Kevin & Spring

2009-07-12T15:55:00.007-07:00

Bug Spring's with the girls!

What a blast we had today riding bug springs. Both Melanie or Molly had not rode the trail so I was so happy to show them. Mel is one of the few mountain bikers on our team and she is awesome, so I am so excited to start doing more rides together. Molly and I only hook up to ride in a blue moon when our schedules match up and I always look forward to it. We had so much fun, you can tell by the big smiles. Now I have to get busy painting, there is always something to do around here.

2009-07-10T20:57:00.003-07:00

Ventana Canyon

Kevin and I rode out at Starr Pass this morning, and then I decided to do an evening hike out at Ventana Canyon. It has been raining almost every evening from the Monsoon storms, I love it. It is such a relief by the end of the day and all the cacti are fat and happy.

The lizard was wondering if I saw him.

We put a new humming bird feeder up at our new house. Even in a monsoon storm they love organic sugar. I tried honey at first because we did not have any sugar, no luck!

2009-07-07T15:35:00.006-07:00

Big Bear 4 fun!

4th of July weekend went fast, but we enjoyed it while it lasted. We rode, fished, watched the fireworks over the lake and best of all relaxed. But back to work today, we are almost done with our kitchen, we ran some new outlets to the wall today and prepped to run outlets to the kitchen island. I have learned so much about electricity since I ripped that wall out and did not know what to do with all the wires. Now I want to put an outlet and a switch on every square foot of the house. The 4th of July was a mid year resolution for me, no more beer and chips for a while, so the last few days I have been cooking good food on the grill again, steak and corn on the cob, and today was grilled chicken ceasar salad with stuffed grilled portabella mushrooms.

2009-07-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

I made it to Albueqerque last weekend to see Jesse's graduation, it was good to see everyone. I got to meet Jesse's mom and dad for the first time. The Combat Rescue Program from start to finish is two years, that's two year's of getting kicked in the nuts! Congrats on getting that done, I never had a doubt you'd kick its ass! Now its back to Alaska for the real fun. While I was in Albueqerque I got to do the Ben Hall Epic, it was three hours of the sweetest single track at 10000ft, I highly recommend the event for next year. We've been super busy over the last few weeks working on the houses. We finally got the big house done and we get our countertops tommorrow, we'll post some pics soon. Friday morning its off to Big Bear Lake, CA for some mtb'ing, camping and fishing, can't wait. Monsoons have finally come to Tucson, bring on the lightning and flashfloods.

2009-07-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sandia rainbow

2009-07-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

Sweet single track at Sandia Ski Slope.

2009-06-20T21:00:00.004-07:00

Destruction

Kevin went to NM without me because I was so tired after 6 days of midshifts that all I could think about on Friday was sleeping. After a full night sleep I got on my Mt bike and rode 2.5 hours and then decided to knock down a wall. What? I do these things and I am not sure why sometimes. After I pulled all the wires out of the wall, I thought I should go to an electrician class at home depot to learn how to put them all back together again. I even crawled up into the attic to pull the wires up, it was 200 degrees and I can't stop itching (probably shouldn't wear shorts) Anyway tomorrow I won't be able to move so I am posting now. Electricity tomorrow...Yikes:) Don't worry mom, the first thing I learned is to turn it off:)

2009-06-17T09:28:00.004-07:00

More cacti....
I know your proabably sick of seeing cactus pictures, but even cacti look good when the sun is setting out at Starr Pass. I made a rule only mountain biking for me for a while. The last mountain bike race of the season was awesome. Probably the best race that MBAA has put on, people were at every turn and it was well marked with lots of single track. I was pretty sketchy on the down hills but held on to second, which I was happy with next to speedster Sara and Jen and Christina were close behind. It was so fun! I am on a midnight to 8AM shift which is killing me, but to mix it up I will go run at 2AM when no one is up, it is really quiet. Starr Pass is less then a 30 min bike ride to the trail head from our new house so we hit that in the evenings often, there are so many trails out there that you can never get sick of it. We get our cabinets today, and still doing final touches on the main house. We are finally ready to relax with a trip to Albequerque this weekend for Jesse's graduation and then to Big Bear Lake for 4th of July weekend.

Blurry, but me, Sara and Jen

2009-06-12T18:03:00.003-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN

The birthday boy has been hard at work on the house while I took a break and headed up to Flagstaff this weekend. Kevin couldn't come because he works all weekend. He is accumulating more power tools for the house and has tried his hand in electricity, plumbing, and wood working, and has not blown anything up yet. But I still can't get him to put a shirt or shoes on. I guess he thinks he still lives in Hawaii:)

It is so nice up in Flagstaff this time of year, and the course was beautiful preriding today. I am a little rusty on the technical sections with one ride on my mountain bike, but I am perma smile the whole time.

Should be a fun, lots of single track!

2009-06-08T09:52:00.003-07:00

Back on the mountain bike

This weekend was the last road race of the season, yeah! I have to say I went into this last race pretty burnt out riding road and really anxious to get back on the mountain bike. I was happy with the last 60 mile climbing race because although I wasn't with the best climbers, I felt pretty good on the climb and I feel my climbing is slowly coming around, one of my main goals of the season. Kevin and I hit a fun new trail near Starr Pass called Robles Pass, alot of fun. So I am so excited to be back on the dirt. We are getting closer on the house we should have some final pics this week.

We had fun going through the under pass of Ajo rd.

Jon after the state RR giving me his best solute in my camo hat.

2009-05-31T17:56:00.004-07:00

What a great weekend!

I was suppose to work all weekend and on Friday was told that I did not have to work! Yeah a free weekend. Well I took full advantage of it and did the Shootout in the morning and then my good friend Jess talked me into doing a 5K yesterday evening. I told her it would be embarrassing to get beet by a pregnant lady because she is super fast. Well I am glad I did it, it was so much fun. Her soon to be husband Jon also ran after doing the shootout, we were so excited to get two workouts in. Then this morning I signed up for a Time trial because I have only got to use my new time trial bike for Gila and I was sick. Paul Thomas the Kuota rep below, set me up on my bike and is really the nicest guy and always willing to help anyone out. Someday I want to win a TT for him on my new Kuota. Paul and Dan won the tandem category with Dan just coming back from a really bad wreck where he had to wear a neck brace. I was so impressed by the both of them.

Paul on the front and Dan on the back smiling.

2009-05-31T10:29:00.000-07:00

Got the granite installed in the main house yesterday, it turned out really good. Should be getting the kitchen for the other house in about two weeks.

2009-05-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

2009-05-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

2009-05-25T20:55:00.007-07:00

Painting vs. Picnicking

Happy Memorial day! While most people are picnicking and drinking beer on this day, Kevin and I spent the entire day painting, whew glad that is over. I think the paint high kept us going for hours, I think we went through 15 gallons of paint. The place we are renting is 2300 Sq ft and we didn't even paint the bathrooms or closets. The guy that wants to rent it stopped in again today, he seems really excited, so we are excited. We get the granite this week so we will post some after pictures. Here is a peak at the 70s stove that was in the house, wait until you see the green tub:)
Out with the old...

In with the new, I love craigslist, brand new for $500

2009-05-22T13:28:00.006-07:00

It is a good day when...

You get a check in the mail for $1250.
You score a brand new slide in stove worth$1500 for $500.

Looks like all the hard work is paying off, Kevin and I taped off everything today to do some painting this weekend. Everything is starting to come together. It has been beautiful weather here in Tucson with overcast skys with highs of 80 and light drizzle. I ran one of my favorite trails yesterday in the rain, Pima Canyon, it was amazing, everything is blooming, and I am getting stronger running so it is so much more fun. As I decided to start riding my mountain bike again, it has been put on hold as I sheered my durailier hanger off my TITUS, bummer.

A birds nest hanging in the middle of the trail.

2009-05-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in getting up pics from my trip to Colorado. It was an awewome trip, everyone had a great time. Just wanted to thank everyone for all the work they did this season. On top of a great racing trip I worked in seeing 3 different sets of friends. Ben and Lisa, Jesse and Kristy and Clint and Danny. It was great to see all of you, next time it will be longer than a day. Thanks for coming out and watching the crit. The team did great this year, especially our women, we ended up 4th overall in the omnium. Personally I was planning on doing better but oh well, I was just happy to be there. After a crazy 4 or 5 months of working, training and school I'm finally able to relax. The plan is to get in some house remodeling and fun mtb rides, yes I said fun mtb rides! I'm off from school until July then only 4 more classes, should be done in December. Next up MTB Collegiate Nationals in Truckee CA in October, better get the climbing legs working.

2009-05-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Fun in the TTT, it was cold, wet and windy. Probably one of the top 3 worst conditions I've ever raced in.

2009-05-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

2009-05-20T10:47:00.002-07:00

2009-05-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

2009-05-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

2009-05-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

This was the view from the house we stayed in at Longmont, the inside was just as nice. Thanks Chloe for the hook up.

2009-05-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ben and Lisa's sweet new kitchen!

2009-05-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Got to meet Cadence for the first time. Forgot to get a pic of Jesse and Kristy.