The Training Begins

Who says you can't have a year between posts? Like I said in the beginning I don't keep up on these things very good.

So, my latest adventure is to train for a triathlon and then compete on April 17 at the Timp Tri in Orem, UT. Just last week I though about competing this Saturday (Oct 17) at BYU in a super short Tri but we already had plans to do something else. Besides, even for a short tri, 10 days is not enough time to adequately train.

So, since today is Columbus day I am fortunate enough to be off work and decided to get training. At first I was just going to run for 1.5 mile but somewhere during my run on my way back to the house, I decided to do a short bike ride as well. So I ran 1.5 miles in about 14:30 due to some walking and then biked another 2.5 miles for a total time of 27:03. Not spectacular but right now I'm just glad that I got out and did some physical activity.

So just in case you don't know what the distances are for triathlons, herre is a quick reference chart:


Name Swim Bike Run

Sprint 0.5mi(750m) 12.4mi(20km) 3.1mi(5km)

Olympic 0.93mi(1.5km) 24.8mi(40km) 6.2mi(10km)

ITU Long 1.86mi(3km) 49.6mi(80km) 12.4mi(20km)

Half 1.2mi(1.9km) 56mi(90km) 13.1mi(21.09km)

Full 2.4mi(3.8km) 112mi(180km) 26.2mi(42.195km)

Just so you know, I am not looking to do a full triathlon. I know my own limits. I think the most I would like to do is an Olympic. For now I am just going to concentrate on finishing a Sprint.

I will try to keep this up to date if only for myself to look back and say "look, I really did it".

Well, I thought it would be good to update you all on the remodel of the downstairs. Once the front room was done, I took it upon myself to start breakingtiles in the dining room so as to motivate us to finish the rest of the wood flooring. We enlisted the help of Kerri's brother Kevin to do a lot of the labor. Here he is after all the tile has been taken out, pulling staples out of the floor.

Luckily there were only about 2 million staples to pull out. Once the tiles were removed we had no choice but to start laying down the wood floor.

Here are a few pictures of the work in progress. These were actually taken over several days. Kudos to Kerri for living with the constant state of construction and mess.

We also got the countertops replaced so I took some pictures of the new countertops.

So next on the adgenda is replacing the living room carpet. This is actually goning to happen in less than 48 hours. It is exciting but I am also dreading it because I have to remove all the furniture and old carpet. That means a whole bunch of staples to take out again!!!

Stay tuned for more updates.

The Last Camping Trip

Well, Jory needed to sign off a few things before he can get his Arrow of Light in scouts and I hate to admit it but I have pretty much let his leaders take charge in getting him advanced in scouts. He needed to complete these things before he turns 11 in December so there is a bit of a time crunch. Two of the things he needed to accomplish were help set up a tent and camp overnight. with it getting colder and colder we figured time was running out so we kind of make a spur of the moment decision and went camping. We ended up only about 3 - 4 miles from our house down by the local lake. There is a RV park down there that has some tent sights. Over all it was a lot of fun. The kids got to roast marshmellows (or as Cameron calls them Smarshmellows), we make smores, and I got to show Jory and Megan how to split wood for a fire. The kids had fun looking around for twigs to put on the fire. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera so the memories will have to remain in our heads.

Some thinks to remember from our adventure:

~ The cat that stalked our tent ALL NIGHT LONG!!!
~ Cameron snoring like a truck driver (not that all truckers snore)
~ Listening to the mating of the wilderbeasts (really just a couple of bulls in someone's pasture)
~ The constant stream of trains that seemed to run right by our tent

So really Kerri and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep but it was worth it.

The Great Remodel

Well, ever since we bought our current house we have wanted to add some personal touches to really make it feel like our home. I don't know if we are different from most people but little touches in our family really mean major projects. So we finally took the first steps towards our major projects. I have decided to complete the entire thing in phases. Right know there are 6 phases.

PHASE 1: Install new hardwood floor in front room.

STATUS: COMPLETE!!

This is kind of half way through the project. I forgot to take a before picture but it was just carpet and some furniture.

This is pretty much the finished product. We started to place furniture in the room before I got a good picture.

PHASE 2: Have new kitchen countertop installed.

STATUS: COMPLETE!

Here is a picture of the old countertop. Nothing special, just regular formica.

I haven't got pictures yet of the new countertop but it is a solid surface type. Stay tuned for more pictures.

PHASE 3: Continue hardwood floor into dining room.

STATUS: About to start

PHASE 4: Replace carpet in family room.

STATUS: Well, we've picked out the carpet we like but it will be a while yet.

PHASE 5: Replace tile on kitchen floor.

STATUS: Same as 4.

PHASE 6: Install travertine backsplah above new countertop.

STATUS: We haven't even picked out what we want yet :(

It is a lot of work to be done, for sure. Especially when I am doing most of it myself. As more projects get finished I will post more pictures. Meanwhile let's just hope we can live with the mess that inevitably seems to accompany any project I take on.

Fall Colors

It has become our tradition each year when the trees start to change colors to drive up into the mountains and look at all the cool colors. We always take pictures but have never really done anything with them. So I thought it would be a good idea to post them here. At least now others can enjoy what we get to see. We decided to do our colors drive on Monday for Family Night. First we went to eat at the Bajio restaurant near our house. Jory and Megan both were selected as "Student of the Month" for their grade and they each got a free meal certificate from the restaurant. Here the boys are waiting for Kerri and Megan to come out from the restaurant.

Kerri decided to try her hand at photography. Here I am driving up the canyon towards Sundance ski resort.

These aren't the best pictures as we were running out of daylight so I wanted to try to get as many pictures as I could.

We always try to stop somewhere along the way to take family pictures. We ended up driving to a BYU camp called Aspen Grove. We took a few family pictures, some serious and some fun. The kids had a lot of pent-up energy so Kerri had them race around the van. These pictures are pretty cool because you can really get a feel for the action.

All in all it was another great memory for our family. It is really cool to be making our own traditions while still trying to honor those of our past.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Well, miracles of miracles, our house in Davis County finally closed!! What a relief it is to have that burden lifted. It was very hard at times to have faith that things would work out, but I know that the Lord has a plan for us and sometimes we just have to take what comes and make the best of it.

So now life is good. The kids are in school and they all seem to be loving it (as much as kids can love school). Cameron started kindergarten this year. We were a little worried about him not being ready as well as him experiencing some separation anxiety. We considered holding him back a year but decided to see how he would do. Wouldn’t you know it, he is doing great. He has a great teacher and each kindergarten room has a theme and his is "castle" theme so everything is decorated according to the theme. He just loves it. Jory and Megan are both doing great in school as well. It has been such a relief to live where we do. The kids made friends with the neighbors over the summer so they didn’t have to start school as complete newbies. Jory even has two of his friends in his class. AJ, well, AJ is quite the busy body. He is into everything and loves to explorer and learn. He loves to talk even though it is just gibberish. My job is great. When I wake up in the morning I don’t dread going to work. This is a major accomplishment for me.

With the other house finally off our backs we are going to concentrate on our current house and are trying to decide what things we want to address first. Of course we have our ‘want’ list and our ‘need’ list. It seems like the needs are never as exciting as the needs. One thing we do need is a new hot water heater. The one we currently have make a lot of noise when you use it so I think we are going to go with a tankless water heater. That way we will never run out of hot water and it is more efficient. We are looking at remodeling the kitchen somewhat as well. We have a limited budget so we have to pick and choose which changes are the most important to us. I think we are going to go with hardwood floors, granite countertops, paint over the oak wood cabinet bases, and then get new cabinet doors and drawer fronts. We also need a new microwave since the house didn’t come with one. We have been using a little tiny one that Kerri bought at Wally thinking (for the past 3 months) that the other house would close any day so we could afford a new one to go over the stove. I think I will try to document the changes and post them here if anyone is interested.

We went to my grandmother's funeral over the Labor Day weekend. It was a relief for her to pass away and we know that she is happy in heaven. We got to see almost all of my cousins which was pretty cool although I always wish there was more time to visit. Hopefully we can come out again soon.

How not to sell a house

So here is the saga of a house sale gone bad. I wish I could say that it is a work of fiction but unfortunately it is real.

While I was away for training Kerri took on the responsibility to sell our house as we knew when I got back we would have to move for my new job. We secured the services of a local realtor who also happens to be the mother of our neighbor. We got the house listed and Kerri was showing the house several times a week but to no avail as we were not getting any offers. There were actually a couple of potential buyer who looked at the house more than once. All the while we were biting our nails hoping that the house would sell in time for Kerri to move to our new house before I finished training.

Finally the great day came and we received an offer on the house. From the beginning things seemed a bit strange. The offer we received was for quite a bit more than our asking price. The conditions of the offer stated that we would donates X number of dollars to a non-profit organization who would in turn give the money to the buyers. When I think back to the day I read the offer, I remember warning bells going off in my head, but with all the excitement of receiving an offer, I chose to ignore them. Man, I wish I could go back in time some days.

We ended up countering their offer, then they countered back and we finally accepted their offer. Not long after accepting their offer we found out that we wouldn’t be leaving Utah after all, just moving to a new town in Utah. We were pretty excited and Kerri rushed out to our new town and in one afternoon found the house of our dreams (for the most part). She made an offer and it was accepted. Hurray, all is well, right?

To sum up a lot of stress and anguish, the original offer on our house was made in April of 2008 and the buyers still haven’t closed on their loan. We had to let them move in and pay us rent because Kerri had already moved to our new house and we couldn’t afford two mortgages. We have been promised time and time again that we should be closing on such and such day only to be told (usually on the day we are supposed to close) sorry maybe in a few days…weeks…months…years. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little but that’s how it feels.

So, we were once again told that we should be closing no later than the 20th of August by the lender. Kerri finally had to cut the realtors out of the communication game because they have proved to be absolutely worthless. All that and when we finally do close, we get to pay them somewhere in the neighborhood of $11K.

Today after leaving messages for 4 days, Kerri finally spoke to the lender and found out that the loan is not done and they are trying to decide if they should get an ARM or some other thing. So Kerri told the lender that we need to know absolutely today whether or not they are even going to get the loan. So now after all the waiting we have done, these stupid people might not even get the loan.

We have held off on showing the house to other potential buyers since these people are living there and now we may have to kick them out and thy to carry two mortgages until we can get someone else to buy the house.

Needless to say, we are at the end of our rope with the whole thing. I guess I should be grateful that I have been able to learn to listen better to the spirit. I just had a feeling that things were not going to work out like they normally do. I have been trying daily to figure out what I am supposed to take away from this experience and maybe that is it. I guess only time will tell.

I’ll try to give an update when things get sorted out.