Where did the time go?

Austin celebrated his 11th birthday on August 11th, so I took the chance to go back and look at some old pictures of my first baby. I can remember so well being pregnant with him, and being sure I would be pregnant forever. I was due on August 4th, and he came a week later after 16 hours of labor and then finally an emergency C-section. I remember when they held him up to show him to me for the first time, and it was so surreal. I just couldn't believe he was mine. He had a bit of a rough start and I didn't actually get to hold him until the next day. I remember the first time I held him, he seemed so heavy! I don't know why I remember that so vividly. He just didn't seem like a newborn. He was 9 pounds 3 ounces and 22 1/4 inches long.

I can remember those first few months so well. Austin had a serious case of colic and cried A LOT. I can remember many frustrating nights and days and a lot of crying from both of us. He was scared of loud noises too. Even a sneeze or a cough or a door shutting would really freak him out, and he'd cry and cry and take forever to calm down. In fact, when I was pregnant with him, the Utah Jazz were in the NBA playoffs (I believe against those stinkin Chicago Bulls) and every time we'd cheer really loud, he'd start kicking like crazy in my stomach. He has always been easily startled I guess.

This picture seems like it was just taken. Where on earth has the time gone?!! This was in 2004. We had just moved into out house in Eagle Mountain, and Austin started kindergarten at Eagle Valley Elementary. We live right across the street from the school, and believe me, the convenience of that location is something I am really grateful for. I sit on my porch swing and watch my kids walk across the street and into the school. I sit there in the afternoons and watch them walk home and then we sit on the swing and talk about their day. I love it. It seems like just yesterday he was off to kindergarten, and I just sent him off to 5th grade a few weeks ago. Crazy.

I'm not exactly sure when this happened. He was a little baby and then a cute little kindergartener, and now he's almost my size (literally, he's 5'1" and I'm 5'4" tall!) and he's out there on the football field plowing over people like it's nothing. What is up with that? It's those Leatherwood genes I'm telling ya. He started football a few weeks ago and after a timid first few days, he got his first "kill" (as Dave calls it) and now it seems he's got a bit of football in his blood. A few days into their first week, he came home and told me he had knocked the wind out of a kid. I was a little taken back since he's normally kind of timid and not too aggressive. Apparently the kid had hit Austin in the previously tackling drill and hurt Austin's shoulder, so Austin (in his words) decided to "make him wish he was never born." That's a little strong, but let's be honest here, he has an insane football fanatic for a father, so this might just be pure genetics. So when they switched places in the drill, Austin tackled the kid and apparently knocked the wind out of him. When I asked Austin if he helped the kid up, he said, "Well, I was going to, but the coaches were all around congratulating me and giving me high 5's, so I couldn't." Nice. He's definitely gaining more confidence, and that's fun to see.

When I asked Austin what kind of cake he wanted, he asked if I could make a tower out of donuts. What kind of a question is that?!! Of course I can take a box of store-bought donuts, and stack them up and stick some candles in. Frankly it was a fun change from the normal decorated birthday cake that I usually buy from Smiths! Hehe!

Austin got Legos, Bionicles, and video games for his presents. He got a little frustrated with his Lego set (maybe because it had about a million little pieces in it) and asked for my help with it. We had a nice time sitting together working on his Star Wars Lego ship, and he was actually impressed with my Lego building skills. Good thing I'm still somewhat "cool" to him ... not sure how long that will last (unless I get better at Mario Kart, cause right now I stink at it). He also got a BYU tie for church that he wears proudly and takes on any Ute fan he can find with pride. He also got a cap gun that he uses to scare away the neighbor kids when they are picking on T.J. ... I haven't heard from their parents yet, but I'm sure I will.

It's fun to see Austin grow up, even though it makes me feel old that I have an 11-year-old. As goofy as it sounds, time really does go by way too fast. I'm excited for what these next few years bring for Austin. It's a crazy world he's growing up in and it's hard to not protect him as much as I want to. He's got a tender heart that is a great example to me. When he was a baby, I used to always sing him the song "You are my sunshine" when he was falling asleep, and since then I've always called him my "sunshine." He has always been able to brighten my day and make me smile. That will never change. Happy Birthday Austin!

ULCER 2009 - We Survived!

Dave, Paula, and I have been training for the ULCER (Utah Lake Century Epic Ride) for a while now. Actually Paula and I have been riding and/or spinning for almost a year. Paula and I ride several times a week, and Dave rides when he can. Paula and I were just going to do the ULCER together, but then I got thinking that it would be fun to have Dave ride with us, and he had kind of expressed a little interest, so I signed him up while he was at work, and then sent him a text message letting him know he was all registered. Thankfully, he didn't even get mad and just got busy training. He did talk me into a new road bike though. I guess I had that coming. He's a good sport, and it was really fun to have him with us. He kept us laughing the whole way.



Paula and I rode 63 miles back in June on the Little Red, and Dave and I did 70 miles last Saturday to train, but that was our farthest ride so far. The ULCER was 111 miles, so that was quite the jump in mileage.

We started at Thanksgiving Point at 8:00 on Saturday morning along with 1500 other riders. We were excited and probably a little nervous. Dave and I and the kids had driven the ride course the previous Sunday, so we kind of knew what to expect. I think that helped. Turns out the first 50 miles or so were pretty much flat with just a few little hills here and there. Very nice.

Dave was all excited for his first big event. He was pretty nervous before our 70-mile ride the week before, but after that, he felt better and was all pumped up for the ULCER. He did great! I think I've got him hooked on biking. He's always been such a runner, and he still is, but the problem is that I HATE RUNNING. I hate everything about it, and believe me, it hates me just as bad. So we can't do that together. So I had to bring him over to the "dark side" and now we can bike together. My devious plan worked! Turns out biking is slightly more expensive than running, but we both love it, and I love that we can do it together. We've got Paula working on Bret now and hopefully he'll be biking soon ... next year Bret!

See above and below - This is what happens when Dave has the camera for most of the ride. We have a lot of pictures from this angle. Thanks hon.



That's great Dave. Nice camera work. In this picture he made sure to get us riding past these people with the flat tire and not stopping to help them. So let me explain. Early on in the ride, when Dave was a little ahead of us, we passed a man and woman on the side of the road with their tire off and they looked frustrated, and nobody had stopped to help them. They do have support vehicles that come around and help with bike repairs and stuff, so Dave sailed right past them (he was worried about making the deadline for lunch). Nice hon. Actually, Paula and I sailed right past them too, but as we did the guy held up something and said, "Hey do you guys have one of these?" We still passed them a little bit and then we were like "Crap. No we feel bad." So we went back and it turns out they needed a pump, and Paula and I each had one. So we were glad we stopped. Dave finally noticed we weren't with him and stopped and came back, so he now wants to claim 2 extra miles on the ride, but I told him he can't because he failed the Good Samaritan "test." You really shouldn't mess with Dave when it comes to lunch.

It was really pretty riding through farm and orchard country in Southern Utah County and especially the lake. It was beautiful! I forget how green it is on the other side of the valley. We're hogging all the desert landscape out here in the Cedar Valley I guess.

The weather was nice and cool. It only got to about 80 degrees for a high ... in Utah ... in August! WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?!! It was so nice to not have it be closer to 100 degrees like it has been here for a few weeks. It only brought one problem ... WIND! More about that later ...
Nice self-shot Dave. He actually took like 8 of these, but this was the best one. I guess he was bored waiting for Paula and I to catch up.

I didn't hardly get the words "flex for the camera" out of my mouth before I saw this. Good think I'm so quick with the camera.

Man, who is that?!! What a show off! No hands and showing the guns?!! Holy cow.

Dave made me do this pose by the way.

And this one.


Still on the flat part. We were cruisin.

She looks happy! Nice and flat. Just had lunch. Not to the hills or the wind yet ... oh boy.

This is the lovely town of Elberta. We stopped here for drinks/bathroom/snacks before climbing up the west side of Utah Lake. We had been feeling some wind all day coming from the North, but we hadn't actually ridden into the wind yet, so WE HAD NO IDEA!!! Oh my gosh. The last 40 miles we rode into a 10 to 20 mile per hour headwind, and it was uphill, the hardest part of the ride by far! It was KILLER!

Still in Elberta taking a nice long rest, gearing up for the climb and the wind. Still smiling.

If you want to know how were were doing at this point, check out my face. We still had 25 to 30 miles to go. We just had to stop for a minute to catch our breath. You can only pedal into that kind of wind for so long. We had been averaging 17 miles per hour on the first part of the ride, and for most of this stretch, we were between 10 and 12 miles per hour. AAAHHHH!!!

Poor Paula ... her knee was dying! She hung in there and finished the ride. What a trooper! At least 30 miles with her knee really hurting. She rocks.

We managed a quick smile for the camera before getting back on those little teeny tiny bike seats. Anything to delay riding in that wind for a few minutes. Ha ha!

When we had about six miles left, our friends, The Stocks, rode by in their van and waved and smiled and cheered us on. That was so fun! And then they turned around and came back and drove slowly by us for a few minutes and talked and encouraged us. That was such a boost! We were so dead, and needed that. Thanks Stocks!

With about 3 miles left, Paula's husband, Bret, and her kids drove by and cheered us on, and then they drove by again. Yeah! It was so fun to see them! That was a great boost too. We were just do dead and so tired. They raced us to the finish line so they could get pictures of us crossing the finish line. Thanks Bret!

My mom and dad had our kiddos all day (and for a sleepover the night before!) and my dad brought the kids to meet us at the finish. It was great to see them! They were so impressed and so proud of us. It's a great feeling when you're kids tell you that they are proud of you. I'm lovin that!


THE FINISH LINE!!! WOW! I can't even tell you what that felt like. We had been on our bikes since 8:00 in the morning, and it was 5:15 p.m. We rode 111 milles total distance, and had about 7 hours 30 minutes of actual riding time. WHAT?!!! It was so fun to ride with Paula and Dave, and I am so proud of all of us for finishing and still being able to smile about it! I love the feeling of having a goal and working so hard toward it and then reaching the goal! What an amazing feeling! I couldn't have asked for better riding companions. Thanks for the encouragement and for the amazing day guys! Can't wait for next year!

Our "Baby" Is 4!

T.J. turned 4 back on July 9th. Our baby is not much of a baby anymore. He asked me other day when I was going to stop calling him a baby, and I told him probably never, and I'm thinking that's exactly right. Good thing he'll still sit on my lap and let me hold him while he sleeps. He even still falls asleep in my arms, and I love that. Who knows how long that will last ... better enjoy it while I can.

We had to get him up early to open his presents before Dave left for work. It looks like it might have been a little too early ...

He seemed to perk up pretty quick and got all excited about his presents.


T.J. got really excited about his BYU bike (almost as excited as Dave got). He really wanted a "big boy" bike, and he has really been putting it to good use. There is a trail that goes around our house and the four or five houses next to us, and he rides around and around the loop all day long and tells everyone he passes that he has a BYU bike. Is he his father's son or what?!!



We're so grateful for our handsome T.J. He makes us laugh and smile every day with the cute things he says and does. He makes sure to give us lots of hugs and kisses and tells me all the time that I'm his favorite mom (good thing!). He loves to play with London and Austin and Jackson, and they love to make him happy. He's getting ready for his last year of preschool, and then it's off to kindergarten (or "the big school" as he calls it) next year. I can't believe he's that old already. He's not much of a baby anymore .... but don't tell him that. We love you T.J.!