The Boys Summited

I got a voice mail from Brad about 10:20 am, Craig, Kevin, Kyle and Brad summited Whitney this morning together. I know Brad was altitude sick on Saturday so hopefully he acclimated well.

The Cabin, Two Little Boys and 3 Dozen Eggs

So last Thursday when I was driving up to Utah on my way to Spudman, Craig was driving down to do Mt. Whitney.  Since Kerri and Kendall are hard at work hanging new cabinets in their kitchen Craig said he would take the boys to the cabin with him on Wednesday, meet me in St. George on Thursday and I would bring the boys back with me.  (I know, this sounds confusing, but in our crazy life it makes perfect sense).  Kael and Kyle love to go with their Papa in his truck and with their Uncle Kevin (by the way, they now have two Uncle Kevin's--they can't tell Brian and Kevin apart, so Bri is Uncle Kevin too by default).  To make it even more confusing they have another Uncle Brian on Kendall's side of the family.

Anyway, on Thursday morning Craig gets up really early and tells Kev to keep an eye on the boys (they were still sleeping), while he goes running.  Well, sometime after Craig left, before Kev was up, Kael and Kyle managed to "paint" the cabin.  I'm not sure if I've got this story exactly right, so I will have Craig edit when he's back, but this is the way I understand it.  Kael and Kyle got in the fridge, cracked three dozen eggs, dumped in mayo, salad dressing, ketchup, mustard etc (you get it, basically the entire contents of the fridge) and then began to paint this concoction all over the walls and carpet.  Kev insists he didn't hear a thing!!!  I think he just really didn't want to know what they were doing!!  Here are a few pictures, this half full trash can was taken after Kev had almost everything cleaned up, he didn't know Craig had a camera there so there are no pictures of the walls, carpet and real mess.

Uncle Kev can't stay mad too long, gotta get some fishing done.

Spudman Tri

At least it started out as a tri, but I was in the last wave and a man in the wave before us drowned. We had 30 seconds till our horn sounded when we were called back. They were unable to locate the man and decided to start us at T1 for a Du, just as we were all headed down to T1 (about a mile walk), he was located, we were called back to the swim start, the race director was unsure how to proceed, considering letting us back in the water and then decided to send us down to T1. My sincere condolences to the family of this man.
There was a lot of worry in our wave as many of us had sent off loved ones in earlier waves. Kerri was in wave 5, I could breathe a little easier when they announced it was a male.
The bike was ok there was a head wind and it just wasn't speedy-fast like last years. But I kinda feel embarassed calling todays wind a head wind, compared to Vikingman it was still. The run went ok, the first three miles were hard then I was able to pick it up and even pick off a couple of "not todays". My friend KR always picks out a few "not todays" in a race and goes for it. A "not today" is a person that could beat you on any given day, but "not today",  today you are going to dig down, and come up with that extra effort to pass them by. Last year I picked off my "not today" right at the end, and then as I was finishing (you finish on grass) I didn't hear him and he passed me, this year I was determined not to let that happen again.

A big thank you to team Janet and Wayne, we wouldn't be able to do Burley triathlons without them, they put us up at their beautiful Hotel de Janet and Wayne, help with the boys and cheer us on at the end on long, (sometimes very long) hot and cold days.  Another big thank you to Sherpa Jr, he took good care of us.

Kerri, Me and Bri (our Sherpa)

Kerri"s wave getting ready to start.

Craig, calling from Lone Pine to wish me good luck on the swim (that wasn't to be), he knows the swim stresses me out.

Kerri finished a tri, was it a PR?

Done the Du

Mom and I finished Spudman

Congratulations mom, thanks for another good race!

Prelude in C# Minor-Chopin

This is the piece Brian is working on now, he says it's still rough, but it sounds great to me.

The Spudman Cometh...,

Do I goeth? This was my question to Craig this morning after I finished my ride. The ride went fine, not particularly fast, but a hilly 20, I rode by myself and had plenty of time to contemplate all the reasons I should go to Spudman and all the reasons I should not (or do not want) to go to Spudman.
Reasons to go to Spudman:
Check out this picture from last year, note the beautiful dawn, and the absolutely glassy water (as well as those cute boys)

A chance to do a race and spend some time with my beautiful daughter

Celebrate health, it has been two years since my last ambulance ride, my leg has recovered as well as can be expected. I'm grateful that I can run and ride.

I can swim too.  Never mind that I'm probably last!!

Then there is the thrill of victory... a few hours of hard work on Ker's part, a few more hours of hard work on my part and we have a cheesy little spuddy buddy to hang around our necks for a few hours. Worn with great pride. Actually it is an accomplishment that no one can take away from you.  A few hours of hard house work is all taken away way too soon, where is the glory!

 And now my, top  ____ (I'll fill in the number after I count them) reasons not to do Spudman.

First there was:

I did this race as my first half-iron to prove to myself I could do it.  I underestimated the amount of training that should have gone into it, and the amount of recovery.  I thought a week off would be good.  It was more like three for my knees and IT band, which brought us right up to our vacation, and despite my good intentions other than a few runs there was still not much training going on, just a lot of eating.  This brings me to reason #2

How the heck am I gonna get that wet suit on after enjoying our vacation!!

#3  My Sherpa is doing Mt. Whitney,  I am extremely lucky to have a tri-sherpa, he encourages me, packs and lugs gear for me, makes sure I have everything I need to make the day successful, he also serves as the official photographer, cheerleader, bike mechanic, and keeps a watchful eye on a bunch of boys.  Tri-Sherpa is a runner, a marathoner who has BQ'd, this is good because I will never BQ, I support his marathons, he supports my tri's.  This will be my first race without him.

#4  Three of my boys were entered as a team, however, when extra permits became available for Whitney, they were there!!!  

#5  I think I have a little case of burn out, not for my bike or for running, yeah maybe for swimming, but I think next year I'll choose one tri (maybe just a sprint) and then do something like Whitney or some other backpacking trip.  I'm not really a hiker but I'm ready to do some different things.

So....Craig's response to my question this morning was, "talk to your daughtereth".  After talking to daughter I've decided to head off to Utah on Thursday, then we'll decide if we're headed up to Idaho.  Bri said he'd sherpa for us, if we don't go I think we'll just hang out and enjoy each others company.  I'll keep ya posted!!

I'm Stealing a Few Pictures

So is this the cutest family you've ever seen!! I saw this picture today on Kerri's blog and I had to have it, I don't think I have a Jex family picture since Kael's blessing.  Was Kyle sticking his tongue out at Kev? Who has the cutest grandkids!
And since I'm picture stealing here is one from Kev's page too, from when he was at Badger Creek last weekend. Glad you guys had a great time.

Manic Mondays

Well, we're back from our two weeks in Utah.  Mondays are crazy at our house, they begin at 4:00am with the airport run.  Craig was on Southwest this week, he'd rather fly Delta but our summer schedule is so crazy it's hard to make reservations too far ahead.

 Brad was off to Scout camp this morning, he left at 5:30, Brent and Kyle had cross country at 6:00am and Kyle usually has a 7:30 am piano lesson, which was changed because of early morning cross country.  I got back from the airport in time to squeeze in a ride.  Yes, I was back on the bike and finally loving it again, but I have lots of work to do in a very short time to be ready for Spudman.

Speaking of Spudman;

Team 57 cents, is coming up short, they are now team 21 cents.  24 cents (runner) and 12 cents (swimmer) have decided to do Mount Whitney with Craig since there are enough permits available.  24 cents is continuing on after Whitney to Yosemite to do some climbing with friends, that boy has way too much fun!!  So I need to give 21 cents a call, he can't do Whitney because he has classes and I know he doesn't want to do the whole Spudman, maybe I can convince him to be a Super-Tri-Sherpa for Ker and I.

So what summer adventures do we have left?  Well besides Whitney and Spudman, there is Mt. Baldy next weekend, yearbook camp in San Diego for Brent, and cross country camp in Mammoth, and then so soon school starts again.  The boys start back on August 13.

Oh yeah, Ker finished pathophysiology, probably with an A, way to go Ker!!!!  Two more semesters of nursing school.

Happy Birthday!

Mom I love you!

Summer Vacation is Going Too Fast!!!

The new Pilot and Kev
We started the summer doing some serious car juggling, first the Yukon XL had to go, it had 208,000 miles on it and was a little too scary to drive on summer adventures. We downsized and got a Honda Pilot, I really like it, I still have a third row of seats for carpooling, and times when there is lots of family there, a rear seat entertainment system for the boys and the 4WD for the trips to the cabin. Then Kevin found his dream car for sale in Orange County, so he flew down to buy it.
Kevin's new car--a Subaru WRX
So now that Kevin has a new car Bri is getting the Focus, after a trip to the shop, it is having a coolant problem.
Craig and the boys were hiking San Gorgonio last weekend and got as far as the trailhead and the power steering on the truck went out, since that was on a Friday night and we were leaving for Utah on Sunday, that problem is still sitting in the driveway waiting for us to deal with it when we get home.
We've spent the last week in Utah at the condo and are having a good time. Kerri and Kendall went to Park City for their anniversary so we got to keep Kael and Kyle. Uncle Kevin and Kael
Uncle Kyle and Kyle Uncle Kevin and Kyle

Kyle, Kyle, Brent, Kael, Brad
Kael
Fourth of July with cousins
Brent
Brent and Brad
Kyle
Kyle and Brent
These pictures are from yesterday at The QuarryFood and Boys!!!
My Boys