Boise Twilight Criterium

After spending a good part of the afternoon at the lake, we headed down-town with the Phelps Family to watch the Boise Twilight Criterium. In Audra's quest for some power bars a guy told her about the Criterium and there would be booths there with free samples. He was wrong. But we were so glad we went.

At first, we were at the Boise Centre on the Grove and we were surrounded by a beer fest-literally. It was some type of going green festival that was celebrating "natural" beer. I thought all beer was natural, but whatever. Luckily, Nic had his phone and I had him search the criterium. We were just a block away.

When we got there a men's race was just finishing. We walked around a bit and founded a perfect spot before the race started. Watching was really exciting. The racers bike for 50 minutes and then when with like 10 minutes left the start counting down laps. Every lap there is a prize. There pretty small prizes, but if you win a lot of laps it adds up. For a few laps one guy would be in the lead and then a few laps later, someone else would be in the lead. The men's race we watched was cool. The biker that was in the lead about 40% of the time had fell behind within the last few laps. Like all the way to the back. Somehow he totally pulled through on the last lap and WON-totally sweet!

(Beginning of the men's race)

I don't know about you all, but I would be so nervous riding in a group like that. I'd freak myself out and hit someone. Yikes! They rode around so stinking fast. I almost wanted a wipe out to happen so I could get a picture of it.

<-----This is the guy that won. This isn't his winning shot I didn't like the way it turned out so I deleted it. :( After this race, all of us were pretty much ready to go. Too much sun but then they announced that the women's race was getting ready to begin that it would be Olympic Gold Medalist, Kristin Armstrong's (who lives in Boise)last race as she would be retiring. * * * Side note: why is it that olympic athletes retire after they get the gold? Wouldn't you want two or more??? Is Michael Phelps considered an over-achiever??? * * *

As we're waiting for the woman's pro-race to start, Audra's mentions to me: "Is Jen Halladay (a lady in our ward) racing?" As they are announcing the beginning of the race we hear her name. For get about Kristin Armstrong, we were all about rooting for Jen. . .I think we were the only ones. The mens race was fun to watch but it felt SOOO long. The women's race was totally different. I think it was because we knew someone and we would always be on the look out for her.

This is Jen in the lead with her pink socks. That's how we alway knew it was her. We would just have to look for her socks. ----------------->

And it case you're wondering what it looks like to have an olympian trailing behind you, it looks like this:

We were so proud of Jen. We kept yelling: "you can do it!" "You can beat her!"

Even though it's blurry I LOVE this -------> picture of Jen. You get a sense of how fast she's going. Unfortunately, Jen didn't win and Ms. Olympian did. Jen was upset, but she was happy that it was Kristin. She said they're like sisters and Kristin didn't care about beating anyone else except for Jen-good ol' sibling rivalry :)

We didn't stay for the men's pro because we were exhausted. But we will definitely be there next year for the whole thing. So much fun!

Lucky Peak

My friend Audra recently introduced me to Sandy Point as we were looking for a place to practice our open water swimming for the Y not Tri (which sadly I won't be doing now-I'm totally bummed). So, a couple of weeks ago Nic and I decided to have a BBQ out there and invite some friends out to Sandy Point Beach. While I have been up to Lucky Peak quite a few times (above the dam) I have never been to Sandy Point the whole SEVEN years I have lived here in Boise. This trip was long over due. It was so much fun!

(Adeline with her watermelon tongue)

(Sweet McKenna who just recently learned what a camera does. She would see me holding it and say 'cheese' or something to that effect)

(Henry enjoying lunch)

(Allison smiling for the camera)

(Lora soaking up the rays)

(some of the gang)

(The Hubby)

Sandy Point is really cool because there is a fountain out in the middle and the water is shallow enough that adults can walk out to it and back (it comes up to just pass my chest). The only real downer is that the water is FREEZING but on a scorching summer day it feels oh so good! The Phelps family brought a raft that they were generous to share with the Howard family. We through McKenna and Allison in there and they had a blast. We would walk out to the fountain and then walk back to shore and then do it again. A little boring for us adults but the kids had fun. The funniest thing was when we were coming back to shore once and we saw Audra's son Henry smiling at us sitting on another person's raft! The had brought him out because he was at the shore crying for his mom.

We forgot Nic's camera (which is h2o proof) so we didn't get any pictures of the kids in the raft. We'll get some this weekend.

Elaine Sunglasses

As you many of you know, we have a god-daughter named Allison. She is adorable and we have shared many adventures and funny times with her (you can go here, here or here to check 'em out). Well, a couple of months a go I got a text from Mel saying that they took Allison out to pick out some sun glasses and she picked out some Hannah Montana stunn'a shades because "they look just like Elaine! (that is a direct quote from Miss Allie)" We went over to Mel's house that day and Allison was very excited to show me her sunglasses. We finally got a picture of us with our fabulous stunn'a shades on a couple of weeks ago while up at Sandy Point.

What do you think, do you me match?

p.s. Pictures from Sandy Point will be coming!

You have to laugh

Today Nic had the opportunity to go with the youth of our ward to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. He was waiting to go into the waiting room and one of the sister temple workers came over to him. Here is there conversations:

Sister: You can go ahead and head on in there.

Nic: Oh, I know but I never like being the first one to the party.

Sister: Well, there's a cute girl in there.

(Nic peaks into and sees one of the girls from our ward, and yes-she is a very cute girl)

Nic: Yeah. . . I don't think my wife would appreciate me sitting next to a cute girl.

When he told me this, I just had to laugh. Nic has a full beard. What kind of 16-18 year old do you know that has a full beard?!