Audrey and Kate participated in the Provo tri on Saturday.   When I first told them about the triathlon, Kate told me that she wasn’t going to do it.  Audrey was game, but Kate was quite emphatic about her decision.  So, not wanting to force Kate into anything, I only signed Audrey up…. until Kate saw that Audrey was getting a new suit that would work better for all three events.  Then, she said, “I think Audrey’s right.  I’ll be sad if I don’t do it.  So, I guess I’ll do it.”  Luckily, there was still time to sign her up.  Being the nice Mom I am, I told her she could do it and get a new swim suit, but if she whined at all at the race, we would put her old suit on and take the new one back.

Kate did really good not to whine until we put on her swim cap – which she usually loves.  I think she was just getting nervous about things and it was coming out in the form of complaints about the swim cap.  I threatened the whole swim suit thing again and she snapped back into shape.

The temperature outside was mid 60′s.  The temperature of Utah Lake averages 60 degrees this time of year.  I’m pretty sure, it was no where close to that.

Originally, Scott and I were both planning to swim with the girls but once we got there we convinced ourselves that one parent (Scott) would be enough and that way they other one (me) could stay with Simon and take pictures.  Audrey started out great.  Look at her awesome freestyle in those pictures above.

Apparently, Kate was having a hard time getting started in the frigid water, so Scott picked her up and put her on her back.  I had just enough time to take this picture of her screaming before I saw Audrey begin to come back toward Scott and grab onto him because the cold was finally getting to her.  So, I ran back to the stroller, stripped down to my swim suit, ditched Simon, and jumped in the water.  It was a good thing I went out there.  Scott had already run eight miles that morning and was feeling like he’d be lucky to finish the swim, let alone helping two panicking girls.  They both finished with a backstroke – well, more like floating on their backs and kicking, but hey, they finished.

While I helped them dry off and transition to bikes, Scott dried off himself and ran off after them.

The girls came back looking great and full of energy.  Scott, however was spent!  Audrey got back a little before Kate, so I sent her off on the run and then followed along with Kate a few seconds later.

Audrey finished her run a couple of minutes before Kate and was able to cheer for Kate as she crossed the finish line.

I was so proud of both of them.  They worked so hard and did awesome coming in, in the last two spots.

I think Kate may have been the youngest one to do it.  They rocked!

Way to go girls!

Here I am getting on the bus to take us up the canyon.  This was taken a little before 8 a.m. even though the race didn’t start until 10 a.m.  The temperature wasn’t too bad, but the wind was blowing so hard.  It was freezing up there sitting on my cold rock waiting until the start.

I didn’t have high expectations for this race, being 16 weeks pregnant and having taken about six weeks off during what should have been training.  In fact I really didn’t start training until three weeks ago.  So, I decided to do a walk run combination and I ended up surprising myself in the end getting a time of 2:15:59.

It ended up being a great race.  The scenery was beautiful, I felt good, and it was so fun to have Scott run the last of it with me.

We took our discussion out of the chapel and into the side hallway. After a short lecture, I decided we should go to the restroom, get a wet paper towel, and return to clean up a bit of graffiti (so much for keeping the deed unnamed). I marched her to the back of the church and told her in a firm voice, “You stay right here and don’t move while I go in and get some paper towels.” She obeyed.

I walked into the restroom, grabbed a length of paper towels and turned to leave when I saw a very confused little girl (not Kate) walking in the door. My first thought was, “Um, little girl, do you realize you’re in the wrong bathroom?” That’s when I realized that I could have been the trespassing party, so I glanced around begging to find a urinal or something to denote I was in a men’s restroom. Nope. Nada. In my defense, I think this is the first time I’ve been in these restrooms at this church.

I’m pretty sure nobody was already in there when I entered – at least I’m convincing myself that was the case.

As I exited the restroom, I made a quick glance around and one guy saw me (luckily I didn’t know him, but I’m sure he thought, “Who is that creep coming out of the women’s restroom!”). I tried to act like everything was normal.

I leaned down and whispered to Kate, “I just went into the girls bathroom!” She started giggling, then I did. So much for composure while trying to discipline.

When we got back in the chapel, I told Jeana what happened, and we were both laughing so hard as I tried to get the story out. Ah, good times. I guess I needed to learn a little humility today, and a little humor.

While we were visiting with him, Kate whispered to me, “I’ve never met the REAL Santa before.”

We visited Temple Square with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Gramps.

It was pretty cold, but so beautiful.

Kate was determined not to let go of Grandma and Grandpa’s hands – even when people got in the way.

We had our annual Christmas program

complete with Joseph, Mary, the donkey,

the angel,

and Baby Jesus.  Mary was nice enough to give up her spot on the donkey when Joseph got tired.

Christmas morning led to some fun surprises!

Simon spent all morning playing at that kitchen while the rest of us opened presents.

He broke away long enough to line up some new cars.

Scott and I (mostly Scott) made this awesome car town.  Scott added some Texas flare by putting a Rudy’s and an HEB on it.

After Christmas, we headed up to Brad and Chanda’s to have some fun on the wii, eat tons of good food (Brad is the best cook ever!), and get super addicted to American Ninja Warrior.  So awesome!

Then, we headed to Jodi’s to celebrate Grandma Baldwin’s birthday.

Everyone had fun with the cousins.

Audrey and Lily had some fun getting pulled on a sled behind the snowmobile.

Okay, by “nutshell”  I meant lots of things combined in one really long post.

The end.

We played in the snow!

I mean really!  What says sheer happiness more than smiling so big you can’t contain the spit from spilling out onto your lip!

Ready for some snow shoeing!

Unfortunately only three of us truly got to enjoy the snowshoeing.

For some reason we got on this crazy jumping kick and took TONS of pictures jumping but these three are some of my favorites.

The guys all went snowmobiling and got some awesome pictures of them jumping, but they’re all on Scott’s phone, so he’ll have to add them later.

We went on a hay ride,

singing Christmas carols,

got stuck, unloaded the kids, pushed until we were unstuck, ambushed the husbands – tackling them in the snow, but just like we knew we would, the wives all got the worst of it… except for maybe Jeff… I think he ended up the worst of all.

We warmed up with some hot chocolate and took a nice, big family picture.

A few weeks ago at Scott’s soccer game, he decided he needed to be a super star. He was playing some hard core defense since their usual goalie was out. He would do a much better play by play than me, but basically he went to block a goal that was kicked at pretty close range. He went to do a header, but the ball got his eye instead. The good news is, he blocked the goal. And I think he knew that before he went down. He was down on the ground for a while before he ran off the field – trying to look like everything was fine, but not fooling anyone since he couldn’t run in a straight line.  His eye lid was pretty purple and he said there was a big black spot in his vision.  Don’t worry, that didn’t stop him from going back out and playing after a few minutes.

So, after a few days passed and Scott’s vision didn’t improve, he went to the eye dr.  They dilated his pupil and found that everything was okay.  You know how when they dilate your pupils, they’re very sensitive to light?  Well, that’s what Scott was experiencing.  So, he wore his sun glasses for a while when he got home, but when he went back to working on the computer, the screen was just too bright for him.  He came out with one of my elastic headbands around his forehead asking me if I could think of anything he could use for a patch.  I handed him a black piece of paper as he said, “I’m starting to get a headache from this headband.”  I told him I had a looser blue headband in the drawer… but apparently he found one even better than the one I was thinking of.  What a masculine pirate, he would be!

We went to the San Antonio Temple and walked around.

Of course it’s close to impossible to get a picture with all three kids looking, so we’ll settle for one.

Some people were tuckered out after a walk around the temple.  Others had to rehydrate and others just had to kick back and relax.

Finally we made it to the River walk.  We walked along for a while, had a boat ride, and ate lunch in a very welcomed, air conditioned, restaurant.

Grandpa pointed out some baby ducks to Kate.

These girls REALLY love each other.

The boat ride was fun, and hot, and a bit too long for some.

On our way back to the car we walked through La Villita and I loved it!  The streets, buildings, walls… all of it was just so cute.

I love this boy!

She climbed it over and over and over again….until she ended up with a blister on her toe.  I guess that’s what she was mainly using to grip with.

At half time, Scott encouraged her to reach up and grab the top with her hand.  What a little monkey!

Jeana dropped the girls off at my office at 10am (yes I actually went into the office for once) and we raced to the first events on the schedule. Jeana had them prepared with backpacks of books to read and to color/write in, toys to play with, and food to eat. Of course, I had the backup plan of two DVDs in my backpack just in case of an emergency. The exciting part is that we went from 10am to 4pm non-stop and then they hung out and played for an hour while I wrapped up some work. We left the office around 5:15pm and they didn’t even fall asleep on the way home. I think they have built up the stamina to make it through a full work day now.

Here are some highlights from our day.

The first thing we wanted to do was go to the cookie walk. They must have walked in circles at least 10 times before Audrey’s cookie was called out. She stood at the cookie reward table trying to decide what to get for quite a while. Finally, she chose a bag of three brownies so that she could share – how sweet. Kate’s cookie was never called out, so we decided to leave.

Downstairs in the old library there were displays of countries around the world. They played instruments from Guatemala, declined spicy gum from Mexico, experienced boredom at the USA table, spoke Portuguese at the Brazil table, and met my friend at the Africa table.

What kids event would be complete without a visit from a fire engine? We got to the engine right before they had to leave, but we still got to climb inside and sit in their chairs. One of the nice firefighters (you could tell he either had kids or has been around them lots) showed Audrey and Kate a “magic door” on the back of the engine where the ladders were stored.

We had lunch in my office – you can see Kate’s spread of food above – and then watched a spelling bee for second, third, and fourth grade kids. Audrey was sad she wasn’t old enough yet to participate, but next year she’ll be ready. When the host would call out the word, I would hurry and have Audrey spell it in my ear. She did alright, but she’ll be better off waiting a year to compete with kids older than her.

Professor Sparky gave us a presentation about volts, microvolts and megavolts. He showed us a theremin and let us try it out! Theremins are the devices used in old scary movies to make UFO or alien sounds.

The day ended with a performance by a local musician / story-teller, Staci Gray. Staci was great with the kids and involved them by having them stand up and move around during the songs. She concluded her show by turning on a bubble machine which invoked a sort of kids mosh-pit up front. Audrey and Kate begged me to let them go up. I hesitated to let them, but gave in and let them go. Here is a clip of the hokey pokey to open the show.

Thanks IBM for a wonderful event again, and for helping me spend fun quality time with my kids. We’re looking forward to next year!

In the last game of the season, I had a bit of a collision with the opposing forward and my ankle is swollen, green, and causing a severe amount of whining to spew from my mouth. Poor Jeana has to listen to me complain about it constantly.