MS Weekend

Last weekend was the annual MS bike ride that Marty and I participate in every year. Marty had Friday off so we spent the morning getting ready for our trip. We didn't actually leave the valley until around 2 pm though. We had a lot to pack! Marty is the Z Team captain so he had a lot of stuff to pack for the team. I'm amazed we got it all in our SUV.
Eliza had had a little diarrhea the few days prior to this, but it was on and off. We thought she might have gotten heat exhaustion after the Princess Festival and it just needed to run it's course.
We went to lunch at Wendy's in Bountiful after meeting up with my mom. She was coming to Logan with us to watch the girls for us while we rode in the event. Eliza wouldn't eat much for lunch, but it was past her nap time so we figured she was just tired. Brooklyn drove up with my mom and Eliza stayed with us. Eliza fell asleep and right as we were starting up the Logan canyon, she woke up and threw up all over herself. We pulled over and cleaned her up as well as we could. She fell right back to sleep.
When we got to Logan, we checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Super 8 because that was all that was available when we booked our hotel several months back. We usually camp at the fairgrounds, but it has gotten too hard with the kids to do that and actually get sleep. The Super 8 was nothing special. Our room was warm from the get go. The lady at the front desk told me how to get the A/C to work it's best, but that it would never be really cold. Great.
Marty had to get to the Logan Fairgrounds to set up the canopies for Zions Bank. The fairgrounds is where the event starts and ends. Marty and Brooklyn were at the fairgrounds for a hour or so while my mom, Eliza and I stayed at the hotel to see if Eliza was alright. Eliza was running around so we thought maybe she had just gotten carsick.
Marty had to run a few errands before our team dinner so he took the girls to do that while my mom and I went to the Laundromat to wash Eliza's clothes and blanket.
This was my first experience with a Laundromat and it was straight out of the 1950's! My mom thought it was older than that. Fortunately we were the only ones in there.
I washed and dried her clothes for about $2.25. I'm so grateful I don't have to do that weekly.
Then we met Marty at the Fairgrounds for the team dinner. We were also handing out free Zions Bank swag. The Frisbees and water bottles went fast!
We ordered pizza from Firehouse Pizza (yum!). This was the biggest pizza I have ever seen! It was 36 inches! Everyone that walked by was amazed at it's size. Eliza ate pizza and it looked like she was feeling better, minus an occasional diaper change.
The girls wanted to ride our bike. Then we went back to our hotel for the night. The room was still very warm. We all had a hard time sleeping. Eliza woke up twice throwing up. I think I slept a total of 2 hours. I laid there and worried about Eliza and how we were going to still ride a bike in the morning. Before we left, I had a thought to have Marty bring a single bike just in case one of us couldn't ride. However, as we were packing, I felt we didn't need to worry about it and left without it.
In the morning, Marty was trying to arrange it so his brother would ride tandem with him, but he didn't want to. He also tried to contact Bingham Cyclery (who sponsors the ride) to see if they had an extra bike to borrow for the ride, but they didn't. I decided to start the ride and see how far we could get before the girls woke up and needed one of us.
Here is the Zions Bank Z Team. At least the ones that decided to show up for the team picture.
And here are a few of our team at the starting line at 7 am!
We try to all start at the same time because it makes for a fun ride to ride together. We all have different ability levels though. We started in this pace line, but couldn't keep up with the 23 mile her hour pace so we fell back to wait for a few others.
I thought our shadow looked pretty cool.
The MS ride is the best event because they provide several rest stops with bathrooms, water, Powerade, energy type snacks and a place to rest and get off your bike for a few minutes. There is no way I would survive a ride like this without getting off my bike every once in awhile. My bottom needs a break from that seat!
Marty and I decided to take a picture of us at the lunch stop. My mom and I were texting the entire time. She would report on the girls. By this time, both girls weren't doing very well. Brooklyn had started throwing up as well and wanted her mom. Eliza had stopped throwing up, but still had diarrhea. My mom told us to just keep going though and that she had every taken care of. I felt so guilty. I felt bad she was stuck in a warm hotel room with two sick girls. She was the biggest HERO of the whole event!
Marty finished riding our 75 miles at around 1:30 pm. I was really tempted to only ride 40 miles, but Marty was determined to at least get 75 miles in. We rode with his brother, Blaine, most of the ride. After the ride was over, we enjoyed a snow cone and then went to save my mom and everyone from the hotel. The girls were both sweating so we figured we would bring them back to the fairgrounds to sit in the shade and have a snow cone to cool off and hydrate.
They were fine and happy at the fairgrounds.
The snow cones worked like a charm to cool them off.
Then we sat and waited for the event dinner and program to start.
Eliza didn't want anything to eat at dinner, but Brooklyn ate quite a bit. Then they laid around with their dad during the program. They had swimming after the program that the girls were looking forward to, but after they were sick there was no way we could take them.
We had to take a picture of our bib numbers so when we look at the event pictures we know which numbers to search for.
We had our hotel booked for two nights, but after seeing the state of the girls and realizing our room was still incredibly hot, we tried to change rooms with no luck. The hotel manager came up and told us we had the A/C on the wrong dial, but we tried both sides and it was the same no matter what. She just didn't want to give us any money back. We had booked the hotel through hotels. com and there was no refunds. So we cut our losses and went home for a good nights sleep. Brooklyn threw up on the way home, but at least she's big enough to warn us so we were able to pull over and get her out before she threw up over everything.
Everyone slept great at home. It was definitely worth it to get home to a cool house.
But sadly, both girls weren't better by the next day. They both just laid around. Brooklyn was still throwing up and didn't have much of an appetite. We decided to all stay home from church to keep our germs to ourselves. We were suppose to teach Brooklyn's primary class, but asked someone else to cover for us. Brooklyn was sad she missed the chance to have us as her teachers. Turns out, no one was at church from her class anyway.
Eliza started to have more of an appetite back, but still wasn't back to herself. My Monday, she was better though. Sadly, Brooklyn seemed to have a harder time getting over it. She threw up for days and then started on the diarrhea. She was getting dehydrated and wasn't eating much. It was really worrying me. I thought she was doing better yesterday when she started both up again. Today it seems she is better. She's keeping everything down. It's strange how one virus can affect everyone so differently. Now we are just praying and hoping that my mom and Marty and I don't get it.

The Princess Festival

WARNING: Lots of pictures!

We attended The Princess Festival on Wednesday, June 22nd. This is our third time attending the festival. It's always so much fun!
This is the first time Eliza really understood what we were doing. They both wanted to be Snow White. Fortunately, we had two Snow White dress ups.
Love this picture! They look more like evil queens then princesses. :)
Since they were both Snow White, I tried to keep them as same as possible.
Love that my 5 year old already has the double chin going on. :) Only in pictures though, she's a toothpick!
I take complete credit for getting them to laugh! Before they were being grouches about having their picture taken.
The festival moved locations this year. It was at the Discovery Gardens at Thanksgiving Point this time. The girls loved the carriage!
We patiently waited for our friends. We went with our friends and neighbors, the Hawkers.
We were also lucky to have Marty join us this year! What a good sport to take a day off work to attend a Princess event! I'm grateful he did though because this event was huge and it was nice to have a little extra help.
They fairy-dusted the girls hair.
Then they found Ariel!
The girls went through the mazes to find more princesses!
First they found Alice and the Mad Hatter.
In the next maze they found Beauty and the Beast. Brooklyn didn't want to take a picture because of the beast. Brooklyn's always been afraid of talking to people all dressed up. Eliza wasn't afraid at all. She went up to whoever she wanted to get their autograph. Brooklyn then decided if her sister could do it then she could too. Another great reason to have a sibling! ;)
The girls then came across The 12 dancing princesses. Brooklyn only wanted the autograph of the princesses in purple dresses, but she went right over and got their autograph. Eliza made friends with all of them. It was super cute!
The Princess and the Pea (they are sitting on the mattresses).
The girls enjoyed watching the shows.
It was so much fun to watch them have the time of their life! Especially to see their eyes light up when they saw a Princess! There were princesses everywhere! It was very magical!
It was also very hot that day so we stopped inside a house to do some crafts. Both girls made a princess crown and shared a Garden Matters decoration.
Marty had fun helping them too. He even admitted to having more fun then he expected!
Our adorable Princess Eliza! She loved putting all the shapes and colors on her crown!
Then it was back out in the heat. We found Sleeping Beauty walking around. The girls were on a mission to find Rapunzel, but they were also getting ornery.
So we found a spot of shade on the sidewalk and eat the lunch we brought.
The Princess and the Frog were right across from us while we ate so the girls ran to meet her. The frog really talked! The girls giggled and giggled!
They also had places for the Princesses to serve since "a true princess serves others". I loved this! They were tying quilts for those without any blankets. I forgot to mention, this whole event is a charity event. All proceeds go to Our Own Quiet Way which helps children in Africa. The other service events were making bows for children and drawing pictures for service men and women.
The princess helping with this blanket was so patient and taught the girls how to tie the quilt. It was cute! I would never think my girls as small as they are would be able to tie a quilt, but they did!
Then we stopped at some of these pictures for fun photo ops.
As much as we told them, the girls didn't quite understand how to get their heads in there right.
Then we finally found Rapunzel! They were all SO SO excited! They would have stayed and talked to her all day.
She let everyone feel her hair.
Then they posed like her! Brooklyn finally got it!
Next we stopped to enjoy some more the shows. Here is Snow White.
And Cinderella.
Then we needed their autographs too.
By then, my girls were super hot so it was time for an Otter Pop break. Our friends had already gone home by now.
The festival was selling these parasols. I kept seeing girls walking around with them and I thought they were adorable. I was super excited when I saw I could buy one so I couldn't resist. I wish I would have known about them earlier though because it would have kept them cooler all day. I figured I would put them away until next year and then we can use them again. That was my justification in buying them at least. :)
Adorable!
Sweet!
It was about time for the festival to close for the day so we decided to keep our promise and let the girls play in the water by the Ark. I'm glad I had extra clothes under their princess gowns. They were warm, but I was trying to keep them modest as well. It turned out great though because then they could play in the water without ruining their dresses.
Overall it was a perfect day! I would highly recommend it to anyone.