I love saving Moolah!!

Today I went to the store for those little things we needed and also all the great things on sale that I had coupons for!!

I haven't been couponing a lot lately. Since we are so focused on plant based foods that limits the couponing quite a bit. (coupons for produce are RARE!!)

But, Tuffy still exists in the house and he isn't quite as switched over to plant based as we are.... so he cleaned up today!

Lots of frozen pizza, cracker snack packs for him to take to school, canned soup... all for GREAT deals.

Also... razors, hair products, shampoo and conditioner.

All in all I saved over $100 tonight. That's a 43% savings. (not bad since it also included a lot of produce)

When compared to other couponing trips the savings weren't incredible, but I felt pretty good about it.... especially when Tuff let out a yelp of joy when he saw the goods!!

Saving money and putting smiles on faces.... always a good thing.

Another good thing? A 4-pack of amazing razors for $0.28. (I got eight). :)

My Battle with The Beast (aka Fall Finale Sprint Tri)

It was an early one. Early and dark and cold.

It had been raining all night. Check in was at 7am. The temperature was 41 degrees.

I was in the pool by 8:30am. The swim was inside and the water was nice and warm... :)

(p.s. I can't get the pictures to turn, sorry)

Winter was taking pictures and Pops was right there yelling for me after every lap, swinging my shirt and making a very supportive ruckus.

Here I am, almost done with the swim!



Now for the 1/4 mile barefoot run to the transition area. That was the cold part!

I got all bundled up and ready for the bike... I was really grateful for that wind/rain proof jacket after 12 miles! My toes were numb and my shoes were dripping by the end of it, but at least it wasn't pouring rain!

And we are off... I seriously have the most supportive Poppa. He is always right there beside me or behind me, always inspiring and motivational.

This was at the top of the three mile hill that started the bike course. That thing was a doozy!! I just kept thinking to myself, "Winter is right up there and I do NOT want her to get pictures of me walking my bike..." As soon as I would pass her she would drive ahead again for more pictures... I think that is what got me up that damn hill!!

When things get hard on my bike I tend to yell and scream. I think this is the part where I screamed, "This shit is fucking hard!!!" I think I heard Pops giggle.

The view was absolutely gorgeous. I tried to remind myself to look up and enjoy it from time to time.

Here I am coming back into transition where Tuffy (here in the blue hat), Winter, Hope and Trey were waiting for us. I loved all the support!!

This is transition 2. I had to walk a hill on my bike and got a nasty blister from walking in my bike shoes. Here I was screaming while having to rake my shoe off.... ouch!! I remember looking down and seeing a huge chunk of skin in my shoe. Yummy.

The medic there put a pad on my heel (can you believe I didn't have anything with me?? Geesh! Live and learn...) And I was off....

Pops was right there with me as always.

This was a big 3 mile loop, we went out away from the oval and then back to finish with a lap inside... I was jello by then, struggling and honestly pretty emotional. Pops was very supportive and we had some good chats out there on that course.

Almost there!

Done! Finally!

This guy came up afterwards and said, "You are my hero. I was behind you the whole time and you were really inspirational." Maybe he was inspired by me yelling cuss words out on the bike course... who knows!! LOL

Done! Have the medal  to prove it!  That thing was a BEAST!! 

My fantastically supportive fam, fondly referred to as "TEAM BEAUDRY".

I think this funny face pic says it all. :)

Prepping for TAKE TWO

Take Two is tomorrow morning. My 2nd sprint triathlon. Just saying that makes a smile cross my face.

This will be a tough one. Weather projections are 41 degrees with wind and rain. Not exactly ideal weather to be jumping into a pool, then on a bike, then running.... but, all the better to make memories, right? Well, that's what I'm trying to tell myself. :)

I'm making my packing list for tomorrow. I'm trying to be prepared for the weather, yet not over prepare. My triathlon coaches keep telling me that I won't need as many clothes as I think I will, that I will heat up faster than I expect to.

I am going to change my transition strategies though. I am going to strip off as much as possible after my swim, I think I will be best served by getting off as many wet clothes as possible.

Last night Poppa and I went out for a bike ride in the rain. I was able to try out an outfit that I thought would work and use my new cold weather biking gloves that I got - LOVE THEM! Definitely worth the investment....

The weather was gorgeous last night, a little sprinkle, cold autumn air, gorgeous sunset on the snow covered mountains.... BEAUTIFUL! It was the perfect last ride of the week. Today is a rest day. Tomorrow I'm going to KILL IT. :)

Updates to come.

Family Pictures - We survived! (barely)

Yesterday we tackled this project of "Family Pictures."

Abby found a willing (and awesome) photographer, everyone fought over a color scheme, we miraculously found a time when everyone could make it and we all ventured down to Utah County, some of us more willing than others.

Hope went into a fury of getting hair and makeup done on her sisters, kids were squealing, dogs chasing each other, some were late and luckily Trey went off to get a few libations to hold us through.

We climbed in cars and started our caravan out to the south side of Utah Lake. Forty minutes later we pulled up at the beach that was supposed to be the "perfect spot" and were promptly lamblasted with gale-force winds and pelting rain. The dogs loved it and ran around crazy before we finally got them back in the  cars and set off down the road in hopes of getting out of the storm. I'm sure we looked like some ridiculous version of storm chasers.

We finally found another place on the other side of the mountain that would do just fine. I knew this place well... my ex liked this spot for all sorts of hunting expeditions and I would often go with him. We had camped out there with my step-girls and spent many days (and nights) hiking those hills for deer and sitting in the marshes by the swamp for ducks. It was interesting for me to remember these good times. So many of my memories from that relationship (mostly how it ended) are traumatic and horrible memories, it was nice to be able to remember the good, remember the joy we had and (gasp) the love that we shared. I do miss those times, but unfortunately powers out of my control ruined it for all of us....

ANYWAYS, back to the story.

So we got out and quickly realized we were being ACCOSTED by bird sized mosquitoes!! It was awful!! The next two hours were full of slapping and scratching and swatting and squealing.

We got some family shots done and then Abby's family jumped in there before the kids turned into balls of mud. Then all the couples got their stuff done. By this time a lot of people had escaped to the cars to try to avoid the mosquitoes, as well as some of the dogs. I had put Porter in the parents car and was over at Trey's car getting a swig of something to help keep the nerves at bay....

Tuffy comes walking back to me and says, "Something is wrong with Porter." When asked what was wrong he shrugged his shoulders and walked away... so I go to check it out and when I open the door to the car Mom is FREAKING OUT, and for good reason. When I look at Porter his eyes are swelling shut, his lips are fat, he has big swollen bumps all over him and he looks like he's about ready to keel over, but on top of that he's scratching and nibbling all over his little 9-lb body. I look closer and realize that the mosquitoes have eaten him alive and he is having a pretty significant allergic reaction.

I ask around for benadryl, no one has any... except for this topical gel that we keep for Tuff's skin. I grab Porter and wrap him in an extra shirt we had and hold him close, he snuggles right in -- I felt AWFUL, I could almost hear him crying for his Momma. I asked Poppa to help me smear him down with Benadryl gel and he let us get some on his head, but after a few minutes he had had enough and was squirming and fighting us the whole way.

The sun was almost down by now and the mosquitoes were really coming out in full force. We realize that I'm the only one who hasn't gotten individual shots taken so they grab me and throw me in front of the camera for a few minutes.... (enter furious shutter clicks here)...... and then I go grab Porter and run to Trey and Hope's car to escape the mosquitoes and get the hell out of there!!

As we are driving away in our little caravan, headed back to civilization, Trey tells me that our family succeeded in finishing off two six-packs and a fifth of Crown Royal during our excursion. Wow.... that's probably why there were no fights, screaming or tantrums. We need to remember this trick. :) Props to the family for pulling straight from the bottle in times like this!! LOL :)

After about 30 minutes we made it to a gas station, I removed the wheezing puppy from my lap and ran in to buy benadryl. There was a Subway attached so I bought two pieces of ham for 0.54 cents. Winter looked up "benadryl dose for small dogs" on Google (seriously, what would we ever do without google and smart phones?!?!) and we promptly wrapped 25mg of benadryl in ham and Porter took it like a champ.

Within an hour or so most of the swelling had gone down and he was feeling lots better, but TIRED. He slept on my lap the whole way home to Salt Lake and crashed in bed with me all night. This morning he is back to his normal self and all in all I will say that none of us are any worse for the wear.

Today we are off to our annual Family Fall Conference Oktoberfest Outing. I can't remember the last time I've drank three days in a row.... but ya know, sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures. :)