Tour of California

My trophy from the Tour of California -- Keep reading for the explanation...
This last week was the Tour of California. For those of you not in "the know," this is the biggest cycling race in the United States. All the major players were there, including Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and George Hincapie. These are HUGE names in the cycling world -- the same guys that race in the Tour de France. So Friday's leg of the race was from Lancaster to Big Bear. We decided to watch the race from the road that day and here are a few photos from our adventure. *Note* cycling fans are crazy. Dressing up in costumes and running alongside the riders is normal :) The picture above is Craig's brother, Steven. This picture made it into The Californian and the Amgen Tour of California website.
This is the peleton, the main pack of riders. We were on a hill so they were going slow enough for us to run alongside, sort of. (They're actually pretty fast...)
Craig dusted off the lederhosen for the occasion. He got a few laughs from the riders as well as the people in the team cars. There were a lot of photos taken of our sorry group.
This picture is priceless. The man at the front is Andy Schleck. He is one of the contenders to win this race, and also the Tour de France. He is a ridiculously good rider.
This is the whole group before the race came to us. I dressed up in my bike shorts and jersey - not photo worthy - but these guys were.
This is where we hung out until the race came. It was so exciting seeing the race! I think we are going to make it a yearly thing. Oh, and the best part - the riders are always throwing their water bottles on the side of the road and it's pretty cool if you get one...AND I GOT ONE!!!!! My story is that Leviepheimer, of team Radio Shack, threw his bottle right to me (probably not the case, but I can live in my little fantasy...) This is the team of Lance Armstrong, who unfortunately crashed out of the race before Friday's stage. Boo! I was hoping to see him race. It was and AWESOME experience though. Someday, we're going to RV it to every stage. :)

My take on Twilight

I finally broke down and read Twilight. I did it because A. I had some spare time and didn't want to watch tv and B. I wanted to know why everyone is so obsessed with the series. Here's what I came away with:

The book in itself isn't necessarily a bad book. I enjoyed reading it for the most part. It wasn't a huge page turner for me, not like the DaVinci Code was, anyway. But it was a nice easy read. Here's my beef with people's reaction to the book. I didn't find Bella or Edward particularly endearing. They both seemed super-moody and overly dramatic. I have a low tolerance for this kind of thing. I didn't like how, in practically the entire book they kept saying: "I don't want you to get hurt." "No, I don't want YOU to get hurt." "I love you." "I love you more." Blah. Too cheesy for my taste.

I think the thing that was most off-putting was at the end of the book, it had a preview of the next book, which I, of course, read. I didn't like how the whole section was just back and forth about how Bella wanted to be a vampire and Edward wouldn't let her. And the worst part, was the teaser - when Bella gets a paper cut at the Cullens and they all go crazy trying to get her. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It seemed a little too predictable. It probably doesn't help that I am not a big fan of fantasy novels or that I had just read a really good love story right before reading this. ("Evenings at the Argentine Club" by Julia Amante)

The last thing that I didn't like about Twilight was Bella's and Edwards so called "love." It didn't come across as real to me. It seemed like puppy love more than "eternal love." Maybe because I'm 30 now I just don't get it. I'm just too dang old to be reading stories about kids in high school. Having said that, I think I will eventually read the other two books, as my sister said they're better than the first one, I just am not sure how quickly I will be getting to that. And that, my friends, is why I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Boom.

If you can't see the video, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikp47BCb2ZA

Newport Beach

Last week Abby, Rex, and I got a chance to hang out with my parents at their timeshare in Newport Beach. This is the view from their room. Can you say AWESOME?!?! We had a great time soaking up the sun and playing with the kids. The resort surprisingly had a lot of fun things for kids to do.

They had a sandbox for Abby and Rex to play in, sand toys included! Abby really liked it and I only allowed Rex to play in it for a few minutes. I wasn't to keen on him eating the sand. So we sent him over to the...
putting green! He really like eating the balls and sticking his hand in the holes.
We also took a stroll to the beach. The pathway was lined with these amazing wildflowers. It was beautiful.
Rex was trying to escape the stroller. Good thing they had those safety straps.
More sand! We bought Abby a bucket of sand toys and she had been dying to use them since we got them. She could have played here all day.
This was the beach. Not a great swimming beach on account of the rocks, but beautiful. It was whale watching season while we were there and we were hoping to see some whales. No luck there.
The day we left. Abby decided to take a dip in the pool. We didn't bring any floaties for her so she just stayed on the steps. he resort also had a kids story time and Abby got to feed the fish in their Koi pond. It was a fun trip. :)

Our Easter

We had the usual egg dying. This year, Abby won the deluxe egg coloring kit at the tot hop, wich included the shrink wrap thingies. It was the first time I've used those.
We went to the valley-wide Easter egg hunt, with the bunny there and all. Abby actually improved from last year. She actually picked up one egg herself before running back to me crying. The year before, I couldn't even get her to go in. We're making progress!
On Easter morning, Abby was more interested in Rex's basket then her own, even though hers had all the candy in it. We enjoyed the rest of our Easter day at Grandma and Pop-pops house watching conference and eating lots of candy. :)

Pine Cone Pals

My friend Kalli told me about a fun craft to do with pine cones a while back. While we were at my parents house in Utah, I decided to try it out. They have a pine tree in their back yard and Abby and I found 2 pine cones on the grass. We took them inside and soaked them in water for a couple days and they closed up. Then we painted them pink and left them out to dry. After a few days they opened up and viola! Looks pretty cool. I think next time I would like to add some glitter.

...in one piece...

We finally made it home after a whirlwind week in Utah. Our trip home was quite eventful. We made our way to the airport with the help of my dad, carrying all of our crap. We check in , go through security, blah, blah, blah. The real excitement was about 30 min before we were supposed to leave, we hear an announcement that, because of strong winds, our plane was unable to land and went to Denver to get some fuel. That meant that we had to wait in the airport for 3 hours until it could get back. So we go get something to eat at the airport. There was a little Mexican place right there, so we fork out $11 for a quesedilla and burrito and then go to the kids area so we can eat it while we watch cartoons. After we eat, Abby decides that she needs to poop in her diaper so we all head to the bathroom with out millions of carry-on items. I have to put Rex and Abby on the changing table together and somehow manage to change them both without them falling off. (Although Rex managed to break off a piece of it.) After I went (which was a struggle in itself) we head back to the kids area. Abby decides to use Rex's blanket as a table cloth and starts setting it with their sippy cups and let me know that "dinner was ready." She then decided to do some somersaults and push-ups to get the blood flowing. Finally, after 3 hours of wasting time, we get to line up to board. There was another girl with 2 young kids by herself, so I stood next to her. Abby and her little boy became fast friends. On the plane, we sat behind them and Abby would yell out: "Little Boy! Look at me!" And then they would talk about the clouds that they saw out the window and what their favorite sucker color was. I was practically hearing wedding bells. We get to Phoenix and most of the people get off and a few get on. Luckily, the flight to San Diego was practically empty, so we could spread out. Amazingly enough, neither kid fell asleep during the whole flight. We did enjoy a humorous explanation of how to use all the safety equipment. That always makes the flight better.

I was a little worried about how I was going to get all of my crap back to my car once I got off the plane. Here's what I had to carry: Rex, 2 car seats, 2 carry-on bags, and my huge suitcase. Luckily, when I got off, a nice couple offered to help me carry everything. As it turns out, they were parked in the same long-term parking as me, so they helped me get to the shuttle and the shuttle driver drove me right to my car and even put my suitcase in the trunk for me. I think Heavenly Father knew I would have my hands full, so he sent those people to help me. Both Abby and Rex fell asleep before I even left the parking lot and I tried not to fall asleep driving home. I ended up getting home just a little before midnight. All in all, a fun trip and I'm glad I made it home in one piece.