5 days in the D.R.

A couple months ago John & I decided we needed a fun trip to look forward to, so we planned a trip to the Dominican Republic. 5 days. All-inclusive resort. Total relaxation.
It was cloudy the day we arrived, but warm. No complaints.
I loved the airport. Everything was open. No windows. Big ceiling fans. Very tropical.
We stayed at the Riu Palace Macao just outside of Punta Cana, a city on the east end of the island.Here's the view from our window:
Our room:
We walked down to the beach right after we got there.

The next morning we got up early for an excursion. Here we are waiting for the bus to pick us up.
I've ridden in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, & New York City traffic, but this was the scariest. Absolutely no traffic rules that I could tell. People went both ways around the round-a-bouts. Total craziness!
We rode these boats out to the catamaran where we spent most of the day.
We went snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea. Saw some coral & some cool fish.
They took us to Catalina Island where we lounged on a private beach.
From there they put us on a paddle boat ride up the Chavon River and fed us a late lunch.
After lunch they took us to the Altos de Chavon. It's a great villa that looks super old but was actually built about 25 years ago. Here's the Chavon River in the background.

Self shot at the fountain.
This amphitheater was incredible. It has hosted Santana, Duran Duran, Andrea Bocelli. I would love to attend a concert here.
There was a couple with us on the tour that acted like supermodels, at every turn. We were totally entertained. We gave it a try.
Serious business.
We got back to the resort at 8 that night. It was a fun day. Our only busy day. The next two days were spent hanging out at the beach and by the pool. We also got a massage. Ahhh, the good life.At night we'd hang out in the piano lounge & John would order his favorite drink, a Copacabana, which he discovered when we went to Mexico. It's made from grenadine, coconut cream, orange, lemon, & pineapple juice.
This was the chef's buffet night. So much food, so little stomach.
I just love the carved fruit.
The next day, a repeat of the day before. I finished my book. I also enjoyed a Copacabana on the beach.
John was totally in his element - soaking in the sun.
Self shot before dinner on the last night.
We had dinner at the Krystal Restaurant, known for its new-age cuisine. This was pumpkin creamy goodness soup.
After dinner, we went back to the room and I started reading Harry Potter #7 aloud to John. We had read about 150 pages months earlier after we saw movie #6, but we stopped. That night I read for 4 hours. The next day we boarded the plane with heavy hearts.
We flew to NYC & then on to SLC. I read to John on both flights. When we landed at 10:30 p.m., we got in our car & drove out to Elko, Nevada to John's brother's house. I read to John all the way there, 3 more hours. The next day I read to him when we drove back and finally, 600 pages later, we finished the book. It was fun reading to him.

The reason we went to Elko was to be there when John's brother Larry was sustained as bishop of his ward. It was great to be there with John's family.

Well, it's back to reality. It was such a relaxing trip. A true vacation. I can't wait for the next one.

Here it is...

the finished product. It turned out beautifully. No surprise there.
Good job Johnny!

Here's what been happening in our world

I wish I had time to blog more often, but going back to work, after a delightful summer off, is a killer on the free time. Sigh. When people ask me how I like my job I always say, "I'd rather not work, but since I have to, it's a good job to have." I don't want to sound ungrateful. I have several friends looking for good jobs. It almost makes me feel guilty. But...still...I'd rather not work. The end.

So, what have we been doing at our house? Well, I'll start with the most recent project: John's new (to him) pool table. If you've been to our house, you know we have a beautiful pool table room downstairs that has been missing the centerpiece.Recently John noticed his friend selling his pool table for a killer price. John couldn't pass it up, so it has now taken residence on his side of the garage. He's stripping the varnish & stain and will restain it like new to match his room. Early Merry Christmas to him!
This past weekend was Fall Break and Jyson got to be with us. He's such an amazing kid. He delivered fliers with me (maybe another post...), shopped with me, did book reports, helped me around the house. Oh how I wish he lived with us! We went to Trafalga and mini-golfed and rode in the go-carts. We made haunted houses out of Rice Krispies. At one point during the weekend I asked him, "Why do I love you so much?" He said, "Because I'm brown." He makes me smile.
I'll confess. It was a kit, with everything in it. Oh well, at least we had fun.
One thing that has occupied some time over the past 5 weeks is my elbow. I went on a bike ride with 2 nephews - Curtis & Aaron, my brother-in-law Travis, & his friend. Somehow the friend got too close to my bike, locked on my handlebar, and we both went down. He went over the front of his bike; I went down to the right landing on my elbow. It took all the skin off and banged it up pretty good. Don't worry, the bike was okay!
One week later after lots of Neosporin and Band-aids, it was still pretty raw. The thing took FOREVER to heal and was sore for quite a while.
Five weeks after the crash: I think it's about as good as it's going to get.
The same weekend I crashed, John was running his guts out. He participated in the Red Rock Relay: 186 miles from Brian Head to Zion National Park, going the LONG way. It is done by relay teams of 12. He ended up running close to 20 miles. Crazy kid! We have great neighbors! This was an impromptu get-together, the best kind.
I made dessert: my first fruit pizza. I was pretty proud of myself. And best of all, it tasted GREAT!
One final and very noteworthy event was my Grandma B's 90th birthday. (You might recall my G'ma O just celebrated her 95th b-day last November. I have good genes!) She is an amazing lady as well! She has 4 children, 3 step children, and a gazillion grandkids & great-grandkids and she NEVER misses a birthday. She know what everyone is doing.
We were lucky to have my brothers perform again. Sadly, they were the OxMen 3 this time. (We missed you Eric.)
My niece Maya sang a few songs as well, and did a great job.
I am grateful to have such incredible families in my life. I am one blessed girl!

Family Fitness - 3 triathlons

This month John, Jyson, & I all participated in a triathlon. It was the first time for each of us, and definitely won't be the last time.

It all started back in May when John watched his buddy complete the St. George Ironman. He was inspired and decided to start training. Well, after hearing John get all jazzed about it, I started thinking about it. Pretty soon I started talking to Tanya about it and finally she agreed to join me.

We chose the Bountiful Triathlon. It's a sprint distance in reverse order - run 3.1 miles, bike 11 miles, and swim 350 yards. We met several times at the clubhouse of the condos my parents own in Springville. We swam several times together. We actually completed the full distance of the triathlon at least 4 times before race day.

Bountiful Triathlon - August 14

Tanya spent the night at my house the night before. As it turned out, no one was able to go with us that day so we got up early that morning and drove up to Bountiful. We checked in and they marked our arms & legs. One arm and one leg with your bib number and the other leg with your age. They also gave us ankle straps with timing chips in them. We hung our bikes on the rack and walked around to warm up.
Soon we were off and running. That was the hardest leg for me. Tanya was kind and stayed with me though I know I slowed her down. We finished the run, put on some bike shorts, bike shoes, & helmet, got on our bikes and rode off. It felt so good to be off my feet! It was a great 11 mile ride. We parked our bikes, took off the bike stuff, and headed to the pool. It felt very refreshing after our run & bike. Total time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. We felt good about that.
The number markings.
We didn't get any photos during our race but we had fun taking some afterward.
It was a great experience. Thank you Tanya for being my tri-buddy. Let's do it again soon.

Share a Smile Triathlon, August 28

After a successful experience, we started looking for another one. We found one in Orem that offered a kid's distance and signed our boys up. Because the adults start while the kids are finishing, we decided not to sign ourselves up. Tanya brought Caleb and Luke and stayed at our house the night before. The boys were very excited about their race t-shirts and decided to wear them out to get frozen yogurt.
Eating & watching TV at the yogurt shop is serious business.
Race morning came early. The boys wore their swimsuits and carried backpacks with all their gear.
Numbers marked and ready to go.
They began with the swim -
- one lap across the Scera Park pool, 25 meters.
They ran out of the pool and headed to the transition area to put shirts and shoes on.
They rode around the Scera Outdoor Theater.
They dropped their bikes and took off running - 1 lap around the park.
After 6 minutes, 10 seconds Jyson was crossing the finish line. Caleb and Luke were close behind. They earned ribbons for finishing.
So, by 7:10 a.m. the boys were finished. I wish that they had started the kids distance later, but the boys had a great experience. Next year, we'll look for a longer distance.

Utah Half Ironman - August 28

A few hours later that day, Jyson and I headed over to Utah Lake to cheer as John finished his half marathon. He was part of a relay team that completed the Utah Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run). We waited near the finish line, just in time to see him run in... His time: 1 hour, 58 minutes. Awesome!
When he passed the finish line, he laid down. Jyson just wanted to be right by him.
Here is the rest of his team - 2 Moms & a Pop. Way to go!
He came home and took an ice bath...literally. You can see the last of the melting ice cubes by his feet. I think he's crazy but he says it helps with the soreness. Brrrr.

I'm really proud of all of us. And I'm looking forward to the next one...

Stake Youth Conference

Our Youth Conference began with a service project at the local elementary school. We hauled these wood chips to the other playground as well and spread them around.
Teresa & I supervised,
after we did some work of course.
Lunch break was next.
After lunch we got on buses and headed up to the Heber Valley Camp. This is a camp owned by the church mostly for Young Women but also available for families & other groups, like us. It is luxurious compared to our girls camp.

Here is our ward waiting for the Talent Show to begin.
This 45 second video is what the youth came up with for their talent. Pretty talented!
(and very amusing)

We spent the nights in the spacious cabins. The next morning we were off to the challenge courses - a variety of activities to challenge the youth. Here is the spiders web.
Here we had to all walk onto the log from the same end, all get on the log, and balance.
In this activity we had to get each other over the wall. Either I'm really short or he's a giant.
My favorite activity was the tight wire walk and zip line. Gotta love the helmet.
First, climb up the pole. Next, walk across to the other pole. Last zipline to the ground. So fun!
Our final activity was canoeing on the lake.
Very enjoyable.
We drove back to Orem for dinner and
a closing fireside.