Mom's and Dad's 55th Anniversary

My mom and dad will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary on August 21st.  So, in celebration of their big day, we got together as a family up at Deer Creek and spent the day boating.  David, Deborah, Dale, Darin, Don and myself of the siblings were there.  We were only missing Deanna who was unable to come here from Washington.  Most of our spouses and kids were there.

As we went out on the boat, only Ava and Jake wanted to come.  Ethan and Brad stayed behind and just kept playing on the beach. Ava surfed with Savannah.  Both Jake and Ava rode the tubes.  Jake tried to surf but couldn't get up.  He gave it a valiant effort though

It was cute to see mom and dad give each other a smooch on the lips and share in their anniversary cake.  Nichole brought the cake and had the "happy anniversary" written in purple which is mom's favorite color.  We had great food with pulled pork barbecue sandwiches and other sides.

Bad luck x 5

So, we were just sitting around having FHE and naming off all the things that has happened to the kids.

To Brad:
1. when he was a baby, Nichole dropped him on his head
2. fell down a whole flight of stairs in his walker
3. he got stuck behind a treadmill and had all his hair burnt off his neck and head
4. he was burnt with fertilizer all over his body after playing in dirt that had been fertilized
5. he got hit by a golf club by his cousin Blake
6. he was pushed down a window well and almost knocked out
7. he got stabbed by his brother Jake with a knife and had to have stitches
8. his teeth went through his lip from jumping on a trampoline and had to have 7 stitches
9. he fell through the net at Carl's Jr. and broke his elbow and had the arm in a sling for a long time
10. he broke his ring finger in his right hand
11.  when about two, he almost choked to death after chewing on a necklace.  Ethan saved him by pulling out the necklace
12. he was holding the string to a kite, and then cut all of his fingers from the kite string
13. he's had pneumonia
14. he's had mono twice
15. he's had c-diff
16. at the outdoor Lehi pool, off the high dive, he landed on his back and a big thump was heard throughout.  his whole back was bruised up
17. in Texas, he got scalped after diving into Rick and Elena's pool
18. while riding his bike, he tied up two buddies with a rope onto his bike.  the friends fell off and the rope got caught in his bike, sending him over his handle bars and crushing his ribs.  He could hardly breathe for days

19. Burnt his finger with sugar making honeycomb with Eli

20. Sun poisoning from our Ralph family staycation after putting sunscreen over his whole body except for his feet which puffed up like newborn baby’s feet 

To Ethan:
1. he passed out in the bathroom from being so sick, fell and hit his head on the bathtub and then dad (me) almost kicked down the door to get him
2. has a scar on his face from playing a spinning game
3. almost choked to death from playing the cinnamon game
4. had RSV
5. had hip clicks at birth
6. he burnt his hand in hot gravy when about 3
7. I shut his head in the trunk and should have had stitches
8. he got big lumps in his head
9. concussion in basketball
10. broke right hand while playing basketball when trying to steal a ball
11. can only breathe out of one nostril at a time. when 1 clears the other clogs
12. got leg cut up on a box jump down to the shin bone and will have a scar
13. sprained his ankle so bad it would have been better to have broken it.  He popped a tendon and now has ankle clicks
14. sinus infections every year
15. had chicken pox at about 11 years old and had to be quarantined into the upstairs tv room
16. wrecked on a skateboard and had his whole forehead shredded up
17. hit his head after wrecking the bike
18. front scooter wheel
19. at his first youth conference, he got dragged under a boat after falling out of the boat from hitting a rapid and then got hit in the head with a paddle
20. he had a nail go through his foot
21. he dove into a pool and hit his head on the bottom

To Eli:
1. he fell off a chair at the house and had and instantaneous huge bump on his forehead
2. he's had pneumonia at 1 and half years old
3. he still can't poop without a laxative.  this has been going on ever since he was born
4. Brad was holding him and fell out of his arms. upon falling, he landed on the weights next to my bed cutting open his head.  he was just centimeters from landing on his temple.  I think it gave him a concussion

5. He got a black eye in nursery from Logan Freestone from fighting over a toy that he had brought from home

6. When in San Clemente, he got his tongue to the ice box at the hotel room and ripped off the top layer of skin on his tongue

7. He has glasses that he never wears. And, wore an eye patch

To Jake:
1. he broke his leg at grandma and grandpa Ralph's house.  It took his dad a while to think he needed to go to the doctor
2. he fell down the steps at grandma and grandpa Merrill's house and scraped up his whole face
3. he almost got hit by a car when riding his bike going down the driveway and entering the street and not looking for cars
4. he almost got his head cut off by the propeller to Uncle Darin's boat

To Ava:
1. she almost choked to death after swallowing a penny
2. at birth, she almost died from drowning in blood
3. she had 10 cavities at once and had to undergo anesthesia at which it was freaky to see her come back conscious because her eyes were open and just bouncing back and forth
4. she has fallen off her bike twice 

5. She got bit on her face by Lacy on the first night we had Lacy. Lacy licked Ava for quite a while. Ava had startled her after Lacy was new to our home

6. She had a corneal abrasion when Abby York and her were playing in their fire pit. A piece of charcoal flew up and hit her in the eye and scratched her cornea

7. In San Clemente family trip, upon getting out of the car, she tripped and fell down the road scraping up her whole leg. So, the whole time was miserable at the beach for her

8. Had her ears pierced a couple times because the first time she took the earrings out so her ears sealed up

Another Olympic Tri

On Saturday, July 12th, I did the Echo Lake Triathlon Olympic distance.  The family didn't make the trip with me this time.  I was going to go the day before and spend the night in the car, but I opted to just get up early and head out.  It was a fun day.  This Olympic distance race was 1500 meter swim, 26 miles on the bike and 6.1 miles on the run.  The athletes were a lot better than the last Olympic I did.  Their times were pretty fast.  I finished at about 2 hours and 40 minutes where the age group winner finished at just over 2 hours.  So, I keep telling myself that these things are all about the journey and not necessarily the medals or other superfluous things that go along with them.  And, as I've gotten a little older...and not so anal, I've come to realize that it is just about the journey and enjoying myself.  I'm not out to kill myself now and it really doesn't matter in the big picture if I finish a half hour later than expected or anything like that.  I'm just grateful God has given me the chance to do something with all that He has given me.  I think these triathlons are just a way of me expressing my gratitude to God for this life and that I want to show him just how grateful I am for the body he has given me.  

Something that was really neat in this event was something I saw at the beginning.  TriUtah, the holder of the event, had a handicap group.  This group went first before all of the athletes.  It was so touching to see adults pull handicapped kids on rafts for the swim.  There were about 5 of these handicapped children that got towed behind a swimmer.  As these people came in, everyone of them was welcomed with cheers and admiration.  It was so neat to see the respect and love and warmth all of the athletes showed for these handicapped children.  These handicapped children all went on to be pulled behind on a bike and then later on the run.  I only saw the swim portion of their events, but I had to fight back the tears as I witnessed their overcoming of a challenging event.  I could also only imagine how tough it would be to swim the distance pulling someone behind me on a raft!  Wow, I had so much respect for those swimmers as well

My Century ride

Last Saturday, on the the 2nd of August, I participated in the Hotter than Heck Century Ride around Utah Lake.  I was able to do the ride with Jake Carlile who is pictured here in front of me in the blue jersey.  Jake is a good friend, neighbor and cyclist.  We try to go out on rides together as much as we can.  We try to get other guys in the neighborhood to come with us, but the others seem to taper off.  He will be doing the Bear Lake Half next month with me as well. This ride was 103 miles and we did it in 6 hours.  Since I have had problems this year with my knees and internal injuries, this was a great event for me.  It was great to be off the knees and just go on a long flat ride that was not too challenging.  It was a pretty flat course which is just what the doctor ordered.  With my anemia, I've really struggled with physical exertion.  I can go for hours at a time and keep going strong as long as I don't exert too hard.  When I exert, I can't get enough oxygen and it wipes me out almost instantaneously.  A couple nights ago I went out on a trail run with Scott and Nate.  I really struggled with my breathing.  This is getting worse.  But, I'll just try to remain positive.  I had my doctor's visit this past week, and I will be having another visit this next week with possible surgery after that.  Hopefully, this will help me feel better.  Well, these were the only two available pictures from the professional photographer.  I was kind of disappointed.  They didn't get any pictures of us at the start nor crossing the finish line together.  That would have been a cool picture

This past week I was able to go to Scout Camp with Brad and Jake.  However, when I got back home and went to work, I ran over my phone at work with the forklift and smashed it.  The crappy part is that it had a lot of pictures on there that will now be forever gone.  Jake was only 11 this year but since his 12th birthday is coming up so soon, we were allowed to let him go with the group.  I'm glad he was able to.  The group went to Camp Maple Dell down in Payson and they had a great time.  I was able to go on Monday and Tuesday to spend a couple days with them.  It is so good to just be there and try to be a part of their lives.  Yesterday, after Brad and Jake got home from camp, I came home after work.  I came in and saw both of them sacked out on the couches.  It was a pretty great scene.  Both of them exhausted after a great week away from home.

After getting home from Scout Camp, I had a doctor's visit the next day.  They took some blood tests and I finally got an answer as to why I am having some of the troubles that I have been experiencing.  I have two types of anemia.  I have Iron-deficiency anemia and anemia due to a low hematocrit count. They told me that I should be in a 42-52 count range and I was at 36.  I have had symptoms of fatigue, tiredness, low energy levels, shortness of breath, lack of oxygen/breathing, poor skin coloring and headaches.  It has been pretty frustrating to experience because I know I should be able to do so much more than my body is allowing me to do.  I have felt that I have been okay with my fitness but have been unable to perform.  As soon as a I put forth any type of effort, my body just seems to shut down.  

Since my last logged in post, I have done 4 events.  I did the St. George Half Ironman, Wasatch Ragnar, Lake Echo Olympic Triathlon and the Hotter than Heck Century Ride.  I will try to write something about those in the next few posts.  I have one more scheduled event this year in September which will be the Bear Lake Half.  I think this year I was trying to do something a little different than just run events.  It has been fun to get off the knees and brake up the monotonous routine.

My kids are cuter than ever and growing up so fast.  The other day, both Eli and Ava were climbing all over Nichole.  Nichole and I had to say to each other that these were the great moments, because as they get older they won't want to be with mom and dad anymore.

Ethan worked with me for about a month.  He lasted a month and I thought that was pretty good.  He was excited at first because I think he was excited about earning a little bit more per hour than what he was earning at Papa Murphy's.  He worked part time at first with us at the shop but then he started working longer hours with me a little bit out in the field.  Well, there were three days in a row that we worked over 10 hours each day and I think that brought him to the breaking point.  He was done at that point.  I tried to make it fun, but it is hard to make work "fun" sometimes.  I guess that's why they call it "work."  I told him not to feel bad because I did the stone work 1 day before my mission and decided that kind of work was definitely not for me.  It's funny how things turn out.  I was glad Ethan made it a month.  I only made it 1 day when I was his age.  He's been looking for a job ever since without much success.  He's put in his application at numerous places with no response.

Ava has spent a lot of time playing this summer.  After learning how to ride her bike, she has ridden her tires out on the bike.  Yesterday, I was out in the yard doing some yard work and she had some friends over at the house.  I was fixing a couple of her friend's bikes and was looking at Ava's.  I asked her why she wasn't riding her bike and she told me that the tube had a huge hole in it.  Well, as I looked at it, I realized she had ridden the tires until the treads were all gone.  She loves riding her bike and it has allowed her to have a newfound confidence and freedom.  She rides all over the place with Hope and Zaiah and at times with some other friends.

Eli gets fixated on one thing.  It used to be basketball playing, then watching football games that had been recorded and not lately it has been to watch "Frozen".  He sings at the top of his little voice.  I once sat down with him the other day to watch it since I had not seen it yet.  When he started singing I would look at him.  As soon as I would look at him while he yelping out the song, he would look at me and say in his sassy voice, "Dad, no."  He did not want me to look at him at all while he was singing.  It was so cute.

Jake is still pretty cool.  Yesterday, he was walking around in his cool pants and shirts attire with a necklace.  These were long pants and and a long sleeved t-shirt.  Everyone else in the family are all wearing shorts and practically nothing.  I asked him if he was hot, and he said yes.  But, he was stylish.  He is very fashionable

Brad has been pretty sickly lately.  He's had mono twice, pneumonia, c-diff, and seems to always get sick.  A couple weeks ago when we were at Disneyland, he was sick almost the whole time.  He had to sit in the front seat of the car both there and back.