Stay-cation

University of Utah has Spring Break this week, so I'm enjoying a stay-cation for the most part this week. Besides an appointment with an athlete, some hydration tests, and planning for football nutrition education, I've been able to be home getting more things done around the house.

Olympus Track is officially underway! We started "mandatory" practices last week Monday and held our time trial yesterday. We are hosting the first meet of the season next week Tuesday. We've had beautiful running weather--50's and sunny most days. Todd is running a 5K this weekend and many of the athletes we coach are coming to watch. Since he's been training hard to keep up with the fasted boy on the team, he's running pretty fast right now. Should be a great race! My Boston Marathon training is really picking up, and is going really well! It's pretty intense though and I've seemed to need 9+ hours of sleep--crazy! Less than 6 weeks to go!

We've continued to go to Utah sporting events. Men's tennis vs. BYU was exciting! We've never watched a match except on TV, so this was a first. Todd was convinced to go based on the free pizza that would be at the meet--but he ended up liking more than just the pizza. We also went to the Washington vs. Utah Gymnastics meet. Utah has an excellent team--ranked 5th in the nation. We're following Utah in the PAC12 Championship. Won in the first round!

We're back to consistently going to our church small group on Wednesday nights. We love the community we've found in this group of young couples!

We are looking forward to next weekend when the Ben & Alivia and Jeff & Lindsey come to Utah. The Lombardos are running a 50K trail race on Antelope Island. We also have plans for Todd's Spring Break! We're going to spend the week at Newport Coast in California. We'll also stop at Death Valley National Park on our way there--one of the few National Parks in California that we didn't stop at last summer.

That's all for now. Hopefully next time I'll have some pictures to share--but I haven't taken any lately!

Spring?

Todd and I are enjoying a day off of work today--thanks Presidents! The weather here has been so warm, as high as 60 degrees! All our snow is gone in the valley and we've been getting a lot of rain. It feels like Spring!

We had a great time with Grant in town for a long weekend in January. We all went skiing at Snowbird for a day, and then Grant and Todd went back for a second day. Grant taught me how to turn better, so I no longer go straight down the mountain. Thanks Grant! Todd and Grant had a powder day the second day, and were a lot more adventurous without me along. 

Todd and I have been busy most weekends with indoor track meets. We had a meet at BYU, two at the Olympic Oval, and last weekend we ended our season with a meet in Pocatello, Idaho. Three athletes broke school records--the boy's long jump, girls 1600 meter, and girls 400 meter, so I'd say we're off to a good start. The meet in Idaho was the Simplot games, which is a 3 day meet with 1,800 high school athletes competed. Many states as well as Canada and Mexico were represented. Todd competed in 2 coaches' mile races at these meets. Last weekend he ran 4:50 and placed 6th out of 23 coaches! 

We went snowshoeing with our friends Jessie and Brian Strike a few weekends ago. We drove up Millcreek canyon a ways, and then hiked uphill through lots of snow. It was so beautiful and peaceful! 

We're looking forward to a few track meet-free weekends ahead. Maybe we'll get a chance to attend a few more Utah sporting events and do some more hiking before the outdoor meets start up!

Missing our friends and family all around the U.S.!

Todd after a day of skiing

Coaches' Mile

Coach Mitchell's cheering crowd

The group we took to the Simplot Games in Idaho

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We are home to Utah after time with family and friends in Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan. We got to see Ben and Alivia Plankis while we were home in MN, and then headed down to Iowa for Christmas with the Mitchell side. Grant's fiancé Allison made the trip with us which was a lot of fun, and I think we managed not to scare her too much. It was a good time with family although a bit cold for running. After Christmas in MN we headed to Michigan.

In Michigan we celebrated Christmas with some of the Klein-Wassink side of the family. We went to see part two of The Hobbit and went bowling. We went for a chilly hike in a park and built a giant snowman (about 8.5 ft. tall). Jake and Alissa Baker came over to play some games. We went out to eat at McFadden's on trivia night, unfortunately we did not win. For New Year's the Haagsma clan came over to play games.

We packed a lot in a short amount of time and are now gearing up to go back to work. Today we went to the US Cross Country Ski Nationals and watched two of my high school teammates race. Next weekend Grant is coming out to visit and we are planning some skiing!

Christmas in Iowa with the Mitchells

Todd & Skip

Having fun with hats

Christmas with the VanWyks in Michigan

We went on some cold runs!

NYE with the Haagsmas

US Cross Country Ski Nationals

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year

We haven't updated this page since the start of the fall semester...and now it's the end. 

Here are some of the highlights of the fall:

-We enjoyed our first season of coaching XC together. The Olympus XC team was much bigger than in the past, and the performances improved throughout the season. We are now in the midst of winter training, and have 10-15 athletes faithfully coming. Todd set up a great end-of-the-season banquet in October that most of the athlete's families attended.

-Todd's job is going well, although he has some challenging students. He is getting to know the other teachers better this year. As always, he gets a kick out of using sarcasm and telling stories in class.

-My job is also going well. Things have slowed down now that the football season is over, but now we are in the swing of things with basketball. 

-I was accepted into the Boston Marathon. It was a close call, since they made the cut-off faster than previously due to increased number of runners wanting to participate, but I'm in!

-Bonnie came out to Utah for a quick visit. We enjoyed some hiking around SLC, along with a one night trip down to Canyonlands National Park in southern Utah.

-We traveled in Minnesota for Thanksgiving. Along with Thanksgiving celebration, we took a trip to Iowa for Grandma Kathaleen's 90th birthday and watched Grant's team in the 3rd round of the DIII football playoffs (all in a 4 day weekend!). 

-Now we are very much looking forward to almost 2 weeks in the midwest with our families! Leaving in just 3 days!

Hiking the Red Pine Trail 

The view from the "top"

Carving pumpkins

Whose is whose?

Trip down to Canyonlands with Bonnie

The Olympus XC Team at the Region Meet

And the school year begins...

This year the start of the school year didn't mean going back to school...for the first time in 20 years! I am enjoying my new position as a sports dietetics fellow at the University of Utah. We have moved into a beautiful new facility with an athlete dining hall, unbelievable athletic training room, fueling station (which I manage), football offices and locker room, and more. Moving into a new place at the start of camp for the fall sports was a bit chaotic, but we're feeling settled now. Our fall sports are off to a good start with a win at the first football game, 3 wins for volleyball, and 1-0-2 record for soccer.  Todd and I were able to go to the football game (knowing the right people is helpful!) and I was on the field for post-game recovery beverages.

Todd is enjoying his 3rd year at Olympus High School. He is teaching a new class (secondary math 3), which is a part of the new common core that Utah schools have adopted. He still does not have a textbook, so lesson planning can be challenging. We went to the first home football game at Olympus last Friday, and the home team came through with the win.

The high school cross country season is underway. Todd is once again the head coach and I have been "hired" as a volunteer coach. We have had 4 meets already. The team is looking better than last year already, and it continues to grow. We are looking forward to cooler weather for future races. Most of the races thus far have been in 90+ degree weather. Todd took the team to Park City for a team bonding trip a few weekends ago. They went for a trail run and then spent the afternoon at the Jordanelle Reservoir. Our last race was called the American Fork Grass Relays and involved jumping over haybales in the 10 mile relay race. At the end of each lap was the "gauntlet", which required the runners to jump over 10 consecutive haybales. The team really enjoyed this change of pace.

We enjoyed a visit from Uncle Bruce in July. We went on a couple of hikes and gave a tour of downtown Salt Lake. We browsed the downtown farmer's market on Saturday morning and also visited the Red Butte Gardens. We were thankful for some cooler weather during his visit, which made hiking and walking around town much more enjoyable!

Hiking on Rob's Trail in Park City with Uncle Bruce

Red Butte Gardens in full bloom

View from the cross country course at our first meet. Yes, there were cows on the course.

Back Home

I won't even attempt to tell you about our road trip as it would be impossible. Check out Anna's facebook page for pictures. After 33 days on the road we spent about a week at home before heading to Minnesota to visit my family. Before going we spent some time at our local farmer's market and the movie at the park which was Ice Age. We also celebrated our anniversary together by going out to lunch, watching Despicable Me 2, and eating tomales from the market.

In MN we went out to dinner at Ciao Bella with my family for our anniversary as well. It turned out to be an opportunity to celebrate a new job for Anna as well because she found out she received a fellowship position to continue working with the University of Utah sports teams as a sports dietitian the same day. Now that we are back from MN she will start her position while finishing studying for the RD exam. In MN we also visited the Mall of America, went to Valleyfair, watched the horse races at Canterbury Park, and went to a Twins game where they actually won! We enjoyed spending time with my family and Grant's girlfriend Alison and playing games as well. It was great to be able to spend some time with family.

Now that we are home Anna is working and I am getting ready for the fast approaching school year. Cross country also begins next Monday so that will keep me busy. We are also preparing for Anna's uncle to visit us which will be fun to have company in our new place.

Ready to go!

We are getting excited to leave on our West Coast Trip with Kyle and Kristen Mast in just a few days. Kyle and Kristen arrive in SLC from Florida tomorrow and we'll have a few days to show them around SLC before leaving. 

In other news, Todd is wrapping up his third school year as a teacher. This week is pretty low key, so he hasn't had to much to prepare for. The high school state meet was a few weekends ago. Three Olympus High School athletes finished in the top 8, and one girl broke the 400m school record! He created a cross country summer training plan and posted it to the cross country website he made and quite a few athletes have already begun training! 

I had the opportunity to attend the CPSDA Conference (Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietetics) in St. Louis a couple weeks ago. I was able to meet many sports dietitians from universities around the country. I learned a lot and made many valuable connections. I have been studying to take the RD exam, but the paperwork did not come through on time to take the test before leaving on our trip. I plan to take the exam shortly after returning to Utah. For now, I am going to be working ~10 hours a week for University of Utah Sports Nutrition. It will be the same type of work I did during my internship--only now I will be getting paid :). I can do the work while traveling, so it works out really well! 

I will try to post updates (or at least pictures to Facebook) during our trip to keep ya'll updated on where we are/have been.