Guadalajara, Mexico!

My youngest brother, Logan, received his mission call on Saturday. All my family and a bunch of his friends gathered around to hear him read where and when he will be going. He got called to serve in the Guadalajara South mission in Mexico! He goes into the MTC on December 31st, New Years Eve! It should be interesting for him. I am soooo excited for him! I'm going to miss him so much. More than he probably even realizes. Ever since he was born, he and I were little buddies. We would play everything together! He's truly one of my best friends ever. I just can't believe he is old enough to be taking this step in life. I'm the proudest sister there ever was! I love him so so much! He is an incredible guy and will be such an amazing missionary :)

He's come a long way...

One year old.

Playing in the nursery at church.

Two years old.

Three years old.

Three years old on the playground.

All of the kids.

Four years old.

Swimming with me, five years old.

Soccer player! Seven years old.

Eight years old, Baptism day!

Me and Logie at 12 years old :)

Junior picture i think.

Senior Picture.

Reading his call.

I think he was a little in shock.

He's all grown up :)

His mission is the red area.

His mission even has a temple! The Guadalajara Temple.

LOTOJA!

So LOTOJA was a week ago today. I have been way busy this week and sick for half the week also. That is why i am just barely getting around to writing about it. It was pretty awesome though!!! We (Chad, Jeannine, Kevin, and me) had to get everything ready to go on the Thursday before we went to Logan. It took so much organizing to figure out what food to put in what bags for which feed zones and how much of what food to brings and figuring out the water bottle system to distinguish Chad and Kevin's water bottles and also water bottles from Gatorade bottles... It was intense, but we finally got it all ready and packed. On Friday we left to go up to Logan about 4:30. Traffic to get on the freeway was horrible! But we finally got on and up to Logan. Once we were up there we had to go pick up the race packets with there numbers and jerseys and LOTOJA stuff. That line was sooo long and took about an hour to get through. So finally at about 9 we went and got dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant. I was especially excited because they served Gnocchi, which i have been in love with ever since i had it in Italy. Then we drove out to Treemonton, about a half hour away, to our hotel because everything closer had already booked up way in advance (LOTOJA has 1000 riders, plus all the people in the support crews!) The next morning we woke up bright and early, around 4:30, and got everything loaded. We dropped Chad and Kevin off by the starting line and their start time was 7:34. After that we went and got hot chocolates because it was cold up in Logan, and then made our way over to the first feed zone in Preston, ID. Parking by the feed zones was crazy because there were so many people, so we ended up doing quite a bit of walking before the day was finished. It was so much fun to see them at the feed zones.
I told Jeannine that the feed zones were like a mental/emotional feed zone for me because we were so tired and restless from driving all over and being away from our guys and hoping they were doing well. Then when we got to see them for a couple minutes at the feed zone, it rejuvenated me and got me way excited to see how awesome they were doing :) She agreed. The stops went as follows:

Start- Logan, UT
Feed Zone 1, 34 miles- Preston, ID
Feed Zone 2, 61 miles- Strawberry Canyon, ID (Neutral, means that support crews couldn't go to these, only racers)
Feed Zone 3, 80 miles- Montpelier, ID
Feed Zone 4, 106 miles- Allred Flat Pull Out, WY (neutral)
Feed Zone 5, 125 miles- Afton, WY
Feed Zone 6, 159 miles- Alpine, WY
Feed Zone 7, 180 miles- King's Wave Pull Out, WY (neutral)
FINISH, 206 miles- Jackson Hole, Teton Village, WY.

They did so incredible! At the feed zones toward the end I was almost expecting them to be dragging themselves and wanting to stop, but it was the opposite! Kevin seemed to get more pumped up the closer he got to finishing. I was so happy they did so well. Between the last feed zone and the finish, they definitely slowed down a lot, which is completely understandable, they had gone about 160 miles already and still had 47 to go... At the finish line, it was crazy. There were a ton of people waiting to see their cyclists finish. There was a ton of excitement in the air though. Kevin and Chad finished in about 10 hours 50 minutes of actual ride time. I was so impressed! Kevin placed 24th and Chad, 25th, in their division! I was totally annoyed and sad when Kevin finished though because I didn't actually get to see him cross the finish line! There was a shuttle that went from the parking lot at Teton Village to the finish line. It would go past us every couple minutes or so and block our view of the road. As we were standing there waiting for them, I started getting worried that Kevin would finish right as the shuttle drove by us. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened... I felt so bad that after all the training and everything he had put into this, i didn't even get to see him finish! I almost started crying! Stupid shuttle... Oh well, I guess there's always next year!
Between feed zone 4 and 5, there was a King of the Mountain competition to see who can make it up the mountain in the fastest time. Kevin did so well on that! Out of 1000 riders he got 103rd and climbing it in 19 minutes 20 seconds! WOW! He is so good at climbing hills!
After the race, we checked into our Hotel, The Inn at Jackson Hole, in Teton Village. We had dinner and then went right to bed, we were all exhausted. They has an awards ceremony the next morning. It was pretty boring. We had breakfast at Village Inn and drove up to Jenny Lake, rode on the tram up the mountain in Teton Village, and just hung out. It was nice and relaxing, i loved it! We ate dinner at an Italian place and then got ice cream at Haagen Dazs. That night we sneaked into another Hotel's hot tub because ours was broken. It was fun! The next morning we went out to breakfast at Village Inn again, and drove home. It was a fun trip and sooo beautiful up there!
I'm kind of glad that LOTOJA is over because now Kevin isn't going to be gone training all the time. At the same time, I'm a little sad because it was such a huge thing to look forward to and now it's over. But in another 6 months or so, the training will start up all over again for next year!

The Thursday before we left, getting all the food ready. Look at all that!

rd 11">On the drive up to Logan, Kevin REALLY had to go... ewwww!

We wore matching pink shirts so the guys could find us easily at the feed zones. Some lady along the way even nicknamed us "The Magenta Girls"

Doing a bit of stretching right before the race :)

All ready to go and lookin good!

Feeling fine at feed zone 1, 34 miles.

The feed zones were crowded, busy, and a little crazy. This is feed zone 3 in Montpelier, 80 miles.

Kevin is all smiles in Afton, WY at feed zone 5, 125 miles.

The finish line, 206 MILES!

The sky and the mountains were so beautiful!

Another picture of the sky while we were waiting at the finish line.

My Kevers after he finished! WOOHOO!

Chad and Kevin. These guys are amazing :)

Jeannine and Chad riding the tram up the mountain.

Us on the tram.

At the top of the mountain. What a view!!

>This sign was hanging outside the Italian resturant in Jackson. I'm not sure what a celery phone is... haha!

Birthday Dinner

Last night we had a birthday dinner for me at the Briggs' house and my family was there too. It was a lot of fun to have everyone together. I'm so lucky that my families get along so well and like spending time together. We ate dinner outside and just talked and enjoyed the perfect evening. Then we had cake and ice cream. I got to play with little Riley a ton. She is so adorable, i love her! After my family left, Kevin and Brett showed everyone their sweet tan lines. Kevin got his from biking and Brett from hiking. Thanks so much to Jeannine for the dinner and all the work she did to make it an awesome evening. I had such a fun night! Riley liked playing with the dogs

Isn't she cute?!

Superman!

Eating dinner

Some of my family eating

Jeannine and my mom hanging out

The boys

The tan lines...

This Is Why I Love Him...

Kevin is such a thoughtful hubbie! He stopped by my car (I was still at work) on his way home from work one day. He left me a note that he had written on a napkin and stuck it in the door handle. How sweet! (Brame and Kwave are our nicknames for each other... haha) I love him so much!

Wheeler Farm, 300 Warriors, and My Birthday!

A few weeks ago, Kevin and I were kind of bored and since we live right next to Historic Wheeler Farm in Murray and i have never been there, we decided to go check it out. It is an old turn of the century farm that has been kept up and is running still as if back in the old days. It was actually fun! We walked around and looked at all the animals. I felt like a little kid at a petting zoo :) Best of all, it was free, and we like free. Here I am petting a cute donkey.

Kevin feeding the donkey some hay.

The ducks and geese were so funny! This goose kept making the strangest noise every time I got close with food. He was begging! I loved it.

Look at the huge, nasty gobbler on this turkey!

On August 16th, it was the day of Stage 4 in the Tour of Utah which included the 300 Warriors race! We stayed up in Park City the night before with Kevin's parents and Casey. They started the race about 6 and finished about half an hour before their previous time, so they did awesome! I was so proud of them for finishing because it was REALLY tough towards the end climbing the last 6 or so miles up the canyon to snowbird... When Kevin was done, he laid down for a while to rest and a big bumblebee stung him on the back! He wasn't too happy about that! After they finished, we stayed around and watched the pro riders finish because they started 4 hours after the regular riders. It was pretty cool to see how FAST they fly up the mountain to that finish line!
Kevin feeling good at Sundance, about to start the climb up to the top of the Alpine Loop.

A quick break to trade out water bottles at the top of Suncrest, about to go down into Draper.

Kevin making another quick stop before the toughest part of the ride, the climb up to Snowbird.

I was so excited for him when he finished!!

That day was also my 23rd birthday! Kevin took me out to dinner later that night and gave me my gifts. He got me a Beatles shirt, a black cardigan, a black dress/shirt, some running shorts, a water bottle holder for running, a Ipod/cell phone holder for running, and some new shoes. He's the BEST! On Thursday this week, we went out to eat with my family down in Provo. They gave me a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (I saw the movie and loved it. The book is amazing too), The old "Willy Wonka" movie, "Gone with the Wind", and the new "Pride and Prejudice." On Sunday, we are having a birthday dinner for me on the Briggs' side of the family and my family is coming too. I'm excited! Jeannine is a really great cook, so dinner will definitely be yummy. So my birthday has been kind of stretched out for a week. Not a bad way to do it!