Tour de Foothills: Triumph in rain & Man Vs Mountain

So excited about this post! There were SO many fun photos to go through and it was hard to pick, so I just put all our favorites up! : )

Last year Brody rode the Tour de Foothills when he was starting to seriously pick back up the riding habit---he loved this ride so much he couldn't wait to do it again this year and even got the rest of his family in on the fun as well! His parents and sister came from AZ and his brother and family came down from Ventura. We are SO happy everyone could make it, it was great to have everyone together.

Here's everyone in the 6am hour getting to the race site and getting ready to ride!

(and it was freezing and raining a bit here and there)

Love this photo! What can I say, me and my camera love him!!

The whole family ready to go!!

(From left to right: Brody, Kaye, Adrianne, Greg and Brooks)

All smiles and ready to ride!

Quick video of the start of the ride

(Brody bottom left, Greg and Brooks right)

I followed them through out the ride. Here was the first rest stop around mile 20 (out of 62), it rained on and off here, and the guys said that they rode through some good rain before they got here! Such troopers!!

This video always cracks me up!! I was panning the rest stop and got Greg coming in waving and then this random guy right behind him came in waving at my camera too. haha...I'm sure he thought I was from the race. : )

Coming back with some fuel for the next leg!

I even got a PB&J out of this stop, for all my hard driving. ; )

Their bikes

....and they are off!!

Next stop, Mt.Baldy!

The turn to Mt.Baldy Road

Looking from the very start of the climb up!

Brody told me that when he saw the steep climb ahead, he went "Whoohoo, let's do this!!" Haha, so very typical of Brody and his positive can-do spirit!

He said it was pretty tough, but he's so glad they did it! : )

At the top of Mt.Baldy Road....I had my bell all ready from last year!

The top right photo is the view from up there...if you click on it, it might get a bit larger, but the cities looked very small from up there!

The water station at the top of the climb. Luckily the worst was over at this point, and the guys didn't seem as beat as I though they might (when I was driving up it, everyone looked like they were about to drop dead), they all did SO great!! I was pretty proud and relived when they all got up there in good spirits! : )

Whoo hoo!!! The finish line!!

SO very proud of these guys, that was not a ride in the park with the rain and that mountain!

The girls did such a great job too, I thought for sure I would see them along the route as well, but unfortunately the two rides didn't meet up as much as they did last year. By the time I got back to the finish, they were already done.

The main organizer of the ride was nice enough to take this awesome photo for us! And asked us to put it up on their Facebook page, which we did. I love it! : )

With his well earned medal and the Tour jersey that I surprised him with! So proud of him!! I was SO excited to see him at the finish! : )

I'm going to frame this one too...it came out perfect!!

Little after race high five!

After a nice lunch provided by the race.

Lasagna, garlic bread, salad and even Double Tree Hotel chocolate chip cookies! It was so good!

....and another video that cracks me up! I love how they both stop because they are so tired from riding...but just had to get a little happy dance in! : )

Everyone with their medals!!

They all make riding a 30-60 mile race in the freezing rain look good, huh? : )

And here are the things that got me through the day! My phone for directions, the race "map" and our trusty Murano----and my awesome camera!!

It was such a great day!! We are SO happy everyone came out for it and had a great time!

We hope to do it again soon!! Love you all very much! : )

Merry (early) Christmas!!

This past Sat we went up to DL for the taping of the Disneyland Christmas Day Parade and the New Years segment for Dick Clark's New Years Countdown. The filming lasted all weekend, but the part we wanted to see was Sat afternoon.

They had the traffic super controlled and you were only allowed to go down Main Street on one side. We got lucky with a spot to watch some of the float filming.

And to see Nick Cannon eating a Dole Whip before he had to play host again. haha...

One of the floats we saw. A performance of Jingle Bell Rock by China from Disney channels Ant Farm with the Old Navy dancers.

Phineas and Ferb heading down to preform...

Confetti!

This is what we came for. One Republic was going to be there to preform their new song 'Good Life', which Disney is using in their current campaign. I LOVE this song, I'm hooked on it! I've been wanting to put it to a video from a trip or something...I'll get around to it. : )

One Republic is kind of an inside joke/sentimental love kind of band for us. A couple years ago when we spent that week driving all over Europe, all they played on the radio was One Republic...and one song in particular was extra funny for our trip, and always seemed to come on and an extra humors time for us.

Soooo, long story short, we thought it would pretty darn fun to go see the band live that became such a big part of a trip that is so very dear to us!

Here we are waiting toward the front of a very long line to get in!

(I took this in a float that was passing by)

Once we got in, we got a GREAT place by the stage!

The directors doing crowd sound checks and looking for staff members...

Us and the band in the back!

Nick Cannon among us announcing the band...

A little video clip of the performance. You can almost hear just how loud the crowd was, but in person, it was SO much louder! They had to do the song about 4 times, so they could get all the shots and angles they needed.

Oh, and we are in this video! : )

Sing it crowd!

After all the filming was over!

We figure we'll at least see our heads in a crowd shot or something. : )

It was so much fun to be apart of, we loved it!

Keep an eye out for us on Christmas day!

Being an extra is hard work, and we needed some grub to refuel!! : )

It was SUCH a great day!!!

Thankful Thursdays {week 1}

With it being November (Where did the year go? Seriously!), and Thanksgiving right around the corner it's always nice to pay a little more attention to the things we are thankful for, BIG and small.

I think we express gratitude everyday....by just the mention of something (in a conversation, blog, status update, whatever it may be...) means that it is important and very special to us. But since we are in the season of thanks, I've decided to step it up a notch with 'Thankful Thursdays'. : )

1. Help:

Most of you have already read my post on {Personal Trials}. Since then my doctor and I have made leaps and bonds with my progress and I am feeling like a whole new person! It's amazing. My last labs came back very well, there are still some areas in my levels to work on, which I'm excited about, it just means I am about to feel even better than I do now. Such a blessing. Hand in hand with this is how fortunate I am to have the worlds MOST supportive husband and family. I am honestly one very lucky girl!

2. Trader Joes:

We have been going more and more lately (not sure way we going through highs and lows with this store, but we seem to). It's been so fun to make TJ runs together at night...somehow it's more fun than a normal grocery store! And I guess just as important, it has made eating healthier so much easier. ; )

3. Common courtesy's:

Although they seem to be less and less now days, someone slowed down a bit to let me over today in traffic today. It's fun how small things like that can really brighten your day....it also helps to remind me to make sure to pass along the same kindness daily.

4. The craft Bug:

I have been bitten by the craft bug BIG time, and it's been so fun (and profitable. But that's for another post). I've been doing lot's of little fun things around our home, I'm loving it (and loving I have the energy for it again)!

4 1/2: Tomorrows Friday!! I'm SO ready for the weekend! : )

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