while waiting to pick up sara tarkington at the san diego airport jon and i watched this big air craft carrier manuver its way into the bay. there were two tug boats guiding it into it's dock. it was pretty cool to watch. it was almost like they were moving a small city around with these two tiny tug boats.  

me trying to convince jon not to jump!!!

this is christen and tom foster, christen is one of my best friends from college, and the first close friend of mine to be pregnant. i kept asking her to take off her costume and to go for a run. it didn't work. she is 8 months pregnant. it's a boy, and his name is tyler.

jon and his mom enjoying the san diego weather. the weather is perfect in san diego 75 and no cloud to be seen.  

stuck in phoenix for 5 hours. here's a good tip, and take it seriously...NEVER FLY AMERICA WEST. 

jon and i went out to dinner with ben, dea, joe, and sue. surprisingly the girls all wore pink. (not planned) we were discussing if maybe we are too old to be wearing these types of clothes. are we??? maybe in the real world, but in boulder when you're 30 you wear what the 14 year olds are wearing. this is us trying on some of the latest styles at the local surf shop. (you may be wondering why is there a surf shop in colorado, me too) 

i didn't know this until today, but it seems that i enjoy collecting boxes from various places. some people collect stamps or matchbooks, i collect boxes. this is only about 1/3 of the boxes i have in the house right now. i loaded these up to go to the recycle center. 

After the race yesterday Jon and I grabbed some dinner and headed to our hotel in Laramie, Wyoming. Laramie doesn’t have the best cell service in the world, so when we suddenly got two phone calls from Sara (Jon’s sister) we were surprised. Sara called from Estes Park at the Schaffer family reunion to say that Granny (Jon’s grandmother) had passed away of a heart attack at 2:30 a.m. in San Diego. Jon and I were shocked and extremely saddened and decided the best thing to do is be with everyone at the family reunion and be together. We packed up all of our stuff at the hotel and jumped in the car and headed to Estes Park. When we arrived at 9 there was a full ceremony going on at the condominiums all the family had rented. Everyone was hugging and crying and telling stories about Granny.

It was a sad time, but also a good time to heal with everyone right there together. I had taken some pictures of Granny the last time Jon and I were at her house in San Diego this January, and I saw those pictures on the wall. It made me feel good that I somehow could help them heal from their loss.

So, this is a tribute to granny. I title the picture “leanin’ on my ride” because she loved that car, and I told Granny that I would love to get a picture of her leanin’ on her ride. She loved the idea, and it somehow captured the spirit and nature of her in that one moment.

the best $2.95 cookie i have ever had. 

jon tries the cookie and agrees. 

the start of today's road race. jon got 7th and i didn't feel so hot, fighting off a cold that nearly made me fall off of my bike at 11,000 ft. (where we climbed to).  

jon and i blogging in lyons, co on our way to estes park, co for the tarkington family reunion. 

jon lubing his zipper in case it rains this weekend at the bike race. i've never seen this done before. one of jon's tricks for easy on and off. 

the view from above our table at dinner. bridget and anne stopped by on their way home from the "real world". we didn't feel like cooking so we made anne pay for a $14.00 pizza and cokes. in return i shipped out her extra small pair of pink crocs she bought for a small-footed friend in virginia.  

after asking jon for three months to put up the bathroom light he finally does it. THANK YOU! 

i decided to go up to breckenridge today and ride my bike with alex since it is supposed to be 90ish in boulder. i've never been to her place, but it is like a compound. she has a ton of land all around her house and is currently building a garage. she built this house by hand 5 years ago with 2 other guys in 7 months. it is pretty amazing. this woman just won't rest!

following alex through the woods headed back to breckenridge.  

squirrels are really friendly little fellers. 

this is a picture of breckenridge and lake dillon. the lake is full this year after two years of drought. see that big, dark cloud, alex and i some how avoided all rain and looped around it.  

unfortunatelly ben and dea huff are leaving boulder, colorado for fairbanks, alaska. this is their going away party at pasta jay's on pearl street.  

trying out megan's new bike on pearl street. 

here's jen showing off some sweet crit moves, carla's right hand woman...when she races.

dea doing tricks

megan (pronounced meeegan) is president of "the clean plates club". 

leah working on being a member of the "clean plates club".