Unintentional colour coordination of christmas presents

Thank you all! And well done. Yellow is now my 2nd favourite colour, after green.

Introducing Taylor McCamey

Baby Mac has a new cousin- Taylor. Born December 21,2010 at 4.32pm AEST - 6lb 4oz and 20.9 inches (53cm) long.
She is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait 'til they meet each other in June. Congratulations Kath & Matt.

2nd Ultrasound

It has legs and arms and eyes and a nose. It was bouncing around all hiccupy like, almost like it was performing for the ultrasound!

Seattle

Thanks to David and Kim for hosting us for a few days in Seattle, ran the Seattle Marathon and in general getting into trouble :) Black tux restaurants, hole in the wall Gin bars, the locks, new United/Continental airlines route from Houston to Auckland, Pike Place and Michelle eating an entire crab and lots more.

Kim
David and Trilby
After the run, finished in 3.50! 9 minutes faster than last time. Beautiful course, perfect weather, all round great day. 1.51 split. Slowgeek stats here: http://slowgeek.com/ru/jmccamey/498090246

1st Ultrasound

9 weeks 6 days in ... 1st ultrasound. Michelle has joined a research study at LDS hospital, which means more prodding and free ultrasounds. It's 4cm, equivalent to 11 weeks at this point. So now we have seen it, and heard it, i guess it must be real :)

Baby mac's house

Heartbeat

There's a heartbeat. There's something GROWING inside Michelle. All healthy and normal at this stage. One heartbeat could be heard, not bad for 10 weeks. All of sudden this feels real.

St George and Snow Canyon Half Marathon

1 year after the first half marathon, thought i should go back and do it again! Snow Canyon Half Marathon, St George, Utah, slightly different course, faster, no annoying trail section and 1150 people. Beautiful day, started running at sunrise and finished in 1 hour 34 minutes - that's 20 minutes faster than last year! 15 minutes faster than my previous best set in January. Stats are here (official times) and here (slowgeek). We spent some time exploring Snow Canyon as well, such a beautiful part of the world. If it was near the ocean i'd live there in an instant. Next stop Seattle Marathon at the end of the month.

Exploring Snow Canyon.


Thumbs up.
Battle scar.

A Question of Religion...

So since becoming pregnant, one of the nightmares I have had is what role will religion have in my kid's life. I was brought up Church Of England, went to a Catholic school, but after much questioning since I was 10, am now atheist. I remember as a kid, the only thing I liked about going to church was the choir and my grandma's singing. The priest's costume was pretty cool too.

I found this article by Malcolm Knox.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/altar-egos-20101105-17hlj.html

It's a common sensicle approach and I believe that my kid should be exposed to everything and then make up it's own mind in relation to this matter. Much like I did.

We'll see what happens when this all comes to fruition.

Scrabble

Michelle just whooped James' butt at Scrabble with this move. Oh yeah- we are pregnant. Baby Mac due about mid June.

Won't be posting anything on facebook, but please feel free to share with family.

I Voted Early

Beats the lines on election day.

Amanda's Visit

Cousin Amanda visited us on her way from Hawaii to Colorado.

Michelle and Amanda - band shot on the Bonneville Salt Flats, no smiles allowed.

James and Amanda - floating in the Salt Lake

SLC Olympics

Meat pies and sausage rolls at the Kiwi Bakery. Chek'm out bro.

Next to the mormon teleporter (inside the gates!).

Merry christmas Sydney McCamey family.

Four Years of Golf

Four years of eBay golf teams. Placed 3rd in 2008 and 2009!

2007 - Matt, Erin, Nate, James @ Bonneville
2008 - Erin, John, Matt, James @ Meadowbrook
2009 - James, Erin, Eric, John @ Old Mill
2010 - James, John, Joe, Erin @ Wingpointe

Great Salt Lake

Michelle took some lovely photos while we were at the Salt Lake on Sunday. Floating in the lake is quite meditative.

House sitting with Phoenix

Nice having a dog around. Not pictured is Sota the cat, she's off exploring and didn't want to pose for a photo.

Park City Marathon

After exactly one year of training, finished my first marathon yesterday. Park City was the host, 42km through the trails of the Wasatch mountains. We stayed at the Canyons, driving up the day before to get used to the altitude. 1st 10km went according to plan, nothing too unusual apart from the tiny tunnel under the freeway. The next 20km were killers, 100% uphill, gained about 1000ft, into the wind, hence were the slowest kms of the run. This was mostly in a straight line as well. The last section was mostly downhill, which would have been great if i could move my legs, by that point i was done, tired, sleepy, wanting to stop etc. But, kept going. Training prepared me for a 22 mile run, that last 4.2 miles were the hardest. Some bands on the course, saw cows, horses, ducks and geese, great spectators, fantastic scenery. With half a mile to go, looked at my watch and realized i had a chance to break 4 hours - which was my goal right up until that middle 20km uphill part. Crossed the line in 3.59:51 (gun time). 3.59:26 (chip time). Exact run details here at the awesome slowgeek site.This was a hard marathon for everyone, the overall winner ran a 2.53. Check results here. Exceeded my goal of 1/ finishing 2/ breaking 4 hours. As a bonus, looks like i came 12th (out of 37) in my age group, 55th (out of 256) for all males, and 77th (out of 442) overall, excluding DNS and DNF. Next stop, transition to lighter/barefoot shoes, and try and break 3.45. Must have enjoyed myself if i'm already thinking about the next one!

Pre dawn at the start area.

Lining up, no idea what was about to happen. Surprisingly emotional here, given this had been a year in the making.

Just after finishing and breaking 4 hours.
You can't tell, but emotions were high at this time, going between crying and laughing every 10 seconds.

Michelle was such a huge support over the last year, patiently waiting for me while i was out running, making awesome food, encouraging me, celebrating with me, putting up with me talking about this run non stop since May. Thanks Mich!

Park City marathon tomorrow!

Jetta mk2 turns 66666

Between SLC and Cedar City.

San Francisco

Last minute trip to San Fran, staying downtown and visiting the stubhub office. Meetings went well I think! Also did 7 mile run around the peninsula, not quite all the way to the bridge. Interesting town, feels like Sydney. Busy.

Jane Eyre & Dad's Visit

Dad visited in late June, we had a great time at Snowbird for Father's Day, lounging by the pool, and seeing Michelle star in Jane Eyre the Musical! Enjoyable show, very professional (as professional if not more professional than the most professional play i've seen in Utah). Those many many weeks of Michelle singing at home paid off. In other news, she has quit her job at the bank and is 10,000x happier. Excellent.

Dad decided to get the biggest beer on the menu.
Galloping up to the drive...
After the show.
Top of Snowbird. It was cold!

Oil spill in Liberty Park

Still cleaning up after a Chevron pipe burst. No birds, too quiet. Sad for SLC.

State Capitol Half Marathon

Waking up at 5am to run the State Canyon Half Marathon? Starting at Olympus Hills Shopping Center and finishing at the Utah State Capitol, with trips through Parley's Canyon, the U of U and some crazy hills. Easily the hardest long run i've ever attempted, even had a couple of miles of trails (usually straight up). Very pretty course, highly recommended. Knee held up well, i think i'm more tired from waking up at 5am than running 21 kms. Ran a 1.50, only one minute off PB, which considering the difficult i'm very happy with. Next stop: Park City Marathon, August 21st.

Before the race with Erin.
Finish at State Capitol.
The final sprint to the end, running with Tim.