REDEMPTION: Vineman 2012

Have you ever had a day that was just so fabulous that you wish you could repeat it over and over again? Because Saturday was pretty much that kind of day.

No waves . . . No wind . . . No danger . . . No dissappointment . . . No tears . . . No "what ifs" . . .

It was the BEST day ever!  . . . A PERFECT day to finish a journey.

If you read my blog you already know about St. George. Lamon was ready, but chose to get out of the turbulent waters. It was a hard day (understatement).

But Lamon is AMAZING. He didn't let it defeat him. He didn't give up. And I honestly feel like if we hadn't  experienced St. George, Saturday wouldn't have been nearly as Amazing as it was. Sometimes you have to taste the bitter to really enjoy the sweet.

When we came home from the St, George Ironman it was really hard. As we unpacked all of this Memorabilia that had "St. George Ironman" written on it, we wondered out loud "What should we do with this stuff?" I mean . . . how could Lamon wear a shirt that says St. George Ironman when he didn't finish it?

But we knew that the "St. Geoge Ironman" wasn't really over for us. Lamon had a journey to finish. We kept most of the St. George Ironman attire with full intentions of wearing it and Lamon signed up for a full 140.6 mile triathlon called the Vineman. I wore Lamon's St. George Ironman hat the entire day (at his request).

In a talk by Pres. Kimball entitled "The David's and the Goliaths" it reads:

“Be glad there are big hurdles in life and rejoice, too, that they are higher than most people care to surmount. Be happy they are numerous. It is those hurdles that give you a chance to work your way to the front of the crowd. They are your friends. For if it were not for high hurdles, many men might be able to outrun you.”

St. George was a bit of a "high hurdle", but I think it really was a "friend" to both of us. When I went to St. George I was nervous about how "well" Lamon would do . . . I wondered if he would finish it as fast as he planned etc. I never could have forseen what would happen in the water that morning. I never entertained the thought that he wouldn't finish at all.

This time? There were no thoughts in my head about "how fast" Lamon would finish the Vineman.
I've learned that the Ironman is a race to "Finish." No one else around you matters. Each racer fights their own battle. Our friends (who are excellent athletes and extremely fast on the bike) had 4 flats between them. One of these friends also had his back completely go out on him on the run, and his IT-Band gave as well, . . .  and he still finished!! I pretty much cried as I watched my friend Michelle walk hand in hand with him the last 9 miles of the race. (Me crying? Shocking I know . . . )

 I was so inspired as I watched and cheered for these "ironmen" and "ironwomen" who were doing something so amazing. I literally stood and clapped and cheered in one spot for 5 hours during the run without moving. And I LOVED it! It will be a memory I will cherish forever!

Lamon was Amazing. He finished the race in 13 hours and 22 minutes. He completed what we have determined to be a miraculous race. Lamon had times that he hurt, but he never "bonked." He was extremely blessed. He wanted to finish before dark, and he did. Lamon, you inspire me and I LOVE YOU! And here is a video starring Lamon. Watch him as he rocks the Vineman: . . . There would be more pictures . . . but I was having too much fun cheering. :)

The Art of Cheering

Some people are natural born cheerers. It's true. I've seen them. They can actually customize their cheers to each individual that races by, and each cheer is unique and fabulous.

 I have never given my cheering abilities much thought until after Lamon's family all competed in the Dino tri last month. I was there, and cheered for all of them. But after watching the videos I discovered that I have a serious cheering problem!! But don't take my word for it . . . Watch for yourself! Here is the now coined "Wahoo" yell . . . over and over again. . .

Should I get depressed about this lack of cheering talent? Should I vow to never cheer again? . . . No!
Some of us are born with it . . . Some of us just have to rock what we've got. And I did rock the WAHOO in the Ironman.

I cheered my little guts out. So who cares if I said the same thing to each person? I looked each person in the eyes as I said it. The cheers I like best are:

1. Alright (insert name)!
2. WAHOO!!
3. Good Job!!
4. Way to Go!
5. Go Go Go!

But I add some variety here and there. I try to mix it up by combining the phrases. Sometimes I say, "Alright Lamon! Wahoo!"Sometimes I say, "Good Job! Way to Go!Wahoo!" Sometimes, "Good Job! Go Go Go!Wahoo!" You can see the possiblities with the combination method. There are a lot of possible cheers. Sometimes I add a "fist pump" as I yell it. Other times for fun I slow down or speed up the tempo of the cheers . . . just to add variety. There's a lot that you can do. The most important thing is the eye contact and the smile. If you have those two things . . . it doesn't really matter what you say.

In fact . . . come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that I simply yelled, "You guys are CRAZY!" a few times. But I did it with a smile as I looked into their eyes. And I'm pretty sure that I bonded with many of the Ironmen and women that day. I really think they respected me. I mean, it's pretty hard on your hands and your feet to clap for that long, but I was willing to make that sacrifice! Me and Lamon did the math and combined with his racing and my clapping we probably burned 10, 300 calories all together. :) (who cares if 10,000 of that was Lamon . . . )

I don't know . . . maybe I was born with it.

Wahoo!!!!!

I'm going Private!! (But not Really)

It seems like a lot of my blogging friends are "going private" these days. I mean it seems smart . . . then no creepy people can read your blog right? And I am totally sure that I have all sorts of weird stalkers reading my blog. I mean, who wouldn't want to? I am such a talented writer and am pretty much amazingly cool. That's why I have a hard time denying the masses the opportunity to read such amazing amazingness if I were to go Private. The truth is . . . I am secretly hoping that all sorts of people that I am unaware of ARE reading my blog. I mean, I don't really mind some stalkers as long as they aren't creepy. I guess there is that chance that there are some creepy stalkers out there. So to you creepy ones I will just tell you . . . my husband is extremely strong. He is almost an Ironman and has the most amazing calves you have ever seen. And as for me, I know all sorts of martial arts moves that I've learned from Billy Blanks and Tony Horton . . . so just keep that in mind. I wouldn't mess with me.


And to everyone else . . . don't worry, I'm not going Private. But there is one thing that I've just got to know . . . 
There have been a couple of times that a friend has announced to the world that they are going private requesting that if anyone wants to keep reading their blog to send them their email addresses. One of my friends had like 40 people respond. Wow! How popular she was! I was jealous. 


I have counted on my hands the people that I know read my blog, and I think there is like eight. Five of those people I know read it because I actually send them email notifications when I post.  Moms and Grandmas . . . thank you for your support.


But seriously. I have wondered if I went private if anyone else besides my family would say, "Invite me! Invite me!"


So I'm not going Private. But in order to boost my self-esteem . . .would you just tell me if you read my blog and how you would just DIE if I didn't invite you to my Private blog . . . if I had one? In fact . . .I don't care if you respond ten times using different pretend names. It all would go towards a good cause . . .


. . .  BLOATING MY EGO. . .  


So if you want to keep reading my "not so Private Blog" . . . you had better tell me . . . or you just might not get in . . . :) 


If no one responds, don't worry about my ego. Because I will know the truth. The truth will be that the thousands of undeclared readers . . . are really just too embarrassed to admit how much they really love my blog.
 So to you thousands out there . . . because I am such a giving person . . . I guess I will let you keep reading.

Celebrating Jim

Earlier this week while driving in the car I was sharing memories of my brother Jim with the kids. I was telling them the things he liked to do and some of the memories I have of him. Even though I've told the kids how Jim died on numerous occasions, they still were asking me "how" and "why" he drowned. Kids are so inquisitive. After awhile Drew said to me,"Mom?"

"Ya Drew?"

"I wish that your brother didn't have to die. I wish I could have met him."

"I know bud. You are the only one who got to meet him. You were tiny tiny. He thought you were awesome! He would have really loved you guys!"

And he would have.

Yesterday would have been my brother Jim's 40th birthday. When you lose someone so close it is hard sometimes even to let yourself think about them. I know that for a long time I would get mad at Lamon for even bringing up his name. I didn't want to think about him. It was too hard.

But I have since realized that letting myself remember him and talk about him is actually healing and brings me comfort. I have decided that I want my kids to know about their uncle Jim, and the only way they will know about him is if I share him with them. I need to tell stories and show pictures and talk about him.

So anyway, we spent this last week celebrating Uncle Jim. We did some activities that Jim loved to do.

1. We fished on Wednesday night.

Jim loved to fish. My brothers spent a lot of time in the mountains up the Provo, near Deer Creek, and at Strawberry Reservoir fishing. They usually just caught and released, but I remember Jim bringing plenty of fish home to cook up. And he knew what he was doing too. Or so I hear. I personally never tasted his fish. I hate fish. And I think I am still traumatized by seeing him cut the heads off and gut his fish in our kitchen sink. :)

2. We went to an Owls game on Thursday.
Jim loved baseball. I remember that he especially loved to watch the pitchers. He spent a lot of hours throwing the baseball with my brother Dave in the back yard. He even got me out there multiple times to play catch with him. And by the way he complimented me and encouraged me you would think I could go and play professional softball (and we all know how hilarious that is). Jim just had a way of making me feel like I was great. He knew what to say to me to really build me up.

3. We visited his grave on Saturday with Mom, Dad and John.
John bought some red, yellow and green balloons (reggae colors) and they were weighed down by a cushy baseball. It was perfect. We put them at his grave site and sang the Barksdale's version of the Happy Birthday song, which if anyone was in earshot I really do truly apologize. But I'm sure that Jim enjoyed it. :)

4. We went on a hike up Cascade (one of his favorite hikes).

We didn't make it all the way up. It is quite the hike.  But we did go up a ways until it started downpouring rain on us. I'm sure if Jim had been there he wouldn't have minded the rain. He liked a good storm. I will always remember how physically strong Jim was. It was quite amazing that with his smoker lungs he could outrun, outhike, outbox, out snowboard . . . anyone in the family. (I don't know if that sounds as impressive as it should or not . . . )

5. We finished things off with a barbeque and some Woofle Ball on Saturday night.
Mom, Dad, John, Dave, Ariel, Liz, Chris and their kids all came over. We ate some grilled chicken, RAMEN salad and some cake. I made the Ramen salad in honor of Jim because Jim ate Ramen noodles all of the time. It was one of his staples. Or was it his only staple? Anyway, it was a nice week. The kids got to hear about and do a lot of things to remember their awesome Uncle. I love and miss your guts Jim!  :)

Some things you just have to learn the hard way . . .

My children probably don't believe me, but I was once a kid myself. and I have done a few dumb things in my life. Hard to believe I know. But it's true. I totally know what it's like to make a not so smart choice and have something unfortunate happen as a result.

In fact, let's rewind a couple of decades . . . 

I was a typical eleven year old girl. I spent my summers swimming in our swimming pool and jumping on the trampoline. We did all sorts of things that probably were not recommended in the trampoline owners manual. I mean mostly we did standard things like put the sprinklers under the trampoline and jump (my sister sprained her neck once doing that one) and moving the trampoline close to and doing all sorts of acrobatics into the pool (which was only three and a half feet tall.) It's really a miracle that we didn't get more hurt than we did. Especially seeing as we didn't have enclosures for trampolines back then and didn't even have a pad covering the springs. I don't know how many times I was bounced off the trampoline or landed in the middle of the springs and  the bar. Ouch!

Anyways, one day we decided that we would practice our amazing tricks on the tramp. Only this time we had the bright idea to put the trampoline close to our concrete fence and jump from the fence onto the trampoline. And we did.

When it was my turn I decided I would do a knee flip. So I got up on the fence and jumped from the fence onto the tramp. I landed on my knees and did my flip . . . only I got so much bounce that as I was finishing the flip I couldn't really control the landing and I landed head first mouth open right onto the bar. My teeth hit first. I was bleeding pretty good, but the worst part was that when I went inside to ascertain the damage I saw that my front tooth had chipped in half. It wasn't too attractive.

Sad eh? Well even sadder is the fact that I had to wait for more than a year to fix it. Ya, I learned to smile showing only half of my top front teeth. It was awful. You could say I learned my lesson on that one. No more fence to trampoline jumping for me.

I'd like to say that I am completely through with these kind of misjudgments . . . But . . . 

I mean there is still a kid in me. Should a 30 year old Mom do the slip-n-slide? It could be argued! I for one don't see why not. Seems pretty safe to me. It might not be safe for the slip-n-slide . . . ( I may have broken the last one . . .) But anyway . . . 

This time I asked Drew, "Are you sure you want to let me do it Drew? What if it breaks . . . Are you going to be mad at me?" 

"NO."

"Okay. Thanks!" So off I went. It was so fun. I was doing all sort of cool slip-n-slides . . . knees . . . belly . . . knees to belly . . . belly to back . . . I was amazing. I even introduced the throw the ball first and see if you can slip and reach it move. It was all going fine and dandy until Hayden's friend decided to throw a soccer ball at my face as I was sliding down. 

Not so good. Wasn't planning on that one!

 He felt so bad. He kept saying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"That's okay bud."

But I didn't even need to look in the mirror to know what happened. All I needed to do was feel the bottom of my front tooth with my tongue. 

"Oh Fart!" (pardon my french)

I called the Dentist, but he is out of town. I hope it doesn't take a year this time . . . but in the meantime if I don't give you the full smile you deserve . . . you'll know why.

I'd say that I've learned my lesson and that my slip'n slide days are over . . . but . . .  I doubt it.  :o) And I admit . . . It's probably a good thing that Lamon won't allow us to have a trampoline! . . . 

Bring It!

So I decided that since Lamon is training for an Ironman and it is a bit hard for me to find time to run outside or go to the gym . . .  I would try P90X. It's been a few weeks now and I am posting this clip that I found on Youtube because it pretty much sums up my first couple of weeks perfectly. I am Natalie.

Perhaps I like to "modify" the moves a bit too much. Like when I do pull-ups? . . .  I basically get a chair and go from hanging (supported with my feet on the chair) to a standing position then stick my chin over the bar. I don't think it's exactly what Tony Horton had in mind.

Anyway, Drew came in one day while I was doing some "modified" pull-ups and he said, "Mom! Why are you cheating?"


"Uh . . . Because I need to cheat?!" 


He just sat and giggled while watching me. 

The first time I tried the Ab Ripper X workout I basically laid on my back and laughed the entire time while thinking, "You want me to do what?" But I'm happy to report that now I just lay on my back and laugh during like a third of the moves, and the rest of the time I am actually trying to do it. And let me just tell you that watching me try to do it would bring a smile to anyone's face. Either that or it would inspire people to want to come and rescue me . . . like Hayden and Drew did one morning.

I happened to be doing the move where while lying on your side you simultaneously lift up your legs and your shoulders off the ground towards each other. Only . . . I can't get my shoulders off the ground. And my legs don't come up too far either.

So the kids came in and were comparing my moves to Tony's and Hayden said, "Mom, you are doing it wrong!"

 Then suddenly Hayden scooted up next to me, grabbed my feet, and started to lift them off the ground. Drew followed and got on the other end of me and both of them together started lifting each of my ends off the ground (as they watched Tony Horton) trying to keep me in sync. It was so funny.


I mean . . .  that is what I call a "modified" move! Why lift your own legs if you can get someone else to do it for you?

I don't know . . . I'm still sort of in the "If you can't do something . . . don't tell yourself you can't. Just tell your self that you presently "stink" at this thing" stage. But hey, I am trying to "BRING IT" . . . modified-ish. Pretty soon I will even be able to lift up my own legs and torso off the ground all by myself . . . without kids. :)
Although the kids have proven to be excellent personal trainers. Drew comes in and does the workouts with me if he is awake sometimes.

One day when he was at Jeanine's house playing, he scraped his ankle. While helping him with the bandaid Jeanine said, "You are pretty tough aren't you Drew?"

To which he responded, "Ya I'm pretty tough. . . I do P90X with my Mom."

Oh ya! BRING IT!

The Tooth Fairy is so Flaky!

So the morning of Drew's baptism he lost his first two teeth ever. Actually rather than "lost" . . .  his teeth were more like "PRIED" from his mouth by Lamon. Drew was sooo excited about it though. And to be honest . . . so was I! Because for the last two years I have been secretly worried that Drew might never lose his teeth; and I was a little nervous at the prospect of him forever looking like an old toothless man when he smiles. (He grinds his teeth and his baby teeth are all ground to nearly nothing.) So we were both delighted.

But let me tell you something . . . That Tooth Fairy is one flaky lady!

You would think that being the high profile figure that she is she would try to have things a little more put together. But I tell ya . . . She is a flake.

I mean we spent the whole day reminding Drew to put his teeth under his pillow and even went as far as to keep checking to make sure that he hadn't lost his teeth etc.

Well, the next morning Lamon went running, and Drew woke me up all out of sorts. He was really sad and upset and he said, "Mom. Dad lied!"

"What?"

"Dad lied! He said that there would be money under my pillow, but there's not."

Oh, I was so upset at the tooth fairy at that moment! You would think she had brain problems or something! Anyway, I felt awful and I turned to Drew and said, "What? Are you sure about that?"

"Ya Mom, I'm sure."

I then said, "Wait a second . . . I want to come check." So on my way to his room I managed to grab a couple dollars from our nightstand without him seeing, and headed for his room. I started looking under his pillow and as I looked under his pillow I slipped my cash filled hand under his blanket.

I turned to him with a puzzled face. "You are right Drew, it's not under your pillow. Did you check all around and under your bed?"

"No."

"Well, it's worth a try eh?"

So he looked under his blanket and found the money and was pretty excited. Well kind of excited. He said, "I thought she would bring 15 dollars."

"What? When I was a kid I only got like 50 cents a tooth! A dollar a tooth? You are lucky man! And you even got to keep your teeth. No fair!"
He spent the rest of the day telling everyone how lucky he was because the tooth fairy let him keep his teeth.

Uh huh. That is the last time I am bailing you out Miss Flaky Tooth Fairy!! Honestly!

Wow. I am so on the ball! Pathetic I know. I'm sure everyone is crying for Drew after reading that. Maybe I had better use Drew's idea of how not to forget things by writing it on a piece of paper and taping it to my face while I'm sleeping . . .  The Tooth Fairy isn't going to miss any more teeth in this house! . . . I hope.

My "not so little" Drew got baptized . . .

I have to sincerely apologize to all two of my blog readers who have been enduring this last month and a half without one single blog post from me. Oh how you must have been suffering . . .

But do not dismay! I am going to try my best to catch both of you up with a few extremely boring "get you up to date posts" and then hopefully I can get back to my long winded posts about absolutely nothing.

My first "get you up to date" post is all about my little baby Drew. Oh wait . . . aah! He is eight! How did that happen? My little boy is growing up! It's really quite mind boggling. I've been a mother for EIGHT years?! Isn't that long enough to get a Doctorate degree? So technically . . .  I should be a mother expert by now right:? . . . Ha ha!

Anyhow, Drew turned the big Ocho in May. He is really growing up. Can someone tell me how to stop that from happening please?  Just kidding. It is so fun to watch these kids grow.

Drew was baptized on June 2nd, and it was such a sweet experience. I cried. Shocking I know. But it truly was a special day. I am so proud of him and I hope he remembers it forever.