Zoo

We took the kids to the zoo the week before school started. I love the zoo and it was a beautiful day. I love how depressed the animals look in all the pictures we took. Cannon loves the sharks and we wished the walrus tank wasn't being cleaned. I have missed them the last two times I have gone and they are the coolest animals at the zoo. The Tacoma zoo is really pretty and has a great view of the water as a backdrop. Plus I finally got cotton candy for the kids on this trip and they thought I was mother-of-the-year.

Anniversary

I love when we come home from a trip together and these are all the pictures we have. You can tell we are always using Phil's phone and that he loves taking great pictures of me whenever we sit down somewhere. I was able to go to Vegas with him on a work trip for our anniversary. They were having a cold front so it was only in the upper 80s which was perfect. I was the only one out by the pool and everyone else was commenting on the cold. Phil even made it back one night before the sun went down so we could hang at the pool together. We went to a show down on the strip and had some amazing tacos at this little stand and then tried to stay as far away from the strip as we could. Our hotel was out in a new development that was super nice and only had one casino on it. The kids were at Aunt Andra's for a few nights then at the Hendrix's and spent the last day at Kerri's who took them all to the beach. The kids had a great time and were sad when we got back to pick them up. It is great to have such good people around to watch our kids so we can do these little trips as just the two of us. It is so great to be married to such a great guy and to be able to celebrate being married for 14 years.

Triathlon

After the race

Just before the finish line

Phil got my better side at the time clock

Phil and I did the army triathlon in August. It has been a few years so we thought we should do it again. We were ill prepared, but I beat my time by 12 minutes and Phil his by about an hour (it helps when you don't have a torn ACL and a missing pedal on your bike.) My swim was slower and I wasn't sure if I could run during the transitions because when I got out of the water no one was running to get to the bikes. I used Amanda's nice bike that we picked up the day before. Amanda told me not to change out of the higher gears so I had a great bike, but I didn't really know how to use it. I need to get a better bike to ride around for training, but they are crazy expensive. There were two ladies that came out of the water way after me and passed me at about mile 11 on the bikes. I wanted to keep up with them and I almost changed the middle gear, but was afraid I couldn't get back to those gears. I passed them on the run and managed to do the 3 mile run with a 6:50/mile pace. Really I just didn't want a guy from our ward, Andy Wilson, to pass me up so I really pushed the run. Plus when you can't feel your legs after the bike you get and the transition you get a funky pace going anyway. No pictures of Phil during the race because he finished way before me. It was fun though and we are trying to talk friends into do it with us next year. Everyone is afraid of the swim, but I inform them that I always do the sidestroke and would be happy to teach them because it is so cool. One guy I was swimming by stopped and asked me if I was okay because he didn't know what I was doing.

Movie in the Park

While we were in Portland we found a park that was playing a movie in the park and sold popcorn and treats. If was a great time and I wished we could pull something like this off in our neighborhood.

Concert with Kids

We took the kids to Oregon in August for a final trip before school started. It was a super hot week there and we had a great time swimming and doing outdoor things in the evening once Phil was done with work. They have an outdoor mall just across the street from our hotel that had a concert one of the nights. The band wasn't great, but the kids liked watching from the play structure and they loved eating treats from the candy store.