Clarification on Family Biking

There has been so much talk about the 100 mile bike ride that I needed to clarify. The original plan was to park at the eastern most point of the Silver Comet Trail in Marietta, Georgia and ride to all the way to Anniston, AL, a mere 100 miles in one day. Then we would stay in a hotel there and ride back to the vehicle the next day. yea right. We opted for a modified plan. Karen and I along with the Weilers drove to Anniston, AL and started at the western most point and rode west.
The trail is called the Chief Latiga Trail on this end. We rode 33 miles to the Georgia state line and then back again for a total of 66 miles on Friday. We rode 10-12 miles per hour for ...well let's just say, many hours. We were fine as far as the heart and lungs went but my aching hind end. And yes, we had on padded biking shorts. If any of you are wondering, biking shorts do not make up for not riding a bike regularly. To ride this long you really do need what I call 'bum practice.' Granola bars and trail mix were good but after 5 hours I needed a little more sustinence. After a good dinner and a hotel we were ready for another ride, well sort of. We drove back into Georgia and rode for about 24 miles more and then home. I've added this second picture of our bikes so you could see how Mom handled her bike when we stopped. Her bike always found itself piled on top of mine. It was a super fun trip and oh how nice it feels to walk.

Deep Sea Fishing - Young Men Super Activity 2009

July 25th, 2009
Our Teachers and Priests went on our Super Activity last week to Mobile, AL. We spent two days on the beach and then toured the USS Alabama battleship. We spent the night on the ship in their bunks and played sardines at night on the ship. A little spooky for some of us :) The last day we went deep sea fishing in the gulf of Mexico. We went about 20 miles out and had a great time. No, they are not showing all the fish we caught. We caught about 70 total. We had 24 young men and 7 adults. Sunburned, tired and glad to be home.

MTC has received another 'Ammon'

The next event in a series of monumental changes in our family during the month of June. Tanner entered the MTC on June 24th to serve his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He will spend 3 weeks in the Provo MTC and then on July 14th he flies to Everett, Washington. It is beautiful country and everything about it matches Tanner's personality. We have already received a couple of letters and an email. He is doing great and loves the work. We are so pleased and grateful for Tanner and how well prepared he is for this mission.

A Proud Father

Well, I can finally say he's a chip off the ol' block. Jonathon fouled out of his first game. The refs were a little one sided but have I ever complained about a call? This was their 10th and final regular season game. They finished 10-0. The tourny starts next week and we are looking forward to it.

Mark in his attention-grabbing paint job also makes a father proud. he and some friends continued the tradition of supporting the swimmers at the state meet. This seems to be a prerequisite to participating at the state meet the following year. We are planning on that. This paint, by the way, was water soluble...Tanner. Melissa, Katie and Ashley, you might want to ask Tanner about what kind of paint to use in the activity....
Papino

Here are a few pics of what is going on in Atlanta these days. Mark is on the Parkview swim team and swims the 50 and 100 yd freestyle races. He is well below county times and working his tail off to make the state cut. His is having a great year and as you can see he looks awesome.











Mom and Jay at the Collins Hill meet last week. We spend most of our weekends attending either swim meets or basketball games together.