Ultimate Cycling Challenge

Whew!!

Today I participated in the Ultimate Cycling Challenge - an event that raises funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It is a 24 hour cycling "relay". People form teams, they raise money, and then each team works to keep a stationary bike in motion for 24 hours. It is an amazing event to be a part of, there is huge community support, and lots of inspiring stories of people who have been affected by cancer.

I rode last year for 4 hours total, but decided I wanted to put a few more hours in this time around. I rode three shifts between Team Valeo (Jess's personal training team), and Team Velo Citizens (the Velo City Cycles staff team) for a total of 6 1/2 hours on the trainer! The first 3-hour shift went by pretty quickly, but the second and third shifts went consecutively slower and slower. I think that it was the slight discomfort from sitting on the saddle for so many hours, as well as just overall being exhausted as time went on!

Despite feeling tired and a little saddle sore, I really enjoyed being a part of something that supports cancer research. My grandpa was diagnosed with cancer about a month ago, and my other grandpa passed away when I was in high school from colon cancer. A woman in our small group also has a son who has leukemia. It affects 1 in 3 people, which is a scary statistic!

Here are some pictures from the event.







Here is a link to a video that was shown every 2 hours during the event. It outlines the Lance Armstrong Foundation manifesto. Pretty powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SDBOHpKI6g

Valentine's Day

Another Valentine's Day come and gone! This was the fourth V-Day that Ry and I have spent together, and we went to 84 East for the 4th year in a row. :)

I had to go to grad class in the morning (although it was in good company - thanks for driving Hale!) :) And after a good hour nap - I was good to go for a nice V-Day evening with Ry. We agreed to not do gifts for each other, but we each ended up getting something little. He had a little surprise in the bedroom - not only was the bed made, but there was a lovely shape of a heart made out of Reese's Hearts candy! Awww...it was very sweet of him. I also surprised Ry with a little treat - some vanilla custard from Culver's. He was quite excited. After dinner out, and a grocery trip and a stop at Blockbuster, we watched a movie on the couch. It was perfect. :) Love you, Ry!

Stop...and breathe...

Okay, I know that it seems like I am a little crazy with the Mutts comics - but I really love the theme of the comic, and its message is sometimes right on for me. So here is my comic for today....which will try to remind me that sometimes you just have to stop, be still, and just appreciate what God has given us. (click on the comic to see a larger size. :))

Snowshoeing + Good Friends = a great Friday!

Yesterday, I met up with Sarah and Haley to go snowshoeing at Ridge Point Community Church. Neither Sarah or I had done it before, but it turned out to not be that hard. There were a couple of times that I almost tipped over (note to self: don't try to step backwards while snowshoes are connected to feet), but it was a great workout and a lot of fun! The sun was out yesterday, too, so it made it a perfect day to be outside! It was great to catch up and I can't wait to do it again!! It makes me wish that I took more time keeping in touch with friends - it feels like time moves so fast, and before I know it, it has been a month since I have talked to my girls!! Can you make New Year's Resolutions in February??

Pretty laid back couple of weeks...

So I have felt guilty about not updating the blog in a while, but life has not been overly eventful lately! After the holidays, it is always a tough transition as we look forward to a few months of nothing but snow, work, and more snow, until spring.
So I was trying to think of what has been going on and here are some of the things we have been up to!

1) We are now the proud owners of a Snuggie. It is a wonderful blanket - only it has sleeves to make it extra special! Sometime we will have to take a picture of it in use, so you can see how wonderful it is.

2)I had an unexpected afternoon off this past week at school. A man threatening suicide with a rifle across the street from Hamilton Elementary school caused police to set up a barricade, which then closed down the school for the day. Crazy Hamilton happenings....

3) This week I ran one morning and it was -2 degrees outside. This morning I ran and it was 48 degrees. Michigan weather is amazing.

4) We found out that my lake swimming, bike riding, golf playing, fun loving, grandpa has cancer. It was really sad, unexpected news, but we are praying hard for him, and are already encouraged by the doctor's outlook and proposed course of treatment.

5) Other bad news was related to the current economy, as both of us had family members who were laid off two weeks ago. Praying hard for them.

6) Ryan and I went bowling with his tournament softball team, and Ryan bowled so well that we actually won some $$ that night (he got a full house). A big $11 win!! It was fun to meet some of the wives/girlfriends. This will be one of Ryan's teams that he will play with this summer.

7)We watched the super bowl at Ryan's parent's house. It was good food, and good conversation for the ladies. The men enjoyed watching the game, coming into the kitchen every once and a while for a food refill.

8) We had a great Mexican dinner with Tim and Tanya that was long overdue. We went to On the Border with them, and ate chips and salsa, chatted in the booth for over two hours. :)

9) We have also been on a Will Ferrell kick - and watched Semi-Pro and Step Brothers the past two weekends. I would not recommend the first.

I think that is about it! Life keeps trucking along, and we are looking forward to a trip up north at some point, warmer weather, and grad classes to be done with. :-)

Cold, snowy, blustery day....

It is snowing like crazy today! And this accurately portrays how I feel. :)

the Tortoise and the Hare...

You know the classic story - the hare is really fast, but the tortoise ends up catching him in the end... well that was Ryan and I at Pigeon Creek last night.

We had heard about skate skiing before, and found out that there was a place near Holland that rented the equipment, so we decided to give it a try! We headed out to Pigeon Creek Park, arriving just as the sun was setting. We were very excited to give this new sport a try, and to see how Ryan would do on skis for the first time.

We got our skis, and walked out to the trail - realizing that we didn't even really know how to put the skis on. And the guy at the rental shop was not very reassuring at all, as his only piece of advice was, "just try to stay up, and not fall down a lot, it is really hard". Oh great. :) We got the skis figured out, and quickly realized that the rental shop guy was right. I do believe that I fell as soon as I stood up. And I was practically in tears watching Ryan try to figure out how to manage on these really skinny, shorter than normal, skis. :) I don't think that we have ever laughed so hard.

We finally got it somewhat figured out, and were off on the trails. The trails were in excellent condition, really well groomed, and the snow continued to fall while we were there! It was really neat to do it at night, and we both decided that the night skiing was a really cool time to be out there. Ryan ended up being the Hare - he was faster than me, but would fall enough times that I would always catch up. It cracked me up. And I was definitely more like the Tortoise - slower, but also a bit steadier, although I had my fair share of falls.







So did we ever figure out exactly how to skate ski? Not really. Did we get really wet from continuously falling in the snow? Yep. Was it fun? Without a doubt. Would we do it again? Absolutely!! :)

Here are a few pictures from our little adventure!