Since I have so much to say, I think I'll make a couple posts instead of one long one.

The past couple weeks have been exhausting. It all started just before the long Memorial Day weekend. I got a four-day weekend from work but Emilie only got three days. Since Emilie was working I went for my first bike ride of the year on the Keystone/Rancho loop, which I figured would be a good relaxing way to start the season. I was surprised that I was able to do as well as I did - I figured I would be grotesquely out of shape. I made it to the top of the hill with no problem at all; however, I did make a couple stops along to way to snag a couple quick caches, which probably helped me out a little.

I did pretty well the whole way until I got on the final stretch going back up the hill on McCarran to my truck. It was about 12:30p and was scorching hot - my energy was severely drained. I think the thing that helped the most is that the rain clouds came along and cooled the air considerably. This break in the temperature helped me make it back.

I got a call later that night from Emilie's dad inviting me to go ride the Emigrant Trail up by Truckee. I foolishly agreed to go. The ride wasn't too bad. We had a first-time rider with us, so we didn't ride as hard as we normally would have. I felt pretty good except that my butt was extremely sore from the previous ride. Normally we ride to the end of the trail, turn around and ride back. David rode back, but the way it worked out I only rode one way, which is about a 9-mile ride.

I got back home in time to get cleaned-up, take a quick nap and get ready to go to the temple. We hadn't been to the temple for a while, so it was particularly good. We went with our ward and the session was packed.

Sunday we were babysitting. To help entertain the children we made a movie called The Four Astronauts, which we filmed and then I edited while the kids were watching a DVD. They loved their movie and their mom loved it. Why shouldn't they? It was sweet.

Memorial Day we went for a hike up in Galena Park. We ended up hiking all the way to the Wilderness Area, but we originally weren't planning on going that far. We started back down the hill and a few went back to the car, but the rest of us continued up and over the hill. The hike turned out to be somewhere between 12 and 15 miles, but I'm not sure. We went home and had lunch at my parent's house, then went home, cleaned up and went to the in-laws for BBQ.

It was a fun weekend, but I ended up VERY SORE. I'll be getting ready for my next ride sometime this week.

The scouts in our ward did a cool project. You donate money to the troop and they come to your house on five patriotic holidays and put a flag in your yard. They come early in the morning and then pick it up at the end of the day. They brought one for Memorial Day, which was awesome.

I'll post tomorrow all about our Vegas vacation.