 2019 by 2 1/2 minutes. So that's a win for me! I did everything a little bit faster this time. My calves were KILLING me on the first 2/3 of the run. I think I pushed it hard (for me) on the bike ride and I have issues with my feet, etc. So when I started the uphill run, my legs (specifically calves) were hurting me so much. So, so, so much. But by the time I had 1/3 of the race to go, I felt much better. :) I felt good and strong and probably could have pushed it a little more if my calves didn't feel like they had exploded.

Anyways, a super fun time and we're excited to do it next year - even Emmy is already talking about doing it again, which would be doing the adult distances. We'll see!

(Check it out - 8th place out of everyone in my transition from swim to bike. Haha.) (Another funny thing - I beat the guy who took overall first in swimming. I suck at swimming - I mean I feel fine and such, but apparently I am so slow. I took 60th out of 73. I have no idea how to go any faster. I am literally at my max, haha. But I beat the overall winner! He's a slow swimmer [15 minutes], but so fast on his bike [like 38 minutes] and a super-duper fast runner [17 minutes]. Anyways, funny.)

(Oh I didn't realize until just now that I rocked the second transition as well. Haha. 3rd place! Man, if awards were given for transitions, I might have a chance . . . :) )

See-Ya September

 Time flies by when you're having fun . . . although I don't know how much fun we're having. :) But it is busy for sure. 

Well Jonas has been having some fun, I guess. He went to homecoming with his "girlfriend" Madison. They went as a large group - including 12 girls and 4 boys. A lot of kids these days don't go with an official date, they just go with their friends. I guess it's good and bad. They all ate at the England's home (a super fun family and in our ward) and then went to the dance from 7-11ish. Jonas said the dance basically involved jumping up and down for hours. Haha.

Miles sent this picture to me as we were reading the scriptures on Sunday. We had read about being "slothful" and so I guess this was an appropriate picture to send. :)

We've had some crazy rain here the past few days. We even had like a 5-minute downpour which was impressive for these parts. This was a complete double-rainbow and was oh-so-beautiful.

This picture was on my lock screen at work. It was gorgeous. After some investigative work, I discovered it's in Norway - Lofoten Islands. I hope to go there some day!

The boys and Emmy continue their sports. I think they all finish up about mid-month in October. Here are their pics:

And our calendar:

We're excited for this weekend - conference and the triathlon. However, my hopes of placing (usually there are like 3 people in my age-division and so it wasn't too hard to place, ha) are now dashed. There are 9 of us - including a stunt-double for movies like Avengers, a Crossfit trainer, and a gal who beat me two years ago. My hope is now to not finish last. :)