Connor and Tyson do Chicago and Notre Dame!

You may be asking yourself, "Wasn't the college football season forever ago?" Well the answer is yes, but I am just getting around to blogging pics from last November. I wasn't invited on this boy trip, so Tyson will have to get on the blog soon and write about all the fun. Until then, just enjoy the pics!

Courtney turns 8!

Court got her ears pierced!

Here she is! My beautiful 8 year old girl!

Courtney's Baptism

Here is my adorable 8 year old Courtney! She's about as close to a perfect daughter as you can get. She is the smartest little thing (reads on a 7th grade reading level), obedient, helpful, clean, cute as a button, and just a complete joy to have around. Everyone loves Courtney. Everyone wants to be her best friend. I'm so proud of her that she chose to get baptized. She looked really beautiful that day. Happy birthday Court :)

My First Weightlifting Competition

getting ready for the clean and jerk
squatting it out

ready for the jerk! I nailed it!

Yeah!

My fans: Sarah and Ashley

Another fan: Trainer Jill from the Y!

Coach Bob: introduced me to the sport

Won my first medal: 3rd place!

getting a good back crack :)

So as if my life weren't crazy enough, I decided to start training for my first competition all while moving and raising four kids (one of which was a biter and banned from the playcare at the Y). I have always been a competitor and love working out. I decided to become a runner. I trained my butt off in the beginning of the year for the La Jolla Half Marathon with one of my trainers, Doug, and a friend of mine, Isa. It is one of the hardest half marathons in the country with a huge 600 foot incline right in the middle of the race that was a mile long. My goal was to finish in under two hours (and also to beat my friends, remember I'm competitive). Well I accomplished all of the above. Shortly after the race, I met a man named Bob.

Bob told me I wasn't a runner. Initially it hurt my feelings. Of course I was a runner. I trained really hard for that race and did rather well. I'll never forget this quote that he said to me, "You can't turn a pitbull into a greyhound. You'll never amount to anything as a runner." He told me I was built for weightlifting. So slowly, he introduced me to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. I had never heard of it or been exposed to it really. It took a while, but then I was hooked. I bought some weightlifting shoes and a singlet and committed to competing in my first competition after only a couple months of training.

I was a nervous wreck the day of the meet. I dropped weight consecutively week after week before the competition. I was the lightest lifter in my weight class. (a real disadvantage). I had a serious case of stage fright. I went to do my first lift, the snatch, and completely bombed. You get 3 lifts so I tried again and bombed the second lift too. The bar was set at 48 kilos and just minutes before in warmups I nailed a 50 kilo lift. On my third attempt I made it! It wasn't my prettiest or best lift but I made it up. Initially, the lift was disqualified. Then I had to go out and do my 2nd lift. I was pretty disappointed after the first lift and felt a lot of pressure to perform well on my next one. I didn't want to disappoint Bob who spent countless hours training me for free for this competition. On the clean and jerk I started with 61 kilos and nailed it. They added two kilos to the bar, for 63kg, and missed my second attempt. Finally, I made my last attempt and went out with a bang.

When they called me up for the medal I was so surprised! I took third place! And the first place winner was a 24 year old who had been lifting since she was six. And the 2nd place winner had been lifting for about 9 years. Both girls had impressive resumes and championships, etc. So I was pretty proud of myself after only a few months of training.

Anyhow, I have fallend in love with the sport and have discovered a new talent! It's been really great for me. My body fat lowered by 4% from 18 to 14 since starting weightlifting and I never have to run again! Sometimes I miss it, but I seriously LOVE lifting heavy weights. It is such a release for me. I have a new coach here in Utah and hope to train for future competitions. I'll keep everyone posted.

Halloween 2010

Jack the train conductor!

School Halloween Parade

Court makes a perfect Tinkerbell!

Halloween this year was a bit chaotic for us. Between Owen in preschool, the big kids in 4th and 2nd grade, moving and a huge weightlifting competition, it was hard to make Halloween a priority. It's sad because I love Halloween but there was just too much going on! Fortunately, Jack fit in Owen's costume from last year and Owen wanted to be a skeleton which is what Connor was when he was four. We literally had moving, the trunk or treat and my weightlifting competition all in the same day! The ward put on a trunk or treat that was amazing! They had carnival games, face painting, crafts, etc. and then a nice chili dinner followed by a trunk or treat! We left straight from the trunk or treat to Vegas and then on to Utah Halloween day. Next year I am going to have a big party and do it right!