Am I Ready?

I really can't say for sure...but come Sunday morning at 7:30, I have to be!

Yep, my first Triathlon of the summer. Sunday Morning, Pigman Sprint, Palo, IA...first wave off at 7:30am!

If you are up at that time send me some good vibes...race re-cap sometime after...check back!

Biking in MN

Last weekend we headed up to the Root River Trail in MN to go biking with Kyle's parents, Kurt and Mindy. My parents couldn't make it...bummer!

Alexa and I checking out the water below...

Kyle blew a tire...I think he almost gave another rider a heart attack!

The excitement of the afternoon and a comfortable trailer caused a little girl to fall asleep!

Stopping for a beverage break and enjoying the little shelter...it was a close one for Kyle and the nails sticking out of the roof!

Potty Break!

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again!

Saying Thank You...

I know there are many out there that do not support the war and all that goes with it.

But do you still want to say Thank You to the Men and Women of the military for the sacrifice they choose to do?

The Gratitude Campaign shows you how to say Thank You when you are uneasy or feel awkward about approaching someone in the military to say Thank You.

I know personally that I don't have the mindset to be part of the military and am grateful for those that do. My brother is in the Air Force and has not been deployed, and I don't know if he will be due to his field of work, I still thank him for his role in the military!

Check out the link if interested and have another easy way to say Thank You!

Morels...Sesame Street...Graduation

What a week! Wednesday night we cooked up some Morels and even got Alexa to try them...we had to tell her they were just like chicken nuggets, but she like them and ate quite a few!!

Open WIDE!!!

MMMM....tasty!

Friday night Kyle and I took Alexa to Sesame Street Live. Even though she was tired she loved it! She got really excited and danced a lot when Oscar the Grouch came out. I still am curious as to why she likes Oscar so much...hmmmm?

Picture with the Elmo and Grover sign.

Oscar and Elmo singing and dancing!

After Sesame Street Alexa and I headed back to Marcus for my nephew's graduation. They had his reception on Saturday with the ceremony Sunday afternoon. After the ceremony we headed out to his cousin Kaylee's reception. I babysat Kaylee every Saturday from the time she was born until I went off to college, about 4 years.

They grow up so fast! I can't believe they are off to college in the fall!

I didn't get them in cap and gown as the crowd was too big...even for a little class of 44!

My nephew Justin and I

Kaylee and I...think she could be my little sister?

Trader Joe's?

So Trader Joe's is a big commercial health food store.
Something Des Moines may be in the market for? What do you think?
Check out my other blog and if you agree, send a message to the company to try and get one in DM!

Decorah and Waverly

Kyle's first race this year was the Decorah time trials. This has been his favorite race from year to year. Kyle headed up on Saturday with Taylor to pre-ride the course and just have a little fun. These pictures are from the pre-ride as they didn't have anyone to take pictures during their race. Full results here. He got 1st in his age group and 11th overall. Pictures taken by Taylor.

Rounding the corner

Limbo on the bike!

Water crossing!

The very next weekend it was back to NE IA for the Waverly cross country race at Camp Ingawanis. Alexa and I stayed home again so no pictures of Kyle. Kurt rode along and had his first go at a Mt. Bike race. I think he's hooked!
The Reese family camped the night before in one of the cabins...we may have to look into that next year!

Kurt making his way up the big hill

Kristin making her way up the hill

Taylor was a little tired on the way home.
Kurt also fell asleep leaving Kyle to drive "all by himself"

Bedtime Prayers

Each night I've been reading a Prayer book as our last book of the night. The other day I found her in her room "reading" the prayer book. She has the whole thing memorized. So lately at night she has been "reading" me the book. This night she needed a little prompting toward the end.
It just amazes me that a 2 1/2 yr old can memorize a whole prayer!

Goals and Challenges

This new year I set some goals and challenges and have been tracking progress along with my friend Julie; as her goals are along the same lines as mine.

I have officially signed up for the Pigman Sprint Triathlon on June 1st. Now that tax season is over I've stepped up the training a bit and am really getting excited for it!

I got a race report today. It is capped out at 800 participants and they are predicting the water temps to be 65 degrees! YIKES! Good thing I bought a wetsuit on ebay a couple weeks ago.

I bought the wetsuit mainly so Julie and I could start some open water training here soon. I am doing the Hy-Vee Triathlon as part of a team and to swim 1 mile in open water will need a little practicing. She is doing the whole Hy-Vee tri and you can see her training progress on our blog as well. So once May 1st hits we are going to plan some training in the COLD open water!

My first "challenge" will be the PRC duathlon on May 1st. Need to work on my running and I figured this would be a good way to get some practice in.

Check out my progress and feel free to leave any comments/suggestions!!

Tiny Tumblers

This past winter Alexa participated in Tiny Tumblers at the YMCA. She loved it and I have to say, it really did help with some of her "play" skills. She can know jump with both feet off the ground and can do somersaults!
Here are some pics from her last class:

Jumping on the trampoline...couldn't get a good picture as she was moving too fast!

Walking on the balance beam...

Playing "red light, green light" with Daddy...the hula hoop is so we can help them stop and go!

Singing the "Bean Bag song"....she LOVES this song!

Next January she'll be able to do the Tumble Tots.....Mom and Dad can work out during this one....maybe I'll run around the track that encircles the gym, that way I can still watch but get a workout in too!

Last couple weeks...

...have been pretty unproductive.
Alexa and I were both sick last week, and before that it was just the every day routine of go to work, come home, go to activities, and back home to bed.

Alexa has been in Waterbabies and Tiny Tumblers at the YMCA. We are going to continue with Waterbabies through May, but now that the weather is warmer and she can get outside and run around, we are by-passing the Tiny Tumblers. She's pretty tired at night. I'm hoping we can make through waterbabies too!

Sat. April 12 we attended Zoo Tots at the Blank Park Zoo. Alexa learned about bugs! They did a little craft, read a book, had a snack, and got to see 3 live bugs. Alexa even petted them! A hissing cockroach, a walking stick, and a giant millipede. They were actually pretty cool and yes, I petted them too! I'm not a big fan of bugs, but am trying to get better as I don't want Alexa freaking out every time she sees one. Next Zoo Tots is the 26th and if I remember correctly it is water animals.

This Saturday April 19th, I'm going to brave a bike race! Kyle is hosting a Mt. Bike crit and I have decided to get into the action. Nervous, excited and anxious all at the same time. I think it doesn't matter what I do competitively, I'll feel the same way every time. I always doubt myself, but I just have to go out there and do it!
Thanks to Mindy in advance for watching Alexa so I can race!

A new member to the Cycling family

Congratulations to Beth and Taylor Webb on the birth of a little girl!

Olivia Joyce
March 29, 2008
5 lbs 14 oz
19 1/2 inches long

She is adorable! Lots of black hair like Taylor, and a cute petite face like Beth.

Alexa and I got Haircuts!

Tonight Alexa had her first haircut and I decided to donate to Beautiful Lengths.
Thanks Mandy, we love our new do's!!!

Getting ready to go

Combing it out

The first cut!Styling it all pretty
I'm all pretty now!Alexa did really good for her first hair cut. She sat still the whole time and even looked at her toes when Mandy told her too! It was really cute to watch and I'm so proud of her!

I was thinking towards summer and all the cycling, running and swimming I want to do and decided my mid-back length hair was going to be too much. So I found the beautiful lengths program and decided to cut it all off!

Ready to cut....

First side gone!All done!A new do and 10 inches of my hair off to make a wig for cancer patients.

Happy Easter!

Well, since I don't know how to use our new camera yet. I only have this picture of Alexa today. I kept hearing beeps so I thought the camera was taking pics. But I guess I wasn't pushing the button down far enough. Hopefully Mom got some cute ones to print off!
The Easter Bunny hid eggs and toys around the living room. She got lots of candy and some change for her piggy bank in the eggs, sidewalk chalk, a Ducky, a movie, and Disney Princess Soap paints.
In this picture her hair wasn't curled yet...it looked so cute!!

Anyway....hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

A nice day for a Hotwalk!

Alexa got to get outside on Sunday March 2nd and test out her new Hotwalk! Can't wait for it to get nicer so we can take it over to the park near our house.

She loved it! Took a couple spills and tried to offroad in the snow and rocks. Not quite enough balance for the offroad, she tumbled right away. Hopefully she'll be like Daddy and not Mommy when it comes to the singletrack! I've still got the iffy-nerves from when I did super-man at Boone about 4 years back!!

After the hotwalk she decided that she needed to ride her trike. First work on balance and then pedaling....she knows how it's done!

A slight incline in the road really helps with the pedaling. I had to push her on the way back!

Potty Training

Alexa has been potty training and it's going pretty good so far. Some days are really good and others we just don't stay on top of it. We have a sticker chart in each bathroom and each time she goes potty she gets to put a sticker on. In January she had about 50 stickers between the 2 charts! At the end of each month she gets a present for having lots of stickers on her charts.

January's present was soap paint for in the bathtub...she LOVES it!

Tummy Masterpiece

I even get in on the fun! Mom's back Masterpiece
Wall Masterpiece

Will have to start thinking of another fun gift for February....she has LOTS of stickers again this month!

Bitter Cold!

It is so cold!! I'm excited this weekend is supposed to get up to 35 here in DM!!

Anyway, not much going on as we can't get out and do much. We have started looking at resorts for our December trip to Mexico for our 5yr anniversary! I can't believe it was 5yrs ago we were planning our wedding trip! WOW....time flies!

Last weekend we headed up to MN for the annual QBP Frostbike show. On Sat. we headed in to the scratch and dent sale and found some really good bargains. Check out my other blog for the best find of all! I also found a pair of tri cycling shoes and Kyle found a couple things also.

The show was good, some interesting new products nutrition wise coming out and it was just neat to see everything again. It was good to have a weekend to ourselves as we hadn't had that for awhile.

Sunday as the big storm rolled in we took almost an extra 2 hours to get home. Alexa got stuck in Cedar Rapids at G'ma and G'pa's and didn't make it home until Tuesday afternoon and even then Tony and Kathy said the roads were still horrible! It took them almost an extra hour to get to our usual meeting spot. I was glad to have her home and I think she was too! She loves spending time with the G'ma and G'pa's, but it's always good to have Mom back!

Let's say our prayers for some warm weather soon!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

A day to remember all those that have touched your heart in one way or another.

Be thankful for all the LOVE you have in your life today!

Love, Kyle, Julie and Alexa

BRR

Not too bad today, but factor in wind from going 12-15mph on your bike and it makes it a little chilly!
Yep, today was the annual BRR (bike ride to Rippey) ride. Julie G. picked me up about 8:30 and we headed over to Perry, picked up our packets, geared up and started the ride.

We took it nice and easy, good 13mph pace, not too hard, but still passing people. About halfway to Rippey we turned into the wind...I HATE wind! Slowed to about 10mph and pushed our way into Rippey. Once we got there we had a cookie and some coffee...now I remember why I don't drink straight coffee...YUCK! But it warmed me up a little and I chose decaf as I'm trying to stay away from caffeine as much as possible.

Heading back to Perry was a different story, wind at our backs we sailed along at about 16mph for a few miles. Then we had to make a turn and got a little of a side wind...once again...I HATE wind! Slowed down for a while and then the last turn we got to pick it back up again.

Once back in Perry we went to the Rec Center and enjoyed some good chili and played a couple of games for prizes. I won $5 in Perry bucks...not sure when I'll get back to Perry to use them. Maybe Mom and Dad can have them and stop for sodas on their way through when they visit us! I also won a handmade crocheted hat. Cute, it's tan and maroon. Doesn't offer much for wind protection, but cute to accesorize with.

Kyle, Taylor, Kurt and a few other guys also made the trip today. I think Kurt is hooked! Kyle and Taylor were going to do 2 laps, but only got in about 1 1/2. Once they met Julie and I on our way back they decided to turn around and head back into town with us.

Good day on the bike. I forgot my heart rate monitor so not sure on the logistics of that, but I could feel myself working and my legs got a good workout with the wind and hills!

Changing it up

I'm really into the Chocolate Brown with either pink or blue accents....so here it is, the new colors on our blog!

Surgery update

I just realized I never updated on how I'm doing since my surgery.

Things are going pretty good. I did start exercising the first of January. The first day I took it really easy and felt good. Well, the way my mind works...it felt good, let's go harder! That didn't work out so well, lots of pain the next day! So I took a couple of days off and started slow again.

Just this week I was able to run 1/2 mile!!! No pain the next day!!!
I'm going to have to say the surgery is working so far.
The next step is finding the right birth control that will suppress my menstrual cycle, but not wreak havoc on my system. I'm not too keen so far on what he put me on after my post-op appointment. BAD mood swings, plus other not so fun symptoms. Will try it for another couple of weeks and see if symptoms go away. If not, will talk to him about something different.

The suppression of the menstrual cycle will slow down any re-growth of the endometriosis. Crazy disease...see link in the sidebar to learn more.