Nathan's Tempe Triathlon

I did it. I may still not be in the best physical shape ever, which is evident in how I look in these tight clothes, but I still finished. The looking good part will hopefully come later. I don't have the final results with all the split times but I know that I didn't come in last in my group. I finished with a time of about 1:49. I am grateful for the support of my beautiful and pregnant wife who woke up this morning at 4:00 with me to get to the race. She also helped/made me go to the gym so that I would be ready for the race. She supported me 100%, even when I needed to buy gear for the race. Without her, I would not have been able to do this. I am also grateful for my Mom and John who surprised me by being there when I came out of the water after the swim.

This is the swim we had to do to get to the starting line.

End of the 800 meter swim. Off to grab my bike.

Time to put the bike back and go running.

Just keep running, just keep running.

This was supposed to be a great picture of me finishing, but the guy asked for my timing chip and I bent down to take it off my ankle right as Rachel snapped the shot. Cant blame her for that one. Who ducks at the finish line?

Here is the one to make up for it.

This was a pretty big deal for me, more so than it probably seems. There were times after my accident and subsequent surgery that I was so depressed by the thought of never being able to be active again. This event is something that I have been working towards to show myself that I can do it. Sure the knee is irritated, but it made it through and hopefully will just get stronger. I already have my next tri picked out. I am going to do the Desert Grande Triathlon in Coolidge on November 7th. Its a little shorter, but I'm still excited about it. If anyone wants to join me, registration costs go up on the 19th of October. Till then it is only 55 dollars. Come on, you know you want to.

Thanks Jelaire!

I feel the need to stop and publicly thank my wonderful sister Jelaire. She has no idea I am doing this, so Jelaire I am sorry if this embarrasses you, but it needed to be said! Jelaire got married just a few months back, and graciously allowed me to exercise my skills and practice not only the food for her wedding, but also the cakes! Yes, I wrote that correctly, CAKES! Plural, as in more than one. Actually there were thirty, and they weren't actually cake cakes, they were cheesecakes.

Fabulous! I thought having cheesecakes instead of a traditional wedding cake was and ingenious ideas and was 100% on board! Oh wait, I have never really made and cheesecake before and don't even eat them too often. Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Here I must stop and thank my husband, my brother-in-law John and my beautiful sister-in-law Robyn for there extensive cheesecake knowledge and for being willing to eat piece after piece with no apparent end in site.

So to make a long story short, the cheesecakes were a HUGE success! Everyone at the wedding loved them, and I was given much praise. (I do not mean to sound prideful, even I was amazed at the result. I could not have had such success without the amazing support of those around me.)

For the month or so before the wedding I was completely consumed in making cheesecakes, and my poor fellow co-workers and boss heard nothing but "cheesecakes this and cheesecakes that" com out of my mouth until after I returned from California. This constant talk of cheesecakes singled me out as the special dessert/ cheesecake lady at work. (Each weekend at work we have a specialty dessert or cheesecake aside from our normal menu.) So to continue on with my incredibly long story (sorry) My bosses are out of town for three weeks, and they left me in charge of the desserts. Last week I was told on Thursday that I was to make a cheesecake for the weekend. We couldn't go buy any ingredients so I had to come up with something I could make with the ingredients I had on hand.

Here is where the HUGE THANK YOU JELAIRE comes into play. If I had not been given the opportunity to make so many cheesecakes for Jelaire's wedding I would be terrified and at a terrible loss of what to do. I looked around and decided to make an oatmeal snicker doodle cheesecake. (A cinnamon cheesecake sandwiched between two chewy oatmeal snicker doodle cookies). It sold OK , but there was a lady and her daughter who ordered a piece and loved it. The daughter has a birthday coming up and exclaimed that this what she wanted for her birthday cake. The mother called me and I have my very first client (who is not a close friend or relative, even though they make GREAT clients as well)! I am so excited that some tasted something I made, and now wants to buy more!

I can never give enough thanks to all those who have supported me and given me opportunities to learn, grow, and develop my skills! You guys are the best!

I love you and, and thank you for enduring my long story!

A picture of the cheesecake will follow.

The Bump!

OK so I feel it's official... At 21 weeks I have officially POPPED! The bump is now present, and I feel in full force. I would love to post a picture but, seeing as we are without a camera at the moment one will be coming shortly!

All I have to say is once you can sit down, look at your belly, and see the bottom inside of your belly button something is definitely growing inside of you! I love it! Our little one is going strong and already bringing so much joy and excitement into our lives! I can't wait to see what else is to come!

Love you all, and I PROMISE pictures soon!

Rachel

Our little baby...GIRL!

James and I are pleased to announce we are having a little baby girl. I am living proof that the old wives tale of how the baby's heart rate can determine gender is correct. Apparently, if the doctor measure the baby has a high or fast heart rate throughout pregnancy, then it's a girl: obviously if it is slower it is supposed to be a boy. The range is like somewhere between 120 and 160 bpm is average. Well our little girl has measured 160 bpm every single time I have gone! It must be true!

We are so excited to have a little girl and to dress her up so cute and pretty. I know I will have lots of help from my sisters :) and can't wait! I had to go to work right after my appointment yesterday, but James had the day off, and was able to come take me out to lunch, and then we went to Target and looked at some baby girl clothes. It was so fun to be able to share this experience with someone I love so dearly. I am so thankful for my husband and can't wait to see him with our little one! I just know that once he gets home from work I will never see that baby again. She will be watching TV with Daddy, on the computer with Daddy, or just plan doing anything with Daddy! I can't wait.

We have quite an active little girl, so the ultrasound was interesting. She had her knees up to her nose the entire time with her hands flailing above her head waving and playing with her feet. Dr. Tutt was trying to look into her head to look at the brain, and she kept turning her head, or an occasional foot would pop into view blocking her face. It was so amazing to see all the tiny fingers and toes, the face, and especially the heart and spine. It still amazes me to think that this baby is still so small, yet has a proportionate body, a functioning heart with four tiny cambers, working kidneys and bladder, and all her fingers and toes! OK so here's our little girl!

This is our little one, all curled up with a great view of her spine on top!

Thanks guys for all your love and support! Updates and more pregnancy pictures of me to come! Love you all!

The Crib Quilt

I was somehow able to fix my sewing machine without having to take it in and pay $60! Yeah! With my machine being fixed I was able to complete the crib quilt for the baby's room. It is out of the same pattern as the bumper pads and came pre-quilted, all I had to do is the affix finishing tape to the outer edges of the fabric. I sewed the finishing tape onto the edges with a super cute leaf stitch. It turned out great, and I think that it will look GREAT in the baby's room! Enjoy!

A Little Update On Life

WARNING! LONG POST! MANY BACK POSTS IN ONE!

OK yes I am sorry I have not blogged in quite some time... For this I apologize. Life is continuing on as can be expected, and we can't wait to go to our doctors appointment on the 31st (of August) to find out if there is a little boy, or a little girl growing inside of me and kicking my bladder!

Going back a little bit I want to report on our absolutely FABULOUS trip we took to Utah in July! We had so much fun! It was so relaxing and great to see family we have not seen in a while. We got to Utah EARLY Wednesday morning. I say EARLY because we left our house at 5 AM! I know WHAT WERE WE THINKING! The answer is clearly that we were not! Just kidding. Getting up early wasn't so bad, and it gave us a whole extra day to spend with Melissa and the kids. Another plus about rising before the sun to go to the airport... No traffic or people anywhere! We got to the airport in 15-20 minutes and through security in about 10. It was fabulous. James loves the fact that I am pregnant and used it to get us a pre-board pass for the plane. Oh how my husband cares for me.

We spent all day Wednesday and Thursday with Melissa, Matt and the Kids, and then rented a car and drove to Provo on Friday. Here is where I must pause. When I say we rented a car, I use that term loosely "car". It was not a car, it was actually a cargo van.

OK let me explain. We wanted to rent the car on Friday and bring it back on Saturday, that way we would only have to pay for one night. Apparently most car rental places are closed on Saturday so they charge you for the whole weekend and just have you bring back the car on Monday before 9am. Well we didn't need the car for the whole weekend, and didn't want to have to pay that much. James did some calling and got in contact with one of the local Enterprise Rent a Car centers and the guy there said they were all sold out of their normal cars, but they had this cargo van that they weren't going to use. He said that instead of having the van sit in the lot for the weekend he would give it to use for $50 for the entire weekend, and waive the fee for being under 25 years old (a twenty dollar fee). Of course James said yes, and we went to pick up our van.

The van had only two seats, and the rest of the van was empty. We loaded up our one bag, and took off for Provo. Melissa got a hoot out of watching us drive around just the two of us with our one small duffel bag in this huge van. People thought we were crazy, but hey it was 50 bucks! Enjoy the pics!

While in Provo we stayed with James' grandma, and she was nice enough to take us to the Bombay House! Yum! the Bombay House is an Indian restaurant that has the best Indian food in the WORLD! It is amazing. I ate myself into oblivion and went to bed happy. We spent Saturday morning with Grandma and then headed back to South Jordan, not before stopping to get a J Dawgs for Melissa and Matt (who had never had one before, for same for same! Now they know better! For those of you that don't know J Dawgs is a little hot dog stand just right off BYU campus that serves yummy, delicious hot dogs with the best homemade "secret" bbq sauce! Yum!

The rest of the trip was fun, just relaxing and playing the PlayStation (James and Matt). We thoroughly enjoyed our trip until it was time to leave. When we got to the airport all was well. The plan was a few minutes late, but no big deal. We load the plan push away from the gate, and then the pilot tells us there is a HUGE storm in Phoenix they have closed down the airport it will be closed for AT LEAST the next HOUR! OK so we push back to the gate they let us out, give us some snacks and drinks and then we wait! About an hour and fifteen minutes later we get back on the plane and headed for Arizona. When we finally get to Phoenix there are soooo many planes waiting to land that we circled the airport for 20 minutes before we could land. We finally got off the plane, and then entered the madness of the airport. With one side of the airport closed for construction and about 17 plans landing at once it was a tad bit crazy. Oh well Susan was kind enough to face the crowds and rescue us! Even though it had a rough ending, nothing could have put a damper on all the fun we had! It was a great, much needed, vacation. We had a blast! Thanks to all those involved in making this an incredibly memorable trip!

OK so now for the baby stuff! May I just say the MY mother is AMAZING! I hope to one day be half as good of a Mom as she is and I'll be fine! I love you Mom.
My Mom and Dad came into town last weekend, and my amazing seamstress of a mom helped me sew a bunch of stuff for the baby's room.

While she was here we made a slip cover for my car seat, bumper pads for the crib, and we started on a crib quilt. Yeah, I know she's amazing!

The slip cover turned out so cute, I am so pleased with it. The first night, after we finished sewing it, we put it on the car seat, and it was HUGE. It was just not fitting right, and was too bulky in some areas. I was a little bummed, which I felt bad about because my Mom had worked so hard. I was just bummed because I knew it had potential. With such adorable fabric how could you go wrong? There is a multi colored polka dot fabric and a jean denim fabric. The next day we washed it to see if it would shrink any. Good thing we did because after 1 wash cycle, and 3 dryer cycles (so it was actually dry), it fit PERFECTLY. Then just a few button holes (thanks Mom) and a canopy cover later... A Masterpiece...

Fit for a KING or QUEEN!?

The bumper pads turned out great as well, and were quite a bit easier than expected (when led by a professional). Since we don't have a crib just yet, you will have to use your imagination!

There are five or six different baby jungle animals: a lion, a giraffe, a hippo, an elephant, a monkey, and a tiger. I love it!

The crib quilt we started is out of this same themed material. My machine decided to go FUNKY on my with all the use. The tension on my machine is off so the stitching looked funny on my quilt. I am in the process of fixing the machine so pictures of the quilt should be posted in the very near future.

We had such a good time with Mom and Dad and LOVE when they come to visit!

In other news...

The baby is now moving every so often. I feel it mostly at night when I relax, or if my pants are to tight. James has been able to feel it move a few times, but is excited for me to get bigger so he can see it! We go for our ultrasound a week from Monday (August 31st). We are so excited we can't wait to see the baby, and how it's grown, and to know if we can call it a he or she. Today I am 19 weeks along, and have finally started to show.. a little so here come the pictures! Enjoy!

We love you all, and will be in contact with you a week from Monday to let you know what we're having! Love and miss you all!

Rachel

One Trimester Down... Two to go!

OK so here is our monthly baby update! I had another doctors appointment today and we got to hear the heartbeat! It was amazing. She was having a little trouble finding a clear heartbeat at first so she moved around a lot, but once she found it, It was loud and clear. The baby is perfectly healthy with a heart rate of 160 beats per minute. It was incredible to hear our baby, and I can't get that "WHAH WHAH WHAH" out of my head.

The appointment was extremely short and sweet, but the doctor said that's what happens when everything is PERFECT!

It still amazes me to think that there is an actual little person (with a beating heart) growing inside of me! This is amazing, and I can't wait to experience more! Thanks for all your love and support. We love you all!

James, Rachel and Baby