Visitors from Finland!

My uncle Wayne went to Finland a few years ago to see relatives.  While there, a family that was a friend of our relatives, offered his cabin for Wayne and Deb to stay at.  Now they are in the United States and coming to dinner at my house.  I was so excited to meet a family from Finland.

They were lovely.  So gracious and full of stories.  I loved the evening.  Thank you Wayne for keeping in touch and including us in inviting them over for dinner.

(br) Asa, Ken, Froggie (Mom), Bullfrog (Dad), Kevin, Ruth, John, Debi, Christel

(fr) Shauna, Wayne

There was so much snow this year that Utah Lake is very very full!  The water is to the top of the boat ramp and covers some of the roads.  Boating at Utah Lake is still wonderful.

A day on the lake with Kim, Don and Sam Trop.  Beautiful evening.  And fun!

RAGNAR RELAY - aka. WASATCH BACK!

Run 192 miles

Logan to Park City

12 people, 2 Vans - Team: Cops and Robbers

32 hours 23 minutes!

Ragnar (n) - In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestory, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits and favored by the Gods.

Check out this team of great courage and strength!  Who decided to have a bold exploit and run together for 192 miles of fun, encouragement, personal achievement, with a little pain and suffering.

Candace ran this last year with her work and enjoyed it so much she registered and put together a team.  The best part was the comaraderie of training.  We got together for a few group runs, compared progress and enjoyed each others company.  The second best part was completing the challenge.

I was runner #7.  Lucky me.  My total miles to run was only 12.2.  My first leg was flat, I was the first runner in Van 2 and we started about 12 noon near Pine View resevoir.  My second leg started about 8 p.m and climbed out of East Canyon resort. In the last 2.5 miles, I had the most elevation gain of my leg.  Total elevation gain was 626 feet.  It doesn't sound like much.  But it was a good little hill.  As I climbed, I kept telling myself, "no matter how slow you go, do not walk!"  And I did it.
The third leg was flat, but the hardest, due to sleep deprivation, (only 3 hours of sleep).  I started running right after the sun came up.

Adam was runner #8.  Total miles to run was 16.3.  His first leg was flat and east of Pine View.  His second leg was more difficult, if running downhill is hard for you, Adam thought it was easy.  He ran 7 miles, all downhill, from East Canyon to Henefer.  Total elevation loss was 957.  His third leg was fairly flat, a slight uphill, through Midway.  This was also his hardest leg, due to sleep deprivation and a big blister.

Jamie was runner #10 Total miles to run was 15.5 Jamie's first two legs were relatively flat, But her third leg was the "Ragnar Hill".  This is considered the steepest section of the total 192 miles.  In 4 miles there is an elevation gain of 1678 feet.  She climbed a paved mountain road that had some switch backs.  The snow had to be cleared from the road this year, due to the enormous amounts of snow we had.  The snow banks were 4 feet high that we drove through at the top.  She did awesome.  Had to slow a couple of times to catch her breath, but she ran this section in great form.

Our van/suburban of 6 consisted of Adam, Jamie, Myself, Lyndsey, Carli and Angie.  We did so good together, we laughed, suffered, shared snacks, slept, stunk and cheered each other on.  We got along so well.  I would do this again with this crew.

Our Team!

Carli

Favorite saying of the day: "Be Happy with the body God gave you"

It was a pleasure to run, ride and suffer with you.

Lynsdey

Climbed over Trappers Loop and was still smiling!

Finished Guardsmans Pass and was still smiling!

Angie

Ran a marathon the weekend before and came out to play with us!

Encouraging, Positive, Inspirational, Burb driver, Last Runner!

After 2 days of waiting in lines for the Honey Buckets, we were so excited to go home and flush.

Van 1

Candace, Phil, Kristen, Casey, Travis, Brad

Thanks for the great weekend!

Going Cruising!

Morgan's mother-in-law, Kathy, wanted to take her family on a cruise.  And bless her heart, she thought the Leake family would be fun to have along.  We hope she wasn't disappointed.  Well we didn't say "no" to such a great invitation.  So the first of June we went on a cruise with the Birks family. 

We drove to California so we could stop in St. George and do a little mountain biking. Then we went to California where Jim and Karen, graciously, let us stay at their home.  It was a beautiful start to a vacation.  We lounged around the pool. 

Played disc's and Barbacued.

We went running on the beach and borrowed Jim and Karen's beach cruisers for a ride in the sand.

Thank you Jim and Karen!

Monday afternoon, we left Jim and Karen's and boarded our boat.

What do you do on a cruise?  Well you get your picture taken....

And you eat...

You learn how to fold towels...

Run on the deck....(to wear off all the food you eat)

Eat some more... 

Learn some tricks...This waiter and our waiter had a new trick for us every night.  They were great.

Sit on the deck in the sun/cloudy sky and get cloud burned while trying not to have goosebumps cause a rainy cold front came in just for your vacation...(although we saw very little rain)

 Get your picture taken, again...                                                  Play some games...

 Dance a little...

Sing a little kareoke...

Eat some more...

 And....get your picture taken.  The boat time was a lot of fun...

Shore time was also fun.

Our first stop was Catalina Island.
The cruise boat was anchored out in the bay so we rode these tenders/shuttles to the shore. 

We had to get a little squishy, but that was ok. 

Our first adventure was to rent golf carts and tour the island.

What do you get when you have a couple of golf cart drivers who race VW bugs?

A golf cart race.  It was kinda slow, but the passengers loved it!

We saw the island from way up high.

 Hung out on the pier!

 Tested the water temperature.

 Saw some wildlife!

Braved the tide and got our picture taken.

 Got our feet wet!

It was a good day!
Next stop....Ensenada.
We didn't book any excursions through the cruise lines, we were adventurous.
When we got off the boat at Catalina.  We knew we wanted to take golf cart tours so we found the golf cart place and were the first ones in line to rent carts.  Easy.
Same with Ensenada.  We didn't book a Buffadora tour, we found one when we got off the ship and took a 30 min tour bus ride around the bay to Buffadora.

 Buffadora is a cool blow hole.  When the water comes into the rocks, it shoots in the air and spray falls all over you.

 Problem is...It is hard to know when the big one will blow.  Not behind Morgan and Chase.

 or Jamie and Adam

or Kevin and I.  Good thing we got a picture of it happening.  I think it was shy!

 Then lets go shopping.  Traditional Mexican street shopping.  The vendors are calling you to their store, with the promise of a good deal.  "Hey pretty lady, I have vanilla, you want tequilla.  How about a t-shirt."

We did find a few things we wanted.  But the pressure was overwhelming!

When we were done shopping, we headed back to town on the bus.
Once we came to town.  We headed out to find authentic Mexican food.
It was soooooo good.

 Last minute shopping at the pier!

We had a day at sea, where we shivered under the clouds on the deck and enjoyed relaxing while we sailed back to Long Beach.

We got off the boat on Fri and headed to Huntington Beach with the Birks to play in the sand and water. 

VACATION 2011- GREAT!

After we left the beach, we stopped at a VW car show.  I love this Double Cab bus/truck!

We then parted ways.  The Birks family went to their hotel and we headed back to Jim and Karen's house.  Again we had 5 star accomodations at the Yorgason's.

Saturday morning, after a run on the beach we left beautiful Carlsbad California and headed for home.

We stayed in St. George instead of driving all the way home and rode our mountain bikes one more time.  This is sooo much fun!

And then there is the drive home, after a week of fun, sunshine, sand between our toes, lots of yummy food and a few laughs. It's time to head back to work!

We are well rested.  Well sort of!  Some of us needed a little more sleep!

Chase, please keep your eyes on the road, but it helps to be awake when your eyes are open.

On our way from California to St. George, our truck lost the alternator.  We managed to get to St. George, where we bought a battery charger and charged the battery on the truck all night.  In the morning we thought all would be fine.  We had a good charge and thought we could make it all the way home.

 

Before we got to Payson, the electrical systems started to fail.  We pulled off in Payson and charged the battery for a half an hour and headed home.  One more hour was all we needed.  As we came over the point of the mountain, (only 10 minutes from home) the systems were failing again.  We made it over the point, down the hill to the exit and headed up the hill on the Bangeter exit off ramp.  Instead of freeway speed we were traveling about 35 miles per hour.  The light turned green just in time for us to coast over the ramp and down the hill.  Another green light and we were heading down the hill to the river bottom.  Coming up the other side to Redwood road we were coasting but still had power.  The light was green again and we made the right turn onto Redwood Road when, hold on boys and girls, we were without power.

 

It is a slight down hill from the light at Bangeter to our house and we kept coasting.  Then there was a break in the cars and we made a left hand turn, coasted into the drive way, coasted to the front of the garage and, wa la.  We were home.

 

I love angels on our shoulders.  To have all the lights be green and a break in the traffic to make it into our driveway was a gift from heaven.

Another adventure!  Another fabulous time!