A special wedding

Over the weekend we went to Kent Island, Maryland, for my cousin's wedding! It was a wonderful event, and even though Saturday was rainy, it shined inside for the bride and groom.

The whole family was together. This is a photo of the Morris family...

Here are my two other two cousins with my 91 year old Grams...

And, here are a couple of photos of Dynamo and I...

To respect my cousin's privacy, I'm not going to share any photos of the rest of the wedding until she's seen them, but I just wanted you to know that I'm not M.I.A. Just been driving and preparing for the big event!!

Lindsey Marie was a beautiful bride. It was a beautiful weekend. And, we're so blessed to have a new addition to the family.

Mountain Bike Monday - a tad bit late...

Sorry to be reporting on our weekend ride a day late! With the weather being so lovely and it staying light outside much longer, we've been taking advantage and doing some things in the yard, so I've not gotten to blogging on time.

On Sunday we set out for our ride mid-day, with the plan of me beginning the ride with Dynamo and then leaving him to finish the rest of his training ride. He was planning a total of 5 hours riding, but not me. I decided to ride for a couple of hours on the front end of his ride and then head to the grocery store and home to cut the grass!

It was my first ride on my new Spot. Yes, I got another Spot bike. It was somewhat accidental that this happened. But, to make it a quick explanation... When we were working on fixing my original Spot's issues, we happened to ask is they had another frame with paragon dropouts in my size. Well, they did.

He is not really a Rocker, and not a Longboard (that's my other one), because he was a custom frame. It was a frame made for some guy who changed his mind. It had all of the cable guides we needed and happened to be my size, so we took advantage of the great opportunity to purchase him from the company. We set this bike up as a 1 x 9. This means 1 gear in the front and 9 in the back. The plan was that this would be my alternate bike to my single speed Spot. Since the first Spot fit me so well, it just made sense to get another one. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Remember...it can be really hard to find a 29er that fits someone with my height/measurements.

The best thing about this Spot is that he's Made in the USA. Right in Colorado! He's steel like the other one, but he was made here. That's awesome!

So, here he is...

Sorry I didn't get a picture of me riding him, but we were so distracted by the beautiful weather. It just slipped our minds!

He's a beautiful addition to the family. His color is officially Italian Vespa Scooter Blue, and he is so pretty! I think it's the best blue ever! I was hoping for pink, but this turned out to be fabulous!

He got a couple of rides on our gravel road over the past week before hitting the trails. We took lots of parts, well...most all of the parts off of the other Spot to build this guy up. So, let's just say that my original Spot is stripped down waiting for us to put him back together. In time we'll get him put back together. I know he feels neglected. I know I've been cheating on him. But, let me tell you...this new guy flies!!!!

So, on his true inaugural ride we did 20 miles of mostly fire road and a little single track at Poco. He did great! I think the simplicity of the 1 x 9 setup is going to work well for me. I think the gearing is setup well for my skill level and I can't wait to try him out some more. Spot bikes rock!

I have to give many thank yous to Dynamo for ALL of his research and hard work to build this guy up for me. It took lots of effort on his part. I've learned a lot throughout this process.

It was a great ride on a beautiful day!!!

Some birthday stitching

I decided that I wanted to do something a little different for my friend's birthday card. I wanted to practice my random stitching along with some collage. Here was the result...

I really love the black, purple, and red together. I already had pink thread on my machine, so I went with that. The card is a tri-fold, so I only decorated the front top flap.

This was a great way to use up fabric scraps. I had fun putting it together and layering it all while not knowing what the final product would look like. The pic below is what it looks like opened up!

I hope she likes it! I'm pretty pleased.

My Japanese Crocheted Flower

So, I saw these beautiful flowers online and really wanted to learn to make them. Thanks to this tutorial by Elizabeth Cat, which was awesome, I was able to learn the technique. The other smaller flowers were not from the same tutorial. I didn't like those nearly as much as the big, bold flowers!

I think my plan is to use them with the scarves I'm working on! More on that later! Check out my Flickr photostream for more flower photos!

Scrappin' Moments

I needed to catch up on my February pics from the Quilt Show Momma and I attended along with another family moment I wanted to remember with my cousin. Here was the result...

Mountain Bike Monday - MBM's Birthday Ride

Yesterday was a beautiful day. It was in the 60s with lots of sunshine and buds on the trees! Before we left for our ride we saw this beautiful monarch butterfly on one of the flowers on our patio.

Yesterday was MBM's birthday! What better way to spend your day than with your two friends, Dynamo and Dirt Diva! :) At least we think so, but we're biased of course!

We met MBM at the park and did a nice spin on the Lakeview Trails. I, of course, rode Kermit since Dynamo's still working on my Spot bikes (yes, that plural reference was a hint at what's to come).

There were a few signs of spring, but for the most part everything is still pretty brown in the woods. Here's a pic of a little bridge/crossing. There are quite a few of these on the Lakeview Trails at Pocohontas.

In the above pic, you can see that MBM was the leader at this point in the ride. I told him that since it's getting warmer, it's time for him to take the lead occasionally. Today was practice for that role. Plus, it was his birthday! The leader's job is to spot the snakes. This is not a duty that I particularly want after last year. I ALWAYS lead and as a result I ALWAYS get the cobwebs in my face and ALWAYS see the snakes first. This is not good for the heart, I promise!

So, this year I told MBM that I would lead until I saw the snake (and, trust me, we'll see one), and then it will be his turn for the rest of the season.

There are lots of cool logs that experienced riders can test out on the trail. What I like about these trails is that at most points where there are challenges, there are two choices...a beginner and an experienced option. So, as you get better you can try the log if you want or just keep rolling by.

The lake had a couple of fishermen today. At the scenic lookout where we always stop on Lakeview 3, we snapped this pic.

And, of course no ride on the Lakeview Trails would be complete without the creek crossing that always challenges me.

The ride was great. I felt really good. It's been different to ride with gears after all this time without them. It definitely is easier when you have the option to stay in the saddle and downshift. Having gears gave my legs a rest and helped me to go harder and longer. Riding with gears will allow me to ride longer distances on days when I want to do so. Don't get me wrong...it works your legs...but different muscles. Riding gears and riding SS are two different techniques and work different muscles. There is a benefit to riding both (more on that later). I can definitely see where having ridden Spot has strengthened my legs. I can push harder gears on the MCR and don't feel as exhausted as I used to.

And...as the ride was nearing the end, we saw this tree full of pink buds! Spring has definitely sprung deep in the forest. Can you see the buds? We almost missed them!

We wrapped the first part of the ride with a little over 13 miles of singletrack.

After our ride we met up with MBM's wife, Lisa, and their girls...our adopted nieces! We rode about 5 miles of fireroad with them. Quite impressive for those girls if you ask me!

They amaze me at how well they do. And, their tires are so small and they have to work so much harder! I'm so proud of them for trying so hard and riding on that terrain.

After a nice long afternoon we logged in about 18 miles. Not bad for a day's work :)

Visit my Mountain Biking photostream at Flickr to see more photos from the day!

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