MS Ride

We got home from Youth Conference on Thursday, June 24th just in time for Marty to get showered, dressed and out the door for Bishopric/Stake Presidency appointments with members of our Ward. This is something they do before Ward Conference, which was this past Sunday. We've tried to have this changed because it always falls on this busy weekend for us, but the change wasn't possible.
Friday morning, we slept in and packed up again to head to Logan, Utah. We got up there around 4 pm and met up with my Brother in Law, Blaine (Marty's oldest brother). They cleaned their bikes and then we went to the registration for the MS bike ride. We ate dinner and then went to the Logan LDS Temple.
Neither of us had been there and it was a really neat experience. We made it to the last session of the evening and then rushed to the hotel to go to sleep!

Early Saturday, we were up and ready to start our bike ride. The ride started at 7 am, but we needed to eat breakfast, take pictures and get ready to go!
We are a part of Zions Bank Z Team. Normally we have lots more people than this ride with us, but this year was our smallest yet. We had 10 total even if our picture only shows 8. Our biggest year included 48 riders. Marty is the Team Captain and has been for the past 6 years. He is getting a little burnt out of the job though. He doesn't have enough time to help the team like he used to. Hmmm...I wonder why?!? :)
Blaine, Angie and Marty. Blaine moved back from Montana last year and we are happy to have another Nowling on the team! This was his second year riding with us. He's a strong rider and rode 100 miles this year.
Here we are at the start line with lots and lots of people waiting for our turn.
Riding in a pace line, with a few additions. When you ride in a pace line, people jump on to help them ride better so they don't have the wind resistance. We usually don't mind as long as you take your turn in the lead. These two didn't hang on to us for long.
We didn't get any great pictures of us riding tandem like we did last year. I love riding tandem though. It's so fun to ride with Marty and to actually be able to hear each other while we ride. We had planned to ride 75 miles, but after an exhausting Youth Conference and Marty not feeling too well, we decided to ride 40 miles. Our bodies were done after 25 miles and no one from our team was going to ride 75 miles. They were all riding 100 or 40 miles. It's more fun to have people to ride and talk with so we followed the 40 milers. We actually separated from them for a few miles as we rode toward the 75 mile route when we decided we were tired and had nothing to prove so we turned around and met up with the team down the road.
We only stopped at one rest stop and we were done a little before 10 am. We didn't even fill up our water bottles anywhere. We did enjoy a snow cone at the end of the ride though. We averaged 16 miles a hour.
Here are the members of the team we rode with. Greg, Laura, and Brandt. We are pointing at the sign that shows that the Z Team has rode in the MS ride for 8 years now. Marty has been there for all of them!
Marty showing his name on the list of riders that have ridden 5-10 years.
I've ridden 3 years so far. It's a fun ride!

Then we packed up and excitedly drove to Kamas to get our girls! We hadn't seen them since Monday night so we were a little excited! We got there just as they were finishing their lunch. They were both excited to see us too! Eliza kept looking at me and smiling and once she finished her lunch, she got out of her booster seat and hugged me tight for a good minute or two! I loved it!!! Brooklyn quickly informed me we couldn't leave until she helped Grandma take down the laundry from outside.
I'm sure it would have been easier for Grandma to do it alone, but Brooklyn loves to help!
Her apron is getting a little full of clothes pins.
Then Eliza took her nap while we reconnected with Brooklyn by reading and finding Waldo!
Once Eliza was awake, she was ready to snuggle some more and try on our hat!
We had a nice break from every day life, but it was good to all be together as a family again!