Mountain Biking Season in Full Swing

This past week has been full of fun mountain biking!  I bet you're hoping that I won't be posting every single ride we go on this summer.  And fear not, I won't!  :o)  Just some of the highlights.

Deer Creek Trail

Boys just don't get it.  I told Chris and Jay that I was dying going up Bear Creek Trail, and still they decide to take me on Deer Creek Trail which is steeper than BCT and much more technical!  I was definitely very tired.  It was even hard going down because of all the rocks.  I need to get in shape!  This is the only time I was smiling during this ride.

This is the studly, one and only, Christopher Michael Long going down the most technical section of Deer Creek Trail.  Needless to say I walked.  It's actually a lot harder than it looks, although he did make it look easy!  If only I could ride like him!

Buffalo Creek "Extra" Big Ride

What a beautiful day for a ride with Chris, Jay, Cyndi, Jose, Micki, and Heath.  The first couple of miles were a killer climb that took 1.5 hours,  but luckily not technical.  The downhill after that was great!  We did of course get lost, which added another 600 feet of climbing, ouch!  It's funny, Chris has done plenty of orienteering and has even helped instruct it.  But he still manages to get lost several times a year during our already epic mountain bike or back packing adventures.  He keeps saying he's not going to lead anymore but no one else is willing to accept the challenge.  I'm not sure if I actually bonked, but I was definitely super tired and my legs were sore afterwards!

Chris and myself, Jay, and Heath wondering if the top would ever come.

What a cute picture of Micki and Jose!

Trader Joe's in Santa Fe

On May 20th we had the pleasure of flying to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The reason for our destination: Trader Joe's!  And it was as fabulous as ever!  I LOVE that place!  We stocked up on dry items and spent almost $100!   Next time we're bringing a cooler.  If any of you aren't familiar with Trader Joe's, I'm sorry but you're missing out!  It is the GREATEST grocery store in the world!  I'm not sure how I would describe it to do it justice.  Their website: http://www.traderjoes.com/ describes it as "your neighborhood grocery store" and is that but so much more.  They have almost everything you could possibly want and much more, and it's quality food.  They assure that their products "contain NO artificial flavors, colors or preservatives; NO MSG; and NO added Trans Fats. In addition, ALL Trader Joe's private label products are sourced from non-genetically modified ingredients."  They also have a wide variety of natural and organic foods that seem to be much cheaper than at Wild Oats, Whole Foods, or Vitamin Cottage.  They have the yummiest snacks, desserts, corn bread, sourdough bread, etc.  In fact I don't think I've ever had anything I didn't like.  Unfortunately we don't have any in Colorado.  I heard the reason is because they sell liquor and are open on Sundays, and Colorado has some kind of law that grocery stores can't sell liquor on Sundays.  So far I've been able to go about once a year (of more if I'm super lucky) in California.  But now that Chris is working on cross country flying hours, hopefully we'll head down to New Mexico more often!  Okay, enough about Trader Joe's.  If you're lucky enough to live near one, check it out!  :o)

The flight to Santa Fe was as smooth as can be, about two and a half hours.  I don't really remember even one bounce of turbulance (Although I will admit that I was sleeping during part of it, imagine that!)  I got to fly the plane for about 15 minutes.  It was a bit harder than I had expected but I was starting to get the hang of it towards the end I think.  Now I have even more respect for what Chris does while I check out the amazing views and sleep.  ;o)

The flight back was a bit more turbulent but still beatiful and fun and always an adeventure in the turbulance.  What a fantastic day!  :o)

Mountain Flying!

Last weekend we went on our first mountain fight!  The ceiling of our plane is about 14,000 feet so we only went up to about 13,000 feet through the passes.  Needless to say, we were not flying over the snow-capped mountains you can see in the background.  It's so much fun looking at our mountains from a different angle.  They look so much smaller!

The view as we were heading out of Denver towards the mountains.

Wellington Lake (in the background), where my XTERRA Triathlon will be in June, and where our Young Women's Camp is going to be in July which I'm the assistant director of our ward for.

This was extremely exciting!  This is 11 Mile Reservoir, where Chris proposed on July 21, 2004.   It's hard to believe it's been almost four years!  The story:  We wanted to go on a little trip for our one year anniversary of our first kiss, which is when Chris thinks we started dating however, I thought we were just "hanging out as friends" until about September.  But we still celebrate on this date.  (Okay, I know we're a little lame about dates and mesaversaries and stuff.  But we love it!)  I was so excited to be going canoeing for the first time- something I had always wanted to do.  Chris kept saying that he had a surprise for me, but I had no idea what was coming!  We paddled into a beautiful little cove and he read an incredibly sweet note.  After hearing it I almost expected a proposal.  But there wasn't one.  He handed me a gift.  I unwrapped it to find a buoyant whistle.  I looked at him puzzled and he was smiling from ear to ear.   I looked back at the whistle and saw a beautiful ring attached.  And that's when he popped the question.

The Happily Engaged Couple!

The Ring's History:  I think a proposal was one of the last things I had expected for many reasons.  Chris never mentioned anything about.  We never went ring shopping, he never dropped any hints or tried to determine what I would like.  I also knew that he didn't have the money to buy an engagement ring.  So I was almost in shock when I saw it.  But this ring was super special.  It was the ring Chris' father had given his mother.  AND Chris' grandmother, whom I absolutely adore, helped Chris' dad pick it out.  The ring couldn't be more perfect for me.  It fits perfectly, and with the wedding band and additional two diamonds, it is my dream ring come true!  It's simple and elegant and totally different from the rings now-a-days.  We were able to have the band made to match perfectly with a diamond on either side of the center stone.  I love my ring!  You know how a lot of women want upgrades?  I'm not saying I wouldn't turn it down, but I would always wear this one too.

I'm not the only one who was super excited about our engagement!  (Please excuse the hat.)  :-)

My very studly, handsome, and muscular husband paddling.  The previous picture of 11 Mile from the air doesn't do it justice.  It was beautiful!

A beautiful sunset to end our glorious engagement day!

And now back to our flight... We flew to Alamosa, CO and it was a great flight despite some turbulence over the passes and the windy landings.  Won't the wind here ever stop?!  Not to mention, April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, not May showers bring June flowers.  That's the way it's looking though.  We're still waiting for Green Mountain to turn green for a few weeks before it turns into brown mountain.  During our flight back to Denver we fueled up in Salida which is a great town for white water rafting!  What an fun day and what awesome memories it brought back!  :o)

Mountain Biking in Moab

With snow still on the trails in Colorado, it was time to take a trip to Moab, Utah where mountain biking season is already underway.  Debbie had to work so it was Jay and I meeting up with about 20 other people.  Annie and Mike were going early to reserve a campsite.

Jay came to pick me up and we were on the road at about 3:00 pm.  Before we got to Moab, Jay talked to Annie and found that they were two hours behind us.  We arrived in Moab at about dark and went to the pre-planned campsite, which was full.  After looking at several different campsites in the dark we finally found a spot to camp for the night that had room for everybody.  The next day we found our permanent camping site for the weekend.  And then it was off to Amasa Back for some biking.

This is the beginning of Amasa Back.  It's very rocky and loose.

These are the La Sal Mountains in the background. This is my 70's stud chest hair style shirt!

Jay and I near the end of Amasa Back. Awesome views down to the river.

This is right before he fell and bounced down to the river. We picked him up later floating to California.

This is on the Sovereign Trail the next day. Our group was way too big. We lost Mike and it took us way longer than it should have by trying to keep the group kind of together.

Jay on Gunny Loop near Grand Junction on the way home.

It was a fun trip with plenty of riding. I wish Debbie could have been there with me.

If you're interested in seeing the workout part of the rides, you can see it at mtngoat14k.motionbased.com