Peachtree Triathlon

Yesterday, August 20th I swam/biked/ran my first Sprint Triathlon! I absolutely loved training and getting ready for this event. I enjoy challenging myself and trying new things. This event was a .3 mile swim, 14.1 mile bike ride and 3.1 mile run.

This is only a fraction of all the bikes...this transition area was packed full. The highest # I saw was 1089 so I'm guessing that is how many participated.

I finished within my goal time! My goal was 1:45 min...I beat that with 1:43! I was pretty excited. My swim was awesome, I passed so many people...but then I saw them pass me on my bike ride. I had a mountain bike, so next race I will have slicks/road bike. The run was brutal after the bike ride. Wow it was hard. But i finished strong and ready to try another triathlon!!

My friend Kelli Allen was the one to encourage me to do this race. We trained a little together and loved it. This was a good day. I was a a little sore, but next day, I don't feel a thing. Guess I had some good training. Next triathlons in June at Lake Lanier is my next goal!

Happy Birthday Sweet Raegan

Today my sweet little girl has turned the BIG 7! She was up early ready to help with some of the details on the cupcakes. She is still so excited and loves everything about HER day. She woke up to a balloon, but had to wait all day to open her family gifts. My favorite part was bringing in her cupcakes to her class at lunch and watching her light up to pass them out. I love my little Raegy, she is truly a tender hearted daughter of God. Her hugs are uncountable everyday, love the hugs and her grins are very impressionable. I love you babe, Happy Birthday!

Start Spreading The News... New York, New York!

My husband and I had an extraordinary opportunity to travel the first week of August! A big THANK YOU to Trent's parents for sticking around after Tarin's baptism to stay with our kids. They flew in from out of town and decided to spend the week with all the grand kids; 10 in all. With credit card points accumulated from Trent's last job, we were able to fly and rent a car for practically free! So, even though we are still trying to make ends meet, we couldn't pass up this opportunity! We chose to go to NY. Why? I'm not quite sure, guess it just worked out. Here is a map of New York State and our entire adventure.

...for the next 4 days... we drove about 900 Miles...but it was so worth it!! (click on the picture and it will be bigger) Yellow is where we made tourist stops, green are hotel stops, and blue was our train into the city.

DAY: 1
Flew into Buffalo, NY
We picked up our rental car and went straight to Niagra Falls.

The day started out a bit overcast, then rained for about 10 mins, then it was beautiful. We saw the falls from the top then decided to just dive right into the events.

We started out with Cave Of The Winds. They gave us yellow ponchos and fashionable shoes.

We went down to the base of the falls. It was pretty cool. But I wasn't about to get as wet as several others did. Behind us you can get up real close and the falls spray you pretty good.

Back up top you have a spectacular view of the falls, overlook tower and the bridge to Canada. I found this sign to be kind of humorus. But the next morning we did hear on the news that 2 or 3 teenagers were caught jumping and swimming around the falls. Crazy!

Looking at the falls at the overlook tower

Next we took the Maid Of The Mist. According to the cheezy IMAX movie, there was some Native American Indian girl that took her boat over the falls to avoid an arranged marriage and can still be seen in the rainbow... hence, the Maid of the Mist. Anyway, we took the boat and were able to get up close and wet.

American Falls

Horseshoe Falls--wait, I think I see her... either way, I was glad I could get this beautiful shot!

For lunch, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe right there at the falls. If we knew the Canadian side was full of entertainment and restaurants, we would have definitely gone over there for dinner!!

Anyhow, we did make it over to the Canadian side. It was so nice and beautiful. If we had more time we would have driven around more. At night the falls were light up and they shot off fireworks! It was fantastic.

Palmyra--Sacred Grove

DAY 2:

Next day we drove over to Palmyra, NY. This was my first experience to seeing any Church History sites. Such a neat experience.

Inside the Visitor Center I loved this table of all Book Of Mormons in different languages. Trent was checking his skills on Cambodian...a bit rusty!

Next, we drove by the Palmyra Temple. Wish I had gotten pictures of it...dah

Joseph Smith Sr. log cabin.

This cabin was a replica of the origional. To keep it authentic, the church made sure the cabin was built in the same conditions and with the same tools from that time. So in the middle of winter and with the same primitive tools, this cabin was constructed.

I just loved the inside!! So amazing how little, yet practical. 11 people lived in this small place. I wouldn't mind having a little cabin just like it.

On the table the bible was open to this inspirational scripture.

I thought the stairs going to the upper level were pretty cool...

Walking from Joseph Smith Sr. log cabin to the house Alvin Smith built, you can see the temple through the trees. When they were building the temple, the plan was to have a replica of the sacred grove as a stained glass window in the Celestial Room. But Gordon B Hickley said, why not see the real thing right out the window? This is the only temple with a one way window to see out/not in for the purpose to see the sacred grove from the Celestial Room.

This is the house Alvin Smith started to build for his fiance and his parents, but he had passed away before it was complete. So his family finished it. This house was 85% origional! It was amazing! These bricks at the hearth are original and the place Joseph Smith, at one point, buried the plates to keep them safe.

Beautiful house, I love the charm.

This is a dark locust tree. This is the tree the Smith family planted when Alvin died. It is still there and huge! Thought that was really neat.

This is the Sacred Grove. We walked in and just felt a wonderful peace. So glad we had good cool weather. So we just sat down and rested. I was a sweet feeling to listen to the trees sway in the breeze and ponder.

Yep, a great place to get a picture of the two of us...don't mind the remote...it wasn't working too well, need new batteries.

Getting up and walking around to find our way through the path, we saw this little fawn. Although we see plenty in our own yard back home, it was unique in this situation.

Book Of Mormom First Publication Site

Our next stop on day 2 was Historic Publication Site. This is where Joseph Smith had asked to publish the Book Of Mormon. It was really neat to see the entire process of printing and binding any book, but to know this is where it first came about.

The first floor of the printing shop is gorgeous. I love the book shelves and especially the original floors...wish I had gotten a picture of that. But the details were beautiful.

Upstairs printing room. Each letter/character in these little boxes to be placed on the printing plate. Talk about pain staking!

Sheets of printed paper hanging to dry...

I got a chance to help out in a demonstration of folding the sheets of paper after they were dried and ready to be bound. Then to see how they'd sew each folded sheet into place...wow, the entire process is a lot of work. But obviously it was necessary and worth it.

Hill Camorah