Tour de Cure

After many previous emails and posts asking for support, I'm sure you all know about the bike ride that we were doing for Diabetes.  As it usually does, the months of preparation went by so fast, and the big day finally came last Saturday.  Miraculously, it was an absolutely perfectly gorgeous Saturday, which for May in Seattle is definitely not a guarantee.

We ended up with six people on our team, each with different reasons for riding, and each ended up with different adventures.  I was so proud of my sister Kathryn, who has had Type 1 Diabetes since she was 11, ride 15 miles on a hilly course on an old bike with only a week of riding a bike other than her indoor recumbant.  Plus she got lost out there!

Our good friend Rachel was great moral support.  Did I mention it was a gorgeous day?!  I had to stop to take a pic of the great scenery along the way.  

I was also really proud of my mom, who decided at the very (and I mean VERY) last minute to ride the 45-miler with me instead of the 25-miler she had intended.  She rocked it, especially those hills--1500 feet of elevation gain, including a level 4 and a level 5 climb.  Here we are crossing the finish line.

A couple hours, a salmon burger, some good sun tanning, and a conversation with Detlef Schrempf later, Aaron and Steve, our 100-milers finally crossed the finish line too!  They were almost the last ones to make it back...not due to their slowness but Aaron actually wrecked while they were out there!!  You will have to read his whole story on his blog.  It sounds like his grandma (who passed away from diabetic complications when he was 13) was definitely watching over him.

I was sad I couldn't do the 100 miles with him (I sprained my back and started having some circulation problems in my legs that made biking long distance very painful), but despite all of our setbacks, we had a great experience and are ready to do it again next year.  So if you are so inclined we would love for you to join us.  

A huge thank you to all of you who donated to the cause of diabetes, and to all of my family who took care of our kids during our long training rides and the main event.  It wouldn't have been possible or meant as much without you.

Off the Road Again

If you live around here, you know that we have been gone awhile. Typically, this is something that I love....taking off of regular life for awhile while someone else takes on my responsibilities at home (thanks YW leaders!!!) and getting out and exploring.

But I will say two weeks is too long to do that with two young kids and too much sickness.  I wouldn't have missed either of the events that we took off for though, and as Kelly has so eloquently been teaching us these days, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

I am being dramatic.  We had a great time, really.  The first occasion was Aaron's brother's wedding in Sacramento, CA.  Because Aaron's territory includes Oregon, he decided to book some meetings along the I-5 corridor and kill two birds with one stone.  

One such meeting was in Medford, so we stayed there the first night and thought we'd check out the temple.

Not too much later and we were at another temple for the main event.  Even though the time we were actually able to spend with Aaron's family (basically a day and a half because their work schedules aren't so flexible as Aaron's) was short compared to travel time, we had a great time visiting all hours of the night like usual. A big thanks to Craig and Janie for opening their home to us for that.

Not pictured was the chance we had to meet up with some of my old college roommates who live in Sacramento now, one of whom I hadn't seen since my own wedding! AND, meeting up briefly with Aaron's coworker down there, who we love and can't wait to go back down there for HER wedding next February.

We also fit in a lot of bike rides along the way and fell in love with a lot of the scenery.  Here is Mt. Shasta, only 250 ft shorter than Mt. Rainier.

One thing we thought funniest about the drive was the BOTH going down and coming back, the clouds seemed to literally loom at the border between California and Oregon.  We tried to capture it on camera...can you tell?  After spending only 4 days down there, we quickly saw why people love California so much....and we weren't even at the beach!!

We got home from our road trip last Tuesday evening, spend the night unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking, then headed out for the airport the next morning at 11.  Yes, we may be crazy, but like I said, we wouldn't have missed it.  This time we were headed to Utah for my cousin's wedding.

Both sealings we attended were really good, with advice that was really helpful that Aaron and I are working on now ourselves!  I wished I could have had a camera in the celestial room because I have never seen a bride beam as brightly as Lauren did.  Seriously.  

It was a beautiful day outside as well.  I don't post many pics of my mom I realized, so here she is with her (I'm sure you can guess...sister).  I love my aunts and wished I had taken one with all of them together.  Here's my grandparents who let us crash at their house whenever we are in the motherland.

The whole Taylor clan for their last wedding!  Guess the Barias have to step up our game.

The next day we decided to have our own Sunday School out communing with God through nature.  Hey, we have to soak up our Vitamin D while we can!

Barett had not been feeling too great, as I alluded to earlier.  After a 104 temperature we decided to take him in and discovered ear infection #3.  We brought him home and finally got him to sleep just shy of one in the morning when literally one minute later Adelyn started screaming, rolled over and barfed.  

They took turns waking up in the middle of the night, him trying to break his fever, and her trying to empty her stomach.  So the last day of our vacation was spent laying around my grandparents tending to the sickies...and somehow the next day he managed to look like this.  Can anyone resist this cuteness???

Anyway, we were glad to go, but glad to come home to our own beds, and glad we have a month before heading out for the next wedding!