We're All Grown Up

Last week I had the opportunity to have dinner with my brother and sister.  I think this is the first time ever with just them.  We treated them to the Texas Roadhouse, yum!  It was soooooooo much fun!  Now that Laura lives 45 minutes away and John lives an hour and a half away we need to hang out more!  They're the best brother and sissie ever!  I love them so much!

Climbing!

After many years of not climbing, our friend Corey called the night before and asked if we wanted to go either climbing or mountain biking.  We ended up choosing climbing.  We went to North Table Mountain in Golden.  It was a gorgeous day and so much fun to go climbing again!

On the first route within the first couple of feet off the ground, Chris fell, making Corey swing like a monkey on a vine.

Chris rockin'  the route called "Thelma"

Me on "Louise"

Kicking back in the shade!

 

It looks like I'm way up there, but really it was a nice hike up!

Me on "Lemons, Limes, and Tangerines"

Chris on Deck Chairs on the Titanic

I did all of the routes the guys did, but I had some help on the last couple.  The last route, "Deck Chairs", was the hardest, a 5.9+.  In fact, I can't really say I did it.  I made it this far up only because Chris was totally "pulling" me up.  He helped a lot in the beginning and then a couple of other spots I got stuck in.  

Our Western Dream Trip

(Chris's) Western Dream Trip.  Way back in the day, almost a year ago when Chris was just starting to take private pilot lessons he planned a trip from Colorado to California catching spectacular views and stopping to visit loved ones.  That dream came true for us!

Our flight to Cali was amazing!  The only thing that could've made it better was if I didn't have to sleep most of it.  We left at about 5am as soon as I got home from working my hardest shift in the critical care unit.  So I was exhausted and slept most of the flight.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  The scenery was breathtaking.  We flew through mountain passes and about ten miles north of the beatufiul town of Ouray where I was raised.  It was so amazing to see all of the mountains and I can't wait to check out the views again!  We flew over Lake Powell and The Grand Canyon which were both awesome!

Ouray nestled in the mountains 

We spent the first day with Chris' good friends from high school.  Once Chris starts doing karaoke, there's no stopping him!

David and Billy are a couple of friends from college.  They've been living in La Jolla for the past couple of years.  David will be finishing his PhD in engineering this year.  Smart cookie!  Any nice, single, Catholic girls?- I'll hook you up!  They took us surfing and we had a BLAST!  They were so patient with us.  I guess I couldn't really say I surfed, Chris did though.  I think it took me a little while to catch on to the "catch the wave" part.  I would either not be pointing straight or I would be too far forward and face plant into the wave.  If I did catch the wave I was so excited and having so much fun that I would forget that I should try to stand, and at that time once I got up the wave was over or I would just fall.  Chris did an awesome job standing several times!  I do have to admit, I was super sore afterwards!  I had so much fun and can't wait to try it again!

Chris at our favorite beach, Shaw's Cove in Luguna Beach.  We went to the beach every day in southern Calinfornia!  It was wonderful!

After seeing a couple of Chris's old houses in Fountain Valley and Santa Ana we took the Pacific Coast Highway and watched the sun set in Huntington Beach.  Spectacular!

This is at Chris's family's weenie roast.  All of his cousins came to join us in Dana Point (I think).  Unfortunately I didn't get very good pics.

And another sunset picture

On our flight up north we stopped at Van Nuys airport and had breakfast with my aunt and uncle.  It was great to see them, even if it was only for breakfast.

Chris's Dad and Linda in Capitola near Santa Cruz.  They had never seen so many pelicans!  It was surprising how much cooler it was up there, I was actually cold a couple of the days.  Jeremy was able to meet us there also which was so much fun!  The boys had a wonderful time playing World of WarCraft.  I was hoping it would've been a little warmer so I could spend more time at the beach while they were playing games.

We also had a wonderful time with the sweetest Grandma ever up in Paradise, CA.  Here's a picture of us playing pool.  They both kicked my butt!  We also did some shopping in Chico and Chris fixed some odds and ends around the house.

Our last stop was in Reno to visit Jeremy.  I was quite impressed by Reno and Jer's super nice apartment.  They have quite the bachelor pad!

The flight home wasn't quite as good as the flight out.  We had been having alternator problems and had seen two mechanics and spent over $400 and were still having the problems.  The only problems we had  were because the battery was about to die which would've killed the radios.  So we had our radios turned off the whole way home.  It wasn't quite as fun having to yell at each other and not hear what else is going on in the air.  Chris was so cute, I slept part of the way which I tend to do in the plane so he was singing to keep himself company.  It was adorable!

We were only about an hour and a half from our home and were grounded in Cheyenne, WY due to thunderstorms.  We didn't anticipate that happening.  We were hoping they would blow over like they usually do in Colorado, but it was the biggest front of the summer.  We had to stay the night and rent a car the next day to drive home to make it to work that afternoon.  He then had to drive the car back on Sunday once the thunderstorms passed and fly home.  It wasn't what we had expected, but it made our trip longer!  :o)

July's Catch Up

I have been terrible about blogging!  And there were some exciting things that happened that I can't even remember now.  My goal from now on is to blog about things when they happen, so I don't have to do a dumb catch up each month.  :o)

Have I mentioned that I love summer!  We've been doing wonderful, but I kind of wonder what we've been doing!  Because we used the money budgeted for flying on the motorcycle, we haven't been flying.  Unlike most summers, we haven't been spending all of our free time in the mountains mostly mountain biking.  In fact, we haven't been mountain biking in over a month.  I've been wondering what we've been spending all of our time on.  Well whatever it's been, it's been great!  I wonder if this lack of mountain biking means that there's hope of us leaving the Colorado mountains and living by the ocean sometime soon......  no, probably not.

Chris still loves his dual sport motorcycle.  So far we've saved $250 in gas.  I got a lot of the gear also so we can ride safely together just incase something happens.  (Please excuse our room in the background.)

I was the assistant ward director for Young Women's Camp.  Although I must admit, I didn't

do much of the preparing and all of the hard work that went into getting it ready.  Here's Frostie, our ward director, Jessica, the stake assistant director, and our Bishop, Bishop Coon.

I didn't think to take pictures until the last day, so here's the girls during singing time.  I was amazed at how many songs they knew!  Although they were very cute songs, a few of them got old.

I was one of the adult leaders to the first years, and here they are!

Cute pic of the YCLs (youth camp leaders).

The girls had the opportunity to hike, kayak and canoe,  shooting, archery, rappelling, fun crafts, and lots of other cool things.  I think it's a great opportunity for the girls and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to go now since I didn't get to when I was young!

The day after camp our primary went to the Denver Temple.  It was really cool to learn more about it!  We're so blessed to live so close to one!  And speaking of going to the temple, a couple from my ward was called to teach the temple prep class, so I'll be taking that soon!  :o)

I also received my Patriarchal Blessing last weekend which was wonderful!  It's the most beatufiful, amazing, and perfect thing I could imagine!

And one other church thing.  The man who does Sunday School, Doug Simpson, is amazing!  He makes a fabulous handout for everyone and even posts it on the web.  Since I'm in primary now and can't go, it's really nice to see what they talked about.  I think this is beautiful!  I sometimes wonder how our amazing, wonderful, and omnipotent Father in Heaven can let bad things happen to such wonderful people.  Sometimes it's hard to see the reason, and I thought this was pretty much sums it up.

The question was posed: Why did the Lord allow the wicked people of Ammonihah to kill the righteous? Here is the quote from President Spencer W. Kimball read in class about this question:

“Now, we find many people critical when a righteous person is killed, a young father or mother is taken from a family, or when violent deaths occur. Some become bitter when oft-repeated prayers seem unanswered. Some lose faith and turn sour when solemn administrations by holy men seem to be ignored and no restoration seems to come from repeated prayer circles. But if all the sick were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended.

“If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil–all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, no Satanic controls.

“Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our selfish desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death; and if these were not, there would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and godhood.”

 I have a confession.  I signed up and even paid $80 for a triathlon and I didn't even do it.  It was after camp and I was absolutely exhausted from not getting enough sleep, and then having to work a few hours after returning home from camping for five days.  That's only one of the reasons.  Another reason is that I hadn't spent time with my dear husband for over a week and I missed him.  And another reason was that it was on a Sunday.  But the main reason is because this one was supposed to be my best triathlon, the one I would peak for.  Well that didn't happen.  I really hadn't done any training since my last triathlon three weeks before.  So although a few of you have been fooled by pictures and think I'm in great shape, really I'm not.  But thank you anyway!  :o)  I was really happy that I didn't do it because I felt so much stress lifted off.  I'll do better next year!

I've wanted an iPhone probably since they came out and Chris and I finally gave in and both got them.  And I love it!  For only $300 it's a lap top, iPod, GPS,  camera, and alarm clock.  So I figure it saves me at least $1300 for these lower end electronics.  It connects perfectly to my computer and automatically updates my calendar, contacts, and e-mail.  We have internet almost anywhere we go, it has a drug program that I use at work, and a gas milage program on it.  It's wonderful and I love it!  Where would we be today without electronics?  The only disadvantage is the phone part.  AT&T isn't as good as TMobile and it's much more expensive.  I don't get very good service at my house which can be kind of frustrating at times, especially for the people I talk to.  But I guess it's all worth it!

And finally, this weekend we're leaving for California!  Chris is flying us there so hopefully that goes well and the weather is nice flying weather.  We're going to visit some friends, and mostly Chris's family!  And of course we'll be going to the beach and maybe even to Catalina Island!  I'm so excited!  Hopefully soon after getting back I'll write about my trip so I don't have to do another monthly catch up!  :o)  HAPPY AUGUST!!!

Danskin Triathlon

Yesterday Laura and I did the Danskin Triathlon.  It's the third time I've done it and it's fun because it's all women and a lot of first timers.  It kind of boosts your confidence, especially after my race last weekend.  

It was only a 400 meter swim I think (they thought the water would be too cold to do the usual half mile), bike 10.5 miles (also shorter), and run 3.1 miles.  Laurie decided the day before that she would do even though she hadn't been training for it.  But nevertheless she did amazing!  She's such an awesome athlete!  Her run time after the swim and bike was only 23:44 which was four minutes faster than mine.

Me after the swim.  I was so excited to see that Chris and Ross made it before the start.

Me heading to the end of the bike.

 

Me at the end of the run.

Laurie during the beginning of the run.

Laurie racing to the finish line.  She's going so fast she looks like she's flying!  :o)

Laura, Me, and Kim another nurse I work in the ED and CCU with.

Laura and I showing off our muscles.  ;-)

Ross and Laura

Chris and I

Laura and Kody

My stats:  Swim 4:22, Transition 1 2:41, Bike 35:32, Transition 2 2:26, Run 27:32, Total 1:12:36, Overall rank 96/1611, Age group rank 18/177.

 

XTERRA Buffalo Creek Triathlon

Last weekend was the XTERRA Buffalo Creek triathlon.  I went up with Molly, a friend I met a couple of months ago for an XTERRA practice.  I was so glad she was with me.  I was very nervous.  I was afraid I'd be holding everyone up on the downhills, but it wasn't bad, thank goodness to my slow swim.  :o)  The race consisted of a 1 mile swim, 20 mile mountain bike, and 5 mile trail run.

Molly and I before the start.  It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful location!

Molly in the transition area getting her stuff ready and her wetsuit on.

The race turned out much better than I thought it would.  It only took me four hours and nine minutes and I thought it would take me over five.  The swim was terrible.  I thought I was going to drown, especially the first part.  It was so cold and I was hyperventilating, not to mention it was muddy from everyone running in and it looked black for the first 50 feet or so.  I was really tired and thought I wouldn't be able to make the second loop, but it was a lot easier after I got used to the water.  I actually felt really good during the bike, maybe the best I've ever done mountain biking.  It felt really good to know that nobody was waiting for me.  :o)  I beat my previous weekend's pre-ride ride time by over 30 minutes and I felt fairly confident on the downhills.  I think it's partially because Chris's mom woke up early with me that morning and gave me a really nice prayer before I left.  :o)  The run was tough.  I was sooo tired.  I walked most of the uphills, especially the steep ones.  I think I bonked.  I was super tired and felt like I couldn't go any harder.  I was soooooo happy to see Chris and Jason at the finish line.  My legs were so tired the rest of the day but I felt fine the next day.  Looking back, it was fun!  :o)

My stats:  Total 4:09:16, Swim 39:22, Transition 1 4:12, Bike 2:31:08, Transition 2 2:39, and run 51:57.  I came in 69th out of 85 women and 14th out of 18 in my women's age group.  At least I wasn't last and kind of had fun doing it.  ;o)

Chris' Motorcycle

Chris has wanted either a scooter or motorcycle for over two years now.  With the gas prices so high, we decided now would be a good time.  He got a Lifan dual sport bike (cross between a dirt bike and motorcycle).  It goes up to about 65 mph so he can ride it on the highways to work and gets somewhere between 80-100 mpg.  Much better than his Jeep Cherokee's 15 mpg.  And he loves it!  He's taking lessons and should be able to ride legally this week.