Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon

On Saturday I did my first sprint triathlon! It was an awesome experience and I cannot wait to do another one! We rented a cabin at Bear Lake and got a really good deal and I am SO happy we did! It had a full kitchen, a jetted tub, balconies it was perfect.

The view from the balcony in our bedroom.

On Friday night we went to a first timers triathlon meeting. They went over the course and what to expect and triathlon etiquette. I'm really glad we went. The temperature was going to be pretty cool the next morning so they weren't sure if they were going to delay the start time a bit. 

We woke up the next morning about 530 ate a muffin, took a caffeine pill,  got some hydration and headed out. The place where the triathlon was held was Rendezvous Beach. It was only about 15 minutes away from the cabin where we stayed so that was really nice. 

Once we arrived we went over and did the body marking. They do your race bib number on both of your arms and then your age on one calf and whether or not you were doing the sprint (S) or the olympic (O) on the other calf. 

It was freezing that morning!!! I put my wetsuit on early to keep warm.

 Then it was pretty much just waiting for our waves to start. Ben had decided not to swim. He hadn't really trained at all for the swim and didn't feel safe doing it. 

My parents had volunteered and they were in charge of the bike/transition area. We hung out with them for a bit and it was cool to see the really fast people come out from swimming and jump on their bikes. 

Around 8am I headed down to the water and they were getting wave 6 pink caps ready to go so I walked out to the starting point. About 10 minutes later we were off! The water actually wasn't bad and I'm really happy I had the wetsuit however, next time I'm going to get a different wetsuit because the one I rented was kind of bulky and I don't really think it was made for swimming but thats OK. I wasn't in this to win it (this time). My goal was to finish and be safe. The current was really strong and thats the one thing I regret and knew I would regret it was to train in open water because it is so different. We swam in a triangle. The 2nd leg of the swim was the hardest because you were swimming horizontally with the current and so it felt like I swam twice the distance because it kept dragging me out. Then I was done with the swim! Wahoo! I was feeling amazing!!! To get from the beach to the transition area though was about 1/8 mile that we had to walk. 

Me after the swim :)

Because Ben didn't swim he waited for me and helped me get my wetsuit off and change my shirt to get ready for the bike. He hopped on his bike then and was off and I was close behind but soon he was way ahead of me. The bike ride was awesome!! It was a gorgeous morning and a beautiful ride. I had special biking shorts on (I call them butt shorts) but I didn't feel like they were cushioning my behind at all. Other than that it felt great. I am glad I put a running jacket on though because I think it would have been too cold after the swim. 

As soon as I got off the bike to transition to the run my legs felt crazy! Another thing I regret is not  hydrating enough. I brought a little lunch box to put nutrition in and I did really well from the swim to the bike but from the bike to the run I took like a little sip of gatorade. I felt dehydrated the rest of the day and didn't pee for over 12 hours. My legs weren't necessarily tired it was just like they weren't in the mode of running they couldn't transition very well from biking to running. I finished strong though coming across the finish line and made sure to sprint! They gave me my medal and took my picture and Ben was there to greet me as well. We said bye to my parents and grabbed our papers with our unofficial results and headed back to the cabin to enjoy a relaxing rest of the day and a good soak in the jetted tub. 

It was such an amazing experience and so much fun! I'm excited to do more I'm already trying to decide on the next one to do. 

Our life as of today: 6.20.14

Here is just a quick rundown of what we are up to as of today:

I’m back working at Intermountain Healthcare the Lake Park Campus. I’m doing Cash Posting. In a nutshell I take care of payments that come from the insurance companies and post them to the patients accounts. Since I started I have only been working on Regence/Blue Cross Claims. I’ve been there for just over a month now and I am really enjoying it. I don’t do phone calls or anything like that. It is a ton of organization and numbers and I love it! My team is great! It is all women and we all get a long fantastic.

Ben’s job did not work out at Staker and Parson. He is now at Kleinfelder which is based out of Taylorsville. They seem to be really organized and on top of things and he seems to really enjoy his position there.

Up until this past weekend we were living in my cousins basement in Ogden however, with the job situation and just where we have ended up there really weren’t very good reasons to stay in Ogden plus the money and time it was costing us to commute. We are currently renting a room from my parents in Kearns. It seems to be working out really well. We would like to buy a house as soon as we feel we are in a good financial situation to do so.

I passed my Chem class last semester but not physiolocgy. I am taking physiology for summer semester and so far so good I am holding steady at a C and have hopes to get that up.

This Friday the (27^th) is our 5 year Anniversary!!! Crazy! With both of us starting new jobs we didn’t take any time off but luckily we will have the weekend to celebrate. Haven’t made any for sure plans yet but I’m sure we will do something fun.

Duke is doing well. He enjoys playing with the other dogs but is still very afraid of water in general however, sometimes he will run through the sprinkler. He no longer has to sleep on our bed or in the kennel at night and is able to just sleep on the floor on his bed.

And that’s our life as of today: June 23, 2014.

Back to Utah we go!

Ben's job interview in Williston was a joke but I kind of understand why it had to happen. The guy wanted to hire people who lived locally which is completely ridiculous because anyone who lives in Williston is out there because of a job. So basically he had no housing arrangements or plans we drove 7 hours for the interview that was 10 minutes. On the drive back home Ben called Staker and Parson and talked with them about a field tech position. The guy asked about pay Ben gave him a number and the guy said no problem. He called Ben the next day and offered him the job start date April 14th. I let my job know and they were awesome about it. They are even having a little goodbye party for me on Wednesday they are so sweet. So this weekend we are packing up as much as we possibly can I work Mon, Tues, Wed. My dad will be here Tues night. We will start driving Wednesday night Thursday morning. I have a job interview on Friday morning and have 2 tests for school to take this coming week! CRAZINESS! But what did you expect from us?! We are really excited and it's awesome the way things are falling into place so quickly. When I told my cousin and his wife we would be moving to Ogden where they also live they immediately offered for us to live in their basement until we get living arrangements figured out. They are amazing people and I'm actually really excited to spend time with them. Morgan, my lil sis, could not be happier and I am excited to be close to family again and close to Weber University where I am currently enrolled in school and would love to get into their nursing program. 

Small glimpse into my brain...

We have no idea what the hell we are doing! There I said it. It's been a stressful past weekish or so trying to figure out what we are doing. Ben was laid off for most of the winter then he was offered a job and that job sucked! They basically had it out for him before he even began. It was really ridiculous. So then we had a talk that went late into the night about moving back to Utah or even Arizona or somewhere besides North Dakota because really why are we even here? I started posting stuff for sale like crazy 1) so we didn't have to move it 2) to help pay for moving expenses. To add to all of this we are in the same amount if not more debt than when we moved up here and our biggest goal was to get out of debt moving up here where the pay is more and yada yada. Well then 1 week ago on Monday Ben got a call from a company in Williston,ND (3.5 hours away from Bismarck) they want to interview him and a guy is flying in from Maryland to do the interview. The interview is tomorrow. Here are some pro's and cons about this job though Pro: possibly very good money. Con:There is no where for me to live out there and if there was it would be ridiculously expensive. Pro: They can probably get Ben housing, best case scenario they can get a lil condo or something we can both live in out there. Con: if they don't then I have to stay in Bismarck all by myself and not see Ben for days on end. Pro: If it's good money we could pay off debt. Con: When we thought we were moving to Utah I applied for jobs in Utah at IHC and they could very possibly want to hire me soon. Which means we get our awesome insurance coverage back, plus IHC has their own nursing program, and it would either be in the Maternity unit or the ER which I would LOVE! In the midst of all this neither of us have a degree (I have my Associate's but it really doesn't help), Ben and I hate the winters up here in ND, when the hell are we supposed to be able to start a family and buy a house. UGH!!!! Yes I'm ranting and this is only a small glimpse into my brain. Thoughts,Comments are always greatly appreciated. 

In other news we went shooting on Sunday. Have a mentioned I love shooting the shotgun...Cause I do! I feel bad for Ben though because I really stink at throwing the clay pigeons. So I asked some people who were shooting near us to throw a few for him and then they let him shoot their semi-automatic shotgun...CrAzY but AwEsOmE! 

Utah Day 7

Friday was a really blah relaxing day. My parents had NAMI training all day. They are going to be instructors for some of the classes they hold. Morgan and Spencer had to go back to work. In the morning Jason,Karlie, and Josslyn went to breakfast with Karlie's family. Ben and I slept in, ate some food, took a nap then went to a fun lunch with my cousin Caleb and his wife Morgan. Caleb and I are pretty much the same age and have always been somewhat close I think and I absolutely adore his wife and we love to get together and chat. We went to a fun European style pizza place. I did not get one damn picture! GRR! Nothing not of the food of us...Nada! Then when we got home we took another nap. I know crazy. No idea why we were so tired. Then I worked on some more homework school is taking over my life but thats OK! I'm kicking butt! (I think). That evening we all met up at Cafe Rio for dinner. After dinner we went back to my parents house and just visited.

Joss and I (she is fake sleeping lil' stinker)

Me,Morgan, and Karlie

Josslyn loves Dukers and he loves her!

We left Saturday morning. The original plan was to leave around 6am but we never leave on time so after packing up and getting the oil changed on the car we finally left SLC at around 930am. 

Utah Day 5 & 6

Wednesday most of us woke up earlyish and went to the gym. 

After, we had a yummy breakfast and then some of them went shooting. Ben and I stayed home. It was raining and hailing outside so they were going to an indoor range to shoot the handguns and I really prefer to shoot the shotgun and the rifles outside (and not have to pay to shoot my own gun). So Ben napped and I worked on updating our blog :D Jason, Karlie, and Josslyn went to lunch with Karlie's family. My dad had to run some errands and my mom was at work. Ben and I went over to see Morgan and Spencer's place. They are living in my grandma and grandpa Smith's old house. They put in new flooring and new appliances and painted it and it looks awesome. The boys played some video games and Morgan and I played Ticket to Ride: Norwegian. It is such a fun game. They have U.S. one and a Europe one as well. That evening we went to an Olympic Weightlifting gym just to check it out and get a tour and such. The guy who owns the gym has trained Olympic power lift gold medalists. It was a really cool gym. Kind of like a "garage" type of gym. Jason loved it! After we checked out the gym we went to Crown Burgers a family favorite. I remember meeting my dad for lunch and going there, good memories!  I took a picture of frysauce so my friends in ND didn't think it was just something I made up and it was actually served at restaurants. 

That evening we watched the new Superman. Ben and I bailed early and went to bed.

Thursday morning we went out to breakfast at the Black Bear Diner. It's really fun place to eat. Then we drove up to Fruit Heights/Kaysville to visit with my grandma Parry. My Aunt Marcia was there as well. My grandma hasn't been doing so well lately so I'm glad we were able to go see her. I wanted to get a picture with her and she kept sticking out her tongue and then telling me that's what we were doing but then I took the picture and she wasn't sticking out her tongue! HA! Oh grandma! My dad told her that everyone in the world would be able to see that picture in a matter of minutes so she took my phone and teased that she was going to throw it away! 

Josslyn found a really cute hat that looked like a tiger and it had mittens and everything. It was my Aunt Beckie's so when she got home from work she saw Josslyn wearing it and told her she "needed" to have it and take it home. Joss was ecstatic. She fell asleep on the car ride home and wore it while napped. Too cute! 

That evening we just hung out at home and had some more great talks. Jason made everyone homemade pizza and then my mom made cinnamon rolls! It is recipe passed down on my dad's side.

We always eat the cinnamon rolls right out of the oven with fresh cream cheese frosting and milk! YUMMY! 

Utah Day 3 & 4

The majority of Monday I was working on my physiology lab. No, Seriously like 6 hours no joke. I took a small break in between and we (Morgan, Karlie, Josslyn, and I) played Just Dance on the Xbox. Then Ben and I took Josslyn and went to go get some parts for Ben's remote control airplane. Josslyn has really been wanting to fly it with Ben. She actually fell asleep and we had only been in the truck for a few minutes. We had to go to 2 different hobby shops to get the right parts. Ben accidentally almost left us at one of the hobby shops kind of funny. When we came home we had some food and just hung out for a little bit. Ben worked on his airplane and Joss and I took some funny pictures on the laptop while trying to help Ben. We decided to all go out to dinner which was an absolute blast. Drinks got spilled, Karlie choked, I snorted, Josslyn danced on the stage.

It was basically non-stop laughing the entire time (like 2 hours!) Then we went home and watched youtube videos of Olympic weight lifting.

On Tuesday after breakfast we headed over to Beans and Brew's one of my favorite places to get drinks in Utah.

Then Ben, my Dad, Josslyn andI headed to the park to see if we could get Ben's airplane to work. Josslyn had to go pee while we were there and I tried to help her do the whole "camping" bathroom but we failed :( Poor thing I hope she's not scarred for life haha...ooops! Ben unfortunately still did not get his plane totally working yet. It's really getting frustrating. He bought it online and the controller isn't working correctly (I think). We went over to a hobby shop to see if they knew what to do and they were not helpful whatsoever. That afternoon we all went to Scheels. They have lots of fun activities and games to do there. We were there for a few hours. We went on the ferris wheel, played bowling, did some shooting. It was a blast!

That evening we had one of Jason's favorite meals, Lasagna and Breadsticks homemade of course. During and after dinner we all talked around the table for a few hours and had some intense deep conversations. I am so grateful for my family and that we are able to talk about the things that we do and our thoughts. It is absolutely amazing. I always go away feeling refreshed! Anyway, I'm still not sure why but we had birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jason even though his birthday is on the 19th. Josslyn of course had to help her dad! 

Something I forgot to mention before: So Ben and I have Duke, Jason and Karlie have Rocky, and now Spencer and Morgan have Spike. So through all of this we have had 3 dogs in the house most of the time. Luckily they get along for the most part.

Rocky, Spike and Duke all taking a nap. 

Trip to Utah Day 1 & 2

We left for Utah about 630pm on Friday the 14th. We had talked about just driving to Billings,MT staying the night and then driving the rest of the way. We weren't even 20 minutes into the drive when we started talking about just doing it in one shot. Around 1030 11ish I dozed off and slept until about 5am and then took over and drove the rest of the way to SLC. 

Duke wasn't really "feeling" the road trip anymore.

When we arrived at my parents house they were the only ones there since everyone wasn't expecting us until later that night. It was nice to just have some time with them and chat and catch up on things. We let Morgan (my lil sis) know we were there and her and Spencer came right over! My mom made us delicious oatmeal for breakfast. A little while later Jason, Karlie, and Josslyn came home. Jason and Karlie had stayed at a hotel for Valentines night and Josslyn spent the night at her other grandma's house. It was so fun to have everyone there and the weather was gorgeous! It was about 60 degrees!!! 

Me, Josslyn, and Morgan

I really think my body was in shock. We played games and I played dolls with Josslyn and we just sat around and talked. That night we went to Ben's parents house because we haven't seen them forever and his whole family was going to be in town as well. His dad made some amazing pork that we made burritos and nachos with and again just sat around watched the little ones play and talked all about some fun topics religion,politics etc.

On Sunday I woke up first and got started on my homework, I knew it was going to take me forever with all the distractions going on. Once everyone started waking up and Morgan and Spencer came over my parents and brother made us a delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I continued to work on homework for most of the day and I'm not too sure what all was going on around me. I know that they all watched the movie Captain Phillips  (would highly recommend) while Josslyn was napping. Also, meatloaf was made. When I finally finished my homework for the day we started a game of Ticket to Ride:Europe. So fun! I had a blast playing it! It got a little heated but thats what makes it exciting! After that everything started settling down for the evening and we tried to make a plan of what we wanted to do Monday.

My oldest brother Jason and I. We can't take a serious picture that would just be ridiculous! He is deploying to Korea next week and will be gone for 1year. 

Going to give it another shot...and Frozen Bubbles.

I decided to give school another shot this semester. I'm signed up for classed online through Weber state. Because I've had such a hard time with Organic Chemistry I decided to take it a step down and take Intro to Chem this semester. I'm also taking Physiology w/ the lab. They send us the lab kits in the mail if we live 50miles or more away from campus so that sounds exciting! I've ordered my books and I've got a list of different studying ideas I'm going to try. I would love any study tips any of you have please feel free to comment with them! My biggest hurdle right now is finding a proctor in the area to proctor my exams. I sent a request to UMary and BSC which are both here in Bismarck and UMary declined so I'm really hoping BSC turns out to work. Glad I started working on that early so I'm ready when it's time for that first exam.

In other news temps have been extremely low these past few days in Bismarck. This past weekend was the coldest it's been in about 20 or so years. With the windchill we were looking at around -50 to -60 temps. There were lots of warnings put out to the area about frostbit and hypothermia. The day before it got super cold I heard that supermarkets were just packed with people stocking up on food. Luckily we didn't have to go out and were were just fine with food. I had seen this thing on pinterest or facebook about blowing bubbles and how they would freeze before they hit the ground if it was cool enough so I decided to give it a try last night...it was AWESOME! I was really in awe by it and didn't even notice the cold as much because it was so cool! I was hoping to see what they looked like today but it snowed last night so that was a no go. In Utah I was so used to the snow not lasting for very long but here in ND it stays cold so all of the snow probably won't melt until spring. CRAZY! We went to Walmart last night and the parking was literally like an ice skating rink so scary! 

Frozen Bubbles

Sausage Zuppa Soup I made in the dutch oven to help keep us warm over the Freezing weekend!

This is Ice on the Inside of our front door! 

Ben's Christmas present to me arrived the other day. I'm "sew" excited! I have lots of projects I've been waiting to work on. I have to remember school comes first and sewing will be my reward for working hard ha ha! 

Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 9 (Final Week)

Friday: 30 min on the treadmill

I just kind of made up an interval run as I went and this is what I came up with. It still pushed me but it felt good. I really think its important to do an incline on the treadmill even its just a little bit. Especially if you are planning on doing outside runs at any time if you don't do an incline or change it up on the treadmill I personally think running outside will be a rude awakening and you might be frustrated. I speak from personal experience.

2 min - 3mph  - 5% incline

3 min - 4mph - 1% incline

4 min - 5mph - 1% incline

1 min - 6mph - 1% incline

Repeat 3x, equals 30 min workout

Saturday: 30 min on the treadmill same as Friday.

Sunday,Monday,Tuesday NADA! Sunday I slept more than I was awake, Monday was a crazy busy day at work and I was exhausted when I got home. Tuesday was another crazy busy day and I was just feeling lazy and wanted to watch movies and chill for NYE. 

Today was the weigh in for the challenge. I am really happy and proud of what I did. This challenge was during Halloween,Thanksgiving,Christmas, and New Years and I lost weight! It feels good to have made some headway on my fitness journey. I'm excited to keep going and keep getting fit. I don't want to just focus on the weight aspect because I want to improve my overall health as well. Here are my final scale pictures. I lost 14.2 lbs total over the course of this challenge! It feels good! And I think my feet look skinnier LOL anyone else? I will find out on Monday how I did in the challenge.