Life is Good

One day I did a triathlon with my husband, Tyler. He never did them before, but now he does when I do so we can be together when we train. It’s really nice, having him there. My parents were there at the race to cheer. They’re really good like that. 

I had to swim with the boys, which I didn’t care for much. My odometer was broken, so I road my bike very fast, faster than maybe ever. Then I ran and my dad yelled that I could catch Tyler if I hurried. I thought he was joking (Tyler is very fast), but I hurried anyway. I finished. Two minutes behind Tyler and 16 minutes faster than I ever had before. I placed 16th among the women. I felt tired. And good about that. I love when you finish and you’ve accomplished something you didn’t know was possible. It makes you wonder what else you could do. 

The next day we traveled over an ocean and landed in Hawaii. It’s beautiful there, in case you didn’t know. I love the green and the slight breeze (when it’s slight) on the beach. And Tyler. He was the best part. Tyler’s whole family was in Hawaii. We hiked and we played games and we tanned (or attempted to tan, in my case). It was a really great trip – one I’ll remember a long time. I loved the hiking. I got sea sick on the scuba diving, but I conquered a fear, and we touched an octopus. Tyler also touched a sea urchin, not such an awesome part. I liked the turtles. Boogie boarding was fun. It was really great to have some time away. 

Now we’re back and it’s a lovely summer, although it’s moving a bit fast in my opinion. We went on one last ride on the scooter, then sold it. We sit on the porch swing and Tyler makes smoothies. We decided to conquer the Harry Potter book series together. We talk about our days. We play tennis. It’s nice. I’ll snapshot the past few weeks and keep it in my mind for moments when the going is rough, just so I can remember that although life can be crappy, life can also be pretty good.

All in the Mind

The rains came down and the floods came up … so far so good on my house still standing though. Not too many floods this way, but the water has risen to a height we're unaccustomed to because of all the rain.

We finally got a chance to do our first lake swim this week and it went … well, it went. The water felt like it had melted off the mountain just moments before and rolled into Utah Lake. Quite nippy.

Typically our route is shallow enough to be able to touch the bottom, if necessary, the entire distance. But about 100 feet out and the bottom was nowhere in sight. I struggled this particular swim. You see, there were these reeds floating in the water pretty much everywhere. Which meant, I felt like there were snakes swimming around me, pretty much everywhere.


Oh, how I hate snakes. Ever since my parent’s cat left one slithering behind the bathroom door when I was 15, I have had issues with snakes. So not once, but several times during the swim I shivered, stopped and screamed a bit, thinking of black snakes up my wet suit. Tyler was ahead of me lucky for him, but I’m sure the onlookers on the road had a fun time with that.
 
I’ve always said mindset is an important thing to anything you try to accomplish in life. I’ll take that one step further on the swim – mindset in open water is vital to survival. I’ve got one more week to bring mine back into focus.