LOTOJA 2009

This weekend was kind of a big deal for some of the members of my family. My two brothers and my Dad have been training for the big race from Logan to Jackson Hole, LOTOJA. It's a 206 mile race of tons of steep uphill. I was tired just driving the whole thing! Steve and Mark have done it before (along with a bunch of other races), but this was the first year for my Dad. My brother Mark, the one in pink, asked me a few months ago if I would be willing to crew for him during the race. I was excited to have the chance to go and help out.

I got to decorate my car with a bunch of super-official stickers

This is Marco, Steve's wife. Steve is in the blue and white, by the way. Marco and I were together pretty much the whole day. We were in charge of putting together musette bags for Mark and Steve. For those of you not familiar with the term "musette" it's just a bag filled with food and drinks that the cyclists grab as they ride by designated feed zones.

We always stood by number 8 at the feed zones so that Mark and Steve would know where to find us.

This is Rachel, Mark's wife, and his baby, Kate. They were able to cheer Mark on while I worried about getting him his musette.

If you look closely in this picture you can see Marco handing off the musette to Steve. Do you kind of get how it works now? I had no idea about any of this stuff before Saturday morning. They don't stop the whole time... just grab and go.

Here's Mark (in the pink and black) after I handed him his musette. It was hard to get any pictures of his front side since I was handing him his goods. The hand off is actually pretty intense. I saw one guy who made his cyclist crash way hard because of a bad hand-off. The cyclist did a complete front flip right in front of me and landed on his shoulder. It was pretty graphic, and loud! No joke, it sounded like a car accident. He lost control for a second and plowed into a cone. He did not finish the race due to a seriously jacked up shoulder.

Here is Steve crossing the finish line. He came in Second Place in his category!! We were all really proud of him.

Mark's kids cheering him on at the finish. I didn't get a picture of him crossing the line. Oops!

Here he is after his finish. Not even tired :)

Doesn't my Dad look like a stud? Hard to believe how fit he has become in the last couple of years. There weren't a lot of guys in their sixties there.

Here's Steve at the podium. He was .25 seconds behind the first place guy. Pretty impressive, don't you think??

Stay in touch and maybe you'll see some pictures of Lori participating in the race next year!

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Southern Utah 2009

This last week, Lori and I went down to Southern Utah for one last hoorah of summer before my social life ends (school starts up again on Monday).

On Saturday, I went to Zion National Park with Lori's brother and Dad. We hiked Angel's Landing. When we heard about the lady who died there a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't resist going to see what it's like. Here is a view from the very top. It was gorgeous! Sorry the picture isn't better. It was smoggy that day and I took the picture with my phone since Lori wouldn't let me take the camera.

This is the view before the final climb. It's a little intimidating if you look down either side. Straight drop-off!

Lori's Dad climbing up

On Monday we left for Lake Powell. Hurley found two new best friends: Our niece, Ellie, and the lake. He spent almost the entire time fetching tennis balls out of the water.

Hurley would just sit and anxiously wait for someone to throw the ball into the water.

As you can see, he has no fear of just jumping right in!

This is Morgan. She was Lori's source of entertainment on the trip. She's almost two and is just the cutest little thing. She talks and talks all day long. And for some reason, she loves her Uncle Josh :)

Here I am attempting to jump on the wakeboard. The small amount of athleticism I had when I was in high school is diminishing in my old age.

Lori still has it goin' on though. She can even ride one-handed!!

And still has time to plug her nose when she goes down :)

We were both really proud of Lori's Dad. He got up his very first time on the wakeboard. Even with me doing a horrible job driving the boat, he still rocked it out there.

Hurley had the time of his life and just loved having Ellie, Kate, and Morgan to play with.

Lori says Hurley is more than just a dog. She brought him on the boat with his life jacket just as if he were our little baby.

Just waiting for someone to play with him...

We drove down Cedar Mountain on the way home. It was a gorgeous drive.

Then we went back up the mountain the next day to have a picnic for Ellie's birthday. Lori and Morgan spent the whole time taking pictures and playing together. I hope she loves our kids as much as she loves Morgan...

BORED

This is how much time we have on our hands now that I am out of school for the summer. Somebody please call us so we can do something fun and actually have a real activity to blog about on here!! Poor Hurley is turning into a stage child.

FUN!

The new Senior Security Manager at my work let me take one of these babies home with me....it is SUPER FUN! I get to eavesdrop all over the valley from the comfort of my own couch! You would not believe some of the things I'm hearing on this sucker!! It's a really cool radio that picks up on all the conversations of the police, firemen, school bus drivers,truck drivers, and pretty much anyone else that talks on a radio. It's pretty cool! :)

GO BEES...

Saturday night Josh and I met an old friend and his girlfriend at the bees game. It was so fun. Josh and I arrived early so we actually watched the game. I haven't actually watched a baseball game in forever!!

Hell of the North

This morning I went to watch my brothers in a bike race called The Hell of the North. I've heard rumors that Hell is actually freezing cold and not the fiery furnace that most of us think of. If those rumors are true, then this race lived up to its name. My brother Mark is the one in the middle with the short shorts, red vest and white blocks on his shoulders.



As you can see, the race started out pretty cold and wet. As the group came around, lap by lap, it got colder and snowier...

and the guys got muddier.

I think at this point, Mark was about in tears -- I know I would have been.

Poor Steve got a flat tire right at the start of the race. He was a little behind, but stayed determined to finish. He was flying by so fast every time he rounded the corner that it was hard to get a good shot of him.

And the snow pressed on...

Mark came in with the first group to cross the finish line...

And Steve followed shortly.

All in all, it was an awesome day and I was proud of my two big brothers. They have such determination and athleticism. They finished cold, muddy, and tired. WAY TO GO GUYS!!