in love with summer
This summer has been a whirlwind and here are some of the highlights!
After 5 years in Flagstaff, Arizona, where the husband attended NAU to get his PhD in biology, it was time to move on because he finally graduated in with my in-laws because he still has a lot of writing to do and he can do that from anywhere! He ran out of funding and, since we made it all five years without taking out any loans, we wanted to stay debt-free and his parents offered to take us in for a few months. Since Karl grew up in Provo and I had spent a total of 8 years there as well, it felt like moving home. To some degree. We know the area really well and love having mountains so close by. It really is an outdoors lover's paradise. Yes, even compared to Flagstaff. (In my opinion. Everything on this blog is my opinion. Duh.) So while we were hesitant to share a rather small house with Karl's parents, we were excited to spend the summer and fall in Utah Valley. (Spoiler alert: We will end up spending an ENTIRE YEAR there.)
But first, there were lots of 'lasts'. It was hard to say good-bye to many friends and places that I have come to love over the last few years. Last time riding up Snowbowl. Last time meeting at Pay-n-Take for the Saturday ride. Last ride with the girls. Apparently I only have pictures of last rides. Go figure...
I will miss these ladies dearly!
But I pretty much saved it all for the last weekend. Smart move, Sarah. We loaded up the moving truck on Friday night. Saturday morning I went to the LAST masters swim practice, then to the LAST Saturday group ride, then on my LAST run on the urban trail. That took a long time but was SO MUCH fun and, seeing how Ironman CDA was only a month away, also somewhat necessary. Huge thanks to our friends for watching the kids that morning because, surprise, Karl wasn't done with some of his lab work and had spent the night and morning on campus. It was craziness. Then I sent Karl and the kids off to Provo so I could spend the rest of the day and night cleaning and scrubbing our apartment. Good times. That took A LOT longer than expected but finally I locked the door and drove the moving van over to Karen's house and slept on her couch. Except that she left at 5am to drive to Indiana with her family for the summer. BYE, FRIEND. Sniff sniff.
fixing flats with the San Francisco peaks in the background
The real reason I stayed behind, of course, was so I could sneak in one last Wupatki ride with the boys on Sunday morning. The only problem was that I felt like CRAP when I woke up. I knew I was run-down and most likely going to be sick and should NOT attempt a long ride PLUS a 9-hour solo drive today. So, naturally, I got dressed and hopped on my bike at 6am. It was a great ride. One that put me over the edge and the ensuing sickness wasn't pretty but also one that I never once regretted.
Ready or not - here they come!
Before we had the chance to get settled, it was time to send the kids off to Germany! Yes, you read that right. I drove the kids down to Las Vegas and popped them onto a non-stop flight to Frankfurt to visit my parents for a couple of weeks! Easy peasy.
Ok, it wasn't all that easy but it worked out great! The short version is as follows: In January my mom asks if Noah wants to come visit alone. He says No way! Max says I wanna go! I say You are too young. Sorry. Then at the end of April Max exclaims Why can't I go to Germany by myself? And Noah says If Max goes, I'll go too. And I start thinking... My friend, Patrick, is flying home to Germany in June on a straight flight from Las Vegas to Frankfurt. He offered to take Noah back in January. What if he takes both kids? What if my parents agree to have both of them, there is still room on P's flight, and the timing works out? And then I called my parents, talked to Patrick, found out that there are seats still available on his flight, and booked tickets. I pulled all of that off in less than a week and I was pretty proud of myself! And the kids were super stoked! And Patrick, single and no kids and friend extraordinaire, was (or pretended to be) happy to have some distraction on the long flight over. Win-win-win!
4 of my favorite Germans!
The kids had a wonderful time and so did my parents. Everything worked out extremely well and I am so grateful to everyone that helped to make it happen! It was an experience they will never forget and brought them so much closer to my parents who, unfortunately, live so far away. Big hugs all around!
They spent lots of time at the outdoor pool that I basically grew up at (above pic), spent a lot of time playing soccer with my dad, went camping, and had lots of other fun adventures. My parents are the best.
In the meantime, I was enjoying summer in Utah Valley while getting ready for Ironman Coeur d'Alene! Training in Flagstaff was a bit difficult this cold and wet spring. The weekends seemed to be especially bad but - between riding in bad weather, sitting on the trainer, and driving down to Phoenix for some sun - I got the work done. Being sick for a couple of weeks put a damper on things but it made early summer up here that much sweeter.
Hobble Creek, my favorite go-to ride:
Even the view from the trainer wasn't half bad:
And then it was time to take off for Northern Idaho! I had never been to Coeur d'Alene and was super excited to explore a new place. Karl needed to stay home and keep writing his dissertation, so I took off on another long solo trip! I don't mind traveling by myself and enjoy the independence it brings. As long as I trust my car, that is.
To make a long story (somewhat) short: Even after putting a TON of money into our Subaru, it kept having a lot of issues. So we put MORE money into it thinking it will last at least until Karl has a job. Then I took the kids down to the airport in Las Vegas (6 hours from Provo) and, on my way back, almost stranded in a deserted parking lot in the middle of nowhere outside of Vegas without cell phone reception. It scared the heck out of me and I didn't turn the car off again for the next 5 hours of driving. So we brought it to a different shop and they claimed they fixed the issue. By now I have no trust in this car whatsoever but I have no choice but to drive it all the way to CDA. So I do. All goes well for the first 2 hours and just when I am about to leave most civilization behind me, I push the gas pedal and nothing happens. Like - NOTHING. Suddenly everything just shuts off. In the middle of the freeway. Yikes. I safely pull over. I just sit there for a while. Then I call the husband. Luckily I still have cell reception. Except that I have an ancient almost-but-not-really smartphone that is about to die already. I wait. I walk up and down the freeway to figure out where exactly I am. I let one nice guy help me. I refuse to get into the car of another guy that offers me a ride. The tow truck comes. We go back south to a car shop. I wait. Karl and his dad come. Diagnosis: We need a new engine. Repair cost is more than the car is worth. We decide to leave the car there. Bye bye, Bob the Subi. We go and rent a car so I can continue my journey to IM CDA. At this point I am considering just going back home. Maybe this trip wasn't meant to be! But Grandpa and Karl send me on my way. A few MANY hours behind schedule. Thank you for coming to the rescue!!! I ended up spending the night in Missoula with someone that I sort of knew back when we both lived in Flagstaff and continued my journey the next morning. Thank you for the spontaneous hospitality, Forrest!
Not the ideal preparation for or lead-up to an Ironman but, hey, this is life and - all things considered - I am in pretty good shape physically, mentally, and emotionally. At least that's what I am telling myself. It's almost time to race 140.6 and I will tell you all about how that went in my next post! Stay tuned!
Pit stop at Sand Hollow Reservoir on our way to Vegas for some swimming fun!
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