Happy Birthday, dear Rachael!!

May 23rd - I can't believe that it is here again already. Each year seems to go by faster and faster and my little baby just grows up, matures, becomes a young lady. For the last few years, we have been in Durango for Rachael's birthday. She helps at a bike race, has Dave Towle telling everyone it is her birthday. Goes to her favorite restaurant, opens presents in a hotel room.

Every year I wake up and remember her birth, 5 weeks early, so worried about having my baby so early. But she was such a small, perfect baby, she brought so much love to our family. It was great to watch the older kids with her. They all love her so much. Beth thought it was great fun to take Rachael in a stroller and go shopping. Steven would hold her with such a beautiful smile on his face. Jessica was the "little mom" always wanting to help with her. Carla was the patient one, when Rachael was crying, Carla could just keep walking with her. David always wanted to play with her. Rachael is so lucky to have her five older sisters and brothers.

So as we wish her a Happy Birthday, here are some pictures of the Rachael that we all know and love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Baby girl!

IRON HORSE BICYCLE CLASSIC

One of our favorite bike races is held in Durango, Colorado. The 38th annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic was held on May 23rd. The race starts in Durango with the train whistle of the Silverton steam powered train and ends in the city of Silverton, fifty miles later. They have about 1000 people who do it as a race and 1500 people who do it as a ride. Most of those people beat the train to Silverton. It is an exciting race.

As Richard on his motorcycle and I in the Jeep drove from our hotel to the start of the race on Saturday we saw a bear at the edge of town. I think the only place that I have seen a bear is the zoo and Yellowstone, so it was pretty exciting to see.

The weather for the Road Race was great, only a few sprinkles, so the temperature was perfect for the riders.

That evening we got invited to a Livestrong Foundation dinner. It was held at a beautiful home right on the river.

We had a great time visiting with all who were there. They ended the night with a cookie judging contest. They had cookies from all of the business in town and we had to pick the best cookie. They had some really yummy cookies.

On Sunday they have a crit in the downtown area of Durango. We started the day with rain for the first crit, had a few sprinkles during the day, but for the most part it was beautiful.
This was the first time that our friend Harry




worked a crit on his motor. He did a fabulous job!


We ended the day back at Steamworks. We finally ate a dinner that Rachael has wanted every time we have been there. It is a fish fry dinner. Shrimp and Crab and potatoes, they just dump them out on the table that is covered with brown paper. It was good.

Monday is the Time Trial. Richard and Harry took turns starting the riders. Three days and three great races.

We had Harry start home first so that we would be behind him if he had any problems on the motorcycle on the way home. We watched the rain clouds all over as we drove towards home. Just before we got to Green River, the rain came down, we caught up to Harry in there where he was taking a rest from the bad weather. We all hid out at a gas station there for a while until things calmed down some. The next day on the news they talked about all of the flash flooding that had happened near Green River, Utah , and I was glad that we avoided all of that.

Human Bowling

Taylor Swift came to Salt Lake for a concert on May 26th, and Rachael wanted to go. We didn't get tickets because it was the "8th Grade Celebration" and I didn't want her to miss that, but when a chance came up to win tickets, I couldn't resist.

KBULL 93 had a contest they called "Human Bowling". I was on of the contestant chosen to come do it at the station. They set up some tower traffic cones in the 10 pin shape. Some one sat in a grocery cart and I pushed them down the alley into the cones. The person who knocked down the most cones with three tries got a pair of tickets and back stage passes to the concert. It was harder than it looked. I didn't win the tickets, but it was fun.

















Thanks, Rachael, for getting up early and
coming with me for moral support. (If you hadn't
come and I would have won the tickets, I would
have taken someone else.)

Rachael's Final Choir Concert

Rachael has been in the 8th grade Women's Choir this year. We attended her final concert of the year. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came down and had dinner with us before the concert. It was a fun evening. We have enjoyed attending Rachael's concerts this year and glad that she has also had a fun time.




Well I had taken three video's of the concert, but I can't get any of them to load. You will just have to trust me that it was a good concert, 'cause it was.

Bear Lake Classic

The Bear Lake Classis added a Time Trial to their weekend of racing this year. Richard started everyone at the bottom of the hill. Harry


followed the riders as they climbed the hill and I scored them at the top. The Time Trial was a great addition to a fun weekend.

The sunrise Saturday was beautiful.



The Road Race the next morning went well. The scoring and results was the best that it has ever been. Thanks to Jon, Brittney, Dirk, the chips, the riders, Rachael, Richard, Harry, and Tim.



After the race we hit one of the local shake shops and had the traditional after the race milkshake. Bear Lake is famous for their raspberries, if only they had fresh raspberries in their shake. But we all enjoyed the ice cream.

Our friends, the Leake's invited us to the cabin that they were staying at for a BBQ. The cabin was beautiful, we had a great time with some great friends and great food.

Sunday was a Team Time Trial - 5 team members, 1 time around the lake - 52 miles. We had the biggest group of teams do the Team Time Trial. It continues to grow every year.

As we say at our house "Another race in the bag"

Where is that boy's Dad?

We came home to find this going on the street in front of our house. There are probably 10 helmets in our garage and he is riding his bike and doing "Tricks" without a helmet. I guess we need to make sure the son can find the helmets for the grandson before he tries this again.

(At least the Dad is standing there watching in case something happens)

Tour of the Gila

What a great opportunity! One of Holly's National Cycling Assignments was to be the Chief Judge at the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico. It was quite the experience to officiate a race that had Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, and Floyd Landis as racers. They bring along quite a lot of media/photographers who follow them, or should I say who follow Lance. I talked with a photograper who was there from Italy, since this was the race before the Giro in Italy. I got to work with some great judges. Fred and Delfina who live in Silver City and brought us lunch and snacks every day, and Joan.






The three of them worked great together and truly made my job easy.

Stage 2 started and finished on Fort Bayard. Richard's parents, Harold and Bonnie are buried there. Once the race got started, I was able to go up to the cemetary and leave some flowers for them. It is a National Cemetary and truly a beautiful, peaceful place. Looking over the cemetary with all of the white headstones representing the many people who have served our country in the military is truly a spiritual experience. So many have have served our country, died for our country, allowing me to have the freedoms that I enjoy. Thank you to those who continue to serve to maintain the freedoms that those who have gone before fought for.




Regan and Shyla came over to Silver City from their home in Deming, one night for dinner. We had a nice visit and a nice dinner. It was great to see them. I wish that we all lived closer, it is hard to visit when we live 1000 miles away. Thanks for dinner.

It was a GREAT week of racing, working with fun people, and eating Mexican food every day.