Fall Mountain Biking

Today Chris and I started early and mountain biked to Needles Lodge at the top of Snowbasin Ski Resort. Chris had done it a couple of times before, but it was my first time going all the way to the top. It was a fun ride with a few challenging spots. I only fell over once, which is pretty good, I think - though I had to get off my bike and walk it every now and then. The best part of the ride was the beautiful leaves that are in the middle of changing colors.






A look out point a little before we reached the top. There is a great view of Mountain Green where we can see our house.


We finally reached the top. I was exhausted. Chris and I are both getting over colds so that added to the difficulty. We took a moment and sat on one of the chair lifts just to get us prepped for winter.


Chris speeding down one of the access roads. We took the roads down instead of the trails so we could save time. I think it was scarier going down the roads than any part of going up. I'm such a chicken when it comes to the downhill.

B & D Land and Livestock Rodeo

The first annual B & D Land and Livestock Rodeo was held this past Saturday at my parents ranch. This is an idea my dad has been working on for a while and had finally come to fruition. There was a lot of preparation that went into making everything happen. The events started off with an opening ceremonies with a real live rodeo princess dressed in lots of pink and rhinestones. Marty, Alex's wife held an american flag and led the girls on horses on a lap around the arena. Marty beautifully sang the Star Spangled Banner in her amazing opera voice. The first event was a hay dig. Chris and I had hidden candy and treats in a large pile of hay and the kids then had to dig through the hay to find the treasures. The next event was chasing chickens - which kind of went haywire when the chickens made it out of the man-made circle and hid inbetween the hay bales. One of the funnest events was the showdown at high noon. Everyone lined up in two long lines armed with squirt guns. At the word everyone opened fire. It was great to see adults and kids unload on each other. There was no mercy.

The more traditional rodeo events included barrel racing, cutting and pole bending. Whoever wanted could take a chance at any event. There were some easy riding horses for the little kids to sit on and take a nice stroll around the arena.

We ate lots of good food to refuel us for the big greased pig chase. The task was to catch the pig and put an outfit on it. After the pigs were tired out, someone decided to nab one of the goats and put a purple tutu on it (hopefully pictures to come).

We found a large group of rodeo princess who each had the wonderful talent of being to talk to animals. Before the girls could get their rodeo princess crown that had to make their best animal noise. However, the Rodeo Queen award went to my mother who had planned and put a lot of work into making everything happen. Also, it was her birthday the next day and we wanted to make sure everyone new.


This was my rodeo debut. I did the barrel race and finished by knocking over the last barrel. I think I had the slowest horse available because no matter now hard I kicked I couldn't get the horse to move much faster. I wasn't the slowest one, though.


Rich, Heather and Tyler all dressed up for the rodeo. Tyler looks great in his baby-sized cowboy hat.


My dad and Jacob showing off his cow cutting skills. Dallas, Rich, Jeff and a few others took their turn at cutting. Marty, who has a history in rodeos was quite good at cutting and great to watch.


Chris being great at spectating. It was a rather warm day and great for watching the rodeo happen.

Ogden Valley Triathlon

May dad, Jan, Chris and I joined together to make two triathlon relay teams and compete in the Ogden Valley Triathlon. On one team, Team Chanco, I swam and Chris biked and ran. On our second team, Big Daddy Hunt Club, my dad swam, Jan biked, and I ran. Yea, I'm a two-timer. This years triathlon was the first equalizer triathlon in Utah. Based on previous triathlon times, handicaps were given to women and certain relay teams to make it so men and women were competing against each other. The equalizer idea is great, but not my favorite way of doing things. After it all, Chris and I managed to squeeze in a 5th place finish - which is a podium finish since they awarded 1st through 5th places.


I'm the one in the background trying to breathe without drinking in the lake. The swim was pretty good, though it seemed to last for such a long time. There were boaters on the lake so that made it a little difficult when the boat wakes made waves and I tried to breathe in at the same time.


Chris did a fantastic job on the bike making up a lot of ground. He powered through the bike and then somehow found plenty of energy to do a stellar run.


My dad had been practicing all summer for the swim when it was cancelled at the Spudman. We were more than excited when he completed the Ogden Valley swim which was longer than what he had been training for.


Jan coming in on the bike. She usually gets stuck with the run, which she doesn't really like anyway, but has become quite fond of the bike. She also did terrific and had more fun doing it than suffering through a run.


All the triathletes together. It always makes for a great day when you can get out and 'tri' hard.

Jackson Hole

After our big ride into Jackson we decided to enjoy the town for a day or two. As tired as we were we were still able to see some of the beauty of Jackson. The day after the ride my parents, sisters and Chris and I went to Jenny Lake and rode the ferry across. We hiked to a beautiful waterfall and then up to a level area called Inspiration Point. Though the hikes were short my legs moved rather slowly. My family went home that day and Chris and I explored downtown a little more. The next day we did a short recovery ride (really short and really slow) to make sure the legs would still move. We rode the Jackson Hole Ski Resort gondola up to the top and enjoyed the view. Lunch at the top tasted even better being at such a cool place. The drive home was interesting seeing the whole lotoja in reverse.








This is a moose we say while driving back from Jenny Lake. It's baby is not far off though you can't see it in this picture. This is the closest I have ever gotten to a moose and I don't think I would want to get much closer. Moose are big and scary.


Chris and I at the top of Jackson Hole Ski Resort. Hopefully we'll go back sometime when the snow has fallen.

Our Wedding Day

This slide show is a little look back at less than a year ago when Chris and I were married. We are nearing our anniversary and it's nice to have a little reflection on that one day that encompasses one of the biggest moments of life.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

LOTOJA - and the best husband ever!

All summer we had been training for the Lotoja. All of our other races and rides were leading to this main event. It was my second time riding and Chris' first. Chris had made some major improvements in his riding ability. So much that it was frustrating for me because I always had a hard time keeping up. We decided to ride together, which at first didn't seem like a good idea, but quickly became an ideal situation. Chris had some friends who really wanted to push it and beat 10 hours and wanted Chris to ride with them. But, with it being his first time, he wanted it to be more enjoyable than stressful. I was nervous because I hadn't done a ride like that in a while and wasn't sure how I would feel riding 206 miles.

Our plan was a pleaser for both of us. Chris waited for me at the first rest stop and then we rode the rest together. He would take off on the climbs and I would meet him at the top. Chris helped me through a couple of stretches where I started to bonk until I could pull through. I am so grateful that he was there to 'pull' me through. Chris did fantastic and won his group in the King of the Mountain!



Getting ready early in the morning. Chris started at 652 am with the annual licensed Cat 5 and I started at 701 with the annual licensed cat123 and 4s
.


Chris starting off with his group



Coming in at one of the rest stops.



Here is the back side of the jerseys Richard designed. We got a lot of comments on the Big Daddy Hunt Club.







My mom, dad, Jan and Sara did the support for us. They did a great job making sure they were there when we came in and having peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches and bagels ready for us. Sara added extra flavor by having a different costume at each rest stop. Seeing all of them, and especially Sara, was great each time we rolled in to refuel.



Coming in at the finish. I was so tired and Chris just couldn't wait to be done.



Can you believe we are actually standing? We are making plans for next year.

Pennsylvania - Chris' college and medical school years

We took a quick weekend to Pennsylvania to celebrate the wedding of a medical school friend of Chris'. I had never been to Pennsylvania so I was excited to see a little bit of Philly, especially where Chris had spent so many years and Chris was glad to have a reunion of sorts with his medical school group.

We got in Friday evening, and of course not without some trouble with the hotels and such, and hurried to rehearsal dinner. It was at a bar familiar to Chris and his friends. I was able to meet most of the entire lot of guys that lived in a medical school fraternity house together. I had heard a lot about them, but now I actually understand more when he talks about the different people. There was a short presentation by members of the wedding party and then everyone headed to the afterparty at the old frat house. I didn't take pictures, but should have, of where Chris lived. It is the perfect place for a bunch of single guys. We talked with everyone and played the most popular past-time game of beer pong (We had designated drinkers).

The next day we met with a couple of college friends, Ted and TJ, for breakfast. It was nice seeing Ted and Mindy and their kids, Georgia and Danny (who was wearing a Utah t-shirt). After a great breakfast we walked around downtown philadelphia and did some shopping.



Chris sat outside and read the paper while I took my time in one of the stores.

That afternoon we went to the wedding ceremony at a lovely church downtown. It was a beautiful ceremony and was nicely done. We wiled away the time before the reception at a nice bar, just relaxing and talking. Chris had fun catching up with everyone and I had a great time getting to know Liz, Chris Ward's wife, and Maura, Alex Gerhart's wife.



Here we are the reception dinner with Maura and Alex, Ross, Chris ward and Liz.



These Med-school guys look great as a bunch. I can just imagine all the fun they had together. There were a few who were in mourning over the recently deceased frat house cat, Booty, who saved them from the pesky R.O.U.Ses (rodents of unusual size). Donations were being made to have the cat stuffed and made as a permanent fixture in the house.

The reception was in a nice meeting house in main Philly. The food was wonderful and the speeches and presentations were well thought out. One of the highlights was Chris Ward dancing. Somehow he managed to get all of the ladies above 55 to group around him and wave their arms in the air.




The next day we took some time to walk around the University of Pennsylvania campus. We checked out Chris' first dorm building where he spent freshman year.



This is the house where he lived for a year with Ted and few others during college.



The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is where Chris did a lot of his medical school rotations. It's amazing how close Jefferson Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania, the Hospital and everything else is. We pretty much saw where Chris spent about 11 years, off and on, of his life.

It was an action packed weekend, and it was great to see a place so well known to Chris.

Lake Powell 2008

As is tradition we go to Lake Powell every year to enjoy the warm water and beautiful scenery, with a little bit of craziness mixed in. This year was different because we didn't go with the usual group, but were very excited to have some of our relatives with us. Paula, Alan, their family and Heidi all came to make the event more of an adventure. Chris and I came a few days late and left early (like all good party guests do). The weather was perfect. The sun was out every day and the water had all summer to heat up so it was just right. Since we were there for only a few days we had to make the most of each day - wakeboarding, surfing, skiing, lots of tubing...





Chris had his first go round on the Sky Ski and loved it. He learned quickly and wished we had more time to do that. Jan got up for her first time slaloming and did great. My mom can still wakeboard with the best of them and my dad even took his turn on the sky ski.





We did a couple of hikes - one to some indian ruins and another to a long slit in a rock.





The kids did some fishing using hooks and shoelaces. Either the kids are good fisherman or the fish are really dumb to eat the bait off of a shoelace fishing line.




The only downside to the trip is that Chris lost his wedding ring. We havent't even been married a year and it went into the Lake Powell abyss while Chris was showering off the end of the boat. No worries though, since then we have gotten a new ring Chris has returned to the land of married men.