We didn't start a fire

We kept our 4th of July safe by not setting off our own fireworks, so we went out to Thanksgiving Point instead. Chris still loves taking pictures of fireworks and wandered out into this field to get these shots.

Triathlon Triumph...or at least third place

As our friends like to say, we committed athletic suicide this weekend. The race was a sweltering one down in Green River. On Friday we hopped in the river for a short swim, but before we hit the water Chris' mom saw some fish. So Jennifer and Chris' mom made Chris get in and splash around to "scare the fish away." The river was warm and very slow near the finish. It made Chris pretty nervous about the race.

Chris didn't sleep much that night; Jennifer slept a little better. We all awoke nice and early to eat delicious breakfasts of EFS and clif shot bloks. The race site was just a hundred yards from the campsite so we just took our stuff over and headed up to the swim start. Luckily the current upstream was much stronger. Chris' parents took off in the olympic wave and we waited around for the sprint race to start. Jennifer got out of the mile swim in 8th overall (3rd woman) and Chris came in about a minute and a half later.

The bike seemed to get off to a decent start. Chris saw Jennifer about two miles in when she was coming back from the first turn around. Unfortunately Chris didn't take the turn around sign very literally and added an extra half mile onto his bike. This made him ride hard for the last nine or so miles to try and make up lost time. As Chris started seeing people coming back from the second turn around he yelled to Jennifer that she was in 3rd place. Jennifer's thoughts were, "There's no way...Crap! That means I actually have to race since there's no way I'll ever place good again." Chris passed Jennifer with a little over a half mile left in the ride.

We came into transition about a minute apart. Jennifer was still in 3rd and Chris was in 4th. The run seemed like a nice relaxing course, but quickly turned into a brutal maze on the golf course. Chris managed to pass one person, but he didn't know where he stood. The last mile was a fight to the finish. Chris ended up finishing 15 seconds behind the 2nd place man and Jennifer managed to keep her podium spot. Chris would have gotten 2nd overall if he hadn't biked that extra half mile. Chris once again collapsed at the finish and ended up in the med tent. After laying on the ground for ten minutes near the finish, the EMT's finally came and asked if he was okay. Fortunately, he made a pretty quick recovery. It was just a hot race.

The Mabey triathlete clan ended up doing pretty well for themselves.

Two third place overall finishes and a first and second place in age group. Not bad.

Being eaten alive in beautiful scenery

No we weren't actually being eaten, we were just viciously attacked by mosquitoes. Last week we decided to use some of our great new gear we got for our wedding. We headed up into the Uinta Mountains for a little backpacking. The mountains were green and beautiful, and it seemed as though the trip would be full of backpacking bliss. All of that changed when we started getting by some lakes and swarms of mosquitoes formed around our bodies.   Jennifer put on her jacket and hood to try and keep them at bay, but it was to no avail. Both of us ended up with 20 plus bites, and that was with using bug spray. Maybe we should've picked up that 100% deet spray at REI?

The trip was gorgeous and because we went on Thursday we only saw four other people on the hike in and had the entire lake to ourselves.

Chris got up early Friday morning to take some pictures and it was too cold for the bugs to be up then so he was actually able to be at peace with the surroundings for a while.

Tron or Triathletes?

Jennifer & Chris are extras in the new Tron movie and just got their costumes.

Yeah, we're pretty excited.

Ok so we might not be in the new Tron movie, but we did get these sweet new wetsuits thanks to 2XU. Who even knows if there is a new Tron movie? Also, don't try to reenact Tron in a triathlon wetsuit. It gets very hot and can lead to dehydration. We did take them for a test swim in the lovely water that is Utah Lake, which might explain why our stomachs feel funny today. Jennifer was nice enough to stop and wait for Chris in the water, she is the faster swimmer after all.

Pictures From a Picnic

So none of these are pictures of the actual picnic part, but Chris just got a new lens so of course we went out into nature to take some pictures. It is a lot different shooting with an ultra wide angle lens and it will take some getting used to but Chris should get the hang of it soon.

That's no moon...it's a pancake

That's right we can now reenact Star Wars with pancakes, complete with lasers of syrup. If you want to make your breakfast more exciting turn it into a Star Wars battle.

Currently we can make tie fighters, millenium falcons, x wings and of course death stars. Angela Marler you are our favorite person ever for giving us these magical pancake molds.

We recently made a fantastic purchase, El Camino by the Black Keys. Just check out the album art.

No that isn't an El Camino, but it does have some great wood paneling. From the opening track you just feel like you're awesome, even if you are just making the bed. So go out and be adventurous and listen to El Camino.

Or just dance like this guy.