Champions

We got a cool treat the other when when two Olympic swimmers, Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau, visited Desert Breeze (the pool where Kacey and Kami train). They spent an hour telling motivational and funny stories like the time Brendan swam his first IM and accidentally flip-turned into another kid's lane without realizing it. He came out of his turn and noticed a swimmer in front of him, so he swam up to the kid and pushed him out of the way. When he finished the race, his dad said, "You're the only kid I know that could turn swimming into a full-contact sport!"

For those of you who watched the Summer Olympics this year, you may remember that Eric was diagnosed with cancer one week before the Olympic trials. Despite the diagnosis, he went on to make the Olympic team. He had surgery a month ago and is doing very well.

Both guys are down to earth, funny, and inspirational. What a great experience!

Shopper's High

I am not a shopaholic. Here me out. Seriously, I do love to shop, but what I really love is the high that can only come from getting the most amazing deal ever. So last week I came across this really cool website that posts all the things on sale at my local grocery stores. The site rates the sales (* to *****). The site also tells me if there are any coupons to add to the good deals. The coolest part is the site is FREE.

Long story short, I packed up the girls early Thursday morning for the coolest field trip (you get to do things like then when you homeschool!) The girls helped me find the items on our list. Every time we found an item, we compared the regular price with the sales price then with the price after using coupons (we didn't have coupons for every item.) They quickly figured out what a difference "smart shopping" makes.

At the checkout, the cashier was more amazed at our savings than even we were! The value of our stuff came to $130+. We spent $40. We saved $90+. That means we saved more than twice what we spent! It was so fun that we had to take pictures when we got home.

I know, I probably need to get out more.

She Didn't Get it From Me

So this is my first attempt at blogging...

It got a little challenging to call everyone I know last weekend to brag about Kacey. A little voice in the back of my head kept saying, "If you'd just start blogging, you wouldn't have to call everyone..." Or, maybe that was one of my blog-happy sisters talking?

Anyway...

I'll just say it. She didn't get it from me. I mean, I always thought of myself as a go-getter. A goal-setter. One to try new things. Looking back, I guess that really only applied when it was something totally fun or cool. Not something super-duper challenging. Maybe it skipped a generation. After all, my own senior citizen dad (that's right, Dad, you may not look or act like it but you do qualify for special discounts now) is a seasoned marathoner. Wherever she got it from, I'm proud to say that Kacey competed in her first triatholon at Lake Mead in Las Vegas last weekend! That's right, she swam 800 yards, biked 14 miles uphill, and ran 5K--one right after another--for fun.

It's amazing, really. I can't tell you what I had for breakfast, what I wore yesterday, or even if I managed to squeeze in a shower today, but I can give you blow-by-blow details of the entire race. I'll just trim it down to the good stuff for you: she placed 2nd in her division, 47th for women, and 164th overall. That's among about 500 competitors in the sprint distance category! YEAH KACEY!