Retirement

Yesterday I officially retired from my job. Now I will be staying home with Ava & focusing on motherhood, freelancing, crafting, blogging, cleaning, and freeing up more time for Ryan to complete his heavy workload. I have today all scheduled out to maximize efficiency and minimize laziness and time-wasting (my greatest fear for my new life). I'm really going to miss all my work friends though. It's just never the same when you aren't together for 6-9 hours a day.
I feel very blessed to have had the job I did, and worked with the people I did. And I feel very blessed to now be able to focus more on my family. It will require some sacrifices financially, but there will also be great blessings. I'm looking forward to this new life!
And baby #2 will be happy to have me home too, I'm sure! I'm due in the middle of July!

Century Ride: Check

This weekend I completed my first ever 100 miler (first ever biking event, actually). It was the all-women's Little Red Riding Hood Century Ride. Except for a little collision at mile 10 (no thanks to misinformation from a cop), it went fabulously*. We had a great time riding the scenic route in northern Utah and Idaho. The weather was great too. But despite 3 applications of SPF 50, I still got some funky sunburns. I definitely want to do it again next year (the ride, not the suburn).
Ryan and Ava were there at the finish to celebrate with me. Thanks for coming hon! And thanks Sheri for inviting me to join you guys!

Me, Michelle, Sheri, and Sarah (after the ride, wearing our free tiara's)

*amazingly neither of us was seriously injured, just a couple of bruises for me. Plus a very bent rim and spoke and handlebars, all of which got repaired by the fabulous support crew, allowing me to finish the ride. I may have to replace the wheel, and at least replace a spoke, so I'm glad I decided no to ride my brand new bike which has expensive wheels!
** Sheri and Sarah are hardcore. Sarah just did a half Iron Man, did the century today, is doing a marathon next weekend, is doing LOTOJA in the fall (a 210 mile bike race through 3 mountain passes--Ryan did it last year), and just signed up for a full Iron Man. Don't mess with her. And Sheri hasn't been on her bike in 2 years, and has a 4 month old baby, and still breezed through.

I'm Mad, I Tell You

Mad, as in CA-RAZY! I just signed up for a 100-mile bike ride/race in June. Although it's no big deal to Ryan to ride 100 miles, it's a huge deal to me. The most I've ever ridden is like 25 miles. And I haven't really been riding for almost a year. So there's my motivation to get back into shape. My friend Sheri invited me to join her and her sister, and since she has a 3-week old baby, I couldn't use a new baby as my excuse for not doing it. It's an all girls race, and I hear it's lots of fun. So now it's time for me to get in shape, and get my derriere accustomed to 5 hours on a bike seat. Anyone want to join us? Registration is filling up fast, so don't delay!