Viva Las Vegas!

 We started our annual Vegas trip with a bang!  We flew in to Las Vegas late Friday night and were in our hotel room by 10:30 PM.  I had thought long and hard about how to make a week in Vegas possible with our busy schedules.  My initial thought was to cut our trip short and fly out late and leave early.  I booked our flights for the last possible flight out on Friday night hoping that it wouldn't get delayed or cancelled because we had to be up at 3 AM to make our race on the top of Mount Charleston. 

Our Friday night flight was delayed by 30 minutes which wasn't too bad.  We landed safely and headed for the Uber line at the Las Vegas airport.  Craig met us in the lobby of our hotel as he had booked our rooms for race day.  We had all planned to start our trip with a half marathon that began at 6 AM on Saturday April 1st.  I am pretty sure Stephen didn't sleep at all that night and I woke up at 2 AM thinking it was 3 AM.  We had laid our clothes out the night before so all we had to do what put them on and get on the bus that left from our hotel.  

We had chosen some throw away sweaters because it was 22 degrees on the mountain. That was not enough warmth.  The wind blew just enough to freeze us.  The bus dropped us off at 4:45 AM so we had to sit outside for an hour and 15 minutes while we waited for the 6 AM start of the race.  1500 people huddled behind the porta potties to escape the cold.  Stephen and I wrapped up in two heat blankets that the race provided and we just sat on the cold hard ground waiting in the freezing cold for the race to start.  Blair and Craig finally gave in and sat on the ground with us.  It was a long wait but we finally headed the half mile down to the start line.  It was sort of a sad start line because not everyone was there when the announcer said, "go"!  I wasn't completely ready because I hadn't started my music and put my phone in my back pocket.  So I started running with all of my stuff in my side pocket.  Not ideal but not terrible.  The race was AMAZING!! I felt so good until mile 11.  I loved running fast downhill.  It took little to no effort to run an 8 minute mile.  At mile 11 there was a strong uphill that lasted an entire mile!  That was rude! HA! Stephen crossed the finish line in 1:39 and I was 10 minutes behind him at 1:49.  

After the race, Stephen and I found the warmest spot in the fake grass and laid down with two more of the heat blankets while we waited for Craig and Blair to finish the race.  I am so proud of Craig and Blair!!  They are incredible.  They trained all through the brutal winter and worked hard to complete the half marathon.  It was so fun to see them at the finish line.  

For me, the half marathon was the best part of the trip. I could have flown home that day and had an awesome vacation.  We were all exhausted after the race so we jumped on the bus and headed back to our hotel.  Stephen and I took a hot bath and instantly fell asleep.  3 AM is a bit early for me. We ordered door dash and pizza that night and just hung out together.  

We sat by the pool on Sunday while we waited for our room to be ready at the Bellagio Hotel.  Once it was ready, we packed up quickly and headed to the best hotel on the strip.  We stay in one of the VIP suits so it makes our trip feel a little more luxurious.  Sunday night we met up with Veronica and Chris and ate at RPM in Caesar's Palace.  The food was pretty good but not memorable.  I think we were all still so exhausted from the race that we just went back to our hotel room and fell right to sleep.  

Monday, I woke up ready to exercise so I headed down to the gym by myself and did a work out to loosen up my legs.  My quads we so sore after the race. I could barely bend my legs so I figured a nice bike ride might loosen up my muscles.  I walked through the Bellagio gardens and took a photo of what I would love my yard to look like.  We really didn't have a lot of plans for the week and that was sort of the beauty and downfall of this trip.

We went to the spa with Sharla and got massages Monday afternoon.  It was luxurious.  Then we went to eat at Martha Stuarts new restaurant that was pretty good.  Not sure if I would eat at it again as it was sort of the same food we get all the time.  Then we went to the show "Mad Apple" and laughed so much because the comedian was hilarious. 

Tuesday, I woke up and went on a walk with Craig and Blair up and down the strip.  It was freezing.  The weather turned and was unseasonable cold again! I feel like every year it is colder and colder in Vegas for longer in the year.  

Wednesday was basically our last day as I had planned an early flight on Thursday.  I had to work at noon on Thursday and my parents had driven my boys all over the world so I felt like I needed to get back home and jump back into my real life ASAP.  Wednesday, we went to the Maroon Five concert and ate some delicious secret pizza.  All in all it was a great trip.  I had some up and down emotions at the end of the trip because I felt stressed about leaving my boys with Susan and my parents for a week.  

I do always enjoy my time with Stephen in Las Vegas every year.  We missed Kendra and Michael this year.  They are fun and always bring some laughs.  Until next year, Vegas!

Spring Break 2023

 I was hoping to do a bit more this spring break, but the boys didn't really want to go any where.  So we opted to ski in Santa Fe for our spring break fun.  It was such an amazing day! The snow was great and we were all brave by trying new things.  I went down the ski hill and had fun crashing 5 times while Edward tried snow boarding for the first time.  He loved it.  Stephen and Nolen went to the top of the mountain three or four times.  

Even though we didn't do much, we did have a great time doing nothing.  I got some important things done this week but mostly I rested.  I needed to just forget about life for a few days and relax.  Nolen and I ran to prepare for track season and Edward got caught up on school. 

17 Years with St. Patty!

 Seventeen years ago, I married the man of my dream.  I love him more today than I ever thought possible.  Our marriage has always been one of communication and respect.  I do believe I found my "happily ever after".

We went to brunch at Los Poblanos farm and then just enjoyed the day with our kids.  It truly is wonderful getting older and finding that we love our time spent together.

State Archery Tournament

 Edward shot amazingly at the state archery tournament.  He shot a score of 255 and came in second on his team.  He came in 11th for the middle school boys!  He team didn't make it to nationals but I am sure he will go next year. 

March for March

 It's March.  Already.  I really can not believe how quickly time marches forward.  *get it, marches* Ok. Ha! Maybe you didn't laugh.  I have had a lot on my mind lately.  So much so that sleep has become impossible at 3 AM.  I don't like that.  I worry about my boys.  Constantly.  I worry that I am completely failing as a mother.  I worry that I have done all the wrong things and that time is moving so fast and that I haven't taught them what they need to know in order to survive this cruel world.  I worry about them.  They are soft.  They are sweet.  They have no idea what is out there.  

I feel like I haven't sat down and written a good blog post in years because I have been so busy just running around living my life.  I am not entirely sure what is appropriate to write on the internet any more because everything can be completely taken out of context.  Pictures are stolen and used for any purpose and manipulated to show someone doing something they didn't actually do.  

I worry that I have said all the wrong things to all my friends.  I used to be so sure of myself and so opinionated and I didn't care what anyone thought.  That's changed.  I have that I care.  I feel like I have to care a little because I say so many wrong things all the time.  I recently quit Instagram again.  I can't help but waste hours upon hours staring at NOTHING telling myself I am "learning" but I am really just wasting time.  I could be blogging.  I should be journaling to get all of these intense thoughts out of my mind and onto paper so that I don't have to think about them any more.

I worry about my family.  My mom has been sick with leukemia since December.  She has good weeks and bad weeks.  Mostly, she doesn't leave her room.  We barely see her even though we go over there four nights a week.  I don't know if she wants to get better.  Why is aging so difficult?  I worry about my sisters.  They are constantly on my mind.  I worry that I haven't told them I love them enough.  I worry that I have said all the wrong things to them and lead them in the absolute wrong direction.  I worry about my brothers but not in the same way. I worry that Craig has forgotten the importance of God in his life.  

All of this keeps me up at night.  All of this.  I have a thousand things to do and I feel like I get nothing done.  I keep putting things off because I am "too tired" or I just don't want to do it because I have so many other things to do.  

You know the best part about blogging these days?  NO ONE reads this stuff.  So I can write what ever I want and not worry that anyone will ever read through my thoughts anymore.  People are more interested in Ticktock and Instagram and Facebook.  Good for them.  Stare at your screens until your eyes fall out and maybe all the bad stuff in the world will go away.  We will all be to distracted to notice when the world blows up!

Well, on that note. I tell you how March has been going.  Great.  My boys are happy.  It is not warming up.  Not in the slightest.  

Nolen had an orchestra concert that lasted two and half hours but the music was great.  He thought was "literally" going to die if he had to stay there one more minute.  We left ASAP because I don't wait around and chat.  That's not who I am.

My dad helped us fix all of our sprinklers this weekend.  The dog ate the tops off of most of the drip system.  Annoying to fix, but we got it done.  

  I finally convinced Craig, Blair, and Stephen to go up the Tram to eat at the fine dining restaurant. It was a waste.  Not good service and not good food.  But it was a fun experience.  

Nolen put together a hungry hippos game for mutual and it was a huge hit!  Everyone loved it.  I blew up at least 100 balloons but totally worth it.