ISU vs Iowa.....

Who are you rooting for tomorrow?
After ISU's first 2 games it doesn't look good for us, but I have to say......GO CYCLONES!!!!

24-Hour...finally some pics

The 24-Hour race was Saturday and Sunday Labor day weekend. Kyle was one of the race directors and decided this was the year to totally relax! Him and Ron (another race director) decided to sign-up as a 2-man team so they could do a couple laps if they wanted. We had a ton of fun and can't wait for next year.

Here are Taylor and Kyle coming around for a lap. Taylor did the 12-hour portion solo and ended in 3rd place! Way to go Taylor!!

Taylor is first rider, Kyle following.

When 2 guys create a brotherly bond as these 2 have, they have no problem posing for unmentionable pictures! Beth (Taylor's wife) and I are really starting to worry about them!

Once again, we had the biggest fire in the camp. I even got video of Thad Neil jumping over the fire. I just don't have the cable to download it to the computer yet....sorry!!

For those of you that don't know Thad, he is the tallest guy I know in the cycling community and had no problem jumping over the fire. I just wish I would have taken a picture of Thad sitting in the Tot Spot chair....his knees were literally up to his shoulders! hee hee

MMMM.....chocolate chip cookies

Alexa helped me make chocolate chip cookies for the first time last night. Aunt Tracee would be proud that I actually made cookies and not just bought the dough!
The best part was when she dropped the mixing fork in the butter and sugar mixture....she didn't like the feel of the mixture and dripped batter all over the place!

here is a pic of her mixing the butter/sugar mix with the eggs!

Re-wind to the State Fair....

Just got this picture downloaded and thought the need to post it! We took Alexa to the State Fair on Mon. Aug 13th. She got to pet a lamb, calf, and a chicken. I attempted to talk to someone about letting her pet their horse, but they didn't even acknowledge that we were looking at their horse...SNOBS!!

Anyway, here is a pic of Alexa and Kyle with the calf.

Actual Results

Well....the results have been posted and I did better than I thought on my Triathlon!

I signed up for the Athena age group...yep, women over 150 lbs....ooph ooph!! There were 12 in the group and I got 7th out of 12!! My actual time was 1:46.40

Swim time of 10:21 - 3rd out of the water
transition time of 2:04 between swim and start of bike
Bike time of 55:23 - 6th off the bike
transition time of 1:03 between bike and run
Run time of 37:50 - 9th to finish in the run.

Overall the groups I was 297th out of 342! hee hee, that sounds really bad, but I know it's not!

It's done....My first Triathlon

WOW....that was an adventure!
It was fun, exciting and hard all at the same time! I'm not as good at re-capping as some of you out there, but here it goes!

We arrived and picked our spots for transition and got everything ready to go and set up. After I was all set up, I warmed up a little on the bike, went for a very short run, and then headed down to the water for a little swim. I thought I was ready!

Ready, set, start! The swim went really well, I swallowed a bunch of water, had to do some breastroke to get back on course, but I was in the front part of mid-pack when I finished....I think!

Biking also went well. It took a little bit to get my legs going, but once I got over that little hump I felt good. There were a couple of small hills that got me, as usual! I need more hill work. One was a combo of hill and wind...definitely not my cup of tea! Aside from the hills the biking went really well. I kept it in the big ring 95% of the time and had fun. Oh, and my back was killing me!

Oh the run! Definitely a sport I need to work on! The first mile was the hardest, I think I walked about 3/4 of it! Once I saw the 1 mile mark, I knew I needed to get it going. I started running again and didn't take a walk break until about 1/4 mile after I saw the 2 mile mark. I walked a little and got some encouragement from another racer and started to run again. Across the finish line I checked the clock and saw 1:46.???

I couldn't believe it! I had done it in under 2 hours! Deep down that was my goal, but after the week I had I didn't know if I could do it!

Thank You to Jane Riessen for giving me a ride up there and encouraging me during the race! Also thanks to Kyle for cheering me on and being there at the end to catch me! I was in pain and needed him! and to Tony and Kathy for coming and cheering me on and helping Kyle with Alexa, once I get some pictures from Tony I'll post a couple.

I plan on keeping up with the training and trying a couple of more next year. Maybe just the sprint ones again and participating in some of the bigger ones on a team. We'll see what happens!

finally...CA pictures

Some of my favorite pics from CA!!

My cousin Dan and his beautiful bride Suzie!

The Voetberg Clan!
Sis-in-law Courtney, Pete, brother Ben, me, sis Tracee, Mom June and Dad Marlo

The Etter and Voetberg Kids
Josef, Tracee, Krista, Dan, me, Kim and Ben

The view from the look-out point at the resort.

The big rock I found to climb before my run on the beach! I had to time it just right so the waves didn't get me all wet!

Baby elephant seals....they were so cute!

Just a pretty view at the beach.

Busy

Just a quick note...

Got back from CA on the 13th...it was wonderful! Highs of 70, down in the 50's at night!! Coast was beautiful, will post pictures later!

Traveled back to Marcus for a funeral. My best friend's nephew (14) passed away suddenly. Please keep them in your prayers as the grieve.

Triathlon is coming up fast! One more week! I don't know if I'm ready especially since the last week brought hardly any training! As long as I finish!!

More later....

Little Marilyn

Alexa doing her best Marilyn Monroe impression with the A/C vent!

Another week down

This week went a little better for training. Not as much as I wanted to do, but I'm OK with what I did.

Wednesday - went on the Irwin's ride while Paula watched Alexa. I got about 25 miles in and pushed myself to stay with the leader of the medium/fast group. I made it almost the whole way with them and then suffered a stomach cramp. Guess I pushed myself a little too hard!

Thursday - It was Kyle's 6:00 week, so I made it to the group training in time to get about a mile run in and then headed to Gray's Lake for a swim with the group.

Saturday - Met Julie G at Gray's lake for a brick workout. We only did the swim and the run as it rained while we were swimming and since we are both very comfortable on the bike we chose to run as we both need that! We practiced run-ins and outs and then swam the buoy line twice. Another Tri newbie was there also. Good Job Mary!

Sunday - Was going to ride my bike to the Walnut Creek Kids Y-Tri for my volunteer opportunities, but woke up to thunderstorms! I drove down and rode the trail to the turn-around and helped the kids on the bike portion. I got a little running in as we had a kid crash and I had to run down the trail to help him. Not a lot of riding, but running in biking shoes is definitely a workout!

This next week will be interesting to see what I get done as I am heading to CA for my cousins wedding! They say the trail down to the beach is a 400 yard hike down the cliff! I'm hoping to be able to head down, run the beach and then run back up! I might even try a little swim in the ocean! We'll see!

Yoo Hoo....almost there

I am now at 415 miles!!! I will definitely make it to 500, now we'll see how many more I get to set a goal for next year!

Slowly back into it....

....took it slow this week as I still wasn't feeling 100%.
Mon, Fri and Sat off from training.

Tues - headed to the Y after Alexa was put to bed. Got in 2.25 miles on the treadmill in 30 min. Would have got more if I didn't pull something in my groin! I wasn't happy as I was feeling really good! After I got done on the treadmill I wanted to do a little more so I sat on the exercise bike for about 15 minutes. Only 6 miles, but it was something!

Wed - Well, I guess I should call this a off night too. Was going to do the Irwin's ride and only got 1.09 miles in as my daughter threw an absolute fit about not wanting to be in her trailer...I was so frustrated!

Thurs - headed to waterworks with the training group. I parked at Gray's Lake and rode over to the meeting place. That was the first 4 miles. We then rode for 40 min around a 1 1/2 mile loop in waterworks. I ended up with 19 miles after heading back to Gray's Lake. I think I could have had more if it wasn't for the gravel patches on our loop. Really hurt my wrist and slowed me way down!

Sun - Rode for about 25 miles towards Waukee on the trail and then back on the trail to Grand. Up the Grand hill and then back home. Had to get a good hill in to work on my climbing legs!

Feeling really good and am going to get fully back into the swing of thing this week. The next week we head to CA for my cousins wedding so we'll see what happens with training then!

The training has started

I found a trike at the Reese garage sale, it's a little big, but Alexa likes it. Since it is big, Grandma and Grandpa Sedore decided that she needed one that fit her a little better. So this weekend when Kyle and Alexa took a trip to Cedar Rapids this is what she got! Time to start the training!! She actually does pretty good about putting her feet on the pedals, just doesn't quite get the concept to push and keep pushing!

Picture by Grandpa Sedore

Training...

...took a big hit this week! I just did not feel good! Did not get anything done until Thursday. Swam about 3/4 of a mile and called it quit for the night. I haven't been able to do anything else since. Feeling better, just too busy with life activities.
Monday is supposed to be a day off, but since I haven't done anything since Thursday, I'm going to head to the Y and do some swimming, then maybe a short bike ride after I get home.
Definitely need to step it up again this week!

Settling in....

Kitty Bob is really settling in. Ty is getting along with him much better. They play together and the other day I caught them sleeping on the footstool together. Didn't get a picture of that, but here he is sleeping on the back of the chair.

Sacked out!

You takin' a picture of me?

Week #2 Training....

Stepped up the training a bit this week. Thought I better get a move on if I'm really going to do this! Mon/Fri - days off

Tuesday - got to the Y about 8:30pm - swam 1200 yds and did a run/walk for 30 min. on the treadmill. I think I got just over 2 miles in.

Wednesday - Did the Irwin's ride pulling Alexa. Only got 10 miles in, but once you figure I was pulling about 50 lbs behind me and I kept it in the big ring for the duration of the ride...not bad!

Thursday - trained with the Tri group at the Y. We started with a 38 min spin class and then headed over to the track at Dowling. I only made it 3/4 mile due to major cramping in my stomach. After a little rest, we headed into the pool and I got a good 1600 yds in!

Saturday - headed over to Urbandale track on my bike, forgot that it's partly tore up, so headed over to Hoover track. Ran 1/2 mile, walked 1/4, repeat, then ran up/down the bleacher steps 6 times. Stamina is starting to get a little better, but it's still not great.

Sunday - headed north from Sycamore access to Casey's in Polk City, had a snickers and headed back. Once I got back to the Dam Hill, I turned around and went back up the hill 2 times. Would have done it a couple more, but was on a time limit. Rode for 22 miles.
All I have to say is the trail SUCKS!!! I think next time I will take roads. Trail was way too bumpy, especially when you already have weak wrists! One reason why I like riding on the road.

Every day felt GREAT! I'm really glad I signed up for this as I've been wanting to work out more and this gives me a good reason to do it. I'm already seeing a difference in how my legs and arms look. Weight is about the same, but I'm OK with that as my clothes are fitting different already. Tuesday I almost stayed home, but forced myself to get to the Y after Alexa was in bed, I'm glad I did!

Mileage update: 366 miles on the bike so far. Wish I could keep track during spin class, I'd add that in too!

Picture pages...picture pages...

Kyle and Kurt showing us their endo skills on Kyle's homemade teeter-totter

Alexa and Gruncle (great uncle) Kurt mastering their coloring skills.

Alexa even says the gruncle part, it's really cute!

Alexa likes to fall asleep in the weirdest positions. I walked in on her this night just as she is, honest, I did not place anything in this picture!! She sleeps with about 5 different stuffed toys!

MMMMM.....love sweet corn!

Hanging out with Kitty Bob in the toy basket!

Notice the foot sticking up in the air, kind of looks like Bob's tail until you look closer.

Bike ride from Hell!

I have now dubbed the Ankeny Cycle for Sight the Bike Ride from Hell!
Last year I had to quit because of the heat and couldn't physically make it. At least last year I made it 55 miles.
This year I only managed just over 49 miles! It was so HOT and they decided to put all the big hills at the last half of the ride!
It started out really good, we had a tailwind and just cruised along at about 21mph! Once we got to the 40 mile mark, I started to lose it. We stopped at one of the little towns, reloaded our water and ate some more fruit. I didn't think I could eat so many apples and bananas in one morning! We headed back out on the road instead of taking the trail into Bondurant....BAD choice! Once we got onto J34, I believe that is the road, I made it up about 2 hills and had to stop. I felt like I was going to fall over. If you want a hill workout, go over by Minburn and find J34...I will avoid that road as much as possible!! Julie G called the Sag wagon for me and I stayed with another guy that was also needing a ride. She decided to push on. Once the wagon got us, we took the route and found Julie, she decided she was done too!
While getting a ride, Kyle called, he was trying to do the 85 mile route on a single speed and the heat was just too much for him too. We turned around and went back to find him, and had the wagon take us to Ankeny.
Once at home, about 2:30, I developed a major headache, thought I was going to puke and passed out on the bed. I woke up with a headache and tried to eat...no go. Went in and out of sleep on the couch and finally ate some pizza and breadsticks at 7:00pm. Still feeling a little dehydrated today, but much better. I even drank about 5 water bottles of water on the ride. I guess my body hates the heat!
I'll probably do it again next year, maybe I can get more riding in before so I can at least finish!!

mileage upate

Forgot to post that I am also at 277 miles for the summer. Not bad for someone just starting to get more serious and has to work around her husband's schedule!

Training

A training update:

Monday - went out for a 1/2 hour run. I did some jog/walk intervals to help get my stamina up. Increased my jog time with walking between. My shins hate me!!

Tues/Wed - off to enjoy the Holiday. I did take Alexa to the pool, but didn't get much exercise out of it! :)

Thursday - Headed to the Y to coach swimteam. Arrived with enough time to go run on the treadmill. Got about 20 minutes in. 5 minute walk warm-up, 10 min jog, 2 min walk, 3 min jog, finish with a walk. My shins still hate me!
After coaching I had a great swim workout with the Tri group! The total yards was 2050 and I did it all in 45 minutes! I was very proud of myself!

Biking will consist of a 60 mile ride on Sunday for the Ankeny Lions Club cycle for sight.
I hope to start getting some Wed. Irwins rides in pulling Alexa to get some extra weight behind me for extra workout! It's only 10 miles with the slow group, but once I get Alexa behind me, it's a pretty good workout.

4th of July

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

A Lake and Biking weekend

The weekend started with a trip to Lake Panorama on Saturday. Our head swim coach and her family have a lake house and they host a lake party for each of our age groups. This weekend was the 9-10 age group party. I've wanted to go the last couple of years, but with bike races and other activities, it just hadn't worked out. Alexa and I had a blast and hope to make it to the 8 and under party the end of July!

Alexa LOVED coach Kim's dolphin statue. Our team name is the dolphins and Kim has started quite a collection of them!

We got to do one lap in the kayak before she wanted out. Sara managed to get a picture of her smiling!

Swimming in the lake with some of the swim team girls!

Sunday we headed up to Boone for a Mt. Bike race. It is definitely harder to watch the race with Alexa in tow. We didn't make it into the woods, but got a couple of pictures by the start finish line. Kyle is racing expert again this year. This was race #4 for the summer. He's not sure how he finished. He knows he was mid-pack in a group of 20 and was happy with how the race went.

Water bottle hand off!

photo courtesy of Beth Webb!
Coming in for another lap down!

photo courtesy of Beth Webb!
Alexa even got to try out Seth Tellinghuisen's bike. It was a little big for her, but she tried to put her feet on the pedals. Time to get a trike!!

Pie....yummy....Pie!

Saturday I headed over to Adel with Julie G for the 1st annual Pieathlon. Run, Bike, and eat pie! We skipped the running part as neither of us was really up for it.
It was a great day for riding, a little cooler and overcast. I do so much better in that type of weather than in the intense sun!
The ride started out pretty good, hit some county roads to make our way over to Linden. On the way there I was impressed that all the vehicles that passed us were hugging the opposite side of the road and didn't cut back in front of us! Kudos to all driving between Adel and Linden on Sat. morning!!
Once we got to Linden we hopped onto the Raccoon River Valley Trail to head back to Adel. That's where the fun really started! A ways down the trail we came upon a tree down over the trail, not a big deal, hop off the bike, climb over, back on and off we go. Then we had to do it again, and again, and again, and....well you get the picture. About 8-10 down trees over the trail. One we came up on, I wasn't sure if we were going to get around it! We found a spot and squeezed our way through...a camera would have been ideal at this point! Of course, both Julie and I forgot to grab a camera!
Once back to Adel we were ready for our pie, we felt we had earned it doing some cyclocross action in with our road riding, on road bikes! Well, I got lucky and they had one piece of Apple left...what I wanted! Julie wasn't so lucky as that was the very last piece.
After eating our pulled pork sandwiches and my apple pie, we donned our swimsuits and took a dip in the pool. 66 degrees out and the water was GREAT! I kind of forgot how to just play in the pool, I couldn't think of anything fun to do. Hopefuly in the next couple of years, Alexa will change that and bring out the fun of the pool again instead of me just swimming laps!

On Triathlon training:
I rode bike a couple of times last week and tried to go for a run/walk with Alexa in the stroller. Going to have to probably go out and run after she is in bed. I hated running with the stoller. You can't get a good stride in and not being able to pump my arms was horrible!
I swam on Monday and got a mile in and then on Thursday I swam with the group and got another mile in. Hopefully this Thursday I'll be able to get out and run with them instead of coaching swim team.

Time to train...

...It's official, I've signed up at the Y to do the Sprint Triathlon! It is to get ready for the Cy-man Tri in Ames on Aug. 26th. The only part I'm really nervous about is the running. I was a sprinter in high school and quit running before due to shin splints...BAD! I'll just have to invest in some really good shoes and hope for the best.

This weekend Kyle's team got 10th in the Hy-Vee triathlon in the Men's team category. Not a great pic, but here he is at the beginning. He even borrowed an aero-helmet...looked pretty funny!

He said it was fun and he had a good ride. He averaged about 25 mph and finished in just over an hour. Thanks to Taylor for letting him borrow his time-trial bike too. It's great to have a friend that's built just the same for bike fit!

A friend of ours, Jane Riessen, also participated and completed the whole event. She has done Tri's before, but this was the first time I got to see her in action! Here she is getting a high five at the finish!

Photo courtesy of www.dmregister.com

Also big congrats to another friend, Kristin Reese. This was her first Triathlon and she finished in just over 3 hours! Great Job!! Seeing the motivation Kristin had and watching her in the race was one of the factors that made me sign up for this sprint Triathlon training. Definitely not the feat she took on, but I thought it would be a good start for me!

I was able to see many other people I knew participate either as an individual or on a team. Great job by all and maybe I'll be with you next year!

Enjoyed my week

Alexa is coming back from G'ma and G'pa Sedore's tomorrow and I've missed her so much! I've stayed busy with working, cycling, swimming and cleaning this week. I am ready to get my baby girl back!

Here she is playing in the pool, I hear she got lots of swimming time in.

Today I went on a bike ride with Julie G., we took the trail up the Dam hill, across the Dam and then back to Johnston to the Fire station for some pancakes!! After we were done eating we headed over to Irwin's, picked up a tandem and threw candy in the Johnston Green Days parade. After the parade, a short ride back to my place. It was a scorcher out there!! It was definitely nice to get back inside and do some cleaning in the air conditioning!

Tomorrow, the plan is to ride downtown watch the start of the Triathlon at Gray's Lake, ride over to the hill on Grand, then back over to the capitol to see the runners finish. It should be a good time. We know quite a few people in the amateur division.

I've been overcome with the Triathlon fever and am contemplating training for a sprint triathlon in 10 weeks. There is a training at the Y to help get ready for it. Should I do it? Can I do it? Check back and see!

A new member of the family

The latest member of the Sedore family....

We introduce to you...Bob!

Ty is not liking the new little guy so well. All she does is hiss at him. Heck I think she is mad at me too, I couldn't even go near her today as she hissed and growled at me too!

Hopefully over the next couple of days it will get better and they will get used to each other!

Wow...how they grow!

I got the privilege of watching my nephew Justin play baseball this last Friday. He is going to be a senior in the fall and it amazes me still to this day. It seems like yesterday that he was just 3 getting his picture taken with me during my senior pictures. He will always be special to me as my sister lived with us when he was born. Since she was going to school and working as a nurse's aid, I got to spend LOTS of time babysitting him. I can't believe he is almost 18, a legal adult!
Justin had a good game, he plays left field and had a couple of really good catches. They played a tough team and lost 0-3, not as bad as they thought it was going to be!

Alexa got to spend time with G'ma and G'pa Voetberg as I had a candle party Sat. during the day. Then Sat night we went to a bridal shower for my cousins fiance. I got to see a lot of my Mom's side of the family. I have a cousin that has a little girl 4 months younger than Alexa. They weigh the same, but Alexa has a little height on her!

They had fun playing together!

Next week will be LOTS of bike riding as Alexa is spending a week with G'ma and G'pa Sedore. Hopefully it will help with my goal of 500 miles! I am also signed up for the pieathlon in Adel on June 23rd! Running, Biking and Pie!! Yep, no swimming, but hey, I get pie! All proceeds are split towards the Cancer centers here in Des Moines and the Livestrong Foundation. Another 30 miles to add that day! Yeah!
I really like the charity rides. Especially if the money is for a good cause like that. I get the good feeling that I am helping out and get some good exercise in the process!

Acts 20:35b — “The Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Memorial Day

A time to remember all the soldiers who have fought for our freedom and to help others enjoy freedom in their country too. Have a GREAT day and enjoy your freedom!

Our weekend started out with a trip to Cedar Rapids to visit Kyle's parents. On Friday we went for a bike ride on the trails along the river. Stopped at a wonderful little deli called "The Blue Strawberry" for lunch. Great Food! After we got home we just relaxed, ate dinner, and enjoyed the beautiful day.
On Saturday Kyle and I headed back home and Alexa stayed behind to enjoy some G'ma and G'pa time. I started the task of cleaning once we got home. It's the only time I can really deep clean the house. It's always one of my tasks when Alexa is at one of the grandparents!
On Sunday Kyle and Taylor headed out to try and get 100 miles in on the bikes. They almost made it with 91.5 miles! More motivation than me, I only went out for about 1.5 hours and about 15-20 miles. Forgot to check my odometer when I got home! After I got home I finished my cleaning for the weekend. The only thing I have left is some laundry and go through the magazines!
Sunday night was over to the Reese household for the Annual Memorial Day party. It was a lot of fun. A great get-together with beer, food, friends and fun! Lots of people showed up and we had a blast!
Today we are just going to relax and enjoy the day. We have to go pick up Alexa and will probably grill out for supper. If it's not raining too hard!

Have a GREAT day!

BUBBLES!!!

Always a summertime favorite!
Push the little button on top and you get.....
BUBBLES!!!

Hello out there!

Yep, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Lots of work, play and just plain relaxing with the family.

Alexa and I have been out on the bike quite a bit. A couple of Wed. ago I parked at Sycamore access and headed North on the trail. I made it up the Dam Hill with her in tow! Yoo Hoo a great feat for me as I HATE hills!! My body just seems to shut down. I'm hoping to do that ride with her more often as the weather is staying warm and the nights longer.
On Sunday I headed out around the Urbandale greenbelts. She got a nice nap in and I got lost in Urbandale. Came out of the greenbelt by Hickman just east of 86th. Did not think that was where I was headed! I was just toodling along having fun just riding!

Other than biking we just finished up another round of waterbabies class. Alexa helped me teach the last 2 nights we went. We skipped out tonight as she was diagnosed with strep throat on Friday and I found out today that I have it too! I thought it be best to stay away from the babies! This summer we will be teaching a class on Monday nights at 7:00pm at the Walnut Creek Y.

Alexa's babysitter bought this really cool bubble blower and she loves it, so I got one for home too. Target $10 and a big thing of bubble solution is only $3! I have some pics but blogger is being stupid and won't let me upload them. I'll try again tomorrow!

It's May!

HAPPY MAY DAY!!

Wow, I can't believe it is the first of May. I've been back at work for a month now and it has flown by! I really miss my time with Alexa, but now the time I have is even more cherished and it's hard when I have things going on at night too.
I've been doing things after she goes to bed now instead of toting her around with me. We come home, enjoy our time together and then after she is in bed, I run my errands, go exercise, etc.

This past Saturday Alexa and I got another bike ride in. We made our way to the Urbandale greenbelt and headed down toward Johnston to see how far it would let us go. It is blocked off right before it heads down towards the creek that you can see from Merle Hay. I wasn't surprised! We then headed back into Urbandale, made our way to the Lebeda household to say Hi and then on our way home stopped by the Cheever's household to see if they were home. Surprise! They were! It was one Saturday that they had no activities of Lindsay's so they were enjoying a day at home. Good to see them again!

If anyone reading LOVES candles and is interested. I am hosting a Summer Open House to kick-off the "Summer - A Time to Share" catalog from the Gold Canyon Candle line. Everyone is Welcome! Bring a friend!!

Details:

Mystery Hostess Open House

(you could win the Hostess points for the show!!)

Sat. May 5th

11:00am - 2:00pm

5294 Meredith Dr

(townhomes right next to Reformed Church on Meredith)

Open House style - Come when you can - Incentives and prizes for those in attendance!

The summer catalog features 120 different scents and some fun New items!

Have a great weekend!

SUNBURN!

AHHH....sunburn....that means warm weather is here and I love it!
Alexa and I rode in the Mayor's ride on Saturday and I fried my arms and the tops of my legs. Alexa's bike trailer did a good job keeping the sun off of her and she is fine. We met up with Julie G and rode the 30 mile ride. Alexa did great for the 3 hours in her trailer and even slept for part of the ride!
The Mayor's ride is to raise funds for improvement of the DM city trail system. Funny thing...only about 3-4 miles of the actual ride was on trails....I think that should show them that we need more trail system in DM! Hopefully more funding will come available for it!

Not much else, we've been busy working and doing our usual running around. Alexa and I also rode Wednesday on the Irwin's night ride. We took the trails out west in Johnston and headed back for about a 10-mile trip. Not much but pulling her gives me a decent workout. Hopefully one of these Wed. we'll be able to get a babysitter and I can go with the medium group, until then it will be me and Alexa on the trails with whoever wants to go!

A couple of weeks back Alexa wanted to try a drink of Daddy's "juice"(mmm...beer). I told her it was icky and here are the pics to prove it! I don't think she'll want to taste anytime soon!

A good weekend

This weekend was pretty good.
Friday night we had the annual Swim Team banquet. The kids received their awards, we enjoyed a nice pasta dinner, and watched a cool video of pictures from the season.

Saturday I got another 30 miles on my bike. I met up with Julie Goodman in Newton and we took the Chichaqua trail from Ira to just outside of Bondurant and back. 30 miles was definitely ambitious for me. My legs are a little sore today, but it was worth it! I took Alexa around the neighborhood tonight in her bike trailer. She loved it and I got to spin out my sore legs a little.

Today Kyle went out for a long bike ride and I went to go pick up Alexa after a weekend at G'ma and G'pa Sedore's. They enjoyed having her and it gave Kyle and I a night to ourselves that we hadn't had in a while.

This week starts more swimming time for me. I plan on going to swim laps every Monday and Wednesday night after Alexa goes to bed. Then try and throw Thursday or Tuesday in there every now and then. Tuesday may become waterbabies night for us too. Alexa has been asking to go swim, I think I should let her!

Wish me luck on the swimming and hopefully I can get some biking with Alexa in there too!

my body says STOP!!

Horrible day today! I think my body is saying, "what are you doing, what happened to the relaxed life we had!" After just one week back at work, I left early today due to body aches, chills, sore throat, and a headache! I felt horrible, I hope they don't think they have a sickly person, because I'm usually pretty healthy. Oh well...it happens!

Easter was good. Traveled back to Marcus to see my side of the family. Dad's brother and sister and their kids came down to have supper on Saturday night. Sunday morning was church and then traveling back home.

Here are some pics of Alexa all dressed up and digging into her Easter basket she had waiting for her at home.I love my new sheep!

Yoo Hoo!!

I have a job! It is a temp-to-hire position at a Partner (2 people) CPA firm. Basically I am their receptionist and help them with light accounting duties. More accounting than what I was originally looking for, but after 2 days it isn't too bad!
I will temp with them for about 3 months and if they like me and I like them, they will offer me the job and I can accept full-time then. If I decide I don't like it then I can contact the agency and have them help me find something else.

I probably won't post until next week....so I want to say
Happy Easter! Enjoy your families and celebrate in your own special way!

AAUUGHH.....

....OK, now that tension is relieved. I didn't hear back from anyone on the job situation. Kind of frustrating, but it will all be OK...that's what I have to keep telling myself! So I'm sure there will be more interviews this week. (deep sigh)

Today Alexa really enjoyed her palm branch at Palm Sunday Service. She had a lot of fun waving it around during the songs.

Today she also became my little fashion girl...
She LOVES shoes and for the first time today she put a pair of mine on and walked around the house. It's amazing the sense of balance she has at such a young age. She even turned around a couple of times.

Yeah her head is cut off, I was trying to focus on the shoes!




Her other thing lately is interior decorating. I don't have candles on my candle sticks for obvious reasons. So she has decided it is a wonderful place to put her pig and cow. The funny part is, the pig is always on the lower one and the cow on the upper. What is going through her mind??

Wow...

...I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last posted.
The job search is going OK. I had a couple of interviews that I hope lead into something. They will make a decision by the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Alexa is talking more and more every day. I think being around the babysitters 3 year old is helping. She is starting to put 2 words together, sometimes it sounds kind of like one word, but she is trying!
She has also started sitting on the potty. When she was telling me her diaper was poopy, I thought it was time to start the association. We just sit on it several times through out the day, if she goes great, but most of the time she just sits there and looks at a book and then gets up and says "done", and there is nothing in there. Now when she toots, or starts to poo, she says "potty", but doesn't know how to hold it until we get to the potty.

Kyle's first race went pretty good. It was a 6-hour solo race. He achieved his goal of completing 6 laps in 6 hours and placed, I believe, 13th or 14th. Not too bad for his first time doing a solo semi-endurance race. At least last year I think he did it as a team. It's hard for me to remember!!
His training is going pretty good. Now that it is warmer he's been able to get out and do some longer rides, especially on the weekends.

I realized the other day too, that I never posted a pic of my brother's new baby! So here he is:
Pete Benjamin
Jan. 25, 2007

Not much...

...going on here.
I've been looking at going back to work full-time. Long story, don't really want to get into it. Basically I was going to wait until Alexa turned 2, but circumstances have changed that. Not really ready for it, but it has to be done! So the last few weeks have been job searching and figuring out what I really want to do. I really don't want to go back to full on accounting if I don't have to, so I'm going to try the Office Admin route for now.

Kyle is starting to train more and has his first race in MO next weekend (Mar. 17th). He is going to get into the St. Paddy spirit and make sure everything in his water bottles is green! I can't really tell if he is ready for this race. It is a 6 hour solo race. Yep, that's right he'll be racing for 6 hours straight! Crazy if you ask me!

Have a great week!!

15 months old!

Alexa turned 15 months on Feb. 17th and had her checkup today. Here are the stats:

Height: 31 1/4 inches - 74 % on growth chart

Weight: 21 lbs 12 oz - 35% on growth chart

Yep she is going to be one tall skinny kid!!

Here she is climbing on the pillows beside the couch!

The meet is over!

Our big Sectional Swim Meet is over and it went really well! We started the day at 8:00am and was out of Valley by 5:00pm! We then had to unload the van at the YMCA, but that only took about 30 min. Not bad for all the prep work that had to be done for the meet. I still don't know how Sara does it on top of all her other duties at the YMCA....she is a super-woman!! Good Job Sara!
Now I get to start a new work routine. Alexa will be going to a babysitter on Tues and Thurs afternoons so I can help out at the Y more and get a little bit of exercise time in. Hopefully she will do good. I'll re-evaluate once this pool schedule is done and see if I should continue or go back to just 3 hours at the Y each day for the summer.
Kyle and I are headed up to MN this weekend for a vacation. Alexa will be with G'ma and G'pa Sedore. They will have fun! She has changed some since they last saw her. She is saying and repeating more words and is getting more and more independent. It will be interesting to talk to them after the weekend.
Not much else...have a GREAT week!