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The 2011 Stingrays Summer Swim Season Has Arrived!

Deuces Wild Triathlon/Duathlon

Show Low, Arizona

2011

This year in Show Low, Emma was the only one from this household to race! She left early with her Uncle Mike, Auntie Marlene, Monique, and Levi to camp at the Lake in Show Low before the race. Steven, Grace, and I joined them later but stayed at a hotel. We did camp one night, and what excitement that was for Grace who has never slept outside before! Emma said that she wanted to win this time; and that is what she did. She won her age group and placed second overall, boys and girls. Way to go Emma!

I came in from fixing the AC and this is what greeted me! Super Girl! Grace is growing up quickly and playing make believe is one of those things that starts :) I love it! I still sometimes think and laugh at how good and how into I've gotten at painting nails. Emma called me Mr. Gotta Be Perfect Nails last night because I wouldn't let her get up and walk on the toenails I had just painted. The things that having 2 little girls in the house does to a Dad... But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Summer here we come!!

We were all home from school early today as it was the last day for the 2010 - 2011 school year. We tried going to the pool but it was closed and was being cleaned from all the recent school rentals. So we made the best of it and played in the backyard and got in the kid pool and jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath.

Having a family and having a job where mom and dad are "off" for 10 weeks is great :)

Summer is just a week away! 5 more school days and this becomes our lifestyle for 10 weeks. Life is good.

Today we stopped at Wal Mart for some fruit and drinks to bring along with us to the pool. While Lindsey was attending to that I walked over to the cameras and I found an Olympus waterproof camera for a very good price! We had an Olympus waterproof camera for the last 2 summers but I left it in a taxi when we were in Vegas for Lindsey's marathon in December. I was super bummed losing such a nice and expensive camera. Well I found this one which has a higher megapixel than our previous one and it was on clearance for $50 when the original price was $150! Bam! I love a good deal.

So the Montoya's are back to taking pictures again. As I uploaded these I realized that the last pictures we took were in March?! We have 2 growing girls and we failed to take a picture for nearly 2 months! Time flies. Well hopefully this blog will be updated more often with stories and pictures of our summertime adventures.

Steven

After finishing in the top 12 at her school spelling bee, Emma moved on to the district spelling bee which was held at my school. This spelling bee was made up of the top 30 spellers for the district, with a little bit harder words. Emma make it through more than 10 rounds before misspelling the word "eight". She was so nervous as soon as she got the word. She was able to come up with "ei" but could not remember the rest. Her leg was tapping and she was trying so hard to come up with the correct spelling...she looked so cute down there on a stage in a big auditorium in front of a ton of people she did not know. She placed 7th overall. You are an amazing girl, Emma. I am really proud of you!

Emma is our Queen Bee....

Today Emma participated in the Kindergarten Spelling Bee. There was over 60 participants and she finished in the top 12!! All of the kids were asked to spell 3-letter words, except for Emma. Her last word for the day was Zero, which she spelled correctly! I am not sure who was more nervous, me or her! It was really cute watching the kids come up to the microphone and spell words. A friend of mine's son was really funny...he would cover his mouth before saying a letter because he did not want the audience to hear him sounding out the words. Emma, however, spoke so clear and only hestiated on one word. I am really proud of her for wanting to participate. It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of about one hundred other people and speak a loud with the chance of making a mistake. I sent her flowers and a panda bear to her class, which she did not put down until we got home. She was really proud of herself and wanted to be able to tell people why she had her gift! She will participate again May 5 at the middle school with a harder word list! Way to go Emma:)

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional....

Love you Steven...Have a good day!

These are Grace's dance moves. Lindsey is trying to teach her the sprinkler but she hasn't gotten it down just yet. This is more of a fist pumpin' and booty shakin' get down.

Sorry it's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it??

This was picture from St. Patrick's Day so it's a little old but it's new to you!

Notice that there is actually grass in our backyard this year! Since we moved in to this house in 2007 the backyard has been an eyesore, full of weeds and goathead stickers. This summer we are putting some effort into stopping that and getting some more use out of our backyard. It's huge so we may as well get the most out of it.

Spring Break is soon to be a memory. It's late Sunday afternoon and back to work starts tomorrow. I look forward to it though, it's not a bad thing. The school year is 3/4 behind us and this is the quarter that always seems to speed right by. We have already had 2 track meets but we still have 8 to go and I have also volunteered to drive the Youth in Government group to santa Fe sometime next month. It will be a busy nine weeks and busy always means that time will fly. Summer is around the corner!

The Montoya's had a simple Spring Break. We were home for most but did travel to Alamogordo to visit Grandma Burns and help with the Tom Burns Memorial Mile as part of the Alamogordo High School track meet. It has become a thing that a lot of people look forward to although I don't think it is highly advertised. The kids that have run the event multiple times have been very grateful for their prizes and it's always nice to hear a genuine "thank you" from these kids. I am sure the event means something a little different to everyone but I got to thinking that we are not far from having my niece and nephew, Sydney and Thomas, compete in it. Sydney is a freshman at LCHS but wasn't too excited about the direction of the T&F team there and Thomas is a sixth grader. That is really going to be fun when they are racing in it!

During the break I was able to have a pretty good running week during the 9 days off. I ran 8 of those days, the only one I missed was the day of a track meet. I totaled a little over 60 miles for 8 days and lost about 4 pounds from the beginning to the end of the break. I am pretty happy with it especially since todays 10 miler felt so good from start to finish. I think I want to continue to strive for similar results for a couple more weeks and also start to add in some biking and swimming before I go full on triathlon mode. I guess I just figure that running is the most bang for your buck and with coaching and family that's what I can do right now. My first triathlons are in May so I still have some time plus they are both sprints races. My training doesn't usually get going until after the track season anyway.

On the kid front, Emma lost 2 teeth over the break and is becoming very good on her skates. She is reading and spelling and counting more and more all the time. She surprises me when I ask her questions just to see what she knows. And Grace, aka the Gracenator, is doing alright also. We definitely have 2 different girls each with their own unique qualities :)

I'm having a difficult time doing anything this afternoon. I'm just sitting on the couch and I can hear the wind through the fireplace insert. Spring temperatures tease us for a few days but it seems that winter isn't ready to let go just yet.

This morning I ran the farthest I have since October when I did Ironman. I just thought about it and holy moly... that was nearly 5 months ago! Where does time go?

So I met 3 kids this morning and we set out on our long run. Instead of running the "10 mile loop" we had been consistently finishing we decided to make up a new loop to the southsteast of Socorro. I had an idea of where we should go but I had't run out there in more than 9 years. I didn't have my GPS but one of the kids had a Nike+ which reported the loop as 12.5 miles and I felt great the entire way.

This one boy in particular has been doing a great job this school year as far as working hard and getting better. Yesterday, at the first meet of the year he ran a 12 second PR in the mile and is oh so close to breaking 5 minutes, a goal he has had now for a while. It's great to be a part of it all and I am looking forward to him breaking it just as much as he is. Running is such a tough sport and not many young kids are willing to accept the work required to be a successful distance runner.

This level of committment has been on my mind a lot lately. Partly because attendance at the Sunday morning long run has been dismal at best and also because of budget cuts and rumors I have heard lately regarding possible cuts to athletics. In the past 3 years that XC has been in existence at SHS we have grown and improved each and every year. Great stuff, I know, but... how good do my kids want to be? Are they satisfied with 7th and 9th at State? I'm not.

It is difficult not to take rumors to heart because I truly love coaching XC. I hate to hear that a kid of mine is considering playing football instead of running or even worse that another coach is trying to sway their choice. I hate when a kid with talent doesn't want to be the best they can be. I can't stand to hear that budget cuts may effect XC which is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard of to save money. WE ONLY COST GAS MONEY AND A BUS DRIVER for 8 trips! This stuff just eats at me. I'm not very good at letting things go either.

I don't know how long I will coach at SHS or how long I intend to coach, period. But I will never turn my back to kids that want to improve and be the best they can be. I had a conversation with Lindsey the other day about how important I think it is for every kid to try something where they give their all, 100% dedication. Sport allows them to do this, to work, to improve, to chase a goal and to achieve and set a higher goal. I see too many kids that only go just enough in every aspect. They do just enough in the classroom, just enough in sport and I assume they will never know how to give their all when it will be required. I teach and I'm a coach and I am not satisfied with that. I want to change lives for the better.

So as long as I have kids that are there eager to meet me, I will be there eager to meet them.

Fortitudine Vincimus

Steven,

All I need is you....

.......Happy Valentine's Day!

We always have fun when Grandma comes to visit....

My mom was not able to make it up for Emma's birthday due to the snow storm, so she came this weekend instead! She brought Emma's birthday present with her and to quote Emma..."Mom, I know this isn't nice, because I like what everyone got me for my birthday, but this is the best birthday present ever!" Grandma Burns got her a pair of Roller Skates. Emma is a very active girl. She loves to run ( a 10 minute mile), swim, bike, scooter, jump on the trampoline....so she is now learning to use a pogo stick a

nd roller skate. This weekend, that is all she did! Good thing the weather was nice because we were outside all day yesterday and today learning how to skate! Needless to say, she picked up pretty quick. She still needs practice, but she is very brave. We couldn't even get them off of her inside the house. She would say, "just because I am taking them off (only to take a bath) does not mean that I am done with them". Watching her brings back memories of when I was younger. I loved to skate and would go to the local skating rink all the time! I think I might have to invest in a pair so I can join her in the fun.

Happy 6th Birthday Emma!

February 5

For Emma's birthday, we took a drive to Albuquerque to paint and fire pottery, eat lunch at Tomato Cafe, and have cupcakes at Cake Fetish. The kids had fun painting their pottery but the cupcake store was not what I was expecting, quite the let down. As we drove back into Socorro we decided to go sledding. We were not prepared for it, but the kids had a blast despite how cold it was. Monique and Levi stayed the night and stayed up quite late playing Just Dance with the adults!

Emma, you are growing up so fast. You tie your own shoes and are soon to be without your first baby tooth! You are an amazing big sister and such a neat little person. We love you so much...have fun being young, wish you could stay that way forever!

Snow day! As 75% of the US is currently under a blanket of snow, Socorro joined the rest of the country and was hit with a winter storm that brought plenty of snow and freezing temperatures. As all Socorro does when it snows, we headed to the golf course to go sledding. We had fun but the temperature was in the low single digits and it didn't take long before Emma wanted to leave.

We have had a nice mid week break from school as it has been canceled for the past 2 days. I wonder how many snow days they plan into the calendar? I hope we go back to school tomorrow as I don't want to be making up days in June! The kids here don't need much of an excuse not to come to school so if there were school I doubt we'd be able to get much accomplished... sad. It would be a wasted day but it beats coming in after Memorial Day.

The winter weather however has not dampened my training in the least. I am now glad that we bought a treadmill last year as I have been able to keep up with the base training despite the weather. Unfortunately the University has been closed so that means that the pool has been closed too. And I need to get my bike trainer back from a friend I lent it to. But the running has been great and I feel it's the best bang for your time. Plus it goes with my early season training plan as I have 3 running races coming up in the next 3 months.

Thanks for checking in!

Letting yourself get out of shape is like a credit card... It's lots of fun until you get the bill.

It was fun and I really took advantage of my post Ironman glory. I ate lots of Ben & Jerry ice cream and basically let the cold winter start while I was warm inside. No morning workouts, no evening workouts, no workouts period. Well, the bill came (it's actually been here for a while but I have ignored it as long as I could) and it's time to pay up. I have penciled out a racing season and it's starting up in the not too distant future. The first "race" will be a 10k on February 13th. I do not predict any PR race times for this one but I will strive to finish respectably. For several months all the races I have planned are running races as I feel putting in the running miles will help jump start my biking and swim training. It looks like the first triathlon will be in May and I know it will be competitive and fast so I need to get some consistency back in my training now. Currently my training plan is simply that, "consistency." I will do what I feel like doing but I can't be skipping days because it can get to be a bad habit and get me into that cycle of not feeling like I'm getting anywhere. After a good dose of that I can start to work in some quality workouts with more precise objectives. But for now it's Operation: Get My Ass Out The Door.

The Christmas Holiday is quickly coming to an end and the busy life of the Montoya Family will soon resume. We started off our two week break with a performance of the Nutcracker, starring our one and only, Emma! A ballet company from San Diego asked for children from the community to be a part of the show, and Emma was excited. She had two performances, one for the school kids in the morning, and one for everyone in the evening at Macy Center. Emma played a BonBon and had a lot fun dancing with Mother Ginger!

We then had a visit from Monique and Levi where it was nonstop food, fun, and dancing!

On Christmas Eve, we went to mass and had Green Chile Stew afterwards at Steven's mom's house. The girls and I played a new game called Headbands...Emma was really good at it all of a sudden. I couldn't figure why, until I realized that I was sitting in front of the refrigerator and she could see her picture in it! Ha! Emma and Grace also enjoyed spreading Reindeer Food outside and getting Santa's cookies ready for him as well before they headed off to sleep . A little Elf got to Santa's cookies before he did though! Unfortunatly with all the excited we had to go for a drive to look at lights at 11:00pm hoping the kids would fall asleep!

Christmas morning came too quick! Steven's grandma was the first awake; ringing the doorbell to find none of us were up yet! Steven started a fire and coffee as we waited for Emma and Grace to wake up. Soon after, the girls were excited to see that Santa had found their house and left lots to be opened! While Emma and Grace were looking through their stockings, Steven started breakfast and CC arrived as well. The girls spent quite the morning opening up gifts. At one point, Emma looked around and said, "Mom, I don't think he got me the dog. Moments later, she picked up a box just the right size and said, I have to open this one! I think this is it! As she began to rip it open, the box barked! She was so excited. At that point Christmas could have been over. Santa brought her the GoGo and me dog! Grace got lots of dolls and was most excited about a bag full of pretend bottles and pacifiers for her babies!

Emma learned how to make empenadas with her grandma and great grandma

This year, we spent our Christmas at home, and so did everyone else. Both of my sister's stayed home and so did Steven's brothers. My mom went to visit my Grandma in Wyoming, and even made the news! Love ya mom! We did however make it down to Las Cruces and stayed with my sister Kelly for two days. We went with Sydney, Thomas, Monique, and Levi to see Tangled in 3D! We even made it to dinner in El Paso at the State Line! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!