fall . . . .we miss you!

This post has two purposes. the first and least important is to sing praises to the season of Fall. The second and greatest reason is to share some of the cutest pictures of my kids. Seriously, look at the first picture. Benson has the cutest smile poking out from a pile of fall leaves. Not only is it beautiful that these leaves have so many colors but they bring so much joy to rake, play, hide and all around play in.
Madisen and Jeddy love to go up in their tree. It is a rite of passage for them. A coming of age when they can get themselves up in the tree by themselves. Well Jeddy uses a chair . . . but he puts it there himself. They sit up their forever pretending and playing. I would absolutely love this if it was in our back yard. It now sits in our front yard over the sidewalk. Not the best place to fall out of a tree. I love 'toys' and entertainment that is simple and makes the kids work for it. Simple meaning it does not require 12 hours of assembly, 4 batteries, or require adult supervision. They have to make the sounds and create their own setting; it is not dictated. Not that I am against supervising my kids. But with 3 mess makers I need to be supervising as I fold, or wipe, or clean.

I can't help looking at these pictures and think of My Heavenly Father and his beautiful creations. One thing I miss about Virginia, and Utah also is their fall season. I miss driving through the rolling hills and Mountains during the changing of the leaves. I miss Bridal Veil Falls' water crushing down the rocks as red leaves float in the wind. I miss driving through the streets and churning up the leaves in the gutter. I miss making huge elaborate mazes in the leaves that covered our front lawn. In our sunny California Paradise we have Fall in January and it rakes into a 50 gallon trash can. Be careful not to miss it before all the leaves drop.

I laugh to see the small size of our leaf pile. If it were in Virginia several things wouldl be different. Depending on the year the kids would not be allowed in the leaves because we had several copperhead snakes living in our front yard. The second one we found I killed with my trusty leaf blower. Also the leaves would be a darker maroon color and the pile would take in the entire yard, and it would be a paramount job to rake and bag over several months. I have to admit fall in California is alot less taxing . . .we don't even own a rake. We left it in Virginia . . .with Fall.
Benson hates being left out of the tree fun. So a few times we sit him up there. He just sits and squeals with excitement. Who knew sitting in a tree was so exciting.

It was a White christmas for us.

Our sweet boy Jeddy, he is always willing and eager to help. He loves to get involved and be doing things. So he helped Dad and Grandpa shovel the huge driveway. They can park like 12 cars at least. Jeddy was a big help!

Sled rides with the Johnson's. In an open field in the middle of Orem, Utah Trin's Uncle Keith pulled the kids in a snowshoe sled behind his Subaru. They have a big beautiful Dog named Ronan, and he would chase the car and the sled. He even was biting Ben when he went with Jeddy and Mikey . . .that led to their demise and the sled tipped over. Jeddy didn't like that at all. After he 'cooled off' and warmed up in the van he went on the sled a few more times.
of coarse my little helper Jeddy gets us all hot cocoa . . . it is a must when one has so much play and rompus in the snow.
Benson is all smiles playing in my old playhouse. It was so hard to get him to wear gloves or a hat or even a coat. but once he went outside a few times and realized we were all bundled and that it is colder then what he is use too . .he was SO MUCH MORE cooperative.

I am still trying to get pics of Madisen and trinity sledding. They went off by themselves and just had a blast. It was a new experience for the kids. They all decided we can never move to UTAH it is too COLD.

Smoking in the New Year

Has anyone gotten themselves in a bind and had to buy something expensive to use once.
For example has any one tried to move all their belongings from a storage unit in California to Las Vegas and forgot to bring the keys for the padlock? So then you have to buy bolt cutters. Bolt cutters? Seriously what am I going to do with huge bolt cutters. Ben and I are not really into petty theft so they have just gathered dust for years.



One reason I love real Christmas trees is I love cuttign them down and burning them.
It is tradition for us to burn our Trees and have cozy game or story time in front of the fireplace.


So this year I took my awesome bolt cutters to our douglas fir and went to town. It melted through the branches so smoothly. I was even able to cut 2 in thick branches with ease. Good thing we are getting our use out of our 'useless' bolt cutters. Any one have a tree they need to get rid of?

The kids had such a great time. They kept Ben busy loading the fire with branches. It smelled so good. We played old Maid, cranium, and chinese checkers. Listend to our ipod and ate yummy homemade popcorn. It was a fun night.

It's beginning to look allot like Christmas

We spent tonight buying our tree and decorating it.
We were sad to learn that all the tree farms, and cut your own tree down spots burned down in California. So our only option was to go down the street to a pre-cut lot and buy one that came from Oregon this morning.

Benson was really loving it. He was talking up a storm. I do not quite know what he said but I managed: big tree, wow, poke me, tree, tree, Christmas tree, big tree, baby tree. Jeddy at first said he wanted a Benson size tree. So I took him over to the Benson size tree's. It took about 2.5 seconds for him to be completely disappointed and run back to the 10 foot section of $100.00 trees.

Meanwhile Dad and Madisen found the tree for us (not in the $100.00 section). Dad drilled a hole and got it all set up in the stand while I made dinner. After dinner me and the kids listened to all our favorite Christmas songs and decorated the tree.

You might not know this but I am VERY particular about the lighting on my trees. I always redo what the kids or Ben do. I Start at the bottom and take every strand into the trunk wrap around the branch on my way out then back into the trunk and out etc etc. I was methodically trying to teach my kids to do this. I finally just came to the proper conclusion that they are not old enough to manage the physicalness or to CARE. I also came to a new great awareness that it is our family Christmas tree, not my decoration or craft. So, after coming to close to tears a couple times I just let go and gave them their stands and free reign of the tree.

And you know what it looks great! The kids posed with their favorite ornaments and took their own "progress report" pictures. Benson just posed, over and over. He loved to decorate himself. He would wrap himself in the strand we were working with and try to put ornaments on like earrings. What a fun little boy.

I am glad I am able to learn from my wonderful children. From Benson I learned that several of my ornaments are indeed breakable, he loves the sound of clinking glass. He is perfecting my patience. Jeddy taught me that putting light on a tree is dumb because you cant jump rope with the light strands. My second born also taught me size matters. I showed them my dream tree (noble fur 12 foot for 150$) he was so confused on why I wanted a skinny tree you could see through. He likes his trees like he likes Santa Clause - thick. Madisen taught me achieving perfection is not creating memories, she also taught me the cheapest tackiest ornaments can bring a tear to your eye and a swell to your chest.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is going through all our ornaments. Madisen asks about each one now and knows that almost all have a story and a history. Family trips, vacations, mile stones, gifts, family and friend parties, R. S. activities, loved ones here and gone and painting our own with the McEvoy girls are all some of the great flashes of memories that come back to me each year as we hang the ornaments.

I love Christmas more and more every year I get to experience it with my kids.

Kim

That's What She Said

I know the suspense has been killing every one. . . .but finally here it is my version of the tri.
sorry this is long, I bolded pertinent information for skim readers.

Many of my readers are moms that know training with three small kids is challenging if not impossible. At least with this race I wasn't still nursing a baby. My swim training was 4 trips to the Carlsbad swim complex in October. Which is a beautiful pool with crystal clear water. My bike training consisted of 8 or so bike rides since the summer. Most were with the kids on their scooters and only 5 miles. Running training consisted of hikes with both boys in the double jogger in Calavera hills trails most Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

That bring us to race day eve. I put on my wet suit for the second time in my entire life. I again jumped into a clean pool and did a few lengths of the pool. It has been several months since i have been in the ocean (wet to my knees) and longer then that since I actually got really wet in the ocean. At this point I made a big realization, I had forgotten to pack my race shoes. Oops! So I searched everywhere on the island (about 9 different stores). The best I could find was men's shoes that were a full size to big. We had a yummy pasta dinner and tried to get a great nights sleep. That plan was foiled by Benson. He did not want to sleep in a hotel room with everyone else. He wanted to explore and party.

It was great that the race didn't start until 9:00 am.

• One we had more wiggle room in our schedule to squeeze in actual sleep.
  
• We could have slept in, minus the fact we have 3 kids, so that is never an option.
  
• It gave us plenty of time to get breakfast, set up our transition zones and get in the zone.
• it was ample time to get on my wet suit. for those of you that have not ever worn a wet suit. It is similar to removing a wet swimsuit but severely magnified because it it thick non pliable material and it covers your entire body.
  
• Plenty of time to pack the stroller with everything Gma would need to keep all 3 crazies entertained during the race.

I met a very nice girl at my transition spot. She was just across the A-frame. She gave me lots of pointers and advice. Once I was all set up and had my wet suit on I went over to the beach to find Ben and await my heat. Ben started 3 minutes before me. I wished it was the other way around, because he would have lapped me and I would have probably felt a bit more calm in the water knowing he was behind me.

Well the whistle blew and Ben was off . . .I waved my last wave and blew kisses and lined up on the beach. My whistle blew . . . I jumped in the water and was off. Then I realized I never put my goggles on my eyes. So I stood back up and did that. I then got back in the heat of the race. It didn't take me long to realize I was not swimming a crystal clear, clean pool . I was quickly reminded of why I do not go in the ocean often.

• I do not enjoy being surrounded by cold water.
• I get really grossed out with the whole wild life thing, especially that you can't see them.
• I am very uncomfortable with not being able to touch the ground or even a ledge.
• I really, really do not like dirty water in my mouth.
• I really do not like salt water in my mouth or hair.

On the bright side after swallowing a bunch of yucky water I flipped on my back and enjoyed the sun and the flags on the boats masts. Every time I bobbed my head up a race staffer on a kayak asked if I needed any help. "Swimmer are you Ok, do you need assistance"? If I got a dollar for every time I heard that it would have paid for the race entry. I never felt like I was going to drowned. I sure did realize, not that I didn't before, I really do not like swimming in the ocean. But, I did my 1/2 mile swim, and in 11 minutes quicker then my 4 times at the pool.

I had a great start to my transition. I had my cap, goggles and wet suit down to the hip before I got to the transition area. I was very disoriented and had no balance. So it ended being a long set. I tried to focus and get a ton of clean water in my system. I got both sets of socks and blister band-aids on, laced up my big shoes as tight as i could . . . and I was off for the bike 15K. It was allot smoother getting out of the water and on a bike then I thought it would be. The bike course was basically 3 loops, so My first 2 loops over lapped with Ben and we waved and called to each other. My last 2 over lapped with a friend from our ward that also did the Tri.

I think one of the most amazing things I have done, is not necessarily the race but that I opened a sealed gator aid bottle while keeping my pace on the bike race. I kept trying to squeeze out the juice and it wouldn't come. I took of the cap and tore of the paper seal. Replaced the cap and downed the liquid goodness. That I tell you is mom skills.

On the 3 loops it is 3 times going straight up hill then 3 going down and level road. The third up hill was hard because I was tired and I kept going into lower gears earlier and earlier. I coasted the entire way down to conserve energy for the run. My hair elastic broke as I took my helmet off, dang it! So I ran with my nasty salt water hair flopping every where. The kids and grandma were at this transition. It was so great to see them, they were all cheering for me. I gave everyone five as I ran past.

I wasn't worried about the running, I know I can run. It was a beautiful run along the harbor and up the mountain to a look out point, back down into town again up to the highest point and then down hill a straight shot to the finish line. here was the test of my shoes. I wore some new shoes and got nasty blisters a week before the race. So I had been nursing blisters and still had open wounds on the backs of my heels. I put real sticky band-aid on my heels. So they would last through the swim. And I stuffed the toes of my big man shoes with cotton balls and wore both pairs of running socks. They worked like a charm. It is probably the most comfortable I have been while running.

I admit I walked up the last hill, but not until I was half way up. And I passed people even walking. It was a relief to turn the corner and see that a 1/2 mile away was the finish line. I could see the kids down near the end. Again they cheered me on and the announcers say your name as you cross the finish line. I have never had that happen.

So there you have it, I am officially a tri-athlete. I can not brag too much considering it was a sprint and I was pretty sore the next 2 days. I was so glad my shoes worked out. After the race we enjoyed fresh fruit and water, then checked out of our hotel and hit the pool and hot tub. link to see some sweet shots of the action. thanks for reading.

1

NO	FN	LN	SWIM	BIKE	T2	RUN	TIME
401	Kim	Mcevoy	19:32	50:54	0:54	32:21	1:49:39

IF you are really interested in more results here is the link and this is a search able results page

A big thank you to grandma McEvoy, we couldn't have done it with out her help. She is so great to fly out her to be with us . . . to be our personal babysitter. The kids always love when grandma comes to town. Thanks Karen.

The Catalina Triathlon

The whole gang, including my mom, left Newport Beach for Catalina Island on Friday. We went to bed early that night so we could get plenty of sleep for our first Triathlon. Okay, we didn't shatter any records, we didn't turn the heads of any road bike or energy bar sponsors. But we started and completed our first triathlon. What an awesome experience for both Kim and I.

My mom came into town to watch the kids while we raced. Before anyone is too impressed, this was a sprint Tri, meaning, we are nowhere near an iron man, or a half iron man, or even Olympic man. We are just mini man triathletes. It was a half mile swim in the ocean around the pier. Next was a 10 mile bike ride up a scenic canyon and around the port town of Avalon. The last leg was an amazing run along the coast, up to a beautiful lookout point, and back to town.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. It was already sunny and around 70 degrees by 9 am, the start time. The water was about 65 degrees, I didn't even need a wetsuit. My favorite part was the swim. The main reason was that neither of us was shark food, but it was also very refreshing. But mainly, before you start your first race, you are unsure if you even belong with what appears to be a lot of highly qualified triathletes. After I actually completed the swim, and actually caught up to people in the heat in front of me, I felt like I could hang and I belonged. (After the race I realized that your main competition is yourself. I haven't done many races, so this was a bit of revelation.) Then the bike part was very nice. I have trained on a mountain bike and got a road bike 2 nights before the race, so I was amazed at how much easier it was to keep a good pace. My least favorite of the 3 is the run, so I was happy that the scenery was able to make up for my weakness in speed. I cramped in the beginning of the run, but kept my goal to not ever stop running, until the finish line.

It was a really amazing experience, I cannot wait to do it next year. My time was 1:19:39.7. There were 95 people that I need to figure out how to beat next year(mainly myself), and my competitive juices are flowing freely. What a great experience it was. If anyone is even remotely interested in doing this with us next year, let us know, we will be there. I will let Kim post her story when she can, but it was a very fulfilling thing for us to train together and both complete this challenge. She was awesome. It was really great to have my children and mom there cheering us on. At the end of the day on the Ferry back home we got to witness one of the prettiest sunsets ever. What a great adventure.

If you want to see more action pics, here is the site. we are number's 400 and 401.

Passing of Prop 8

I don't think the fight to protect our families is over by any means, but we feel so relieved that a major battle was won. Neither Kim nor I have a history of being very active politically, and judging by the experience, neither one of us has much of a future in it. It has not been what either of us would call "fun". But we have been grateful to find that when something is right, even though it is not always comfortable or popular, a greater energy pushes you to stretch past what you may want to do.

To those who may be on the fence on this issue, you may criticize and question us all you want. But please know that I would rather that my 6 year old daughter, and my 3 year old and 20 month old sons not get called the things my wife and I have been called over the last few weeks. This is why we lent our support. My hope for their future is that they will never call someone a derogatory term because of their sexual orientation. They will also be taught to love others even if we disagree with their choices. (Important to note here is that illegal behavior, anger, hatred, derogatory speech and violence has been almost exclusively on the part of those who have opposed prop 8. Are you still wondering what a prophet foresees when he says calamities await us if we allow the disintegration of the family? My fear is that this was just a sneak peak into the future.) But my wife and I will always stand up and listen to vile and hateful accusations, and be cursed at, if it means our children don't have to be. As parents of children who are much more important than the perverse and flagitious themes of the day, we feel our duty is to them first. Maybe I am on a soap box and I know I get a bit passionate about things sometimes, but I am driven by the idea that all it takes for evil to prevail, is for good men and women to stand idly by. I would rather err on the other side.

There have been strong emotions on both sides of this battle, and it has required the participation of countless volunteers. For the first time in my adult life, I feel proud to be a Californ..............Oh wait, never mind that one has been used before. Anyway, in all seriousness, I feel like my fellow Californians stepped up and voted morally on a moral issue. Whoohoo! We are one household of many who are a extremely grateful for the answer to our prayers. Thank you to so many of you who prayed, fasted, voted, went viral, blogged, waved signs, got out of your comfort zones, knocked on doors, put up signs, donated, and put up with forwarded emails. We heard that people in every single state but Vermont donated to the Yes on 8 side. From our little family, Thank you.