75,065 Miles

Yesterday I rode 52 miles in preparation for my 100 mile race in three weeks. Besides being incredibly sunburnt I felt pretty tough. Felt tough that is, until I read about Tommy Godwin. This man is an animal. Check it out on the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia. My favorite Tommy Godwin fun facts are:

• He holds the world record for the greatest amount of miles cycled in a single year (75,065 miles...that is over 200 miles a day!)
• He rode through World War II blackouts with lights taped to his bike
• He was a vegetarian
• His bike weighed 30 lbs (the lightest bike today weights under 6 lbs)

Inspirational or just plain crazy?

Spring Break

I was definitely needing a break and I full week I got off of work the first week of April was timely. We went to Southern California with the Young's and had a great time. Stephen and I aren't great about taking pictures so thank you to Chris, who took most of these pictures and shared them with us. Also, we did a lot more than go to Disneyland, that was actually only one day, but I really liked these pictures. Here are my favorites:

We went to Club 33 for lunch. It was delicious and fun to go out on the balcony above the crowds in New Orleans Square.

First timers!

Miles was pimping it in his puma track suit, hat, and aviator glasses. So stylish.

Thank you to Mark and Judy for the wonderful trip!

In other news, I played in my first piano recital since I was a little kid. It was a bit silly since I was playing with a bunch of little kids. I did ok but not good enough to post the video Stephen took. I'm glad that I did it because it pushed me to learn a harder piano piece than I would have otherwise and I think it's good for me to be in uncomfortable situations and be nervous because I am learning new things. I'm glad it's over and I hope I can keep taking lessons and that I'll be a proficient piano player someday!

Small Happy Things

Life is great around our house. Here are some of the small (and big) things making us happy:



This is the rose that I got on Valentine's day...this picture was taken just a few days go, no kidding. I have never known roses to last this long but it's been wonderful. Not a petal has fallen still to this day but the last couple of days haven't been great, it's finally getting brown. It's been so fun to see how long it would last.



I love my students. I don't love them all equally though and I will be honest about that. This boy is one of my favorites. We are writing narratives right now about if we had a super power. This boy's power is superhuman strength and when I read this line (although it doesn't fit in very well with the rest of his paper) I just loved him even more. I don't know if he meant to say this but he did and it was brilliant. I want this power too.

Last weekend I took the quickest trip to Vegas to visit my friend Chanell who just had a baby four weeks ago. I talked my mom and sister into driving down with me and we got to see my aunts and grandma. On the way my mom and I were just chatting it up when I looked down and realized I was totally out of gas. I guess Stephen usually fills up when we're on road trips because it didn't even cross my mind when we stopped to eat. We were in the desert past Mesquite when I realized I had "0 miles" left. We coasted into the last chance truck stop just 20 miles outside Vegas. Close one.

The trip was quick but totally worth getting to hang out with this little guy all day on Saturday! I loved him. I got a picture with Chanell as well but neither of us looked great in it so this will have to do.

I made this quilt for her and it turned out alright. I didn't love the quilting but the pattern (from this website) was super cute. Mostly Braxton made it cute.


This isn't a very good quality picture but we got to play with our cutest little cousins and while we were there they got a new pet bunny who by the end of the day was called Patrick because it was St. Patrick's day. We had some discussion about how to find out if it was a boy or girl but Uncle Kyle just ruled that it was a boy since he has all daughters and is the only male in the house.

Mallery, the one in pink above, was super excited to tell Stephen over the phone about the bunny so she took this picture on my phone to text to him, it was cute and she was so proud of her photography.

Last but not least for this week, it was Stephen's birthday! I had parent-teacher conferences until late so we tried to celebrate over breakfast. Stephen insisted on cooking and I felt like a bad wife but it was kind of nice. He made his dream breakfast for that day which was country potatoes with bacon and eggs, white toast, and cinnamon rolls.

Stephen got a gift that took him one step closer to becoming a "real man", he claims he needs a gun before he can really be a real man but some power tools were a step in the right direction. Happy birthday to the greatest husband!

Ashley's Shower

This weekend we went to Logan for Ashley's baby shower thrown by her friend Katie. It was so beautifully done, I wish my pictures could do it justice.

The decorations were so cute.

They had a cake made to match Ashley's nursery theme.

So many fun people came.

Here are all of the Robinson (my mom's side) girls that were there: my mom, Lynette, Ashley (in all of her glory), grandma, Erin, Lyndsay, Jence, BreAnn, and me. It was fun to see them and we're so excited for Ashley's baby to come in May!

It's Here!

After a month of waiting and sharing a car with Stephen, our new car is here! I couldn't hardly be more spoiled and excited!

February

February came and went and here are the things that I missed blogging about:

Ski Utah

I took on a project at school to get us involved with a program called "Ski Utah". They take fourth graders skiing for a day at a local ski resort and any child who can't pay the $25 fee gets "scholarships" to still be able to participate. People who travel to Utah to ski probably wouldn't believe that out of the 70 or so fourth graders at my school that went skiing or snowboarding with us, one had been before. It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad we did it, even if it was a lot of work for me. 

Valentine's Day

Stephen and I had a great Valentine's Day. We went to see The Vow, which was a little bit more sad and less dreamy-lovey than I had hoped but I really liked it still. I thought it was even better after I looked up and read about the couple it was actually based on. The movie stayed pretty true to the actual story. After that Stephen took me to dinner at Log Haven which was delicious! It was so pretty up the canyon, even if there wan't much snow. 

Swamp People

We have some new neighbors that we have made friends with and they introduced us to "Swamp People". We aren't huge T.V. watchers and when I watch other people's cable, I remember why. If you haven't seen this show, I recommend at least a one-time watch. We have been going over to the Moore's to watch it on a weekly basis for a few weeks and we just crack up for the whole hour. After we thought that was funny we found another show called "Mudcats" that is just indescribable. Check out the link because I really can't do that one justice. 

Frontline on Meth

This really has nothing to do with mine and Stephen's life in February but I am sharing it here anyhow. Stephen is always finding interesting news articles and videos and showing them to me. This is one of those. This is a documentary from Frontline on the "Meth Epidemic" as they call it. I was so enthralled after I stared watching this that I ended up watching the entire thing. It was super educational, even if it was a little freaky. Here is the link if you want to check it out. 

My Birthday!

I was born on a leap year just one short hour after February 29th. It's been a disappointment for my father his entire life but my birthday is not in February but March 1st. It was a fun but crazy day. I thought it would be fun to take muffins to my class that morning, fun in theory but it really ended up being a bad idea after all of the sugar and wildness set in to them. I maybe could have got them back under control but  just before lunch my mom showed up in my classroom! She surprised me and drove down from Logan to have lunch with me. She brought treats for the kids and told them funny stories about me and showed them my fourth grade pictures. It was fun to have her come. By the end of the day I wasn't too sad to see the kids leave. Stephen and I went to dinner at the Paris Bistro and then had treats with friends at our house later. There were a couple of pictures taken but not by me so sorry, no photos. Rest assured that I look just the same now that I am 24 as I did when I was 23 though. It was a fun day and Stephen gave me a gift certificate here, which will make for another fun day if I can only choose what to do!

No Turning Back

I signed up for my 100 mile bike race this week in part so that I wouldn't have to pay $5 more after March 1st for dragging my feet and in part so that I would have a price to pay for backing out. I am doing this and there is no turning back now. Bring on the training...but first bring on the warm weather. 

What's Up?

It's been a while since I've posted and here is what I've been up to!


I'm now a pinterester. I was having so many people tell me that it was great and fun and that I'd love it so I joined to see what all the fuss was about. I admit, it's pretty fun. I can definitely loose myself on there, as if I'm not already on the internet enough. It's just fun to see the creative ideas and beautiful things people post. If you're on there feel free to follow me but mostly so I can follow you back, my collection is still quite small. 


It was good bye today to my old friend. Stephen and I definitely saw the farewell as a necessity. We sold the Passat after a good three year run in the family. She was just getting too expensive to fix too frequently.

We sold her on KSL in just three days for a price that we could feel honest about. It will make a good down payment for our next addition that we're anxiously awaiting because we're now a one car family. We'll see how that goes...

Last but not least, if you thought my class at school had it's share of disgusting ailments when I had a boy with contagious ringworm, you were wrong. I had a student that went home today with lice and scabies. I can't even begin to imagine what her home looks like, nor do I want to. We had to do a lice check on all of the kids in my class and thankfully everyone was clean. We did a thorough sanitizing and lecture about not sharing anything that might touch our heads and my skin crawled all day. This too shall pass? None too soon.

Resolutions

I have never once in my life set a New Year's resolution that I have kept. I usually don't set any. In 2011 I set one goal, exercise four times every week. I just have to brag for this one tiny second and say that I completed this and thus my first New Year's resolution. I am so proud and so sick of exercising that much. Sometimes it was fun, like in the summer when I could bike and I would sometimes bike more than four days in the week. Sometimes it was torture, like when I was sick or had parent-teacher conferences. 

This year Stephen and I wrote a whole list of things we'd like to do this year, either alone or together. The biggest ones for me are to learn to play the piano and to complete a 100 mile bike race. I am starting piano lessons this week and I am planning to sign up for the 100 mile stretch of the Goldilocks women's only ride in South Salt Lake that takes place in May. I would love a riding buddy if anyone is looking for a New Year's resolution of their own!

The Happiest Place on Earth

For Christmas with my family this year we went to Disneyland! My family LOVES Disneyland. I am not excluded from that but Stephen definitely got his fill after our three twelve-hour days between the two parks. I would go back today if I could! We had a great time.

The park was all decorated for Christmas, which made it even more magical.

We went on SO many rides. Despite what Stephen might think, we still didn't go on every ride but that could be a good goal for next time.

We met some of our favorite characters. I didn't get to see sleeping beauty this time except in the parade so that is sad. At least I got my picture next to Heimlich and my mom even had a candy corn handy for me.


Stephen and I both got our favorite Disneyland treats. Both of them were a little too bit to finish comfortably. Stephen muscled through his but I had to have some help on mine.

All of the boys wanted to share in eating a turkey leg together.

We had mostly good weather. This was the best and most sunny afternoon.

Later that day it rained and Stephen and I sat on the Main Street curb for an hour that night trying to get premium spots for the parade. They canceled it due to the rain. We were still happy because we had one more night and the next night we got front row seats on benches for the parade.

This was my new FAVORITE ride. It was so much fun and we rode it at least five times.

Merry Christmas from the happiest place on earth!