Nothing cuter than a naked baby!

Breckers loves his bath time!

Swimming at Grandma's pool in San Diego. 

Actually, we took all the kids to the community pool to play because it was already 100 degrees, and Brecken was hilarious.

We put him in the water and he started splashing, and right away and got his face all wet. The funny thing is that he's the only baby I've ever seen that giggles when we gets his face wet instead of crying! He was busting up! He's got a great laugh too :)

Interview following the finale

My sister found this clip from hulu, an interview immediately following the show... If you look really really closely I was there!- Look between the guys' shoulders and way behind them- I'm in the purple sweater. Hee hee! Blaine's such a softy ;)  

If you wait for the player to load again after you view this first interview, you can see a whole bunch of other clips of other contestants also.

The Big Day!

It's over.... what a ride it's been! So now we are experiencing what I would term post-reality TV disorder. What do we do with ourselves now that the world continues to turn in it's normal rotation and we are forced to once again live life in real-time instead of TV time? Well.... we have yet to see what lies ahead. We had a great extra few days in San Diego after the finale, and just returned home last night. So really today has been our first post-BL day. Wouldn't you know though, Blaine was a good boy and got in his two hours at the gym even though he seems to be coming down with a cold the kids have passed onto him.

So I thought I'd recap a bit of our last week.

Blaine flew out to LA for the finale last Friday and we left that afternoon to drive over to San Diego for a few days with his parents. Doesn't it always seem to happen that when you go on vacation, one of the kids will inevitably get sick. In the middle of the night Jaylee started with a burning fever, and unfortunately she was down sick for the next four days. My sister flew out from Orlando for the finale too, and it was so much fun getting to spend time with her. On Tuesday we drove up to Studio City for the finale. It was a tough decision and I went back and forth deciding whether or not to take Brecken and Jaylee with us, but in the end I left them in SD with a babysitter. Probably a good decision considering the noise level of the audience would have completely freaked out Brecken, and while we were gone, Jaylee had a horrible case of montezuma's revenge. (Here's where I completely apologize to our babysitter Jennifer!!! Nothing like diarrhea from someone else's kid to give you a good dose of birth control for your first year of marriage. Thanks for putting up with them! We owe you big time.) Anyway, being at the finale was even so much more fun than I thought it would be. We got to see a lot of the previous season's contestants, and when Blaine came out on stage I was so proud of him and so excited I almost burst into tears right there. So, yes, we were there in the audience, even though we were never on camera. We were sat in the exact spot where the camera almost never shot, and the darkest place in the theatre. I think they knew were bringing kids so they put us up in the nose-bleeds to keep them quiet. Oh well! Ethan and Whitney had a blast anyway and they were standing on the chairs shouting their heads off for their big hero. It was worth a million dollars just to see how happy Blaine was and to see how far he has come on this journey. 

May 20th- well, that post never made it to the page. So I decided to update it before I posted it. We actually don't have a lot going on now. Blaine's still looking for a job for now, and we are just trying to re-organize life. We are planning a big garage sale on Sat. which I totally hate getting ready for, but really needs to be done. We've collected so much junk we don't use! Someone else's treasure right? Anyway. After we got back every one of us as gone through this cold, and I have it right now. It's been rough. Brecken is seriously the best baby though. Still gives those sweet smiles even when he doesn't feel good.

Lot's of love to all our loyal BL supporters- glad it's over! Blaine's still doing great and is continuing to lose every day. He wants to get down about 25 more pounds. What motivation!

Alright! They Did It!

Blaine at the Wildflower Triathlon

Swim 

(It may be hard to see, but I love the determined smile on his face here.)

Bike

Run

What can I say except, WAY TO GO BLAINE AND DANE! It was very exciting to hear all about the tri once they got back. The Avia Wildflower Triathlon is a huge event in the triathlon world and Blaine couldn't say enough about how friendly, inviting and supportive everyone there was to them. Because this is still a growing sport, current pro's and athletes of all levels of experience are very welcoming to new-comers. This was awesome for these guys. Blaine said that many competitors there also started doing triathlons to lose weight and get healthier too, so there were tons of people who knew what they were going through and rooting them on like crazy. 

I don't have exact numbers right now, but Blaine finished in just over 7 hours I believe, and Dane was shortly after him at around 8 hours. This was the biggie! I am so glad that they have had enough drive and endurance to make this goal their final success before the finale next Tuesday. 

Now, it's good-bye one last time tomorrow. They head back to LA to get all ready for the finale, which means that it's been a tough WEEK of LAST-CHANCE workouts. Blaine just keeps telling me that he wants to say he did everything he could before the final weigh-in. I just keep telling him back that he needs to not die in the process :)  Anyway, he's doing great and we are both excited, but definitely ready for Tuesday to come. It's been a very long road, yet well worth the adventurous ride!

p.s. The last picture of them is with a Felt Bike company. They gave Blaine and Dane those awesome bikes to use for the race. Sweet bike man!

The TriFecta is almost complete!

Well, I'm writing tonight at like 10:30 PM and I'm all anxious for Blaine and Dane. Tomorrow morning they are set to compete in the Avia Wildflower Triathlon in Lake San Antonio, CA. It's a tough course, actually they've been told it might well be THE hardest half-IronMan length triathlon course anywhere. 

I have to explain why I'm anxious. Many of you well know that Blaine and Dane have been working tirelessly to make a statement about what someone can accomplish when they focus on a goal and try with all the energy they can muster to push through the pain. I'm anxious because I know how much Blaine has focused on this race, and more than anything, I wish I could be there to watch him and root him on. I know without a doubt that he will do great- that's not my worry. I just want to know if he's gonna be happy with how well he performs. Blaine's an all or nothing kind of guy, anyone who knows him knows that. He has set his sights on this triathlon as sort of a culminating mile-stone in his weight-loss journey, and I hope that once this moment passes, that he will look back on it with joy. That he will be excited to do it again (and again!) I can not wait until I get that call tomorrow to hear how it went. Then the "Trifecta" will be completed.

The "Trifecta" has been a half-marathon (13.2 miles) in Salt Lake City,UT; a full marathon (26.8 miles) in Nashville, TN; and then this the half-IronMan length Triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run) in  CA. I'd say that surely there's no arguing with the accomplishment of these three events in just THREE weeks' time. Sheesh! When he gets something in his head, there's no changing his mind.

I could not be more proud of this man- way to be Black Team! 

All I have left to say, is MAN!-We are going to take a vacation after this!