2007 In Review!

Okay, So I am going to do this a little backwards at first. I am going to do our normal Christmas letter which is usually a quick update on our year. Then I will sart blogging on a regular basis.

We have had a very busy year. So this might take a while. I will try not to put too many boring details in ,but for my own memory I am probably going to put more in than most will be interested in reading. So bear with me.

We will start off with My Ironman. He started training this year for his first ever ironman. He had done a couple of halfs but nothing can compare to the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and the 26.2 mile run. He decided to do Ironman Arizona in April. Well, if you can imagine this takes months of training to get your body ready. This put him training in the middle of winter. Not a lot of light to train by. And since he always puts his family first he trains very early in the morning so when the kids are home , he is home. Isn't he awesome? Any way, this means all training was done in the garage on a bike trainer between 3:00 and 7:00 in the morning. I could never do it. But he somehow can dig deep and get it all done and always with a smile! Anyway Ironman Arizona came and we all went out for the big race. It was a great trip. M's mom, brother and sister in law were also there with us. This made it really nice for the 5 A's and me as we were running around trying to see him on the course. Needless to say he did great. I am trying to attach the video that his brother put together of the race at the bottom of the blog. So check it out. It's really cool! Any way he finished in 9hrs.59min. Even with the horrible winds on the bike he finished within his goal and out of 2400 participants he got 5th in his age group and 50th overall. Wow! We were all so impressed. The biggest thing about where he finished was he qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. So the training would begin again. We were going to Kona!

Matt trained very hard again and he and I were the only ones going to Kona this time. It was the first time for either of us to go to Hawaii. Infact, it was the first time I had ever been away from my kids for longer than 3 days. I was very nervous but it turned out to be a wonderful trip. Both of our moms took 5 days with the kids and did a fantastic job. The kids had so much fun. I think they were sad to see the Grandmas go.:)Before we left we had a sad experience. Matt's best friend, office mate, and training partner passed away in his sleep. He left a beautiful wife and 3 precious children behind. We still miss him dearly. I don't know when you stop hurting and missing. But he was such a special person and we know we will meet again. Needless to say this put a different perspective on the trip and race. M was now doing it for his best friend. We knew he would want us to go. He finished in 10 hrs. 20 min. The race was really tough going through the hot lava fields and winds which would come from all directions. At some point I might post Matt's own rundown of the race,but for now I'll just say he did fantastic. I was so proud of him. It was a very emotional moment when he crossed that finish line. I know that Sixbit was there watching and enjoying the finish with us. We will miss him always.The rest of the trip was spent exploring the island. It was amazing. I wish I could have stayed longer. We went snorkeling(my first time ever in the ocean), hiked through the volcanoes , saw the most beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed the waves hitting against the shore right under our balcony. That, I must say, was the best part of the whole trip. The peaceful sounds of the waves. Ahhhhh, Kona....It's calling me back......................

Now for Big A. He is in 7th grade this year! Oh my gosh, I can hardley believe it! He is doing great. He was on the cross country team at his middle school. He really loved it. And to his dad's great thrill he is doing triathlons now. He even got his first real road bike for his birthday this year. He wanted a 3P carbon( He even says he dreams about having one. Wow I think I have two Ironmans in the house) It has been fun for M to have big A go on bike rides with him. Big A also recieved the Aaronic priesthood this year when he turned 12. He now passes the sacrament in church( I love watching him do this. He seems so old.) He has also gone out on several scout camp outs. He loves this and enjoys exploring the different areas which they go. Once they even did a 50 mile bike ride. Pretty impressive!

Double A is now 10 and even more a young lady than ever.She is so much help and so much a second mommy to Tiny A. She is in 5th grade now ( this makes me a little nervous because next year it is middle school!). She is doing great in school, infact, her teacher said she wished she could make a bunch of little robots like Double A , so she could fill her class with them.She played soccer this year and did great. She had a great coach who made her love the game again.What a sweetie she is!

Triple A is now 7 yrs. old and in second grade. This is a good year at school. He has the sweetest teacher and he loves school again. He played his first year of football this year and loved it! He played almost every position and proved to the coaches that even though he wasn't the biggest kid on the team he was one of their best. He is already counting down the days until the flag football teams start in the spring. Hmmmmm. I don't know about all of this football. M is so proud though that his boys are as into football as he is. My crazy boys! The girls and I just kind of go away when the football is on. Not really our thing.:)

Little A is now 5 yrs. old. She missed the kindergarten cut off date by 10 days this year so we got to have home one more year. This was wonderful for Tiny A. She loves her so much and really has fun playing all day with her older sister. Little A also played her first year of soccer with her Daddy as her coach.( he has been every one of our kids coach for the first couple years of their soccer careers) He loves it and the kids really love having their daddy there. He is a cool daddy, I must admit.

Now, there is Tiny A. She will be two at the end of December. Wow, what a cutie! She really has the whole family wrapped around her finger. But not in a bad way. She is so sweet. She has taken her sweet time in talking. I was a little worried until I realized she just had her own sign language that her older brothers and sisters understand perfectly and were doing everything for her through that. Once we told them that they needed to let her talk before they got her something, she quickly started spilling the words out. Now, ofcourse, we are demanding and I wouldn't mind a little bit of the silent sign language back,Just kidding! We did get wonderful news this past month. We went to her cardiologist doctor for her final appt to determine if surgery was needed on her heart or not.( If you did not know, Tiny A was born with 3 holes in her heart. When she was 1 She had one hole that had closed on its own. This was a good sign and so they decided to wait and see what the other two holes would do over the next year.) Well, we went back and one more hole closed up. The hole they were most concerned about. The third hole will be there for the rest of her life, but shoud not cause her any problems. It would be a bigger risk to go in and close it up than the risk of actually letting it stay open.

I am doing great. I love my family more and more everyday, I didn't know that was possible but it seems to be. I look at my husband and it is so exciting that we have each other. He is truly my best friend! I was reading old highschool letters that we use to write to each other and it was really neat to see how much I loved him then and how that has grown so much. We really had something from the very beginning. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father brought this special man into my life.

Well, that is our year in review........Hope you are all doing great!