Happy 4th of July

 Happy Independence Day! We dressed up in red, white and blue and decorated our bikes and rode in Holladay City kid's parade.

Our friends Emily, Armen, Jack and Izzy decorated their bikes too!

We ate pancakes at the neighborhood breakfast. Ikey's face was painted like Spiderman.

We watched the Holladay City Criterium and cheered and cheered.

We had a great BBQ at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pat's, and we fell asleep before the fireworks. It was awesome.

Kids in jail

I took the kids to Hutchings Museum in Lehi and put them in jail. Ikey liked jail and kept assigning people to be in charge, but Jovie really didn't like it. She's a smartie.

My mom and sisters had a birthday party for me at Gloria's Little Italy in Provo (good gnocchi and strawberry carriage!), then we tried to take the kiddos to Bean Museum of Life at BYU, but it closed for 18 months two days ago =(. The kids were mucho disappointed, so I told them we'd go to the Lehi musuem. On the way out, I kicked a doorstopper and felt like I broke my toe. I almost threw up and passed out and I actually did start crying. My mom chauffered my car over to me since I couldn't wear my high-heeled sandal and the kids told me I'd feel better soon. Luckily, Caitie had given me purple flowery flip flops for my birthday, so I wore those in the museum and matched Jovie's purple gummy shoes. It was a miracle.

Green River

Ellen and I went to Green River for the River Rampage Triathlon. Helper and Price were really smoky as we drove through, so much so that I developed a runny nose. Our super-healthful, coach-approved, pre-race dinner was a burger, fries and pie at Ray's Tavern.

 We climbed on the Golden Ratio sculpture.

It was 111 degrees while we checked out the course just before we checked into Robber's Roost Motel. We woke up at 6 am and pounded some iced coffee and granola bars and set up our gear.

And then...we WON! We both got 2nd place in our Age Group.

That sounds totally awesome - and it was! My first ever podium! - but in the interest of full disclosure, my age group only had four ladies in it and I don't know that any of them have done a triathlon before. So I'm solidly in the top half of the field, and just lucky there weren't eight racers in my group or I would have been out of the medals =). I'm more proud of the following points (but don't try to take away my medal or anything):

• It was my best swim ever. I didn't freak out for even a second and I didn't have to do any weird strokes to make up for hyperventilating like I usually do. Granted, the water was shoulder-deep at the deepest and usually more like thigh-deep, but I swam an entire mile with only a 1.5 mph current compared to the river's usual (and more expected) 6 mph current. I was the fastest swimmer in my AG.
• I was the fastest swimmer and transitioner (is that a thing?) in my AG.
• I was a little more committed to running hard on this race, although my pace wasn't really faster than usual.
• I was the 9th woman out of the 52 female sprint racers (83rd percentile) and 24th out of 95 racers (75th percentile). This was a small race and didn't attract a lot of fast people. I'm usually 50th percentile tops.
• 1st place in my AG was 1 min 24 seconds ahead of me, and I beat 3rd place by 17+ min. I knew the 1st place woman was in front of me, but I couldn't catch her. I need to run faster =)
• In a very unusual move, I didn't sleep the day away after the race (although I did eat everything I saw) and I went for a training "brick" (bike-run combo) today for the first time in my life. It was 99 degrees and I hadn't eaten so it didn't last long, but it wore me out so I guess that means it was good enough.
• This was the first time I've left the kids with TB overnight and they had a great time and I did too. So I guess we're all very grown up.

I tried to take a picture with the babies while we were all dressed up for baby Sylvie's blessing, but they are more cuddly than cooperative, so this is the closest thing.

Twins

TB's birthday

Happy Birthday TB!

No one believes that you're that old. Was there a mix-up at the balloon store?

Why is this the only picture of the big huge super-fun, well-decorated birthday party?

You're a fantastic husband, father, friend, salesman, joker, partier, son, neighbor, citizen, etc. We just love you!

Golden Spike and ATK

 

The kids and I have been on a wild and crazy stay-cation. Since Thursday night, we've eaten two meals at home (both of those were breakfast), driven about 500 miles, seen lots of friends and family, missed Todd, run out of patience with each other, skipped naps too many times, visited lots of cool places we've never been, and had a great time. Now we're glad it's over. The latest adventure was a trip to Golden Spike National Historic Site to marvel at the construction of the rail lines all by human power, ooo and ahh at the beautiful wood- and coal-burning steam engines, watch a Peanuts movie about the building of the railroad, and talk to real engineers. 

I snuck in a hike (my favorite part of an adventure) on the Big Fill Trail. It was hot,  windy, sunny and informative, which is just what I expected. I carried Jovie half the time and encouraged Ikey for about a fourth of the time, which is what I expected too. Jovie got mad at me for my constant nagging to wear her hat so she yelled, "Snakes are covering your butt!" The origin of that insult is a total mystery to me, but I'm sure she meant it.

We added some rockets to the adventure at the ATK Rocket Display.

All this time, TB has been in Coronado with friends at the beach, doing stand-up-paddleboard, riding bikes, making and eating good-tasting and healthful food, and talking to adults. These are things we didn't do in Utah this weekend, and we're all excited to get the whole Burrows family back together.

Kids are gross

The kids and I went with Grandma Rainey to her grandmother's family reunion. It was fun. We were the youngest ones there =). Jovie stepped in dog poo in the park and of course I picked her up a million times before I noticed the horrible smell. So I had dog poo smeared all over my (of course!) white shorts all day while Rainey was trying to introduce me to her aunts and other impressionable people. It was gross. Let me assure you that the last time I had dog poo on my clothes was when I was two years old. It was a good 33 year run, but now it's over.