August is flying by

We finally stopped going a hundred places and I was so happy to think we had a nice quite August left to enjoy.  It has gone by so fast.  True... partly because I haven't felt well.  I haven't felt like myself that is.  I am happy to be pregnant, very happy.  But having a sick tummy and feeling exhausted every day by 11 is a little different than how I have felt for the past 4 years.  I am adjusting.

We have tried to get in as much swimming as possible.  Tyler is doing very very well.    

Ella has learned to swim on her own.  She just hasn't mastered the breathing to the side.  

Next summer she will fantastic. 

Ella is quite the dresser.  I told her she could wear anything she wanted (but the outfit she had on) to the grocery store.  She said ... REALLY!! she was so excited.  And came running down the stairs with this lovely outfit on.  Toy high heals, and a princess dress... which she proudly wore around Maceys feeling so beautiful.  She wore boots and swimsuit the other day.  What fashion sense!  wow!

My sister Candace bought a beautiful house in Riverton.  We went out for her birthday to help her with some yard work and eat some cake.  I love that she has her own lovely home now to make her own!

Food... I love food.  But not so much the last 4 weeks.  It seems to make my tummy feel not so great sometimes.  So if something sounds good we make it.  Crepes for lunch were fantastic!

We are also dog sitting Nimh for some friends.  I don't think she will even remember them when they get home.  She loves me and wants to be by me.  Two weeks is perfect.  I can love a cute puppy and then hand her back.  She digs, digs, and digs.  But is is kind of sweet how much she loves me.  

We did make it the about 2 minutes of the Sandy Hot Air Balloon festival this year.  

Savage held its annual Lagoon Day.  The kids look forward to it all year.  

The kids were waiting in line for the bumper cars.  like this... 

I love my kids!

We also went climbing yesterday.  Tyler went first and did great. Even the rappel down.  But as soon as Ella got on the wall she said, how far did Tyler go?  I showed her and she flew up that wall past where Tyler had climbed then said, I want to come down now.  

I was so proud of them, and a little competition is ok, right!

Tyler got a package in the mail yesterday.  

His Lego Technic Backhoe set. He still has 5 dollars more to earn and has been working like crazy.  This morning, 7:15, he is out vacuuming the car as I sit here and type this.  He wants that set NOW!

Lives are changing

It took a long time for us to believe this.  In fact, I waited 6 days longer than I needed to take the test because after two and a half years of trying, how could we magically be pregnant.  (True we did have some help from doctors.)  Hysterosalpingogram (HSG)

Now if I could get up the courage to make a prenatal appt (and find a doctor/midwife that I want to go to)... we could find out that it is one baby... and ONLY one baby!  My kids and husband think it is fun to tell me it is twins.  It cant be. But I guess it could be.... but it CAN'T!

Guernville and Tahoe

We enjoyed a nice walk through some beautiful Redwood trees as we were leaving the area. 

This is the oldest tree in the grove. 1400 years old.  its only 350+ feet tall, which wasn't quite the tallest.   Ella is trying to look up to the top of the tree. 

Then we headed over to Lake Tahoe. I wish we could have stayed in these places for a week each. But all we got was a short visit.  

Darren found a great mnt biking trail for us to try.  Ella has some strong little legs. She biked almost 7 miles. Tyler did almost 9.  Then we found FOOD!  I love food! 

Darren rented a paddleboard. The kids loved it. 

It was a little chilly so Ella wanted to lay on the rocks that were warm but also wanted to be one her soft towel. so rocks plus towel = warmth and cozy - I guess

This had to be the best trip we have ever been on.  It was so relaxed. We didn't have arguments or contention.  It was a fantastic trip!

Darren's Ironman

I wanted to write the most important details of this epic race. 

VINEMAN Ironman Race

There could be so much said but these are the things I want to remember most. 

We were super lucky to find a different hotel room that was right through these trees two days before the race started.  Our original hotel was much much much farther away. 

Guernville, California

BEAUTIFUL

Dan LaRiviere, Darren, Kyle Issac

Pre race

Let the race begin. 2.4 miles of swimming in a dammed section of the Russian River

I need to add somewhere in here how proud I am of Darren.  He didn't just train and train and keep training.  He studied out every detail of how to do an ironman well.  He did very well. 

Dan is the much better swimmer and got a great head start on the bike. 

Darren was amazing.  He was out of the water in under an hour and a half. 

The times on the clock should all be back three minutes since Darren's group started one wave after the first starters....just FYI

Darren is in the middle with a green cap. 

Dalls... off and racing. A long 112 mile hilly course to go. Kyle was right behind him

We saw Darren out on the course... he was so focused he didn't even see us. 

We had lots of us cheering on our husbands/brother. 

This is wine country in California so imagine rolling hills with beautiful countryside

... none the less... rolling hills!

They started to all come in. Ranging from about 6 hours on the bike to 6.5 hours on the bike

I can not comprehend what it must have felt like to think.... And now I am going to go run a marathon. 

AWESOME!

And then the marathon.  Darren had torn a tendon in his knee 2 months before the race.  He had to cut back all his running and lots of biking to allow healing. Then do physical therapy, and doctor visits. oh my! But he was amazing on the run. He hadn't run more than 15 miles once since he had hurt his knee and he did a 4 1/2 hour marathon.  Great time. 

His goal was to finish in under 12 hours. After his knee injury it was to just finish without re-injurying himself. He finished in 12 hours and 35 minutes.  That is a great time.  He is ready to do it again and beat that time!

And at the end... they all made it. 

Great job boys!

Sausalito- Day 2 of an amazing trip

We didn't want to have another rough day so we found a beach on the map outside of San Fran and headed there.  What a gem.  

This is in Marin right next to Sausalito.  

Ella found a HUGE jelly fish washed up on shore. 

We had rocks to climb.  This one made me smile to see my whole family climbing rocks. 

There were tide pools everywhere.  I remembered a few names of things from my Aunt Ronda who took us to tide pools in Oregon. 

This was a much better way for us to spend the day together. 

We even hiked up over the ridge in the background. 

Then we jumped on our bikes and biked about 6 miles round trip ... to Golden Gate Bridge then across, back and then back to our car.  I was so proud of my kids. 

Again... we fell asleep right away when we got to the hotel!

San Francisco- Part one of a great trip

Silly me... I had this great two day itinerary of things to show my kids around San Fran.  We made it a half day and were done.  We were tried and worn out, there were tons of people everywhere and walking and waiting. But we did do some fun things....

We took a trolley to Lombard Street.

then we walked up Lombard Street- 

We got to see a great view of Alcatraz.  The tickets were sold out which in retrospect... 

was probably a very good thing!

Ella wanted to be the tour guide and used her amazing map skills to show us things on her map. 

Fishermans Wharf was lots less smelly then I remember it as a kid.  

We ate at an overpriced restaurant which had great fish tacos for Darren. I had a salad because that was about the only thing on the menu I wanted sitting in front of me. 

We got to see the sea lions basking in the sun. The high was like 60 degrees. 

We headed back to our hotel on the underground BART.  And promptly feel asleep.