Hopefully 7 Weeks...

I had one of my final meetings for my house, so hopefully it will be complete in 7 weeks.

I'm a published author!

I wrote a little something for a tirathlon website and they published it!

Here it is, if you're interested: My perspective on trail running

And, yes, feel free to tell everyone that you know (because I will be famous in some very small circles of triathletes, someday!)

Greyson "Tiger" Stratton

We had a great experience today! Greyson competed in his first golf tournament and he was AWESOME!

This was a 9-hole tournament on a par 3 course in Murray. He shot a 44 and tied another boy in his pairing, but we didn't know if that was good or bad. After the second group came in, they posted the scores and 4 boys tied with a 44! They did a scorecard playoff (compare the tied players scores on hole 9, then 8, then 7, etc. to find a winner) and in the end Greyson took 3rd place!

I have officially entered the world of insanity! Population: 2

Age stamped on my left calf

Race number stamped on my left arm

On July 24, I successfully completed my first Sprint Triathlon! 3 months ago, if someone had told me that I would 1) run a 5k and 2) complete a triathlon, I would have told them they were crazy. As those who were not present are probably doubting that I actually did this, here is the photo evidence:

Coming out of the swim

Bike transition

Back into transition after the bike

Starting the run

The end is in sight!

The Finish Line!

Hot and Tired

The whole family was there to cheer me on!

If you think I photoshopped myself into all the photos, my family and Mel can verify that I actually competed and finished!

family, fun, fireworks. that's the 4th.

please tell me some of you got that saved by the bell reference? anyway.
here's a few ways how the Utah Strattons (and Griffiths) celebrated their freedom:

setting up a slip & slide

throwing kids down said slip & slide

using lots of soap to make it really slippery

 enjoying the view while waiting for fireworks

eating smores before fireworks

(this pic of lula is here purely to show off why michelle thought she looked like an old woman fresh off a cruise)

sadly I have no pictures of the obstacle course. just know swimsuits were required and fun was had.

memorial day at the imperial palace

as per recent stratton family tradition we decided to put together an obstacle course in honor of memorial day. I'm not nearly as high-tech as pops when it comes to that sorta thing, seeing how I had no excel spreadsheet to calculate the winner and approximately half as many obstacles as usual. but alas, he wasn't there and I'm gonna venture to say he would've been proud had he been able to witness. it's no wonder that greyson won the kids division, but it was a surprise even to me when jonathan ended up winning overall, beating grey by a mere .1 seconds (he got one more bonus second off his time than grey did). and luckily for everyone else there were so many varied age/gender divisions that mel presented us each with an award at the closing ceremonies.

I could really go for more of those swedish fish right now... 

gratitide

I'm not going to re-post the entire story, you can read all about my grateful moment on my blog.

Just know, if you ever questioned if Justin was a kind and loving brother, he truly is. He took money out of his golfing fund to do something so unbelievably unexpected and generous for me! And, don't ask, I won't tell you how much the gift card is for -- just know that Justin & Michelle were far more generous than they every should have been (and it is very much appreciated!)

And, if they was any doubt, I love those kiddos more than I can express and often feel that I should be paying them for the privilege of being around their wonderful kids.

If the rest of you lived closer, I'd be doing the same (and likely feel the same) for your kids!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

What did your Valentine's morning look like?  Natalie and I woke up to a lovely treat compliments of Josh!  How lucky are we! (I know, you're all jealous) 

And, it tasted as delicious as it looked!

Decorating the Tree

As is our tradition, we decorated the tree "as a family". It took us four days to get it decorated. With the kids basketball practices and games, YM/YW, Explorers, Christmas concerts, etc. it was nearly impossible. They did it in shifts-who ever was home for as many minutes as they could before leaving for their next activity.

Who is this?

I will give a nice big candy bar to the first person who can tell me who Graden was for Halloween.

I'm famous!

Not really. But my company used my handwriting on a 10 foot poster they did. See?

Boring.

a great way to start the day

Apparently, I'm as crazy as some of my family claims.  When I arrived at the gym this morning (at 5:10am - a perfectly reasonable hour in my mind as I've arrived earlier in the past), there was one other person in the cardio area.  Much to my surprise, not a single TV had been turned on.  This allowed me to fulfill one of my somewhat silly desires.  I turned on all the TVs and tuned into this. 

It only lasted for about 15 minutes before someone else showed up and switched channels.  But for those 15 minutes I was in sports heaven!

In other news - if you haven't heard, look who's coming to Provo.  Josh and I will be there - look for something to be posted over the weekend. Let's just hope BYU and Max Hall make a good showing at the game.

Dixie High School Homecoming

Ciera went to Dixie's Homecoming with her buddy Trevor. She went to the Homecoming game where Hurricane won 42-24. She was smart and didn't gloat since all the group she was with were Dixie students.

Jordanelle Sprint

This is the only picture I got of Mel participating in the triathlon:

But I did snap a bunch after until she told me to stop:

just a taste.

of how fun the reunion was.

All-Star

Graden played on the Hurricane All-Star team this week. They lost, but they had a good time!

Wannabe Dory

Ciera is providing a lot of entertainment this summer!

Is this a movie?

This is Ciera-today-while "mopping" the floor.

And more Ciera:

When all this silliness was done, she fell down the stairs-got a rug burn on her leg-and sat in my scrapbook chair and said, "My abdomen hurts!" Hard to believe that she's going to be 17!

Pie Eating Contest

Since Gary is in management at Viracon, they all HAD to participate in the pie eating contest at the company party.