Half Iron, Half Man, 100% Sexy

A half Iron Man people. Eric did a HALF IRON MAN. That's a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. A total of 70.3 miles. He trained for it all summer and the big day was Saturday, August 27th. I must admit, I was a bit nervous about the whole thing... I didn't want him to overdo it and injure his back and I also didn't want him to fail (heaven forbid) and not finish and be super disappointed. But he did great and I was so impressed!!

Early in the morning waiting for the race to start. The guy on the right is Eric's good friend D Brack, who did the race last year and was the reason Eric signed up for it this year.

Eric, Jonathan and Doug just before the race started

The race start, transitions and finish were at Utah Lake. It was actually really pretty early in the morning and so serene

Random homeless guy that ran the race... Just kidding! This is Eric's friend Jonathan that Eric got to do the race with him. He's a BYU student but didn't shave ALL SUMMER and this was the result.

Gettin ready to go

Eric was most nervous about the swim... You can just see the anticipation on his face

What a sight it was to see all these crazy people getting in the water

And they're off!

Here's Eric coming out of the water. Eric did really great on the swim! He did have a small panic attack right as the swim started, but he was able to turn onto his back, regain his composure and then he rolled back over and got into a great groove. I was so nervous during the swim because it was impossible to tell who was who so I had no idea where he was or how he was doing. I knew how nervous he had been so I was just worried and seeing him come out towards the beginning of the wave of people was quite a relief!

Yeah! So pumped for the next leg!

Starting the bike portion

His number one fan was quite a trooper, hanging out all day outside. She slept for most of it.

Waiting for him to come in on the bike... The bike part took him the longest and it was KILLER. Every one of his 3 friends that were racing with him came in way before him on the bike and me and Kelly (Doug's wife) were kinda getting worried. He finally came in and just looked so beat. I felt horrible and honestly I didn't think he would finish. But he took off on the run and did so great on that portion!

Here he is coming into the finish line! Halfway through the run they loop through the park so I was able to see him at mile 6.5 and I jogged with him for about a quarter of a mile. He probably was most prepared for the run and it showed. He made up some great time and felt really good crossing the finish line.

Victory!!!

Wow! What an accomplishment! I pretty much thought he was insane for wanting to do this race and I think I was more nervous about it than he was but it turned out to be such a great experience. He finished in just under 7 hours... Can you imagine doing intense exercise for that many hours STRAIGHT??!!? I'll never do one, but there were plenty of women participating and it was quite inspiring.

Harper's Hawaiian Adventure

This spoiled baby of ours has already been to Hawaii! When she was just 2 months old, we accompanied my family on their annual trip to Maui. We flew to Portland on Saturday then to Hawaii the next day. We were only there until Thursday when Eric and I flew back to Portland then back to Salt Lake on Friday. We had to leave early to get back for his BIG RACE on Saturday!

Eric the packhorse at PDX

My mom bought Harper these sunglasses just for this trip. She was rockin' em!

This was right after we got into town... We went to grab a bite and Harper was so hot and sweaty while she was sleeping. I just had to put her across my lap like this so we didn't melt!

Enjoying the morning out on the lawn

My hunky husband and his baby girl, ready to hit the beach

AMAZING fried rice from the Gazebo. Here Eric is demonstrating the MONSTROUS portion size, but this picture doesn't really do it justice. The leftovers fed my entire family for lunch the next day!

Banana pineapple macadamia nut pancakes. Wow.

Harper's hangout

This is the only way we were able to get a little sun time... We just made Harper her own little tent and she slept perfectly in there.

The line-up

What a life!

Oh how I love this place!

We had a great time, but it was much different this time around. Usually when I go to Hawaii with my family, I just soak up as much sun as humanly possible and read as many books as I can. This year, I pretty much only got to be outside in the mornings before it got too hot for Harper's liking. I spent the afternoons in the hotel room with her and then went out on the town in the evening for dinner. One day my dad stayed in the hotel while Harper was sleeping so Eric and I could play in the ocean and we had a blast with my little sisters.

The flights were actually super easy. We just made sure Harper was nursing at take-off and landing and she mostly slept the rest of the time. She is a really good baby, but she did not love the long car rides across the island. Actually, she pretty much hated them. My 14-year-old brother Jody thinks she's a really fussy baby because he somehow always managed to be in the car with me and Harper. Oh well... She can't be perfect :)

Harper's Blessing Day

I have been on a blogging hiatus. Actually, I have been on an everything hiatus. At the end of August/the beginning of Fall semester, I started a full time internship. It was in Draper so I was commuting about 45 minutes total each way after factoring in time to drive to Highland and drop Harper off at my mother-in-law's house. I am SO grateful for Stacie and her willingness to watch my baby all day, every day. She (and her family) had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to make that happen. I owe a lot of people for my degree and I can't express enough how much I appreciate all of the help I have received in order to complete my education.

So, I finished early a few weeks ago and since then I have just been taking it all in, enjoying being a full-time, stay-at-home mom and being with my baby girl all the time. It was so nice actually to have the time away from her so that even when she is having a bad day and I am going stir crazy from being inside our dark basement apartment all day, I still love being with her and do not take that time for granted.

Since I was so insanely busy, I never had the chance to blog about Harper's blessing. We blessed her on July 31st... I had a lot of family in town for my cousin's wedding so it worked out perfectly because my grandparents got to be there, my aunt and cousin were there and of course my immediate family. My brothers flew in early Sunday morning and were only in Utah for a few hours, just so they could be there and it meant so much to me.

Here are some pictures from the day...

All the men that were in the circle. From left to right: my dad, Eric's uncle Bryce, Eric's brother Connor, Eric's Grandpa Marshall, Eric's uncle Phil, Eric and Harper, my brother-in-law Tyler, Eric's dad, Eric's grandpa Bready, my cousin's husband Matt, my Grandpa Bean (Eric's uncle Curt and our good friend/Harper's pseudo uncle Jeremy Pendleton were also there but they escaped before the pictures.)

Harper's great grandparents. We were missing Grandma Marshall and Mama.

Harper's grandparents. We love them! She is so lucky!!

Everyone from my side that was there.

Family photo (this might be my favorite picture EVER, just because the day was so special)

All my wonderful siblings/half of Harper's aunts and uncles

Oh how I love this baby! She looked so pretty on this day.

My parents with their first grandbaby

My grandparents with their first great grandbaby

Harper got mad taking all those pictures after church so these were round 2. Here are Eric's parents with their first grandbaby (yes, she is SPOILED!)

Such a sweet picture of Stacie and Harper

Her is so pretty!

Eric's fam (minus Morgan... boy have we missed having her around to be with Harper, but we especially missed her on this day!)

Eric and his siblings with Harper. Sister Bready was there in spirit, but Harper was MAD that she wasn't in the picture!

This is a really cute picture of Eric with his parents. He is such a proud daddy!

I was so happy this day. I felt so blessed and so loved by all of our family and friends who were in attendance. But most especially, I am grateful for a husband who holds the Priesthood and was able to give this special blessing to our baby girl. She has such a sweet spirit and we love having her around. She was definitely meant to join our family!

Tummy Proof

Who wouldn't want to stare at this cute bum?? And those toes?! Girl, please!

This is my current excuse if I don't get dinner cooked... I'm just staring at her all day!

I Don't Cook and My Baby Sleeps on Her Tummy...

GASP!!!

But I sure am having a good time! Yes, Harper sleeps on her tummy... Turn me in. I've tried her back, I promise. But she just doesn't like it. Whenever I lay her down on her back, dead asleep, she wakes up within 2 minutes without fail. Anyone who knows me knows how much I value sleep. So in order to get at least a couple hours of it, I lay her down on her tummy. All the women I talk to who are my mom's age tell me that all their babies slept on their tummies and they were just fine. And I figure if Harper prefers her tummy then by all means girlfriend, sleep on your tummy! That's how I like it too :)

Dinner. Ugh. I seriously do not cook very often. Granted, for the past 2 1/2 years I have been working full time AND going to school, sometimes taking as many as 14 credits. Sooo... I didn't really have much time. But I feel like a wife failure admitting that. It's not that I don't enjoy cooking it's just that.... um.... I'm lazy? That must be it. Well this week I turned a new leaf. I made a menu, went grocery shopping, and we're 2 for 2 so far on dinner. I even got really ambitious and decided to try a recipe that involved a WHOLE chicken. I had to pull the guts out and rinse off the blood and everything! Let's just say there is a very good reason I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts to cook with because that was disgusting. I was on the verge of a major gag fest the whole time.

So what I'm trying to say is, I may not follow all the "rules" but this is seriously so much fun! I try to have a photo shoot with Little Missy every day to prepare her for her career in modeling. I'm working on getting her noticed by some agents so she can make me millions modeling for Baby Gap. I was thinking Ellen might be a good place to get her some recognition. (I'm mostly joking, but seriously... this baby is gorgeous, if I do say so myself.) Just check her out!!

"I'm beautiful"

"You people bore me"

Now, look surprised!

Give us a playful smile!

So serene...

Staring off into space

Already making funny faces like Daddy

"I'm totally done with this"

Fake laughter

Yeah, give me some tongue!

The end.

Fulfillment

I've been a blog slacker. I almost always start my posts with a similar statement because I always seem to fall off the blogging wagon. But this time, I have a REALLY good reason...

This little girl has completely changed my life, in a very good way. I have always known I wanted to be a mother, but until Harper arrived, I didn't realize just how much I wanted that.

Harper has such a sweet spirit and when I hold her close to me, I can feel how close she is to our Heavenly Father. She just barely left his presence after all and I know that for certain.

She has strengthened my testimony of the Plan of Salvation immensely. I know my family will be together forever and I know that our loving Father in Heaven wouldn't want it any other way.  I know the love I feel for my baby girl pales in comparison to the love that our Father feels for each of us. So then how could a permanent ending at death even be conceivable??

Harper has brought me so much happiness. Whenever she wakes up during the night to eat, I go to pick her up and almost always get choked up, realizing again how amazing it is to be her mother. And when I lay her back down in her room and go back to bed, I instantly miss her terribly. I don't get a lot done during the day (including blogging) because I know how quickly she will grow and change and before I know it, she won't want to cuddle with me anymore. So I hold her close now and try to soak up every moment that I can.

Having her around has also had a wonderful affect on my marriage. (I won't do a full post, but happy 24th birthday yesterday to my AMAZING husband!!) Eric and I have become so much closer in this past month. I was so worried that having a baby would be taxing on our relationship and that due to the lack of sleep, we would be short with one another and fight more. But the exact opposite has happened. We are learning to work together in a way that would never have been possible without having children. I trust him more, I need him more, and I love him more.

I am so grateful for the timing of everything. God really does know best what we need. I was super baby hungry for quite awhile before we actually started trying to have a baby. But I knew that it wasn't time yet and I'm glad that the Lord has a plan for me and that He is willing to tell me what that is.

Call me crazy, but I am already looking forward to meeting the rest of my children. I know there are lots more up there in Heaven just waiting to join our family. But don't worry, I'll be reasonable :)