The One Where Justin Messed with Texas

Ok, he didn't really mess with Texas but it does look like he got in a good fight. Just a minor mishap in a pickup bball game.

It's hilarious when he tries to not laugh!! Well, for me :)  I promise I'm not domestically violent!

The One with the Tour of Utah

In 2006, Larry H. Miller (former owner of the Jazz and most of SLC) started a road bike race across Utah.  I know, what's with all the road bike posts?!  Justin is kind of getting into it.  He wants to buy a bike!  (update: he has bought a bike.)  We are definitely still mountain bikers but you can ride on the roads earlier and later in the season than on the mountains.  So we'll probably get road bikes to get in and maintain "biking shape."

Last year we watched the end of one of the Tour's stages.  It finished right off of campus.  People are loud and crazy, ringing cow bells and yelling.  It's fun.  This year (on Aug. 9th) there was another stage right by campus so we walked over with Mike (a member of Justin's research group who mountain bikes with us often).  The bikers get going so fast!!
 

Justin and Mike

The Pelaton (main group of riders)

After all the bikers pass, their support vehicles follow.  It was kinda funny to see these in the circuit race, driving loops through downtown.  There are some nice bikes up on those racks.

This section was coming off the only downhill in the circuit.  The riders get in "super-tuck" position and just fly down the road.

We were also "Tour groupies" on Saturday (8/10) and drove around chasing the route from Snowbasin to Snowbird (both ski resorts meaning LOTS of climbing, ouch!) with our friends Bonnie and Kristian.

Bonnie, Kristian and Justin

We waited beneath an underpass.  The riders went up and across that hill in the background and down the highway.

Here they come!!  The front riders are called the Break.

This was a long enough race that there were a few groups in front of the Pelaton.  After the first group (Break) came the Chase.

And back to the Pelaton.  That's a lot of bikers!

We wanted to see the bikers speeding downhill so we went to the bottom of Big Cottonwood canyon.  This volunteer cracked us up.  He was very enthusiastic about his role.

Check out how fast they whipped around this corner.

Other shots from segments of the race across the state.  These are all from the website.  They cycled past some pretty awesome scenery.

Manti Temple

Escalante National Park

Red Canyon (near Bryce Canyon National Park)

Other side of the Red Canyon arch

Escalante again (this is where we did our Coyote Gulch backpack trip a few years ago)

The One with Saints and Sinners

"Saints to Sinners" is a road bike race from Salt Lake to Las Vegas.  I love the name, super funny!  Justin was invited by Bonnie and her husband Kristian to join their team.  He's not a roadie but he's in dang good biking shape so he accepted.  The race has 30 legs and they had a 10 person team so Justin rode 3 legs.  Their team started at 6am Friday morning (7/26) and finished about noon the next day.  They came in 8th place out of 17 teams in their division.  The sad thing is they were only 10 minutes behind the 6th place team but Justin got a flat on the road which took about 15 minutes to fix.  So had that not happened they would have come in 6th!!

Here are Justin's legs :)

And here's what he biked during the race:
His first leg was from about 2:30-3:30pm.  For easy comparison I'm using his Strava maps because they show distance, elevation gain and time at the top and have an elevation map at the bottom so you can see just how much he climbed.

His second ride was 1-1:45am!!  I thought this leg would be his hardest.  It was the shortest but had one of the biggest elevation gains for the entire race.  Justin said it was really dark and actually started to rain on him.   He said riding that late at night was a little scary. At one point he had just passed 2 other bikers and was all by himself when he came upon the Mountain Meadows Massacre memorial sign.  Creepy!!  He definitely picked up a little speed right then.

 

This leg shows how impressive a biker Justin is.  The fastest time for that leg was 35 minutes (set by the 2nd fastest team overall who did the entire 800+ miles in just over 24 hours, only 5 minutes behind 1st place).  In Justin's division the fastest rider took 38 minutes.  Justin's time was under 46 minutes!!  He came in 5th in division, 12th out of 52!!  Not bad for a non-road biker!!  That's my hubby :)

His third leg was the second to last of the race.  Justin came in 4th in division and 11th overall on this leg.

I cannot imagine how crazy these people are who sign up for this every year.  I mean, it would be fun but EXHAUSTING!!

A few pictures at the finish line:
(*I wasn't at the race (obviously) so I got all these pictures off the Facebook page.  Thankfully there were some good ones of Justin.)

 Here he comes!! (The guy in front, fist pumping, is Kristian's brother,

the last rider for the team.  Justin just wanted to ride through the gate.)

A little closer.

A little closer. 

 Bam!!  Hottie with a body.  I mean, bike :)

I bought that Utah jersey Justin is wearing for Christmas at least 3 years ago.  We may not have even been married quite yet, just engaged.  Anyway, it hung in his closet for a few biking seasons before he decided his other jerseys could finally be retired and this one could be worn.  Why buy new things if you're not going to wear it?!  I'm the exact opposite.  I buy a new shirt and wear it that night :)

Team photo: Bonnie and Kristian are on the left and hopefully you can pick out Justin :)  The rest of the team was Kristian's dad (who sponsored the team), 2 of his brothers and friends they each recruited to fill out the roster.  You may notice that there are only 9 in the picture.  Our bishop is actually an avid roadie and participated but had to head back to SLC early for church the next day.

We don't know these other teams; I just like their photos.  They're funny :)

Can you hear the Chariots of Fire theme song right now?

The One where Justin is Hilarious!

Got home after work just a few days ago and Justin was literally "pink with barely concealed glee" (Friends reference!) because he had done something that afternoon he thought was hilarious.  He was right!!  His cousin who is also from FL but currently living in the DC area had posted on Facebook how much she was missing family.  Here's his response:

Bwahahaha!!  I almost peed my pants when he showed me!!!  I seriously laughed so hard and continued to giggle for a good 10 minutes.  What a nerd!!  That's his "goofy" face, I love it!!

The One About Trevy Punkin

**I wrote this post at least 2 years ago after I'd written a few about Kaden and Makayla and kinda forgot about it.  Don't know why I didn't just post it then so I'll do it now.

I sadly have fewer pictures of Wendy's kids to share (not because I took fewer pictures, they just haven't been around as long).  But I do have some cute ones of Trevy.

I remember much more about Trevy being born than Kaden and Makayla.  (For someone who has to read and memorize things as often as I do I have a horrible memory when it comes to events!)  I was still living in Tucson and sleeping in one morning (that's how you know this is a true story) when I got a call from James about 10:30.  It took me a second to realize "why is James calling me?  Shouldn't he be at work?"  Then he told me Trevy was here.  That's the way to do it folks.  When Justin and I have kids we probably won't call to say I'm in labor- we'll call to say the baby is out!  I got dressed and hurried over to the hospital to meet my new niece.  She was so tiny!  I guess not too tiny compared to Kaden but after Makayla (who we didn't see for the first time until she was a few weeks old already), Trevy was so small.  I was so excited for Wendy to finally have her baby and it was fun to live in the same city so I could go over and hold her whenever I wanted.  (Well, within reason.)  I was also really glad I still lived in Tucson so I could help out when Wendy needed me.  It definitely helped pass the time until I could find a job!

Easter 2007

Lake Powell 2007

 

Trevy as Dorothy, Halloween 2008

August 2009- cosmetology practice

 Are you hiding in Aunt Amy's cupboard?!

 Christmas 2010

Maybe it was because I lived so close for Trevy's first few years that she remembers me so well but it always makes me feel good when I come home and she still gives me a big hug.  Not always so nice when she's just gotten out of the car and couldn't quite make it all the way to Grandma's house without wetting her pants (I guess you can call that the American Trevy Fountain) but it's the thought that counts :)

My favorite thing about Trevy is her voice.  I just love the way she pronounces words.  It's so funny!!  Bar-ba-loot suits!  Trevy has such an impressive memory for a five year old (see- old post.  Trevy just turned 7!).  I also think it's hilarious when she lets us know what she's doing even though we can see it (as in "I'm crying!").

I don't remember where the nickname Trevy Punkin came from, I think it was just a cute name Wendy would call her (right Wendy?) but it totally fits.  She is Trevy Punkin.  And we love her!