Layton triathlon 2013

This past Saturday my sister Natalie and I competed in the Layton triathlon. Justin was going to do it with me, but he didn't have time to feel comfortable with the swimming portion. And, he thought he would be training in California the week before with a new job, which didn't happen since he got the other new job.

Back to the tri. Here we are before the race. All ready to go at this point, before we got body marked.

47 mins and 10 seconds was my time. I need to check, but I swear my time was almost identical when I did it 2 years ago. 300 yard swim, 5.5 mile bike, 1.5 mile run.

Me and my fan club!

This was Nat's 3rd time! She's awesome.

And believe it or not, I made it onto the podium! I took 1st place in my age category overall! I think I was 8th overall for women. The 2 weeks before the race I was at the gym training 10 out of the 14 days and before that I had been going about 3x/week or so, but I don't feel like I had prepared as much as I could have or as much as I did for my first triathlon. That's why I love this distance!

2 years ago I won the same thing. Funny! Who knew I could do it twice?! I felt really good about the whole thing. The swim felt great, the bike felt great and the run wasn't great, but I made it :) I just don't love running and my brain takes over and says, "This is not fun! You can walk instead!" I was never passed by anyone on any leg of the race, so I feel really good about that.

The weather was great. It started to rain as we got in line for the swim, but it had stopped as we got out of the pool. Then it started to rain a bit after I had finished the race. It was nice being overcast and the temperature wasn't as hot as it has been lately, so that was a bonus.

iFly

This is a post all about Justin. For his birthday (back in March) I bought him a groupon to do this iFly thing in Ogden. It's a simulation of skydiving. A few weeks ago we all went so we could watch.

We talked his brother, Brad, into doing it with him. This is them after they got all suited up and ready to go.

He had a lot of fun! Now I know that you are wondering why I didn't go too. It's because I've been skydiving before! I went while I was at BYU-Hawaii. I figured I didn't need to go, even though I'm sure it was fun. So the kids and I watched Justin and trust me, it was still really entertaining!

Another new job

Justin got another job! Last Friday he was offered another job with a different law firm. He interviewed with this firm in June and it went really well. They were really positive and told him that they really liked him and that they might possibly have 2 positions. Well after his second interview with them we never heard anything from them. He left a couple messages and then he got the other job and we thought that was the end of it.

Last week he started his new job and it was pretty overwhelming! Most jobs are, but he was going to be the only attorney and the hours were much more than his previous job.

Friday night the other firm called and they said they had another position and made him an offer! He accepted and then he let the other firm know. He was supposed to fly out to California yesterday morning and stay for the week to be trained there. He wanted to give them as much time as possible to cancel his flight plans, etc.

It all happened pretty fast and he felt really bad about the other job and leaving so quickly, but he knew that this was a much better situation and more along the lines of what he wants to be doing. We are so happy for him. He really likes the set up of this firm and how they do things. He will be doing insurance defense, so opposite of what he was doing last week with the other firm. He started today. Funny thing, they are located a couple of floors down from the firm he was at last week. Ha!

Boating

We got to go boating with my Uncle Randy a couple of days ago at Pineview Reservoir. The day was pretty overcast and we got a bit of rain a couple of times towards the end, but it was really perfect. There were hardly any boats and we didn't need to worry about getting burned!

The girls were MUCH braver than we expected! We put Molly out first on the tube, right off of the back of the boat and she had a great time as we took the boat out of the marina.

Then we put out both girls! So fun! They were so light that they tipped forward when we were going slow.

Justin out on the tube.

This was so fun. My Uncle has this "EZ ski". It's for little kids learning to ski. You can sit where Molly is sitting and there are spots for your feet on the bottom.

Then you can stand up. The other side of the rope has a handle as well that you just hold from the back of the boat.

Ali in the boat.

Ali skiing! The girls were so proud of themselves and we were too! They wanted to ski again after we had put it away, but the adults wanted to ski too!

Here's me on slalom.

Justin got up for his first time on a wakeboard. He really enjoyed it. I have been before, but not for a long time and my uncle doesn't really do it, so we had a hard time remembering what to tell him, but once we said to keep his legs all up by his chest, he got up!

Both girls got to drive the boat :)

We had a nice lunch after at the clubhouse. We had so much fun! My sister was so nice to watch Jackson for us, which was a huge help! He would have been all over that boat. My brother Todd came up with us too. A special thanks to Randy for taking us!

We have a walker!

Jackson has been walking (taking steps) for about 2 weeks now! He is getting pretty solid now. He seems so happy about his new found freedom and talent :)

And even when he tumbles, he's still happy.

And he gets right back up! No crying, no whining.

One of his favorite sounds is, "Ooooooooo," We hear it a lot from him.

We love his kissable cheeks and big lips from his daddy!

And he finally says, "Mamamamamama."

He loves whacking things too. Always has. Always will? Totally a BOY! So fun for us. We just have to keep tabs on him more so than we did with our girls. He goes from one thing to the next and doesn't stop. Go go go!

New Job

Justin has a new job! I guess I haven't posted about it yet because he hasn't started yet. But the offer is official so I can tell you about it!

He will be working for a firm called Brayton Purcell. It's based in California and they have offices in Vegas and one here in SLC. They mainly deal with asbestos mesothelioma. I had no clue what that is, so I'll tell you in case you don't know. It's cancer due to asbestos. Justin will defend the individual. 

He starts July 22nd and they are flying him to CA for the week to train him. Originally they thought it would be in Vegas, but they changed their minds. 

Justin will be their only attorney in the SLC office. The guy they had is leaving, so that's how he has gotten the job. He's excited to be "thrown into the fire" and get some good experience. They said there are a couple of paralegals that he will be working with there as well. So at least he's not all by himself! 

We hope he likes it, but we are just thrilled that he has a job! He will probably work for a few months to make sure that he enjoys it and then we hope to be back in the house hunt. We'll see. Thanks to everyone who has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We appreciate it so much!

4th of July, 2013

I made some cake bites for the holiday. I think my first time? Besides adding a bit too much frosting to the cake, they ended up tasting pretty yummy!

I had left over chocolate after my cake balls, so I also dipped some marshmallows. Always a hit with kids!

I've done Molly's hair like this in the past, and tried it on Ali. Her hair is so fine and thin, but it still worked out. I didn't take a picture of Molly's, but I made a sock bun and had a red, white, and blue ribbon around the bun.

We were able to spend some time with some friends. Justin's missionary trainer and his family were in town on the way to Idaho for a vacation and stopped in that day to enjoy the holiday with us. We met them in Provo and let the kids do some activities and enjoyed some carnival rides. We had lunch at Cafe Rio (they had never been), then we drove to our house from there.

Justin planned a little treasure hunt for the kids.

They all had a fun time finding the little flags in the yard, then ended at our big flag out front.

The Dickensheet family with Justin, Molly and Ali.

The "treasure" was some patriotic stickers. Here are the girls creating art with them. We had a yummy bbq with them. Eddy is a great cook and they bought steak and asparagus to grill in addition to the hamburgers and hot dogs that we had. It was quite the feast!

They stayed to watch fireworks with us. We got the kids in their jammies and then headed to a nearby hill and watched several firework shows in the valley from where we were at. They weren't super close, but in California (where they're from) you can't shoot fireworks from residences, so their kids thought it was so cool to see fireworks going off everywhere!

Happy 4th! We are so grateful to live in this amazing country!

Summer summer

Here's what we've been up to the past little bit. We met our cousins at the Gateway fountains last weekend. It has been 100 degrees for the past several days, so we have been in the water as much as we can when we aren't inside.

Molly was the bravest in our family.

Ali did get a bit wet though!

Here they are with their cousins and Jackson (you can see Laney's back and cute Reese up front).

Jackson checking it out.

This is the newest game we've been playing--push Jackson around in the shopping cart! Molly had the idea to push him in the baby stroller, but I suggested she used the sturdier shopping cart instead.

I love this. He has both of his puppies, a golf ball, and his little feet are crossed. He loves it! And I must say, it makes him sleepy every time. Perfect precursor to nap time or bed time!

We met my sister and her kids last week for fun at Jungle Jim's. I took a couple pics of the girls on some rides but they came out really blurry. Jackson only got to go on the carousel, but I did put him in the bounce house/playground area and he loved it! You have to be 2 to ride anything officially.

Ali has been taking swimming lessons. It takes her about 5 minutes to get into the water each day and I have to bribe her (fruit snacks usually does the trick). But today I had Molly take her over and she didn't try to back out at all! It was a miracle. We have 2 more days left. Molly will start in a few weeks now that preschool is over. I'm putting Ali back in again then too. I even signed up my niece because my sister will be in town too! Party in the pool :) I hope!

Ali's swimming teacher is actually our neighbor! He is really patient with the kids.