We Earned the T-Shirts (Our Triathlon Domination)

Matt's sharpied leg number.

Friday night:

- Walked to Seven Peaks and picked up our race packets, and had our numbers sharpied onto our shoulders and legs.
- Filled bicycle tires with air and lubed chains.

Jessica, ready to tri like a champ.

Saturday morning:

6:15 am - ate banana and leftover muffins, donned swim suits, clean socks, and filled our water bottles.

7:00 am - rode bikes to Seven Peaks and left them in the transition area. Morning air was chillier than it has been all summer. Picked up our time-tracking anklets and anxiously peered around at the hardened athletes around us.

7:28 am - all the athletes lined up at the wrong starting line...

7:29 am - all the athletes moved to actual starting line ...

7:29.30 am - shuffling and sizing up the competition...

7:30 am - GO TIME !

Transition area for the bicycle leg.

Time stopped ... first we ran (5k around the Utah State Hospital campus ... no small feat considering the hills), then we biked (12 miles total ... the hills were worth it because we could come back down them) , then ... prepared for an icy plunge into the final swimming stage, but we were pleased to find a heated pool. Too cushy, some may say ... but we were plenty tired (and extremely elated) sloshing out of that thing 350 meters later.

All in all, we earned these awesome new T-shirts and enjoyed a perfect first triathlon experience. Definitely something we want to repeat ... if not tomorrow :)

Proof that we earned the t-shirt and the title of "triathletes", as well as photographic evidence that Matt has a farmer's tan. We wore those t-shirts the rest of the day...and will probably wear them again on Tuesday :)

One Little Tent

A few weeks ago, Matt and I went to our ward's campout. Neither of us had been camping in a while, at least not since we'd gotten married, so we were really excited. We borrowed a tent and sleeping bags from our neighbors (we will need to get our own gear soon!) and rode up with our friends. It is amazing how much fun you can have with skits and card games. It was fun to watch friends perform creative skits. We played and ate and laughed until it was late. There is something about the smell of a campfire, the mountains looming right next to you, and the coziness of sleeping bags in a tent that just doesn't get old. Here are a few pictures of our little tent. Cute, huh? We had a blast. Here's to hoping we get out a few more times before winter sets in!

 Matt in the tiny entrance.

 A few other tents set up at our ward's campsite.

 The beautiful canyon. We wished we had time to hike around a bit!

 The sprinkler head right next to our tent. We covered it with a plastic cup and rock, just in case it turned on while we were sleeping!

Me posing with the tent. We were amazed that we AND all of our stuff were able to fit inside!

Stop-Motion Fun (Check out our video!)

Last weekend, we both had a lot of time on our hands. Matt had finished his class for the Summer Term and neither of us had any assignments to do after work. So, we decided to start a project. Neither of us had done stop-motion before, but it is so fun to watch and people get really creative. Here is one of my favorites: Click here to watch. And another one: here. Anyway, Matt is the team captain for BYU's first iGEM team. iGEM is a student competition for synthetic biology. For the project, the team needs to create a team wiki (basically a website outlining all of their project details). Matt wanted to do something fun that would explain their project quickly and be fun to watch. So, our first stop-motion effort and Dr. Coli were born.

Matt's project is a really cool one. The idea came from trying to detect colon cancer using bacteria! The modified e-coli travels through the body and if two indicators are present (both "Reactive oxygen species" and increased temperature must be present for the detection to work), then the e-coli glows! How cool is that? All you have to do is shine UV light on your waste and no colonoscopy! At least, that's the idea, although don't install a UV light in your toilet just yet. The project is officially called E-colinoscopy. Clever, huh?

Since Matt is the only one of us qualified to map out his team's project, all the illustrations are his. The beautiful photography is my contribution. Let me say, it was harder than I thought it would be! Since we don't own a tripod, my arms got really tired. It took us over 2 hours to take all the pictures! Finally, we compiled the video in half an hour in iMovie. Isn't technology amazing? Matt and I are really stoked to find more stop-motion projects. A moving Christmas card, perhaps? The possibilities are endless!

Here is our humble offering to the animation world: