XTERRA Triathlon National Championship

Michael and Jonathan were talking about a year ago about wanting to get in better shape, be more active, etc.  They had ideas about doing a contest to either lose weight or improve body fat percentage to motivate themselves to train.  They ended up signing up for a triathlon, and the way the dates and locations worked out they signed up for the XTERRA National Championship in Snowbasin.  I'm not sure they knew quite what that entailed, the race was insane, especially for a first triathlon.  I think prior to the race they were both most worried about the swim and later Jonathan said that the swim turned out to be the easiest part because they can't make you swim uphill.  ;-)  Here's how he described the run: "Once we finished the bike they said, 'See that ski slope?  Go run up it.'"  It turned out that Lance Armstrong was in the race also, so they can now both say they've competed with Lance Armstrong.  I think Jonathan felt a bit validated that Lance also apparently found it hard.  When talking about the race he called it "a challenge" and said "it was a lot harder than I expected.  The effort was much more intense than what I though it would be."  All said, I think it's pretty amazing that they did it!!  Jonathan and Michael did the short course, which included a 750m swim, 19K mountain bike trail, and 5K run, and both did awesome!  Good job you guys!!!

Pre-race preparations

Pre-race again.  (I'm holding Nathan.)

Getting used to the water temperature before the race, it was very cold!

Swim, Bike, Run

Michael and Jonathan

Michael biking

My mom watched Benjamin and I brought
Nathan with me.  He napped while the boys were
biking.  I love this picture, because the silly boy
only seems to nap with a hat pulled down over
his eyes, ha ha!  Benjamin was like that too.

XTERRA TRIATHLETES!!!
So proud of you guys!!

I am seriously so impressed with Jonathan, he worked so hard to train, and I think this was an amazing accomplishment.  I asked Jonathan soon after he finished his race if he ever wanted to do that again, and he said yes!  Not only that, but he really has continued to train so that he can keep doing races and events.  He is amazing, and seriously motivates me to be active also.  Which I really enjoy, especially when we are able to do activities together.  So here's to the next triathlon!  ;-)

Soldier Hollow Classic

We have gone to the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog festival up in Heber twice, and it is so much fun!  These dogs are amazing.  They have sheep herding and splash dogs and all kinds of shows and activities for kids, it's a blast.  My brother Michael and his family were able to join us this year, which made it even more fun!  ;-)  However, it turns out that I only got pictures of pony rides and the petting zoo (go figure).  So lest you be disappointed to read a post about sheepdogs with no actual sheepdogs in it, here you go:

Click here to go to the Soldier Hollow Classic website

Cute little ponies.  Boys don't look super happy... but they
really were having fun!

He he he, neither one of the boys wanted to get too close
to the goats... but they did want to pet them... so funny.  ;-)

And the boys enjoyed the ponies so much that we did the
pony rides again with their daddies!

Fun in the sun!

The worst part of updating your summer adventures on your blog in January?  Seeing how much fun you had when it was nice and warm outside, and then looking out the window to see the overcast sky and snow.  Ugh.  I don't know why I live in Utah.  (I'm saying this more and more frequently as time goes on!)  Well, anyway,  Jonathan spent last summer training for his first triathlon, so these pictures are from some an open water swim he did with his sister Emily.

Jonathan & his sister Emily.  Ack, wet suits mean it's cold!  But they did it!

Notice the potty in the background?  We were totally potty training.
Like a few days in, couldn't go anywhere without the potty,
and mom wanted out of the house... so I brought the potty with us.
Awesome.  You may notice Benjamin doesn't have pants on either.
Also due to the potty training.  This time at least.  ;-)

I'd promised Benjamin after his dad and Auntie Em came back
that he could go down by the water.  ;-)

Jonathan and I went tubing down the Port Neugh River in Lava Hot Springs, ID.
Nathan was about three months old, and this was our first day trip after
Nathan was born without either of the boys, so much fun!

Random picture from a biking trip, helmets are sexy,
so I thought I'd include it.  Ha ha!  ;-)

The Zoo (again) with Daddy

Pictures from yet another trip to the zoo, this time we were lucky enough to bring daddy with us.  Nathan was about a month old, it's so much easier to take babies out in the summer when people aren't sick all over the place!  It's awesome!  We literally hibernated for three months after Benjamin was born. 

The elephants were a favorite yet again.
(Which I'm okay with, I always liked the elephants!)

Elephants AND carousel, what's more fun than that?!

More Baby Nathan

Nathan was about a week old before Benjamin decided he was interested in holding him.  Prior to that he was very interested in looking at him... not as interested in touching him, lol.  ;-)  Here is Benjamin holding Nathan for the first time.

Since momma is usually the one responsible for feeding the babies in the beginning, daddy is in charge of feeding them from a bottle for the first time.  I introduced both boys to bottles early.  Since I work they're going to have to get used to a bottle, and they've both done great.

You know how newborn babies make those cute smiles and sighs while they sleep??  Love that!  I managed to catch a few on video.  Boring to the rest of you, I'm sure, but I could watch it forever.  They are so snugly at this age, and it goes by so fast.  Nathan is already so far past the newborn stage, I can't believe it.

Nathan is just over two months in this video.  His cute dimples just make his whole face smile and light up when he's happy, I love it!!  Seriously, I can't get enough!

Benjamin's supposed to be napping, this is what I hear:

Welcome to our family Baby Nathan!!

Welcoming Nathan to our family was definitely the biggest event of the year.  He is such a cutie, and we love him so much!  Since Benjamin was over 9 lbs and eight days early, my OB agreed to induce me early.  Nathan's due date was technically June 9th, but he was born on June 1st.  After dropping Benjamin off at Elaine's (she and Jenny were fabulous enough to watch him for the day), Jonathan and I had a nice relaxing drive up to the hospital.  They started an IV and pitocin around 10am, started an epidural about two hours later, broke my water just after the epidural (that was awesome timing!), and Nathan was born at 5:47pm!  Without getting too graphic, Nathan was a much easier delivery.  When my nurse got me ready to start pushing there was no pushing necessary, so she just called my OB, and Nathan was born just a few minutes after she arrived, no pushing at all!  Wow, what a difference.  I was giggling the whole time, I found the contrast to Benjamin's birth so funny!  I think it was making my L&D nurse a tad anxious, she kept telling me I needed to stop laughing or I'd laugh him out.  I might have been more concerned about that except that my nurse was fabulous, I'm completely confident she would have been fine if he had come out before my OB was there.

Brand spankin new baby!  Hi buddy!

See that IV in my hand?  I totally got to cut the cord!  How awesome is that?!
When Jonathan didn't want to cut the cord my OB asked if I wanted to (which I totally did.)  

You can't help but stare at your babies when they finally arrive,
you have to wait so long to see them!

Yep, still has a cone-head.
Seriously loved my nurse Candie, she was so fabulous.

Nice and pink!  Nathan was so calm after he was born,
he didn't cry, he just keep looking around at everything.

That rounds to 9lbs, 3 oz, and he was 21 inches long.
That's a big boy! (Yes, I was so glad I went for the induction!)

With my OB, Dr. Gravelle, and my L&D nurse Candie

Meeting Daddy!

It actually took a few days to confirm his name, but we named him Nathan Dean Heider.  Nathan is named after his dad Jonathan (spares the Sr/Jr confusion) and Jonathan's maternal grandfather Dean Mansfield.  These next pictures are from the following afternoon when Benjamin came to meet his new brother.

What's that?

It's a baby!

Making sure he's all covered up.

This is Nathan's outfit to come home!!
We are so excited to bring him home with us!
Love those chunky cheeks my babies have.  ;-)

Here are a some of the pictures of people meeting Nathan. 

(I missed pictures of some people somehow, sorry!)