2 MONTHS???!!!! OUCH!

I hadn't realized that it had been 2 months since my last post . . . I knew it had been awhile, but 2 months?!

UPDATES- sorry for the quick and dirty, but it's either this or nothin' because I doubt I'll ever have the fortitude to fill it all in in detail. :)

May 7th- moved into new place. LOVE IT. :) Actually have decorations up on some of the walls. woot woot.

May 9th- St. George Triathlon. I competed in the sprint distance again. Except that morning was windy and that kayaks couldn't hold their position in the lake so the swim was cancelled. SO- we did a Duathlon instead. Which was about a billion times harder for me. Run 5k, Bike 20k, Run 5k AGAIN. So basically I wanted to die. I was ready to leave when they announced the change-- if Jeff hadn't been there I probably would have! So needless to say, my time wasn't fabulous, but at least I finished it.

May 13th- 23rd- flew to Omaha for Derek's graduation from Law School. Then from there we flew to Kentucky to visit my parents for a week. The whole trip was fun- things were a little more interesting at my parents house since Elea could walk and get into (every)things!

Sometime in here my back got messed up. I had started upping my run mileage because I've agreed to do a half-marathon with Angie in August. Anyway, so it was making me incredibly ornery and the picking up and putting down of Elea and everything in between got to the point that I could hardly stand it anymore. I went to the chiropractor and it didn't help at all. Then Jeff had been shadowing at the Physical Therapist office so they told him to have me just come in. So I went in and did all the different movement tests, and he meaured this and that, etc. The determination was a) he had no idea what exactly was wrong and b) my hips/back/legs are all so squeewampous that he said that he was surprised I could even run at all, physically. AWESOME thing to hear when you've become addicted to Triathlons, etc. So did the hot zapper then the cold zapper and took a few days off of running. Then I went back in and the 2nd physical therapist came and took a look- same thing, neither could figure out exactly what was going on. So they gave me a heel lift for one shoe and an SI belt to wear around my hips when I run. So then on my runs for the next 2 or 3 weeks I wore them. My back stopped hurting but then my hips/legs started to ache really bad. Angie and I did our first "long" run one saturday and by the end I was aching bad- frustrating as heck. So I rebelled a week or 2 ago and didn't wear the SI belt. PRESTO! My back doesn't hurt, and my hips don't hurt- so I'm a happy girl.

MOTHER'S DAY- I don't remember the exact date of mother's day . . . but it was a good day. Jeff is always good about remembering "gift" days and making them special for me.

June 13th- Utah Summer Games Triathlon. This is almost identical to the St George Tri, except the run portion is on the pavement instead of dirt. Jeff had to work so my sister was a sweetheart and came to cheer me on. The weather was a little sketchy again but we made it in and out of the water before the rain so it was all good. It was my first race swim in the lake. I actually handled it a lot better than I expected too. I was 3rd coming out of the water in my age group so I am happy about that. Then the bike portion came-- As I was headed up the big hill it started to rain, at about that same time my front tire started to make this obnoxious squealing noise. I thought it had something to do with the water on the tires or something but I am an idiot and I actually had a VERY FLAT tire. However, I didn't even know this until I was headed DOWN the big hill at 30+ miles per hour and one of the refs off to the side at the bottom of the hill yells out- "YOU'VE GOT A FLAT TIRE!!" So I get over the cattle guard safely, pull over, and then begin to take the wheel off, etc. LUCKILY, that same guy came down and took care of the tire for me. I had stopped to by a tire pump for my bike the night before, but kind of like the 10 virgins, I was too late and so I didn't even have a tire pump. If he hadn't came along, I would have been stuck walking my bike until some kind hearted competitor pulled over to let me use their air pump. Anyway, after finally getting that tire taken care of I finished the bike course- the flat tire added a ton of time- so I'm not even paying attention to my time on that leg of the race. Then the run- I actually managed to run the entire 5k without walking AND I kept 10 minute per mile pace so I was happy with that. At the end when Angie gave me a hug I had an emotional breakdown for about 10 seconds. This was the first race that I actually felt like I ACCOMPLISHED something, so that combined with the realization that a million things could have gone horribly wrong with that flat tire (i.e. completely crashing into the wet pavement)- I had to cry for a sec. So in the end I finished 16th-- which is has about zero bragging rights attached to it, BUT all things considered- I'm okay with it. I wasn't planning on doing another tri until september, but I wanted a redo, so I'm doing the scofield tri next weekend. :)

June 19th- 2 of my nieces got baptized so my parents came to visit for a few days. It was fun to have them here. We went to the splashpad in downtown st. george and elea LOVED it.

June 21st- Father's Day. I got jeff the standard father's day ties-- I was inspired the friday before because he had me bring his church clothes for the baptisms and I couldn't a) find a tie without a stain on it, and b) figure out what were his real ties and what ones were his ugly tie contest ties from his mission. So my mom helped me find some sweet ties that I am going to confiscate if I ever see them within 10 feet of food or liquid.

During that time there was a bunch of birthdays so it felt like we were driving down to St. George about every other day! Angie & her fam are in St. George for the summer so that is pretty fabulous. It's gonna suck when she moves to AZ, not thinking about it, not thinking about it, not thinking about it.

Elea is walking like a pro now. She is such a fun kid- I spend half my time at home calling out "where's elea?? Whhheeerrrreeee'ssss EEELLLLEEEAAA??" and then she comes hurrying out from wherever she is in the house with a giant grin on her face. She's started eating more and more big people food. I love it. It's great to be able to put her in her highchair with a piece of bread and then unload and load the dishwasher in one attempt while she's eating. She turns 1 on the 13th and I'm so excited for her birthday. Jeff gets sentimental every time he thinks about her growing up-- I get excited because I love her little, I mean big, personality developing a little more everyday- it's fun for me. Oh, one other thing, I've taken her swimming a few times and the first couple of times she wasn't thrilled, but now she loves the water, and not just at bathtime!

Jeff is going to go to Occupational Therapy school instead of Physical Therapy school. What this means: Less pre-reqs, less school because it's a masters not a doctorate, less competition to get in to a good school, AND more stability job wise because face it, there are gonna be a lot of old people the next 30 years. (Occupational therapists work in a lot of different settings, with kids, babies, adults, disabled, etc.- so there are a lot of potential paths career wise). He did a semesters worth of Trigonometry during the first 5 week session of summer school. Let's just say we are ALL glad that is over. He got an A- which really isn't a surprise because he is a perfectionist so he studied like crazy the entire 5 weeks. And he is smarter than he gives himself credit for. :)

My sister-in-law Shanna taught me how to use coupons effectively. So if "couponing" is a skill then that's been my latest project. At first I started because it made grocery shopping more exciting for me, now I think I have become a snob-- I look down my nose at a box of cereal that's going to cost me more than 75 cents. This week was my first real trip to the grocery store that I only had to get produce and milk. It was almost a let-down in some twisted way because there wasn't the thrill of buying 5 things and having the total be $1.06--but I guess that's the whole idea.