Like many others, one of my New Years Resolutions is to blog more, and to make them shorter!;) I can't promise that this one will be short by any means but I can promise that my blogging will get better!
Since I haven't blogged in so long I have to do a bit of a rewind back to fall! Fall in Utah is so beautiful but never lasts long enough! I got to do a little trail running cross training with Kelsey (when she had easy runs!;) and lots of hike's with Cort, Ravey and my little dog Riddles! Matt even got out with me one day, which is pretty amazing considering his amputation was only about a month or so prior, he is one tough guy!
Trail running with Superfit!:)
Sleepy boy after a long hike!
Cort doing her "Meg" pose!;)
What a STUD!!
Raven was determined to pick up this HUGE stick hah! So cute!
Riddles and Ravey being buddies!
Life is good!
Riddles being a wuss by the river!;)
Riddles giving Cort a little love!
Beautiful hike up Emigration with the pups!:)
How could you not love that face!?
Unfortunately Riddles isn't a huge fan of the car. He loves hikes but hates the drive, he is probably the only healer in the world that gets car sick, poor little guy!
He loves it when we get there, but getting him there is heart breakin, poor little guy!
Then there were the two trips to Vegas to escape the snow with one of my all time favorite people Kelsey Superfit Withrow! Vegas trip #1 was purely to escape the cold weather, but trip #2 we got to watch Kelsey's cousin "Jumpin Joe" race his car at the speedway! First off Joe is freakin hilarious and fun to be around, and as white trash as car racing is I had a blast!!
Trip number 1 with K-money!
Trip number two: Kelsey doing her car scrappin duties!;)
Kelsey doing her signature move...the salmon!! Haha
So this didn't actually happen in Vegas, it was during a ride in SLC before we left! A toilet and newspaper on someones front lawn...how convenient!! I've never laughed so hard!!
Then there was the much anticipated Utah vs. TCU blackout game! These pictures were taken before kickoff...all the fun was drained from the stadium just minutes into the game! Ouch that was a painful game to sit through!
Before kickoff: Go Utes!! Wooooo!! After kickoff: Oh yikes, I'd like to erase this game from memory!
Thanksgiving was great, how can you go wrong with a holiday devoted to eating! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is the Cold Turkey 5K up City creek canyon the morning of Thanksgiving, makes ya feel a bit less guilty about eating all the food later!:) This year was a little colder than most but it was still way fun and both sides of my family came out this year! I was way proud of my Mom, it was her very first race ever! She'd been gearing up for it with many Golds Gym visits and she did really well!:) Also, the post race Starbucks run makes the tradition even better!!
On our way to the Cold Turkey 5K! :)
Then I made a little trip up to good ole' Idaho for some LT testing fun with Corey! I love that he lives in Idaho because it gives me an excuse to go visit some of my favorite relatives auntie Sue and Uncle Ger! This trip was especially fun because after much debating and decision making (2years of it at least) my uncle Ger finally got the bike of his dreams, a bike that he truly deserved!! It sure is pretty!!:) Can't wait to tear up the "dump loop" with him next time I come up!:)
Isn't it pretty!:) You deserve it Gerbo!
A few weeks before Christmas we got to celebrate my Dad's 9th year of sobriety Birthday! My sister made the most delicious turkey I've ever eaten, she is such an amazing cook its crazy!! (I didn't get that gene!;) We hung out, ate, watched my favorite Christmas movie "Love Actually," and celebrate something really worth celebrating! I couldn't be more proud of my Dad and all that he has accomplished that last 9 years. I also could never thank my amazing Step Mom Cort enough for helping him, giving him an amazing family, and making his life so incredible. I love you both a lot!
Now on to Christmas! So there is one thing I must admit, I absolutely love Christmas! Yes the consumerism and commercialism of it all gets a little crazy and has taken a bit of the true meaning of Christmas out of it, but I get really tired of people being ba-humbug about it and giving that as their biggest excuse! Yes for a lot of people it seems to be about the presents but that doesn't mean everyone has to follow that trend, and get grumpy about it. I love Christmas because I love being with my family and friends, and just the whole feeling the month of December has! Yes I love Christmas music, Christmas movies (especially "Love Actually"), making Christmas cookies with my Mom...I pretty much just love Christmas! This year I got to celebrate Christmas with several different sides of my family and we did some amazing things. With my Dad and Cort the tradition is that each of us take a name off of the Angel Tree and buy the children clothes and a few toys. After we shop for the kids we always go out to dinner, another one of my favorite traditions! This year we went to Aristos and it was so good and such a blast! My family is hilarious! With the extended side of my Mom's family we all donated our regular $50 we spend on gifts for each other on Christmas for a Burundi refugee family. We had a great dinner with delicious prime rib cooked my by chef sister Lindsey! Yum! Helping families with Christmas who have close to nothing gives you such a great feeling, better than any present could bring. These family traditions also give me a lot of excuses to chill with both sides of my fam as we shop, wrap, and deliver presents, which I love! Christmas eve was good times as always starting with bowling with my Dad and Cort! This year we threw in a little gambling and it was so fun! My Dad did win every game but I walked away with a pretty large stack of cash! Stockings with my Dad, Cort, Sis, and Cam was hilariously inappropriate this year, (on both sides of my fam, Mom and Dad's sides, our conversations at get togethers always take a turn for the the hilariously inappropriate, this is something that I absolutely I love about both sides of my family!!) Wish I could explain more but let me just say that the last present opened involved a picture of my Dad with a hat and small scarf...and nothing else hahaha If you knew my family, this wouldn't seem out of the ordinary!;)
Me and Corty at post-Angel tree shopping dinner at Aristos, so fun!:)
Christmas Eve Bowling!! Look at that form!
$3 per strike, Cort was raking it in!!
Dinner with my Mom and Ernie on Christmas was delicious and it was great to hang out with the whole fam (minus grampy, we missed him he was a little sick). My Mom cooked up some brisket which was amazing! I got pretty lucky and inherited a pretty awesome step family on both sides and even though Ernie pretends to be super ba-humbug about Christmas, he warms up a lot when the whole family gets together and shows his true colors! It was fun spending time with my step sis Meg and her boyfriend CJ, my ridiculously strong step bro Cody (kid can squat and leg press a scary amount of weight and he's only 16!), Ernie's Dad Kent, my cute little Granny, and always hilarious sister and brother in law Linds and Cam. Did I mention I also got way lucky in the brother in law department, Cam is awesome and loves my sister so much! Matt and I did little stockings for each other on Christmas morning, and much to our surprise we stuffed them with almost identical things, so funny!! Lots of chocolate, licorice, bike gear, and bike books/magazines! I loved it, stockings are always fun! All in all Christmas made for a lot of good times!!:) I love my family so much!
The little Christmas Tree my cute Sister gave me!:)
My very first Christmas ornament...so fitting!:)
Matt and I's nearly identical stockings!
I love Utah, but winters are unfortunately very long and bring lots snow and hours on the trainer! You can only watch so many movies and sit on a trainer inside for so long before you go completely nutty!! So.....
First big snowstorm of the year!
Trainer time isn't my favorite but its a necessary evil when living in a cold cold state!:)
This little guy cheers me on though!:)
Sometimes it's dry enough out that I can throw on my smurf/captain America gear and face the cold!:)
I escaped to Tucson! Matt drove me down and was able to stay for a bit and get in some good hours in the sun! We got to stay with Trigger, Reggie, and their adorable little kiddos! Cassman is just about the cutest little cowboy I've ever seen, and so dang smart! He took us to "Cowboy Town" while we were there and watching him get so excited about anything and everything there was priceless, I loved it! I don't know where to even start with little Remi! She became my very best friend while I was there, she always wanted to snuggle and sit on my lap, so CUTE!! I love that little girl! She has discovered the wonderful world of Disney Princesses (or Prinsenses...that's how she says it:) and it is adorable! We watched Cinderella and she got her matching dress and shoes! I wish I'd taken more pictures of these cute little kiddos! Love them!
Little Remi bug...such a cutie!!
My proud Mommy moment as Riddles had his first encounter with cows...he is a cow dog living in suburbia..poor guy haha
He was terrified at first but once he saw Daley (his mom) roundin up the cows he wanted in on the action! He'll need a bit of training first though!;)
Trigger, Remi, Cassman, and Daley dog (Riddles' Mommy:)
Reggie and Remi :)
One of my favorite routes down University ave.
Climbin Mt. Lemmon with Matt! Mt. Lemmon is my favorite ride here, so gorgeous!
It's still a little snowy for the last 10 miles or so up Lemmon and snow makes these Tucson ppl go nutty!! They were all driving up the canyon, shoveling snow into their trucks to take back down, building snowmen and driving them down in the beds of their trucks...pure madness haha
After Matt left I moved into a condo with some triathletes, they are all really nice but I gotta learn how to speak "triathlete"... which pretty much means talking about my training 24/7, how hard it is, discussing race weights, wattage, body fat, and comparing my training with my other roommates and arguing about whose is hardest! Oh and telling me that my sport is SO easy and make me feel like I don't train enough...I'd like to see them stick on my wheel up Mt. Lemmon or while I'm doing LT intervals and then tell me about how "easy" my sport is! I'm just giving them a hard time!;)
I am really excited about the 2011 season! The opportunity I have to stay and train in Tucson is pretty incredible, there are so many great people down here to train with (teammie Alisha and one of my favorite people in the world Kelsey Superfit Withrow!) and amazing places to ride! I love being able to focus completely on training and just chasing the dream! Cycling has given me some incredible experiences and truly changed my life. I can't thank my family and the Bradley family enough for helping me get where I am and supporting my big dreams! This year I have the amazing opportunity to race with the professional women's team Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12, I couldn't ask for better girls and a better program to learn from! I'll be here in Tucson until the last week of February when I jet out to California for team camp!:) Can't wait to meet all of the girls and start racing!!:) Life is good!
Awww I love Tucson!
So many great bike routes in Tucson
Loving the sun!
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