Triathlon

Today was the day, my first full Olympic length triathlon!

To start off, we swam 1 mile in the Snake River. It wasn't bad at all, the river has a current that gives you an extra boost, the water was pretty warm, and the weather was perfect, but I won't be surprised if I get giardia. I swallowed SO much of that water [unintentionally, of course]. I wore a wetsuit, which has pros and cons. Good: they make you float. Bad: they are so tight, I feel claustrophobic, which makes me panic, which [almost] causes me to drown. It took me like 30 minutes or something to finish the swim. I'm not even mad.

{That's me in the water...alone...oops, got a little ahead of myself haha!}

Next came the 26 mile bike ride. I thought that this was the area that I was most prepared for. WRONG! This was the hardest part for me. My legs were SO dang tired by the end. My mom stayed with me for the whole ride, she kept me going, who knows how long it would have taken without her pushing me. Side story: I guess there was a huge group of 30 riders who all crashed [dominoes anyone?]. Anyway, I think I finished the bike in like an hour and a half. I could be way wrong on that though.

{Sorry, no bike pics}

To finish it all off, we had the 6 mile run. By this point I was EXHAUSTED, so it was more of a walk/run. I totally almost quit right at the beginning because I twisted my ankle about half a mile into it, I started to cry (it was a mixture of everything: the pain, the exhaustion, the fact that I still had 6 miles on foot, and the thought of quitting). Then suddenly, I just got over it and kept going. This also took me about an hour and a half. It was definitely a -walk for a few minutes and run for a few minutes- thing I had going on, which was totally fine with me.

It was a huge relief crossing the finish line. The first thing I saw was my sweet husband cheering for me, aww it doesn't get much better than that. Chris wants to do this same triathlon either next year or after he graduates...I believe I will be HIS cheerleader for that one, I think I'm going to retire from the sport. I'm glad I did it, but even more glad that it's over!

Harry

We went and saw Harry Potter {again} last night. Is it okay that I was bawling like a baby this time?! Chris was laughing so hard at me, he got a few swift punches to the arm for it :)

Snape...Snape...Severus Snape

The shower!

After months of planning, it was finally Shawna's bridal shower last night! I had a lot of help setting up from Chris and my momma. It was so fun to see everything come together after so much planning! And, of course, it was a blast to have everyone over for a lovely girls night!

      

    

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

{Food}

Marshmellows dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed graham cracker

Flower sugar cookies - thanks Ma

Coconut and Orange cupcakes - thanks Court

Chocolate dipped rice krispy treats and pretzel spears

Root beer, strawberry, and grape soda

{Yummy dessert table!}

Now, it's just over 2 months until Shawna and Travis get married! Aww cute!

We didn't take any pictures, but we went and saw Harry Potter 7 part 2 at midnight on opening night. UMM....I don't think I have the words to describe my feelings for this movie. PERFECT. EPIC. STUNNING. PHENOMENAL. I literally had tears in my eyes 75% of the movie. It was so good, favorite movie ever. 

Wyoming

Last week, Chris and I had the opportunity to put on our camping faces and head to Yellowstone. We stayed in a hotel in Idaho Falls on Tuesday night, then finished the drive to Yellowstone the next morning. There are a lot of really pretty things to see there. Here is the gist of what we did:

• Visited some cool colorful pool things (yes, that's basically the technical term for them)
• Saw Old Faithful (which apparently is becoming more OLD than FAITHFUL)
• Camped with a lot of little critter guys (again with the technical terms)
• Fell asleep for the night while the sun was still up (typical Cami and Chris behavior for ya)

The plan was to camp in Yellowstone for 2 nights, BUT [just like Jim Gaffigan] I'm kind of what you'd call "indoorsy" and 1 night was enough for me. So, Thursday morning we headed to Cowley, Wyoming [population 680] to visit Chris's brother Scott and his family. Elesa just had a baby a month ago, the whole family went up for little Gideon's baby blessing.

Staying at Scott and Elesa's was SO fun, I was so bummed when we had to leave. They have a really cute house with a HUGE lot (like an acre or something). Here is what we did:

• Rode 4-wheelers
• Took family pictures
• Made a Batman cake
• Did cool [illegal in Utah for a reason] fireworks
• Held the baby
• Ate a ton of good food
• Went to the baby blessing
• Enjoyed the down time

This is our nephew, Alex. He is thee cutest little guy around. We wanted to take him home with us. Poor little guy fell down the concrete steps and landed right on his face, that's why his little nose is all cut in the 2nd picture. It was SO nice of Scott and Elesa to let all 22 of us Higley's stay in their house, it was pure chaos, but so much fun!

We have nephews named Beckam and Jensen, they are hilarious, here are some of their finest moments from the trip.

Beckam (age 4)

"I eat paper. Why won't someone just give me some paper RIGHT NOW!"

My bro-in-law Matt was backing up a trailer, it wasn't going so well and he said, "Oh s***" Beckam then says,

"I said that word this morning...TWICE! I like to say swear words. I'm thinking of a swear word in my head right now"

"I hope we find a full skeleton, that way I can pull his arms off and punch him in the face with his own hand"

We were driving in the car, Beckam killed a fly with his hand, then licked the spot where it was smashed. HAHAHA I DIED LAUGHING!

"I eat dog food!"

Jensen (age 5)

It was his birthday on Saturday, he opened his 1st present, it was a slip-n-slide, he looked at it, started bawling, and says,

"I don't liiiiiiike it"

"Daddy, don't say syphilis"

We have a nephew named Apollo, he was sitting in the car, Jensen opens the door and says,

"Hey Pablo!"

We were out riding 4-wheelers and I could hear someone shouting "HELP HELP!" So I followed the voice to the back of the car, and there's Jensen hanging upside down hooked on the trailer hitch, his pocket had gotten snagged and he was just dangling there. It was all I could do to stop laughing long enough to even help the poor kid.

All in all, it was a great little trip! We don't get to spend a lot of time with Chris's side of the family because they live all over the place, so it was so nice to get everyone together. It's only happened 1 other time since I have known Chris, and that was for our wedding!

This picture doesn't have to do with anything, I just thought it was funny. Chris has to read a law school book before orientation on August 15th, this is how it usually goes...

That's my cute huband, just doing one of his very favorite things, which happens to be something he is very good at also haha!