House upgrades!

When we moved into the house we knew there were some changes we wanted to make and first on the list was repainting.  We waited until bike season was over and right after state, the kids had 10 days off of school so we figured that was a good time to tackle the job.  Kate's room was first on the list.  The red stripe had to go.  We weren't sure how it was going to go painting over it.  We asked lots of advice and spent some time sanding the tape lines.  But in the end, we just had to go for it and paint. 

Kate and Sara both wanted to paint their names on the walls first.  Ha ha.  That was fun.

Mine and Jerry's room had some weird squares painted on it where they tried to paint over something, and we also wanted to paint the wall behind our bed white.  We were excited to get started on it all.

Kate's room ended up looking really good.  We were really happy with how the red stripe got covered up.  If you look closely, you can see where the paint lines are, but that's it and you have to look closely.  So we were pretty excited about that. 

Sara's room wasn't a huge change, but she had a couple of holes in the wall that we fixed and it just looked all freshened up.

 I was really happy with how the master bedroom turned out.  The white wall looked really good and it was nice to have all the paint splotches covered up.  It was a lot of work and we're all a little sick of painting, but we're really happy with how it turned out.  Slowly, we're getting pictures and things up on the wall and making the home ours!

State Championships! Cedar City

We were so excited for the state races this year.  Bingham had their best season ever and it was fun to be a part of it.  Cedar City is a fun course and the kids were looking forward to riding it.  Matt was looking for redemption because the last time he rode here another biker crashed into him, causing him to crash and he got a concussion.  Spoiler alert: this race went much better!

Before the races got started, I snuck in a trail run.  Cedar City has some new trails and I had fun checking them out!

Kate and Natalie were battling all season and competing with each other over who would beat whom.  It was really fun to watch them each push each other to be better.  Kate beat Natalie twice and Natalie beat Kate twice, and the funny thing is, they finished the region races exactly tied.  How perfect is that?!

I love, love, love this video.  The moment Kate looked over and grinned at us was literally the happiest moment of my life!  The fact that she was so happy out there riding her bike meant everything to me.  I didn't care what place she finished or how fast she rode, but her joy was priceless!!  I want all of my kids to find that thing that makes them so happy they can't help but grin!

We were so proud of her strong finish.  She ended up finishing 34th!!!

Matt rode so hard.  It wasn't his best race either which is so hard when you work all season for something.  I was still so proud of him working as hard as he did.  He worked hard since January.  He really learned how to put the work into something.  It's just a bummer when it doesn't all come together at the right moment.  But he kept his head high and the JV team rode awesome.  It was really cool to see that group of kids work so hard together.

Fall running and biking

Fall is my favorite time to be outside doing some great activities.  I had a ton of fun running up Squaw Peak with a new friend.  I hadn't been up Rock Canyon since I was in college.  In fact, the last time I was up there, a rattlesnake crossed the path right in front of me.  I turned around so fast, and booked it back down the trail and hadn't been back up there!  I was hoping this time would be different and with the cold, shady morning I was thinking that would help.  It was really pretty with all the leaves changing colors and the cool morning that turned pretty warm.  It was a great day.

I've never been to the top of Squaw Peak so it was fun to check something new out!

I also enjoyed running up corner canyon, even though I run there a lot.  Even though it's pretty familiar, throwing in changing leaves and it's just pretty.

And even Herriman was looking on point.  Even though most of the trail was past the best colors, there were a few sections that I loved.

And I love when I wear Tulo out enough for him to just lay on the bean bag.  He loves this little spot.

We lucked out with a free Saturday so Jerry and I hit the trails on our bikes.  I wanted to check out a new trail that I hadn't ever been on, and Jerry wanted to be out in the fall weather so we headed up to the Mormon Trail up East Canyon and enjoyed the day together.

Now that we got to enjoy some fall weather, we were ready for winter to slowly blow in!

We also finally got Abby to ride her bike all by herself!!  She gets scared and nervous pretty easily and has a hard time getting past that.  It's definitely frustrating.  But I was proud of her for getting it done this time around!

Race #4 Richfield

Ahh, Richfield.  This was our first time to this venue and lets just say that it wouldn't be a bad one to forget!  It wasn't Matt or Kate's best race, but they each learned something from it, and they each had something positive in the race as well.  Matt had a great finish, and Kate held on to her teammates and ended up finishing not too far behind them.  So, I was proud of them for not getting too discouraged, and finding the good.

Kate finished hard to not get beat by too much by Natalie.  They are always teasing each other about who beats whom.  It's pretty funny to watch them.


Matt wasn't happy with me not getting many videos of him at the last race, so I took a bunch at this race.  And then he didn't have his best race.  Oh well!  He still looked good, rode hard and finished hard.  If you race enough, you have a bad race every now and then so no biggie!

Tacos, sharks and sparkle on

There is a professional mountain biker named Kate Courtney that we've all started following and cheering for.  Our Kate was the first one to really start watching her closely and we all joined in once we learned more about her.  Kate, of course, like her because of her name and because she started out racing in her NICA league in California and she's also had a relatively quick career and gotten to the top of the mountain biking scene.  Kate even picker her instagram handle after Kate Courtney.  Kate Courtney is kateplusfate and our Kate is fatepluskate.  We all love cheering her on in her world cup races.

Kate recently commented on one of her instagram posts.  I don't remember the question or prompt, but Kate talked about how her vernal race didn't go well, but she still used her mental strength to keep going and not give up or quit the race.  In the biggest moment of her life, Kate Courtney dm'd her, telling her that was awesome that she didn't give up, encouraged her to keep working hard, wished her luck in her upcoming race and asked for her address to send her a signed rider card.  Kate was absolutely, 100%, freaking out over the DM.  She started screaming at the top of her lungs, "Kate Courtney dm'd me! Kate Courtney dm'd me!!"  It was pretty funny.  So Kate sent her our address and a couple of weeks later she received all this in the mail.  Two signed rider cards, one said, "Kate-Dream big and Sparkle on"  and she also sent a sticker that is a shark (her spirit animal) holding a red bull (her sponser) in one fin and a taco (her favorite food) in the other fin.  It was awesome.  The sticker was kind of my favorite part!  Kate was so excited about all this stuff.  It was so cool that this all happened for her.

And then it gets better.  A couple of weeks later we found out she was coming to a local bike shop for a question/answer night and a time to meet fans.  As soon as I found out, I knew we'd be there.  We were and it was pretty awesome!   It was really cool for me and all my kids, not going to lie, I was excited for it too!  It was a fun night and I love how down to earth she is and an all around top notch athlete!

Abby, Kate and Sara were the first ones who got to talk to her and get her autograph.  They'd also brought jerseys for her to sign.

How awesome is this?!  And they even look like sisters!!

I love that my daughters have awesome role model female athletes to look up to.

We were a little late getting a picture with Abby and her, and she was mad at me, but Abby was technically the very first person to talk to her!

Later when I was looking at her instagram, I loved that my kids were front and center in so many of her pictures!