Birthday and Easter

Happy 29th Birthday to me!! Yay! It has come and gone and now I am 29 years old. Nothing else has changed. Trisha made me an awesome birthday cake and invited some of our friends over to celebrate with us. The cake was a delicious double-chocolate-coke cake!

Then we headed out to Salt Lake for the Easter weekend. We had an easter egg hunt, we dyed easter eggs, we hung out a lot with family, we went to dinner at Zupas and watched "Wild Hogs" with some of my siblings. The Easter bunny visited Sam with some new toys and gave Trish and I lots of candy. It was a really fun weekend.

Sam in his Easter outfit playing with the pony that I named "Nasty, The Pony"

So just before Christmas, our Stake Presidency issued a challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon between Christmas and New Years. Both Trisha and I really wanted to do it so we set goals to do it. After about a month it became apparent that there was no way I was gonna finish it if I didn't find a way to fit my readings in every day and read even more from then on. So, I came up with a plan to find the CD's that I had made a while back of the BoM audio tracks. It took me a few days but I found them and I made more to complete the set and I determined that I would listen to the audio tracks on my way to work each morning to catch up and stay current with the challenge. It's not my favorite thing to do. In fact, I hate listening to people speak at me while I am in the car or otherwise (and it really annoys me that the man narrating says "Seth the Lord" instead of "Saith the Lord"). Nonetheless I really wanted to complete the challenge and make the scriptures a part of my day, everyday. So I continued to listen and when I fell behind I would listen on my way home from work too. Many times I would not realize the CD had restarted and I would listen to the same CD over again until I finally realized I had already heard that before. Anyway I got to the Book of Ether and I realized that the schedule that someone had given me had miscalculated the date of Easter. I started to listen to my music again on the way to work and the way home, cause I had plenty of time to finish it. Well, as we were driving back home from Salt Lake on the night of Easter sunday, it suddenly dawned on me that I had not finished the challenge. I instantly tuned back to the CD and hoped that it was on Moroni 9, but remember only getting to Mormon. To my surprise this CD got me to Ether 11. However, I had never made the last CD to get me to the end of the book. I was pretty mad at myself for not making the last CD and for not just finishing the challenge 4 weeks earlier when I was on a roll. But it was too late to do anything about it. So, I have finished the Book of Mormon three days late. Does that mean I am 3 dollars short? I hope not. I think I still reaped the blessings of listening to and reading it. I think it still had an impact on my life and the days that I read it. I know that it is true and I am very grateful for the opportunity to re-read it from cover to cover and to finish it around Easter time to remind me of the infinite blessing that I have because of my Savior, Jesus Christ.  

SLC Marathon 2011

This was my second year running the Salt Lake Marathon. It so happened that it fell on April 16th, which is Trisha's birthday. We went out to SLC for the weekend to celebrate lots of great things. Friday was spent getting ready for the race and then we met up with our friends for a carb load at The Olive Garden. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my entire life. After dinner, we stopped by the party store and we purchased a tiara, "Birthday Princess" sash and a huge mylar balloon for Trisha to wear while she was running. It was hilarious just to think of her running with all of that and a balloon tied to her. It was off to bed early, but I can't say that I slept well because I was so nervous for the race in the morning. Morning came way too fast and at 4:30 AM it was time to get ready. We arrived to park my car at the gateway at like 5:30 and we had to take TRAX up to the starting line. That is when the morning got really interesting. We walked to the TRAX stop right in front of The Gateway and stood there for like 15 minutes waiting for a train to come. A train never came and we heard that the trains don't usually come to this stop for the race. So we hurried and walked to the next station outside of Energy Solutions arena. There was a train there so we jumped on it and were set to go. That is until a TRAX worker got on the train, told us that this train was not going to the start line but actually going the other direction, got off the train and shut all the doors. We hurried and ran to the doors and tried to open them but they were alreay locked and the train took us back to the station that we had just been at. We got off the train and waited for another train to come. They were supposed to come every 15 minutes but that was a lie. About 20 minutes later a train came and we were finally on our way to the starting line. That is until too many people crammed their way on to the train and blocked all of the doors from closing properly. We waited at several stops for well over 5 minutes each. It was so frustrating! We arrived at the starting line with about 10 minutes to spare. I hurried over to the gear bag drop off and then in line to use one of the 5000 outhouses that they had lined up there. We knew at that point that there was no way that we were going to make it to the starting line for the actual start (luckily your time doesn't start until you cross the starting line). The gun went off and we were still waiting for the bathroom. The advantage to this was that we started about ten minutes after the huge crowd of people trying to fit in the road. I looked in front of me as we went down the hill at the begining and I could see the entire crowd bottle-necked in front of me and I was somewhat happy that I was behind them.

The run. The race was really good. I started out pretty stong and maintained a good speed for the first half of the race. I think I pushed myself really hard at the begining because I know that I can and I know that if I run the first half at a faster pace then I can slow down on the second half and still get a good time. The only problem that I ran into was that I was overhydrated from the very begining of the race. I really didn't want to stop at the aid station to use the bathroom because each one had a long line and I didn't want to lose time. So, I may have stopped by a tree in SugarHouse Park and emptied my bladder. I hoped that would be enough, but about mile thirteen I had to stop again. This time I used a port-a-potty and I was able to continue the rest of the race without other incident. About mile 16, it started to rain pretty hard. It felt good to get a little water/cooldown but I was worried about the outcome of running ten more miles in rain. Luckily it ended about 5 minutes after it started and the running continued. In the next few miles I realized that I had slowed down enough to not reach my time goals that I was shooting for so I decided that it was really important that I at least stuck to my goal of not walking at all during the race. I kept on going. It got really tough around mile 19 and 20 and I was so glad that I had asked my brother, Shayne, to meet me just before Liberty Park (mile 22) and run to the end with me. I just had to keep pushing myself to run until mile 22. I knew that once I met up with Shayne that I would have more will power to keep running. It worked. He was really supportive and encouraged me not to walk at all. I did have to stretch my legs one time for a few seconds and I walked at some aid stations to drink water/PowerAde. The hardest part was coming up on the end, about mile 25, when I had to hike up a hill on State Street between 200 South and South Temple. But after that it was good (slow) running to the end. When we got to The Gateway, my dad and my nephews were there cheering for me. The boys joined me and we all ran around the bend toward the finish line. My mom was on the side of the road just beyond that and the rest of my family was cheering me on further down from that. It was an amazing rush of energy to see my family, the crowd and the finish line. As I turned the last bend, Shayne said to me, "Run balls out Mike," so I sprinted to the finish line! Just when I thought that I was gonna fall on to the road and die, I sprinted to the end. I was pretty tired after but it turned out to be a really good run for me and I am really proud of another successful marathon finish. My final time: 4 hours 26 minutes and 23 seconds. Which is not my fastest marathon and not my slowest either, so I feel good about it. However, I am most proud that I made it through the whole race without walking. That is officially the longest distance that I have ever run non-stop, and that makes me proudest of all. 26.2 miles of pure brain and leg power!! It took a lot to push my mind to this accomplishment but I am hoping that I have now passed a mind block that will no longer be there when I run marathons and I'm hoping it will help me increase my time.

I am also really proud of Trisha for finishing the half marathon! She has been training so hard for this. It was really great that we got to train together and run our races together. I think it was a very memorable birthday for her Trish too, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

This picture is of our team sponsored by BRADY TRUCKING (minus Chip who had already left). It was great to have a corporate sponsor. You can also see the tiara that Trisha wore during the race. She loved it.

Usually after a marathon I want to take a break from running and relax my legs a bit. However, this time I don't want to lose the momentum and I wanna keep running. So, today I went on my first run post-marathon and all is well. It felt really good. I am trying to plan my summer and some runs that I can do to keep things up. I am thinking that I want to do 2 half marathons and another full marathon before the running season ends. There are some good races coming up and I am really excited to keep training for them.

On a side note: Sam has learned how to crawl, climb on things, and stand up holding on to things. He is getting so big. He only likes to feed himself these days so we got him a highchair and he sits in there for hours just slowing trying to get food from the tray to his fist and into his mouth. This morning we put him in his exersaucer and both left the room. When we heard a little cry Trisha went back into the room and he was crawling on the floor. What a crazy little kid.

Sunday Drive

Sometimes we just have to get out of the house, so we went for a drive to investigate our surroundings. For the nearly year and a half that we have lived in our home, we have looked out our windows to see this:

Split Mountain.

We have wanted to visit it for a while and tried one time but we took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere else. So today we made sure we knew how to get there and we set out on our way. It was beautiful!! We were surprised to find that we ended up in Dinosaur National Monument, which is where the base of Split Mountain is located. We stopped all along the road at every scenic turnoff and took in the scenery. We found hiking trails, camp grounds and some old native american artifacts.

We also discovered that the new/remodeled visitors center at Dinosaur should be done later this year. So, we are really excited to make it back to some of these areas for some more adventures. Todays sunday drive was a total success.

Random Happenings of February

I guess that I am becoming a once a month blogger. These are the happenings of February.

Trisha and I are both in full-on running mode. We are running four or more days a week. Whenever we can manage to both fit it in. It has been a bit hard logistically but we are making it work. When I first started it was wicked cold outside and my awesome face mask would freeze solid. Now, it is finally starting to get into the thirties and that feels amazing. Salt Lake City Marathon April 16, 2011

We ate this creepy lookin crab (It didn't taste like the crab we had at Joe's Crab Shack last month)

Trisha beat the crab to death but then couldn't handle the rest of the cleaning, so she called me into the kitchen.

Sam loves to chew on the apply atop his exersaucer

I made a massive batch of sugar cookies and the most delicious frosting to go with it and then Trisha decorated them all. We also celebrated Valentine's Day with an amazing and romantic dinner at home. Trisha went all out and it was delicious. Four course meal and an amazing dessert. Thanks babe! I love you!

A visit to Richmond for me and my brothers to sing a musical number at my brothers ward. Plus, time to hang out with the family.

This picture is Logan and Clara riding in her car.

Sams new favorite trick is to poop in the bathtub as soon as his little bum hits the warm water. This time was a few weeks ago while I was bathing him and he just laughed at me while I tried to wash down all of the poop. I thought it was just a one time thing but the last three nights in a row he has done it again. Little turd!

 His other new trick is to sit up on his own and he is getting so good at it. He usually only falls over with sudden movements and excitement.

Sam trying to hold his own bottle. Not quite there, but at least he's trying

This is how he always eats. As if he is going to starve if this bite doesn't go into his mouth right this second.

I also started working a 3-day week at work and so far we are all loving it. I feel like it has been a great blessing to spend more time with Trisha and Sam and hopefully it will allow us to do lots of fun things together as a family (since I have worked almost all weekends for the past year and a half). I'm really excited!

DENVER

Denver, CO

We had the chance to go to Denver last weekend for a friends wedding. We had the added bonus of seeing a lot of our friends from Boston and it was so much fun! We were at the temple when the married couple came out, we went to Cafe Rio with everyone and then gathered again at the reception that night.

Mike and Kristy Reintjes, Happily married!

Katie holding Sam oustide the temple



The Boston crew chillin at the reception

Jared

Esther

Mike and Kristy

Jacosa and Melba

We got to meet up with them a second time and go to lunch at Cracker Barrel. We haven't seen them forever so it was great to catch up and hang out with them again.

Laura (and expected baby). Jason was off doing something awesome so we had to take the picture without him.

The whole bunch of us at the reception (except Jared, who had already left)

Mike, Sam, Trisha, Jacosa, Melba, Diana, Blaire, Kristy, ___, Leah, Lisa, Esther, Katie, Janae, Jenny, Laura and Jason

Katie and Esther dancing. Reminds one of all the dance parties that were had on Nottinghill

This is a video clip of the dancing- Plain awesome!

Colorado Springs, CO

The next day we went to Colorado Springs to meet up with our friends, Brandon and Arianne. They were kind enough to escort us to a beautiful park called the Garden of the Gods. We got there just at dusk and it made for some very pretty scenery. We walked around in the 50 degree weather and enjoyed the view. Then we went to their house for dinner, talking and some wicked fun games (Moods and Five Crowns). Thank you Brandon and Arianne, we had so much fun!!

Sam bundled up in his winter suit

Meditation

Brandon and Arianne

Boulder, CO

We wanted to go to the Celestial Seasonings (they manufacture teas) Factory but they told us that children cannot go inside because it will damage their ear drums. Makes you wonder what they do in there... Anyway, instead we just made the drive to Boulder and went to a little sandwhich joint, The Dish,  on Pearl St.

Pearl St.

Denver, CO

Our final activities in Denver included the Downtown Aquarium and a walk up the 16th St. Mall. The aquarium was amazing and I took so many pictures, but I'll spare you all the misery. We saw so many different kinds of sea creatures. Mean sharks, fatbellied seahorses, eels, stingrays, etc...

Sam by the trout case. Maybe when he grows up he will enjoy catching these

The scary-lookin underside of a stingray

Me petting some stingrays

Trisha and Sam outside of the Aquarium

One of our favorite things at the aquarium was this Flash Flood display, it was so cool.

On our way from the Aquarium to the 16th St. mall, this fish jumped right out of the cobblestone and tried to eat me whole

16th St. Mall

Artsy modeling

Me and Trisha "One Mile Above Sea Level" at the Colorado State Capitol Building

A look at the city from the Aquarium

We loved Denver and all of its surrounding areas and maybe we'll go back