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Seattle to Portland

{July 9-10}

The STP was such an amazing experience. Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done! The ride was split over 2 days. 100 miles each. Except for the hardcore people that do it all in one day. (Did I say hardcore? I meant crazy!) The ride started at the University of Washington. The first 10 or so miles were right along Lake Washington. The weather was a perfect 70 degrees and the views of Mount Rainier were a-ma-zing! I was loving every second of it. We stopped in Kent at the 25 mile mark to get some food, refill our water, and reapply our sunscreen. After that it was pretty flat road for the next 15 miles, that is until we got to the Puyallup hill. That thing was a beast! I made it up though, and from there it was smooth sailing to the lunch stop at mile 50. We got our food and laid out on the lawn enjoying the sunshine, and the much needed break from moving our legs. Only 50 more miles and we were done for the day. The last half wasn't that bad. I had a little less energy but was still feeling pretty good.

We made it into Centralia at around 4:00pm. Erich met us there with all our camping gear and we set up camp out on the grass at the college. It was kind of cool to see hundreds of tents set up all along the streets. They were selling showers for $5 dollars inside the school so we headed over there. It might seem like a lot for a shower, but it was worth every penny. It felt sooo good after that long and sweaty day! After that we just kind of hung out. They had live music and tons of food. It was definitely an early night though, we had another long day ahead of us.

We woke up early that next morning and headed over to Denny's for breakfast. Then we started on our way. The second day was a HUGE difference from the first. It was literally hill, after hill, after hill. It was insane! By mile 50 I was like okay, this is just getting ridiculous! There was one hill that was at least, and I'm not exaggerating, at LEAST 15 miles long. Me and Bethany would just crack up after every turn because it was still going upward. We thought it was never going to end! It was a pretty hard day but it was so awesome crossing that finish line. It was such a cool feeling knowing that I did it! I biked 200 miles!

I love crossing things off my bucket list!

Getting the biked looked at before starting.

Me at the starting line. Like the nervous smile? :)

Riding along Lake Washington.

You can't see it that well in this picture but the view of Mount Rainier was AMAZING.

REI rest stop at mile 25. Disco party!

Lunch stop at mile 50. Right after the gigantic hill we'd been dreading all day.

This guy pulled his dog with him the whole ride. I'm pretty sure the dog got the better end of that deal. :)

We had to bike over this bridge as the traffic was flying past us. It was kinda scary! Here we were about 30 miles outside of Portland.

The bridge over to Portland. Only a few more miles to go!

As Charlie Sheen would say...WINNING!

Finally made it. Oh sweet joy!

Scott and Bethany made it too.

205.61 miles. Happy I did it, glad it's over. :)

White people problems...

YUP.

Friday Flashback 17 ~ Foxy mama!

I was looking through old pictures the other day and came across these. Is she not just an absolute fox?! This is my mama, and I love her. She is the strongest, bravest, most thoughtful person I know. She made the decision 19 years ago that she needed to take me and my siblings out of a bad situation. She packed up what she could fit in our suburban, sold the rest, and we made the looong trek from Timmins, Ontario, to the little town of Ivins, Utah. I don't think she knew exactly what she was going to do, or how she was going to do it. She just had the faith that Heavenly Father was leading her is the right direction. And that he would not lead us astray. And with the help of him, she raised me and my siblings all by herself. And while we may not have always had everything we wanted, we sure always had everything we needed. And that is because of this independent, strong, and faithful woman. I love her so much. She gave us a real chance at having a good future. I don't think I could ever thank her enough. I love you mom!

STP

This weekend I'm riding my bike from Seattle to Portland.

Oh my, what have I gotten myself into?!

4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July! We started the day off with a drive up to Flaming Geyser. It was a gorgeous morning and we spent over 2 hours just driving around exploring and enjoying the farm land and gorgeous views of Mount Rainier. From there we headed over to a friends house for a barbecue. They own a bunch of land out in Graham so we spent the day playing baseball, volleyball, horseshoes, and anything else we could think of. We love going out there for the 4th, it's always so much fun! We spent a good part of the day there with our friends and then headed over to Erich's brothers house for more food and fireworks. It was so nice to lay out and relax on the grass with the girls while the guys had their fun blowing stuff up! They provided quite the firework display for us. It was a great day. We love all our family and friends!

Patriotic breakfast.

Loungin' around.

She's such a ham. :)

Food. Food. And MORE FOOD.

A friendly game of basketball. (We played A LOT of sports that day.)

Fun with cousins.

 

FIREWORKS!

Gibby visit

{Day 1, May 27th}

It was so much fun having my sister and her family come visit us from Utah! They came up over Memorial Day weekend and we had a busy three days trying to cram in all the beautiful sights of Seattle! We started off at the Columbia Tower which was absolutely AMAZING! That was my first time up there and I can't believe I waited that long because the views were so awesome! Way better than the Space Needle and it's only $5 compared to $18! Anyway, I highly recommend people going and doing that, you won't be disappointed!

Next we headed over to the Pacific Science Center so the kids could have some fun!
We spent quite a few hours there walking around to all the fun activities and exhibits.

Journey and Myles were brave enough to hold the giant cockroach. Myles was so good with it. He didn't freak out at all when the lady put it in his hands. He thought the little guy was so cute and didn't want to let him go!

And of course we had to see the Space Needle.

We headed over to the Mariners game that night and had so much fun. It was a great game, and best of all, the Mariners won! Booya! I think the kids got a little bored sitting there but they got to go over and play at the kids play place so everyone ended up happy.

{Day 2, May 28th}

The kids would play with our Nerf gun every morning, all morning, until we left the house. There is something about Nerf guns that make kids go nuts! We need to get a few more to have around so there will be less fighting over them.

We went to the park and had some fun before we stuck the kids in the car all day.

It was a fun park, the kids loved it!

Squirrels were running all over the place!

The kids loved watching them run up the trees after each other.

The Gibby's at Snoqualmie Falls.

Myles looking over at the roaring falls.

{Day 3, May 29th}

We started the day off at the troll. Adam ended up jumping off the back of it and sprained his ankle! So we spent the next couple hours at the hospital. They gave him some crutches and some medicine and he was good to go! It was a real bummer that that had to happen though. :(

Pikes Place Market.

The gum wall.

No kids, this gum is NOT for eating. :)

I love this little stud muffin. I miss him. :(

Hanging out on the pier.

Addie and her sailor man.

 Dinner at Ivar's. The kids loved feeding the seaguls.

Silly boys.

And we ended our last day on there ferry. It was kind of gray and gloomy but we still had fun.
We love when people come visit us, it's fun to explore Seattle all over again!