Triathlon and other updates

AHH I just love summer! We are able to do so many fun things outside and the kids love being outside just as much as I do...okay maybe not just as much but they do love it! :) A couple weeks ago we went strawberry picking with some friends at a farm close by. The kids had a great time and we only got a few not so good strawberries. Other than that we have pretty much just been playing at the park and we went to the pool. All the schools are finally out this week, which means summer camps are starting so Heleyna's school schedule changed a little bit & Braden's class so that is kind of fun to switch things up. Also this means we can go to the beach with other friends now :) That will most likely happen next week.

Heleyna, Braden, Hudson, Raegan

"take me for a ride...."

Heleyna and Gina's daughter

Gina and Raegan

For the social part of my life :) A couple weekends ago we headed down to DC. We had met some friends at Duck Beach that wanted us to come down and Bex told us about a great party so we took a half day at work on Friday and headed down. The "Summer Soiree" was really fun and I ran into some old friends I didn't even realize were living in DC. Love that! Me, Olivia, Ted, and Kristin (our new friend as of like a week at this point) came down. hahah we had a lot of fun and I don't think we scared Kristin too bad...at least we must not have since she is still hanging out with us.

Ted, Kristin, Me, Olivia, Nate

Bex, Emily, Me

Saturday morning Bex and I picked up Sarah Sorensen, who is doing an internship in DC, and took her to the ACT and then we picked her up and went to lunch in Old Town Alexandria. Ted, Olivia, and Nate met up with us there because they had gone to the temple that morning. Anyway it was so fun to see Sarah and hang out with her even if it was just for a little while. After lunch Sarah had to be dropped off and we decided to go do the paddle boats by the Jefferson Memorial. Pretty fun and afterwards we packed a picnic dinner and went to the park by the airport and watched the planes come down over you right before they land. Pretty cool! (unfortunately Emily has all those pictures...) Sunday we went to church in the earlier ward, ran into more friends :) and headed back to Jersey.

getting ready to go on the paddle boats, yeah the life vests are super attractive :)

The view from the park by the airport

DC Temple

Then of course what you have all been waiting for....haha or maybe not, but last weekend I did my triathlon. Bex and Emily came up to support me and Bex was very kind and got a hotel room only 15 min away from the race so we didn't have to get up @ 4:30 to get down there on time. Olivia drove down with me after work on Friday. Saturday morning started early. I got up around 5:30 so I could make it over to check in around 6 and have an hour to get ready and set up my stuff in the transition area before the race. Of course because I couldn't get down in the time the night before I had to check in that morning and the line was super long! I was a little nervous I was going to miss the start because I have seen in past races that they just start anyway...but they actually waited. So I got to the transition area set up all my stuff, got my sweet swim cap and headed down to the beach.

trying to get my swim cap on...

I decided not to wear a wet suit mainly because the friend I had borrowed it from is 6'6" and I know I'm pretty tall... but even that was a little big :) I jumped in the water before to test it out so it wouldn't be such a shock when I started the race. Finally we were ready to start, I was a little nervous, but mostly excited. Anyway so we jumped in and it was such an adrenaline rush! AHHH I love it! The swim was actually my favorite part.  I stayed back a little to avoid drinking the salt water being splashed by everybody around me.

right before he said "go"

 I finished my 700 meter swim and ran up the beach to put my shoes and helmet on and hop on the bike. Now in case you were wondering my employers were very kind and let me borrow their bike and helmet...but the bike is a little boys mountain bike...and the helmet....well you'll see in the pictures.

starting the bike part

Needless to say I looked a little ridiculous. Especially next to all the hardcore people, but it was great. The bike was long, but it was good. I have pretty much biked the entire length of Long Branch, twice! haha I finished my 22 miles, parked my bike, took off my helmet and started the run. Anybody who has ever gone from riding a bike to running knows it is the weirdest feeling! I had practiced this a little bit because friends had warned me, so it wasn't too bad, but still pretty rough. The run was all along the boardwalk. We ran up a mile or so, turned around and ran 3 miles down the boardwalk, turned around and ran a mile back to the finish line. This part was a little rough in the fact that I actually passed the finish line and didn't realize that I still had 2 miles to go, so mentally I'm thinking oh wow I made it and then realized oh wait I have to keep running....ahhhh worst 2 miles ever! but I made it and had the best cheering crowd to keep me going. Bex, Emily, and Olivia were there with posters at first and then my other friends Tabby and Rachele showed up with more posters! AHH basically I have amazing friends, the race coordinator said he had never seen a better cheering section. They made hysterical posters and I was literally laughing as I ran across the finish line.

crossing the finish line

their amazing posters

We decided since we were already at the beach we might as well stay so I cleaned up my stuff and we all headed down to the beach for a few hours. It was pretty crowded, but a perfect day to be at the beach. We spent a few hours there and then decided to head over to the YSA stake activity.

the beautiful beach!

 They were having an activity in Princeton by a lake so we headed over there and ate lunch and went canoeing. After the activity we had to hurry home and get ready because Olivia had organized a little birthday party for me at this country dance place.

showing off our sweet canoeing skills

the super cute flowers Tabby and Rachele got me after my race

Everybody had a great time dancing. The place was so cute and the people there were so fun! They taught us tons of fun dances and they were so excited to have us there. I have so many great friends that came, most of them had never even done anything close to country dancing, but they had a good attitude and think had fun. Thanks Olivia for putting that together and the other friends who helped! You're the best! It was so fun to have Bex and Emily up here too! They are so much fun!

the whole group

On my actual birthday I didn't really do anything too exciting. I talked to family and friends, which was so great! Dianna also came home during her lunch and brought me an ice cream cake and they sang happy birthday to me before the kids went down for nap. That night I went to FHE. The rest of the week has been pretty good. Just same old same old. Looking forward to the weekend, I'm not sure what we have planned yet, but it should be exciting. Also I leave for Utah a week from tomorrow! AHHH so soon and so exciting!

the kids and i on my birthday

my cake