Senior Prom

Cambrie and Jacob have been so excited for prom.  When we first talked about their date a month ago I asked Cambrie what she wanted to do about a dress. She said that Jacob has always wanted to sew a prom dress, so the two of them were going to sew it together.  I admit I had my concerns.  He had never sewn a dress before and the stakes are pretty high with it being prom.  However, I wanted to trust the process.  It wasn't easy, especially when they still hadn't purchased the fabric until Monday.  She was over at his house every night working on the dress and she was confident it was going to work out great.  He called me at 2:00 the afternoon of the dance in a slight panic because the skirt wasn't working, and ended up bringing it over.  I was so impressed by what I saw as I helped fix the problem.  They worked hard on this dress, everything from the design, to the execution of some of the fine stitching.  They did not make it easy on themselves but it turned out beautiful.  

I was literally working on the last stich on the slit when Jacob came over to pick her up.  And while I couldn't see him, Cambrie said that his jaw dropped when he saw her all dressed up.  He brought her a new necklace to wear with the dress and I was loving watching her feel so special. 

 

They didn't want to do the corsage/boutineer thing, but he still brought her flowers.  

Look how incredible they look!!  Seriously, I can't get over how amazing they did did on this dress and how stunning Cambrie looks in it.  

Jacob's mom wanted to go downtown to snap a few pictures so I tagged along.  They beat me by a few minutes so I didn't get as many pictures as I could have, but all I really needed was one stunning one of the two of them.  

They reported that dinner at Linger was delicious and the dance was the most fun they've ever had at a school dance.  I'm so glad that Cambrie has found someone that makes her shine.

New big dreams and hard work

In a strange twist of events, Kelton decided that he wanted to ride the Triple Bypass race this year with Jeremy.  He started taking his bike out for long rides along Big Dry Creek and was loving it.  We decided that if he really wanted to do this thing then we needed to get him a more appropriate bike for that ride, and found a little road bike on Facebook Marketplace.  He has been taking his training seriously.  If he has a free afternoon he loads up his bike and will go for one or two hour rides.  The next step is getting him in the mountains to practice climbing and descending.  The ride up to NCAR is a nice simple way to do that, and I feel pretty safe with him on that road.  So while Jeremy road to the base of the hill, I drove Kelton to the base where he was going to do hill repeats while he waited for Jer.  He learned a lot his first time up, but I was so impressed that he never stopped.  He just kept grinding.  

When Jeremy arrived they hooked up their leash to practice their team pull up the mountain.  

Then for good measure Kelton asked to ride up one more time.  I can't believe he's having such a good time training for this.  I'm excited to see how this develops.

Beachside in Oceanside

After a long day at Disney, what we really needed was a day at the beach.  Luckily that's all I had planned for the next three days.  Our condo was right on the beach, which meant that coming and going for food, drinks, or the hot tub, was a breeze.  California still isn't very toasty this time of year, and the water was still nice and brisk, so the kids played in the sand and swam briefly when they were feeling brave enough.  No one really spent that much time in the water though, it was just too cold.  

We had an unexpected visitor with us while in Oceanside.  Jacob had a very lonely, and very boring spring break planned back home in Colorado.  When Cambrie asked (while we were at Disney) if he could come out and spend the weekend with us, Jeremy and I both said yes.  The boys (and Cambrie) thought it was the best deal ever.  They now had a big brother to play with!  At the pool he was the king of the mountain king.  He threw them all around that pool.  He played with them at the beach.  They played video games together.  They joked around at the beach.  And he didn't even complain that he had to sleep on the floor and listen to the boys talk in their sleep each night.

He and Cambrie still made sure they found time to hang out just the two of them, mostly walks down to the pier in the moonlight.  

McKenzie was so happy to have more beach time.  Her goal was to make it back home looking like she had spent time at the beach.  She may or may not have fallen asleep at the beach more than once.  That was all right with me, because that's what I wanted to do to!

When she wasn't snoozing, she and Jeremy would comb the beach looking for seashells or great rocks.  They managed to find the entire rainbow.

The Oceanside beaches don't disappoint.

The sand looks golden at low tide.

We were definitely there for the race, but the family time we found couldn't be beaten.  Hanging out in the condo.  We played a lot of card games at that little table.

Pies at Hi Pie, the old Top Gun house.  Daxton keeps asking if we can go back to Oceanside just for these treats.

Walking along the pier.

I realized as we were heading back to the airport that with all of the playing we did I too dreadfully few pictures to document our fun. We had a little time to kill after checking out so we obviously spent it down at the beach.  Desperately trying to soak up a little more seaside air before flying out.

It's hard to describe how much these people mean to me.  Their support that whole weekend was incredible.  I love them so much and am so grateful that we could have another family trip for forever memories.

Rookie Pro Debut

I had a lot of nerves going into my first professional race, and I mean a lot of nerves.  I know I don't have the raw talent to end up on the top of that podium, but I just really didn't want to embarrass myself out there against these incredible women.  I have raced this course before, so that was a huge comfort.  However, everything else was new: the check-in, the briefing, the transition, the race morning schedule, the wetsuit, the bike, the timing GPS chip, the Race Ranger, and the exposure.  Going into the pro briefing I quickly realized that a lot of these people have known each other for a long time and I was literally the new kid at school.  I tried to find some familiar faces and ended up sitting with Tamara and Alex.  They did a great job of making me feel comfortable.  After that, some of the fear subsided a bit. 

Checking in with my new Pro Series bag

Racking my bike

My most dedicated cheerleaders were there for me every step of the way.

Trying to give some credit to some new sponsors. I really need to figure out this social media picture thing.

Taking some time off to do the mom/pro thing, and watch my boys crush their one-mile IronKids races.

Meeting up with some Smashfest Queens.  Meghan is the best!

 Race morning was exciting.  My race instructions from Dan came on the phone, so I was trying to review my notes before heading out on course. Most of the tips were, "Have fun! Enjoy it!  You only get to experience your first pro race once.  Seriously, soak it in!"

Being able to walk into that pro transition area was so validating.  I made it.  I finally made it.  My name was on my rack and everything.  

I wasn't the only rookie pro there that morning, and the group of us shamelessly asked the veterans for tips as we prepped our gear.  The ladies were so kind.  I think that this is just going to be so much fun.

  Waiting to get the water was cold and scary.  

For the first time ever, I didn't know how I wanted to strategize my swim.  I decided to stay out of the way and just feel how the packs developed.  When that cannon sounded I slid into the pack for an epic day.  I noticed pretty quickly that I missed the pack, and made a mental note to fix that next time.  The swim felt slow, but my expectations for this first race were more fun related than performance related, so it was ok.  

Onto the bike I was hoping for a fabulous bike split.  That is where my weaknesses are more apparent.  But when I hit a pot hole only five miles into the race that knocked my handlebars completely loose I had to adapt.  A lot of energy was spent trying to keep my handlebars in position instead of putting that same energy into my legs.  My bike split was slower than I had hoped for, but I made it off safely and was excited to see how I was going to run.  My legs felt amazing and I knew it was going to be a great day out there.  I saw Jeremy cheering for me all over the course.  I saw the boys cheering for me from the balcony.  I saw Cambrie and Jacob cheering for me at an aid station.  I saw McKenzie cheering for me as she tried to keep up not wanting me to have to run alone.  

I couldn't believe that I was going to have such a fabulous pro debut.  When I crossed that finish line I was so happy.  I had gone in ranked 33rd and my goal was to finish higher than that.  I ended up 25th and was feeling pretty great.  Seeing my family at the finish line just feels amazing.  They don't get to come to every race, so when they're there it just makes the whole experience that much sweeter.

This race was a dream come true.  I've been working towards this goal for years.  To finally experience a race as a pro was so satisfying.  I've been watching these ladies thinking that I can do what they do, and I did!  This is going to be a season packed full of races.  Let's see what the next one brings.