Farmer Seth

Check it out, Seth and I are farmers...yes that is right we farm. Our crops this year will be 5 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, 1 cucumber, and some herbs. Actually we have been terrible farmers...so bad in fact that Seth's cute mom came up and had to give our garden a face lift...something about the dirt and fertilizer and apparently weeds are not a crop. Yeah we were way off. Since the face lift things have actually been doing a ton better. Maybe, just maybe will will get to make some salsa with our harvest.

Breathe and Relax

Since I got 'knocked up' I have been hesitant to write too much about the pregnancy...I hesitate because I am sure I would offend a mother out there somewhere...no necessarily my mother, but a mother none the less. No matter how excited I am, or thrilled to be having a kick ass kid I can't help being sarcastic and blasphemous. You know some people were just born to be a cynic and to point out irony...I know it's a 'bad' trait to have...but hey it's me and it's how I roll...pregnancy not excluded. If I wrote all that I was really feeling people would think I was the most ungrateful thing out there...well little would they know it's just all truth most women hide from other women to make them want to have children. It's a cycle. Like if anyone would have told me that in reality you are pregnant for closer than 10 months than 9...I would have liked to have put that in my plan, or your body is put together by silly putty and at any moment a joint you heavily rely on could go out at any time, I would have better prepared myself, and lets not even talk about the food issue...my gosh, I can't wait to have a healthy relationship with food again...it's all about feeding...they say you don't eat for two, but that is such a joke...if I try to just eat for one I get sick because I have not had enough to eat. That was mainly my biggest problem for the first 5 months...but we need to tell each other these things. I was ill prepared to handle much of this. When I train for an athletic event I know what I am getting myself into...I know what I will be doing or should be doing on any given day, I know how to eat, how to recover, how to race, but with pregnancy I have nothing...all the books kind of suck. You know nothing really helps you because you don't really have all that much control over how your pregnancy is taking shape. Sure I would love to get my cardio in everyday but good hell I feel like trash and it's a blessing if I can get to work. Now in my 3rd trimester things are a whole heck of a lot better for me and that's great and all but I am afraid my body is just trying to make me forget all the cruddy things it had to put me through to get to this point. I usually use the same tactic if I am babysitting...you just have to be really nice for the last 15 minutes of babysitting then the kids totally forget you wouldn't let them watch the Finding Nemo for the 5th time in a row...mean sitter. As of now I am in my 'birthing' stage where I could have this kid anytime with in the next month because it goes to 42 weeks. Yeah I am not excited if I went at 42 weeks...my gosh I would be so ready to go. But I am doing the whole HypnoBirthing technique for labor and delivery. I am excited but I feel that there's a whole lot happening during labor that a lot of moms are not sharing with me. All they tell you to do is relax and breathe...and if you do that you won't feel any pain. Okay cool...so breathe and relax...check. I can do that. Is that all I need to do? Yeah. Just that...and don't have any medical interfence. Oh okay well that sounds easy enough. So I know how to breathe and I can relax with the best of them...so I think I should be set. With that advice I'm not sure why any woman gets an epidural. See where I am going with this. Yeah breathe and relax...with that kind of mind altering advice we could put anasthesiologist out of business in all the women centers of the world. Yeah I feel that they may be missing a step. Hmmm. All and all though everything is going well...it just makes me laugh.

You know...stuff

Couple things going on in my life right now, they are;

Not a whole lot.

I made a cherry pie from scratch. My friend gave me a really good and easy pie crust recipe...so once I had the crust made it was a breeze. Check out the picture before I baked it. I know it looks like a pie! Shocking!!!


Today Seth and I went to pick apricots in Brigham City about 25 miles from where we live. There is an orchard that needed to be harvested, so Seth and I were able to go a pick as many apricots as we possible could. We didn't even make a dent on the orchard. I am going to try and make fruit leather with the fruit. I will let you know how it goes.
Also, here's a pic of me and Kiowa...this picture is me at 38 weeks. I know I could be having this kid any day now. I hope early...but I expect the kid to come late. I am trying to get everything in order for the little tyke...I'm not exactly sure what I am suppose to be doing...but I figure that nesting urge will kick in soon...I hope.
Other than that not a whole lot is happening in my world...it's pretty slow. I am not working anymore...it was becoming too difficult on my hands...I am just waiting...it kind of sucks! It's too hot for me to go outside...if I do I swell up like a balloon. Good times.

California

This last week I was in California for our annual bike training camp....yes if you are a devotee to this blog then you know this trip would not be the best for me. Watching people ride their bikes all through the most gorgeous areas of the country is like putting a diabetic in a candy shop. It was a cruel form of punishment...for what sin...I'm not sure. I did not take a lot of pictures there...I regret it. Because the first day I got there I went to a apricot orchard to pick apricots for apricot jam...it was soooo hot that I think I doubled in size. Then I had a baby shower which was great, it was awesome to see some people I haven't seen for a while. I also got some super cute baby clothes.

Then on Monday Seth's family came out for the training camp. It was pretty awesome...it was way cool that my sister and Dad rode all the rides too. I don't have a lot of pix but here are a few I do have.

This picture is part of the San Francisco Bay.The roads in California are amazing.Seth and Kellen standing with the family's mascot.The BoysK-dogCharlotte my younger sister rode out of her mind the entire week.Motor pacing

Fabulous Sugar

We are starting a Sugar line of baby clothes. Here are a few of our first attempts. We will get better with some time and practice.

Loved

Yesterday I had such a great and unexpected gift delivered to work for me. Check it out; I had a patient bring in these amazing home grown roses for me. Come on I felt totally loved!

Then this morning when I went to the kitchen to find some breakfast I found a bowl of red and pink Mambas;Seth bought a bag of Mamba's and my favorite flavors happen to be the red and pink...they are suppose to be strawberry and raspberry, but they taste more like red and pink. It was really sweet of Seth to pick out my favorites and give them to me. Side note: I did resist the temptation to make the entire contents of that bowl my breakfast. Seth is so cute he always gives me the red skittles, pink starbusts, pink mentos, red harabo gummi bears, and watermelon jolly ranchers. He even does it when I'm not there...he will somtimes bring home a bag of the red gummi bears for me. He's pretty much got me figured out. It's hard to find guys like that now a days.

Web Sitting

I wonder what the legal ramifications would be if I was ever caught having some one baby sit my kid via web camera.  Last night Hubby and I were heading out for dinner and as usual Kiowa our ever loyal puppy was watching us leave out the front window...we always thought that it was kind of sweet...you know maybe she just hates being away from us.  As we were driving off I watched Kiowa watched us and as soon as she thought we were gone I saw her spin around really fast and run into the back of the house...toward the kitchen.   We stopped and went back to the house...we wanted to know what our crazy dog was up to.  We caught her doing nothing.  So we are Mac people and we are connected to other Mac people and if you know Mac people you know that they are always on their computers.  So we turned on our web camera and called Seth's Dad to watch Kiowa via web camera, then we left for dinner.  It was great knowing that if Kiowa wanted to get anything off the counter, or move her food around there was someone to scold her via web.   So I'm thinking that when I need to go out I can just turn on the web cam and have a Mac'er watch the kid.  Maybe someone from India...I heard we were beginning to outsource our daycare responsibilities to India.  

ALERT: Creativity at all time low

So I've heard about it happening to women but I never thought it could happen to me...'baby brain'. Yeah apparently it's a huge 'hush-hush' medical condition...I went to wikipedia and looked up 'baby brain'...I got 'Pinky and the Brain', 'Newsboy Legion', and a whole lot of nothing. Went to the Mayo Clinic and Web MD website and again nothing. I thought this whole hazy brain thing would pass...but it hasn't I haven't written anything good on the blog in forever...oh wait I never write anything good on this blog. I can't think of anything to write about...maybe it's because my life is a little more...hmmm whats the right word? Slower? Boring? I'm not sure but I just don't have stuff to write about...I don't cook, I don't play, and winter just puts me in a depressive place...so yeah I blame baby brain for so much of this tho. So I am going to shake my self out of the brain cloud and see if I can think again...oh yeah Seth totally out witted me the other day...that never happens...I am totally loosing my edge. But if I am going to raise a sarcastic, quick witted child then he is going to need a role model, so I am going to get it back not just for me but for my children. They are going to need a good sense of humor to survive this household!

Dog Bliss

We found these Dr. Seuss stuffed animals for $2.50 at Kohls. Friggin Awesome...so we bought like 10 animals, now Kiowa can focus on her own toys to tear up and leave our stuff alone. Every time I come home with a new toy or something for the baby, she just follows me in hopes that it's hers. Poor puppy is going to have a hard time adjusting to having a baby around. Good thing we have her watch Lady and the Tramp everytime...you know to prepare her.

Moab at 31 Weeks Pregnant

So I went to Moab this last week without a bike...there is something inherently wrong with this picture. Seth being reasonable and knows me well enough to know that I don't quite understand my limits told me it would not be wise for a 31 week preggers to be on a Moab trail. Since he's almost a doctor I was tempted to listen to him. The bike stayed home and I headed to Moab. To tell you the truth I have no idea what people do in Moab without a bike. I did have a nice time just being in the desert, there is always something so healing about red rock. I was able to do some yoga and aqua pilates...and for now I will pretend that it was fun.

My Official Apology

This winter has be unkind to me...frankly this winter has been mean and cruel. My heart has been breaking slowly for the last five months...I barely feel alive. Pretty soon I will need to be on heavy dosages of meds to keep me going. Everyday I think about the Sun and try to remember what she looked and felt like. If there is one woman out there I miss more than anything it's the Sun...she always had a way of making me feel better when I was down...she would make me laugh. She was probably one of the best friends I ever had...but I must have done something to make her very very angry, because she hasn't been around for quite a long time.

Last week I think she tried to make amends with me, she came out for a few days...it was wonderful. Something must have spooked her because she left and now it's cold, dark and snowing. I plan to make this right again so this is my official apology to the Sun. I am so sorry for what I did to offend you. I know there was that day in the Fall when it was sunny out and I decided to stay in the house...I should have come out to play, I don't know what I was thinking. Also I remember the time when I was driving home and you were in my eyes and I cursed you...I was being stupid...I didn't mean any of it. You're my girl, I can't imagine my life without you. I promise I will play outside whenever you come to visit, I will always appreciate your warmth and light. Accept my apology and come back to play.

Sincerely,
Eugie

Name and Such

Today I need to pack because I'm heading out to California tomorrow for a couple days. Since I procrastinate I will update my blog instead. In California me and most of my family will be participating in a race on Angel Island. Angel Island is the next island over from Alcatraz...it's in the San Francisco Bay. I'm pretty excited because both my parents are doing it, and my sister and her husband are also doing it. I'm doing it because well, I'm 5 months pregnant with nothing to do. I figure I can just take it easy and enjoy the views. Right now California gorgeous ...it's green, the trees are filled with blossoms...it will be nice to get away from this tundra for a couple days. While I'm there we are going to have a big birthday fiesta with amazing mexican food and there will be pinyata's...it should be awesome!!!!

Well since we found out that we are having a boy the names have just been pouring in. Tell me what you think.

From the brothers:
‘17’ (yes it will be just the numbers)
Skulldozer,
Maxamillious,
Fabio,
Alejandro,
or Speed-Racer

Pretty good stuff there really. Then there is Seth;

Frank is his #1
Earl
Dwayne
Cleydus
Gosh, there are so many more names he has suggested but I’ve just tuned him out…so I can’t remember anymore…thank goodness.

As for now we are calling the baby/lizard Mordicai.

Traditon of Heritage

My husband comes from a family of 5 boys...no girls. I could not even imagine what is was like when they were all young. Even now they are all quite a handful when they get together. One thing the boys all have in common is a strong tradition of heritage (it's one of their families motto's, that and, 'comfort in neither tolerated or welcomed here'). Strange bunch of kids. Well Seth and I decided to keep tradition alive by adding another boy to the Gunderson clan. He should be here in the beginning of August. Just in time for Fall mountain biking season. Don't worry though, we will keep the EPO on ice till he comes.

Spring Time

I can feel it in my bones, spring is on it's way. They only problem is...I don't think the snow in my front yard will ever melt. We have piles of snow on the north facing side of the house. I think it will be late May before it is all gone. Oh well. What we are doing now is preparing for spring we have started our seedlings for vegetables and flowers. It's pretty exciting...last year we tried to do the same thing...we got all the seedlings started and we bought a table for them to sit on so they could get the best sun light. Well we came home one day and our little colony of plants had a visit from our fat dog. Kiowa got on the table and laid on all of our seedings. We call it 'The Destruction of 2007'. Because of that and Kiowa's stubborn fat ways the plants got booted off the table per her request and she got the table. Which to this day that table still sags in the middle. Check out the picture below that her on the table, oh wait never mind that's her getting into the garbage. Bad Dog!
Here it is, oh wait a second this is where Kiowa saved Seth. Seth fell in a well and Kiowa went in to get him. Good Dog!This is the picture I'm talking about;Pretty soon after this picture she kicked that tree off the table...she wanted to be Queen of the house, while I wasn't there of course. She always knew what was going on in the neighborhood....snoopy little dog.

Here she is again in our new house...still her same table and her same fat ways.

Winter Wonderland...No Such Place

We moved to Logan this last summer...and I could not have been happier...it's a gorgeous place to be. The weather is perfect up here...you are tucked away in this little mountain valley. The mountain biking is amazing. We find new trails all the time and they are all so good. Autumn came around and the weather had a little bite to it...but still were hiking and biking the trails. It's such a great place to live...up until a few months ago. Now my devotees know that I have a hard time with winter...but I usually make the best of it. I'm still running outside...training for some race...I try to keep it real still. But here it's a different story. I haven't seen the sun since....hmmm....I honestly don't remember when I saw the sun last...maybe sometime in December. There is no way I can run here...there's way too much snow every where on the streets and sidewalks...and it's too cold anyway to go out side...too cold for me!!! What has happening to the perfect most fabulous summer hide away.

I don't really snowboard anymore so it's not like I get all excited about the snow and since it has been snowing for the last month...I have not been that excited. However I am going to start changing everything...I am now going to start liking winter...it may not be my favorite season...okay it will still be dead last...but it should start getting more stock. Here are the things I am going to start doing to enjoy the frozen waste lands of Cache Valley;

Build a Snowman: I can't remember the last time I built a snow man...but this snowman will be dressed to the Nines. It also has to be atleast 5-6 feet tall. Once completed I will take a picture if my camera works by then and I will post the beast on this site.

Extreme Snowshoeing: Snow shoeing is fine and all...but it's kind of like walking....on the snow. Actually that is exactly what it is...walking on the snow with tennis rackets on you feet. Truth be told not that exciting...so now I am going to go extreme, I'm going to start hucking myself off drops, doing 360s, flips, going in the trees and getting all sorts of out of control. Since there are a lot of areas with ridiculous amounts of snow I am so going to set off an avalanche and ride that home. That should spice up my winter. I think any near death experience always livens things up.

Snow Shovel Races: My younger sister is coming out to hang out with me for a month. Why? Because she is freaking awesome and knows this is the time of year her sister going into a deep dark scary depression...so she here to be a bad ace and keep me happy. One thing that makes her super awesome is that she is so super uber competitive...but she's the quiet type...I'm kind of the louder trash talking dissing your momma kind of competitor, but she the sweet quiet tear your face off when you least expect it competitor...and when you put us together it's war! So we will be having Snow Shovel Races around the property...(truth be told I may lose this one on purpose I hate shoveling, but I won't tell her that).

Dog Sled Racing: You know my dog is a snow dog...so I am going to strap a harness and a sled on her but i won't get on the sled...that's just dead weight for her to carry and then I am going to race her up green canyon...winner gets a bath...(she needs one...I like them so it's a prize everyone could enjoy).
I wish I had a picture of her in the snow...but she so fast once she hits the snow that there is no chance of getting a good picture.

Snow Ball Fight: I am going to have a good 'ole fashion snow ball fight...with the people walking by the house...I will build a fort wait for the older people in the neighborhood to take their daily stroll in the court then I will pelt them with snow balls. (This may not actually happen) Truth be told if anyone is going to get a snow ball to the head it will be my husband when he least expects it. If I do actually hit him I will then run away like a coward because he is way better at a snow ball fight than I am. I think it's a guy thing.

I will follow up on my winter plans and let you know if he has changed the angst in my heart toward the worst season of the year.

I'm Back...For Now

Sorry about my extended leave of absence.  The last post I was going to write was to plan out my race calendar for 2008.   I had a Marathon, Half Iron Man, smaller triathlons, and some Bike Races.  It was going really well.  I started my training.  Then I started to get really sick and then stayed sick...but now I am feeling a little better.  So I signed up for a Half Marathon at the end of March it will me in Napa Valley, CA.  Some of my family members are going to participate...that makes it worth the trip to get out there.  That and it is absolutely gorgeous out there.  I really won't be able to do that many races this year because I am pregnant.  Yup.  Tomorrow is the 12 week point, so for the last 2 months I really have done nothing...I've been feeling like a dump truck.  I wasn't anticipating feeling so junkie.  Luckily I am feeling better so I need to start running so I will be ready for Napa.  I am not going to get my best time or anything, I am just going to have a good time and hang with my family.  I will try to do better at posting more often, I have been getting death threats regarding my lack of posts. 

Thanksgiving in Moab

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Moab with some of our friends. We had three days of amazing mountain biking. There's not much to say about the weekend except that I am now an official mountain biker...I know many of you did not know that I was faking it, but I was. Not anymore though because I am official. I was able to ride more , drop more, and climb more than I ever have before. We did Slick Rock on Thursday, it was chilly but a lot of fun. Then Thursday night is snowed a bit so we decided to do a little sandier trail so we did the Sovereign Trail which was the first for all us. Okay the climibing on that trail was freaking bonkers for sure...but once you got to the top it was a total rush. Below is a pix of me on Sovereign. My friend Paul who was with us is an animal and while climbing to the top he stripped out his free wheel which means he has no power. The wheels can't turn with out the free wheel...so he ran up any incline and rode his bike down. He was still faster than me most of the time. Then he and I got to a level portion of the trail and we started towing each other with three tubes tied together. I t took a little practice to get used to it but it was pretty fun and we were out of control. Then on Saturday we did Porcupine Rim, again that was my first time on that trail and I loved it. I loved dropping down stair cases of rocks . Climbing up the staircases were a little tricky, but I really got the hang of going down the slabs of rock. I like it because you have to stay really focused on what your doing because if you aren't you crash. I like trying to pick out the right line to take , and near the end I started picking out harder lines to take. Yeah I guess I just had to grow a pair. It was a great weekend and I am completely converted to mountain bike on Thanksgiving. We did it last year and loved it, and now this year was just as much fun. We had our great friends meet us there; Paul and Titus. They made the camping experience all the better too. Sovereign Trail

Our pulley system.

Holiday Run

I have started to organize a race. This race is a little different. It is on Christmas Morning, or Christmas Eve. The cool part about the race, is that it is up to you to decide on your own distance and route. Since most of us are in different parts of the country we obviously can't be together for the run, but we can run on the same day. I have started a blog to track the runners who are signing up.

If you have never done anything like this, please give it a try. It will hopefully be a little challenge, and something you can do to stay active during the holiday season. You know try to keep the holiday weight away.

Check out the blog
Holiday Run

Sign up the run...you will be great. It will be so much fun if you get your family and friends involved.

You can sign up for 1 mile walk, 5 k run, 10 k 13.1, 26.2, 55.4 or whatever it doesn't matter the distance...just do something that will challenge you. Hopefully you will have a good time.

The login is
Christmasrun or christmasrun@gmail.com
password: runnersworld

Also let me know what you think of this idea.

FMRBRSRP seeking FMRBRSRP

I'm thinking about putting an ad in the paper in hopes of finding a girlfriend.

FMRBRSRP* seeking other FMRBRSRP* enjoys long bike rides, grueling runs, polar swims with snapping turtles, sarcasm and sass. Will train** and commit to any race you offer.

I need to find some cool girls to kick it with, but I don't want to find friends that don't like to do everything I do. They should at least do some of the things I like to do. Otherwise our friendship just won't work. I have enough good friends I can talk to about life and such, but I need a training partner who I can have slam*** nights with. She will need to be tough and have a great sense of humor...otherwise she will dump me. (it's happened before)

Seth has been getting me numbers from mountain biker women. He's such a good guy. He will talk to any woman who has a bike to get their number for me...wait a second...that doesn't sound right. I think he's alright though.

I have a couple numbers and emails so I am going to start making some first dates happen here. Wish me luck...it's like starting all over. I have this awesome girlfriend who would do anything athletic with me...but she doesn't live in Logan yet...we thought the long distant relationship would work but it hasn't. It's been pretty hard on both of us. Until she moves out here so we can continue making each other wake up too early in the morning and bringing the rain to every work out I have to make new friends...friends we can share.

I'll let you know how it all goes.

*Female Mountain and Road Biker Runner Swimmer and Racquetball Player
**training may not actually happen
*** hours and hours of crazy work out in the middle of the night

Night Mountain Biking

Last night I went mountain biking at night for the first time. I thought I would be a little freaked out by biking single track at night, but I loved it. It took on such a different feeling. I don't know how to explain it...it was like riding in the dark. Yeah that's exactly how it was. No, we had lights on out bikes and helmets...but it was still exciting. You didn't exactly know what was ahead of you so you had to be quick to adjust. I thought I rolled over a lot of stuff I normally would have avoided had there been more light. I think I am hooked, it's a great time for Seth and I to bike together esp. if we have had long days and ran out of day light.