Spudman Triathlon

It is official, Russell and I are triathletes!  In January we decided we would try our hand at a triathlon so with the much coaxing from some friends, we both took the plunge and signed up for the Spudman Triathlon in Burley, ID.  This was a big step for us because while we have done running and biking races, we have never done a swimming event.  Russell was not worried about this because he is fine in the water but I was terrified.  I am not a swimmer.  In January I could barely swim one length of the pool without looking and feeling like I was drowning.  I knew this would be a struggle for me but I decided it was time for me to overcome my fear of water.  It literally took three to four months of dedicated swimming practice, some coaching from a friend, and lots of YouTube tutorials to finally get the strokes down and actually learn to breath in the water before I felt like I was getting the hang of it.  Then it was just working up the endurance for the distance.  Oh and then relearning all of it when we started practicing in open water rather than the pool.  Open water was a totally new experience and made me have to face new fears of not being able to see or touch the bottom or sides...

Well the day finally came.  It was time to see if all of our hard work and training had really paid off.  

Here we are all tattooed up and ready to go.  We reserved a campsite at an RV park near Burley and spent the weekend.  Unfortunately our trailer was still in the shop being fixed from the water damage.  Thankfully though Tyler let us borrow his trailer so we were not stuck with a tent.  I don't think I even slept the night before the race because of nerves.  I kept running all sorts of scenarios through my head about what the race would be like but in the end none of them really happened.  

That morning we woke up really early to get to the race.  My start time was 7:10 am and Russell's was 7:30.  We met up with our friends and had to get a group photo before it all started:

Okay so it is mostly Russell's friends and they let me tag along.  Our group included Tyson Booth, Tim Rohmann, Jimmy Neville, Justin Slack and us. Tyson and Jimmy were the ringleaders that challenged the rest of the guys to sign up.  Originally I was just going to let the guys have it but then Justin made some pop comment about it being a Spud'MAN' not a Spud'WOMAN.' That just made me mad so then I had to sign up.  My whole goal in training for this thing was to beat Justin! (or at least make a good effort at it.)

The morning wasn't necessarily cold but I was shaking with nerves.  I didn't know what to expect and the huge Snake River full of giant sturgeon lay before me just mocking me.  I knew that if I could get through the 1 mile swim (downriver thankfully) I could get through the rest to the race with no problem.  

At the sound of the gun, we jumped in the water and started swimming, or doggy paddling, or back floating, or anything we could do to get down river to the end.  The swim for me was a learning experience, let's just put it that way.  I wasn't panicking or anything but the whole time I was just like, "please don't drown, please don't drown." So I would back float or doggy paddle most of the way.  Don't worry I was not the only one doing this actually the majority were except for the elites.  Anyway then I would get bored and start doing the real strokes.  I went so much faster when I would do that but then I couldn't see where I was going so I'd go back to doggy paddle.  Then I'd get me bearings and go back to strokes.  Finally I made it to the finish of the swim and was so relieved!! I was alive!  Except for tripping on a big rock getting out of the water, I was safe!  Now on to the things I like to do, biking and running.  

The bike portion was awesome!  I was cruising on my bike and the scenery of the farm fields was pretty awesome too.  Yes I got passed by a bunch of elites but I also passed a bunch of people too.  I could have kept riding all day on that course.  Next it was time for the run, my sport.  This was not my best run but it was okay considering I had just swam 1 mile and biked 25 miles.  I was going along great passing people along the way when at mile 3 I had to go to the bathroom... I hate that feeling.  So of course there were no bathrooms and the one port-a-potty had someone in it.  I decided to wait and use the one port-a-potty.  When I got in there, my tri-suit was a pain to get off because it was still kind of wet and then I didn't even need to go!  I was so mad I had wasted so much time! I got back on the road and tried to make up some time but by then my legs were done. Stupid bathroom break... The best part of the race was the last quarter mile which was all downhill.  I was basically sprinting to the end and it was so cool! I crossed the finish line with my hands in the air cheering.  It was the best feeling to be done.   Now to cheer on Russell.

So there I was getting ready to do my first triathlon. I was watching all of the swimmers get into the water and I was getting excited. They called our heat and now there was no turning back. Tyson and I got into the water and the gun went off. I started to swim and think positive thoughts. As I was swimming, I looked up and noticed the shore moving really fast. I was like yes this current thing is great I am going to be done in no time. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming was going on in my head as I dodge people in the water. The end was close and I swam fast to catch up with Tyson. We came out of the water at the same time. As you can tell, my gut is big and I had to scratch my back. 

My transition to the bike was okay, I couldn't get my watch to change over and it took up a couple of minutes. The bike was my bread and butter. I cruised so fast. My average speed was around 22mph. It was a cool course to ride. I found myself close to the finish line and I told myself to take it easy you still have 6 miles to run. I look back now and I should have sprinted and taken off a few minutes. Oh well. My body was feeling good and ready for the run. I took off and did the first two miles, and then my body hit a wall. I was trying to keep positive and I ended up getting into a groove of run .50 miles and then walk about a .25. I tried this electrolyte gum Tiff got me. I put it in my mouth and I chewed it a couple of times and spit it out. It was so nasty. I still finished just over an hour, not too bad. I got to the finish line and all my legs wanted to do was keep moving. Tiff found me and she came up and I told her I can't stopped moving. We walked up to the Intermountain tent for chocolate milk, I was excited for that. I took one swig and I was going to get sick. I never thought my mouth could play tricks on me from being that out of wack. A banana even tasted bad. I stuck to electrolyte drink and other treats until my bad slowed down. It was a fun race and well worth the training. Tyson and I were sitting down for a minute and then decided to jump back in he river to cool off. It was a great idea. The whole weekend was a great time.  I would do this again. 

We had done it!  We are officially triathletes and have the medals to prove it! It was so nice to work so hard for this accomplishment.

We were both so happy to be finished and both ready to sit down in the shade and eat all of the post race snacks.  The food wasn't really anything special just some fruit and chocolate milk but it tasted so good after that race.  At least it did for me.  Russell thought everything was gross. Ha! 

We are Spudmen! (OR SpudWomen!)  The Spudman was also on our 17th wedding anniversary.  What a great way to celebrate our  life together.

And our results are in:

Russell finished in 2:58 and I finished in 3:01.  I may or may not be a little upset that he beat me by 3 minute.... (Stupid bathroom break...)  Anyway... good job to both of us for doing something we have never done before.  Our goal was to do the race in 3 hours so we both accomplished that goal.  So did I get my goal of beating Justin?  Well yes and no.  Overall he did beat me by about 5 minutes.  But I totally beat him in the run (even with my unnecessary bathroom break) and our bike times were about the same.  He did much better than me in the swim and transition though.  So yeah I was okay with the results. 

If you would have asked me if I would do another triathlon that day, I would have said a big no.  But now that I have thought about it and kind of analysed my race, I think I would like to try this sport again now that I know what I know.  I really think I can improve on the swim portion and I can definitely improve in the transition areas.  Overall it was a great learning experience, and a check off of the old bucket list!

After the race, we cleaned up a bit and headed out to see the sites good ole Burley, ID.  Well there is not a lot to see but we heard great things about the Shoshone Falls so that is where we went.

The Falls were really cool from the lookout above.  The Shoshone Falls are known as the Niagara Falls of the West.  While they were not running at the full capacity this late in the season, there was still quiet a bit of water rolling over the Falls. We were hoping to actually kayak to the falls and see them up close though, so, after talking to some locals, we found out we had to drive to another park and then kayak up stream to the Falls.  All right we thought this would be fun.  Well, like everything in Idaho, this was another disappointing tourist trap.

We drove to Centennial Park where we could put the kayaks in the Snake River and started paddling up stream toward the Shoshone Falls.  We didn't think it was very far down the river so we didn't take any water or anything with us.  Well we were wrong...  As we kayaked down, we went under this cool bridge near Twin Falls.  By this time we had gone about a mile down the river.  We knew it had to be just around the next bend.  Then we called to some other kayakers to see how much farther we had and they said "Oh not much more you are probably half way." So we kept going and going. Finally we asked some other kayakers and they said "Well to Shoshone Falls you probably have about two miles but to the small falls just around the bend."  What? What small falls? and the other guy said we were almost there?  We kept going.

Well we got to the small falls (above) and that was literally the end of the river!  There was no way to get through on a kayak unless we went up the water fall or got out of the river and packed the kayaks around on land for a quarter mile.  We were so sad...  Shoshone Falls was another 2 miles up the river on the other side of this land barrier.  There was no way we were going to get there.  Maybe if we had known, we would have packed a lunch and some water and made a day of it but we were not prepared.  

Oh well one dream dashed for the day... We do want to come back though and make a day trip out of it and make it to the Shoshone Falls because that would be fun to be up close to the falls.  So sadly we turned the kayaks around and paddled back up the river to the truck.  Going back was harder because the wind was against us and we were paddling upstream.  Whew another workout for the day... Finally we made it back to the dock and loaded the kayaks.  We had kayaked close to 5 miles!  It was time for dinner and bed.  

This was a great trip and a great accomplishment for Russell and me.  We had a great anniversary!

The Big 4-0

Russell celebrated his 40th birthday!  He is so old!  Ha Ha! For his birthday we wanted to do something fun and memorable.  So we got him this shirt.  It says "Original Parts, Aged to Perfection, Awesome Since 1983."  

 

The kids also wanted to get him a "Birthday Boy" pin and Russell wore it proudly all day.  We also got him a new Dutch Oven, and of course, peanut butter M&Ms.

For his birthday, Russell just wanted to hang out and go four wheeling so we took the four wheelers up to Left Hand Fork.  We also took a picnic and had a good time in the outdoors.

There were a ton of flies at the place we set up the base camp because it seemed like we were parked right on a manure pile.  It was fine though as long as the breeze was blowing them away.  We also were on the four wheelers most of the time so it didn't matter.

It had been a while since we have taken the four wheelers out so it was nice to get out and discover some trails and see the scenery.  The nice thing is Emily and Colby are learning to drive the four wheelers.  The dirt roads up Left Hand Fork are perfect for learning to drive because they are not very technical.

We rode around for most of the day before the flies really started to bother us.  Then we went home and had cake and ice cream.

I wanted to make a funny cake for Russell's 40th birthday but couldn't decide what to do.  I thought about a toilet shaped cake and have it say "Crap, You're Old." or even a graveyard cake with a hole dug out for a coffin.  Then I found the idea for this cake and thought it was perfect: 

It was a fire department on stand by for the lighting of the many candles.  It says, "We're Ready. Light 'Em Up!"  As you can see after lighting 40 candles, the cake really did look like it was on fire!  We were worried the fire alarms were going to go off. Just kidding.  It was pretty funny.  Russell took a deep breath and tried to blow them all out at once but there was one trick candle.  This candle was cool because when it burned down, it set off a confetti firework! 

Well Happy 40th Birthday Russell!  We love you and are so glad we have you in our lives!  I hope this year brings you lots of good things.

July

July is probably my favorite month.  It is busy with fun things but laid back and easy at the same time.  I think it is because we are doing the things we love as a family.  The fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday and this year was fun as usual.  We started the month of with Hyrum City's Patriotic Program. Emily, Logan, and Charlotte participated in this program as part of the children's choir.  

They did really well singing all of their songs.  Now Charlotte can't wait to join choir at the school.  Too bad she has to wait until second grade.  Emily was the soloist for the concert which was really cool for her!

She sang the first verse to God Bless America and then the choir came in and sang with her during the chorus.  Emily did such a great job!  I was literally in tears listening to her beautiful voice.  Where do these kids get their talents because I definitely can't do the things they can do.  Mrs. Schiedler was very happy for Emily and glad she was able to do the solo she missed out on in sixth grade because of COVID.

The next day we got to hang out with the Stewart's.

They were able to come up to our house for a while before heading over to Rick's family for their 4th of July celebration.  We took everyone to the Blacksmith river and we had a fun picnic.  All of the kids loved getting in the water to cool off. Even though they were not "supposed" to get very wet, that never happens.

The next morning I ran the Freedom Run 15K down Blacksmith Fork.  This was pretty fun.  I really like the course through the canyon.  This we the first time running this race since the first year we moved here.  At the starting line I found out that our friend, Tyson Booth, and our bishop, Sean Dennis, were running the race as well.  They told me not to beat them too badly.  Then, when the race started, Sean totally killed both of us by sprinting the whole 9.5 miles!  I was happy with my time though and did 8:25 minute miles the whole way passing a bunch of people on the big hill.   

After the race we helped with Band breakfast fundraiser.  Emily has decided to do Marching Band this year  so now we are band parents.  Because of this we had to help but we got breakfast out of it so it was worth it.  Then it was time for the parade.  Russell went and set out our chairs at 5:00 am and we still had to fight for a place to sit because by 5:01 am every place along the route was taken over.  

We ended up cramming in with the rest of Hyrum City near the park.  It was fine though because we could still see and the kids got all the candy they needed.  When the Mountain Crest Marching Band came through, we all cheered really loudly for Emily!

She was playing the crash cymbals in this parade.  Emily is enjoying marching band and this was her first ever parade.

When the parade ended, we walked across the street to the Elite Hall to see the Grand Ole Flag display inside.

This display was pretty cool because it shows every American Flag design ever made.  From the original 13 stars and stripes to our modern day 50 stars.  It was really interesting to see all of the changes and learn more about each flag.

That evening we got to hang out with the Phillip's clan at Kristy and Mike's house.  It was so fun to get together with family and celebrate the holiday with good food, chatting, and just hanging out.  

The kids had a blast because there was a giant bounce house!  Brooklyn and Mavis loved every minute of it.

The bounce house was a big hit and kept all of the kids entertained for hours while the adults relaxed.

I had to get a picture of these two cousins.  Brooklyn and Mavis are best friends.  It used to take a couple minutes for them to get used to each other but now they just go play as soon as they see each other.

As it started to get dark, we headed home to watch the fireworks from our backyard.

First we had to do some sparklers of our own.  Brooklyn wasn't too sure about them but Charlotte and Everett and the other kids knew just what to do with them.

Then the fireworks started and they were amazing.

We have the best view of the fireworks because our house is right next to the place they shoot them off.  We love it! 

The next day was my birthday and the kids made me this fun card:

It says, "Happy birthday to our favorite 'Mamba' from your favorite 'Sugar Babies.' You are an amazing 'M'arvelous 'M'om."  I had a good birthday just relaxing and doing nothing.  I rode my bike 38 mile to celebrate being 38 while everyone else cleaned the house for me.

During July we got to take a few fun trips to Lagoon.  We even got to take an old time photo.  We look so funny.

We were all supposed to be looking tough But Russell is a little too happy to be shooting someone.  Look at Brooklyn's cheese.  She cracks me up.

These trips to Lagoon have been really fun.  It has also been nice not to have to rush around the park because we know we can just come back another time.

So far we have gone on most of the rides at Lagoon.  The new ride we tried this time was Cliffhanger.  This ride was so fun but you get absolutely soaked!  You may try to avoid getting sprayed but without fail you will get sprayed right in the face!  We were more soaked on this ride than we ever were on Rattlesnake Rapids. We were all freezing afterwards too.   Cliffhanger has become the new favorite ride at Lagoon.

One night we stayed until the park closed so we made what we called a little hobo camp in the parking lot of a nearby gas station.  There we cooked some hot dogs on the China-man and had dinner before driving home.  We looked kind of ridiculous but it was fine.

Throughout the summer the kids have been practicing their mountain bike skills by going on a lot of rides with the mountain bike team.  Russell is one of the head coaches with Teresa Parker and it has kept him busy.  During July Emily had a fun trip with the GRiT team (the girls).  

First they rode the Beaver Mountain trail and had a good time but then the real fun started when they headed up to Bear Lake to play in the water.

Emily had a blast swimming and hanging out with the other girls on the team.  These are really good girls and I am glad they are getting to know each other better by being on the team together.

Emily also loves doing things with the Young Women group like going to the temple to do baptisms.  These are also really good girls and they seem to look out for each other and get along pretty well.  I am glad Emily has some good friends.

Since everyone seems to be having babies this year, I have been making baby quilts.  I made this one for Clint and Haley's baby boy coming in September.

The fabric is totally Clint and Haley so its perfect.  I love how it turned out.

I have also been busy with the garden.  Our strawberries have done really well this year so I have made a few batches of strawberry jam.

The peas are also going well.  The rest of the things seem to be blooming late this year because of the really late spring and over abundance of snow that took a long time to melt.  Hopefully the rest of the garden will start producing soon.

Happy Birthday to this 40 year old handsome man. Man he looks good at 40. 

Russell wanted to go four wheeling with lunch so that is what we did. We all had fun driving all over the mountain. He got his favorite treat, frosted animal cookies, this cool shirt and a ribbon he wore all day that said, Birthday Boy.

Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth  came up for a few days to hang out and we took the four wheelers up Millville canyon. It was a good ride. 

We found a fun place to hang out, eat, and play in the water. Colby and Emily were excited because they got to drive the whole way up, and they were allowed to drive around the area by themselves. As we were playing around, we saw a pretty good sized slithering friend with rattlers. Russell told the kids to come here quick. He tried to scare it off, but had no luck. When he lost track of it, they decided it was time to go. It will be a cool place to go back and chill again (minus the rattlesnakes.)

While grandparents were up here, we celebrated Mavis's second birthday.  For fun we got together at the park and played in the splash pad.  Charlotte, Brooklyn, and Mavis ran around getting wet and loving it. 

Then we got together at Tyler and Ashley's house for cake and ice cream that night. 

Mavis loved showing Brooklyn all of her toys but was not too sure about letting her play with any of them.  It's funny how kids are so possessive of their things but Brooklyn does the same thing.  They finally did get along and played well.

Look at this young lady go. First time behind the wheel of a car. 

Russell got soft and let her drive the truck to see how she would do when she gets her license. They went to the Mountain Crest parking lot and drove around for about an hour. She was way excited to be driving. We can't believe we have a kid that will soon be driving a car.

The Marching Band was in the Pioneer Day parade in Wellsville on July 22.  Emily played the cymbals again in this parade and we loved watching her.   

Then on July 24, the city of Logan did the annual Pioneer Day parade so we headed to town to see it. 

Russell volunteered this year to take part as the Honor Guard detail for the Fire Department. He was able to carry the flag during the parade.  It was exciting to see him.  Russell was way excited to do this. After he was done though, the back of his foot was not happy. He wore a blister on his heel until it bled. The funny thing was when they started marching in front of the parade, they thought they were going at a slow enough march, but they were wrong. When they got to the end of the parade, the rest of the parade was about 2 blocks behind. Oops oh well, they got done early. 

That night we hung out at the Phillips' house with the family to celebrate the holiday. 

We all got wet in the pool, ate good food, and hung out. It is always good to see the Phillips family. 

On July 29 Russell and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary by doing the Spudman Triathlon.

It was an awesome accomplishment and a great way to celebrate our life together.

I have been working at the Heritage Center this summer doing Historic Adventures. For the most part I have been working in the farmhouse cooking lunch for the staff on the wood burning stove.  It is harder than it looks...   One day the girls were able to come with me and they had a blast pretending to be little farm girls.  First, they spent the morning picking raspberries.

Then it was time to gather eggs from the chicken coop.  Brooklyn loved chasing the chickens in the coop.  She wanted to pet all of them.  She was also happy to gather the eggs. Most of the eggs may or may not have gotten broken...

After cleaning up from lunch, which Emily was a big help with, Charlotte and Brooklyn helped me take all of the food scraps to the pigs.  They loved watching the pigs eat all of the food.  

It was a long day but it was a fun day.  The little girls loved it.  Emily liked it too but had to help me with most of the work.  I guess that it about right for farm life.  Ever since coming to work with me on the farm, Brooklyn has not stopped talking about feeding the pigs and getting the eggs from the chickens and all of the other fun things to see and do on the farm. She even made a new friend named, Becca, and talks about her a lot too.  Now whenever she sees Becca at the Heritage Center she has to give her a big hug.  They also loved riding the train with Emily.  On the way out, we saw the mom peacock and her little babies.  They were so cute!

What a busy fun month.  Now on to August!