Ryan's 40th!!

 Last Saturday Ryan turned the big 4-0!

He scheduled his big birthday ride, "The Gauntlet" for that morning.  The Gauntlet hits all 5 climbs that branch off the Alpine Loop: Tibble Fork, Alpine Summit, Cascade, South Fork, and Squaw Peak.  It's close to 90 miles and crap ton of elevation gains (I can't remember how much, but it's a lot!).  Anyway, he got quite the crowd of cyclists that joined in (maybe around 30 people) that came out and do the ride too.  This is the third year doing it and I think it's become a tradition around here!  Ryan's Birthday Gauntlet Ride!

 So he left first thing...well, after his birthday breakfast of course!

We met up with him after he finished for Burritos at Bajio.

It was such a beautiful day so we ate out on the patio as finishers from the ride trickled in.

Later that evening we celebrated some more with cake.

 My brother and his fiance and our neighbors joined in on the fun!

It turned out to be such a fun day!

Happy Birthday Ryan, we love you!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my main squeeze!!

He makes life so much fun...love him bunches!!

For the first time in a few years Ryan is actually home on his birthday...yay!

Also, Haley comes home today!!  Yippee!

St. George Weekend

 Last weekend we hit the road and headed down to St. George for the Tour de Sol stage race.

I was soooooo looking forward to a little weekend getaway.  The last time we had a little trip was Thanksgiving!  And I think we were all looking forward to some sunshine!!

We packed up Friday afternoon for the four hour drive and Rory was asleep before we even got to the freeway!

We stayed right in the middle of town...this little gem that used to be a women's dorm for Dixie State but is now converted into a hotel.  It's a single story, pretty small place...perfect to let the kids roam around without getting lost.  There isn't a TV in the room but they have a great common area with a TV, games and books that the kids loved.  I have a hunch this will be our new go to place any time we have to stay in St. George!

Saturday morning was the Time Trial.

 Ryan's start wasn't until late morning so we all decided to go with him.

 Snacks on the curb.

 The crit wasn't until Saturday evening so we spent the entire afternoon at the nearby splash pad letting the girls play...they had a ball!  We even found a little place to grab lunch across the street and picnicked at the park.

Kisses before the race...this has quickly become one our favorite pictures ever!

 The crit was not the most exciting to spectate.  It was held at a little airport, which doesn't make for a very thrilling course.

 I backed the truck along the side of the course so the girls could have somewhere to sit and watch...there wasn't a whole lot for them to do, but I have to say they were able to amuse themselves pretty well.

Of course it wouldn't be complete if there wasn't quite a bit of bickering as well..."She's sitting in my space!!"  "She took my book!!"  "She sat on my picture!!"  "She licked my foot!!!"  (Yes, that last phrase was actually said by one of my children...I don't even want to know...)

Sunday morning was the road race.  Ryan left first thing in the morning while I stayed back and got the girls ready and packed up the hotel.  We drove out to see the finish, but we ended up getting there too early and had quite a bit of time to spare.

 Luckily there was a great park right near the finish line the girls could play at.

 Haley and Morgan were so helpful with the little ones.  Haley played tag with them in the field and Morgan piggy backed Rory all around when she got tired.  Oh, I just love it when my kids get along!!

 Post race.

 We headed to a grocery after to grab some lunch.

Rory of course zonked out...it had been a action packed weekend so I'm not surprised she fell asleep in a shopping cart.

 Lunch of choice...party size 7 layer dip with tortilla chips.  Ha!

Before heading out of town we hit up the splash pad one more time...the girls' choice...and let them play for a good hour before we hopped back in the car to head home.

But before I close, I need to share this last picture of Morgan.

 She has an old pair of glasses (without the lens)...I think they belonged to my dad maybe.  Anyway, she pulls them out every now and then to wear.  She keeps them in her travel bag, so when we're on the road I'll notice she's got them on.  I had to sneak this picture of her without her noticing.  Anyway, I think it's super cute that she likes to wear them.

And that is that my friends.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my main man!

He's been in Quebec this week for work and I have been missing him!

With both Haley and him gone this week it just doesn't feel right around here!

Happy Birthday!

Love you!

Our Weekend Away

Months ago Ryan and I planned a little weekend getaway to see a friends wedding.  When we got the okay from my parents and my brother and his wife to watch our kids for us we booked the trip.  We decided it was best to divide our kids up...Haley and Piper stayed with my brother's family, and Morgan and Rory stayed with my parents.  We left Friday morning after the kids went to school.  This is the first time we have been away from our kids for a whole weekend together!!  Two nights...three days!!!  I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous though...and I thought about them A LOT!  Always wondering what everyone was up to.  But the girls did really well (although I think my brother and his wife got very little sleep).  My brother referred to the weekend as a kid's birthday party that never ended.  He has a little five year old of his own, so with my girls added on it can get a little louder than they're probably used to.  I'm extremely grateful to them though.  

Anyway, back to the wedding.  We flew to Phoenix and stayed at the Arizona Biltmore where the wedding was to be held...a pretty big splurge for us to say the least.  

We went to lunch as soon as we arrived Friday afternoon and then went for a little jog along a path right next to the resort.  That evening we got ourselves cleaned up for the cocktail party to meet up with everyone.

Saturday we enjoyed a very leisurely breakfast and then headed to the pool with the our friends.  Later, Ryan and I got dressed fully intending to go for another jog.  Yeah, that never happened for me.  One of my favorite things about the trip was our ability to just lounge around without a worry in the world.  Our conversations were never interrupted...we never felt rushed.  It was bliss.  So instead of jogging we sat on the patio and just enjoyed the wonderful weather...and people watched of course.

The wedding was in the late afternoon/evening.  It was a beautiful ceremony and they had an amazing reception.  Good food, lots of dancing and with fun people!

Sunday we didn't leave for the airport until 1:00, so we had another relaxing morning.  We said our goodbyes and then it was home again, home again.  We went from temps in the 70's to 28 degrees when our plan touched the ground.  What a shock!!  Although, we only have a week until we load up the trunk and head out again to Sedona, AZ for Thanksgiving!  So...I'm planning on nice weather then too.

Yay for weekend getaways!!
Happy Monday!

Masters Nationals

So a couple of weeks ago Ryan raced in the Masters National Championships...his first time racing masters anything (I think).  For those out of the know, masters racing starts at 35 years of age and the categories are divided up 35+, 40+, 45+...you get the idea.  

And just a side note...Ryan has raced all the different Nationals Championships now: Junior, Collegiate, u23, Elite, and Pro...pretty cool.  I'm pretty proud of him.

We were lucky that it was held in Ogden, which is just over an hour away from us.

It was a little crazy watching the race with my kids as Morgan was pretty much a grump the entire time and wasn't getting along with Haley (or anybody for that matter).  At one point Haley and Morgan were fighting on the sidewalk...like boy fighting...hitting and everything!  My sweet girls...fighting...sheesh.  Yes, they do this occasionally at home...but in public?!  It was a little embarrassing to say the least to have to break up my children in a brawl.  And of course there is no denying that they belong to me...the red hair is a dead giveaway.  So, I couldn't just turn and walk the other way and let them figure it out on their own.  Not that I would ever do that.

And then Rory had a major issue with the porta-pots and refused to go the bathroom in them.  She calls them Ew potties.  Anyway, the girl had to go in a bad way so I resorted in having her go behind a dumpster along side the race course.  Good times.

I was able to snap a few pictures of Ryan, and is just me or is he smiling in every one of these?

It was a really nice outing even with grumpy smurf, and we were able to see some S. CA people who made the trek out for the race which was nice.

Oh, and Ryan got 16th...not too shabby for a race he didn't train for at all.
I think he's pretty awesome.

Mt. Timpanogos Anniversary Hike

I told Ryan that I wanted to hike Mt. Timpanogos for our 15th wedding anniversary.  I hiked it when I was a teenager with my dad and brother, but we only went to the lake (which is still pretty darn awesome).  So after 11 years of living here, I finally hiked to the summit!  Ryan, on the other hand, has hiked it several times.  But in my defense, I was always pregnant or nursing a new baby for all those missed opportunities.  But anyway, yeah, it was a long but really fun day!!  To hike Timp, it's a little over 15 miles with a 5,398 ft elevation gain, topping out at 11,749 feet!  I'm still sore today...and we hiked it 3 days ago!  Oh, and if you're wondering where our children were that day, they got to spend it with my mom (thanks mom!).

It was absolutely beautiful!

And there were lots of wildflowers still!

We took a little break at the lake and had something to eat.

Now, at this point, you have two options: 1) Hike to the summit via the glacier (although, there is not much glacier there right now).  It's steep and slippery, and no trail, but it shaves off a mile or two, so it's much faster!  2) Hike to the summit via the trail.  This way is a lot longer!  

The glacier looked a bit perilous, so we chose the trail.

Little known fact:  Ryan has a fear of heights. 

I didn't realize to what extent until this hike...but it certainly doesn't stop him!

A little bit of a hazy view, but there's Utah County and Utah Lake.  Our house is down there somewhere...actually it's more to the left, probably out of this photo.

 I love this picture because you can see the lake where we sat to have lunch (at the very bottom and middle of the photo) and the trail system we walked on.  That's a long way down!!

We tagged...rebels.

It wouldn't be complete without some selfies on the summit!!

While we were on the top, it started to get really dark with clouds and we heard thunder in the distance...yeah, not good when you're sitting on the peak of a mountain!  We decided to take the glacier down to save time.

This is a view of the little shelter on the summit as we started walking down.

A picture right before we slid down back to the lake...and when I say slid, I mean actually sat down and slid on the snow.  

 Almost down!

If you look behind me, you can see the "trail" on the glacier where we slid down.  And you can also see there is a gap between the ridge line and the where the glacier starts consisting of basically loose sand and rocks.  Yeah, I fell on that portion and slid on rocks for about 10 feet.  It hurt.

So while we were making our way down the glacier side we apparently missed a massive down pour!  By the time we got back to the lake everything was wet.  We got lucky.  It's a good thing too because we didn't have any rain gear!

The rest of hike down was smooth sailing, although I was kind of hobbling at the end (my darn bad knee!!)  

We ended the day with a fabulous dinner at the Foundry Grill at Sundance, dirty and all...it. was. so. good.

I've decided to make this an annual thing.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary to us!!

15 years today!!

Happy Birthday to my one and only!

Happy Birthday to this guy!

My one and only!

By the way...a no handed track stand is not easy...what a stud.

Miss you bunches!