Happy Birthday Kyle

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The Bike Store

(email conversation with Brent last night, we got lucky and were online at the same time)

Brent: I went to the bike store, Kyle and Brad should be jealous.

Craig: (before he opened the picture) I am sure it's not the same as here, Kyle wants $50 tires. He double flatted tonight on Tuesday night ride, so we went and picked him up.

Brent: So he wants two new bikes and food for a week yeah?

Brent: Kyle and Brad would go nuts here and fall in love because there are a lot of bikes and weird bike fixer people that are crazy like this guy... ever seen this method to fix a flat? Yeah they have mad skills all they do is have a chack (? I don't know if that's a typo or a thing) and fix bikes all day there is like one of these guys every block he is melting the rubber to close the puncture hole.

Two years on a bike, think he'll be ready to race when he gets home?

Redlands Bicycle Classic

Brad-- the Redlands Juniors did a great job in the Cat 4 race!

Company to cheer on the little brothers.

Kyle--stop it!

Coach Ker!

Congrats to Kyle and Kael's teams for their first game and win of the season. Way to go Coach Ker!

Rumor Has It:

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Brent Wright's big escape is almost here! It's true, he has been in the MTC for almost three months and finally will be leaving for Cambodia. Next Tuesday instead of eagerly awaiting Brent's emails we will be eagerly waiting for his phone call from the SLC airport and again from LAX. Here is his last email from the MTC:

Hey family this week was really good it went by pretty slow. The Cambodian ambassador was really cool and his wife was super nice he only wanted to speak Kmhae to us and was annoyed that the MTC president wanted us to start speaking in English since he was in the room too and couldn't understand... but we understood most everything he said and were able to respond in Kmhae. It was super cool I think it will definitely help make a friendship in the Cambodian government and it's cool to have a picture with him, he refused to believe that we have only been studying Kmhae for two months though he kept asking how long we studied it before we came to the MTC and we kept saying we didnt but he didnt really understand and just figured we weren't understanding him so that was kinda funny but it went way well overall, then I got my travel plans and the rough sketch of them is I leave the MTC at 1:40 pm on Tues then fly from like 4 -6 to LA then from LA my flight leaves around 11 pm to Hong Kong and then I don't remember exactly when I land in Hong Kong but it's like 17 hours then from there I fly to Cambodia and I arrive the morning of the 24 so its like a two day process. I am super stoked and I get to call you in the airport!!! So make sure you answer if a strange number pops up that day! :) anyways I love you family and drive safe this weekend,
Love Elder Wright

And speaking of rumors.....I have been hearing repeated rumors that Grandpa Wright's death has been greatly exaggerated. I have heard that he has ditched the hospital bed, been seen driving, and eating out with a certain blonde....could it be true? Well since we never trust a rumor we are headed up to see for ourselves this weekend. Looking forward to our visit. Also on the agenda for the weekend is some fun time with Kyle and Kael, hurray for being grandparents!

Speaking of being grandparents, Sarah's brother Matt came home from his mission today to some great news. We are so excited, we're thinking pink.

From the MTC

Hey family I am doing well. I have learned a lot about the country and the people. Some interesting things: I will teach all my lessons sitting on the floor and apparently will get nice calluses on my ankles from the way we are supposed to sit, also the people are super nice, their equivalent to our "how are you doing?" is..."have you eaten food yet?" We found that out this week, the people are apparently the nicest in the world so I am super excited to serve. Some interesting experiences I've had, we were teaching a Cambodian speaker in the TRC and he was acting as our progressing investigator and lets see I accidently said in Khmae "we need sin" when I meant to say, "we need forgiveness", the words are super close also one day my companion accidently said in Khmae " he feels happy when the people crucified Jesus" he meant to say sad also the words are very very similar. Another mishap was I accidentally started laughing at my mock progressing investigator when he said his parents had died already... he didn't mean to be funny there is the words "slap hauy" which literally means died already but if you use it in a certain context can use it like the phrase "dang it" in English. well I thought he was saying dang it and I was super excited that I knew what he was saying so I laughed but nope, I guess he was using it in the context that his parents had actually died already oops, but anyways those are my funny stories. Thus far the language is going well I can read ok enough that I can sound out any word and have the alphabet (largest in the world) memorized it is definitely a miracle from the Lord, nothing really else is new I'm just moving along fine and only have three weeks to the day till I leave for CAMBODIA. I love and miss you all. Love, Elder Wright
P.S. Tell Ally I hope she feels better, love you mom and dad

Vegas!

We left early Friday morning for the boys to do Callville Bay Classic. When we arrived BMc introduced the boys to Alexi Grewal. Alexi was the 1984 Olympic gold medalist. He is hard at work making a cycling comeback at 50 years old. Go Alexi!

Friday morning was the TT. Brad.

Kyle's TT

Kyle, Riley and Brady getting warmed up.

Brad's crit

Kyle's crit

It was a successful weekend, they got Brady on the podium in 3rd, Riley 5th and Kyle a top 10 finish at #10. Jarbs was 10th for the 15-16's, Duban and Brad had a tough race. Duban got edged over the centerline on the road race finish, so he was relegated to last, and then he flatted with two laps to go while in the lead on the crit. Brad was disappointed with his TT and Crit but it was happier with his road race. Last year this race was won and lost in the time trial, the road race pretty much finished together. This year the road race was completely blown apart and was the determining factor. The weather varied from miserably cold to beautiful. It really is a beautiful venue. Again this year we were too late to get a houseboat reservation even though I thought I was on it early, but we did have a really nice condo at Montelago.

Imperial Classic

Brad in the 15-16 Junior race, yep it rained!

Kyle in the 17-18 race

Podium!

Bringin' home the produce! They won bags of produce, Kyle couldn't wait to start eating the carrots. They also gave everyone bags of tangerines. As far as how the races went, I'll let the boys make some comments when they get home, they're still at In N Out.

Portland on hold........

We got back last night, you know how when you go on vacation the time flies and it's time to go home too soon? Well this was, whew, it's Friday, lets go home Yippee. The course was excellent, it was just a lot of work and all day in classes, evenings too tired to do anything except eat :) (Portland and food is a whole 'nother subject)! Craig is doing another conference, I hope to schedule it during spring break and the boys and I are gonna have some fun, then do it all over again with Craig in the evenings. The temple was closed for reno so we didn't get to go there either. It's a great city, just need some plans to explore it!

Voodoo...........

So the highlight of today wasn't Ricardo's although it was very good, the highlight hands down has got to be Voodoo Doughnuts (note the pretzel !). Although this was hilarious you have to try the bacon maple bar.

Seriously this is the best doughnut I have ever eaten! I have a few more pictures of some of the doughnuts from Voodoo, but decided in the interests good taste (not to be confused with tasting good) I would not post them on my blog. Should you visit Portland don't miss Voodoo doughnuts.

ps: I was having trouble sending pictures from my phone to the blog, I think it has to do with the slow internet at the hotel, I may wake up in the morning and find about ten pictures of the same doughnut on here.

Portland

Two word description of Portland, rain and trees. Ok not in this picture but everywhere there are trees and more trees, it is really pretty. We are here for a practice management conference which is really pretty interesting. Usually I groan, quite loudly, about these conferences when I go with Craig, but this one is ok. Our hotel is right by the temple which was a pleasant surprise when we got here. I am hoping maybe we can go tomorrow evening.

Brad was really sick last night, why does it always seem that my kids only get sick when I am out of town? Luckily he is feeling better today, well enough to go to YM, although that may have something to do with the fact they are making longboards. Update on Brent: Brent is doing great, he's almost halfway through with the MTC and anxious to get to Cambodia.

Boulevard Road Race

Mighty Team Redlands Jrs., good job boys, 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th!

Happy Birthday Ker

We love you, have a wonderful day!

Kyle's Big Bro Loves Him

Kyle may disagree

This was Kyle's Christmas present from Kevin

Cycling season back already?

And cycling season begins--first up, first down, SCNCA cycling camp. Thank you to Steve W. for the great photos!

Stealing Kev's blogpost

Yesterday I tried to write how I felt dropping Brent at the Ontario airport, but I just couldn't make the words fit together the right way. It was like a jigsaw puzzle when you put it together the right way it makes a beautiful picture. Yesterday my words couldn't make the beautiful picture I wanted. Today they can't either. There are no eloquent words to write, just, I will miss Brent.
I am very proud of Brent and am glad that he is where he is and going where he is going. Brent was born with a sparkle in his eyes that has never gone away. He has the "wrightadrenalinejunkiegene"(wajg) whether he is surfing in Hawaii or California, sailing, paddling a kayak somewhere in Canada, climbing The Chief or climbing mountain peaks. If there is one LDS mission in the world that sounds exotic enough to satisfy the "wajg" it must arguably be Cambodia. When I opened his mission call (he was kayaking in BC so I had the honor!) I was stunned and immediately knew that this was inspired. This is where he is supposed to go and I knew he would know it also as soon as he heard it. So I am a happy mom. I am even happier to see those sparkling eyes of his so excited to be leaving, to starting the next step in his life.
He flew to SLC yesterday and Kevin picked him up and delivered him to the MTC today, here are a few of Kev's pictures.

They went to the Salt Lake Temple

Visited not one, but two strippling warriors

Got dropped off at the MTC by his big brother.

Wait--haven't I just been calling Brent my "fearless" child?

This is what Kev had to say:
Yesterday, Brent flew into Salt Lake in anticipation of entering the MTC today. So I picked him up at the airport, went through a session at the Salt Lake Temple, visited with Kerri, Kendall and the boys, visited Grandma and Grandpa, had dinner and went to see Tron. I let him sleep in a little today since he won't be able to do that for the next 2 years.Today, we listened to as much music as possible, had lunch at KFC (I have no idea why he chose KFC, gross!) and then I dropped him off. No big deal, I'll see him in two years.

Italics added by mom, 'cause, well it is a big deal! (And it was a big deal when Kevin went and when Brian went!)

This is your birthday song.....

It isn't very long.....Hey!

Happy Birthday son, glad we could be there (briefly) we love you.

For you Kev!

Ok, son, this is the gray paint in the kitchen, most of the time I like it, sometimes I'm not sure. Maybe the cabinets are a little too yellow for the gray. And the countertops have to go, but then I may as well just re do the whole kitchen. I guess it will wait. I would have put this on this morning for you, but if you look very closely by the front sink you might be able to tell the dishwasher is new. Yes, today we had a project. I got 1 new dishwasher, I will get a second one for the island when life slows down a bit. I like the dishwasher, I have given up on expensive dishwashers and bought the same one that we have in the condo, I'm on my second load of dishes and it's doing a great job. You can't tell in the picture but it's stainless and yes the other one is still white but I'll get to it eventually.

The nook, I haven't found valances that I like yet, maybe I'll get a chance to make some, maybe not (Vineman training starts Monday, great excuse right!)

I really like the new dining room paint, I really hate the dining room carpet, I was thinking as I moved Kyle's new bike out of the picture, how much carpet we could have bought with the money we spent on bikes this year! Do you like the anniversary flowers dad got me? Can you tell what the vase is?

The laundry room, the pic's a little dark but so are the walls. Really it doesn't look quite this dark, I like it especially with all of the white cabinets on the wall you don't see.

The new floor in Brad's room.
Thanks for getting all that wall paper stripping started, and thanks to Brent for finishing it, it was a lot of work! I hope you like it.