Two Days

I did my last workout this morning.  There are only two days left until the big day: my triathlon.

It hasn't been until recently that I've been getting nervous.  It's because life has changed a little for me: my stomach is giving me pain on-and-off again, I have swimmer's ear (and a cold!), and worst of all...every day this week it's been dark and chilly outside.  

The bad weather affects me because, obviously, I am about to swim 750 meters in a cold reservoir without a wetsuit, and I am very aware that there's a risk there.  But there's something a little less obvious about the weather that bothers me: when the weather gets sad, I get sad.  It's a littler harder to be cheerful and motivated when Mother Nature isn't either.

This morning as I struggled to motivate myself to run one last time before the race, I almost convinced myself that it wasn't worth the trouble.  But then the thought came to me: 

 "Tiff, GO.  It will feel good on your sick body, you'll feel more prepared for the race, and you'll be suprised at how emotionally healing it will be."  It came out of nowhere, and it was exactly the thought I needed at that moment.

So I ran four miles.


And it did feel good.  It felt amazing.  Endorphins were kicking in, Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" was playing through my new iPhone, and the suddenly the crisp, cool air, cloud cover and suptle breeze became my best friends. 

(Thank you Sweetheart, for giving me your phone.  I pledge not to drown this one.  

And thank you Haselden, for giving my man a new iPhone and cell phone coverage!)

I think I learned a big secret about me today--and I know what's going to help me feel happier this Winter. 

The cool weather prompted me to do some Fall cleaning and while I was at it...get out Halloween decorations this week!  Some old favorites came out of hiding:

The scarecrow.  My little 15 month-old loves that guy.  I had almost forgotten how much Taylor loved that decoration as a baby until Russell reminded me:

Orange and Black is in the air.  My mom sent the boys some festive clothes a few weeks ago.  I LOVE dressing them up in them...just about the moment those clothes are clean, they're on my little guys.

There's that old familiar couch again. :)  Don't these guys look cute??

As I rotated my kids' seasonal clothing in-and-out of dressers and storage, Andrew finished an exciting project that made my Fall cleaning feel oh SO good:

We have been putting the boys' clothing in an hand-me-down dresser with shallow, broken drawers for over a year now.  

We've also been looking on Craigslist for a replacement for nearly as long, and at long last, FOUND ONE!  It was a gross color and little scratched when we bought it, but with a little paint and elbow grease, voila!  Beautiful new dresser--might I add, on tracks with deep drawers. :)  I love this.  (And I love my hunky, handy hubby, who single-handedly fixed it up.)

I ended today by putting clothes away for the first time in it.  Good end to a day I'd say.

Mommy Yoga

This really special gal has been on my mind lately.

Her name is Ann, and I hope she doesn't mind that I'm going to brag a bit about her for a minute {or two}.


She wears many hats: she's a private business owner, a professional yoga instructor,

(I use regularly use Ann's "Yoga for Runners" DVD 

to help with my tri training.  Taylor loves to join in. :) )

she's a homeschooling mom (amazing), a wife and expectant mother of six sweet little girls (and for clarification that's not meant to sound like she's carrying multiples!)...


...and she is passionate about providing relief to suffering women in the Congo.  Somehow, amidst all her responsibilities and life struggles, she still chooses to give her all to those women, who as she would say, have lost everything.


So she chooses to give something.  I am in awe at her passion and innovation at how she goes about helping them: 


By hosting "Yoga for Congo Women" events around the country each year, donating all proceeds to women in the Congo.  Denver's Yoga for Congo event is this Saturday morning.

At last year's Yoga for Congo, I was impressed and truly touched by what I experienced there.  Anyone in the Denver area want to see what I mean?  Go check it out {THIS Saturday!}

As I participate in my triathlon that same morning, my mind is going to be on Ann and her cause.  

Cool Boy Stuff

I got to sleep in again yesterday morning. When I woke up, the kids were playing in their bedroom and Andrew said he'd take care of them while I went out to train. Even with that perfect setup, it was so tough to get out of bed...this past week of training has really been getting to my tired body. But I'm almost there: only 5 days left to go, and this week I get to taper-down the workouts. That'll feel nice.

I went out and "block trained--" that means blocking activities together, such as biking a little then running, or swimming some and then getting on the bike-- the way that I will during the race. So I biked a seven mile loop, then ran for two, making sure to stop at a bike store along the way to get a saddle bag and patch kit for the race (can't believe I overlooked getting those last time I did a tri!).

By the time I got back, Russell was already laying down for his first nap--had I really been gone that long?? Looking at the clock, I realized my workout had taken 2 1/2 hours.

I quickly pounded a protein shake, showered, and then the fam and I walked across the street to our neighbor Vanessa's house, who weeks ago had invited us over for a special lunch. She was unbelievably sweet to us for this meal: She had borrowed a picnic table from a friend and set it up outside with her nice dinner dishes, and she had a fabulous meal on the menu-- Steak shishkabobs, baked potatoes with homemade pico and shredded cheese, and fruit salad AND garden salad, with a new bottle of one of my favorite dressings--light raspberry vinegarette. She really went the extra mile for us. She's such a sweet lady.

We lingered a while at Vanessa's, then hustled to pack the car and drive to Colorado Springs to meet up with our good friend Chad from our BYU-I days, who now lives in Hawaii with his family but is staying at Fort Carson for a couple weeks for flight training (he flies helicopters for the army! Pretty cool!).

Our boys were pretty tired by this point in the day. With no time for naps and their stubbornness in not being willing to sleep in the car, they didn't get much shut-eye and were SO cranky on the drive south. The drive seemed eternal...I thought my head was going to explode!

But all ended well because when we arrived, my boys got to do really cool boy things:

How often do you get to sit in the cock pit of a Black Hawk?

Uh...NEVER.

Chad was cool enough to take us up close and personal with the medivac helicopters he gets to fly every day.

Until yesterday, I had never been on an army post or in a helicopter.

My guys (big and small) especially loved the experience.

Taylor's little motor-mouth kept telling me that he wanted to be a helicopter pilot when he grew up (and that he would fly to our house...and that I would fly with him...and he would go so so high in the sky....and....).

By the end of the day we also realized how much we miss Chad and Kelly. They're full of life and always up for an adventure. Andrew still hasn't found another buddy who loves to "adventure race" and mountain bike with him the way that Chad did!

Any takers? :)

Baby Shoes

I put shoes on Russell for the first time today.

This morning after breakfast, Taylor kept walking up to his little brother with outstretched arms asking,"Russell, come walk to me!" And Russell, giggling and shuffle stepping toward him each time, loved to respond to the attention he was getting from his hero, Big Brother Taylor.

I squeezed my baby's chubby little feet into his posh New Balance shoes (a gift from Grandmother Norris, to Taylor, when he started walking) and put he and his brother into our bike trailer and rode a longer route to a park for my tri training today.

The day was cool and beautiful. Perfect for exercise and perfect for play. And my stomach didn't hurt (long story that I'll get to another day)! It felt nice to get out. It's been feeling nice out a lot lately. Maybe I'm not going to mourn the loss of hot summer days so much after all...

Taylor was loving tossing the playground bark up into the air while he played. It reminded me of playing in Fall's leaves. Soon I'll be taking pictures of the real thing, I think.

The shoe thing was a bigger deal than I thought it would be for Russell. I envisioned him loving having protection for his feet and feeling more freedom as a result, but for most of the time he and Taylor played, he decided that crawling was probably better than standing on those funny foot restraints.

Every now and then, I'd catch him getting brave for a minute or two. (In the name of food, you know.)

Taylor took a break in the name of food several times too. He'll do just about anything for fruit leather.

This picture spells Tiffany L.O.V.E.--it's outdoors, a great camera {bag} nearby, bike and gear in background, nice weather, one of the cutest little boys in the world smiling at me...

In the evening Andrew, kids, and I met up with Kevin & Laurie (and their adorable kids Brynley and baby Noah) at the fire pit on our church's property and enjoyed a campfire dinner together.

It was the perfect double date: nearly free, near to home, the kids entertained themselves "exploring" (as Taylor called it), and we had good adult conversation--something I definitely am in shortage of.

We all came home covered in dirt and smelling of campfire. My boys were happy.

Telluride (Part Two)

River Play.

By a gorgeous stream that meandered (for a long distance) on the south side of Telluride. We did this every day that we were there, sometimes several times. The adults went in phases but the fun never got old for my two little guys.

Ahh...Water. Mountains. Sunshine. Family. Looking at these pictures has such a calming affect, don't you think?

For your Entertainment

This was the last thing I watched before I went to sleep last night.

Talk about wrecking my bedtime! I just had to watch it over, and over, and over...and I can't stop laughing, even now. You can thank Andrew's cousin Rebecca for this one.

Not Too Shabby

I woke up this morning at 9:00 a.m., shocked that I had slept so long and pleasantly suprised to hear my happy boys quietly playing in their room together. They're my alarm clock...this never happens!

Thinking about my triathlon that is only 10 days away, I knew I needed to run this morning. I looked out the window to confirm my prediction: that my run would be uncomfortable and hot, because I had slept past my chance to enjoy the cool morning air.

But not true. Almost the opposite actually. Today was overcast with a dreary drizzly rain. That made me wonder if I would be able to run at all...but I know that I have a great jogging stroller with a rainguard, so that ensured that only I would get wet, should I venture out. I decided to go.

The temperature was in the low 60's again (how it's generally been since September hit). And I, who gets cold easily, was again suprised to feel VERY refreshed by the cool temperature and by the rain! My four mile run was the most enjoyable one I've had all Summer. By far. I can't wait to do this again tomorrow--I hope. :)

To cool down after the run, I pushed the stroller up the road to check our mail. And the morning just got better:

For those of you who don't know, I've been stressing a lot lately whether I would ever have the privelege of having this special piece of paper grace my mailbox again.

I've worked SO HARD for it. By doing this:

And this:

And this:

Because I royally procrastinated meeting deadlines (and because I stink at math...and taking tests...and taking math tests), I earned this hard-worked-for paper by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin. And I'm so grateful I did.

It's my new K-8 teaching credential. I'm a teacher again!

It's been a pretty good day.

Telluride

At my sweet parents' invitation, a few days after swim lessons ended, my little family packed our bags to meet Mom, Dad, Larz and Devin for a week in Colorado's San Juan mountains and its beautiful hidden gem...Telluride!

We were astounded by the beauty of that place, and amazingly, most of us had never been there before (myself included).

We experienced so many extraordinary things on this trip; I don't think I could do it justice and still blog about it all in one post! Here's the first glimpse of our summer vacation:

Our car, Dad's car.

The trip took both families 5 1/2 hours of driving to get there--a perfect meeting place, between SLC and Denver, wouldn't you say?

A three bedroom condo (plus cool kid nook under the eave that became Taylor's "room," so it felt like there were four!) on the west side of town. We loved it there.

Park Play

Summer would not be Summer if we didn't get out and play at the park once in a while...

...and this season, we did plenty of it! Here are some highlights from some of our outings:

Clement Park

Littleton Historical Museum (aka, "The Ama-mul Park").

**Which by the way, is FREE to the public...love that.

Belleview Park (aka "The Train Park"). One of Taylor's faves. It has a great stream for the kids to play in too.

I'm so glad that we enjoyed it to its fullest while we could; just over the past two days the temperatures have fallen into the mid-sixties! Fall is in the air. I don't know if I'm ready to say good bye to summer time!

Dear Elder

If you're reading this "Dear Elder" post for the first time, these are letters to my missionary brother serving in the Sao Paulo, Brazil North mission for my church.

For more on this, see my first post HERE.