Seven Peaks

We have been itching for a little fun in the sun and since we have Pass of All Passes we headed up to Utah's "Big" beach Seven Peaks water park. We coordinated with my sisters and my mom to meet up with us.  Who wants to party alone, and we may have needed someone to watch the kids every once and a while so we could go on a grown up ride. 

When we got there we got a great place to set up camp thanks to Vanessa's friend Carolyn who joined the party.  We headed to the kid pool first.  Sawyer thought it was terrifying for some reason.  He normally likes water so who knows what the deal was.  Jaylee was loving being in the water.  She of course though had a floaty and it was nap time so the waves of the water were putting her to sleep.  We headed to the wave pool after and that for sure just lulled her to sleep so we put her in the stroller and my mom walked her around for a bit which did the trick.  Jaylee took a much needed nap while we all rode some rides.  

Sawyer discovered the little kids pool and was in heaven.  He loved the splashing without the water being really deep.  We rode rides most of the day.  When Jaylee woke up we took her a on few rides as well. When the kids from the sports camps and youth camps from BYU started showing up we decided to call it a day. The kids were tired and hungry anyways so we headed to the mother of all places to go after a long day of swimming "Chuck-A-Rama".  Sawyer fell asleep on the way there.  He was so tired.  I don't think he even made it out of the parking lot before he was sawing logs. 

Dinner was great and it was so much fun to get together and enjoy a day at the "beach", even if my feet were killing me.  Why does that always happen?  I unfortunately didn't get pictures at the "beach".  

Bryce Canyon Half Marathon

Back in December I convinced my mom and sister, Krista, that we needed to run the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon.  Who wouldn't run a half marathon for only $35? (that was rhetorical, most people think we are crazy.) 

My mom and Krista had ran this race before and liked it but warned me that it kills your quads.  Actually anybody who has ever ran this race gave me the same advice, make sure you work on quad strengthening.  I thought "well, I have been doing the Squat Challenge with Travis I will be good.  Shoot, I just ran the Ragnar too, I can do anything." Wrong, I was so wrong. 

The night before we headed down to my Grandparents to meet up with everyone.  My Grandma, Jaylee, and I made the trek down to Cannonville to pick up our racing packets, while the men went fishing.  While driving down there I was scoping out the course, making sure there were plenty of restrooms- which there were every 2 miles, and what the terrain was like.  It didn't seem too bad.....in the car.  It was a fun little drive down but we got rained on.  I was worried we might get rain the next morning and I did not want to run 13.1 miles in the rain.  

My mom,Vanessa, and Krista made it to Grandma's in perfect timing to have a spaghetti dinner with us and compare notes.  We ended up going to bed way too late but oh well it was fun visiting with everybody.  Colby was even there with us. 4 in the morning came way too early.  Who gets up that early?  We loaded the kids in the car and were on our way in the dark, the race started at 6.  I was a little upset when I found this little fact out but afterwards I was so grateful that we started so early, it go HOT. 

Vanessa and Travis dropped us off at the starting line and headed down to the finish line before they closed the road.  They were armed with food, blankets, and an I Pad to keep the kids entertained. The starting line was exhilarating.  I love starting lines, so much anxious, excited energy. We actually ended up running into a few people we knew, Greg- my cousin and his brother in law, Nikki Richins, and Hillary and Cassidy Carter.  It was fun to know we were running with people we knew.  

So happy at the starting line

When we started it was a mad house.  It was so crowded.  We should have listened to my wise mother and got on the left side of the road.  We also noticed right before the gun that there were pacers.  I love me a pacer.  We realized we were way back with the 2:35 pacer so we tried to push our way forward but to no avail we got stuck by the 2:15 pacer. When the gun went off the masses started moving but very, very slowly.  Our first miles was 8:45 and it felt like we were barely moving.  I know I probably tripped a few people trying to get out of the pack but oh well.  Krista took off.  I tried to stay in front of my mom, which I did until mile 7.  That never happens so I was super excited.  

The first part of the hill is all downhill.  Not like a gradual downhill, like so steep your legs can't stop if you wanted them too.  You just gotta let gravity work its magic here and go with the flow.  As we were nearing mile 6 I could here talking behind me.  I recognized the voices and my mom and Greg.  I thought I could fend them off but to no avail they passed me when the course leveled out and we had to start going up and down hills.  I kept my mom in my sights but she ended up beating me.  I actually ran pretty close with Hillary and Cassidy.  It was fun to be by people I knew.  There was a lot of support along route from volunteers and townspeople. They even had a sprinkler you could run through if you wanted to.  All I though when passing the sprinkler was chafing.  Not a good thing. 

There goes Krista, notice how nobody is around here.  Apparently that happens when you are fast. 

I made it to the finish line and my little cheering crew brought me in.  It was fun to have Vanessa, Travis and the kids there.  Sawyer was really happy when he saw me.  He now asks when he can run a half marathon to get a cool metal.  

Did she even break a sweat? 

The finish line was awesome.  I was so tired though and stinky, just ask Vanessa who got stuck behind me in the car. Krista ended up taking 1st in her age group, and 9th overall female, and my mom got 1st in her age group too.  Sadly, I got 17th but the winner was in my group.  It is also the biggest age group and most competitive.  

We headed back to The Pines Restaurant to get some delicious pie to go.  We then headed back to good ol' Circleville.  When we got there the bikers were just going through for the awesome "Crusher in the Tushar" bike race.  We all decided to watch them go by and cheer them on.  It was amazing how fast those bikers were going.  It was fun to watch and sit down.  

The rest of the weekend was filled with good food, rubbing sore muscles, and trying to remember what if felt like to sit down or go up stairs without pain. 

There is my Mom leading the pack in gray

Sawyer's camera skills

Cheering Section

Krista was so tired she kept falling asleep talking to us

Cool Dude

4th Of July Wrap Up

The 4th was spent in Minersville.  We headed over to Tammy's to get ready for the festivities.  Travis had to sleep outside with the boys so they could hear the "bombs", I don't actually know what they used but it is loud and they last for a long time in the morning.  What would the 4th be like if they didn't ring it in at 6 in the morning with bombs, did I mention they were loud?  Oh yeah, and there are like 10 or more they set off.  I convinced Tim, Tammy and Dave's son to run the 5k with me.  I was a little nervous about the race. When I used to run in Minersville I got chased by a lot of dogs. The race was small but fun.  We ran right in front of Tammy and Dave's so we had a little cheering crew for us.

The parade was short and sweet.  We always go to the program at the school after for some patriotic enlightenment.  I spent the time out in the hall with my extremely loud baby.  She thought she needed to talk above everybody else.  It was fun to visit with some of my cousins out in the hall.  Apparently, being loud runs in our Yardley genes.  

We hit up the park after the program for the kid races and to visit with people.  Jaylee was not going to race without her mom.  Silly girl.  Needless to say she didn't even come close to winning but she looked so dang cute doing it who cares?  Sawyer ran his race too.  He was a little upset he didn't get a metal but what can you do?  

It was stifling hot so we headed back to Tammy and Dave's to play and let the little ones sleep. Travis and Nathan with a little help from Sawyer spent the time filling up water balloons to launch.  The "boys"- even the big ones- had a lot of fun launching the balloons over the trees and houses.  Probably not a really good activity but it was a lot of fun. We had a great little BBQ in the evening while we waited for it to get dark.  My sister Krista was actually stationed a the elementary school for a fire in the area.  We met up with her during the fireworks.  We thought she might like to go and take a shower so we took her back to Tammy's with us for a quick one.  It was fun to get to see her. 

On Friday we went out on the Boat with Tammy and Dave's family.  It was quite the experience.  We tubed and rode around.  Jaylee was so tired but wouldn't miss out on any of the action. Sawyer would't get out on the tubes with us.  I don't blame him after seeing some of us out there battle the tube.  Nathan, Tim, Travis and I caught some major air on the tube.  I have decided that I am not as young as I used to be, I don't bounce back as quickly.  A storm was rolling in so we had to head out. It was fun while it lasted.  

This wasn't even close to some of the big air I caught. Good thing I have been doing some Jillian Michaels otherwise my arms would have given out. 

Hold on Travis

Nathan battling the odds

Jaylee found a new buddy.  She was loving Tim. 

So scared of the water. Silly boy.