Trevor's 1st Triathalon

Trevor had his first Triathalon at Sand Hollow May 15, 2010!

He did such a good job! I was so nervous for him but he wasn't at all. He had so much fun and plans on doing more. He finished the race in 1 hour 47 minutes. When he jumped in the lake he hit his foot on a rock & had to swim, bike, run with a hurt foot. It's now black & blue but he didn't give up! He did awesome! GO TREVOR!

Trev, Troy, & Meliss after the big race
Trev & Barbara

Uncle Trevor with his cute neices Aubrey & Kimberly and his nephew Carson

Chanda & Trevor

Finishing strong in his run

Transition to bike

Coming out of the lake

Starting his swim

Before the race. He looks soooo handsome!

Troy & Trev testing the bike the day before his race

Crater Lake Oregon

Trev & I had an overnight in Oregon & decided to rent a car and drive up to Crater Lake. I freaking LOVE Oregon. It is beauiful & I fell in love with a little town called Shady Cove. Crater Lake itself is beautiful. It is the deepest lake in the US & the 7th deepest lake in the world. It is 1,943 feet deep! There is a floating log that has been in Crater Lake for more than 100 years! Crater Lake used to be a volcano when it erupted& blew the top of the volcano right off & formed a hole. The Island in the lake was once the top of the volcano! Pretty cool!

Grilled Veggie Pizza Recipe (so yummy)

1 cup warm water (100* to 110*), divided

10 ounces bread flour (about 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)

10 teaspoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal

or...

Pillsbury ready to cook pizza crust

then...

1 zucchini cut into 1 inch think slices

mushrooms cut into slices

1cup sliced olives

1 tomato sliced

1 small red onion sliced

1 large red bell pepper, quartered and seeded

3 garlic cloves, minced

2/3 cup basic pizza sauce

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Pour 3/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups or spoons; level with a knife. Add flour to 3/4 cup water; mix until combined. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup water and yeast in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; cover surface of dough with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate 24 hours.

2. Prepare Grill to high.

3. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, 1 hour or until dough comes to room temperature. Punch dough down. Press dough out to a 12-inch oval on a lightly floured baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp edges to form a 1/2-inch border. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap.

4. Brush veggies with remaining tablespoons of oil; place in bowl. Grill zucchini and mushrooms 3 minutes on each side or until tender; place in bowl. Place pepper quarters, skin side down, on grill rack; grill 6 minutes or until blistered. Place peppers in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel peppers; add to vegetable mixture. Add garlic to veggies; toss to combine.

5. Place pizza dough, cornmeal side up, on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 4 minutes or until blistered. Turn dough over; grill 3 minutes. Remove from grill. Spread pizza sauce evenly over top of crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Arrange veggie mixture evenly over sauce. Sprinkle evenly with remaining salt and black pepper. Top with cheese. Return pizza to grill rack, and grill for 4 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Cut pizza into 10 pieces. 5 servings.

Sleep-Over

I've been meaning to post these pictures. I've been busy and time has been flying by but last month the girls got to come over for a sleepover. I was so excited to have them. We made butterflies and went swimming. They are such sweet girls. I hope they know how much we love them and although we are gone a lot that we always miss them and are thinking of them.

Here is a picture of the butterflies we painted and made.

Kimberly had my camera for about an hour so I just let her play. I couldn't wait to see what she was up to. It looks like she had a photoshoot for herself with the goggles we got her for her birthday. Ha... I love her!

Chicago

Last month I had interviewing in Chicago and ended up staying there for 4 nights so Trev flew out to spend the day with me. It was nearly 80 degrees the day we decided to go downtown. We went to Navy Pier by way of the Giddy up Water taxi, the "bean" and ended with a grocery store run into Trader Joes. We had a great time!

Bike Ride

Trev bought me a bike for Easter and we have been going on fun bike rides lately. The day we picked my bike up after is was assembled we went to Apreal's to take the kids for a ride to play at the park. It was such a nice fun little day. Baby Carson fell asleep in his stroller but he woke up with enough time to sneak in some play. After our bike ride we had yummy lasagna dinner that Apreal made and spent the night laughing at how cute the kids are. I love my new bike and my sweet nephew and nieces. What a great day!

Help me decorate!

Trev and I have lived here for about a year and a half and I have wanted to decorate my livingroom soooo bad! Our contract said we couldn't hang anything or paint the walls. There are nails left in the walls from the previous owners so I used those around the house as best I could but there weren't any in the stupid livingroom. I finally just decided to ask our landlord if they would mind if I hung things in the livingroom and they said to go for it! I was so excited! Here are the pictures. (Dont judge- it's my first time trying to decorate.) I need help with that one wall above the loveseat if anyone has an idea. =)

Awesomely WICKED!

March 16th Trev and I went to Wicked in San Francisco and had such a great time! We loved the show. It is so well done and so dang funny. My favorte character is Galinda- she is a crack up! I recommend it to everyone! I would go again and again. I will never view The Wizard of Oz the same way. It's a MUST SEE! Thank you so much Trev for taking me. You are right- it was the best birthday gift ever. I love you and look forward to sharing more memories with you everyday!

Happy Birthday to me....

So February 23 I turned 26 years old! 26 years old! I cannot believe it. I am so bummed. I feel so old. Mainly because I thought by the time I was 26 I would have things that I do not have yet, but I will say that everyday that goes by we are closer to our goals. (Trying to stay optimistic) This year I was lucky enough to have my Birthday off of work and I was excited to spend it with my friends and family. Trev had been building me up for weeks about "THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER" and I couldn't wait to see what he had in store for me. I spent the 14 days before my day guessing everything from a baby to a bulldog puppy but never guessed the actual gift. He had me so excited that I was losing sleep over it and if for some reason I got my mind off of it all it took was a look from him and an excited "OHOH OHHHH" to have me searching my mind for hours all over again. This was torturous! I couldn't wait! We flew down the morning of and Trev teased me the entire day. That night my mom make yummy pasta and a delicious ice cream cake and strawberry shortcake. They were amazing and I knew they would be. (Side note: I wish my mom would have got into baking commercially. She loves it and I think she could have made a great little business owner.) My aunts Denise and Celeste, Uncle Steve, Tanna, Anton, Trev, Troy, Mom and Tulip were there representing the family and I was lucky enough to have Jaycee and Sara come from the friends group. It was great to see everyone and I loved catching up a bit. Now for the drum roll please.......

Trev got me........ the book Wicked and tickets to see the musical in San Fran March 16th! I am so excited! We are on the 4th row-front and center! He is so sweet. I mentioned to him FOREVER ago that I wanted to see it and he remembered. He is so good. I cannot wait! It's going to be amazing! Only one week to go!

Other thoughtful gifts I received were a big red rug from my mom for my livingroom, a beautiful green stone pendant from Denise and family, and a pretty Hummingbird framed art piece from Celeste, Steve and Chareese. THANK YOU EVERYONE! I love you.

After flying home Trev and I were excited to see his side of the Family on Thursday night for dinner. We all met at Olive Garden and had a great time. We bought a 7 pound chocolate cake from Costco and all dug right in. My beautiful nieces sat on both sides of me had looked so cute with their flowers in their hair. Our friends Evan and Mallory were able to join all of us and it was so so good to see everyone! Eldon and Kallie got me a super cute Guess purse, Apreal and Derek got me some yummy VS lotion and a Buckle giftcard (I got a cute shirt and some earrings), and the kids got me the best birthday card entitled "AUNT" and they all wrote their names (I had to hold back the tears on this one) Along with sweet Aubrey drawing me a picture. My In-laws were sweet and gave me some money and a nice card. Thank you everyone! I love you all and loved spending time with you.

Besides turning 26 my Birthday was perfect. I received many phone calls from friends and family that I wasn't fortunate enough to see wishing me a great Birthday. I was able to spend it either in person or in spirit with those who mean the most to me in life. I am a lucky girl! Thank you thank you everyone!

Hawaii

Aloha! Trev and I finally got to goto Hawaii for a few days tho first week in February. We had a great time! When we first arrived Trev couldn't wait to stick his toes into the sand so we got our rental car, checked into our hotel, and took off for the beach. Our first steps on to Waikiki were right when the sun was setting. What a beautiful site. Trev and I stood there in each others arms while we enjoyed the view. In my opinion there aren't too many more moments you can spend with your husband that beat a sunset on the beachs in Hawaii. After walking around for hours we made our way back to the hotel for bed. Time change can really mess with a person and Trev and I were bright eyed and bushy tailed at the awesome hour of 5am the next morning. After turning on the news we were disappointed to learn that Ohau had forcasted showers throughout our first fun day there. We decided to make the best of it and head off to the Polynesian Cultural Center. What a wonderful place. We loved every moment that was provided for us and I found myself brought to tears many times by the beautiful people and my entire experience with them. I've always been intrigued by the Polynesians and their heritage, but I have a new found respect for such a humble, admirable culture. During the Luau there was this gorgeous little boy and girl that would come out and dance for us (this was one of the times I got a little emotional) and they did such a good job. My favorite dancers were the Tahiti dancers who had me in awe. I came home searching for teachers and hope to hula sometime. This was my favorite thing we did in Hawaii.

The next day Trev and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and went to Hanauma Bay to snorkle. When you first walk into the "park" you are provided a great view on a cliff looking down into the bay. Its gorgeous looking down into the depths of the ocean from above and we were so excited to jump in and explore. I was dead set on finding and swimming with a sea turtle! We grabbed our gear and headed out. Now, we were able to snorkle on our Honeymoon in Costa Rica and had a great time but let me tell you that there was a big difference between the two. First, in C.R. the fish were at least 4 feet away and we were in a pretty little lagoon that was really calm. At Hanauma bay you are literally inches from touching the coral at times and felt as though you were a fish with how closely you were swimming with them. Second, we were able to use a "normal" snorkle in C.R. and in Hanauma Bay they were all sold out and we had to use a dry snorkle. My stupid dry snorkle kept filing up with water and I would get a HUGE gulp of salt water every couple of minutes. I was freaking out! Besides not being able to breath and catch my breath the fish were WAY to close to me for comfort and the waves were pushing me into the coral which was causing me to scrape my knees. Trev was the only thing that provided me any kind of comfort so I was constantly grabbing and climbing on him to try to gather my composure. Needless to say his patience wore thin with me and I got into trouble a few times. So he dropped me off at the beach so I could tan instead and I was SO relieve to actually relax. After a few hours of laying there and hearing everyone else talk about the sea turtles Trev came to me with a new dry snorkle and a bright yellow life vest equipped with an awesome crotch buckle. I felt ridiculous but wanted to please Trev so I went out one last time. I did a lot better but still didn't like the fish touching me or the coral. After hitting myself on a giant rock and not seeing a turtle I gave up. Maybe some other time?

The next couple of days were spent exploring the island. We went to North Shore, Dole Pineapple Plantation, Pearl Harbor, and tanned and watched surfers at local beaches. Hawaii is beautiful and we had a great time, but its always good to come home. We look forward to seeing a different island another time. Here are a few pictures we took. We still need to use the rest of the underwater camera so stay posted for those.... Mahalo.

My first posting

I feel like such an idiot. Im just now trying to get into blogging and Im having a hard time firguring it out. My New Years Resolutions this year were to be more creative and crafty. I think starting a blog is a good first step. Other New Years Resolutions I have this year are....
1- Be more crafty
2- Workout 3 times a week
3- Eat healthier
4- Pay off debt (ya baby... so far soooo good)
5- experience somewhere I haven't been
6- Be a better person
7- Take Trevor to Hawaii
8- Make Grandma proud

Tonight Trevor and I are excited to have our friends Evan and Mallory over for dinner. Im going to make them enchiladas, spanish rice, beans, 7 layer bean dip, and some ritas! Im still rally shy cooking for people but am trying to break out of my shell. I hope everything turns out great.... For dessert I think I we will have broiled pineapple with honey yogurt. mmmmmm!