SuperX

Saturday we went with brother Scott and his wife Katie to Supercross at the Rice Eccles stadium. I have never really been into dirt bikes but have always thought it was cool, and man was this event awesome! We got there about 5 and walked around the pits looking at the bikes and watching as the mechanics tuned up the bike right before the race. The races started at 7 and it so exciting. The engines were loud and roaring and they were so fast and jumped so high, truly amazing. The best race was the very last one. The entire race was a battle between the first and second place, they must have passed each other at least five times and it was so intense. Thanks for the invite Scott and Katie, we had a blast!

Spring is Beautiful!

Joshua and I LOVE the winter. We love to ski more than anything. Nothing beats a day of waist deep, light, fluffy snow with a pair of skis. You've GOT to LOVE it! I can't fathom why anyone wouldn't love snow skiing. That is beyond me. And to do it with family makes it even better! I know I am one of those especially lucky wives who married a man who loves snow skiing as much as I do, which is saying a lot!

The WHOLE Hanks Family Skiing!

Despite our love of winter, we are SUPER excited for Spring. The holidays and warmer weather are superbly wonderful! First, we celebrated Easter by dying and decorating Easter Eggs.

Josh is quite the artist.

Then we made delicously scrumptious sugar cookies (Ragsdale family recipe!). I get excited for every holiday that has a cookie cut-out because it gives me the excuse to make this amazing cookies. I got four Easter cookie-cutters for $1 at Dans and some food coloring and we were set! We made the cookies into Easter Eggs, baby chicks, bunnies, and a church....yes, even a church =) Our good friends, the Brocks, helped us create the artistic decor.

Can you figure out this clue? (Hint: it's a pun)

(It's another pun! by Melissa)

(Artwork by Shawn)

To complete the Easter celebration, Josh was lucky enough to have the Easter bunny come visit him! He left him lots of treats and even some veggies to make up for all that candy!

The Easter Egg Hunt!

And we have spent every warm day this year playing outside. We have recently discovered a new love of tennis (pictures to come in the near future, pray for sunshine), picnics in the park, and Bocci ball (thanks to the Brocks, again, for the fun!)

BOCCI BALL!!!

Biking Survival 101

My brother Clark and I went for a quick ride up little cottonwood canyon.  We rode up the temple quarry trail until we got far enough we were sick of pushing our bikes through snow.  We turned around and came rippin down throwing snow and mud everywhere!  About half way down Clark went off a little jump and came down and got a pinch flat in his back tire,(a pinch flat is where the tube gets pinched between a rock or the rim or something and gets a big whole).  We didn't have any extra tube and there is no way a patch could fix it so we resorted to an old trick I had learned.  One saturday morning years and years ago as a little boy I was watching this show on tv called "Trail Side" it was this outdoor show that I loved and this episode was about biking.  They showed how if you get a flat tire and can't fix it, cut the tube in half where the whole is and tie a knot in it, it should be a bumpy ride and not hold air for a long time, might have to pump it up a few times.  So I saw this like 10 years ago and I didn't know if it would really work but we had nothing to lose.  Believe it or not it worked and got us down the mountain it was pretty sweet.

The only CONSTANT in life is CHANGE

Recently , I have had experienced a lot of change in my life. We moved a few weeks ago from our first apartment together to our second apartment together. We were hesitant to move, but we LOVE it. We are so happy where we are and we actually like it more than we thought we would. Thanks to all our family and friends who helped us move, providing manual labor and vehicles and trailers to transport all the STUFF we have somehow accumulated in the almost past year. Gone are the days of moving everything on your own in one car load! Furniture changes that. (So a shout out to Camille, Russ, Clark, Shawn, Melissa, Parker, Scott, and Katie!)

The week after we moved, I started a totally new job. In times when people are getting laid off left and right, including my friends, I was hired into a new, permanent, great job with great people to work with and a stable income. I feel very lucky and I am very grateful.

And then a few days later, I cut my hair! And all the change has all been great! It got me thinking today about all the major and minor changes I've experienced in my life. Despite being anxious about some changes and even a little pessimistic at times, every change I've experienced has changed my life for the better. And I've always ended up loving it all more than I expected to. 

A New Identity

BEFORE

You know in the movies, like Bourne Supremacy, how people change their identity by cutting and dying their hair? I didn't think it actually worked in real life, but in the last 2 years I've realized that it really does give you a new identity. I had very blond hair for a very long time, but my junior year of college, my roommate and I decided it would be fun to dye our hair dark, so we did. I was amused by how many people didn't recognize me, even my roommate who dye her hair too! So I believe that changing your hair color really does disguise you. But the hair cut thing, I just wasn't sure. Until....I cut my hair! I did it. I actually did it. I've had long hair my entire life and never had it short. I estimate we cut off about 6 inches of it. I originally went to get a "trim" but after throwing around the idea in my head to cut it, and then discussing it, I decided to be brave and do it. I have to admit, as soon as I told my sister-in-law she could cut it, my heart started pounding and I got a little shaky. What if I didn't like it? What if it didn't look good? Men say "It's just hair, it'll grow back." But really, it doesn't grow back as fast as they say, at least not mine. It would probably take 2 years to grow it back to where it was! But I did it. And half way through the hair cut, my heart started pounding for another reason: excitement! It turned out better than I expected and I love the change. It definitely took some adjustment. I don't need as much shampoo any more. And it takes HALF as long to do it! Hooray! So ultimately, I'm very glad I took the giant step to change my identity. 

AFTER

Hero

I have many heroes.  For example I think the people who telemark ski are so amazing and so much stronger than me that I often refer to them as heroes.  There are also the usual heroes like superman and my brother's favorite batman.  Recently I saw a commercial on tv of a guy throwing around pizza dough in the air like crazy, I wondered if it was real, then I found this guy!

Treasures

I love finding new treasures and one of the latest is a bike track that my friend Jake found.  Out against the hills of Eagle Mountain out west of Lehi and Saratoga Springs there is a sweet new place that mountain bikers are putting together with a section of jumps, a pump track, and a few trails being built.  In the past week I have been out there three times and had a blast each time.  Check out some pics that Jake edited over at his site. Enjoy. Get out and ride, its spring!

Clark

So brother Clark is running for Senior Student Body Officer at his school.  Over the weekend we put together a little movie for him to show at school and it turned out pretty good.  We need to take some pics to put in the movie and thought I would share those.  Stay tuned to see the movie coming soon.

Good Luck Clarky boy!