Triathlon

Well, I've given Alene an excuse for way too long. She told me "You can do the post about the triathlon!" and I said "Sure!" Did I do it? Nope, never got to it. It was back in late April this year. We can't have too many posts in between the post and the actual event, or just the fact that I hardly ever contribute and she wants me to... something like that has been an excuse for us Cutlers not posting.

First things first. For those of you wondering:

Yes. I can swim.

No. I cannot swim well - I sink anytime I'm in the water.

How? I survived because it was only a 350 meter swim and there were shallow parts I could walk in when I was cramping.

For those of you wondering about Alene:

You're crazy. She's amazing, of course she can handle it! Ok, ok, you've got the right to wonder - after all, she was 13 weeks pregnant! She did awesome anyway!

About the Triathlon:

TELOS Reverse Sprint Triathlon with shorter than usual swim... 5k run, 15k bike, and 350m swim (instead of 800m). Started, transitioned, and ended all at the Orem Fitness Center. Almost 300 participated. Both my parents and Alene's parents came to support - as well as Jase, my younger brother - THANKS! We both survived and did quite well for our categories considering we were both in the 25-29 year old categories which is a prime age for those who really get into the sport.

For us, it was fun and something that we looked forward to, but only prepared here and there when we had time.

For me, I went swimming when I had the chance - Alene joined me a few times to try and correct my desire. I say desire because I wanted to just do a make-shift breast stroke, she wanted me to do the crawl/whatever that normal form of swimming is. So I learned. Didn't use it much during the event though because I was drowning (from exhaustion, crowds, and eventually a cramp), but it was good for me to learn something my wife is so excellent at (swimming).

Alene spent sometime running and biking. She was already doing well at both and simply wished the swim was longer so she could more time to pass all the slow runner/bikers like me.

Many thanks to Wyatt Brockbank for the use of his road bike, and thanks to my parents for (as a B-day gift) renting a road bike for myself. :-D It was a great thing to not have to ride my old mountain bike and Alene's super old paper route bike.

Pictures, and then... the RESULTS!

signs made by Jase (the other side of mine says "Don't sink Kelv!")

Jase cheering us on

the rest of the gang cheering us on (my dad was on the run getting photos at various places)

the start (my dad took these without ever spotting us/knowing where we were)

can you spot me?

can you spot Alene?

first leg, still going strong (even though my hair's quite long)

Alene saying "I'm hanging in there!" (again - 13 weeks pregnant here, had thrown up numerous times in the 48 hours preceding - she's awesome)

this was the FUN part!

looking good hon!

I forgot my goggles!!!!! SAVE me!!!!

excellent form sweetie!!! (it was a mad-house out there with people having bad form - a.k.a. me - flailing their arms, and whacking anyone trying to pass - a.k.a. Alene)

tired? Alene - no, Kelv - oh yeah

family shot

I got a medal!

Me:

Overall: 29th; Age Overall: 3rd; Age Run: 3rd; Age Bike: 2nd; Age Swim: 18th;

Yes, pathetic swim placement. I made up huge times in the bike though.

Alene:

Overall: 125th; Age Overall: 5th; Age Run: 15th; Age Bike: 7th; Age Swim: 2nd;

Alene, you made me proud with your bike section and of course in your swim. Only out swam by her good friend who does get into this sport - Becca Lau!

Sugar and Spice...

Sugar and spice and everything nice?.....

Well, maybe in the future that's what our baby will be made of, but it looks like for now...

It's a BOY!
(Sorry to the 77% of you who voted sister! Don't worry... I was one of them!)

We're so excited for the party to continue and foresee Camden and Baby #2 being great friends!

And it looks like we already have a competitive streak between our two boys! Camden was born with some pretty inverted feet but they reshaped nicely as he began to put pressure on them as he grew older and stronger. (If you notice the earlier weeks in Camden Grows slideshow, you'll see what I mean). No biggie, it was just a result of being housed in a mama with a short torso and he sort of ran out of room.

Well, Baby #2 appears to be trying to outdo Camden by already having pretty severely turned in feet. So much so, it looks like he may be born with club feet. So to investigate a little more, we have another ultrasound (yeah for the extra chance to see the baby at least!) with the perinatologist tomorrow to take a little closer look. I just feel so blessed that we live in a day and age where technology has advanced enough that they can treat club feet with only a series of castings. They rarely even do surgery for it anymore! What a blessing, and how great that everything else with Baby looks to be developing fabulously!

And as Camden's cousin Troy so appropriately educated Camden back in 2008...

(Cousin Troy is also getting a brother in October too! Fun huh?!)

Voting time once again!!!

Hey All!

Yes it is almost that time again! In one week (June 8th) we'll be getting our gender ultrasound! Yeah! So we want to know what you guys think the baby will be?

Just make sure to vote by Monday night June 7th!

BYU Splash and Dash

Over the last 3 weeks we've been strapping up our laces and goggles in preparation for the BYU Splash and Dash!

Kelv and I have been training for a triathlon in April and Kelv convinced me that doing the Splash and Dash would be good practice.

We decided to do the Team Event which meant I would be swimming a mile (that's 66 times across the pool just so you know!) and Kelv would be running a 10K. That is something he has never done, and I haven't really swam competitively since I graduated from high school 7 years ago, and had a baby a year ago, so we were excited for the challenge!

Our goal going into the race was to finish. Whew! We achieved our goal! And actually, we did better than that too! We ended up getting 4th in our heat and then 7th overall. Hurray!(Too bad that 2nd heat was fast too!) We're pretty pleased with those results and figured they weren't too bad for two people who have only trained for about 3 weeks! I finished my mile in about 26 mins and Kelv did his 10K in about 46 mins. That's 7 min miles for Kelv! I'm glad Kelv whipped it out so we could finish so high in the ranking!

In the end it was a lot of fun being able to achieve something together as a team/couple, and a big shout out thanks to my parents who were kind enough to watch little Camden while we competed!

What do you do with a free balloon from Macey's?

So, I don't know if my shopping trips just take too long, but the last couple times I've been shopping at Macey's Camden has been pretty fussy by the time we get to checkout. Needless to say, the last couple times the cashiers at Macey's have given him a free balloon. He loves them! It really does help. The only question I have, is what do you do with your free balloon when your toddler still tries to eat them? You clip it to the bottom of his binky! :-D

This video is just a fun little clip of how Camden spends his time when hyper during the day. It's like he just can't say enough or reach enough places! So much ground to cover... in our one bedroom apartment!

Camden's Birthday!!!!

Back in February we celebrated Camden's 1st Birthday! Hurrah!

It was such an exciting day and time! On his actual birthday we kept the celebrations to a minimum since he was teething and having just a bit of a hard time. We just tried to do things that he enjoys all day, and gave him all the foods he enjoys eating as well. Then later that night, we had our neighbors the Billman's over, whom Camden just loves, for some cupcake ice cream cones and it was a fun time!

The next day, Kelv's parents, Camden's Miga and Poppa, made the trip down from Boise to be here for his birthday and it was a wonderful visit! Camden loves his Miga and Poppa, especially all the one-on-one attention they gave him! :-D

Then on Saturday we had a big family birthday bash! (Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us crash your place!) Camden absolutely loved seeing all his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who came out for the event! We made him a safari cake which he thought was very interesting, but didn't really dig into much until we gave him a fork with which to attack it! (Thanks for the tip about the fork Marianne!)

Camden's little cake

The Cake for the rest of the family

Some of the family there...Thanks for coming!

So as you can see, it was a fun and eventful weekend! One of my favorite parts was seeing Camden respond to the traveling "Homey Birthday Frog" that each member of Kelv's family gets to enjoy on their birthday! :-D

Valentine's Day!

Hey All!

So we've been sort of neglecting blogging lately. Life been busy! Between school, church responsibilities, work, and life with an active toddler we're learning to balance our time. So... we wanted to share how our Valentine's Day went! Camden was born after Valentine's last year and so it was fun experiencing his first Valentine's together!

We started off the holiday by putting up the adorable decorations my Grandma Sanders sent Camden!

He was so excited! It was hard to catch him holding still!

Camden looked so handsome in his "Future Heart Throb" Jammies from his Miga and Poppa (Kelv's awesome Parents!)

Then to top it all, my little sister "Heart Attacked" our door with President's Day quotes. It was awesome. Thanks Ruth!