Baby Girl Vanegas

While many already know, we just wanted to share the happy news that we're expecting a baby girl at the end of September. All is going well so far with the baby and pregnancy. Ethan is very excited about being a big brother and always talks about how he will help feed the baby, play with her, etc. He also keeps saying that our baby won't cry. We'll see about that, but wishful thinking!

No more binky for Ethan

We're finally done with the binky!! I should have done it so much sooner, but procrastination always won over. After our Utah trip Ethan became even more attached to his binky because we gave it to him during the long drive and, during our long day with the Ironman, I gave it to him out of guilt for missing naps dragging him around all day. So, needless to say we drove him to the attachment he had. A few weeks of endless whines for his binky post Utah, we decided it was time for it to go. After many stories and advice from friends we decided to go with the binky fairy ... this allowed us someone else to blame for this traumatic event. We told him that the binky fairy said it was time to send his binky away and that he could request a small gift in exchange. He chose a yo-yo. So the agreed upon date came and he was actually quite excited to leave a letter and his binky for the fairy. However, reality set in once he was laid down to bed and he wanted to go get the binky back. We had 3 nights of waking up and crying for his binky, a few more days of requests to send the yo-yo back to the fairy in exchange for the binky and then he was done. He actually sleeps better during the night and still naps well during the day. It does kind of make me sad though cause it takes away one more tie to his babyhood and makes him seem that much older.

Burger Happiness

Finally a last post on Utah. We were also able to spend time in Salt Lake with Jairo's family and Ethan had plenty of fun with his cousins. What's more fun for boys than tractors in a sandbox?

Of course we had to take a trip to IN-N-OUT which, as usual, did not disappoint. I could go for some right now come to think of it! Although Jairo and I are elated that some of our favorite California eateries have now made residence in Utah, we are a bit perturbed that they all arrived after we moved and have yet to make their way to the Washington area. It's probably better that way ... I'm a bit of a glutton for certain fast food joints.

Hiking Maple Canyon

Continuing with delayed posts about our Utah trip ... after the Ironman we spent a few days in Nephi, UT with my parents. Ethan of course loved all the attention from grandparents. Luckily the cold snowy weather let up and we were able to spend a day hiking Maple Canyon which is about 20 minutes from Nephi. The scenery was beautiful and looks to be a great place to rock climb as the rocks were littered with climbing devices. Hiking is also a great way to entertain Ethan for the day. He had a blast climbing and jumping off rocks and exploring caves. We even found an area with some cool pictographs.

On the drive to Maple Canyon we had passed several sheep farms and promised Ethan that on the way home we would pull over so he could get a closer look. Well, to our good fortune on the way home a whole heard of sheep decided to take a stroll and we had to stop to let them pass. Ethan could not have been more thrilled as we all got out to get a close encounter with the sheep. Since it was early spring there were lots of cute little lambs for us to enjoy.

Ironman

About 3 weeks ago we traveled to Utah for Jairo to compete in his first Ironman in St. George on Saturday, May 1st. Ethan and I enjoyed gorgeous weather while Jairo spent 15 hours swimming (2.4 mi), biking (112 mi), and running (26.2 mi). I have to say that Jairo did an amazing job! I was just hoping he'd still be standing as he neared the finish line (I know, I know ... oh ye of little faith). Not only was he upright, he was still running! The morning after the event St. George sidewalks were littered with gimpy men and women who had participated in the event. Jairo was one of them, but he recuperated very quickly and was back to working out by the time we returned from Utah. If in some alternate universe I actually completed an Ironman I would hang up my workout gear and say, "there's nothing more to do." He's a crazy man!

The swim took place in Sand Hollow Reservoir just outside St. George. The bike and run portion went through Snow Canyon, Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and downtown St. George. The course was really quite beautiful and appeared (from my view in a car) to be quite difficult with many steep hills on both the biking and running routes. Again, WAY TO GO JAIRO!

The story behind this picture ... the owner of this motorcycle drove all the way from Florida with an attached bike rack for his road bike just to compete in the Ironman. Did I mention this was a crazy bunch of folks??

Last, a big THANKS to all who supported Jairo in making this event more meaningful by helping raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Jairo was able to raise $3,370. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!