Waiting for Spring!!

We've been pretty busy this spring, from Easter, to Ryan's 1st semester at ISU, preparing for races, Ryan's 31st birthday, running some races, doing some cycling races, almost finishing the yearlong project of a new bathroom, and children growing like weeds!

Ryan's birthday was a quiet one in Malad. Some of my family came over to open presents and have some strawberry shortcake. He received a shirt from his parents, money from mine, a personalized pocketknife from Annie and Kevin, root beer (his favorite kind, in the glass bottles!) and a kite from the girls, and a camp chef also from us! (I already have the camp chef reserved for half of the summer!)

Next came Ryan's 65 mile cycling race in early April. His friend Mike and he were in the top 10! The weather that day was terrible, he said they had every type of weather except good weather! Rain, snow, sleet, and wind and cold prevailed, instantly soaking them, they were real troopers to even finish!

Easter this year was a lot of fun! We stayed in Malad, (I was in charge of the Malad Easter Egg Hunt) I got to help the Easter Bunny distribute thousands of eggs. (I tell you, if I had to choose a service, I'd choose this! You can't go wrong being the bearer of candy, no asking businesses for money, and the event's over in less than 1 minute, with happy kids and parents!) Ryan got our girls ready that morning. (I had no say in their hairdos or lack thereof!) Sunday morning, the easter bunny spoiled our girls! Both Aezlyn and Hadlee received a dress, a movie, a doll (or barbie) and some candy. We didn't get to Boise until May. I felt bad that we missed the big Summers' party (with most of the extended family also) but you do what you can right?!

Next came the Thanksgiving Point half marathon. Ryan had seen his cousin, Stephanie sign up, so he signed us up too! We were lucky to stay at Ryan's aunt Lana's house in American Fork, so we were close by. Lana and Callie also watched our girls that morning and brought them to the finish line. You can tell she was used to girls because she got up 3 girls (3 and under), fed them pancakes, did their hair and had them to the race by 9:00 am. (I'm sure Perry helped too!) Thank you, Thank you! We did well, I finished in 1 hr 45 minutes and Ryan in 1 hr 52 minutes. It was pretty cold, but we survived.

For May, we've been busy working, playing, waiting for good weather, and last weekend we did a bike race. It was my 1st race (It wasn't a race, more like an event, because you could start from 7:30 am to 9 am, and at the break stops you could stay as long as you wanted) Ryan and his buddy Mike did the Century, 105 Miles, and I did the 72 mile route. It started in SLC, to Farmington to Syracuse (this is where I turned around) and Ryan and Mike to Antelope Island, then Back to SLC. It was tons of fun. I was surprised that I could stay up with Ryan and Mike, we averaged 16.5 miles/hour. It was amazing to me to see like 2,000 people so excited to ride a bike. It was very enjoyable, with breaks, they boxes and boxes of food(like ho-ho's, granola bars, candy, oranges, bananas, rice-krispies and a huge lunch. It was my style of eating!) I am definitely up for more races. Besides a good sunburn and bit of a sore behind, I'm good!

There is this guy we know that has the best garden, and he's letting us have a plot to grow some veggies. I think we'll do some squash and potatoes. He will water it for us, and we'll do the weeding. It'll be a good experience for our girls too.

We're excited for summer, though it seems we have something going on every weekend.

WARNING:::I'm warning you about the pictures below, I still haven't figured out how to see the pictures after I've uploaded them, so they are a unorganized. Good luck deciphering what pictures go along with what event! But hey, at least I've finally posted something again!