The Spudman, Camping and 1/2 Marathons

I haven't posted on some of the latest things we have been doing, so I decided to combine them into one big post. So here we go...

Burley Spudman Triathlon: July 26th
Tyler competed for the 4th year in a row in the Burley Triathlon. He did awesome and it was so much fun to watch. This year, however, he only did a biathlon, as the swimming portion of his race was canceled. Tragically a gentleman in the wave ahead of Tyler, drown during his swim. In over 20 years, this was the first time this has happened here and so it was pretty sobering. The race officials decided to cancel the swim portion for the last wave.

He is so stinkin' cute!

As you can see, they were in the water, ready to go and then were called back while they sent in divers trying to rescue the swimmer.

He did fantastic on the bike and run though.

Larsen Men Camping/Fishing Trip: July 31st-August 2nd
Tyler put together a camping/fishing trip for all of the men/boys in the Larsen family. Reagan got to go and they had such a great time. (Thanks Garth for the picture below)They went up to Yellow Belly lake, didn't catch anything, but had fun and got really dirty. The girls of the Larsen family stayed home, got pedicures, watched movies and got our copies of Breaking Dawn. Love it!!!!! I am proud to call her my cousin, nice work Stephenie! (No pictures of the girls as we all sent our cameras with the men!)

Looking good Reagan.

Provo River Half Marathon: August 9th
Yesterday my mom, Rachel and I ran in the Provo River 1/2 Marathon. It was awesome. What a gorgeous run and even though I am feeling every muscle in my legs today, it was worth it.

Rachel, Mom and Me

Tyler was there at the end waiting for me, I loved it! In fact, he and my dad were waiting at a corner right after mile marker 11 and seeing them gave me that little burst of energy I needed to finish.

This was 2 miles from the end, and I was pretty elated to see Tyler.

Happy 9 Years!

Then...

...Now

Happy Anniversary to us today. 9 years being married to the best guy ever, I can't complain. Tyler and I met my senior year of college, I was at BYU and he was in his senior year of high school at TFHS. (Yes, I robbed the cradle, but not a bad way to go!) He was taking my little sister, Paula to the prom and I came home for the weekend. Didn't think too much as he was in high school still, that would be weird. :) So, I graduated from BYU got a teaching job near my parents and came back home. Tyler graduated from high school, spent a semester at Ricks and then went on his mission. His family was in my parent's ward, so when he was reporting from his mission, my mom leaned over during the meeting, nudged my arm and said, "Hey, you could marry him." "What?!, he is so young!" Well I took another look and said, oh ya, I could marry him.
Our first date was Halloween 1998 and we just clicked, I am not sure if he seemd older, or he made me feel younger, but age didn't seem to matter in the least. Tyler proposed to me on May 8th, 1999 and we were married August 6th, 1999 in the Idaho Falls Temple.
Tyler, you rock and I can't wait for the next 9 years.

Disneyland Rocks!

Well we made it home from California and the kids and I decided we want to go back. Only this time Reagan doesn't want to leave Mollie with my mom, he missed her, we all did. The trip was amazing, had such a good time. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

Our first day there we headed to Huntington Beach, loved it!

Elise and Reagan had a great time.

I love the beach, the water is great, but best of all, I love to lay out, it is my little heaven.

Woo-hoo, check out the Morgan Hotties!

Run, Reagan, I think I see a shark!

After the beach we headed back to the Hotel to get ready for Wicked. Can I say, I am in love with this musical, it was AMAZING!!! I would go back again in a heartbeat any day of the week. We went to the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd.

Friday we headed to Disneyland and what can I say, it is truly the Happiest place on Earth!

Waiting in line at the New Finding Nemo Ride, so much fun !

Everyone seems pretty excited about Peter Pan!

Yea for Goofy, Give 'em 10 Elise

"Supercalafragilisticexpealedocious!"

Some N'Orleans cookin' for Dinner at the Blue Bayou, on the Pirates of the Carribean Ride, so cool!

The first day was long and the kids were maxed by the time we made it back to the hotel. So what do we do, we head out the next morning for California Adaventure and more Disneyland!

The "L"arsens at California Adventure. Wouldn't this make a great Christmas card, I will have to Photoshop Mollie in.

"R" is for Reagan and his little sister!

I am not really sure what we are looking at here, but alas we all look cute!

The last day in California, we had to do a picture on the way out of town!
Matt, Rachel, Hailey, Me, Reagan, Tyler, Elise, Jacque and Mark
Thanks all of you for a great time, what do you think, same time next year?

Larsen Family Pictures

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone. I love this holiday, I love America and I love our freedoms. This morning we spent having family pictures taken, I am so excited. Paula, my sister, was our photographer and she was awesome. Check out her photography blog, linked on her name. My kids did fairly well, Mollie was a bit on the ornery side, but Paula worked so well with all of them. When we get them, I will definitely have to post. This afternoon/evening we get to BBQ with some good friends and then tonight the CSI fireworks. Hopefully sometime in there we will get to watch the musical 1776, one of my favorites. I was introduced to it by the Larsen family and I love it, very patriotic and educational. If you are into musicals I recommend it, if not, it may be a little on the cheesy side. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. God Bless America!

We Did It!

We all did it and I couldn't be more proud of my team. Here is a recap on the race. It was amazing, grueling, emotional, fun and exhilarating! Our team started at 8:00 am in Logan with our first runner, Mark (my BIL). Van #1 started us off; following Mark was Whitney (Rick's daughter), Rick (owner of Utah.com our sponsor), Sheri (a friend of Rachel's), Rachel (my sister) and Matt (Rachel's husband). They did awesome all morning and then around 2:30 Matt passed the baton to my dad at Eden City Park and Van #2 took over. Dad, Melanie (my older sister), Me, Paula (one of my younger sisters), Tyler and my mom. We ran our first legs until about 6:45 pm when we handed the baton back over to Mark. At that point we headed to Exchange point #18 where we ate pasta and bread and then "attempted" to catch some Z's. There was very little sleep happening, but it was a beautiful star filled night. Our next legs began at almost 1:00 am, and those were fun legs. I did my fastest time on that one even though it was my longest leg at 6.9 miles. We all loved running in the dark of night, it was crazy fun. To make a long story short, Van #1 started up again at about 6:30 am and then we took it back over at about noon finishing the race a little before 6:00 pm in Park City, 180.5 miles later.

Melanie, Me and Paula waiting for Dad to come in .

And here he comes!

Melanie is off and running!Look at me go

Here come Paula ready to hand off to Tyler

Go Tyler!

And Mom finished us off each time.

We met up at Snowbasin at Exchange #12, it was such a gorgeous, although hot, day!
Here are 8/12ths of the team.

Mom and 4 of her girls. We are missing Carrie who lives in Michigan and Jacque who was forced to back out of the race because of an injury, but she was there on Saturday with us at the end!

We saw some amazing scenery on the race, and even got up in the mountains high enough to see the snow!

I loved getting to run with Tyler and wouldn't have wanted to do it without him. My favorite times were when he came to give me water and a big smile of encouragement while I was running.

We all had our ipods raring to go!

Team Utah.com I'm proud of you all and thanks for the great weekend. Matt designed these shirts, they rock!

Busy, busy, busy

Once again, I have taking a brief hiatus from the Blogging world and so I thought I would do one big post to catch up.

Here is what has been keeping me busy:
1. I have been teaching a teacher Orientation class for IDLA and wow, teachers are tougher to teach than students, they are so over zealous, it creates a lot more work.

2. Training, training and more training. Last Saturday I ran 10 miles, this next Saturday I have three different 3.5 mile runs, so I will be going at 2:00 am with my mom and then get the other 2 in sometime between Tyler's work schedule and in between running, running and then a little more running.



3. Children, children everywhere. I am realizing having three kids at home all day when the weather is not cooperating is not so much fun. Please let it warm up!!!!!

4. Photo shop, OK this one is self-inflicted, but I am addicted. I made summer job charts for the kids and I had entirely too much fun making them, I just hope the kids have as much fun doing the chores as I had. (HaaaaaHaaaHaaa, to be read with a sarcastic, somewhat evil laugh!)

5. Memorial Day trips to Utah, so much fun, but all three kids had coughs, and Mollie added a runny nose, so that was not too cool. Stayed with Melanie one night, Rachel the next 2 nights, Tyler joined us on Saturday, so that was fun. We got together with Jacque and Mark, Jim and Melanie and kids, Rachel, Matt and Hailey and Mom and Dad on Monday for some yummy eats. On Saturday we met up with some of the family at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country and then we went to IKEA, that is not a quick visit, that is an event. I love that place and one day I want to go back without children.

This month is going to continue to be crazy, so I will jump in when I can, but isn't that what life is all about?

Upcoming Events:
1. Reagan's T-ball every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 6 weeks
2. Wasatch Back Relay, June 20th and 21st (180 mile run from Logan to Park City with my 12 man team consisting mostly of my family)
3. IDLA conference and training in Nampa (June 24th and 25th)
4. Morgan Family Reunion June 27th and 28th in Provo
5. Teaching 2 sections of US History 11B with IDLA about 50 students in a 9 week course.