July

Here's a few of our happenings this month. We also had 4 family reunions that I'll post soon.

Caleb and Sydney enjoying a nice swim.

Mark and Brandon were in a doubles volleyball tournament last Saturday. Sadly, my camera batteries died after this picture. They did great and had a lot of fun. I loved watching. Volleyball is one of, if not our favorite team sport.

I ran in the freedom 5K run in Provo on the fourth of July. It was awesome!!! There were about 4,000 runners there - amazing! About 2,000 were running the 5K. There was also a 10K and a 1 mile run. It was incredible to run with that many people. As we started, the freedom festival hot air balloons were starting to float up into the sky - it made a great view as we were running. I was able to finish 2nd in my age group and was 20th in the overall womens. It was definitely a great way to celebrate our freedom.
Lyndi, Hollie, and I went out to dinner last week. It was SOO great to get with them again.

We did it!

We accomplished what we set out to do! It was such a phenomenal feeling. I stayed at Rachel's house the night before and drove over with them in the morning. She told me she was dreaming about the race all night. She couldn't remember how the triathlon went in her dreams, but she kept feeling the great feeling after of we did it! I think one of the very best parts for me was when I crossed the finish line and ran over to Mark and he had started to get teary eyed. What a great husband! I was on fire all day. I felt so good. I had the feeling that I could reach my dreams and overcome self-limitations in multiple areas of my life. What a great day - I intend to create more like it.

First Triathlon

They started the athletes every 15 seconds in the water. We swam in a zig zag. We swam down a lane, switched lanes, swam up a lane, switched sides of the lane, swam down, etc. I finished my swim feeling great. I ran over to get my bike and there was Mark cheering me on. I wasn't sure what time he was going to get there. I was really excited to see him there. I dried off a little and jumped on my bike and took off. Both the bike and the run were so beautiful. I loved it. The run was along the golf course trail with part of it by a river. It was so nice! My legs were a little stiff after biking. It took me a few minutes to get them used to running, but after the initial start I felt great and was able to run hard. As I was running I could hear other athletes cheering me and others on. I finished strong and heard Mark cheering for me. It was a good first experience and I'm hoping I can do even better the next time I do this.
Here's me at the start of my swim.


I'm about to pass someone. :)























I felt great during my swim! I'm climbing out getting ready to go bike.





The start of my bike and the start of my run.

My first triathlon!!!

Yay!!!! I did my first triathlon!! My friend Rachel did it with me. These are a few pre-race pictures. We did the triathlon in Logan on July 12th. We swam 500 meters, biked 12 1/2 miles, and ran a 5K (3.1 miles). I finished in 1 hour 21 minutes. I felt great the whole time. I felt so good about the whole experience. It was so exhilarating! Preparing and training was great for me. I had wanted to do one for a while and knew this summer was a good time to do it. I wasn't sure where to start or how to prepare for a triathlon. I hadn't swam or biked competitively. There were just unknowns. It felt so rewarding that I stayed focused and committed and that I was able to keep my mind focused on positives. I am so thankful Mark supported me in doing this. I love being able to do things like this! It's an amazing feeling to be surrounded by other athletes and to feel the energy there.

This is a picture of the Logan Aquatic Center pool. The lanes are 50 meters.
Preparing to race!

Brynli Learning to Talk

I love listening to Brynli's cute voice!