Friday, December 30, 2011

2011 NYE

New Years Eve 2011
By: Tyler

15 years ago was a very special day
Your mother said yes and committed her life away
We were married forever and our journey started
Then off to Dallas the pathway parted
A year later we moved back to Utah and built a house
Jackson was born and was NOT as quiet as a mouse
We were learning how to be parents and best friends too
Most days Dad did not know what to do
Then to Ohio for a job Rob was kind to give
The house was old and a different style of life we would live
The food was strange and the weather was bad
Josh was born and we both were glad
We bought another house and that lasted a short while
Then off to Colorado we went with a huge smile
We found a home and a Lexi too
Our family was complete, happy and true
Dad worked hard and started to succeed
Mom turned the house into a home and it rocked indeed
We are learning how to be friends and be nice and kind
Some days we do good and some days we are behind
So I wanted to give this bracelet to you
Every time you look at it be kinder be true
Because if you wear it
It will tell us you will try
To be kind to your family and never lie
Wear it proud so all will see
On that day kinder you’re going to be
I also want to invite you to join a special trip
A hotel, good food and a pool to take a dip
Mom and I thought that we would invite you this time
On our anniversary weekend with so much design
So pack a bag with a swimsuit, warm clothes and fancy ones to0
Swimming, dinner, fireworks WOW there is a lot to do
2011 our voices you will hear
2012 as a family we will bring on the New Year!

THE END
BOOO YAAAAAAA


This is a poem that I wrote for the kids to let them know about the New Years Eve party for this year that we are going to have. We have also had our fair share of fighting between the kids and simply put they are not treating each other kind. I picked up a bracelet for each one of them to wear as a reminder and promise to be kinder to everyone. We will see how it goes and hopefully we have a great NYE trip.
We were very blessed in 2011 and hope that we can some of the same experiences in 2012. Last Year on NYE we went downtown with my Parents and watched the fireworks in sub-zero temperatures. This year a hotel stay might make it a little better.





Thursday, December 15, 2011

Sacramento Marathon race report





Coming off a tough day at Harvest Moon Triathlon I had every intention to get it right on my first road marathon. We had really about 7 weeks to prepare for this event and so we crammed as much running in as possible. I had to deal with a cold and missed one of the long runs and Anne has a huge bump appear on her knee 10 days before race day.
I have signed up for two prior marathons and due to injury was not able to run them and then I just let it go for a few years. I have personally been scared of this distance and did not think that running hard for hours was something that I would do well. Signing up for IMCDA made the need for a marathon experience important so our group (Beth, John, Keith, Jewles, Nancy, Anne) all signed up together, trained together and come race day some of us even ran together. Beth decided to get a long time injury worked on and did not run. Jewles and Nancy ran the half and Keith ran sick while Anne ran with knee twice the size of the other knee. The road to getting ready defiantly took its toll on us. I did not have a time goal and simply wanted to be able to execute a good game plan and be strong at the end. Very simple and very clean race plan.



Race plan segment #1
Start time was 7am and I was going to run the first 6 miles with Jewles and Anne. We started right near the 4:25 pace group and crossed the start line about 3 minutes after the gun start. My plan for the first 6 miles was to run between 10-11 minute miles and not to worry about heart rate. The course was defiantly bumpy and I had a tough time getting a consistent pace and so my mile splits were all over the place as you can see. Jewles was only running the half marathon and took off after 4 miles. Anne on mile 4-5.5 was running ahead of me and ended up kissing me and taking off. It was very hard to let my partners go but I was committed to executing my race plan and hope for a good finish. It was awesome to be running with thousands of other runners and the miles seem to tick away pretty quickly. Even starting as far back as we did I was getting passed a lot in the first 6 miles as those that I trained with told me to expect.
Mile 1-6 ( 10:24, 10:38, 10:09, 10:47, 10; 33, 10:37)




Race plan segment #2
After 6 miles and now being on my own I settled into just relaxing and trying to enjoy the next few miles. My heart rate would creep up on the hills and recover just a bit on the down hills since I was running the down hills at a quicker pace to make up for the slow effort on the climbs. For the next segment I was to keep my heart rate in high zone 3 to mid zone 4 (150-165 BPM) I set my Garmin to alert me if I went over my desired effort and I would slow down until it would stop alerting me which was my battle for the next several hours. Fun note here is my trusty Garmin 305 crapped out on race week. REI does not sell the 305 anymore so I had to upgrade to the 310XT which rocks. Its waterproof, better HR monitor and a much longer battery and best of all it has a vibrate alert so you don’t have to keep listening to the alarm sound. Bonus…. I was hoping to speed up a lot the second segment but my heart rates told me otherwise so I compromised and went to the highest part of my HR effort and even push that a few times. Miles 7-13 (10:24, 10:14, 10:04, 9:52, 9:51, 9:55, 10:13)
Race plan segment #3
I saw Beth yelling and cheering me on just past the half way mark and that totally lifted my spirits. I settled in for the hardest part of my day. I needed to relax and not go out of zone 4 until mile 20 (Under 175BPM). I adjusted my HR alert to the higher alert and the next 5 miles seemed to have longer climbs and shorter downhills. I had a hip pain creep up and so I stopped, stretched and filled my water bottle up at mile 14. These miles were painful and they seemed to last much longer than the first 13 miles. I was happy because I was now starting to pass people. I was not running by them fast but I was running past them. My alarm kept going off more and it would take FOR EVER for it to come back down and my alert to stop. I really started to hate my watch about this time. My leg acted up again and I had to refuel my bottle by myself at miles 18 and that cost me some time. Miles 14-20 (9:46, 9:56, 9:50, 9:49, 10:59, 9:29, 9:35)
Race plan segment #4 (this will hurt expect it, plan on it and deal with it.- Coach Beth )



I was looking forward to this segment because I was able to turn off my HR alarm and just run. My plan called for a steady effort speeding up my pace each mile and do what I could to make the last few mile the fastest of the day. I had several highs and lows during this last hour and the leg started to hurt more and more. I stopped a few more times try to get the pain to stop and each time I did it would help for a few miles. I was so excited about being able to run on feel that I went straight to fast and did not really do well with a steady slow increase. As I look back it was a surprise how long the lows lasted and how short the highs were. You really have to battle at this point in a race and face your demons and keep going. Having to run hard and then try to run harder at this point was one of the greatest challenges and I now understand what others were trying to explain in their own way about what happens after mile 20 in a marathon. At mile 23 I caught back up to the 4:25 pace group and moved passed them quickly and that was a huge boost for me. I hear the term “dig deep” often yelled at races and I am pretty sure I had already done that and still had 3.2 miles to run. I closed my eyes a few times the last 3 miles telling myself not to stop, just keep running, I will be done soon and I will have won. I heard Beth and Nancy at just before mile 26 and it was so needed. I closed my eyes again and then opened them and on the right side of the road I saw Jesus. He was holding a sign that read “THE END IS NEAR”. I had to smile at that and chew on it for a bit, I even laughed. I am not sure how I did laugh but I did and as soon as I was done I turned the corner to the finish shoot. I had finished the last effort and did the best I possibly could. I had nothing left at 23 and kept going to 26.2 and I finished my first road marathon with a smile on my salt encrusted face.
Mile 21-26.2 (9:11, 9:30, 9:01, 9:59, 8:59, 9:36, 8:35)




I did not like the next few hours because they hurt but a few weeks later as I look back at that race a smile comes to my face just as it did when I crossed the finish line but this time with a little less salt. I finished a race in control and accomplished my goal. I can now look forward to 2012 IMCDA and know that I have a marathon in the bank. A huge thanks to those that helped me get to the finish line, friends, family, Coach Beth and my training partner Anne you all rock.




Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Marathon Week

Race week has finally arrived and the rest has started to take it's effect. I am feeling stronger every day and I am looking forward to the weekend and the race. Over the last two months we have done a very steady build without any drops in training. After the 20 mile long run I was on a plane headed to LA to work and caught a cold that put me out of the 22 mile long day and several other training days. At the time it was hard to relax and not stress so my body could heal as quick as possible. Anne is suck a rock in these situations and on the phone one night was able to get me to realize stress was making it worse and I needed to relax. The very next day I started to feel better and I was running 2 days later. What a miracle worker she is.
I ended up going only 21 miles on the 24 mile day because my strength was not back to where it needed to be and I did what I needed to do on the day.
Training with Anne each week, doing our weekday workouts together and having the group that we did to do the long runs on the weekend made this Marathon training program a success. I have liked having our date night be date morning and spending time watching Anne grow as a runner. She is awesome and really will do well this weekend. We both are prepared and if the day goes well for both of us she will take the 1st position in our home. So no need to ask, Anne is the better runner!
We leave on Friday afternoon with several other friends and I am really getting excited thinking about what to bring and pack. We have run so many training miles to get ready for the 26.2 marathon. Over 5 years of multi sport activity and the day is finally her to see what a road marathon will do to me.
This is the next step in the Ironman CDA training program and will allow us to end the year with a positive.
The beginning of next year looks crazy with two half Ironmans before June.

Keep you all posted on the progress,

Athlete tracker at www.runcim.org

Love you Anne,

Tyler

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Marathon Training


As the weather starts to change to colder mornings and earlier sun sets it indicates the end of the triathlon season and ushers in the fall activities. Many of my friends over the past several years have used this time to transition training to focus on a marathon. I watched as they used this training build a launching pad to an Ironman the following season. I have joined them on some of the long runs and listen to them as they talk about the building long runs, weekly speed work and trying to stay free from injury. I even made the commitment several years ago when I was able to get into the St. George Marathon and on my 24 mile long run my IT band put me down for several months. I was somewhat glad that it happened because I am really scared of that distance and especially racing it. I have never done a half marathon by itself and by the time I get to the run on a half Ironman I spend more time walking then running (so far, this soon will change).
In signing up for Ironman CDA I know that I will have to change how I race and as much as it will be a physical journey it will be more a mental battle for me to learn how to execute a plan that will get me across the finish line strong and happy. I want to race the entire effort and not put myself into survival mode because I pushed too hard earlier in the day. This has been my reality over the last 3 half Ironman’s that I have done. I have spent more time walking a run course than running the run course. I have spent more time dealing with dehydration and making it to the finish by any means then running a stronger 2nd half of the run then the first. I really don’t care what the time on the clock shows as long as I am able to stay in control of the day. I do not have a problem taking myself beyond my limits and hoping that I can survive and being surprised when I come up short race after race.
So with such a specific goal I have been working with Coach Beth on a marathon training plan that requires me to follow a very detailed training schedule. Not just following a typical speed day, easy day and the normal long run with some cross training we are actually putting a lot more into what I do. We started with a current treadmill test to help me get a current read on my training heart rate zones. Each workout has warm-up levels and specific HR targets to stay in. My running has ramped up and so we are working hard to keep me free from injury . I use the HR alerts training aid on my Garmin 305 and stay loyal to where my workout tells me to be. This last week’s long run had 3 different efforts in the workout and it was fun to work hard to execute to the level that was written in the workout. I am training with 5 others for the Sacramento Marathon in December and all 6 of us are working hard to stay loyal to our training plans. We all did the warm-up together and as we moved into our second zone we split with a couple having to slow down and let the group go on. Falling back in a group run because it’s outside of your effort is one of the hardest things to mentally do. Everyone on that run could stay with the pack but that would mean blowing off the HR effort and not getting the most out of the workout. So at the halfway point I moved from the low side of my range to the high side. I had company join me on this build and so we were now into 3 groups. We had a third increase and by that time I was dropped and stayed loyal to my effort. When my alarm would start beeping I would have to slow down. Anyone within 25 feet of me would hear the alarm and know that I was at the top end of the written effort. I would then slow down and watch as others kept going at the same pace. But I finished the run strong. I executed 100% to what I was told to do and felt great about it.
At breakfast after the run we all joked about how we all went from staying with the group to stay more loyal to our written effort for the workout. I am excited to see how this progresses for we are only 6 weeks away. Even more exciting is that I get to run this race with Anne. This will be her 2nd Marathon and watching her build last year and then race was simply awesome. Being able to do a lot of the training runs with her has made this journey better for me and for us. She has such a smooth run and makes it look effortless even though I know she is working hard.
Cheers,
Love you Anne,

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Is hiding an option?


I have loaded my blog page wanting to update date with a new entry so many times and have not been able to get myself to do it. I think when times are challenging and are hard some of the regular stuff that you do get's tossed to the way-side. My blog has been one item that was tossed and now that I am getting back on top I have wanted to write a post several times. The events of the past few months have been blog worthy but I just can't seem to pick one and start. Today I decided that the moment has passed and I need to focus on what's in front of me and not what's behind. So I will say sorry to the 2nd half of the 2011 summer and look forward to the end of the year activites. To make it fun I will list the top 5 events of the past several months and what my top 5 are for the rest of the year.

Past Top 5:

1. Lake Powell with my Parents, Liz and Tyler and 2 days alone with my family
2. Dying a teriffic death at Harvest Moon 70.3 Triathlon
3. Watching Jackson play flag football
4. Watching Josh play baseball
5. Work getting better, then worse, then even more worse, then much better!


Future Top 5;

1. Pumpkinman Olympic Tri this Saturday
2. Sacramento marathon on December 4th with Anne, Beth, Keith, Jewles, Nancy, John and others.
3. Skiing/Snowboarding at Winter Park/Mary Jane
4. Training with Anne
5. IRONMAN Coeur D' Alene June 2012......I AM GOING FOR IT!


Stick with me as I make a transition from the all out short course triathlete to Ironman Distance. You will learn over the next few months why my biggest goal is to "Slow down to finish fast". Stick with me as I make my run at the bucket list and hear how it goes. The good, bad and ulgy.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Mt Lincoln 14,286ft 3 Waltons strong


Living in Colorado and having an active lifestyle I have heard often stories of climbing one of the many 14,000 peaks in Colorado. I would listen intently as the story teller would talk about some to the challenges with the weather, elevation, respect of the mountain and so on. I would come away interested and eager to join those that have successfully made the assent to the top of a 14er.
Earlier this spring our Scout Pack leader Brent asked if I were game to take some of the Webelos on a Scout high adventure climb of Mt. Lincoln. I thought of Jackson joining me on my first climb and was very quick to reply with an eager "yes".
This summer we had a few practice hikes to try gear, make sure we were at the right fitness level. The last few months have been busy and the planned weekend came much quicker than expected. A few weekends ago we had our pack high adventure where Josh, Anne and Lexi were invited to join us for the trip. Josh on the hike was amazing and Brent was quick to say "he could join us and with some help would be able to make it to the top". I was excited at the thought of taking both of my boys on this journey and when I talked to them about it they were as well.
We had a quick dinner in Frisco on our drive to base camp. We were sleeping at 11,680ft and I could feel some of the elevation as we started to put our tent up. The night was cool, and getting comfortable was impossible so the night dragged on. Finally around 2am I was able to fall into a deeper sleep and the light of the morning came way too quickly.


We were up and at them and by 7:15 the group of over 20 started the climb. Josh was the youngest at 8 and was jumping off rocks and having a good time never taking a straight line on the trail. We passed 12,000ft and passed tree line pretty quickly.
We took breaks and kept taking on and off layers of clothes to keep ourselves at the right temperature. I ended up taking over 200oz of water and Gatorade and plenty of goodies to get us to the top. 13,000ft was next milestone and we had a pretty steep climb to get to that point. The group had been split up with a few fathers and one scout turning around and headed back to base camp due to sickness. All three of us were having some high moments and some low moments but we kept climbing. We were over 2 miles into the climb and over two hours climbing to make it to 13,500 feet. We were able to look up at the summit and see the first group make it to the top. The trail became very steep and we had about 600 feet of climbing. Jackson and Josh took one last break and then started to climb blazing their own way to the top because it was all rock and no real path.

Steps were hard to take and breathing was very difficult and so I spent most of my time cheering on the boys to keep moving. I was tired and at times was being encouraged by both Jackson and Josh. The wind had been blowing for the last hour and as we passed over 14,000ft it relaxed a bit. The first group was cheering the boys as we made the last push to the top. What a feeling I had as we were able to stop and look around.
The view from the top was amazing. I have heard people try to explain what it looks like and what it feels like and until you experience it yourself it does not do it justice. We cheered others as they made it to the top. I was able to take some pictures of Jackson and Josh at the top. I have a picture that caught the joy in Jackson face and I love it.

Standing on top of the world you are able to see beyond a normal "see" it's like a "super see" and helps you realize how your view over time can be shortened. I see why others get a climbing high. I can see also why climbing is not for everyone.
We will do this again as team Walton, and hopefully next time we can add the girls.

Love you Anne,

Tyler

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Hello heat, glad to meet you

Getting ramped up for the Harvest moon 70.3 Triathlon my rides and runs have been getting longer. Anne is also getting ready for the Copper Triangle a huge mountain ride on August 6th and she takes the lead on training right now. She is riding with Nancy, Margaret and others that are getting ready like Julie and Beth. The core group of girls that are working together are Nancy and Margaret and the three of them have done so well getting ready for this years event. I think that they will have a great event and I am excited to see Anne's mileage increase on the bike.
Jackson was going to a be at a sleepover and I was going to pick him up after my early ride in the morning until Anne came downstairs and said "we have a problem". She was looking at the invite and realized that the party was going to be done at 9 and so I was not going to get the 4 hour ride that I had on my schedule. I waffled a bit about a shorter ride, blowing it off because of an oversight. But no, I jumped up...really I did I was very proud of how I was able to spring into action and headed up the stairs taking them by two's like a real cool guy. I told Anne that I was going to go now and get it done so everyone can be happy with the weekend training and kids. She looked at me like I was crazy but it only lasted for a minute until I was headed up to the bedroom to change again taking the stairs two by two. I smiled as I hit the top and thought to myself that I was a good start to my warm up and it was going to be the coolest part of the day. I stepped outside after getting everything ready and realized what 95 degrees in Colorado feels like at 12 noon.
My goal for the ride was to finish and do so in a very controlled effort during the entire ride. I live about 8 miles from the start of the Harvest Moon and so I decided that today was a good time to ride the course for the first time. Anne came outside with me to pump up my tires and asked 3 times if I was OK and made sure that my phone was on. She said she would keep her phone close and would come and get me if I needed. You see I have had heat issues in the past and they did not turn out well.
The first hour was great, I was eating, drinking and doing what I felt would allow for a good ride. I had to add extra miles on the bike portion of the race route to get my 4 hours done and so I went past the 3rd turn that was the one that took us back to transition. This bike course has about 3 main roads that you ride so you can work the rollers and hills and flat and false down hills ect. I stayed about 5-8 BPM higher than I wanted to and kept dropping my effort to keep me in a good way. I hit a gas station and filled up with another 60oz of water and Gatorade and headed back to the race course. The last 2 hours were crazy hot. I have never felt the heat this bad on a ride and so I worked hard to keep my HR down because I was dropping sweat a lot more that I normally do. The last turn was back on a road that I was familiar with and was also the sign that I was about 45 minutes from home. The bad part of that was I was out of liquid and was heating up and putting myself in the tank. I slowed down and took the next 5 miles very easy and turned into the 7/11 just as I was about done. I slowly got off my bike, walked to the bathroom and put cool water all over my face and back. I grabbed more ice water and took a second to get somewhat composed before I took on the last 25 minutes home. I had burned up in several ways and took the rest of the time to think about how to be better next time.
Home never looked so good and I was able to catch Anne as she was taking Jackson to the party and the kids to the mall for items they have been saving up for. I cooled down and it took me about 45 minutes before I was able to come back from crazy land. I jumped on the scale and over the 4 hour ride I took on 140oz of liquid and still lost over 5 pounds. I will work on trying to figure out how to allow my body to take on more liquid, calories and stuff to keep me rolling in the heat. This was a good experience to realize that I have to keep hydrated to keep going. I have to keep my effort low enough to allow my body to accept the H2o and calories because today I went past that point and it hurt way to much. I am glad for the training and lessons that I learn and will keep it up. Hopefully we don't see 95 degrees on the bike/run course on race day, but if we do I know what I need to do to make it a success.
Good luck with your ride tomorrow Anne.
Stay hydrated.

Love you,

T

Friday, July 22, 2011

48 Hours of fun 2011 Lake Powell


Summerplace 2 Bullfrog bay Lake Powell


Tomcat on his first trip to the Lake Powell


The past several years we have been going together as a family to Lake Powell on a trip called 48 hours. We called it 48 hours to get the parents on board. Anyone can last for 2 days in tight quarters, hot surroundings and no place to get down time. Add to that the fact that we had 32 .5 attend this year and you can start to see the event called 48 hours take shape. 48 Hours of Fun was created to see if the kids could out last the parents on playing or if the parents would be able to outlast the kids in a non-stop play fest at Lake Powell. This was our 3rd year and we had the largest group attend and so we decided to go over the 4th of July and really make it a 72 hour trip. For Anne and me it was the first trip as a family that we were able to take Tomcat our new boat. Tomcat is from the MB Sport family and is a fun, kind 21 foot tow boat that I lived in for the most of the entire trip. Tomcat loves to play music and even tow tubes, surf, kneeboard and wakeboard. Tomcat did great we had a really fun trip with him and I think he will have many more fun years at the lake.
Tomcat had a friend called X-15 and they came out of the gate with such excitement. They had tubes, kids and sun a plenty and they did not stop for 48 hours. The Seadoo’s were also getting a fair amount of attention and by noon we had Summer Place 2 on a beach, in a cove protected and ready for the little ones to play on the shore. Old blue, my dad’s ski boat was taking a break for the first time in 10 years as he was not needed to take a leading role this year.

Pictures of the Wakeboarders, Surfers, and Kneeboarders






I still enjoy getting upside down







Joy to me is filling the boat up with kids, a lot of kids and to take them for non-stop fun. We had 8 jump in the boat and off we went. The first activity was to go surfing and for those that are not sure how we surf it is as close to the real thing as you can get. Using a shaped wake that curls like an actual wave and a small surf board one can toss the rope back into the boat and ride the wake for as long as they can stay in the sweet spot.
Kneeboading was the second activity as well as wakeboarding. We spend the entire afternoon playing and ended up coming back only for water and food and to change out those that wanted try something else. The end of the first day at Lake Powell always comes too quickly. But for us this was a pretty great night since Lexi was able to sleep on top of the boat with the entire family. Jackson and Josh also looked for satellites and did their best to stay awake but soon the entire boat was out cold. Rob has a great competitor in Bill for who snores the loudest and with a pair of ear plugs I was out.
Waking up to the sunrise at Lake Powell has to be one of the best experiences that one can have. No alarms, street noise or anything that we usually live with at home just the sound of the water. The sun heats us up quickly and not more than 10 minutes later the first Jet Ski was off and Tomcat was eager to get going for another fun filled day.
Tubes were the requested start to the day and something very special happed. We filled up the tubes and yellow banana up with air and took them to the end of the houseboat for the little kids ride. I made a promise to Ella that I would not go fast and I had to keep that promise. So as we were loading up the little ones my mom grabbed her life jacket and jumped on the tube and would not get off. It has been too many years to count since the last time I saw my mom playing behind the boat but as I said it was a special day and she was going tubing with her grandkids.

Time on the beach






Tubes, Tubes and more Tubes













The rest of the morning was filled with beach playing, more time on the boats. The afternoon was filled with Ice cream, wonderful food and playing on the rocks at the back of the boat. Lexi, Jackson and Josh all had a blast with cousins. Lexi was able to play with Ella and Bella and they seemed to never run out of ideas of things to do. This year catching the grass hoppers was the IN thing and they all had pets for the entire trip. Josh found it very easy to hang out with his BFF Libby. Jackson went between a few groups and seemed to enjoy several different cousins.
Later that day the wind came up and we ended up spending the early evening watching a storm roll over us. We had the boats tied up and the anchors were placed well for SummerPlace 2 so we just watched and waited for the storm pass over us. That did not stop the fun as the games went to the indoors with card games and movies with much needed AC cooling everyone down.

Taking the houseboat back to the slips is always bitter sweet as it tells us that the trip is almost over. Rather than heading back to Denver in the morning we decided to delay and go in the afternoon to avoid the traffic going to Denver and it ended up being a great choice. We played hard with surfing, cliff jumping and just playing around until nearly 2pm. We packed up Tomcat tell he was full and then made our way to the boat ramp.

Cliffjumping


A little time on the Seadoo with the kids!







Hanging out

Ella

Even the boats need a break in the day

Pictures of BFF's
Josh and Libby


Bill on Tomcat



Nanna and Pappa



The drive home was filled with talking to the kids about their favorite parts of the trip and letting them know that we love them. If they can survive a trip like 48 Hours of fun they can handle most anything. As if you were wondering, the parents won again for the 3rd year running. The kids called quits and left very tired and ready for some recovery!!!
Lake Powell will always be a part of my life. I love that place, I love seeing my family play together, work together and get along with no distractions found at home. We had no computers, phones and just movies that we all wanted to watch. We worked out the little fights and put lotion on all the sunburns and all left with huge smiles. I love you Lake Powell and the fact that we can have our crazy 48 Hours of Lake Powell each year with you is great. The drive home went fast this year since I was full of joy and memories that will last forever.

Anne getting use to driving the boat!





See you in 2012 for the 4th 48 Hours of Lake Powell, maybe the kids can come with their A game and have a possible chance.

Lexi taking a break on Tomcat

Jackson down for the count




Love you Anne,

T