Visitors

My parents have come in from out of town and we spent the day up in Seattle at the Aquarium and the kids thought it was wonderful. We had a really great time seeing all the fish. It was hard to pull Cannon away from each one and he loved telling Grandma about each fish in the tank.
Touching all the fish.
Lyla was pretty happy as long as I was holding her. We had just left her for the weekend with Phil's dad so I think she wasn't sure if I was going to do it again.
Cannon and Miya making a great scuba diver and eel.
Outside watching the sea otters and seals. Today we are off to NW Trek to see how it is. Then Miya starts school tomorrow. She keeps saying, "we have to have a lot of fun today because tomorrow I have to be at school." She is looking forward to school, but it is hard to want to go when Grandma and Grandpa are so much fun.

Windows

Many of you might not recognize what the item is in this picture. Well, to my children it is the only way to roll down the window in the car. Phil and I have never been big on cars and were super excited to get a car and a truck for the price of our first car when Miya was born. We had to laugh the other day when we were driving in Phil's new work car that is a little nicer then anything we normally drive and Miya sat staring at the doors. She finally asked, "so how do you put the windows down?" She was super impressed that Phil could get all the windows in the car down without having to lean back over the seats and manually roll down all of the windows. A whole new world of possibilities seemed to open up to her in just a matter of seconds as she noticed the black button on her door that controlled her window.

Wake Surfing

So I was out hanging in our yard last month waiting for someone to come pick me up on their boat, when Jim Crawford came by and picked me up. Yeah, I am just that cool that I will sit out by the lake waiting for people I know to come by. He had the Wilhelm family with him and they taught me how to get up on the surf board. I never let go of the rope and actually surfed, but it was fun to learn how to get up. I went wake boarding the next day and my arms were still tired after learning this.

You can tell from the picture that I normally don't take things very seriously and like to just have fun when learning something new!!

Great Dream

So I thought I would note my dream from last night because it was just so great and I can't get over how I hope it will feel that good when we are all hanging out in the Celetial Kingdom. I should tell you that most of the time I have really weird dreams, so it is nice to have just a really happy one.

Anyhow...So the whole dream was me in a large room, about the size of an open supermarket. Everyone I know and love was there. People from my childhood (all the neighborhood kids and we did play flashlight tag, which Eric Wade had me on his team), people from school (some were even doing old high school dance moves in the pink costumes from drill team), people from college (all my old roommates and even the men's volleyball team from my freshman year-they were all super hot that year. They wanted me to play volleyball with them), people from all the wards I have lived in here in Seattle and tons from my new ward (Blaire and Drew were dressed up in cheerleading outfits and kept doing flips and tower moves in the croud). All of my family was there including my millions of cousins I love and miss. My sisters and I did a dance that Mia Michaels choreographed and all of us were flexible (that is when I should have realized it was a dream). The best part about the dream was that it wasn't one of those crunchy parties were you wish everyone knew each other, but just stood around in groups not mingling with everyone else. Everyone in the room was friends and talking and laughing and having the best time. The whole room felt like love and I knew everyone was there for me and it made me feel so special.

I woke when the alarm went off feeling so happy and loved. I am guessing it was just a sneak peak at the event Phil has planned for my 30th birthday party next month!!! I am already preparing my dance moves.

Triathlon

Phil and I had a great morning yesterday participating in the Fort Lewis Triathlon. Phil hurt his knee two weeks ago and wasn't sure if he would be able to do it, but he did it with me. He has a funny story to tell about the bike ride and losing a peddle so watch the video. (sorry I took it sideways and can't turn it)

This was our first attempt at a triathlon and we weren't sure if we would ever want to do it again, but we really liked it. I guess once you do it you know how you would do it differently next time. Everyone in the race seemed like super serious bikers and had really nice bike and then there was us. People I was in front of in the swim passed me on the bike and I found them in the run. It was great and I did better then I was hoping (nothing fantastic, but I wasn't dead last) I finished at 1 hour 43 minutes which I am proud of. It is a nice baseline to start from next time.

Phil and I before the race. We were a little nervous after looking at everyone's bikes and thinking we might be in a little over our heads.

Phil coming over the finish line. He is such a trooper to finish with a hurt knee and losing a peddle. I am so proud of him and glad I have someone who wants to do all of this with me.

I wish we had more pictures of the action, but you can see my serious "biker bum" I have developed since this summer. I guess that is just the results of wanting to do it together. We got to wear some super cool bright green swim caps that we didn't get captured in a photo. I also have a super awesome white mushroom type bike helmet that always makes an exciting addition in a photo.

Phil's dad was so great to take time out of his busy day and come support us in this event. He was a super cheerleader and shouted things like "poetry in motion" when we ran by. It was great.

You can see the peddle missing from Phil's blue bike. Notice all the people in the back standing around the results board. I was just happy to finish and didn't really need to track all the numbers. Hey, I did the side stroke (I don't like my head under the water) and still wasn't the last one out of the water. You should have seen the people's faces when they noticed they were getting passed by someone doing the side stroke. Let's just say it gave them a little motivation to pick up the pace.

We want to get a lot more people gathered to do it next year...IT WOULD BE SOOO FUN!!!