Mahokenatez

Strava

2011-05-28T09:36:00.002-06:00

I've added a new widget to our blog. Along the left hand side you will see a widget called Strava. Strava uses GPS and Kate's iPhone to track her rides. Now you can follow Kate on her commute to work as well as her training rides. It's a pretty cool little gadget that gives a lot of detail about the rides. If you have a little time check it out.

The Traveling Marshal

2011-05-28T09:20:00.003-06:00

I should have posted this here weeks ago! Over the last 2 weeks I have been a Traveling Marshal with the Amgen Tour of California. I had decided that before I left I would blog about my experience. Here is the link to that blog.

http://thetravelingmarshal.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Oh Say Who You See!

2011-04-29T20:30:00.015-06:00

I read "Oh Say Can You Say" by Dr. Seuss to Joslyn recently, and enjoyed it very much! I'm feeling inspired by it, so will try my own Seuss-like prose to tell the story of our April:) What do ya know? !? Here we go!

The month starts off zinging with our favorite Grammy bringing

her good friend Ernie

and fun new outfits for Joslyn, all sparkly and blingin'

So happy we were to have them both arrive,

Momma said zam! bam! work, see ya! I think you'll survive!

And happily skipped off for a week's worth of feeling alive.

So off we went, from the top of the city to the bottom.

If there were tourist things to do, don't ya know that we got um!

From the Fernbank Museum with the dinosaurs, unicorns, and groovy Nature Quest playground

--Watch out for the Chupacabra!--

To the Botanical Gardens speckled with tulips, lilies, and orchids so diverse it leaves you without a sound

--Oh man, did you see the plants that could eat ya?!--

Want to see water? Yeah, we got that too!

At the Georgia Acquarium, there's so much to do!

Dolphins

Penguins

Whales

and Big Sharks

Punctuated by the ugly eel fish that frown and throw sparks!

Still want more water? Well, hold on tight!

We spent an afternoon at the Chattahoochee River, hiking and enjoying the sites.

Geese

Pine cones

Rock caves and more

It was a day so fantastical, there's no way it could've been a bore!

But, what was my favorite part of the ten days?

The beautiful weather?

Well, while I certainly would've missed it

the number one thing, no question, was all the awesome time together.

So thank you Grammy, Ernie, for taking time to come!

For endless walks up and down the hill

And spoiling sweet Joslyn with candies for her little tum-tum:)

So great to see you, please do hurry back,

For there's many other great sites for us still left to attack!

Hugs & Kisses from Kate, Pete, Joslyn and Odessa!

African Drums and More Bike Racing

2011-03-14T09:50:00.010-06:00

Hi All,

This past weekend took us to the city of Blythewood, SC. Blythewood is located just outside the capital city of Columbia, SC. We were in SC for the first of 5 race weekends that are associated with the We Race: Women's Racing Initiative. We Race: Women's Racing Initiative is a grass-roots effort by women, for women. Their ultimate goal is to grow the sport of women's racing by providing an environment that is both challenging and fun. As a result they can show promoters that women's racing IS strong in the Southeast, and that women deserve a place at each and every race. The next race will be The Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, AL.

Here are few pictures and 1 video of this past weekend.

Kate following the We Race leader in Pink.

Kate showing her sprint legs.

Woodpecker seen at the race.

This looks interesting.

Climb up high!

Drum Solo

Drum Circle

Jos in action!

Zoo Atlanta, Funny Faces and Bike Racing

2011-03-07T07:26:00.005-07:00

Hi All,

Spring has started here in the South! We have been enjoying temperatures into the 70's over the past couple of weeks. So we been outside playing at the Park, Zoo, Chattahoochee River and most recently the start of Kate's bike racing season! Here are a few pictures of us doing what we like to do best, play outside!!!

Joslyn & Kate

Cheeeeeeeeese!

"what do you see?"

Chattahoochee River

Kate

Pete & Jos

Riding the big gorilla!

New friend

Tigger!

2nd race of the season!

It all Started January 29th...

2011-02-14T14:47:00.003-07:00

It all started January 29th with a comment on FB "feelin' a little achey today..." That was the start a fever and a 17 day ordeal with blood clots. I have a varicose veins on the side of my right knee which normally do not cause me any pain. A few days after the fever I was feeling some pain. I Thought maybe during the night when I was down and out with the fever I hit my leg on something, no big deal! So, to recap Saturday the 29th through Tuesday the 1st I was dealing with my fever and Wednesday is when my knee started to hurt. The following Saturday the family all went for a bike ride. That night I started to experience pain in my quad. Sunday we watched the Packers win the Superbowl! and a couple days later seeing as how the pain wasn't going away, and the 24 hour nurse thought it would be wise for me to see a doctor, I made an appointment to see my doctor.

The appointment was set for 3pm on Tuesday but since I was kinda worried I went in around 11am hoping they could see me early. They did and my doctor said she thought it was a blood clot causing me some pain but the location didn't seem to worry her. So she sent me to a specialist to get an ultra sound and just get things checked out. This is when they found a DVT or deep vein clot behind me knee. This was cause for alarm! Since the office I was at didn't have a doctor on duty I needed to travel south to Sandy Springs. Once there I spoke with the PA. She told me to hang tight while she got the doc. My new doctor comes in and says we need to get you in the hospital. We also need to place a filter in your vena cava!

So into the hospital I went. The first night they did a CT scan of my chest to see if I have/had any clots in my chest. Sure enough I did! they think it was part of the clot in my leg which had broken off. They also think that the fever I experienced was from the clots in my chest. The next day they put the filter in and I was put on anti coagulants. The procedure was pretty easy and I was a wake for the whole thing. So for the time being I'm going to be on drugs that will keep my blood from clotting and hopefully after 6 months I won't need to take them any more!

All in all I spent 6 night and 7 days in the hospital! This was my first time ever in the hospital! I have to thank the National Geographic channels show Hard Time. They taught me that you have to have a routine to get through the time. So mornings were filled with reading magazines and news papers while nights were filled with a little Tv watching and visit from my family whom I love very much!!!

Thanks for reading and here's to better health in 2011.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-26T19:14:00.006-07:00

Happy New Year! err Happy 4th Week of January 2011!

So what have we been up to? Lets go back to 2010 for just a moment. In December we went back to Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with friends and Family. We also took in 2 Packer games, which were wins! In all we spent 2 weeks in Wisconsin, split between our 2 families. The time went fast and before I knew it we were back in Atlanta.

Once back in Atlanta we were able to give Joslyn her Christmas present which was a new trike! She loves it! She is still trying to figure it out but she'll get it soon. As I mentioned before We went to 2 Packer games when we were home and because they won those 2 games the Packers made the playoffs as a wildcard. To make a long story a little shorter, the Packers won there first game of the playoffs. This meant that they would be playing in Atlanta in the second round! Kate and I scored some sweet end-zone seats to watch The Packers destroy the number 1 seeded Falcons! Kate and I also got to meet Former Packers QB Don Majkowski! His wife and family had seats 4 rows in front of us! Anyways I'm pretty excited because as you should know the Packers are headed to the Super Bowl! What a way to start the New Year!

Here are a few photos we taken over the last couple of weeks, Enjoy.

I Love PIZZA!!!

Joslyn & Iylee Christmas 2010

Pete & Ryan - Tailgating before Giants game!

Enjoying another Packers win over the Bears!

Joslyn²

Iylee

Joslyn and her new bike!

Kate & Joslyn enjoying the 1st of 5 snow days!

Pete & Don

Kate & Pete

Kate & Don

Don and his family

What happened to November?

2010-12-06T16:59:00.008-07:00

Well, I was hoping to update the blog a little more often in November but apparently that didn't happen! November went by pretty fast and here are few pictures of what we did during the month.

Joslyn fell in this hole while hiking along the shore of the Chattahoochee River.

One of the many nice days we had in November.

We voted! Did you?

Joslyn went for her 1st ever boat Ride with Mr Bill!

The girls enjoying a boat ride before Thanksgiving diner with friends!

Packers Vs. Falcons

My first Packers game outside of Lambeau!

Below is a pretty cool video they play during the games to get the crowd worked up!

What happened to October?

2010-11-04T08:31:00.013-06:00

Well lets just start by saying October was a very busy month! Grandma and Grandpa M came to visit for 2 weeks. Kate and I took advantage of the opportunity and had them watch Baby J for 4 days while we took off for a a wedding in Columbus, OH. The wedding was great and we made some new friends while we were there.

We returned from the wedding and 2 days later we were off to St. Augustine, FL. We then spent 7 days on the beach. The weather was great all week with temps around 85! Joslyn really loved the beach and ocean as well as the pool! I got a chance to fly my new Kite and Kate worked on her Tan. Great food and great weather make for an excellent vacation on the beach! After our 7 days were up we returned to ATL. 2 days later the Grand Parents were on their way back home!

The following weekends were Boo at the Zoo and Halloween! Joslyn dressed up as a giraffe and kate was her keeper!

Here are a few pictures from the last month! Enjoy!

Anderson's Wedding

Jennifer and Chad

Joslyn and Grandma on the beach

Joslyn, Grandma and Grandpa

Castillo De San Marcos

Taken from atop the San Marcos

Fountain at the Columbia restaurant

Carriage ride thru historic St. Augustine

St. Augustine lighthouse

Boo @ the Zoo

Pumpkins!

Zoo Keeper Kate and her lil giraffe!

Denver and back in just 3 days!

2010-09-13T16:14:00.020-06:00

This past weekend found us traveling to Denver for a wedding. The wedding was for a childhood friend of Kate's which was held at Red Rocks. We left Friday afternoon, which brought us to DIA that afternoon. Since you can't fly with a gift wrapped box we needed to run some errands once we arrived. We also needed to find a Kinkos to print out a recipe we were giving with our gift. After the errands, we searched out a restaurant. It always seems that whenever we get away from home we end up eating at Mimi's Cafe. And this trip was no different. I think it's mainly because Mimi's is the least offensive of our choices. I had chicken and Kate had noodles and that's about as memorable as it gets!

Saturday was the wedding day, but since the event wasn't until 5pm we decided to take a trip to the Denver Zoo. As zoos go, this one is a good one. We were staying about 30min south of the zoo (or so I thought). The zoo is located in City Park (think Central Park in NYC). On this day New Belgium Brewery was holding their Tour de Fat bike festival in the park. Sadly, we only learned of this festival as we sat in our car with hundreds of crazy cyclists pedaling their way to the fest. Once we got through the cyclists and the road construction, we finally made it to the zoo. At this point Kate will definitely want me to tell you that when it comes to directions I'm a little anal. So when we run into road blocks and construction I get a little anxious. I also tend to take it out on my co-pilot when the 3g phone she is using doesn't give us the info we need fast enough! But I digress, we made it to the zoo and all was well.

After the Zoo we hurried back to the hotel and quickly got ready for the wedding. The wedding was held at Red Rocks Park, where the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater is located (immortalized in this U2 video). That night tecno jazz/hippy dippy band Sound Tribe Sector 9 was going to be playing at the amphitheater, and we were just below it at the Trading Post. If you have ever been to Red Rocks you know that the Amphitheater is built right into the mountain and that they have several parking lots on the mountain as well. Our wedding was right between the stinky hippies and the theater. Here we are, dressed to the nines with all these hopped up hippies looking at us like we were the weirdos! Anyway, the wedding was great and you could only slightly hear the crowd that had gathered early for the show that night.

The reception, however, was not at Red Rocks and STS9 was not the wedding band! We headed down the road to the swanky Red Rock Country Club. Joslyn was the star of the reception! During dinner we could not keep her contained as she hopped from table to table saying hi to everyone! It was really nice not having to worry about her since everyone was loving her. That night I had one of those proud papa moments! Joslyn was going strong and dancing up storm out on the dance floor. During Young MC's Bust a Move Joslyn was center stage with all the adults standing around her as she bust a move on the dance floor. Everyone was dancing, laughing and having a great time. I was so proud of her! Joslyn danced all night and when the DJ called last dance she was sad to leave. It was 11:30 (1:30am back home in ATL!) and we needed to get Joslyn home! Needless to say we had a great time!

Sunday morning came too early, especially for our little rock star! We paid the price all day Sunday with a crabby baby! Joslyn was still a trooper and didn't fuss too much on the plane. I just wish she would have fallen asleep a little sooner than 5min before we landed in ATL.

And that was Denver and back in just 3 days...

Here are some photos from our quick trip.

Mom and her cub

Giraffe

Mom and her cubs

Monkeeey!

Sea Lions playing king the hill

Red Rocks Trading Post

Dirty Hippies

The Wedding Party's Limo

Contemplating

Red Rocks

Kate & Joslyn with Bob Schelble (FOB)

The Mahokenatez Clan

Scott (Brother/MOH), Kathy (Sister/Bride), Ray (Brother in-law/Groom)

Kathy & Ray

Rusty's Killer Guacamole!

Un día en el Zoo

2010-08-16T18:38:00.015-06:00

Madre e hija

Mariposa

elefante

suricata

cebra

pájaro loco

ivan el gorila

Bebé abrazo

Madre e hija

besos bebé

Madre e hija

Joslyn y sus amigos

Oso rojo

Play'n in the rain!

2010-07-25T10:21:00.007-06:00

It's my Birthday! In Pictures!

2010-07-20T18:50:00.017-06:00

For you mommy!

Love Joslyn!

XOXOX

Got up early, took a bath!

Watched the Tour live! Go FrAndy!

Watched a special video from mommy

Went to the Atlanta Zoo

Held Papa's hand while we were attacked by evil pigeons!

Looked up at all the pretty birds!

Monkey! Monkey!

Big scary gorilla!

Feel much safer way over here!

Mommy and Papa got me a baby Elmo! I love him!

Me and Papa playin'

Giving Odessa a goodnight hug!

What a great Birthday!

Thanks to everyone who sent me cards and gifts!!!

Love Joslyn!

XOXOX

French Broad Cycling Classic & Team Performance

2010-07-19T10:22:00.005-06:00

This weekend found the family traveling to Asheville, NC for the French Broad Cycling Classic. The classic is a 3 event omnium. Included in the omnium is a time trial, road race and criterium. Friday night we left town around 1pm to only find gridlock on I85 to Greenville. We decided at that point to get off the interstate and take a scenic drive through the north GA mountain skipping SC altogether. We arrived with about 40 minutes for Kate to warm up and get to the line for her individual time trial. Sadly Kate had a malfunctioning bike computer. The sensor was rubbing on the magnet which is attached to a spoke on her wheel. So she needed to stop and readjust the sensor. The process of slowing down, stopping and starting back up cost quite a bit of time. In the end she was pleased with her performance even if the overall results didn't show it.

Saturday morning was the very difficult road race. The road race was a rolling course with 3 distinct climbs. The last 2 being the hardest! Kate was riding a strong race and was staying towards the front. With so many smaller climbs the field was shattered leaving about 20 women to tackle the the last 2 climbs together. I was following the race in the car and started to move up past all of the slower competitors. Kate had about 9 or 10 teammates in the race. So as I made my way up I started to pass some of her teammates. As I got closer to the top and thinking that the next rider would be Kate, I was so surprised to see Kate still at the front with 2 other teammates and samll group of 5 women! At this point I drove on to the finish to wait for her at the top of the last climb of the day. Another reason I drove ahead was because earlier in the race there had been a crash which had involved 6-8 women. One of which had ended up with a broken frame! So I picked her up and introduced her to Joslyn and Odessa who were also in the car with me. I took her to the finish where her boyfriend was waiting. And where I would be waiting for Kate. 3 women had broken away and in the end the eventual winner came from that group. As I sat at the top the anxiously waiting for Kate. I then saw the women kate had been riding with cross the line! But no Kate! Then a few more women crossed the line, still no Kate! Finally I could see Kate making her way across the line. She looked tired and in quite a lot of pain. As it turns out the day was very hot and humid and Kate was a victim to the heat. Both legs had seized up with cramps on the run into the final climb. Kate ended up 20th on the day but knew a top 10 was hers for the taking.

Saturday night we had dinner with the team. Took some team photos! Which I was/am the un-official, official photographer of team Performance Bicycle Racing!

Sunday was the 3rd and final leg of the French Broad Classic. The Criterium was a 1mi circuit with a little climb that I'm sure hurt the legs after yesterdays race! Kate again rode a strong race. Her teammates were awesome taking home the win as well as a couple of primes (preems = cash prizes). In the end Kate finished a respectable 14th. After the race we quickly got our things packed up and headed to the Greenville Airport. Kate was flying out at 6pm to Milwaukee, WI. She has work to do and then 6 days of racing at the International Cycling Classic, also known as Superweek! So if your in the Milwaukee area over the next week come out and watch some racing!

Here are a few shots from the weekend, enjoy!

Thunder and Lightning

2010-07-19T10:06:00.003-06:00

Watermelon!!!

2010-07-10T10:24:00.002-06:00

Lycopene Leader

Watermelon is the Lycopene Leader in fresh produce, having higher concentrations of lycopene than any other fresh fruit or vegetable. In fact, fresh watermelon contains higher levels of lycopene than fresh tomatoes - a 2-cup serving of watermelon contains and average of 18.16 mg and one medium-sized tomato contains 4 mg.

Heart Healthy

Watermelon has heart healthy properties because it is naturally low in saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol.

A recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) about watermelon consumption and heart healthy benefits was completed and published March 2007. The NWPB has four new structure-function claims derived from this study:

Watermelon consumption increases free arginine and citrulline, which can help maintain cardiovascular function.
Eating watermelon can help maintain cardiovascular health.
Watermelon has amino acids such as citrulline and arginine that help maintain the arteries.
Watermelon amino acids citrulline and arginine can help maintain blood flow and heart health.

Wisconsin and the Tour of America's Dairyland

2010-07-09T08:25:00.006-06:00

The last 2 weeks of June found us in Wisconsin for the Tour of America's Dairyland as well as a visit with family and friends. The first of these 2 weeks Kate was racing all over Wisconsin. we visited Grafton, Sheboygan, Elkart Lake, Fond du Lac, Greenbush and a home town race in Downtown Appleton! Overall the series was a lot of fun and Kate was racing really well. Appleton, being our hometown, kate wanted to show all of our friends and family the hard work she has been putting in with a strong performance. It was great to hear everyone cheering for her as she rounded turn 4. Sadly with 4 laps to go she got caught up in a crash and didn't get to contest the sprint. She said after the race she felt like a rock star with everyone cheering for her. It was nice to have the support of so many friends and family at the race. In the end Kate finished 6th overall for category 2 women.

With the races wrapping up June 27th Kate raced of to San Diego, CA for a HR conference while I stayed back with Joslyn and the Grandparents. Kate rejoined the vacation 5 days later!

My week with the grandparents found us going to the park and zoo with Joslyn. Joslyn is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings. The trip to the N.E.W. Zoo was a lot of fun. Joslyn was real excited when she got to feed the giraffe and see a lot of new animals she has not seen at the Atlanta zoo. Other than trips to the park and zoo we spent much of the time relaxing and watching Joslyn play. I almost forgot to mention that we went to my mothers retirement party! So congratulations to my Mom on time served!

On the 4th of July, Joslyn and Kate flew home and I stayed and watched the fireworks with my parents. But that afternoon I got to take a quick trip to the ER! I took a nap after dropping Kate and Joslyn off at the airport. When I woke I felt really weird and my arms and face were tingling. So we went in to check it out. 3 hours later the doctor said I was fine and that the tingling should go away. Later that night I was feeling better but was disappointed I didn't get to spend some quality time with friends on the 4th.

All in all it was a great trip! Here are the photos to prove it!

Road America

Fond du Lac

Iylee @ Grandma's Retirement

Joslyn's Cuz

Iylee @ Grandma's Retirement

Joslyn @ the Park

@ the park with gramps

@ the zoo with gramps

Feeding the giraffe

Up close

Joslyn and her pet Giraffe!

It feels like summer!

2010-05-21T09:14:00.004-06:00

Another month has passed and a lot has happened. Kate has been racing her bike all over the south. We have been to Spartenburg, SC and Charlotte, NC as well as racing here in Roswell and Sandy springs. All the races have been apart of the USACrits Speed week. The series brings racers from around the country to the Southeast for a week of races. Kate is still learning and these races help her to become a better competitor. Her best race of the series was a criterium in the community of Dilworth. Dilworth is about 5 minutes from downtown Charlotte. It's a beautiful neighborhood with tree lined streets. My guess is we can't afford any of the houses in this neighborhood but it was nice to visit!

Now for the past 2 weeks Grammy has been in town for a visit (Kate's Mom). This year for our big trip with Grammy we spent a wonderful weekend in Savannah, GA. Grammy is still very active with the Girl Scouts and when she heard we were moving to the South she said right away that we would be taking a trip to the birth palce of Juliette Gordon Low. JGL founded the Girl Scouts March 12th, 1912. The city is beautiful and below is a slide show of some of the many photos I took.

Her are also a few pictures of Kate racing in Charlotte. Thanks again for reading!

Very pleasant in Pleasanton...but traveling sucks!

2010-04-19T18:06:00.005-06:00

We spent the 5th through the 14th in Northern California, Pleasanton, CA to be exact. Pleasanton is about a 1/2 hour drive east of San Francisco. Kate was sent out west by Kimberly-Clark for work and Joslyn and I decided to joined her for the 10 day trip. Most days Joslyn and I hung out and went sight seeing. Couple of the things we did were visit state parks, where we climbed to the top of Mount Diablo and had 360 degree views of the area. We also visited many vibrant downtowns in the area such as Danville, Livermore and Pleasanton. Over the weekend Kate was able to get in a race in Menlo Park. Sadly it rained the entire time and Kate crashed twice!!! She was OK but was a little upset because she was feeling really good for the race. After the race we spent the rest of the day downtown San Francisco with our good friend Ryan! Ryan had just recently moved, so we got to see his fancy high rise apartment(nice view by the way). The rest of the day was spent walking around seeing the sights. I'll let the picture do the rest of the talking.

Traveling caused me the most stress. On the way out I flew solo and Kate was with Joslyn. Kate's plane left ATL at 10am however mine didn't leave until 3pm. So I sat at the airport and waited. Once I left I flew to Charlotte and then to San Francisco. It was 9:30pm in SFO when I arrived. Sadly my rental car company was closed and I was stranded at the airport. Since Kate had baby I flew with all the luggage. Needless to say I wasn't too happy to have to lug all the luggage back up the 4th floor where I could rent a car from a different company. After all that I made it to the hotel by 11:30pm (2:30am back in ATL). I was tired and that was the getting to SFO story. Coming home I had Joslyn and Kate's bike. Our flight from SFO was cancelled and instead flew to D.C. the upside to that is we flew on a 777 and it only took 4 hours to fly across the country. The down side was it's a big plane and it took then forever to unload our car seat. As you guessed we missed our connection and had to spend the night in D.C. The next day we flew out at 8am. Sorry not that easy, the plane was delayed an hour and we flew out at 9am. All of this really took its toll on me. I just wanted to get home!!! Got to ATL took the train from the airport and of course I didn't get the direct train. So once again we made a transfer. We finnally made it home by 1pm, just in time for my 2pm doctors appointment(which took 3 hours).

The view from atop Mount Diablo

Joslyn headed to the lookout

Joslyn and I at the top

Sierra Mountains behind us(maybe)

Big tree - Little people

You don't realize how big they are until you stand next to one!

Joslyn and her new best friend

The only picture I got of Kate during the race

Kate and Alcatraz

Pier 39

Birthdays and Bike Racing

2010-04-01T10:00:00.005-06:00

Wow, another month has past and we only updates once! Well let see in the past month Pete went home to see family and friends while also celebrating his birthday. Kate was in Wisconsin for work:( but did get to spend time with Pete on his Birthday! The family went to Lambeau Field and had dinner at Curly's Pub. Most of the time spent at home was with family. The grandparents love seeing their baby girl!

Last weekend was Kate's first couple of races of the season. This took us to Tuscaloosa, AL for the Tour de Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is nice college bar town. Day one was a criterium style race downtown around said bars! Kate was not feeling particularly well and had picked up a head cold while we were back home. Needless to say she struggled a bit but fought through it and managed to pass 2 girls in the sprint to the line. Day 2 took us out to Lurleen State Park for the road race. It was 30 miles of rolling hills. Kate was still a little under the weather but was feeling a little better overall. Unfortunately she flatted on the first of 3 laps! The wheel exchange was slow and she lost too much time to make up. I also forgot to mention it was raining cats and dogs! She persevered and finished the day alone and in the rain:( On a brighter note Kate's teammate won the event!

Here are a few pictures from the past month... in no particular order.

At the start

Warming up

Uncle Ryan & the girls

Cousin Iylee looking cute

Grammy and Jos

Lambeau Field!

Inside the atrium @ Lambeau

Vince!

Arrrrrgh!

Grandpa and Jos

Out at the Park!

2010-02-23T19:44:00.004-07:00

We've been lucky enough to have a little bit of nice weather this last weekend and at the start of this week. So, with Spring in the air, we headed to the park! 73 degrees on Sunday--you can't beat that so early in the season! It was colder on Monday, mid-50s, but still not too shabby:) Enjoy the pictures!

Now you see her...

Now you don't!!!

Excuse me, I'm on a mission!

Sweet Odessa Baby

Look Mama!

On Monday, at the park down by the Chattahoochee River, watching the geese fly by...

and then swim by...

Random shots

2010-02-18T12:40:00.006-07:00

Here are a few random shots from the past few weeks. We have had some crazy weather here in the south. Just last night I was looking at the weather and it was the same temp here as it was up in Wisconsin. There is just something fundamentally wrong with that! Any way this week looks to be nice with temps moving towards the upper 50's by Sunday! Here are the photos I promised! Thanks for reading!

I love Clementines!

Bluebird day!

Snow! Snow! Snow!

We received about 2 inches of snow during this last storm.

One of the neighborhood hawks!

We came home to find 2 perched on our roof!

Taking this thing world wide!

2010-02-09T20:26:00.003-07:00

We had our first hit outside the United States this week. It looks as though we are big hit with the Eastern block Nations! Lets hear it for perestroika!!!

Zoo Atlanta

2010-01-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

This week Pete's sister-in-law Addie is in town with her kids, Jack and Iylee! We spent this past Monday at Zoo Atlanta and here are a few pictures from our excursion.

Jack the Lion!

Iylee and her new pet pig!

Joslyn and Iylee

Big ol' Elephant

Let go over here, no over here!

Lazy lion

Pretty Bird!

Gimme

Magilla

HEHEHEHE!

Louis Prima (King Louie)

Just riding around!

Mona Monkey

Bunch of Monkeys!

2009 Christmas wrap-up

2010-01-14T10:14:00.005-07:00

I should have posted this before the last one but I didn't have the photos uploaded to the computer. This year once again we spent a wonderful 2 weeks back home in Wisconsin. The first week was spent with Kate's family in Colby and Marshfield. Grammy was excited to spend a week of quality time w/ Joslyn. This year thankfully our trip to Grammy's was uneventful. I should tell you that 2 years ago Odessa was bitten by one of Grammy's farm dogs. So now any time we go see Grammy Odessa is pretty leery of the dogs! Last year it was below zero the whole week we were at Grammy's. So not only was Odessa afraid of the dogs but it was so cold she would only go out on the deck to go potty! That brings us to this year. Temps were nice and the dogs seemed to get along well. To bad the only place Odessa will still go potty is out on the deck. Sorry Grammy, but we forgot to clean up after Odessa. This spring you should have a nice reminder that we were home for Christmas!

Next on the agenda was my family in Menasha. It's always hard to balance time in Menasha with my family and all of our friends in the Fox Valley! We try are best but there are always people we miss seeing or only get to see for few hours! So, I guess what i'm saying is, sorry if we missed you. Basically our week with my family and friends was busy from day one. Lunch here, dinner there an afternoon over there. In one word busy! But we managed to fit equal amounts family and friends into our schedule. we were also able to fit in a Packers game at Lambeau Field as well! Go Pack Go!

The 2 weeks went fast and before you know it we were back in the car driving another 16 hours back home. Luckily the trip home was sunny and clear, unlike the trip up. Anyways, We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and we wish you all a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-13T15:24:00.005-07:00

First things first - sorry we haven't updated the blog since December 7th!!! Since it is 2010 we can let you all know that Kate has agreed to ride (her Bike) for an elite squad here in the Southeast. Most of the women are split between Atlanta and Chapel Hill and the team has a formal training camp coming up at the end of January. Kate will get to meet all the members of the team and find out what races they will focus on. As of right now the National Race Calendar(NRC) will be their main focus. So it is possible we may be in your area racing this summer. If so come on out and show your support for Kate and her teammates! As always we will be posting all summer long with race updates.

If you want to learn more about Kate's team you can follow then on the web at http://spokeswomensyndicate.com/

or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=199074676227

We have spirit!

2009-12-07T09:10:00.003-07:00

Yes we do! Every year we go back home to visit family and friends for the holidays. Normally we skip the whole decorating the house and tree thing. Mainly because we just won't be here to enjoy it. But this year we decided to do a little decorating for the Christmas holiday. Instead of one tree in the house we decorated two outside. Here is a quick picture of our handy work. Joslyn says it's beautiful! From everyone here Happy Holidays!

Upgrade, Upgrade

2009-12-05T11:38:00.004-07:00

We here at Mahokenatez.blogspot are committed to bringing you the very best. Santa came early to our house (disguised as a UPS Driver) to deliver a much anticipated new digital camera which will deliver brighter, clearer pictures of the whole clan as well as HD video. Since we just got the camera here a few shots taken recently. We hope you enjoy them!

Turkey Day

2009-11-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick shot of Pete and his wonderfully smoked turkey. As you can see Joslyn was very excited for Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Mmmmm Turkey!!!

Gimme some!

Still smilin'

2009-11-20T10:58:00.004-07:00

This week Josyln has been suffering through a slight head cold. Even though she hasn't felt well all this week she is still a happy smilin' baby! Here a few pictures of her making the best of it!

Nice day for a bike ride

2009-11-08T18:56:00.004-07:00

Today we took advantage of a beautiful day and went for a bike ride on the greenway trail system not too far from Kate's office. It's a very nice multi-use path. We took a couple hours today to ride the trail, and here are a few photos of our trip.

Stone Mountain

2009-11-06T18:49:00.002-07:00

Joslyn and I climbed to the top of Stone Mountain with our friend Andy, and his two boys Aidan & Caleb. Here's a couple photos... Note that even though it looks flat out to the horizon, the trees hide the many hills that give me a workout while I'm cycling.

Can you see our house?

Downtown Atlanta in the distance

At the top!!!

Boo at the Zoo

2009-10-31T18:36:00.003-06:00

A few days before Halloween we went with a couple of friends to the Atlanta Zoo. They were having all kinds of activities for the kids. This was our first trip to the zoo. Joslyn was still a little young to "get it", but in no time she'll be asking to go see the pandas!

Joslyn was a little freaked out in the petting zoo.

Howdy partner!

Happy Halloween!

Heheheheheheheheh

Miss Marie and Miss Joslyn enjoying themselves at the zoo.

* a special thank you to Miss Marie and her mommy and daddy for lending us the costume.

I'm No Peanut!

2009-10-20T18:18:00.003-06:00

Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to tell you all that I went to the doctor today for my check-up and she says I'm doing good! And, Mama and Papa are happy too because I'm not such a peanut anymore!

I'm now 22 lbs (25th percentile for my age) and 32 inches long (76th percentile), though still do have kind of a peanut head. Papa laughed and told Mama that at this rate there is a good chance that I will be taller than she is. Ha! Wouldn't that be funny?!?! (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/child-growth/AN01610)

Anyways, here's me at dinner tonight, chowing down and sending my love to all of you.

HUGS!!!

Joslyn

Picture This...

2009-10-14T20:43:00.009-06:00

Hey Everyone! Don't have much to say, but wanted to share some recent photos. Joslyn has grown so much--every day is a new adventure!

Pete's partents were here during the flooding, so Baby J had lots of hangin' out quality time with the grand parents!

Sadly, my mom's vacation schedule changed, and she isn't able to get enough time off at once to make her trip out this Fall:( So, we won't see her until Christmas. We miss you Grammy! Amazingly--luckily!--Christmas is just around the corner now!

From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was walking...

2009-09-11T16:36:00.008-06:00

Joslyn is just a week shy of 14 months and she went from not even standing by herself (because she was a chicken!) to first steps to walking laps through the dining room in under an hour today. I'm so glad Pete and I were both here to see it!

Wahoo! And so the fun begins... :)

A summer of racing...

2009-08-26T12:04:00.004-06:00

And finally a win. Kate has been moving up the ranks all summer and learning something new after every race. This past Sunday she put it all together for her first of hopefully many wins! Someone once said that no one knows but a bike racer how hard it actually is to win a bike race! How true!! The race was The Grant Park Criterium in downtown Atlanta. Kate raced against 19 other girls in the category 3/4 race. Kate showed she was the strongest on this day by not only winning the race but she also took home a few primes (Prizes awarded on certain laps through out the race). She capped of the day by also racing in the Category 1/2/3 race as well - finishing 5th in that race. Here are a few pictures of Kate racing on Sunday.

Conserving energy towards the back of the pack.

Going for the win!!!

Victory is mine!!!

The podium!!!

Cat 1/2/3 sprint - Kate takes 5th.

Baby Steps

2009-08-24T14:23:00.002-06:00

Happiness is...

2009-08-22T14:21:00.003-06:00

Happiness is... a series of never ending meals!

This is me at breakfast today

I've had a serving of rice cereal with whole milk, a 4 oz cup of yogurt, a whole banana, one and a half eggs scrambled with cheese, four mini rice cakes, a quarter of Momma's mango, a small handful of cheese cubes, washed down with about 4 oz of water....

but, my hollow leg isn't quite full... Papa, what'cha cookin' over there?!?!

Big girl play dress up!

2009-08-14T15:25:00.005-06:00

Look at me! I'm dressing myself!

Baby all dressed up!

This is fun!

I'm so cute even Odessa wants to smooch!

It's my birthday!!!

2009-07-20T17:47:00.002-06:00

It's my birthday!!!

It's a pretty doll - "I love her!"

Papa giving me a hand.

Momma can't believe I'm a year old!

More gifts to open!

I'm a big girl and I can do it myself!

Happy birthday to you..

Cake good!

Cake really good!!!

I think I'm going to be sick!

Happy birthday Joslyn!
Love Momma and Papa

Milestones

2009-07-13T20:33:00.003-06:00

The milestones are coming thick and fast these days!

Joslyn finally traded in her infant car seat for a big-girl convertible car seat. She is nowhere near the weight limit on the infant seat, but finally tipped over the height limit.
It only took about 11 months, but she her first tooth finally broke through! The others will come quickly now I would guess!
We bought Joslyn her first meal at a restaurant tonight! It was a grilled cheese, and she ate almost 3/4 of it! It was great! I finally enjoyed a meal where I didn't have to give half of it to her:)
Baby J has developed an active imagination. If you hold out your hand, she will reach out and "pick up" what she imagines as "food" from it. Then, if she's feeling generous, she'll reach up and "feed" it to you, or, even more cute is when she feeds herself and then smiles! We love it!

In one week from today, she will turn 1 year old.... amazing how time flies!

A night at the track!

2009-07-13T12:59:00.007-06:00

Joslyn & Kate enjoying the races!

"I love Dick Lane Velodrome!"

Your local neighborhood velodrome.

Go fast, turn left!

The pack is being led out by a motorized bike.

The motorized bike is also known as a derny and is used in events like the Kierin.

We had a great time and will most likely be back!
Not to mention I won a $140 pair of sunglasses!!

Birthday comes a few days early for Miss Joslyn!!!

2009-07-10T14:08:00.004-06:00

"What is it?"

"It's a Backpack!"

"and it's also a bunch of books!"

"I'm going to be busy baby!"

"Art for baby!!!"

"Look at me I'm ready for school!"

"Thanks Grammy O!!!"

The many faces of Joslyn

2009-06-29T20:06:00.003-06:00

It's Sticky AND Steamy!!

2009-06-28T15:02:00.004-06:00

The title is a little shoutout to all the closet "Music and Lyrics" and Hugh Grant fans out there:) It's ok, I'm one of you!!!!

The title is also a reference to the weather here in beautiful Georgia! The last 3 weeks or so have been consistently 90+ degrees and humid. They assure me that this is not normal--all I can think, however, is that it is only June! What will the next 3 months be like if June is already this sweltering?!. Oye. I try not to think about it.

So, we make due. I try to ride my bike as early (or late) in the day as possible, and we spend a good handful of hours each week at the pool in our neighborhood. And, about 2 weeks ago, we finally turned the air conditioning on. Pete was strong, but it was just too hot!

With the heat, it's been pretty lazy. So, not too much to share except a few new pictures:

Pete and I have started "Salon Mahoney --we cut each other's hair:) Here's us this morning with our freshly trimmed locks!

Baby Joslyn--loves to eat! Bananas are her favorite, hands down. Close second, refried beans. Third, watermelon:)

Jos is still crawling, but.....
is so incredibly close to walking! She just realized she only needs to hang on with one hand now:)
Hugs and love to you all!
Kate

First Visit to the "Low Country"!

2009-06-07T19:50:00.017-06:00

Just got back from a great weekend down in Beaufort, South Carolina! We'd wanted to head down to the Low Country to check things out for a while, so spontaneously on Wednesday decided that we would use the bike race in Beaufort as a "reason" to go.

The event was a series of three races, a time trial on Saturday morning, a criterium (crit) on Saturday afternoon, and a road race today. Your finishing place in each race was awarded a certain number of points for a scoring in that single event and then to be combined into your score for the overall competition. Yes, maybe I'm crazy, but I did do all three races as I had decided to chase points for the overall competition:)

If you've ever been to a competitive sporting event, you may not realize how much happens "behind the scenes". Well, a cycle race is no different. There's a race calendar to manage and entry forms to complete and track. Uniforms to wash and gear to pack. A bike to clean, tune up, and put race tires on. A car to back with a bike trainer for warming up, a tool kit, bike pump, extra water, first aid kit, toys and clothes for the baby, and water for the dog. A cooler to pack for food for Kate, Joslyn and maybe Pete if he has time to eat since he's minding Jos during the event. The list goes on. This is where Pete, aka Mr. Organized!, shines. Somehow, he corrals all of us and our stuff into the car and to the races on time, every time! He has really been managing every detail, all I have to do is show up and race! I am so appreciative of his countless hours of work, commitment to the work at hand (despite the 6 am starts on race day!!), and his excitement and support for my efforts. Here is the driving force behind Team Mahoney in action!

We drove down to Beaufort Friday night, and arrived late to the hotel. We weren't sure how the day would go when Saturday morning, after 5 hours of sleep, we woke up to serious thunder, lighting, and torrential rain to head out to the time trial. Yikes! But, the race was about 30 minutes from the hotel (in the middle of beautiful, South Carolina forests!), and when we got there, the storms had managed to skirt our race route. Whew!

This was my first time trial. A time trial is a race where it is basically you and your bike against the clock. No drafting off other riders, no attacks or break-aways--it's all about going as fast as you can. Well, except for me... There was no prize money awarded for the time trial this weekend (it was for State Championship jerseys), so I rode hard, but not as hard as could have. I was concerned with saving energy for the crit later in the day (which did have a payout attached to it). Just needed to finish well enough to get points for the overall competition. I ended up time trialing 25 miles in the Elite 23-29 Women for a 2nd place finish in that age grouping.

Since we were in the Low Country not just to race, but to be tourists, we stopped on the way back to the hotel to check out this great old, old church... The grounds were hauntingly beautiful.

Next was the criterium. It was a race for 30 minutes plus 2 final laps. In this race, all the women from the different categories--Cat 1 & 2 who are experienced racers, and Cat 3 & 4 who are less experienced (I'm a Cat 4 currently)--raced and were scored for points together. I felt really good during the race, and it came down to sprint finish between myself and 3 other girls. I came out of the last turn in a great position and thought I had made the winning move but was nipped at the line. So close! But, it was a good finish, so earned me a payout ($!) and moved me up nicely in the overall points category to fourth.

We enjoyed the evening in Beaufort at a great local restaurant (the "Original Steamer" on Lady's Island) and went to bed early. This morning (Sunday), was another early start for the road race. The road course was great 42 miles of smooth pavement, closed course (no cars! wahoo!!!!), flat as a pancake, and fast! It rained on and off throughout the race, but wasn't too bad. Felt good during the race, but ended up in a bad place strategically for the sprint finish so got "boxed in" on the sprint. So, ended up placing 7th:( Definitely disappointing, as I feel like I had the strength to finish higher. But, my time trial and crit places plus today's RR kept me in 4th place for overall points. Hindsight being 20/20, I'm kicking myself for not having put a little more effort into my inaugural time trial-- I may have taken 2nd or at least 3rd over all. Oh well! I still earned a payout for the overall, and as always, I definitely learned something! :)

Now it was time to enjoy the rest of the day--we went island hopping down to Hunting Island, and ended up at the state park there. Absolutely beautiful! For the most part, the islands are all ringed mostly by these large stretches of salt water marshes. Very lush and green, with birds of all sizes moving about.

Hunting Island is beautiful as well because right next to the beach is a thick, mature forest. But, it's striking, because the trees are about a 50/50 split between towering long needled pines and tall, spiky palms. The roads in the park were lined with them... very cool!!!!

Finally, we ended up on the beach. The rain was inland, so it was upper 80s and sunny! The whole family enjoyed the afternoon swimming--Mama, Papa, Joslyn, even Odessa as it was a dog-friendly beach! The sun was hot, and the water was warm and inviting. There was no better way to cap a wonderful weekend than this!!!!

Last couple of weeks...

2009-05-26T13:18:00.005-06:00

Last couple of weeks have been really busy here at the Mahokenatez house. Grammy Okenatez came down to visit and see her grand baby Joslyn. We took this opportunity to take Grammy to Florida where Grandma and Grandpa Mahoney were vacationing.

So Grammy O got in on Friday May 9th which allowed Kate and I to run off on Saturday to do a Century ride near Rome, GA. It was a hilly 100 miles. I think we climbed about 6000 feet that day. All and all we had a great time and it only took us 6 hours.

Sunday night we took of for Florida. Because Joslyn is a great little sleeper we left at night to take advantage of that. 8 hours later we arrived on Anna Marie Island. We spent Monday through Thursday in Florida. We mostly hung out on the beach and by the pool. The grandparents had a great time with Joslyn. Which allowed Kate and I to get in a couple of bike rides. Joslyn also had a great time swimming in the gulf and the pool. It was a very relaxing 4 days and we were sad to leave.

The following weekend was spent helping Kate with the GA State Road Race. Grammy watched Joslyn while I marshaled the course. Kate took 5th place while here teammate won. Kate also raced on Sunday but was feeling really tired do to the 40 mile race on Saturday. It also rained during her event on Sunday making matters worse. Kate finished 5th as well on Sunday.

The next week Grammy, Joslyn and I hung out while Kate went back to work. We spent most of our time entertaining Joslyn and running errands. While out on errands we would usually take a short site-seeing ride through the country side. Wednesday we spent the day in Atlanta. We spent several hours at the GA Aquarium and a few at the world of Coke exhibit and also a stroll through Olympic park. Saturday Kate and Grammy visited the Smith plantation here in Roswell. I didn't go but they said it was quite nice. Sadly Grammies trip was coming to an end and on Sunday we dropped her of at the airport for her return to Wisconsin. She did however receive a nice gift from United airlines when they bumped her from her flight. She received a free round trip voucher. Nice job! Thanks for coming and seeing us Grammy!

That pretty much gets us caught up on whats been happening. I've posted some photos below for your viewing please.

As always, thanks for reading...

Enough about mama

2009-05-05T11:26:00.005-06:00

Baby J here! I just wanted everyone to know whats been going on with me and not my mama. So check out this video my papa made!

Love ya,
Jos

Another weekend another couple of races

2009-05-04T13:55:00.005-06:00

This weekend we had 2 races scheduled. The Sunny King Criterium on Saturday and the Sandy Springs Criterium on Sunday. Both days went well and Kate did not crash!!!

Saturday started with us driving to Alabama for the Sunny King race in Anniston. Anniston is about 1 hour and 45 minutes away. Since Kate didn't race until noon we kinda got a late start. We arrived in Anniston about an hour before the race. This allowed Kate enough time to warm up before the race. Sadly, this is when it decided to start to rain. Needless to say Kate did not warm up all to well. And so her race would start and finish in the rain. The best part about racing in the rain is that quite a few women drop out of the race. This particular race was part of the SEW Cycling series. The SEW Cycling Series is a grass-roots effort by women, for women. Their ultimate goal is to grow the sport of women's cycling by providing an environment that is both challenging and fun. As a result they can show promoters that women's racing is strong in the Southeast, and that they deserve a place at each and every race. Because of this the Category 3 and 4 women would scored separately. In the end Kate placed 9th overall and second in her category earning her her first paycheck. She actually placed in front of 2 cat 3 women! nice job Kate!

Sunday found us a little closer to home. about 20 min south of Roswell in Sandy Springs. Today's race looked to be very challenging. The course was .7 Mi long with 6 turns and a steep finishing climb. Kate had her first mechanical and was awarded a free lap to deal with the issue. During these types of races there is always neutral pit service and that is what Kate took advantage of. while the race continued on she waited for the mechanic to fix her bike. Once fixed she waited for the group to come around and she was pushed back into the race. she then lead the next 3 last and sat in the bunch until the final lap. On the last lap she sprinted up the final climb into 6th. This earned her her second paycheck in as many days.

Kate is racing really strong and is looking to the state road race coming up in 2 weeks. Here is a quick video of Kate powering to a second place finish in the rain!

Thanks again for reading!

Pete

Race weekend update

2009-04-27T09:31:00.007-06:00

This weekend we packed up the car and headed to Athens, GA for the Twilight Criterium. This was going to be Kate's first try at Criterium style racing. For those not familiar with a criterium - it is basically a short 1km course with 4 turns. Think nascar but on bikes.

To start we spent the night at the shady Travelodge just a few blocks from downtown. To say this hotel was sketchy would be a understatement! Lets just say we didn't get much sleep. The people staying above us, I believed lived in the hotel, were drinking and doing drugs all night. They were incessantly pacing all night long. Odessa was with us and she was growling at them all night. They finally went to bed at 5am, so we got about an hour and half of OK sleep. Lets just say we won't be recommending the Travelodge in Athens any time soon!

Off to the races, Kate made it down to the course about an hour before her race. She wanted to warm up and ride the course a little bit. Joslyn, Odessa and I made to the course just in time for the start. The course was a little hilly but nice and wide open. The field for Kate's race was about 40 deep. This was the largest field she has ever raced in. (side note - Kate did a few races in UT but the field was usually no bigger than 15 women) The pace of the race was really fast but Kate was holding really well with the group. With 5 laps to go Kate was near the back of the pack. She would move up through the turns but couldn't hold her position up the hill to the finish line. In the end her group set a hard pace with which about 15 women couldn't keep. They eventually lapped several girls as well. The results haven't been posted online but we guess she placed in the top 25! Our friend Andy is in town and he raced in the Main event later that night.

The next day was the Roswell Criterium. Kate was thinking of skipping this event but after a strong showing in Athens she decided to give it a go. You could definitely tell Kate was more confident during this race. She comfortably sat in with the main group. Kate even moved up in to 3rd position for a while. That's when things went all wrong. With 4 laps remaining Kate was taken down by a girl who cut the last corner to tight and couldn't hold her line. she eventually drifted out into Kate and took her out. Kate went down pretty hard but after inspection she only suffered minor road rash. After the race Kate said she was really disappointed because she felt so strong. The club she rides for, North Georgia Cycling Association/Team Cycleworks, said they were really impressed with how strong she rode! Joslyn and I are really proud of her!!

So that wraps up a pretty busy weekend for us. I have posted a quick video of Kate during the Athens race. Kate is hard to see but look for the black arm warmers.

Thanks again for reading,
Pete

9 Months!!!

2009-04-20T12:54:00.001-06:00

Joslyn turned 9 months today and she told me to share the news with everyone. Lots has happened since we last posted. Grandma & Grandpa Mahoney came to town and visited for a whole week in March. We went to the Georgia Aquarium and tooled around town. Grandma & Grandpa also helped with our garden while they were in town. The peas, green beans, sweet corn, garlic and potatoes have all started to show. Joslyn has also told us that she misses grandma & Grandpa. So we will be heading to FL in May to see them on Vacation!

Joslyn has quite a few new firsts - She has been eating on her own. She says her favorite is pizza & crackers! She is also squirming about and rolling all over the floor. Pretty soon she will start to crawl with a purpose. All in all she is a happy baby who likes to sleep! She is still sleeping 14+ hours a night!

Since the grandparents have left we have had 2 other visitors. The first was a complete surprise. Our old neighbor Marsha from SLC was on her way to Paris via ATL. Since she was flying with a buddy pass she got bumped and needed to take a flight the next day. That worked out for us and she spent the night with us before I took her back to the airport the following day. Sadly she continued to get bumped and never made it to Paris. She is now back in SLC.

Our next visitor was Jenifer, an old friend from Neenah, who is now living in Ohio. She came down for a quick weekend visit to see us and little baby Joslyn. While in town we took MARTA to downtown ATL. MARTA is the train which services Atlanta. Once downtown, we went to the Dogwood festival in Piedmont Park. We had a great time and it was nice to not have to deal with traffic. I know I am going to use the train a lot more to explore Atlanta.

That pretty much catches you up an what has been going on around here. Next up we have another friend from WI coming this weekend. He is coming to town to race his bike. Kate will also be racing. I will definitely post about that. Right after that Kate's mom (grammy) comes to town for 2 weeks. Like I said earlier we will be headed to Florida to see my parents and we will bring Grammy as well.

Thanks again for reading,

Pete

Ryan Adams Live at Fox Theater on 2009-03-20

2009-04-01T17:41:00.000-06:00

On March 20th, Kate, myself and 2 new friends from Atlanta (Shay & James) went to the Fabulous Fox Theater to see Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. I would have to say it was by far the best Ryan Adams show I have been to. Great set list and a great venue to boot. The Fox was built right before the depression. The Atlanta Journal described "a picturesque and almost disturbing grandeur beyond imagination. Visitors encounter an indoor Arabian courtyard with a sky full of flickering stars and magically drifting clouds; a spectacular striped canopy overhanging the balcony; stage curtains depicting mosques and Moorish rulers in hand sewn sequins and rhinestones." It is a pretty amazing place.

For more info and to see some pictures; copy and paste this link http://www.foxtheatre.org/index.htm into your browser.

For your listening pleasure I have attached a copy of the show.

Enjoy,
Pete

A Prairie Home Companion, live from Appleton, Wisconsin.

2009-03-30T13:01:00.002-06:00

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we're live from the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton, Wisconsin. Featuring all local talent, including Cory Chisel, Greg Waters, Dance Billy Dance, American Fiction, Jonathan Eddy, and Helen Exner. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and The News from Lake Wobegon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T13:18:00.000-06:00

Papa Rules!

2009-03-15T20:27:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone! I just wanted to show you what a good time Papa and I have together. We're like two peas in a pod! He loves me lots (even when I'm crabby), and doesn't try and make me eat the nasty green beans like Mama does:) He's thumbs up in my book!
Hugs and Kisses!

Joslyn

Sweet Baby J

2009-03-12T08:59:00.006-06:00

Ok, I'm a sappy proud Mom:) Here's a picture of Sweet Baby Joslyn taken yesterday in her favorite place--her jumpy chair.

She is just shy of 8 months already, loves her peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, but isn't so sure about bananas or apples. She did learn yesterday, that like Momma and Pappa, she loves ice cream! She makes the funniest, cutest, "eating" noises (see video)--it's like a continuous 'hum' as she's chowing down... Notice her legs kicking--this is one of her ways she shows excitement:) Such a big girl!

Neck jarring subject change--remember we just had snow? (see post below) Well, exactly one week later, it hit 80 degrees and sunny. This week it's been in the low 70s. Not too shabby!

Our first snow storm of the year!

2009-03-01T10:52:00.009-07:00

Well, it's March first and with it comes our first snow storm of the year. The flakes are about a quarter to half dollar in size. I took a picture of our house and quick little video as well to share. Enjoy the snow!

A few words from our fearless leader....

2009-02-20T15:02:00.002-07:00

renew - reuse - recycle

2009-02-08T13:06:00.006-07:00

Kate and I have just completed the second of 2 projects we tackled this winter. The first was installation of 2 rain barrels. The second, which we completed this weekend was a compost barrel. Both projects took about a day each to complete but since we were in no rush we took 2 weekends to complete the projects. Here are a couple of photos of our projects.

Cookie Monster!

2009-02-06T06:12:00.005-07:00

Baby Joslyn is enjoying a nummy molasses teething biscuit from Miss Shay. Sighhhhhhh…. She’s already inherited my love for baked goods…. I can attest that this will continue to be a life long problem for her:)

6 Months & Still Smiling!

2009-01-25T19:36:00.011-07:00

Hello Everyone! It's Kate:) After a long absence, I'm finally back on the blog. I've wanted to post for a long time, and am now finally sitting down to do it. So, I think I'll tackle everything that's happened in the last two months in one big post--starting with December through current.

First things first! Joslyn turned 6 months old this last week! It still amazing to me how quickly time flies. So, here is our sweet Baby J!

EARLY DECEMBER

December was really a whirlwind for us. The first week of the month, we hosted our friend Mono at the new house--our first official out-of-town visitor!

Then, I was headed back to Salt Lake for one final work meeting, so we decided to take advantage and travel back as a family to see every one. It was great to spend time with all of our friends there. It was a wonderful week staying with our friends Marsha and JeanLuc, packed with good food, good company, and Joslyn's first experience with real snow! Check out the slideshow below!

Then, we headed back to Roswell for five days--just long enough to do laundry and get packed--before hitting the road back to good ole Wisco for the Christmas holiday. Crazy, perhaps, but we'd decided that we (Pete, Joslyn, Odessa and I!) would drive from GA to WI. It is after all much closer than Utah--a mere 14 hours from Roswell to Colby vs 24 hour epic from SLC to Menasha! The real concern was the weather systems moving across the Midwest. Somehow, though, we completely lucked out and managed to dodge between the weather systems ripping through--following about four hours behind the ice storms through IL and then about an hour ahead of the big snow in WI. So we had clear roads and smooth sailing all the way home. And, Joslyn was great. We left GA at about 6 pm and drove through the night--she slept soundly or sat quietly for the whole trip, minus about 45 minutes at the end. Not too bad! Odessa, as always, was a wonderful traveller. Papa Pete did have to dig out her little fleecy turtle-neck sweater though, as apparently, our dog is as wimpy as we are! The further north we went, the colder it got and the less willing she was to hop out of the car for potty stops. Hmmmm.... oddly enough that sounds like me too! :)

WI was wonderful. I can't even explain how great it was to finally bring Joslyn home to meet the rest of her family and our good friends. It was a great, exciting two weeks. To sum it all up:
1) Joslyn met her cousins--Ashley, Jaxson, and Mickala and here with Uncle Ryan and Papa Pete is Iylee (who is just 3 months younger!)

2) Lots of time with the grandparents, family, and friends! It was nice to have a white Christmas (seeing as it was 62 when we left GA for WI), but the -10 the first week up in Colby with the 8-12 of snow was a bit of a rude re-introduction to real winters! You'll see a picture of Pete in the slide show below out shoveling--notice the ice crystals on his eyelashes!

3) Odessa--our favorite mischievous redhead-- got up on the kitchen counter and devoured about 4 dozen decadently yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies at the Mahoney house. It's not hard to imagine, but the pound of chocolate chips, cup of butter and cup of sugar they contained wreaks havoc on a dog's system. So, Miss Odessa spent 2.5 days in the hospital for that little stunt. When we arrived at the pet ER, the initial concern was a possible heart arrhythmia because of her elevated heart rate (240 when we arrived vs the normal 80-160) as a result of the chocolate toxicity. Then, the concern became pancreantitis (inflamation and malfunction of the digestive pancreas) because of the super high sugar and fat content of the cookies. Because Odessa doesn't eat "people food", the consumption of such gross amounts of bad stuff all at once posed a real threat of causing her pancreas to basically malfunction and begin to digest itself. So, needless to say, we decided to postpone our departure back to GA to make sure she had enough time on the IV to help flush her system and make sure she was going to be ok. She was one sad pup! But, luckily, after a week, she was pretty much recovered back to normal. Here she is, post cookie-capade!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-14T20:50:00.002-07:00

Baby Thunder Update

2008-11-30T09:58:00.003-07:00

Hi all,

Over the past weekend Joslyn has reached some major milestones. She is holding herself up for much longer periods when we have tummy time. Joslyn has also become self-aware. She notices her legs and arms, and reaches for her feet. This past Friday Joslyn noticed herself in the mirror and smiled and laughed at her reflection. It is really cute to see her smile at herself. What can I say, I'm a proud papa! Here are couple more photos of our gal Joslyn.

Thanks for reading

Georgia Aquarium

2008-11-26T09:38:00.005-07:00

Yesterday Kate, Joslyn and I joined some good friends of ours from Salt Lake City at the Georgia Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium is the world’s largest with over 8 million gallons of water and the largest collection of aquatic animals from all over the globe.We all had a wonderful time and I wanted to post some pictures of our trip to downtown Atlanta.

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

The Story of Our Move

2008-11-10T20:44:00.002-07:00

I've added posts to outline the story of our move... So the best way to read them is to start about 8 posts back at the post titled "Prologue--Long time coming" and then work your way back to the top. Enjoy, and be sure to leave a comment or two!

Watch for another new post soon on our first week back at work! Love you all!

Kate

Chapter 7--Home Stretch

2008-11-10T20:17:00.005-07:00

Monday morning was a leisurely morning as we just had a short drive to Chattanooga on the task list for the day. Which was good, given my exceedingly fragile GI state from my mysterious illness...

Arriving in Chattanooga, we had a great afternoon and evening with our friends Vicki and Crandall who had allowed us to crash at their place for our last night on the road. Amazingly, we were already planning to meet the movers at the house in Roswell early on Tuesday morning. We made it! 2200 miles under our belts in just under a week!

Which leads us to the second great thing about moving with our movers--the unpacking service. So when Rodney and the crew unloaded our stuff at the new house, they not only put the boxes in their proper rooms, but then unpack the boxes, unwrap the items from the gobs of brown packing paper, and cart away the whole mess. Sure it leaves you with piles of stuff everywhere, but at least you don't have to fight with all the boxes! Here's Pete in the kitchen prior to it being put away...

As Pete, Jos, Odessa and I said farewell to Rodney & Crew, we settled into the tasking of making our new house our home:)

Chapter 6--Timing could be better

2008-11-10T18:45:00.003-07:00

The fun we had in Rogers was dampened by only one thing--the fact that Saturday night I become ill... It started with a serious session of vomiting, immediately followed by a hardcore body shaking, skin burning, fever. We ruled out food poisoning right away, as we'd all eaten the same stuff in pretty much that last 24 hours... So, it seems to have been just a really unfortunate bout of a quick GI bug.

Because of the fever on Saturday night, I didn't really log more than a couple hours of restless, uncomfortable sleep. As I crawled out of bed on Sunday morning, I seriously considered crawling back in. I could barely see straight, could hardly drink any fluids, and couldn't even stand the thought of eating anything--how was I going to drive the 10 hours to Chattanooga feeling like this?

The only saving grace was that Joslyn had been a great traveler so far. Into to and out of her car seat with minimal fussing, food and fresh diaper every couple hours--she was great! But, that day, neither of us could make the 10 hours, managing about 7 before we stopped at the Nashville La Quinta for the night.

Chapter 5--Another day, another gas station donut

2008-11-10T18:22:00.006-07:00

So here we are on the road again... Oddly enough, Arkansas was nothing like I imagined it. I'm not sure what I expected, but I'd always thought AR to be the kind of place where I might slow down, but wouldn't ever want to stop... I was quite pleasantly surprised! The upper corner of Oklahoma and upper Arkansas (where Rogers is) are both very beautiful with steep undulating hills, that are lush and tree covered. And, to top it off, the cool weather that had come through just before us had started the leaves changing, so the hills were twinged with color.

We were excited to get to Rogers, because it meant a night at Mono's house instead of a hotel, and a rest day with no driving on Saturday--a well earned break! We had a great time with Mono: sampling some yummy local Mexican food, watching sports on a sweet TV, exploring the best back country roads I've seen in a long time for a road bike tour, enjoying the beautiful weather at a cool state park (Devil's Den), and last but not least, completely gorging ourselves on true southern BBQ at the Whole Hawg Cafe. Too much fun!

(Look, Jos is having tummy time and not crying hysterically! Wahoo!!!!)

Chapter 4--We're not in Kansas anymore!

2008-11-10T18:01:00.003-07:00

Actually, we still are... For all of you out there with a furry canine traveling partner, La Quinta will be your friend on the road. Of our four hotel stays on the trip, three of them were at La Quintas. It's great because they realize that you love your dog, and most likely wouldn't be traveling with them if they were poorly behaved. So, the La Quinta company policy is that chain-wide, they allow dogs of all sizes for no extra cost. That's right! Not a single penny more!

So, after a long day of driving through the remnants of an early season snowstorm across Colorado and Kansas, we were happy to roll into the Witchita La Quinta. And, it was a recently renovated one, so it was very nice with a free hot breakfast. Love it! The bed was great--we would have loved to have had the luxury of sleeping in... but alas, the road beckoned.

Today's push would take us to Rogers, Arkansas. What's in Rogers? Well one, our friend Ryan (aka Mono). And two, you are a stone's throw from greatness--the WalMart Home Office in Bentonville, AR

Chapter 3--The journey is part of the destination

2008-11-09T21:10:00.004-07:00

Before we could leave SLC on Wednesday, we had three very important action items we needed to tackle.
1) Meet with the notary to sign all the stacks of documents for the closing (we did it absentee via FedEx).
2) One last visit to Joslyn's doctor for her signature on some papers. It was sad to say goodbye.
3) To vote! We waited in line for just over an hour for the privilege of casting our votes in the presidential election. It was really powerful to see so many people there, so excited to vote! I think we all felt a sense of pride at being a part of this historic event.

With those things accomplished, we headed out--Pete and Odessa in Emzie (the Mazda) and Joslyn and I in the Honda Fit... The journey had begun! Our first destination was supposed to be Denver to spend time with our friends Bob and Sue. But, because of our late start, we just made it as far as Cheyenne for the night. Here's Jos looking happy because she doesn't know what she's in for:)

Arriving in Denver on Thursday morning, we had a great visit with Bob and Sue. But, I regret to say that in the excitement, I completely neglected my photographic responsibilities, so unfortunately, I have no photos to capture the event:(

Back on the road, we headed to Witchita, KS for the night... More to come, I'm off to bed for now:)

Chapter 2--Life is a series of boxes

2008-11-09T20:37:00.005-07:00

Our next task was to get the house ready for the movers arriving on Monday, 10/20. In between sorting through closets for keep & move stuff vs donate stuff, we had a great time spending time with all of our friends in Salt Lake. We are going to miss everyone so much!!!!

The movers arrived on Monday. Rodney, the driver, and his two man crew Sandy and Geraldo. It was funny to see this huge truck roll up into our tiny little neighborhood!

We're going to miss the view of the mountains too!

I also included a photo of the SLC house after our yard renovation--we love it and are bummed that we didn't do it three years ago!

Moving through a full-service movers is quite an experience--first off, you can't pack anything because if you pack it, the movers' insurance will not insure it. So, we basically set aside the stuff we planned to carry in our cars and anything else not bolted down was packed up by Rodney and the crew. Our quaint little bungalow in SLC was apparently filled with stuff that had been cleverly hidden, and it turns out that we had more stuff than they thought that we did. It was a strange sense of deja vu to see our life carefully collapsed back into another series of boxes... it felt like just yesterday that we'd arrived here.

It took them just a day and a half to get everything boxed up, and then another day to load it on the truck. And so, Wednesday, 10/23, we hit the road...

Chapter 1--The Process of Buying

2008-11-09T20:09:00.004-07:00

In the whirlwind of house hunting at the end of September, we did find a house in Roswell, just north of Atlanta. Not exactly what we'd expected (we'd hoped to be closer to ATL in-town), but we liked the house and the neighborhood was quite nice. So, we put in an offer, and it was accepted prior to us heading back to SLC. Then, however, begins the fun with inspections and other due diligence stuff leading up to our 10/21 closing date.

Joslyn and I headed back to Roswell for a combo home inspection/work transition trip in early October. I was glad that we'd gone back--the home inspection was good, though had one pretty major snag---the roof was aged and had hail damage. So, it failed inspection. Our realtor, Jerry, was great. As soon as he found out that news, he was on the phone getting roofing contractors out for bids. It was crazy--big house, big roof, big bill. There was no way Pete and I were going to go for that and decided to turn it back to the seller. Here's Jos with Realtor Jerry.

The seller decided to work with his insurance company to see if they would cover it because of the hail damage. The trouble was that they didn't send an adjuster out to review the claim until the end of the week prior to closing. Long story short, the insurance did cover it, the roof was replaced, but we ended up delaying closing by two days in order for it to all get done before we took ownership. But, all is well, as we now had a place we could call our own:)

Prologue--Long Time Coming...

2008-11-09T20:03:00.005-07:00

Well, this post has been a long time in coming! Pete last updated everyone back on September 30th, and it is now just over a month later. First, a few updated pictures of Miss Joslyn. She is officially about 3.5 months!

Here's Jos hating "tummy time". Notice the big fat tears for effect:)

Big Sister Odessa says "what's all the fuss about?!"

But, this is one of my favorite things--Joslyn has started exploring her vocals. So, she will contentedly hang out making the sweetest cooing and shrieking noises. Pete and I tried to capture some on video, so enjoy!

There's been so much that has happened, so I am going to tackle it all in a series of several posts... So, ready, set, here we go!

New Music Update

2008-10-10T15:45:00.002-06:00

Hello,

This is a quick update to inform you the music player has been updated. 10 new songs for you to enjoy while ready the blog. I hope everyone likes it - several people told us how much they loved the last 10 songs - so hopefully you will like these as well.

Thanks again for reading...

Late summer update...

2008-09-30T21:17:00.010-06:00

Hi All,

It looks like summer just flew by. The last thing I remember was Joslyn being born and after that life has been a blur. Kate's Mom came out and helped us adapt to our new lives as parents for 2 weeks in August. We got our house ready to put on the market. My parents came out in September and we went to 3 National Parks and 2 National Monuments in 3 Days. We went to Atlanta and found a new home and now finally I can sit down a share with you everything we did over the last 2 months.

The first few weeks after Joslyn was born went pretty smoothly - I think. We kind just enjoyed having her around. We started getting her used to her sling that Kate and I both use. It really comes in handy when you're trying to multi-task. I use mine every Saturday when we go to the farmers market. Kate uses hers everyday! I can't recall if there was any one thing that stood out during those first few weeks. The real excitement started when Kate's Mom showed up.

Grandma Okenatez flew in to Salt Lake just before Joslyn turned 1 month old. We had a great time with grandma in town. We went to the park and the farmers market while she was here. The best was when she agreed to babysit Joslyn so that Kate and I could celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to red Butte Gardens and enjoyed seeing Wilco perform under the stars. It was one of the best Wilco shows I've seen and I was glad grandma was able to take care of Joslyn. Grandma's reward (and early birthday present!) was her own evening under the stars at Red Bute Gardens. Kate, Joslyn and I took her to see "A Prairie Home Companion". 2 great shows back to back. This was Joslyn's first show.

One of the best things Grandma O did for us while she was here was take care of Joslyn. This allowed Kate and I to fine tune the house before we put it on the market. We did about 2 weeks worth of work in one. Thanks again Grandma! Hopefully all goes well and we sell our house! Shortly after we finished working on the house Grandma had to go home.

We now had 2 weeks before my parents would come ou,t and judging by the last 2 weeks, they would go quickly. We spent most of the time with good friends here in Salt Lake and finished the interior of the house.

Now came the arrival of my parents who were also just as excited as Grandma O to see Joslyn. My parents were only going to be in town for a week so we were going to squeeze in as many activities as possible. The first big event was a trip up to Park City and a ride on the Olympic Bobsled. Grandpa was excited to give this a go! So Kate and I joined him for a 1 minute flat death ride. Note - they or I do not recommend this ride if you have a bad back. By the time we hit the 4th turn we traveling at 70 MPH into wall - at that point you turn 180 degrees and pull 4 G's. Here is where the bad back part comes in. When we hit 4 G's I thought by back was going to break - literally! The bad part was I knew I had 11 more turns just like the last one left to go. I held on and made it through. I was sore for about a week and even to this day my lower back is still a little tender and that's 2 weeks after we rode it. Kate and my Dad had a good time and we set the fastest time for the day! In fact, Kate says that she wanted to go faster, so was disappointed that we didn't do it in the winter on ice instead of the summer rollers.

After that we all spent 3 days in a minivan driving 1,000 miles all over southern Utah. We had a great time an saw some amazing things. (see slide show) Sadly my parents time here was way too quick and before you knew it they were back in Wisconsin missing their little granddaughter!

As soon as my parents left Kate, Jos, and I left for Atlanta on a house hunting trip. I need to preface this with "I hate house hunting". But 25 houses later we found one we like and think is really good investment. Joslyn was awesome on the trip--she flew well and traveled in the car just as well. It must of been the 1000 miles we put on in the minivan that warmed her up for this trip. Anyway, she was great and the trip was a success.

Now we are back in UT and are trying to sell our house. The movers are scheduled for the 20th of October - so by the end of the month we should be in Atlanta. As always, you are all welcome to come and visit - we would love to have you.

Thanks again for reading!

ya'll come back now! ya hear?

Our Growin' Gal

2008-08-14T15:44:00.009-06:00

Apparently all this eating, pooing and sleeping is serving Miss Joslyn quite well... When we left the hospital on 7/22, she weighed in at 7 lb 8 oz, 20 inches. At her 2 week check in with Dr. Rachel on 8/4 she was surprised us all by measuring in at 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches. Yikes, no wonder she's been hungry! Here she is during our evening "porch sittin' time" the day of her check-up--she's looking nice and plump:)

Then, middle of last week, her feeding style changed--our long 20-25 minute sessions all of a sudden were lasting no longer than 10 or 15 minutes tops. It seemed odd, and then I started thinking (ok, call a duck a duck--I was worrying!) about whether she was getting enough of the richer, more calorie dense hindmilk that comes in towards the end of the feeding that she needs to gain weight. So, yesterday, we went in for a weight check. Apparently, I need not have worried! She is kickin' booty at 9 lbs 4.5 oz! I swear as Jos is laying there on the scale she winked at me as if to say "no worries Momma!"

Perhaps, though, it's not just the amount of eating and sleeping helping her grow... I'd like to think that it is also the large amount of time that she spends out in the fresh air as well! Pete and I agreed over the during a walk this week, that Joslyn must spend way more time outside than the average American baby. We go for a walk everyday, sit under the tree in the backyard few times a week, and spend most evenings on the front porch watching the sunset reflect against the mountains. Plus, this week, she has already attended her first two sporting events! Here's the view from our front porch...
The first event this last Saturday when we went to cheer on Papa Pete as he finished the ULCER, which is a 111 mile bike ride around Utah Lake. It was 85 degrees, sunny, and for a good 1/2 of the ride, hampered by a good stiff head wind. Yet he still did a fantastic job, finished with a smile, and made us proud!

The second was to spend the afternoon with me today at the top of Big Mountain between Park City and SLC cheering on the professional cyclists suffering up this disgusting long, steep (aka fun!) climb in the 90 degree heat during the Tour of Utah bike race. Tomorrow night is the criterium circuit race downtown (think the bike version of Nascar), so we'll be heading to that as well. As you can see from Jos's picture below with the oddly cheerleader-like pose that she obviously already appreciates incredibly fit men in brightly colored spandex:)

Hugs!

Kate

We're Parents!

2008-08-01T17:05:00.004-06:00

I had another one of those "moments" today... I'd just changed Joslyn's diaper after a feeding, so was holding her to burp her while on my way to wash my hands. Once in the bathroom, I flicked on the light, and caught sight of myself in the mirror with little Joslyn sweetly draped on my shoulder and thought with a laugh "oh shit! I'm a Mom!". It all still feels a little surreal:)

Hopefully you've had a chance to read Pete's posts about the labor & delivery and the first week. He does speak the truth--everything went fantastically with the birth and life as parents has been just awesome since arriving home! Just a few thoughts on the birth from my end: Hypnobirthing=empowering! It worked beautifully, and I really do think that using these tools is what allowed us to have such a speedy delivery ("speedy" being a relative term!). Natural (unmedicated) Childbirth=amazing! I'm glad that everything went as we'd hoped and we were able to have the option to go naturally. I'd want it no other way and would do it again in a heart beat! Don't get me wrong, it was difficult--and a bit primal!--but with the hypnosis, I never felt it was more than I could handle. And, at the end of the day, with my ability to feel what my body and the baby were telling me, I could change laboring positions and push in ways that made every contraction so much more fruitful. Joslyn=beautiful beyond what I'd ever imagined. We have been truly blessed.

This week was my first week home with Baby Jos and Odessa without Pete, my rock. I was a little apprehensive on Monday--with my hormones still on the swing, I was sad to not have Pete with me... But, Joslyn is so darn cute, I was quickly distracted:) Here's our little punkin at bath time on Tuesday:

Jos is breastfeeding exclusively, so my job is to pretty much be "on call" 24/7. It's been going very well--she's a good eater, and from the start, had a pretty good handle on a proper latch. Still, every once in a while, she'll get really excited when she's hungry and with her mouth gaping like a baby bird, she'll be swingin' her arms in front of her face, trying to suck her fists, and latch on to my breast all at the same time! It makes me laugh just thinking about it!!!

As Pete mentioned, we have started to get into a routine with feeding. During the day, she'll go about every 2-2 1/2 hours between meals. At night, she's actually been really good, usually going about 3 1/2-4 hours between meals. And, still, half the time I need to wake her up to eat, especially at night!

This week has been pretty low key, as I am under strict instructions from Kat (our midwife) to not do "anything" these two weeks to ensure that I have a speedy, complete recovery. Well, you know me and my ability to do "nothing". It is not possible. So, when I spoke with her this week and I told her that I "hadn't been really doing much", she inquired what I considered "much" and then reminded me that my "not much" is decidedly way more than not doing "anything"! UGH!!!! With that coaching in the back of my head, I have made a purposeful attempt--which has been successful!--to follow her orders, and feel great in doing so:) I love and appreciate Pete--he has without pause washed dishes, done load after load of laundry, gone grocery shopping, taken care of Odessa, changed countless really poopy diapers, taken care of me, and somehow found time to go back to work:) What a trooper! Another way in which I have been truly blessed:)

With that, I'll leave you with one last photo--Joslyn enjoying the outdoors in the back yard with big sister Odessa and I. She seemed to like the sound of the wind rustling the leaves around us, and the swaying of the tree branches above us... It's never too early to introduce a love of the earth around us!
Thanks to all of you for your thoughtfulness and generosity from the day we broke the "news" oh so long ago, and especially these last few weeks since our "news" has arrived:) Hugs and love to you all!

Kateo (aka Momma!)

3 - It's the magic number

2008-07-27T21:56:00.004-06:00

Well it's been 1 week since the birth of Joslyn and all is well. I wanted to share with all of you my point of view of the birth and the last week at home with Mom and baby.

It was Saturday night around 10:30pm when Kate's water broke. I was pretty calm considering all the anxiety I had felt over the last 9 months. We packed up the car and headed to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital and were checked into our room by 11:30pm. The nurse said because Kate's water had broke that if she could not go naturally they would have to induce. Of course they were going to give her 24 hours before they would induce.

Kate and I were a little concerned because we had been practicing our Hypnobirthing and were excited to put it to use. Maybe excited is the wrong word to use. I was a little worried about being able to use hypnosis on Kate, especially in front of the nurses coming and going. I had my scripts prepared and at bedside and I read them to Kate. These scripts help Kate enter hypnosis and manage her discomfort. I repeat my scripts and she also used her ipod to listen to a couple of other scripts. But generally speaking, they say the hypnosis helps you delivery your baby faster and with less discomfort. In fact during one of our practice sessions a few weeks earlier I tried a test with Kate while she was in hypnosis. The test was that as we went along I told her I was tying large helium filled balloons to her wrist. The balloons lifted her wrist to where she could not keep her arm on the chair. Slowly her arm raised up in the air until I started to cut the balloons one by one. After the practice session Kate told me she was alert to what I was telling her but no matter how hard she tried she could not lower her arm until I told her I was cutting them one by one. At this point I was pretty much convinced that this could work.

Needless to say, I believe the hypnosis worked because when we arrived at the hospital at 11:30 Kate was 2cm dilated and by 4:15am she was 10cm and ready to push. I think the nurse was caught a little off guard by this. We'd asked the nurse to not inform us what Kate's dilation was, so we had no idea how far she along she was already when she said she felt the need to push. The next thing you know it's 4:45am and our midwife has arrived and has given the ok to push. Half an hour later Joslyn was making her first appearance.

She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and I shed the first of many tears. Joslyn spent the next hour on Kate's tummy for skin to skin contact and her first breast feeding before they took her away to be given the once over. At this time she was handed to me and I held my baby girl for the first time. Again more tears, alot more tears. It was simply overwhelming the love I felt for Joslyn and Kate at that moment.

The last week has been just a wonderful blur. Kate is starting to feel a lot better and Joslyn seems to be following a little bit of a schedule. Hopefully she will maintain this schedule! I am looking forward to sharing all the wonderful things Joslyn and I will do.

As always thanks for all the support and thanks for reading!

Hello World

2008-07-23T12:02:00.003-06:00

My name is Joslyn Adele Mahoney and I am the newest member of the clan! I was born July 20th, 2008 at 5:16 a.m.. I weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. I was so excited to meet my mommy and daddy that I couldn't wait until my due date July 31st. So if you guessed I would be a girl and that I would be early you were correct! My daddy is telling me to thank everyone for checking the blog and that we will be posting more pictures of me and the family in the next couple of days and weeks. But since I've only meet a few people over the past couple of days I'm guessing most of you would like to see a picture of me! I have asked my daddy to help with this because I'm not sure how to do that yet. Daddy assures me that in a few years I will be showing my grandma and grandpa how to work the computer. For now I'm just happy I know how to type! Anyways below is a slide show of a few pictures mommy and daddy took of me. Some aren't very flattering but once I got cleaned up I look pretty cute or at least that's what everyone has been telling me.

Thanks for reading my first post and I look forward to meeting all of you very soon!

Joslyn-

Soon?

2008-07-18T13:07:00.004-06:00

Well, it's Friday afternoon, and I'm at home. The last few days have been very weird... Baby Thunder is definitely working her/his way down (lightening), as I can breathe a bit better but walking has become harder and now have to pee every 3 minutes with an urgency I've never before known! I've also been having periodic Braxton-Hicks contractions, which are pretty much painless tightening and release of my uterus, for the last couple weeks. (think "practice" contractions) In the last few days, sleeping has become pretty darn tough because of the frequency and strength of these contractions. Normally they get better during the day, but that too has been escalating the last two days--yesterday at work was not fun!

So, here I am today, hiding out in the basement at home. Other than being uncomfortable, I'm in good spirits. Papa Pete is doing well too, though, it seems to be hitting home with us both that we might actually be close now:)

We'll keep you all posted as things happen.

Love you lots!

Kateo

Stylin' Daddy!

2008-07-14T07:09:00.004-06:00

I finally finished Pete's Father's Day gift! The anticipation makes it that much sweeter, right?;) For those that don't know, I like to sew--not clothes really, and definitely nothing with a pattern that I have to buy in the store. I've found that I just don't have the patience for things that require me to follow directions.... Instead, I make things like diaper bags, curtains, funky pillows, etc where I sketch it out before hand and adapt on the fly:) So, each project is different than the last, and I learn something new every time.

So, on to Pete's gift! It's a messenger-style Daddy D-Bag--the colors, materials and external design were all chosen by the man himself, I was just responsible for the assembly. He lovingly calls the main fabric "Bass Boat Red". It's a heavyweight red vinyl w/red glitter sparkles in it, accented with white pleather racing strips; the inside lining/pockets are sport nylon. The final touch is the seat beat clasp on the shoulder strap--I scrounged around a salvage yard here in SLC to find it:) It was a fun project! (note that clicking on an image will allow you to see a bigger version)

SLC to ATL

2008-07-07T12:55:00.007-06:00

Hi All,

It looks like the Mahokenatez Clan is on the move! Kate and I along with Baby T will be moving to Atlanta, GA. We will make the move in late October early November. I am guessing we will start to look for housing in September. The upside to the move is that we will now be a 12 hour drive from family and friends back home in Wisconsin. The downside is that we have made so many new friends here in SLC that we will miss. Kate and I have had a hard time making this decision. I even spent a few hours in the ER because the anxiety was too much. But even after all of that we are looking forward to this new opportunity. As details come forward we will be sure to post them here. As always thanks for reading!!

The Fit is go!

2008-07-06T17:21:00.004-06:00

After dumping several thousands of dollars into Turbo Negro (turbo black Volvo XC70) and still not having everything fixed. Kate and I have traded her in for 2008 Honda Fit. We picked it up on The 4th and have put a 115 miles on it. This is my first new car! the Honda had 15 miles on it when we picked it up. Below are a few pictures of my new car! I'm excited about the 34 MPG considering the Volvo only got 19! Anyway - thanks for reading and stay tuned - Big news coming up!

Summer Has Arrived

2008-06-22T23:09:00.004-06:00

Summer has finally arrived in UT. This last week was solidly in the upper 80's and low 90's--yesterday was 93 and sunny and today hit 91 and sunny. Luckily it's a dry heat;)

So far, I've managed to stay cool (even during the day) without running the air conditioning. A woman from our neighborhood stopped by yesterday afternoon as Pete and I were hanging out on the front porch--she asked if we were running our air conditioning (the front door was wide open). I said "No, it hasn't really been hot enough", and with a look of surprise/disbelief she said that "Well, you must be miserable then!". Actually, no! I'm definitely warmer than normal, but even preggo, I still love the heat--must be my African blood! Plus, we're fortunate that in the evenings as the sun sets, all the cool air sinks down and runs out of the canyons just east of us and creates the most amazing natural air conditioning--as I write this, the temp has dropped down to 71 at the house (a 20 degree drop!). So, we just throw open all the windows, and the house cools down beautifully for sleeping:)

We've been doing lots to get ready for Baby Thunder's arrival. Right now, Pete and I are a little more than halfway though our Hypnobirthing natural childbirth technique class. We didn't know what to expect, but have really been enjoying it. Taught by a local doula (birth assistant), the class focuses on using hypnosis and focused breathing techniques to manage my comfort level during birth (they never refer to pain). The idea that the method is built on is that birthing is a natural process that should be dictated by the reflex of the mother's body. So, instead of Lamaze-like structured breathing and pushing, I've learned how to do breathing that builds on the "natural expulsive reflex" of my body. It's pretty cool stuff:) Plus, Pete has turned out to be quite a champ at putting me "under"--it's his deep, soothing voice:) The added bonus is that because I have not been sleeping well at all lately (can't get comfy), my time in hypnosis is fantastic for helping me feel at least a little more refreshed!

What else have we been doing? Well, the nursery is finally ready. Clothes are washed and put away. We're just about set for cloth diapers--there's one more set on the way, and then everything will be washed and ready to go! We recently ordered the neatest travel "crib" for Baby T--you can check it out at www.mytravelingbuddy.com. It's the Phil and Ted's Travel Cot--total packed weight is 6 lbs and collapses down into a small, easy to carry stuff sack that is perfect for any type of travel. We're pretty stoked about it!!! The one thing pending is the stroller--we've decided on using slings for most out and about (ie the Farmer's Market/grocery store) and the stroller will be the sport oriented Chariot brand. It's a better fit for us. We know what we want, we just need to order it now:) Other than that, the basics are ready to go. It's now just the waiting game! :)

What Happened to May?!?! Warp Speed!

2008-06-09T10:40:00.004-06:00

Ok, it's been a while since we've posted. Perhaps that would lead you to think that there's not really much going on worth talking about, but really, that is the farthest from the truth! The month of May was packed--from Florida, to Mother's Day, a trip back to Wisco for the baby shower, all kinds of goings on at work, and endless baby prep at home. I can't believe how fast time is flying by!!!

The trip back to WI for the baby shower was a blast! Held over Memorial Day Weekend, Addie (sis-in-law) and Eileen (Pete's mom) hosted the event for us--lots of family and friends joined us for the afternoon, and we were lucky enough to receive many beautiful, useful, and generous gifts from everyone. Addie, (who is also pregnant and probably used up a week's worth of energy running around organizing everything!) of course, thought of everything! Coloring books for the kids , a name game to help us with our name indecision, and beer-filled baby bottles for the menfolk! :) Who could ask for more at a shower?!

Unbelievably, that trip home was my last Kat (mid-wife) approved travel---I am now far enough along and preggo looking enough that air hosts/hostess seem to be a bit nervous as they see me board the plane:) And, maybe they are right... The trip back to SLC was a tough one--it was a growing day for me (I tend to grow in spurts about 12 hrs long that are very achy, tight, and exhausting) and we had about 4.5 hrs of uncomfortable flying and a jaunt through the Minneapolis airport. Finally arriving home and being able to go lay in my own bed was a beautiful thing that day:)

But, rest assured that I have done everything in my power to make sure that Baby Thunder embodies the same wanderlust as his/her Momma! In 7.5 Months, Baby T has been to:

Backcountry camping in UT's Red Rocks Country
Tucson, Arizona
Georgia (2 times)
Wisconsin (2 times)
Up and down Central California Coast
Las Vegas
Anna Maria Island, Florida

Pete and I are excited to be able to be able to introduce Baby to all the cool places in the world--"Oh the places you will go!".

My 1st Mother's Day...

2008-05-11T21:57:00.004-06:00

Has been a great one! Pete was on a roll this weekend, moving/re-arranging/assembling furniture to get Baby Thunder's room ready. Because of the big shift of several other rooms we had to do in order to empty out the upstairs guest bedroom, it was a big project! For that fact alone, I felt like his cheerful willingness to do all the work was the best Mom's Day gift he could have given. Little did I know what else he had up his sleeve!

This morning, he got up earlier with Odessa for her morning food and potty routine. After I got up and got showered, he gave me the sweetest card "from" Baby Thunder, which of course made me weep with controlled happiness:) We're hanging out for a little while, and then Odessa rings her bell to go outside to go potty (it's actually quite the cute yet practical trick!). I open the kitchen door and WHAM!--there under the carport--is the most beautiful cruiser bike from Elektra. And, it's for me!!! At this point, I'm crying so hard I can barely speak:) And, it rides as sweet as it looks! So, make sure you check out this week's photos in the Week-by-Week album so you can see my awesome new ride!!!

Here's some special hugs and love to all my "mom-friends" out there!

kateo

Florida

2008-05-11T21:46:00.003-06:00

I surprised Pete with a trip down to Ana Marie Island, FL from 5/3 through 5/7 for some sun-filled quality time together. We've been back for less than a week, and my tan is already fading!! :(

We had a great long weekend 5/3 through 5/7 enjoying the beach, the pool, and general vacation laziness with Pete's parents down at a resort on the Gulf side of FL. It was about 85 and sunny the whole time, with just enough of a breeze that you never really felt hot--it was heavenly! So, if you looked at the week by week slideshow, you'll see me proudly sportin' my "prego-kinni" on the beautiful sandy beach for week 27:)

Lots of fun! But, of course as vacations go, it was not nearly long enough:)

Unexpected

2008-05-09T20:37:00.004-06:00

A week ago today (5/2), my poor little car (affectionately named Emzie) had some excitement. I was in in a fender bender that I--unfortunately!--was deemed at fault.

Driving to work on Friday a.m., I was exiting the freeway behind a small SUV on a long merge lane that feeds into the main west-bound lanes. As he continued around the corner and began merging, I looked over into my blind spot and in that spilt second, he had stopped cold in front of me, for reasons never identified. So, I rear-ended him and my little Mazda slid right underneath the back. No airbags went off, but I did go into my seatbelt fairly hard. His car was pretty much fine, but my hood was crunched up and my bumper took some impact.

Pete was home because we were supposed to leave for a wedding that night in Moab. I felt fine, and had a friend take me home a couple hours after the accident. We headed to the hospital so that they could monitor Baby Thunder. S/He sounded great--good heartbeat, lots of movement. I, however, was having some minor contractions. Drinking a bunch of water helped, but they were still happening about 4 or 5 minutes apart. So, they gave me a shot of tribulene to relax my uterus and after five hours, they sent us home with orders for bed rest until we left for Florida on Saturday late morning. Thankfully, all has been well since then.

100 days and counting

2008-04-22T22:33:00.004-06:00

100 days and counting - Kate and I are starting to freak out! When you go to the doctor for the first time they send you home with this packet of crap that tells you what to expect and what you will need before the baby arrives. today I looked at the list and realized we had purchased 3 things, 3 things! Really all we did was purchase a crib, mattress and dresser. So needless to say we need to start getting ready. Kate and I have a lot of things going on right now - Kate's job is of course in a state of flux because we know her MFG Plant is closing but where does KC want us to go next. Do we even want to move? We do love SLC! and I have a possible opportunity coming up with Petzl. Which makes this time very stressful for us. "One day at a time and evaluate options as they come our way" that is what Kate says and I have to agree.

Wish us luck!

Visit with Kat

2008-04-06T22:01:00.002-06:00

Little Wee One and I had our monthly visit with Kat, our midwife, this last week. Kat happily informs me that so far, our pregnancy is normal.

I haven't felt Baby move yet, but she is not concerned as the placenta is at the front of the womb which provides another layer of "cushion" against the kicks and punches going on in there. I've had good growth and weight gain is on track (though she advises me to not fall prey to the chocolate milk cravings too often!) The weird tingling I've had right at the top center of my abs, just below the high point of my ribs is apparently also normal. I'd thought maybe it was Baby's little tuft of hair tickling me (just kidding!), but Kat says that it is my abs straining and potentially separating. I don't like the sound of that! But, most importantly, Baby Thunder's heartbeat was good and strong, which is always reassuring. So, back we go in another four weeks:)

Oh, and winter continues. More rain/snow and upper 30s/low 40s all week this week. I'm seriously beginning to worry that I will outgrow all of my warm clothes before warmer weather comes! Two more sweaters were retired this last week, so the inventory is quickly diminishing. Luckily, I travel to Roswell GA next week for work, so I'll be able to wear some of the properly fitting clothes that it is still to cold here in SLC to wear!

love you all!
kateom

Nesting?

2008-03-31T22:24:00.002-06:00

Not sure what hit me this weekend--think it might have been that elusive "nesting" thing that everyone keeps telling me about. All I know is: a) I was driven by strange forces to be amazingly productive and b) Pete was great--my own personal manual laborer moving shelves, gear, and other heavy stuff.
To house Baby Thunder in the other upstairs bedroom, we are having to shift the guest room to the downstairs office, and the office to the gear room, which in turn becomes the gear room/office. So, this weekend's project was sorting, straightening, and rearranging the gear room to make way for the office "stuff". It was actually kind of fun:)

On a side note, it is amazing for me to look at the pictures of myself as I grow... I know that I feel bigger and can feel a growth spurt coming, but when I see the pictures, I can actually see the difference. In this last week's photo (Week 22), I was a bit bigger than the week before(they weren't lying about the 1/2 inch!)--but, for me the main difference was in how I felt. It was like sometime on Saturday night/Sunday morning, Baby Thunder shifted positions. S/He'd been hanging onto the bottom of my ribs, but by the end of the weekend, it was like s/he'd settled in, and all the pressure/weight was much lower in my tummy. I'm not sure which I prefer! :)

We had snow again today (Monday early a.m.)--about 4 inches at the house--and we're supposed to have highs in the low 40s all week. I need warm spring to arrive sooner than later, as I am rapidly outgrowing all of the sweaters and long sleeves I bought to carry me through to warmer weather. If this cold stuff keeps up, I may actually have to go out and buy a new coat!

Hugs and Love!

kate

New Stuff!

2008-03-23T21:04:00.003-06:00

Pete and I have posted a few new things to the blog in the last couple weeks, so be sure to check them out! Along the left side of the page, you'll see a poll, a slide show of our ultrasound pictures, and a slide show of my expanding tummy that we will be updating each week.

We also learned that the blog had been set up so that only "gmail" users could post--we've now changed it to allow anyone to post without signing up! We'd love to hear from you all:)

hugs!

kate

Ultrasound

2008-03-12T21:33:00.005-06:00

March 3rd, 2008 - We had our first ultrasound! I have to admit the notion of becoming a father is a little scary. Everyone I talk to about this seems to assure me that everything will be just fine. True enough, my father has managed quite well and has never showed a hint of nervousness about being a father or soon to be grandpa. Now, I know I've heard stories about my father dropping me off at grandma Mahoney's with a fully loaded diaper and asking for a little help. I'm sure there will be plenty of calls asking "how do I do this?" or "am I doing this right?". But so far I seem to be handling it all in stride. Thats why I am happy to post the first pictures of our baby. Before this ultrasound any time I saw ultrasound pictures it all looked like a blurry mess. But now that it's my baby it's all crystal clear. From the tiny button nose to the little throwing arm, it's perfectly clear!

Now that Kate is 20 weeks, we plan to take pictures every week to document the growth of her belly. We have read that she will grow approximately 1/2 inch every week for the next 20 weeks. I think it's cool, but Kate's a little scared by that. We will post it as a slide show for your viewing pleasure, updated weekly.

Food!

2008-03-02T21:12:00.002-07:00

Well, whatever was going on with my food issues, seems to have pretty much faded away! Relief! Dairy is agreeable again, so I've now been able to enjoy ice cream, chocolate milk (my latest craving!), and fruit smoothies made even better through the glory of yogurt:) Animal proteins have also been ok lately, though I still have a little bit of a hard time with beef. While I can eat meat again, cooking it is out of the question as the thought/sight of raw meat is wholly unappealing!

I haven't really had any "weird" cravings, though I did crave midget dill pickles, Pearson's Nut Rolls (sweet & salty goodness!), and now I am crazy about cakes, cupcakes, doughnuts, and any cake-like sweets washed down with chocolate milk. I guess it could be worse--greasy foods, fast foods, etc aren't even tempting:)

I do have to laugh though, as I've become like a squirrel. I have food caches everwhere! Since I am hungry at least every hour, I keep food in my desk, in my purse, in the car, in my gym bag, so that I can eat anytime the need strikes:) I'm curious to see what I weigh at at our appt tomorrow:)