Urban Challenge - Challenge completed!

Before the race

We worked so hard for so long for THIS day. Yesterday was challenge day. I couldn't sit still, I was so excited! We were the first 2 teams at Gallivan Plaza, we were the second to check in because Pie R round is a pushy team! (=) I can say it because it was my husbands team) I almost regretted getting there so early because sitting and waiting for the start felt like forever! They finally set us free with our first clue!

From screen to screen,

You'll go near and far,

Answering questions

on film noir.

Head to the Gateway

4 blocks west,

And enter the doors

of the Megaplex. 

So we raced over to the movie theater at gateway. Not the fastest there but not too bad. We get there and they tell us there is a movie still on the screen outside of each theater and we have to write down the name of each movie. Wellllll movie buff I am, I knew most of them. Wish upon a Star had me down for a minute. I was standing there reciting the whole dang movie but couldn't think of the name. La Dayna got that one out and we were good to go! 10 out of 10 on movies! Woo!

From there they handed us an envelope with the rest of our clues in it. We could complete them in any order from here.

Next we went with:

Go to a place named

after Lois' friend,

Filled with science and

Knowledge from beginning to end.

Then if you win,

It's your claim to fame,

Bring order from chaos

In this Galactic game.

So we headed down to Clark Planetarium. There we had to put the planets in their rightful order. We were pretty quick in this one and got them all right. Then we headed to our next one.

Next to the place

where the "Mailman" delivered

You'll find a statue

Made of bronze - not chrome.

Try to look good;

Be sure to say cheese,

And try to recall all the facts,

If you please.

This sent us to the Delta Center (I know it has a new name now but I'm old and cant remember it) We had our picture taken with the Malone and Stockton statues then we were given a Jazz trivia sheet. Dude. This was hard. I knew ONE answer. Out of 10. Luckily, we could use our phones or ask anyone. So we googled most of them, some of them were even tough to google. It probably took us 10 minutes, calls to each of our moms and lots of google re-wording to figure out all the answers. We pulled of a 10 out of 10 though! (by the way, the one I knew was Who made a 3 pointer of Charles Barkleys head in 97 to make it to the finals? John Stockton! Shot heard around the world! And Karl Malone has granted more wishes for Make-a-Wish then any other Jazz player)  

Our next clue I thought would take us to Rio Grande Cafe but I was mistaken so I wasted a little bit of our time there so we put it back in our deck and went to another one.

Just before the hub

of Utah's newest train,

You'll find your next challenge

Sitting on dubs.

Pick the right tool

And you'll have it down pat,

But if you fail this next challenge

You, too, will fall flat.

So we headed to the Frontrunner depot. There we had to fix a bike tire. Neither of us had ever done it. In fact, La Dayna's tire had a flat that very morning. She bought a new tube and brought her bike to Gallivan with a flat tire and Brandon fixed it because neither of us knew how. We really wished we had done it, get some non-timed practice in. So, we have a tube, a tire and the frame. The timer goes off and we get to put it all put together. La Dayna really did most of it, I think I was more of a hindrance then a help here. We got it all together then had to pump it up. We kept trying and it wasn't filling with air! She kept adjusting it and after a few times it started going! Woo! Done! We got it done in around 4 and a half minutes. I was impressed with us for that time. Neither of us had any idea what we were doing. We didn't get the 1:16 record but not too shabby!

Our "bad taxi driver"

Our "bad taxi driver"

After that we jumped on Trax to get to our next challenge. We ended up waiting on trax for probably 15 minutes. We joked that it was our "bad taxi driver" but we finally made it.

Long day got you frustrated with

your teammate?

Travel to "adventures first

stop" on Broadway,

But don't be late.

Its time to take out your aggression

the way they do on the ice!

So we got of the train back at Gallivan and headed up Broadway to the Maverick on 500 e. They had a tent set up there with 2 duffle bags of hockey gear. We had to open it up and put it all on as quick as possible then one person had to pull the other persons jersey up over their head. We got the gear on pretty quick but I made a fool of myself trying to pull her jersey up! I had the hockey gloves on and just could NOT grip it. I tried and tried and finally got it. It was an interesting challenge. Before it started I told La Dayna, we got this! Moms are used to getting dressed fast! Guess hockey gear is a teensy bit different then t-shirt and jeans. =)

The Rio is a place you 

normally get water,

But in this "Rio" place

You'll get even hotter.

This building lies

on the 4th block south,

So put on your game face,

And prepare your mouth!

This is the clue that I thought was Rio Grande Cafe but we asked around and found the right place. Ride over a block to Cafe Rio. They give us a 4 oz cup of salsa and say one of us has to eat it as quick as we can. I say I will do it then stare it down for a second and La Dayna says "oh, just let me do it!" and she starts pouring it in her mouth. So damn impressive! She got the whole thing down in 14 seconds! I was very impressed. 

Then I tell her the next clue and both of us sigh. We know whats coming next, or have a good idea anyway. And its not going to be pretty!

Don't think about stopping,

You're far from done,

If you want to get physical,

We can get you some.

In Richmond Park

There's a challenge for you,

So stretch your muscles and

You'll be told what to do. Hooah!

After finishing boot camp!

Ahh boot camp. How I loathe you. We knew it would be put in somewhere but didn't know what we would be expected to do. We thought we would be doing push-ups (still glad we didn't have to do push-ups!) Instead we got our faces camouflaged by a big, loud man who was telling us there was a war happening and we had to prepare. First flip this GIGANTIC tire end over end down to that cone waaaay down there. And then back. I hate that tire. I will have nightmares forever about that tire. Next lay shoulder to shoulder with this giant log on your guts and do 30 crunches. Then RUN down to the other end of the park and swing the kettlebell 30 times. I thought my arms were going to fall off after 10, I wanted to cry by 20 so I did all I could do, pick up the pace. The girl timing us said TIME and I collapsed. She told us 3 minutes and 30 seconds. And I asked for which part?!? The WHOLE THING! While, I personally, thought we spent 10 minutes just with the giant awful tire alone, we did the WHOLE THING in 3 and a half minutes. She told us we were  one of the very fastest times all day. We worked hard for this whole thing but this moment right here was where I was proudest of us. We were amazing!

You look hot, but fire is hotter!

Nestled between an oily pond, 

a collection of bird cages,

and hippies playing drums...

You'll find a red truck

That can cool the burn.

You, however, will be dousing the

flames the old fashioned way.

After our Fire Brigade task

So we bike over to Liberty park, exhausted from boot camp. My lungs hurt so bad. But the bike ride over was good, kind of loosened us up after our tough 3 1/2 minutes. We get to the fire truck in the middle of Liberty Park and they tell us we are part of an old fashioned fire brigade. One of us has to man the fire hose hooked up to the fire truck and the other one has a bucket. We have to fill the bucket with the hose and run it down to a trash can and fill up the trash can. Since La Dayna did the salsa I told her I would do the bucket. We tried having her spray it about halfway down so I didn't have to run back and forth as far, though it might be faster it took a few tries but we got it to work out. Not halfway but about a 1/3rd. It was a pretty fun challenge. I was beyond drenched. 7 minutes under a fire hose tends to make someone a bit wet and I didn't take the time to try to stay dry. 7 minutes was far from a record but we were ok with it. 

If you need a car

Then put out your feelers,

It's sitting at Utah's

First Leed-Certified dealer!

Toyota Cars are good

But a truck would be better,

So start heading south to 

find your next challenge letter.

I had to have my mom tell me where this one was. I still don't know what leed-certified is. But we make it down to Mark Miller Toyota where we find puzzles of downtown buildings. We have to put them together and write down the name of each building. We got docked 1 point for putting the Cathedral instead of Cathedral of the Madeleine. It was the only trivia point we missed the entire challenge. So it stinks but oh well.

Our final clue!

You're finally there

You're nearly done,

The grand-prize is waiting

and needs to be won.

Go back to the place

Where this whole day began, 

And complete the 

Challenge puzzle at hand.

I told La Dayna at the car dealership, I've never gone to gallivan not on trax, I don' know how to get there! Then I realize that we are right by a trax stop so we follow the trax line to get there. It got windy right at the end and we had to ride straight into the wind most of the way back. Right before we get back La Dayna asks me "so why didn't we just hop on the train to get back?" Ugh, nice one. Good thing we aren't judged on time between challenges. But we make it back and we are about the 13th team to return. Our last challenge is to put the words of the Make-A-Wish mission statement in order. We finish it in 51 seconds! No one beat our time on that, as far as I know! 

So we hang out for awhile and eat and listen to bands. My mom brought my kids down for the winner announcements. They had a kids area of crafts and games for the kids to play. Zach was really wound tight and driving me bonkers but I am glad they were there. They do the first set of prizes, this is a drawing. For every $20 in fundraising each team got they get 1 ticket in the drawing and 1 point for their team. We had 69 entries for the drawing. We won a $5 gift card for bbq and a $15 gift card for biker id bracelets. Then they had another band play while they finished tabulating the final scores. They say they are ready to announce the winners! Woo! We go sit down and wait to hear! They say who got the Strength prize, the prize for doing the very best in the challenges. Next is Hope points, the team that raised the most money for Make-A-Wish. We knew we didn't win here, we were a close 2nd but just not quite there. Next was the Joy points. The only thing we thought, KNEW, we would win was Joy points. There is no possible way anyone beat us in Joy points, we thought. So we are all ready to jump up for this one and they say "The winner is.... THE SPENSTARS!" Quite a few people saw our faces for this one, we were shocked. I cant speak for La Dayna but I thought it would be the only prize we won. Next they are going to announce the winner! But first, since so many teams worked SO hard they have added 2nd and 3rd places. 3rd place goes to WONDER TWINS! They were really amazing, they worked so hard too. We honestly considered them our big competition. I figured if they got 3rd we got 2nd or 4th. I was betting on 4th. I didn't think it was possible that we beat them. So next they announce 2nd and I honestly can not remember who got it! My mind went blank when they didn't say us and I didn't hear who. Lame, I know. Next they are ready to announce the winners! I was trying to figure out who it might be. I didn't know who all the teams were but I had figured out quite a few of them. Then sweet Jessica up by the stage says "The grand prize winner of a week in Akumal, Mexico is.... FANNY PACKIN' SISTER WIVES!!" and I just start screaming! I couldn't hear anything over my own screaming. We had won! We went up against all of these tough, strong, amazing teams and WON! I had about an hour one day weeks ago when I really thought we could win. That was it. It wasn't part of my thoughts that we could really win. I was TRYING to win but so were so many other people! 

I know this sounds a bit like winning was REALLY important to me and it kinda was but not for the prize. Even if there was no prize I would have worked this hard to win. Every step of it was for Make-A-Wish. I didn't want to do it half-way. Plus, it was one of the hands-down funnest things I have EVER done. Every second of this was amazing and fun. I had the best partner I could ever dream of having. She and I work so well together and have so much fun doing it. La Dayna, I love you! And I will be forever thankful you are my friend! 

The Fanny Packin' Sister Wives raised $1,380 for Make-A-Wish! We were unfriended by people on facebook for our constant pestering but I think it was worth it! Thank you to everyone who donated, your hard-earned money is going to an AMAZING cause! La Dayna and I put our heart and souls into this fundraiser and loved every minute of it! I'm already excited for next year! Next year is going to be even tougher but we will give it our all again!