Cooking Show

Years ago when Jaya was about a year old, I would do a cooking show with her. She wouldn't cook of course, she would just watch as I pretended I was the host and her my audience. It was good times. Fast forward to 4 kids later, I decided to bring back the cooking show. Some friends and I just started a meal exchange group, and making Crockpot Italian Chicken for 8 families provided the perfect timing for our first episode to air.

This time it was a little more hands on, the girls learned how to use a can opener, and Eden obediently opened packages of cream cheese. The kids DID NOT get to touch the chicken, and Eden will still point to chicken and say, "That can kill you, huh mom?" okay, maybe I was a little over the top when I taught about the effects of handling raw chicken.

Overall it took us about 2 hours to make 8 meals. The girls were not so excited about our show by the end, but they stuck through it. Watch out for our next episode "Cranberry Chicken" airing in July!

I love summer birthdays

When you can pull off a party, without sending invitations, a cake, or a single balloon and can still call it a success, there must be a pool involved!

Baylie's 1/2 birthday came up fast, I say this for every child and every birthday, but it's still true. Fortunately with my hit and miss couponing I scored an awesome deal on pizzas and bubbles the week before, so my food and gift bags were done.

Baylie had asked for a bike, and we said she would get one when she learned to ride without training wheels. When she learned we looked high and low and just couldn't bring ourselves to buying a new one when we had 2 large used bikes in our shed. Some may call us cheap and to them I say were thrifty...we cleaned the better of the two bikes up, patched the holes in the tubes, zip-tied a cute little basket to it (found at the dollar store) and added a flower bell.

Darrin still feels bad it wasn't brand new, I just feel blessed that we could do it all for so little money.

On to the party, like I mentioned before, you add a pool filled with little kids and that's a party all right. The kids had a blast, I worried I would need to plan games, or some craft, but no, I didn't have any whining at all, that tells you something. We even had two moms pulling out the threats when the 2 1/2 hours of swimming had come to an end, and they were trying to get their kids to go home.

I don't know who loved this party more, me or Baylie, but hopefully it's her.

Checked off the bucket list

Darrin Case

Bib #29

500 meter swim 11:01

1st transition 4:03

16 mile bike ride 1:00:26

miles per hour 15.9

2nd transition 2:54

3.2 mile run 30:07

miles per hour 10:03

Final time 1:48:29.0

60th male out of 88

Darcy Case

Bib # 28

500 meter swim 14:06

1st transition 3:48

16 mile bike ride 1:03:28

Miles per hour 15.1

2nd transition 2:23

3.2 mile run 30:27

Miles per hour 10:09

Final time 1:54:10.8

55th female out of 107

Our Fruita friends that finished the tri

Ever since I watched Darrin complete this last year (while I was 9 months pregnant) I have been planning 2010 when I would get to complete my first triathlon the Highline Hustle. The training started sometime in April. I would run 2 times a week, swim at the local high school one night a week, and then rode my bike when I got the chance. The biking didn't happen as much as I would have liked, but turned out fine.

There were 2 big difficulties during training. I remember the first time Amy and I went biking and then running we both felt like our legs were numb. We felt like we were barely moving. About a mile into the run she looked at her Garmin and saw that we were running an 8:30 mile, which is a really fast pace for us. I think it seemed particularly slow because we had gone so fast on the bike, who knows. I just know that I tried to make a mental note to pace myself after biking and then running.

The next challenge was the open water swim. We had been swimming for weeks at the high school and I felt like I had really improved and felt like a strong swimmer. The first time we did a lake swim, I seriously felt like I had never swam a day in my life. I think it was a lot of factors, but the biggest was I completely panicked. I couldn't see in the water (too murky), I felt so restricted (wearing a wetsuit) and it was cold and choppy. I did a few more lake swims and panicked less each time. The day of the real event I wore a different wet suit, one without sleeves, and it made all the difference.

The day of the event we woke up to rain. I was nervous, to bike in the rain. I don't feel like a great road biker anyway and then you add wet pavement to that I was sure there would be some sort of collision. I asked the bike shop guy, the day before when I heard rain was in the forecast, and he said just be cautious and avoid sand.

When the gun went off, I decided to stay in the back of the swimmers to avoid congestion, and this approach was great. The water was warm, compared to the rain and wind and so it was a welcomed event, hard, but welcomed.

Next came the bike ride. I felt pretty good till I saw lightening and hear thunder about 3 miles away, I was sure that someone was going to be hit, and for a few miles contemplated that a little too much! About halfway, I was so drenched and cold. I couldn't feel my feet. I couldn't wait to get off the bike and start running, just to warm up. The bike ride was the longest event and by far the coldest, and most challenging part of the tri.

The run came and I was fortunate to have met up with Michelle. This was a trail run and with the rain turned out to be pure mud. People were slipping and sliding all over the place, many people just walked through the worst stuff, because it was so muddy. I thought it was completely comical, I could just picture us all being featured on the next episode of WIPE OUT!

I loved the run. I warmed up, it felt good to move my body and I was surprised at the energy level I felt.

Overall it was amazing. I have been surprised that this week I have felt a void in my life now that we are done training. I guess I better look for the next event.

I keep joking that Darrin's triathlon that day didn't end till about an hour after mine, because when we got out to the car we found all our cars stuck in the mud. He was the hero of the day though, he helped push out about 8 cars (including ours) and here's how he looked when he was done.

FREEDOM!

Baylie has been set free from her training wheels. I really thought this would be a long drawn out process of teaching her to ride without them, but apparently just waiting till they are so old they can't stand it, is a great technique. She is doing awesome. Sometimes she has a hard time starting, but other then that she is a great little rider. Can't wait for all the fun biking times ahead Bug!

1st picnic lunch 2010

I have adopted a new tradition, this is the 2nd annual "first picnic of the year". I have decided to take a picture every year of our first picnic, and to see over the years how the attendees change. I realized though that eventually if I keep doing lunches it's going to end up just being me, posing on a blanket someday. I have some time still before that happens, but I might need to move this to an afternoon snack picnic. So...this year it was Baylie, Eden and I that were in attendance. Kale just barely missed it because of his nap.

Regardless of the attendees the food was delicious - PB&J, and by the looks of the pictures it was received well.

Dog Pile

My kids are constantly stealing my camera and taking random pictures. I wouldn't mind too much, except that I always seem to be trying to catch a quick moment only to find my card is full, when I look through the pics, I find pics of dolls, pillows, even Baylie taking a picture of herself in the mirror (caught red handed!).

They also love to set up photo opportunities, which was exactly what this photo was, a complete setup. Kale looks particularly unhappy about this pose, but don't worry buddy you WILL learn to love posing!

a fond farewell

What an amazing year it was for Jaya being in first grade. I remember when Jaya started the year I was so sad that she would be gone all day. To think that someone else saw her more hours then me was quite a hard transition. Shortly after I met her teacher though, my anxieties were gone. Mrs. Irion is the best. She has taught for a lot of years, and she still treats each year with enthusiasm and looking to improve herself as a teacher. I really admire that. Jaya absolutely loved her, and I think I loved her more.

She completely excelled as a reader this year, she loves to write, and wants to illustrate books. I am just glad that I get her back for the Summer, she is such a joy at home too.

This is the last assembly of the year, and she was awarded 3 awards! Way to go Jaya.