In case you haven't heard....

We are moving to Oregon! Chris will have his head buried in law books at Willamette University for the next few years. I will...well I'm not sure what I will be doing.

We are both really sad to leave Utah but excited for the adventure ahead of us and that we are still somewhat close to family and even closer to some good friends (right Nicole?!?).

Spring Time Adventures

Chris and I managed to have some fun during Spring despite its absence. We kicked off Spring with a trip to St. George with our fun friends Cory and Tara. We hiked in Zions including Angels Landing. I am not ashamed to admit that I chickened out half way up.

I celebrated my 25th annual birthday. It was awesome with a more than awesome dinner at Francks.

Chris and I took a trip out to the Boston-New Hampshire-Maine area. We visited the Point Elizabeth lighthouse in Maine and Chris ate Maine lobster. We had a fun trip but are glad we don't have to go back anytime soon.

Chris rode in the Iron Horse Classic in Durango, CO with his buddy Cory. Tara and I did not make it up to the finish line because they closed the road. After a few swear words on Tara's part, a couple of diet cokes, and a 5 hour wait in a parking lot, we finally met up with our husbands at the finish line.

Chris and I went on a trip to So-Cal and took a last minute trip to Disneyland with Chris' brother's family and Chris' Dad. It ended up being the highlight of our trip, especially since it had been 20 years since my last visit. (see those lovely blue shoes I am wearing...they are the Devil's shoes and should never be worn in Disneyland).

Chris especially loves Disneyland for their cream cheese pretzels. He gobbled down three of them during our one-day visit.

So, as a surprise for Future Father's Day, I made Chris homemade cream cheese pretzels. They were pretty tasty but I would rather have an excuse to go to Disneyland to get them.

We just returned from a fun-filled weekend at the Bailey family reunion and have a lot more Summer time adventures up our sleeves. Maybe I will be better about blogging them.

Cycling and running are more fun when its not about me anymore

THIS IS A POST FROM CHRIS:

I know I usually don't post on our blog but I was inspired to write about something that I love, running and riding my bike. There are a host of reasons why I enjoy running and riding my bike; endorphins, personal satisfaction, stress reliever, pushing limits, setting and achieving goals, being in nature, competing, winning, the list can go on. But there has been something that has always lingered on my conscience when I am running or the bicycle; that these activities are inherently selfish. The countless hours alone riding, away form family and friends, all for what? Spending money and traveling to run in a race all for my own personal satisfaction, why? The time, dedication, effort put into these activities can be self-centered and become a wedge in friendships, marriages, and families especially when this time is spent focused on oneself. For any athlete that loves to workout, he or she is blessed with great health that enables them to build strength, ability, and talents through consistent practice. I view my health as blessing to which I am immensely grateful. I realize that only through this health am I able to excel at running and biking. For this reason I see this blessing of health as something that I should seek to share with others. But how does someone share their health with others? I think a great example of this type of behavior is exemplified perfectly in the story about Dayton. Click here to see the video. The opportunities to share our health or talents can be as simple as encouragement, occasions to talk with friends, or inviting someone to come along fir a run or ride. When we actively take those gifts, talents, or abilities and put them to work uplifting others I believe we will only stand to gain exponentially from the experience.

One of the ways that I have tired to share my blessing of good health is through competing in various cycling races in Utah and Colorado to raise money and awareness for cancer research. I have partnered with the Livestrong Foundation and set-up a donation page, SEE HERE. The donations that I am collecting right now is for a race I am competing in in Durango, CO. In this race I will be riding with people that have battled or are battling cancer. It's staggering to think that over 40% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at sometime during their life. With cancer being a prevalent problem amongst our society I feel that cancer research is a worthy cause.

We will be riding on this road during the race in Colorado.

In this simple way my racing won't be solely for my own benefit yet I can already see how enjoyment has increased. This experience has reenforced an important lesson; when we lose ourself to help others lies real joy. I hope those reading this can help help contribute to the Livestrong Foundation and help further cancer research.

Finally...Holiday Rundown

Once again, better late than never. We spent Thanksgiving at the Bailey house. As always, there was lots of good food and good times. Chris carved the turkey this year. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't have any manly aprons but he wears it well, don't you think?!?.

We spend Christmas with Chris' family in Vegas. We were also able to spend a little time with Alison and crew. We went to the Bellagio to see the conservatorium and the fountains. We also had an awesome Christmas Eve dinner at Maggianos. Love that place.

We celebrated Chris' birthday in Price this year. It's always a party when your birthday is on New Year's Eve. Chris insisted on having a Baskin Robbins cake but Price no longer has BR so we ordered a cake in Provo and packed it to Price with dry ice. We probably would have been fine to just put it in the trunk as we drove through the frigid canyon.

One New Year's Day, we drove through Scofield and over to Fairview to see the snow pack with my parents. The snow banks were taller than our car. It was also very very bright and I could not keep m eyes open.

Glad that's not my house.

I guess standing in front of the snow banks to emphasize the depth of the snow just wasn't enough. Gotta love auto-tint glasses. Ha!

Okay, that's enough winter fun for me. Spring you can come now. Thanks.

Halfy Halloween and Anniversary!

This post is long over due but better late than never. Chris and I, along with his brother Al and wife Mindy, ran in the Halloween Half Marathon on Saturday Oct. 30th. It was great weather and everyone finished so it was a good day. I came in with a personal record of 1 hr 38 minutes and Chris did his in 1 hr 18 minutes. Very Speedy!


The same weekend, Chris and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary since Chris was out of town during our real Anniversary. We spent a couple days at Stein Eriksen Lodge. We had so much fun eating fancy food for free and enjoying the fire places and hot tub while it snowed outside. It was so beautiful and relaxing. We even had Chris's brother, dad, and nephew join us for one of the best brunches in exsistence which is well deserved after running 13.1 miles if you ask me. Sadly, our room was bigger than our apartment but at least we were able to enjoy it for and few days. We can't wait to go back...whenever that is.



And last but not least, weeks and weeks ago, Chris and I took several drives, including a couple over the Alpine Loop, to see the changing leaves. Aw the days when we could be outside without jackets.


We have taken a picture in this spot every year. We'll see how long that lasts.

Off to the Races

LOTOJA 2010:

Chris competed in the Lotoja Classic bike race (a 206 mile jaunt from Logan to Jackson Hole) along with his brother Al and other fellow Red Burros. Chris did awesome with a finish time of 9 hours 14 minutes which was nearly 40 minutes faster than the first year he did the race. Al also did great with a finish time of 9 hours and 1 minute and set the course record. Chris really enjoyed the race, especially riding with his brother. I'm sure he also loved having me as his support, especially when I got stuck in awful traffic and missed him at the feed zone in Afton.

The chilly morning before take-off.

Al coming into the finish (their start time was a 12 minute difference from the clock). I missed getting a picture of Chris coming across the finish because a chaotic swarm of riders were trying to cross the finish at the same time.

A bunch of sweaty Burros.

I also competed in some races this summer. Running races that is. I wouldn't survive the first 10 miles of Lotoja. I ran the Wasatch Back in June with my sister Alison, sister-in-law Myndi and their friends from Vegas. It was a really fun race but I was so glad when it was over. I also ran my first half marathon in August. I ran the Provo River Trail Half Marathon with Chris and had a finish time of 1 hour 43 minutes and 21 seconds. Chris had a finish time of 1 hour 28 minutes even when he accidently ran an extra mile. I felt good enough after to actually sign up for another one in October.

Lucky Ladies from the Wasatch Back 2010.

Halloween Half here we come!

Family Reunion 2010: Bear Lake

The Bailey family reunion was held this year in Bear Lake. We stayed in this really cool renovated lodge that had once been a market or something. Leave it to my mom to go over the top with treats and fun activities. We went to the lake (little too cold), watched movies with lots of treats (seriously, my mom bought boxes of full size candy bars and we had our own concessions), played capture the flag several times (Thanks Darren for dragging me when I clearly had a hold of the flag), and played with water balloons. It was also a nice place to go running and out for a bike ride too.









We are already looking forward to next year!