Up and Running!

Our blog is up and running again!!
We just received our first Christmas gift - a brand new sleek digital camera! Thanks to my very wise father, who knew we would want our new camera before Christmas, we will now be able to document all sorts of seasonal adventures!

Upcoming Posts to look forward to:
1. Our beautiful Christmas Tree - this is our first year actually buying ornaments to decorate our tree, and it looks great!
2. Our Rock Climb Competition - actually, it's a "speed climbing" competition, whoever climbs up fastest wins!! The competition is tomorrow, so wish us luck!
3. My Clogging Showcase - every semester the clogging classes perform in a "showcase" as a kind of final project. Our dance is so fun, hopefully we'll be posting a video!
4. My Flower Arrangements - I'm in a flower arranging class and I plan on posting my "portfolio".
5. My crocheting project - I'm attempting to crochet a beanie for Tyler for Christmas (don't worry, he already knows about it); I'll let you know how it turns out.
6. Snowboarding/skiing - hopefully we'll go out a few times during Christmas break!
7. Anything else I can think of to take pictures of - I've been so picture-taking deprived for the past 4 months since we lost our old camera, that I just want to make up for lost time by taking pictures of everything!

It's Raining Meatballs!

Or, I wish it was!! I tried again to cook meatballs today, and as usual, it just turned into ground beef mush. I don't understand how to make them keep their shape! Is there some trick to it because I can only make it work with the pre-cooked frozen meatballs you buy in a bag. Any ideas??

My Apologies

Well, here I am four months later, and I'd like to apologize for my complete lack of blogging participation!
Let me explain: 1) Although I've been saying it for the past 3 semesters, this semester really is my last hard one!! It's been so ridiculously busy, but in four short weeks, I'll be done with it!!! 2) We lost our camera somewhere along the way, I think in the beginning of September. It's ironic how we never thought there was anything to take pictures of, but now, it's almost everyday I say, "Oh, I wanna take a picture of that!" 3) Now that school's back in session and the weather is so cold, we haven't been doing any exciting stuff anyways....
Now you've heard my excuses and you're free to judge for yourself. I do want to get back into it again. Hopefully I'll have a camera again soon so I'll be able to share our lives with all the world again!
Here is one thing that might interest some of you: This is a video of my clogging midterm test. (I'm the one in the tutu) I don't know how to do the fancy links or video posting, so hopefully this works...
http://www.facebook.com/video/?of=720885284

Catching up..

I know I'm way behind, but I promised a blog about the Triathlon, and a special musical number by my very talented sister!  So, here they are:

It was so fun, and soo hard!! We had been training quite a bit, or so I thought, but  it turns out that no matter how easy it is to run 3 miles, bike ride 14 miles, and swim 1/2 a mile, it is WAY harder to to them all at once with no time to catch your breath!  

Well, Saturday morning came, and after a "power breakfast", we were on the road to Ririe Reservoir.  We got there and we got to set up our transition area, which is where you keep your bike, shoes, towels, change of clothes, etc.  

At 8 o'clock, the race began!  The first event was the swim.  Now they had told us that if you know you are a slow swimmer to just wait for everyone else to go before diving in, or in my case, sliding off the dock gently to avoid the terror of jumping into the water.  So, off we went....what felt like 10 minutes later, I looked up to see that I was barely passing the first buoy, only about 30 yards away!! Needless to say, the swimming was my worst event!  I kept swimming till I felt like I needed to catch my breath, then I flipped over to backstroke for a while.  What I didn't realize was that it is much different to swim in open water than it is to swim in a pool, so about 2 minutes later, I looked up and realized that I had shifted directions and was swimming out toward the middle of the reservoir, perpendicular to the direction everyone else was swimming! By now I was the LAST person!! I couldn't believe it! I flipped over and started swimming my little heart out to catch up with everyone else! Also, by this time the "lifeguard" canoe had noticed me and was coming towards me asking if I was ok, I told them I was fine, but they kept a close watch on me the rest of the swim.  

Well, I figured that the triathlon would be like the marathon Tyler ran in, where there were "old ladies" just walking, trying to just complete it.  However, as I swam to catch up with everyone else, I wondered where those old ladies were that I could beat.  Why wasn't there anyone here who was just doing this for fun, like me?  It was about half way through the swim that I figured out the answer.  I realized that nobody would be stupid enough to say, I'll just go swim as far as I can out into a lake, and just hope I have the energy to get back! This was the same time that I realized I had NOT prepared nearly as much as I should have! The only way I could keep myself moving was by singing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and of course, I never got on my back again!

Anyways, I did eventually finish the swim, and I wasn't the last person! As you run out of the water there are "strippers" in the runway who help pull your wet-suit off of you.  After they YANKED mine off, I ran to put my bike shorts and shoes on and get on with the ride!  As I was running up the grass with my bike, GASPING for air, I couldn't believe that I was actually supposed to get on it and start riding 14 miles without ever catching my breath!  The first thing we did when we started the bike ride was a ridiculous hill! 

It was seriously about a mile long, at an 11% grade, that's really STEEP! After that, the ride was rolling hills, but I was just so excited to finally be passing people!  

At last, the time came to start the 3 mile run. I was so exhausted, but I knew I was so close to finishing! I quickly found out that, like the ride, this was all hills too! 

And half of it was trail running! Yikes! Leesa, I have a new found respect for you...trail running if HARD! I was still pretty paranoid about my ankle (I had sprained it while rock climbing the week before), so I practically walked on the downhill.  I was not about to fall and break my ankle when I was so close to the end!  

Finally, I reached the FINISH LINE! 

While I was doing it, I kept thinking, "There is no way I will ever do that again!!" but now I kinda want to do some more!! All-in-all, it was a very fun day!! and Tyler and I felt cool as we wore our matching Triathlon shirts around for the next three days! 

Next: Alyssa's performance of SHY BOY (by Katie Melua).  Not only is she a good singer, she's also a great actress! Enjoy!! 

4th of July Weekend

For the 4th of July, my little brother, Devin, got to come up to Idaho and visit us!  We tried to do all the fun things we could while he was here, especially some outdoorsy things that he isn't able to do in LA.  

While Alyssa and I drove down to Salt Lake to pick him up, Tyler went on an intense bike ride all the way up to Kelly Canyon!!!

Alyssa and I had so much fun in Utah because we got to meet up with Nolan and Marcy Nissle, our good friends who live in Arizona!! It was so great to catch up with them! 

As soon as we got back to Idaho, we got busy doing all sorts of fun things, such as touring campus, snorkeling in Rigby Lake, and rock climbing!  

Be warned-there will be a lot of pictures!

Devin did awesome for his first time!!

On Friday, we camped in Jackson Hole, WY.  

Fortunately for Devin, we only camped in our friend's backyard, so we didn't have to anything but sleep outside. 

On the 4th, we went to the parade....

There were some sweet cars! 

Devin picked up an ear of corn that some guy was giving away in the parade...and we ate it for dinner that night!

then our friend, Colby, took us on an amazing horseback ride through the beautiful hills of Wyoming!! 

Once again, a first for Devin 

Finally we went to see fireworks in Idaho Falls, which is said to be the best show west of the Mississippi.  

While we waited, we walked around the Idaho Falls Temple

The show really was amazing!

It was so great getting to spend a few days with Devin and the family!!

What a week!!

I'll just go in order:

Monday, June 22: We got a little over-zealous in our training for the triathlon we are doing next weekend, so at 5 am we swam over 1/2 a mile, at 3pm we rode 10 miles on our bikes, and by 6pm we had finished our 5 mile run.  Needless to say, we were exhausted! But, it was comforting to know that we are able to all the triathlon events in one day! 

Tuesday, June 23: RESTED

Wednesday, June 24: We wanted to get some practice swimming in the COLD water like we'll have to in the triathlon, so we went out to Beaver Dick park.  Tyler actually got in a swam for a whole 30 seconds!...I worked on my tan.

Thursday, June 25:  30 mile bike ride.  The first 15 miles were up hill and into the wind, it was tough! but the next 15 miles, we flew!!

Friday, June 26: We went and watched Alyssa perform in Jazz Night, where she sang "Shy Boy".  It was AMAZING!! She is such a good jazz singer! Everyone else thought the same thing, and she made it into The Best Of show (they take the best of all the shows throughout the semester and put them into one night...it's a big deal!) I'm definitely going to record it next time and I'll post it! 

Saturday, June 27: We drove up to beautiful Jackson Hole, WY.  

We walked around the cute little shops they have all around town, and Tyler posed with an Indian Chief

We enjoyed a hike...

We had to cross a log over a raging river!!

Later that day, we went rock climbing with Matt and Michelle, which is always fun!!! But Tyler slammed his head into the rock...there's just a slight scab and a little bump.  

(Don't worry, Cindy, he's worn a helmet every time since)

Monday, June 29: We went rock climbing for FHE, we were having so much fun, we stayed out for 3 hours climbing different routes! Tyler led a 5.10 for the first time, and he only fell once! I climbed a 5.11c (my hardest yet)! It was great!

Growth

A while ago we planted some seeds in our window hoping that we would be able to enjoy some fresh, home-grown herbs.  

It's been so fun to watch them grow.... I can hardly believe they started out so small!

Now they are huge!! 

We have our droopy chives, which I'm hoping to start using soon...

Our basil started out with these cute little leaves, 

but now it's our biggest plant!!

Finally, the day of harvest came....

I was so excited to get to use our fresh cilantro and parsley! They were delicious!

 Now we can't wait to have a house with a big yard where we can plant all kinds of things, but for now, this is good enough!!

Coming Soon: Consider the Lilies