Ava's 4th

Can you believe my little girl is now 4? I can't. My kids are growing up so quickly and I am often surprised by how fast time flies. Anyway, this year for her birthday, Ava wanted to play miniature golf and in the days (and weeks) before her birthday, she kept confirming those plans with me. Needless to say, she was a little excited. Finally, the big day arrived and in the morning we went shopping and my mom got her some new shoes (what can I say, she is a girl). We ate lunch at Subway (one of her favorite places) and then we went to play mini golf. It took a while for Ava to get the hang of the game but she had a fun time. Afterward, we had dinner at Applebee's (her choice) and then home for ice cream cake and presents. Happy birthday to our little nut!

Fun facts about Ava: favorite colors-pink, purple, and brown; favorite foods-oatmeal, cheese sticks, blueberries, hot dogs, fruit snacks; favorite place to eat-Subway; favorite activities-swimming, being read to. She loves Scooby-Doo, Dora, and Strawberry Shortcake. She loves animals-dogs, cats, and especially horses; she's definitely a mommy's girl and is never far from my side; she loves to help out around the house; she likes all the "girly" things-shoes, dresses, dolls but she also likes to play outside and get dirty (she informed me, "Mommy, I like the mud".). We had a bunch of frogs in our yard this summer and Ava had no problem picking them up, while her older brother refused to touch them. Ava is also one mean Uno player and usually wins when we play (and no, I don't let her win!).

Uncle Nolan's visit

My younger brother, Nolan, came out for a weekend visit in August. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of my triathlon and I couldn't do as much with him as I would have liked. However, the kids were super excited to have their uncle visit and kept him pretty occupied. Despite our lack of time, we were able to go out for a celebratory post-triathlon dinner and sneak in a short trip to Chicago. Hopefully, the next time he comes out, we will be able to hang out some more.

Triathlon!

The previous summer, I had a crazy idea to do a triathlon. I wanted to accomplish some sort of athletic feat but I didn't want to do a marathon (4 hours of running? no thanks). So I decided on a triathlon because it sounded just as impressive as a marathon but wouldn't take as long to do. The problem was that I didn't have a bike and hadn't actually swam (laps) in 20 years! I signed up for adult swim lessons late last fall, which helped me tremendously. I also discovered that I really enjoyed swimming. I didn't buy my bike until June, 2 months before my triathlon. I figured that the biking part would be easy...I didn't take into account that the tires on racing bikes are thinner than others making it harder to balance. I was a bit wobbly my first day out but thank goodness, it didn't take long to get used to the bike. The day of my triathlon arrived and I felt nervous but pretty prepared. I signed up to do a sprint triathlon, which is a 1/4 mile swim, 12.6 bike ride, and a 5k run and it was probably the most difficult thing, physically, I have ever done. During my run, I swore I would never do another triathlon. However, when I crossed the finish line and felt that huge sense of accomplishment, I thought that there may be more triathlons in my future.

Utah

When I was in college, I had the best group of friends. Seventeen years later, they are still some of the coolest people I know. We've all kept in touch over the years and have gone to each others weddings. This past July, my friend, Sarah, got married. It had been several years since we were all together (since the last wedding). It was a wonderful weekend trip, catching up and reminiscing with old friends.