Category Archives: Randomness

Mary Beth Franta

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It is so sad that I have to post about two friends this month losing their lives. This Monday, my mom told me our friend Mary Beth was missing over the weekend. My mom was the last person to see her on Saturday night when they went to a wedding together and Mary Beth dropped her off. Unfortunately, Mary Beth went home to her drunk husband and well, things ended in a terrible way.
Needless to say, her life was ended and it was such a tragic way to die. Here is the news story about her:
I have such great memories with her when she, my mom, and I were all working sixth grade together. We had such a good team. She was such a great friend and listener. We went to Sea Camp together and were always going out to eat at BJ’s or just hanging out shooting the breeze in our classrooms.
I was fortunate enough to see her one last time when I went back for Halloween a few weeks ago. She looked really good and we sat around and talked about old times.
I love you Mary Beth. We miss you!

Dana Lee Fox

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I wanted to write some for a friend named Dana Lee Fox. She passed away a couple of weeks ago at such a young age from complications with surgery. She was Jen’s roommate at BYU and a great family friend. She always had so many funny things to say and we had such a great time when she came to Las Vegas for her birthday.

It’s so sad to see someone so young die. It hit us really hard and we were so sad. I want to share this article with you on her amazing career and life. Rest in peace Dana Lee.

Coyote Challenge

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So our garage wall is getting a big collection of race numbers on it lately. We kind of like it even if it does look a little “white trash”. 🙂 Today we added another set of numbers, but this time, it was for a triatholon.
Mike was asked to be on a team for his work and I was asked to be on a team for Crossfit Las Cruces. It started out with a “ruck” , which is running four miles with a really heavy backpack. This was when the starting whistle went off.
Second, was the runners. They had to run a 5k without a backpack. 🙂 Third,was a mountain bike race for 15 miles. This is me talking off after Cat came through on her 5k.


This is Mike preriding. I took off almost twenty minutes before him and he smoked me! He smoked everyone. He pulled his team from like 15th place to 4th place. They podiumed!

I love triatholons! Cat, Liz, and I were talking about doing one up in Farmington later on. We both had a blast!

A Halloween in Vegas.

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We went to Vegas over Halloween weekend. It was so fun! Here are some of the highlights of the weekend:
Sky Mania with the family!

I was trying to learn to fall on my back!
The trick or treating kids!


The Fluharty pumpkin. So sad.


Halloween decorations! Yay!


Visiting the Bellagio gardens..


Visiting the new bridge at Hoover Dam.


Bike riding in Blue Diamond.

We always have such a good time when we visit the family in Vegas. Plus, it was so nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle of work.
Happy Halloween!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

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So I came across my old mp3 player from 2007 that has a ton of songs downloaded on it and I got it working! So I’ve been bringing it to work to listen to while I calm down at lunch and after school. I absolutely love it. There is something soothing about music and it also makes you feel so many emotions. I am really sentimental, so when I hear a song it reminds me of times in my life or people close to me.
These are some old school songs, but here are some I found on it:
Tim McGraw- Taylor Swift. This was way back when she first started and I would watch her reality on MTV when she was trying to make it big. Can you remember that?
Petey Pablo: Freak-A-Leak. Totally reminds me of Liesl and Hilary when we would go to parties and dance the night away! This used to be the ringtone on my phone.
Natasha Bedingfield: Unwritten. Back when I was obsessed with the Hills I would listen to this blasting in my car.
The Ataris: Boys of Summer. Reminds me of Kaycee when we would go DDR at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Beyonce: Irreplacable. Reminds me of when Michelle and I went to California and this song was constantly playing while we shopped with lindsey in the Fashion District. So fun.
Yellowcard: Way Away. Driving down the 101 from LA to San Diego. Awesome memory!
Jason Mraz: Remedy. Driving the backlots of Walt Disney World the summer I worked there and watching the fireworks from EPCOT in the sky.
Rob Thomas: Little Wonders. I just love that song!!!
Kanye West: Stronger. I would work out at the LVAC playing this while I was running. Such a good workout song.
Ingrid Michaelson: The Way I Am. Living at my dad’s house while I would drive through the senior retirement home neighborhood.
Diamond Rio: Imagine That. Senior Year. High School.
Samantha Mumba: Gotta Tell You. Back when boy bands were big and girl bands too and when the girls and I would go to every concert imaginable.
Avril Lavigne: Complicated. Introducing the number one video on TRL.

12 Hours of El Paso

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On Saturday, October 23, the crew set out to do a 12 hour relay mountain bike race in El Paso. Jonny, Kimball, Brad, Jared, Lisa, Paul, Mike and I showed up to race for five different teams. Jonny, Kimball, and Brad were on one team. Jared joined another four man team. Mike was on a Crazy Cat four man team. Lisa and I were on a four girl team. And Paul raced on a duo team.
Lots of racing!
Here is Brad warming up for a lap.
The most crazy part is trying to rest in between laps. I tried to chill but I got too ancy!! Here is Lisa and I waiting for our girls to come. Her team beat mine.
Still waiting!

Abel coming in and Jared taking off!


Mike getting ready to go out on his night ride. Night riding was so hard cause everything is two dimensional. I added like ten minutes on my time because of how sloppy I was!


Going out for my fastest lap. I was trying to hurry cause our team was losing.


You had to make the exchange in the tent and as soon as you called out your number, you took off!


Overall it was a very fun and exciting day. I wish we got more pictures!

Century Race in Las Vegas

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Mike and Wayne decided to head over to Las Vegas and try out the Viva Bike Vegas Century ride (115 miles!) through the Las Vegas Valley. The cool thing is that this race included a ride across the new Hoover Dam bridge. Unfortunately, Mike and Wayne were too late to sign up so they couldn’t do the bridge, but they did everything else!
The guys at the starting line in downtown Vegas.

At the starting line and sitting with all the “faster” roadies.

Here we go!


The banners and set up. The riders got steaks from Outback when they returned. Nice!


Mike and Wayne made some good time. The first fifty miles only took them three hours and they were able to complete the whole thing in about six hours. Considering Mike was on his mountain bike (with road wheels), we consider this a major accomplishment.
Congrats to you both!

A Quick Day With The Family

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While Mike and Wayne did their century ride in Vegas, I had a whirlwind day with the family. It started out with Jen picking me up downtown and heading down to Henderson to meet with dad and the nephews to see Mike ride by.
We headed over to Mission Park and played for a little bit while we waited. We found this amazing slide and found out it was even better when you used Sarah’s jacket to fly down.

But…there were some catastrophes.
But, it was fun.

The rest of the day consisted of passing off water and gatorades to the bikers, going to Dad’s to play Sequence, shopping with Mom and Sarah, eating some amazing sushi, and having a late night chat with my dad at In and Out when he got off work.
Such a fun one day visit!

The Last Race-Road Apple Rally!

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We drove up to Farmington, New Mexico for our last race of the season! It is a 30 mile course full of lots of downhill and really fun whoop-de-doos!
Kimball, Brad, Brent and his girls, Mike and I headed up for a day of perfect weather and friendly rivalry.
Here are the highlights:
I’m hiding in the gackle of people at the starting line. We ALL started together, including the Cat 1 and Pro riders.

We got in late the night before, but our hotel was awesome compared to the usual Super 8.

Kimball wanted to take a picture next to this sign. He got a big kick out of it!

The whole gang after the race!


Brent won second place in his category!


I won first place in my category, even though this was not my best race. I had to walk on some of the downhills because they were VERY steep. People were screaming as they were flying down them.

Michael got second place! And fifth overall! He worked so hard and it paid off!

Brad and I battled it out on the road for a while. It got to the point where we were neck and neck and were taunting eachother. Brad was yelling “You can’t let me beat you Liz!”. When I started to pass him, he screamed “I hate you!”. I was screaming just because it was funny. Meanwhile, there is a girl with us racing too and she was giving us the funniest look. Poor girl.


I made it. Even though my legs were cramping really bad!

It was a really fun roadtrip too. Even though I was the only girl, it was really funny to hang out with the guys and hear the things they had to say. We all had so much fun!

Squash Blossom: The High Desert Screamer!

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This race was way fun because we got Brad, Kimball, and Jonny to come along! We rode up Friday night and stayed at a sleazy Super 8, where some random Indian guy walked into Kimball’s room at 3 in the morning, and then raced Saturday morning!
Here are the random highlights of the short, but fun trip:

The medals they gave you for winning!
The boys before the race. Such a nice day out! Couldn’t have asked for better weather.
Michael in the hotel parking lot. (Notice our rental car since someone decided to slam into the Honda!)

Jonny got third place in his category! Right after the race with the whole crew!

The boys at the starting line.

Mike at the starting line checking his wheel. He rode up the road with the “cream of the crop” in his category. He was flying!!

Overall it was such a beautiful day and a VERY fun coarse. A favorite of Mike’s. I liked it because after doing Horny Toad, it seemed so much easier and I was a lot more confident ont he technical parts. I was so proud of Brad cause his cassette screwed up, but he fixed it and went on and finished the race. Michael got seventh which was two steps up from last year (considering all the people ahead of him were from up north). I got second overall and first in my category! P.S. It felt good to beat the girl at Cedro who beat me there and Santa Fe. 🙂