Time to Get Tough

In less than 3 months, Gabe and I are headed to Colorado for the toughest physical challenge of my life. We will run through fire, swim through ice, dodge live electrical wire, and test our outer limits of endurance. Time to get serious with the training!

Looking Like a Dork . . .

But who cares?

Triathlon training is coming along. I now have use of a bike and it is time to take this show on the road! (Literally!)

The Triathamom

`I've signed up for my first triathlon! Let's hope that 3 months of training can transform me from awkward athlete to hard core fitness chick. O.K., maybe hard core is too much to ask from a girl that doesn't currently own a bike and is a little nervous to put my face in the water while swimming! I think I'm in over my head, but I hope to have some fun with this new adventure. Thankfully I'm a long distance runner, so at least I have one of the disciplines covered. Wish me luck!

Knit Happens

Many that know me intimately find it shocking that I have learned to knit. I am not a crafty girl and I'm not normally drawn to crafty pursuits. Persistence has paid off though and if I can do it, then anybody can do it. Here are a few of the knit projects I finished up this winter.Cabled fingerless gloves

A toddler owl sweater for my little cutie. The yellow dots shown are the owl eyes and the body of the owl is made by doing a simple cable. I have also made a smaller version of this sweater in orange.

Fall Hiking

A lot of playing = very little blog posting. I hope that you are also enjoying the spectacular fall weather! We are trying to soak up every once of sunlight to store up for those long winter months.
A Short Family Hike Up Big Cottonwood Canyon

The view in Logan Canyon during our hike to the Wind Caves.

Twenty-Nine Things

If you've followed our blog, you may have noticed that several years ago I started trying to do one new thing for each year of my age. It's just a fun way to make sure that I continue to grow each year and see new things. This is my last week to be twenty-nine, so here is a list of what this year of life has brought me:

1. Ran my first marathon
2. Saw a baby elephant nursing with its mother
3. Heard Beethoven's 5th Live
4. Went Snorkeling off the coast of St. Thomas
5. Made my first cheesecake
6. Mastered the one-handed egg crack
7. Tried out new hikes to Doughnut Falls, Hidden Falls, and Cecret Lake
8. Ate Sudanese Food
9. Drove a rental car
10. Learned how to thread my own sewing machine and made bean bags and pajama pants
11. Flew International with a child
12. Finally read "A Christmas Carol"
13. Visited new Salt Lake City landmarks: Red Butte Garden, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and Discovery Gateway
14. Ate Somali Food
15. Started doing Zumba dance classes
16. Saw monkeys in the wild
17. Swam in an underground cenote
18.Went to a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert
19. Went to Holi Festival
20. Shared my adoption story with high school students
21. Went to an Estate sale
22. Ate Conch
23. Watched a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis
24. Improved my knitting by learning how to increase, decrease, and purl stitch
25. Went to Coba
26. Toured through caves in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico
27. Painted my own pottery
28. Went to Ogden's Treehouse Museum
29. Ran the famous Canyonlands Half-Marathon and beat my previous half-marathon time by a full 25 minutes.

Alright, so now it's your turn to help me out. As I approach the big 3-0 I'd love to hear your ideas for things to try this next year!

Cecret Lake

Last week, we had a fun hike to Cecret Lake, up near Alta ski resort. Persy loved scampering across the rocks near the lake and watching the many chipmunks. She is my little adventure girl!

Sitting near her friend Ethan

The scenery was incredible and the trail was surrounded by summer wild flowers. This picture doesn't do it justice!

St. George

We had a blast last month in St.George with extended family. Persephone had a wonderful time playing with her older cousins and I had a delightful time seeing several productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and also Tarzan at the Tuacahn. It was pretty much an ideal vacation to suit both our interests and I'm thankful to all the extra help that I got from the grandparents and cousins.Lots of Swimming

Snail Collecting

Cousins

Hidden Falls

We're trying to get some good hikes in this summer. We searched for Hidden Falls up Big Cottonwood, but I'm not sure that we actually found it. Oh well, it was a perfect morning just the same exploring with my friend Megan and her two kiddies. I love living so close to the mountains.


Persy's friend Ethan, snuggled in with his mommy

Grow it Yourself

I teamed up with a couple of my close friends at the Community Garden this year. It's going to be a lot of work but I'm already salivating over the thought of peas, beans, melons, tomatoes, beets, lettuce, leeks, potatoes, corn, pumpkin, peppers, eggplant and more.

I Need a Much Faster Camera

My camera has about a serious delay problem and it is driving me nuts. You need to be quick to catch the ever elusive toddler!

Making a Run for It

Just a couple of pictures from my recent Half Marathon in red rock country Moab, Utah. I ran the race with my cousin, friend and former roommate Melia. The red rock and bright blue, cloudless sky were just stunning!
Stretching with my fan club. I was so happy to have such a supportive husband and daughter to greet me at the finish line.

I finished the race a full 25 minutes faster than my previous half marathon in Vegas. Go me!

Run, Wendy, Run

I knew that running a marathon would be a challenge, but I had no idea it would be so much fun! I was amazed by all the friendly volunteers and the great crowd support. I also felt a lot of camaraderie with my fellow runners and really enjoyed the gorgeous course route for the St. George Marathon. As a first timer, I don't think I could have had a better experience. One thing that really helped me was running most of the race with a pacing group. I finished in 5 hours and 28 minutes, (I had no goal time and had estimated my pace at closer to 6 hours, so I was pretty thrilled with my time.) I feel very blessed to have had this opportunity and thankful for all the support I received from friends and family.

St. George Marathon By the Numbers:

0 Blisters (Smart Wool Socks Oh, how I love thee!)

1 Pre-Race Banana

2 Times listening to "I'm Gonna Be" (500 Miles) by the Pretenders and feeling so happy that I actually started to sing out loud while I ran.

4 Family members that came to cheer me on

5 Hours of sleep the night before

6 New friends (Thank you Deb and Esther)

7 Thousand runners in the race

11 Mile mark when I wished I was a man so I wouldn't have to wait in line for the port-a-potty

15-17 My favorite miles of the race with breathtaking scenery of Snow Canyon- I can hardly describe my elation

22 "The Wall" - My 2 mile stretch of nausea and fatigue



24 Family greets me and some angel hands me a bag of crushed ice (Pictured above at mile 24, the finish line is so close I can almost taste it!)

26.2 Miles completed!

I Love the Mountains, I Love the Rolling Hills!

I am often surprised by the fact that I have lived in Utah nearly all of my life and I still feel like there thousands of places in the state left to discover. Here are some pictures from a lovely little Mommy-Daughter hike to Doughnut Falls that I took with Persy and my friend Megan. The fall leaves were just beginning to change and the drive up the canyon was quite stunning.

Megan and her cuties- I'm lucky to have an adventurous friend that will do such fun things with me. This is one of the same friends that traveled throughout Europe with me before we both got married. We are constantly planning excursions and expeditions that we want to go on when we are little old ladies.

The kids all loved tossing rocks into the water!

I love my Kelty backpack! I also use it around the city to do errands.

Time to Think

In a couple of months I will be running the St. George Marathon. Since I am such a slow runner, I have even more time than the average marathoner to think during my weekly long run sessions. Here are a few things I do to keep my runs fresh as I log several hours on the road.

Poetry: I carry around poetry to memorise on my long runs. I know I look friggin' ridiculous chanting poetry cadence to myself as I jog through the park, but I don't care.

Musical Imaginings: My ipod playlists includes just about every type of music. I have classical, African drumming, country, hip-hop, soundtrack etc. I use my music to transport me around the world. One minute I might be jogging along a dirt trail in the swampy South as I listen to Cajun Zydeco, the next I might imagine myself fighting pirates as I listen to a soundtrack.


Running with Purpose: I like to write down a higher purpose for my run and carry it with me. I also write down how I will reward myself afterwards.

Audiobooks: Need I say more?

Isn't She Lovely?

I just started harvesting my tomatoes from the community garden. I took this little beauty home and devoured it whole with a little bit of salt. Everything tastes better when you grow it yourself.

Hike to Mary's Lake on Pioneer Day

Fist Fights, Franck's, and Other Fun

We've had an eventful and fun few days. Here's what we've been up to:

Thursday
Gabe and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary last week. I know it's such a cliche, but it really is hard to imagine my life without him. I'm looking forward to the day when we will have known each other longer than we were single. To celebrate, we watched our wedding video and went to a scrumptious French restaurant called Franck's. The menu was drool worthy and I savored smoked strawberry soup,scallops with a white chocolate wasabi sauce, and apricot jasmin rice. I know the flavors may sound strange, but they are positively brilliant my friend! We also got adventurous and sampled the fois gras trio. (I think fois gras must be an acquired taste.)

Friday
I visited my folks so my mother and I could enjoy a "Spa Day." We were rewarding ourselves for some health and weight loss goals. (After becoming a mother I gained a frumpy 15 pounds. What's the deal? I don't have hormones to blame for this. I am slowly taking off the weight and getting back to a regular running routine. Woot! Woot!) We had a relaxing time getting pedicures, a massage, and going to lunch. I'm so happy my mom and I can enjoy spending time together.

Saturday
Our car overheated and broke down. Although I'm concerned about the cost, I found myself feeling strangely nostalgic as Gabe and I lounged in a grassy area beside the road. When we were newlyweds, we had a series of lemon vehicles and found ourselves having many adventures as a result. "This reminds me of when we were dating," I said wistfully as Gabe looked under the hood. (He just grunted and tried not to swear. I'm glad I have a guy who knows a bit about cars. He's so handy!)

As a result of the car mishap, our plans to attend a Bees game were canceled. Gabe was sweet though and offered to watch Persy while I went to the "Living Traditions" folk and ethnic arts festival. I got to hear an awesome Brass band from New Orleans. Several people in the audience were dancing and jumping up and down in front of me. Since I couldn't really see the musicians over their bodies, I decided to just join
them. I was really enjoying myself when I nearly got decked by two women that started fighting and swearing at each other. It was kind of a wild night.

Monday
Now it's back to "real" life. I have a full day of laundry, weeding, storytelling, and snuggling to do. I guess my "real" life is pretty good too!

Wicked on the Weekend

We had a blast attending the musical "Wicked" with my folks last night. The set and costumes were amazing! I'm so glad I got to see the production. I really feel like a could see it a dozen more times and not absorb all there was to see. I've been listening to the fabulous music for a couple years now and the musical was every bit as good as I had hoped. It was also fun to be part of such a high energy crowd. People began cheering wildly when the lights went out and the musical hadn't even started yet! A very fun night!

Inspiration

I find simple pleasure in perusing fine yarn stores. I am new to the art of knitting, but have been meandering through knit stores for a couple years now. I find a strange joy in seeing all the lovely little skeins of yarn in their many bright colors and textures.



This is a picture of the next knit project I want to attempt. It is a pair of cute alligator mittens, (in an adult size! :) I boldly bought the material before reading the instructions and now realize that the project is a little out of my league. Fortunately, I have a few knitting friends that I can call upon for assistance.