CAMP PENDELTON MUD RUN

Check out the guy behind me. Soooo funny, I'm lovin his sports bra!

So after 3 years of trying to get into the mud run I finally got to run it! The day of registration opened and I was to late, registration was full. A week before the mud run my girlfriend told me that they opened up 500 more spots and I got in!

This was by far the funniest 10k I have ever ran. We got sprayed by the far truck then ran through water being sprayed out of the hydro jet truck. Then we crossed a river 3 times, ran through 3 mud pits and jumped over a 4 foot wall, swam 200 yds, climbed a steap muddy hill, army crawled through one final mud pit.

It was so much fun! I will definitely do it again next year!

Laguna Hills Memorial Day 1/2 Marathon

Before the race. We all look so HOT!

Camille, Melissa, Brooke, Julia, Sara, Rachel, Me and Michelle.

Camille, Julia, Me, Sara, Rachel, and Michelle.

Tony, Michelle, Me, and Mike

This was a super fun and very hill race. I ran with a bunch of girlfriends and chatted the whole way. My friend, Rob, and some of his friends ran with the American flag and some other ones. It made me a little teary eyed and so proud to be an American. After the race Michelle, Tony, Mike and I ate at Zinc Cafe, it was amazing. I think next year I'll prepare it bit more for the hills.

Stella's 6 Month Photos

Stella's First Solids

Yesterday I gave Stella her first solids, she got peas. I was really hoping for some sour faces but she liked them. She also did really good swallowing them. I thought she'd push them back out with her tongue but she ate em' and had a big grin on her face the whole time.

Makayla was a great big sister and took pictures. They were all a little blurry, but at least we were in the frame. :) The kids were googling over her the whole time and were just as excited as I was about one of her firsts. They love her sooo much.

Naval Special Warfare Superfrog Triathlon

This past weekend I competed in a half ironman. My parents came out from Utah to support me and we stayed at Loew's Coronado Bay Resort right across from the starting line of the race. Bentley was throwing up the night before and would not got to sleep that night. I would've been tired but had way to much adreneline and nerves rushing through my body to realize how tired I was.

I had to break up my nerves somehow so I whipped out some awesome water wings and a floatie.

The course is considered one of the toughest long distance triathlons around. It was intimidating seeing how many men and how few women were there. Only 45 of the 300 athletes were women. I've never felt more empowered in my life as I did standing at the start of the race surrounded by such strong women, it was the biggest high.

The swim was intense. The course was fully equipped with tons of lifeguards and several times I came close to waving my hands in the air for them to pull me out of the water. The waves were 4-6 ft high and the current was strong. I had a hard time getting out past the waves. As soon as I surfaced after diving under one wave I'd come up only long enough to take a quick breath and get a mouth full of water to choke on as I dove under the next. I took so many kicks to the face and did my own fair share of hitting and kicking. Oooops. I surprised myself finishing the swim in 46 minutes.

After the swim I took off for a 56 mile bike ride. There was a strong 10 mph head wind for half the course on HWY 75 but the scenery was gorgeous.

Last was the 13.1 mile run, 10 of which were in soft sand. I was so not prepared to run in sand but kept my mind occupied by looking for sand dollars. I collected a few along the way (I know how big of a dork I am). Thinking about crossing the finish line and seeing my hubby and girls kept me going.

I didn't get emotional after the race. All I could think was that I was so happy that was over. It wasn't until yesterday that I got teary eyed. I am absolutely amazed by myself and can't believe I pushed myself through that. I wanted to quit at least every 10 minutes and kept finding excuses as to why I should: I'm bored, I'm gonna drown, I just had a baby..... but I am so glad that I didn't, I had way to many 5 am mornings and 4 hour workouts to give up on myself when the day had finally come for all my hard work to pay off. My official time was 6hrs 24min 57sec. Not to bad for my very first triathlon but I have lots of room for improvement for the next half ironman.

Pain is temporary but 70.3 miles is forever.

Sowing Seeds of Joy

This spring, I thought it'd be fun to plant some flowers in pots with Bentley. I'm always trying to find fun things for us to do together while the kids are at school. We had a lot of fun planting them and putting the seeds in. Bentley did a great job and followed directions fairly well. She loves to water them but seems to be having a very hard time not continuing to play in the dirt. I'm not sure if any of her flowers will actually grow since she won't leave them alone.

She also planted some green beans because they are "Daddy's favorite." I'm not sure he'd agree with her, but he'll eat them anyways since Bentley grew them for him. I'm sure he is encouraging her to play in the dirt and hoping they won't grow.

Bentley's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe it's been two years since we brought Bentley into this world. The time has definitely flown by, she keeps us on our toes and we are constantly trying to keep up with her. She is our little spit fire of the family. She is persistent and strong willed and one of the funniest kids ever. She is so tough, she takes plenty of falls and bonks trying to keep up with Mak and Perry. She isn't afraid of heights, water, the dark, or monsters, but she is terrified of "pidews" aka spiders. She gets in quite a bit of trouble at Kids World for beating up other kids. Along with all of her tomboy characteristics, she loves to play dress up and is obsessed with any Disney Princess and Barbie. She loves to put on makeup too. She is so smart and witty and absolutely loves her Daddy.

For her birthday we took Bentley to Disneyland with just Mommy and Daddy. She had us all to herself for a whole day. We all had so much fun! All she wanted to do was to go see Mickey and Minnie and the Princess'. I don't think she cared for the rides at all.

As soon as we entered the park we hopped on the train and rode it over to Toon Town. She loved the train except for the tunnel. As soon as we got to Toon Town we say Goofy and got a quick picture and autograph, then we headed over to Mickey's house to meet the giant mouse. The whole time we stood in line she kept saying that she was gonna kiss Mickey's nose. As soon as we got in there, she ran up to Mickey, handed him her autograph book took a look at him, and backed right up. She wasn't so sure about about the giant mouse. She wasn't afraid, just unsure.

After we saw Mickey, we walked next door to Minnie's house. She was waiting outside for Bentley. Bentley was a little unsure about Minnie to but was very excited to have met her. After a picture with Minnie we took a tour of her house and Bentley and Dad had a tea party.

Bentley was so excited to see the Princess' so next we headed over there. The line was 1.5 hours so Mike and Bentley went off to go play, go on a ride and get a frozen lemonade, while I stood in line. She was such a good trooper and so patient. She was so mesmerized by all of the princesses. She would run up to them and literally shove her autograph book in their face for them to sign it. Her conversations were so sweet with them. She talked about princess things. She asked each of them if they like her dress and then she'd tell them "I wike your pwincess dwess." She is the perfect mix of tomboy and girlie girl.

After that we went on the carousel where we all sat together. She was so tired from a day of fun so Dad let her hitch a ride back to the car on his shoulders. She was laying on his head. She was so good and slept on the way home.

After we picked up Stella, we had dinner and went for a walk down to the beach. Bentley kept slowly loosing her clothing, which is really no surprise.

Happy Birthday dear Bentley. I am so glad we got to celebrate your birth, and I hope we made it was a very special day for you.