MOOOVVING

When we received the offer on our home we were give only 21 days to closing. We hurried and found a rental home in the area we wanted to move to and were allowed to start to take our stuff over weeks before we moved in. I remember saying that this move will be ok, I will take a load over every day since the house is only 10 minutes from my office and I live 45 minutes away from there and we really don't have that much stuff. The first few load in the car were ok, Anne would take some, clean, pack, load and we did this process every day. Some times I would allow myself to kind of think that this is not really fun. I remember the last move when the hired movers showed up and it went kinda smooth. I was unloading my 8th truck load and realized that I have officially moved over to the DARK I am not really liking this attitude. I suppressed those feeling and forced myself with the help of treats and food that I should not really eat that all was going to be ok. This last weekend we officially moved out and as I look back at this process these are the weekend warrior lessons that were learned and comments that were seared into my Mellon.
1. Moving regardless how hard you try does not = FUN
2. All the offers to help move from friends and family were something that I should have YELLED "YES AT THE TOP OF MY VOICE" when they were offered.
3. Trying to do all that you normally did when you were not moving is NOT possible while you are moving (training, eating well, sleeping, staying clean and not sweaty all day long).
4. Did I say take the offers to help when they are offered, having to call last minute is not really fun since the people you are calling have to drop what they are doing and come and help and would have loved to plan for it if I would have said "yes" weeks ago when they first offered. (Is this sentence too long, I think it makes sense, try to read it like a song or a really long painfully funny poem).
5 That kids can make friends (best friends Lexi tells us) within 30 seconds of telling said new best friend your name!!!
6. That regardless of how bad I break that my wonderful wife will stay as even and level headed as possible.
7. Every rental I have ever moved into I say as I am cleaning that this is the most disgusting I have ever seen a home and I am moving into it.
8. "Dad, are we done yet, I mean like can we go back to our old home and play with our old friends?"
9. A garage is really meant to store everything but cars, they belong out on the driveway.
10. Do I really have that much stuff, I thought we gave a lot away!
11. Why is my bike getting dust on it.
12. Always turn off your water main when you leave your house vacant, because the call that your basement is flooding from the almost new owners the day before closing is not really fun to deal with!!!
13. If all has been delayed in the process should I be alarmed when the day of closing I receive a call from my realtor that we are having a few "speed bumps and it might take a few days to sort out". Breath.....Smile.......Really breath it is going to be ok............

Keep smiling,

T

Race Report for Loveland Lake to Lake

Leading up to this race was life as normal which is untypical for me the day before a race. I had a long day working on Friday, home fast to help with the kids and then off to bed by 9pm. I was not able to settle down and pack for the trek up to Loveland until 8pm. I only forgot my race belt but was offered a spare by Beth (thanks). I love this race and was pretty excited to do it for the 3rd year in a row. Last year I was able to put together a good race because I had a "rabbit " on the course a head of me named Sonja. She helped me run the fastest 10K ever that day and when we saw that this year the roles were reversed it was game on!!!! Sonja and I and Beth and I put a bet together for T1 time and T2 time combined for all out bragging rights. Jayde West from Las Vegas was up seeing family and decided to race with me and so we made plans to meet at 4am and caravan together. Jayde raced sick and gave it all he did but ended up heading home early and I was sad not to see him more on the day.






I arrive on time and was ready to go by the time Practical Coaching was taking pictures and heading into the H2o for warm up. I had talked to Coach Steve the night before and told him I was not holding back and was going to try to push the entire race to get a spot for Nationals. I was able to qualify last year and wanted to do it again.

I was the first wave in the H2O and took it easy the first 250 yards. The Wave had Elites and 34 & Under all together and it was brutal. I have never been beat-up at much on a swim as I was this day. I ramped up hard and let the day begin.

Sonja had not caught me yet but and since this course was an out and back I new that she was getting close. I was feeling REALLY good on the first 3 miles and then started to deal with cramp at the start of 4. Just then I saw Sonja and yelled "you better come and get me" and then put my head down and ran as fast as I possible could to make her work for it. She is normally able to run 30 seconds or more faster than me per mile and so I was able to keep her off my heals until mile 5 when she caught me. I again gave the best surge I had and sent her on her way feeling good that I fought a good fight. I did not think much about my side ache the last mile in but instead felt really proud of my effort. I finished with the Kids in Toe and it was a great day.

Since I was the first group off I was able to check my time coming across the mat and saw that I took 2 minutes off of my time last year. What a great feeling and I am glad that I am able to still see a drop. Thanks to all that helped to make the day great. Thanks to Anne for coming and yelling and bringing the kids. You are such a great friend and I love you!!!! I ended up taking 11th in my age group and qualified for Nationals in August in Alabama.

The Kids had fun dancing to the musice and playing as they did awards and we all rested on the hill side. Love you guys.

Boo Yaaa,

T

Fun news and the Kids Tri in Highlands Ranch

Balance Rock in Arches National Park, Moab Utah


My little girl playing at the KOA in Moab, Utah

Change is good when you desires are good. Anne and I have been trying to find ways over the last year to simplify our life, reduce our finical foot print and really work on what is important to us. We sold our cars for smaller, less expensive ones. We changed other small things over the last year and have been really excited to finish the job with selling our home. Trying to sell in today's market is hard and so Anne went to work making the home beautiful. We priced it to what we felt the market would accept, reduced it twice over 6 weeks of no showings and finally started to get some showings. We had a few offers 40-60K less then the current price and started to get discouraged but held strong. On Monday we were presented with 2 offers in the same day. We worked with them on counters and settled and signed a contract the next day. The family needed a home quick so we are closing in 19 days, we had the inspection today and things look good. This last move will allow us to move closer to my work, have over 8 hours of drive time back. We are looking in areas that meet the needs of our family and it looks like we are headed to "A" town, Northern Aurora. This will allow us to finish a goal we had started to work on over a year ago and I could not be more excited for this to happen. We will rent a home until we can find one that we want to live in for a long time. We have a chance to be picky and so we will. We will miss our friends and family that we have in Littleton but feel that this will be a really good chance for us to blossom. Booo Yaaaaa.

The Triathlon season started this last weekend for Jackson and Josh in Highlands Ranch at the Kids Tri. Jackson was sick last year and had no energy to do much more than survive the race and was really excited to rock the house this time. Josh felt his new shoes would really make him fast and so both were excited as we loaded the bikes and started to drive over. Jackson and Josh were able to get transition set up and were feeling pretty good about the day. Here is Jackson, Josh and Robert a good friend before the race.

The swim was fast and both boys rocked the entire race. Anne and Lexi were in charge of pictures and did a great job. The race went by pretty fast and both the boys where really happy at the end. They have been talking all week about the next race in July and how excited they are to try to get faster and do a better job. It is fun to see them grow and do something that they really love.

Love you Anne,

T