triathlon

this weekend i completed my 1st indoor triathlon at the YMCA in brainerd. it was a timed event, the times and my distances are as follows:

10 min swim - 20.5 lengths (about a 500)
30 min bike - 9.3 miles
20 min run - 2.3 miles

http://www.brainerdlakesymca.org/winter%2008-09%20pdf%27s/tri%20results.pdf

the exciting news is that i finished 1st in the women's category and 3rd overall. i was so excited when i found out. shannon andres-haglin was there watching me and cheering me on. i would not have finished so strongly if she wasn't there supporting me. she is the person that i do the tris with in the summer, and she pushed me the whole way. it was great to have her there yelling for me. she is one of my many friends that i am so fortunate to have in my life. the girls and i celebrated by going to north country cafe in crosby for lunch and then having coffee at letty's and playing cards for about an hour. alyssa (another one of my wonderful friends :) ) had us over for dinner saturday night. the girls helped me clean the house sunday and then mom and dad came over for dinner. it was a really nice weekend.

ice skating

it was absolutely beautiful out today. i think it got up to 45 degrees or so. it was wonderful. the girls received ice skates from santa claus, and today was the first time they used them. they had a blast. we were out on the rink for 2 hours! anika went right at it, and was pretty good (she has double blades). jewel was more skeptical and worried about falling and dislocating her thumb! she eventually went out and after an hour or so she was doing well.

rainbow cake - happy birthday grandma sally

grandma sally's birthday pary...

i have to start by admitting that this is originally shannon and gabe's project and that i got it off of their blog. it looked like a fun project and it just so happened that i needed a cake for mom's birthday party! if you are interested in the directions for this cake here is the link: http://omnomicon.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-make-rainbow-cake.html

i realize that it looks a little crumbly, but the cake was actually very moist.

so, like i said the girls and i made this for mom's birthday. joe, the girls, and i had mom and dad over for dinner on saturday. we had fish that joe had just caught and cleaned. it was very very good. happy birthday mom!