LOTOJA

LOTOJA-  Logan to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  This is a little over 200 miles... its a pretty big deal for bikers.  My dad and I lucked out because we were invited last minute to fill in for some friends who were injured.  I have always wanted to do the LOTOJA so I was pretty excited.  Even better, we didn't have to do the whole thing ourselves, we got to split it up between friends.  And we got to stay at a super sweet cabin in Star Valley, Wyoming.  It was a fantastic weekend!  The girls loved staying at the cabin, and even had a little friend there to play with named Lily.
Here are pics from the eventful weekend:

Brent and Alex Mortensen in the chill morning air, ready for the race to begin!

A shot from the race starting line

Daddy-O, ready to ride!

That's my dad in front!

Here is Alex doing his leg of the race...

Me (Ali) doing the Afton to Alpine leg (mine was pretty easy)

Go me!

Brent, Kelly, Alex, Margaret, Lily, and Kaloni

The girls took a drive around the market while waiting for the riders to finish..

A fun activity at the cabin... coloring!

Avril is a little rock collector.  Anywhere there are rocks, she is filling her pockets and buckets full.  Of course McKel will always do what her big sis does, so she is a little rock collector as well :)

McKel with her rock-collecting bucket at the cabin :)

I decided to take a nature walk with the girls while we were staying at the cabin.  It was so gorgeous out, I couldn't resist.  We were not far down the road, when a little snake squirmed quickly across the road in front of us.  A little further down the road, we saw another little snake.  This one did not squirm away, so we picked up a stick and gave it a little nudge.  No response.  I figured the snake was either really good at playing dead, or was actually up in snake heaven already.  A few more nudges confirmed the latter.  So I told the girls this snake was safe to pick up with the stick.  They were sooo happy to get to play with the snake.  Then I came up with the idea of taking it back to the cabin to scare Nana with it.  I had Avril and McKel carry it back to the cabin and we told Nana to come out and see what we found.  Avril then held up the stick with the snake hanging on it and we got the desired outcome:  A terrified screech from Nana.  It was lots of fun!!  :)

"I'm not so sure about this...  how sure are you he's dead?"

Avril was fearless.  Not afraid to pick up the snake with her bare hands

McKel enjoying the outdoors!

McKel decides to try touching the snake... since her sister did, of course!

The three girls sitting on the famous picture rock at the cabin:  Lily, Avril, and McKel

McKel, Spencer, Brent, Lily, Margaret, Ali, Avril, and Gayle all posed for a pic on the rock out front