Speedgoat 50K

We headed up to Snowbird resort to spend the weekend. Matt ran the Speedgoat 50K Saturday morning. He ran it in just under 8 hours, finishing 31st. This was one tough race! 31 miles and between 11,000 and 13,000 feet in total elevation gain. Kudos to Matt for running a great race! Sunday morning we headed up to the top of Snowbird on the tram and Matt showed me where he ran. I was tired just looking at it! He ran up and over the top of Snowbird a total of three times, plus a few other peaks. I'll have him write a description of the race because he can do it justice better than I! Here we are at the finish line, after Matt cleaned-up while we were waiting for some of Matt's buddies to finish.

Matt: It was H-A-R-D. Ascending to peaks and other passes above 10,500 feet 5 times during the race was tough, and 90 degree temperatures didn't make it easier. When we crossed snow fields, I stuffed snow down the front and back of my shirt and in my hat to help regulate my body temperature. Great experience though. I'm just glad I have three great troopers who put up with these adventures. Next weekend is the Bair Gutsman. It is a shorter version of the Speedgoat.


I entertained the girls while Matt ran and we (the girls) had a great time. We went on a walk, played on the playground, played on the bouncy toys, had a picnic, went on a little drive down the canyon, and chased squirrels for a while. Claire was entertained by the squirrels for over an hour as we waited for Matt to finish.

After the race, and letting Matt recuperate a bit, we headed down to the pool. Snowbird doesn't have a kiddie pool and so I didn't want to take both girls by myself. I had promised Claire that we would go swimming the entire day. Well, just as we arrived at the pool, it started to sprinkle and so they shut the pools down. Bummer! We headed back up to the room and enjoyed the thunderstorm out on the deck.

Sunday morning Matt took Claire out on a walk (where she received a "blood owie" which caused her to "needed a new leg") while I hung out in the room with Stella to give her a nap. We met up at the pool and were the first ones in for the day! We swam for a while and then headed up on the tram. It was breathtakingly beautiful at the top of Snowbird.

Then, Claire and I went on the alpine slide. I think I was more excited than she was! But she ended up loving it.

Just for fun, a photo of Stella smiling. She is a joy!

Catch up

So, I only have 3 things on my to-do list today that I MUST get done and blogging is one of them! Since I have a lot to catch up on, I'll try to make this somewhat fun by posting a lot of pictures.

Below is a picture of Claire from the Allen family reunion. It was a bit of work but ended up being fun; hopefully for everyone. We had it at Cherry Hills...I wanted someplace that had things for every age to do. There was mini golf, waterslides, a lazy river, a few pools, and some other stuff. Thankfully, we had enough food and stuff. The only thing that surprised me was we went through about 125 drinks! Seriously, I planned on 3 drinks per person and we needed 5. Thanks to Aunt Janet and Uncle David for bringing an extra cooler full of ice-cold drinks!


We headed down to the Arts Festival in SLC on what I swear was the hottest day of the year! Sheesh, whoever plans the arts festival needs to realize that it shouldn't be done in a place that has ZERO shade and half the time you're on black pavement. I honestly thought I was going to melt! As you can see from the pix below, we found one speck of shade and tried to cool off. Claire and Stella were beet red, hence the wipe on top of Stella's head to try to cool her off! She was a pretty good sport about having something on her head!

Note to self: it is time to get the sit and stand stroller! Usually when I take the girls anywhere, I will put Claire in the little stroller and Stella in the Baby Bjorn carrier. However, it is way too hot for that now!

For the 4th of July, we headed to the Kaysville parade. We went to Home Depot beforehand and ended up being an hour late...PERFECT! I hate parades but you go for the kids, you know. We saw Claire's favorite float, the one with Clifford the big red dog, she got some candy and about 45 minutes later we were done. Perfection! :) We then picked up some Subway and headed to the park to play. We tried to get some good pictures of Claire but once she got one piece of candy, it was over! She was much more into the candy than taking pictures. And I don't blame her one bit!


All I can say is...Claire's bike is pure bliss for her! Look at that face!


Matt wins dad of the year award for taking Claire camping! I was slightly excited to have a legitimate excuse not to go (Stella)! It's not that I don't like camping, I just don't like a night of no sleep. Oh wait, that's feels like every night for me! He wants to take her camping up in the mountains but figured he should do a dry run. So, while Stella and I stayed in the house, Matt and Claire set up the tent in the backyard and slept out under the stars. She loved it and did pretty well. I fully expected them to head inside aroudn 11 or 12 pm but nope, Claire made it through the night! Good job sweetie!