Happy Birthday Ashton!

Our little nephew turned 5 on Friday (March 27th) while we were out of town. Sorry for the late post little guy but we were thinking of you on your special day! Ashton a very loving young man. He loves his sister and is always looking out for her. He gets so excited when good things happen to his sister and he is very proud of her. He puts others before himself and he loves to celebrate others' accomplishments with them. He also has a great sense of humor. He can come up with the funniest saying and do great impersonations of his uncle Aaron. He makes us all laugh and he is great at telling you how much he loves you. Ashton, we love you very much and are so proud of the big man you are becoming. Hope you had a great 5th birthday!

The "Vortex" called Sedona...

We spent the weekend Sedona, AZ for a Mt Bike Race/Ride that I did called the Sedona Big Frggin Loop, which is essentially a tour of all the single track trail that Sedona has to offer and equates to approx. 60 miles of trail and 10k feet of vertical climbing. This is a long post and of course in reverse.
After the race Andrea, Myself (Aaron) and our friends Chad and Kendal went on a group ride on the Baldwin Trail and cruised down to Oak Creek for some chillaxing on this cool swing that is set up. Here is Andrea having some fun on her Birthday.
Here I am getting some air...
Here is Chad pushing Kendal, here goal was to try and touch the tree with her toes but we couldn't get here going that fast.
Here is Chad...
Andrea is quite the mountain biker now she is getting very good at maneuvering the technical aspect of trails as well and the steep climbs that are required to "clean" a trail without stooping and walking, Sedona is one of the most challenging places to ride because of the sand and rocks that pose obstacles.
Here is Kendal and Andrea on a "Hike-a-Bike" section just off of the creek, Kendal got the best work out because her rental bike weight much more than everyone's even though it was a extra small....we teased her about this...
Here is Kendal and Andrea, they had quite the Epic weekend full of riding, the day prior they road several trails around the Bell Rock pathway and road for appox 3 hours, they even ran out of water and had to "borrow" some from a church they past, they said that Jesus was watching out for them because as soon as they filled their water bottles the water turned off...
Here is my beautiful bride at the start of her birthday group ride on the Baldwin Trail...
The day after the race we Chad made us breakfast, the weather was so perfect and we couldn't have asked for more.
Me and Buck-o the Wonder Dog, chillaxing on the couch after an epic day of riding, I finished only 34 miles of the 60 but had a great time...
Kendal and Chad enjoying a great night after the race the weather was perfect it wasn't cold at all and we enjoyed a nice warm fire anyway...
The group all met at Oak Creek Brewery after the ride and we enjoyed a good atmosphere of fun people...
Here are some pics of the "Race" there is only about a 25% finish rate on the race because this is one of the most technical and challenging races on the face of the earth, it includes water crossing, scaling rocky cliffs and much more I was surprised at the level of difficulty and a little unprepared...here is a group I hooked up with and we road the first half of the race together...Kirk and Nivette
Here I am on top of a saddle overlooking Grasshopper Point this is honestly on of the best views I have every experienced and even though we were "racing" I stopped and took 15 minutes to enjoy, this was Cow Pie trail to the rogue mountain bike trail "Damn if I know" named after the condition and location of the trail literally 2 foot wide traversing 300 foot drop off cliffs.
I just had to stop and enjoy the slick rock trail this was picture perfect
This was the condition of the trail the first 20 miles or so I had vertigo set in early on as I saw a rider in front of me go down over the side of a trail and roll approx 20 feet, luckily it was not a steep cliff like this and the one below.
To give some perspective my handle bars are maybe 3 feet wide and the trees below are 30 -40 foot tall pines...
The race started at appox 7 am and I road until about 3:30 pm and completed about 30 miles or so my group I was riding with finished the race at 12 hours which was spectacular, I however did not finish partly because I had ran out of water and road 7 miles or about 1 and a half hours with out water and got a bit of dehydration, ended up getting water from someones hose in a front yard...we had a lot of funny water stories this weekend.
Here is Andrea and Precious the day before the race we hiked the Bell Rock big loop and enjoyed the scenery. I was not prepared and was not wearing hiking boots and got two blisters which plagued me during my race...lesson learn...always be prepared...
On the way up my folks celebrated Andrea's Birthday with us in PHX. Thanks for the gifts and dinner...

The final product

Sweetwater Trail

Yesterday Aaron and I rode the Sweetwater Trail in Tucson. It was so beautiful. I loved the ride. It wasn't too challenging and absolutely beautiful scenery.
Aaron with the view of Tucson behind him.

Here I am. I thought these rocks were really pretty. There was a saguaro cactus on top of them too, but it didn't' make it in the picture.

Aaron with the mountains behind him.

One of the many great views from the trail.

Here's another shot of me on the trail. I loved this trail and can't wait to do it again.

AZ Trail

We have been trying to mountain bike more lately. Tucson has some great trails and we really enjoy the AZ Trail. It isn't too far from our house and it is a beautiful area. These are pictures from our ride last weekend.
Me on the AZ Trail

Part of the trail. There are some rocky areas, but not too bad. I'm getting better at riding over them. Aaron can do these without a problem.

Another rocky area.

I love the desert. It is so beautiful. I really enjoy mountain biking through it.

Part way through the trail it turns really green with a lot of trees. You go from desert to forest. I want to camp out here one of these days.

Aaron rides faster than I do. We time our rides and then turn around. Aaron caught up to me a little before the truck.

Here's my handsome hubby. I really enjoy going on rides with him.

Rockies Spring Training

Last Saturday we went to see the Colorado Rockies play the Seattle Mariners here in Tucson. We had a great time at the spring training game.
Aaron and me at the beginning of the game. We had some hot dogs that were soooo good. Can't go to a baseball game and not have a hot dog.

While we were there the temperature dropped 10 degrees and the winds picked up. It was very cold and even sprinkled a little bit. A lot of fans left, but we stayed to watch the game.

45 minutes later it was nice and sunny again. The perfect weather for a game.

Here is a shot of the field after the storm had passed.

Aaron and I in front of the stadium. We had a great time. I love spring!

OPGA

I finished my first commercial VT today minus the descriptions, I am looking for some feed back, positives and negatives.

http://www.panomersion.com/old_pueblo_gymnastics/OPGA_opga.html

Thanks...

I think we live on the wrong side of the tracks . . .

I really like the side of town we live on. We are close to Mt. Lemmon, a lot of mountain biking trails and good shopping. I've always felt safe over here and we have a nice neighborhood, but I guess it is always good to be cautious. I have been riding my bike to work or taking the bus lately to reduce my carbon footprint and my car bills. Raytheon has a nice express bus that comes right by our house so I ride it if I am too tired to ride my bike. This morning I got up bright and early to catch the 1st bus at 5:45am. On my way home today I heard people talking about this serial stabber on the Eastside. The story is below and the Raytheon man was at the stop nearest our house. I catch the bus one street down because there are more people at that stop. I'm glad I didn't go to this stop today . . .

Tucson Police search for possible serial stabber on Eastside

Posted: March 17, 2009 12:24 PM

Updated: March 17, 2009 12:56 PM

By Brian White - email

Tucson Police are on the hunt for a possible serial stabber-- a man in his 30s or 40s, described as wearing "ragged" blue jeans and an Oakland Raiders sweatshirt or jacket.

The attacker has stabbed two people Tuesday, police say, on the Eastside near Pantano and Broadway. They both are in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The attacks began at about 5:45 a.m. when a 51-year-old Raytheon employee, who is visually impaired, was dropped off at a bus stop on the 7800 Block of East Speedway by his wife.

Police say the attacker waited and hid from the man at the bus stop until he stabbed him mulitiple times from behind.

The suspect fled northbound towards a nearby Walgreens, police said.

The second stabbing happened at about 9 a.m. near the 6700 block of East Broadway when the victim was walking between the Walgreens and the Boot Barn.

He was confronted by the suspect and then stabbed in the stomach, police say.

Police believe the same man is connected to an attempted robbery in the same area that happened Tuesday morning. A 21-year-old was assaulted after being approached by a man who demanded money. The suspect punched the victim, who suffered cuts to his forehead during the fight.

Tucson Police bike patrols in addition to heightened squad patrols are searching the area for the suspect.

If you have any information regarding these crimes, call 911.

Disneyland

We had the opportunity to go to Disneyland with Aaron's sister's family. We had so much fun spending time with their family. Here are some pictures from our trip.
Jeff took this great shot of the castle. We were able to enter the park an hour before the rest of the public so it was great not to have the crowds that Disneyland usually has.

Aaron and I with our niece (Katlyn) and nephew (Ashton). They are so adorable and fun to hang out with.

The Evans family with Chip and Dale. They sure look great!

We rode Space Mountain many times. The kids love this ride and it was great because we didn't experience any lines. Here is Lisa with Katlyn and Ashton in front of the empty Space Mountain.

We were the first group in line to enter California Adventure. We wanted to ride the new Toy Story ride and there is always a long wait so we wanted to go there first thing when the park opened. We were the first group on the ride and it was worth it. It was a very fun ride.

The kids got tired after walking all around the park so Aaron and I would carry them. They are getting so big, but we still enjoyed carrying them around.

Katlyn and Ashton at the entrance of Disneyland. Thank you Evans family for inviting us to Disneyland! We had a great time and will have to visit you soon in Alabama!

Web site coming along

Hey all long time no blog, havn't really been busy just lazy...check out the new Panomersion site it is coming along...no logo yet but still working on it, thanks for the comments and feedback...let me know what you think of the site...

www.panomersion.com