Tour of California - Stage 4 Merced to Clovis

We are big cycling fans! Kevin has been cycling for years and we can both remember the day that Greg LeMond was the first American to win the Tour de France! (For instance, I was in a cafeteria eating breakfast at the University of Oregon for a Summer Architecture Academy.) Of course we watched as Lance Armstrong won every single one of his seven Tour de France titles. So, needless to say, we were very excited when we heard that the 2009 Tour of California was going to be coming to Clovis! Right here in our own backyard (so to speak)! Kevin signed up to be a volunteer and was assigned to be a Course Marshal. (His mom, Carol, did as well.) He would have loved to be on the course as motorcycle support, but you have to have done it for a while and be "invited", so maybe another time in the future.

Kevin's office is a block from where the race was taking place, so I was getting calls from him periodically throughout the day. First it was that everything was being set up all around Old Town Clovis, and then it was that there were helicopters flying overhead all over the place, then it was updates as he watched the live feed of the race on the internet. He was beside himself with excitement! The largest stage race in the United States was happening right outside his window!

I got the girls out of school early and we drove to Clovis. We parked at Kevin's work and went up to his office just in time to see a crash on the live feed. One of the victims of the crash was Floyd Landis. He is on the Ouch Team and I thought it was ironic to see Floyd Landis walking around with road rash all over his arms and legs with the word OUCH emblazened all over his clothing!

We walked out to Clovis Avenue between Seventh and Eighth and sat on some grass. It would be another hour and a half before the cyclists would arrive in Clovis. Kevin and Carol checked in with the volunteer supervisor and then took their stations on opposite sides of Clovis Avenue. We walked around and saw the race progress on the Jumbotron and then the girls hung out on the curb. Speaking of Clovis Avenue, it was pretty cool that the City of Clovis changed the signs on Clovis Avenue to read The Tour of California.

Just before 3:30pm the traffic on Clovis Avenue thinned as they closed off the street. There were official cars, photo motorcycles, a fire truck, and lots of California Highway Patrol driving up and down the street. There were people running out into the road to write things on the ground in yellow chalk. Then we could see the helicopters. We knew that when we saw the helicopters that the riders were very close.

It was almost 4:00pm when the peloton came into view. It was an amazing sight to see all those riders, so close together and moving so fast, as they screamed down Clovis Avenue. There was no way that we could even remotely pick out any specific riders, so we just held down the button on the camera and took as many photos as we could! In fifteen seconds it was over, they were gone around the corner. (Kevin's boss described the experience of seeing the peloton speed by as the most exciting fifteen seconds he has ever experienced!)

We all turned and ran to the next block west where the finish line was on Pollasky Avenue. There was no way we were going to be able to see anything, so I threw the girls up on a wall so they could see over everyone's heads. I had the big camera and held it up to get some shots, and Amanda took photos from the wall.

When we were done we walked back over to where Kevin was, and as it turns out, we should have stayed there. We didn't know it, but the racers, after crossing the finish line, turned and rode through the parking lot past the spot where we had been standing to watch the race. Since we had both cameras, Kevin could only take photos with his phone. As Lance Armstrong went by him, Kevin said to his mom, "It's Lance Armstrong!" and Lance looked over at them. Cool! Floyd Landis went by as well.

After the racers had all gone by we went over to where the racers trailers were to see if we could get any photos. Kevin talked to one of the motorcycle marshals and the girls went over to see the Jelly Belly car. We could tell where Lance Armstrong's trailer was, as there were a ton of people crowded around with their cameras up in the air. I was too short to get a photo of anything other than the backs of people's heads, so Kevin took the camera to try to get some photos of Lance Armstrong. In the meantime I helped the girls to get up to the barricade to get an autograph from Lance. Right as they got the barricade, Lance turned and got in his car and was driven away. Bummer!

We went over to Floyd Landis' trailer, but he had already left. We asked how he was, seeing as he had crashed earlier, and they said it was really nice of us to ask and said that he was alright. We went around to the Quick Step team trailer and Amanda got an autograph from Tom Boonen, a Belgian who won the World Championship title in 2005. We also got a signed poster from Tom Fowler, a rider on the Canadian Cervelo team.

While we were in line to get that poster, we saw a commotion down at the end of the parking lot. Kevin went down and when I saw him start running I knew it was someone important. We all went down and it was Levi Leipheimer, the captain of the Astana team! He has been in the Tour de France (on Lance Armstrong's team), and he has won the Tour of California twice and he is in the lead this year as well. The girls got an autograph and then they got a photo with him! Amanda was jumping up and down with excitement to have the autographs!

Mark Cavendish of the Columbia Team won the stage by the way. Tom Boonen placed second. Levi Leipheimer is still in first place over all. Lance is in fourth. It was so cool to be there and see all these great cyclists! We had so much fun!

See all the Tour of California - Stage 4 pics HERE.

Award-winning Writer

Amanda won the Essay Contest at the library for the second year in a row! She won a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble for her essay on hibernation. And this year, they did a decent write-up about it in the Kerman News.

Crushed!

I don't want this to be like last year where I write out a two month long post because I didn't have time to write about things that were happening while they were happening!

Odyssey of the Mind is back and MUCH better than last year! Four of the team members from last year returned and then there are two new ones. They decided to do the balsa wood problem again. This year's problem is called Shock Wave, because the structure has to withstand five "shocks" in addition to holding weight. The weights are put on the tester with spacers in between them and when the spacers are removed the weights drop and "shock" the structure.

This time we started in October and the team members have had time to test four different structures so far! Much better than last year when they couldn't even test the structure we took to the competition! The last structure tested held 271 pounds! Holy cow! That is so awesome! The team has really been able to test and refine their ideas and have learned a lot about structures!

This last week they cut their spacers and decorated them. They are also working on their skit and designs for their team t-shirts. Fun! The Regional Competition is on Saturday, February 21st, so we will post then about how the team does!

Sundae?

Kevin & Lora went to Chevy's for dinner on tonite. Lora got a sundae for desert, a sundae described as "one of the smaller ones".

Surprise! "Small" is a relative term.

We think the guy in the back just finished one.

A White Christmas!

We got a wonderful Christmas gift this year! Sure, the games,books, puzzles and the sweaters were great! We love them all, but when we were up at Gramma and Papa’s in Auberry on Christmas night, we got snow! SNOW! It wasn’t very deep and it was really wet, but it was snow! The girls were thrilled!

It has only snowed in Fresno twice in the last twenty years -- once was when Amanda was about a year and a half old. In the past we have taken the girls up in the high mountains to play in the snow, but the last time we did that, Rebecca was about a year and a half old. Katrina has never seen snow before, and she was enthralled! She ran out into it before we could even get her coat and hat on. She was startled when she slipped and fell, but she got right up and kept going! We had to convince them to come inside after a while so they didn’t get too cold. (Our apologies to those of you who are now existing in four feet of snow and below freezing temperatures to so blithely say that they were cold in their sweatshirts and hats.) We hope your Christmas was filled with wonderful surprizes too!


Katrina runs outside without her hat and sweater on

Katrina slips in the snow

Katrina makes handprints in the snow

Rebecca and Amanda run through the snow

our footprints in the snow

Bond. . . James Bond

Kevin and I went to see the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace the other night, and I just wanted to put my opinion out there for anyone who is interested in knowing it. I have seen every James Bond film, as our family were fans as I was growing up. We were big movie fans in general, but there were several, like James Bond movies, that were essential. My favorites would have to be Goldfinger and Dr. No. Those were the best villains ever! "I don't expect you to talk Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"

I have to say, first of all (and I am sure that most of you will agree with me), that there is no other James Bond than Sean Connery. He was, is, and always will be THE quintessential James Bond.

Now, most of the actors who have played James Bond since Connery have done a decent job, with the notable exception of Roger Moore. The only thing that Roger Moore did was play next to great villains, like Jaws.

That being said, I am really enjoying the newest James Bond, Daniel Craig. He has definitely brought back the gritty, physical, sexiness that is what James Bond is all about. (One major change however, is that the sexism that was prevalent in the early movies seems to have been diluted. I LOVE Judy Dench as M!) Gone are all the gadgets and back is the use-what-you-can-get-your-hands-on kind of fighting that makes James Bond what he is! That is why we also like Jason Bourne (remember the pen in The Bourne Identity? Ouch!).

He still has the one liners, the cars (Wow! The '64 Aston Martin! Okay, the new one is nice too.), the women, but it is on a greater scale than we have seen in a LONG time! I would even say on a different scale than we have ever seen. The opening scene in Casino Royale is amazing in it's physicality, complexity and sheer length. Who would have thought you would say that about James Bond?

In short, I am glad they picked Daniel Craig as the new James Bond!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have been seriously busy this last few weeks, so we haven't been able to stop and share all the fun stuff we have been doing!

Thanksgiving was great! That is one of my favorite holidays. No gifts, no decorations, just focusing on good food and what we are grateful for in life. Not to mention the fact that I have Mayflower ancestry. Isaac Allerton and his family. Kevin's parents were in Nevada with his sister, so we got together with the Molloys and Kaufmans. We each brought a part of the meal and then all got to take home leftovers. It was great! We all played games and had a fun time.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we put up the trees. This year we bought a new 6.5' pre-lit tree and absolutely covered it with thirty-two years of ornaments. You can barely see the tree! The other tree is all my nativity ornaments. We get a new ornament each year. This year I got a monarch butterfly ornament for the family. Amanda got a silver A, Rebecca got a pink tiara, and Katrina got a handmade Little Einsteins ornament (I just can't justify paying Hallmark $15 for the 3D one that plays the theme song).

On 2 December, we went for the opening walk-thru night of Christmas Tree Lane with the Molloys and the Kaufmans. We walked the two mile route in two hours (including a potty break with a very long line) and got to see all the displays up close. Many of the displays have been there since Kevin and Lora were kids, and others were brand new this year. We have many favorites that we look forward to seeing each year. The older kids were so excited to get to look for all of Santa's reindeer up close! They found Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. When we got back to the cars, we had hot chocolate, hot Tang, and really yummy gingerbread cookies that Andrea had made. It was a late night, but a lot of fun.

On 4 December, the girls went to make gingerbread houses at the Library. We have been doing that since Amanda was eighteen months old. Amanda is glad that there is not an age limit so that she can still go and do them. I am glad that Amanda is still wanting to go and that it has not gotten too "cool" to do it anymore.

On the 7th, Lora and Andrea Kaufman sang a song called "Baby Christ Child" for the prelude in Sacrament Meeting. That night we went up to Mom and Dad's in Auberry and we helped Dad put the lights on the tree out in the yard by the driveway. They had a live tree about six years ago when they first were building the house, and they planted it next to the driveway. Every year Dad puts lights on it. This year it is probably 12-15' tall! We were going to take a few photos next to the tree so that we could play around with the ideas tat we had and and then retake them later. Well, as luck would have it, we actually got the nearly perfect photo! The tree looks great, we are all smiling, the sun had just set so there was a beautiful glow in the background, AND. . . there was a star in the sky right behind us! (It is actually Saturn, but at this range, it looks like a star.) It turned out great!

On the 9th Rebecca went to the library for a Christmas Storytime and got to make an ornament. It is pink.

In between all of this Amanda has been having meetings twice a week at our house with the Odyssey of the Mind group. They are just about to get their first trial structure made so that they can test it.

On 11 December the Relief Society had their Christmas Party and I was in charge of it. It went really well. We had a progressive dinner of sorts and the soups were especially delicious! The focus was on service and we had a Christmas decoration swap and a Service Swap. Each sister filled out a card with a service that they would be willing to give to another sister, and then the cards were drawn in a "White Elephant" type game. It was a lot of fun! We also had several really wonderful stories that the sisters shared about how giving and receiving service has affected them. It was a lovely evening, and, as we hoped, the fog delayed it's encroachment until after we were done and home.

On 12 December we went to the Ward Christmas Party. This year was a dessert party, so we made fudge. Yum! We took the photos of Amanda and Rebecca with Santa just like we did last year. (Katrina again refused to have anything to do with Santa, even when we offered to sit on his lap with her.) Members of the ward shared family traditions and memories of Christmas and we sang songs. The kids got to decorate cookies. It was fun.

On Saturday I got together with Andrea, Cory and Camille to practice "O Holy Night". I am really proud of myself, because the version that we are singing did not have an alto line, and so I figured out what notes I would sing and created the alto line for Camille and I to sing. I took it to my piano practice on Wednesday and Sister Moses was really impressed and helped me to tweak a couple of spots so that it sounded even better. We practiced really hard and got to the point where we could have sung it a capella if we had to. We got so many compliments when we sang it on Sunday. It sounded so good!

Now we just need to make our Christmas cards and get the last few presents taken care of so we can get things in the mail!

Blogging my weight loss journey - Month 11

I was hoping to do better in the two weeks remaining in November, but with Thanksgiving and too much fudge and a root beer float, I didn't get to where I was hoping to be, but I am heading back in the right direction.

I need to remember the phrase I said all the time at the beginning: Let the temptation pass. Temptations don't usually last all that long, so if I get the temptation to eat something I shouldn't, I should wait for a little while, and then my mind will have moved on, and I won't crave that thing any more.

I have been exercising in the mornings, getting up at 5:00am, to get in a 30-45 minute workout before the girls get up at 6:00am. I resisted getting up that early for a long time, but it is working out okay. I also need to get out and walk more again.

I lost 3 pounds and 3.5" in the last two weeks. I am really going to need added strength in this next month as there are many of my favorite foods that are going to be readily available around me. Let the temptation pass! Let the temptation pass!

Checkmate!

This year Amanda joined the Chess Club at Liberty Intermediate school. She practices a lot, playing against her friends and her mom, and she has improved dramatically since she only started at the beginning of the school year. The Chess Club meets twice a week and the members practice with each other.

This Saturday they had their first tournament. Amanda did really well. She ranked 14th out of 53 in her division. She won two matches, lost two matches and the last one ended in a stale-mate. We were really proud of her! Her next tournament is in January.

See all the pics HERE.

Blogging my weight loss journey - Month 10. . .and a half. . .THE DETOUR

Okay, I needed the kick in the pants to write this month's blog post about my weight loss journey. (Thanks Shea!) I was really depressed about this last few months. I have taken a HUGE detour on the weight loss journey, and I am having a very hard time getting back on track. I am not happy right now. I am upset with myself. I don't feel good. I get headaches. I am tired. Why would I purposefully make myself feel this way?

I do not understand why when I start to stray off the path that it means that I should go running as fast as I can in the other direction! After school started I got thrown off my exercise schedule, and so slowly I started to eat the wrong foods, but rather than just maintain where I was, I went completely off the deep end and ate everything in sight!!! ARG! Seriously! What the heck is wrong with me? Why can I not control what I put into my mouth?

I am telling you the answer right now - IT IS AN ADDICTION!!!

I have to treat food the way that a recovering alcoholic treats alcohol. Can a recovering alcoholic have just one drink? No! Can I just have one cookie? NO! I can't, because in my mind one cookie is the open door to eat as many cookies as I possibly can. Why? I will never know. But, with me that is the way it is. Lots of diets tell you that you have to splurge every once in a while, but I can't. A splurge leads to a surge, and I have to stay as far away from that as possible.

Hello, my name is Lora and I am a recovering foodaholic.

I have to accept, no matter how painful it may be, that I cannot eat chocolate chip cookies. I cannot eat ice cream. I cannot eat candy. I have to accept, no matter what my brain may tell me otherwise, that food is fuel. Food is not friend, just fuel. (Say that with the voice of the sharks from Finding Nemo.)

I whine about how unfair it is that I can't just eat whatever I want and that I have to work at this forever, i.e. I can't lose the weight and stop working at it. I have to do this forever. Well, if the doctors told me that I had a fatal, incurable disease, but that I could stay alive indefinitely by not eating chocolate, don't you think I would do everything I could to stay alive? I wouldn't be willing to risk my life by eating chocolate. So why am I so willing right now?

Satan is trying to kill me, and he is doing it with food. That sign is on my refrigerator. Currently it is buried by Katie's drawings and school lunch schedules, but after I post this it will come back out to the front.

Okay, I am getting more and more energized the more I write! So, gulp, here is the current stats (I have to accept the consequences of my actions):

weight gained: 13 lbs.
inches gained: 18"

Goals for the month of November:

*Pray like crazy for help every single second of the day!!!

*Exercise, even as little as twenty minutes, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Get up earlier on the days that I have to!

*Write down everything that I eat! Get back on course with the five meals a day! PORTION CONTROL!!!

*Get back down to the weight I was in August!

This is a journey right?! Sometimes you run into hazards along the way. As long as you are going in the right direction, you will eventually get to where you are going. Sometimes you go slow, sometimes you go fast. I will get there. I have already lost 41 pounds. I have already reached many of my goals. Granted, I have to meet several of them again, but I will. If you sit on the side of the road feeling sorry for yourself, you are not going to get anywhere.

I am going to get back on track. My name is Lora and I am addicted to food. I will overcome that addiction! I will be fit! I will be healthy! I will be strong!

By the way, it is good to have road signs and AAA to help along the way, so all of you out there feel free to be my road signs and say, STOP! WRONG WAY! SLOW DOWN! CAUTION! when you see me eyeing that piece of pie or a cookie or telling you that I am off track like that makes it okay. You don't have to be the police, just a positive, gentle reminder. Thanks!

The good news: I have still lost 28 pounds and 39.25". I have not returned to where I was before. I am facing up to my mistakes and getting back on track. Back in the right direction.