image diary: some scenes from last wednesday

run, drive, sleep?, repeat...

The Ragnar weekend was a load of fun. (Ragnar is a 12 person, two van, 30+ hour, 200 mile relay race.) I was in van two with a few of the most uninhibited and hilarious women I have ever met. We ran. We cheered. We ate. Most of us slept (for maybe two hours). We enjoyed every one of the 30+ hours we spent together. Team 80s Ladies, you were so rad.

Van 2 ready to go.

Gotta be a little crazy. It's Ragnar!

 Checked in at exchange 6, ready to run.

Heading for the chute on my first run. Just look at the beautiful wilderness we traversed...

200.5 miles later at the finish line - all twelve of us together. We found out that we took 4th place in our division.

The finish line was at the Tempe Arts Park right on Tempe Town Lake. Brett and Tiff met Cori and the kids there before we ran through.

The Church girls all together. Thanks 80s Ladies! I had so much fun!

holiday

For the first time in his Honeywell career, Cori had Presidents' Day off work. We made a patriotic go of it and spent some time and money boosting the local economy.

I got invited onto the Ragnar Del Sol team after all. We run this weekend. I was designated the easiest leg of the race (fine by me!)- just over 11 miles total and all on easy flat terrain. I'm getting more excited as I feel more prepared. Saturday, I completed three 5 mile runs and lived to tell about it. And after our shopping spree on Monday, I think I am set equipment wise.

So, in between shopping stops, we spent some time at the park in Anthem. We enjoyed an In N Out picnic in the sun, played on the castle-esque playground, and took a ride on the train.

We lit up the fire pit after dinner for s'mores, and I took another run once the children were sleeping. An excellent day!

tahoe 2012

We have become rather attached to this February getaway. We'll have to see how schedules pan out in the future. It ended up being a little tricky taking Grace out of school for the week. :/ But we lived it up. Around the condo, there were lots of puzzles and games, pj's and comfy clothes.

 We have Texas in our blood and, when we are with Grammie, on our breakfast plates.

More puzzles.

We enjoyed Sunday luncheon at "Grandma Buddy's" house - always a treat. She made her vegetable quiche which is a favorite of mine. And she spent an afternoon at the lake with us as well.

Grace and Grant made a couple visits to the kids club. Grace was in project heaven. Grant found some buddies to joust with(Wii-style).

And Cori and I had an evening to take Mom and Dad to our favorite restaurant up there.

The skiing was pretty darn nice. There isn't much snow up there, this much is certain. But the temperatures were so comfortable. The sun was shining. We spent our last day in sweaters. And it was ideal for the kids.

Grace and Grant completed two days of ski school. The first day, Gracie ended up in Grant's class and it looked like Grant was set to ski circles around her. But by the end of day two, she was in her own class and riding the ski lift. They both loved (LOVED!) ski school which was a relief. Grace had almost convinced herself that she would hate it. She ended her last mountain day with a trip down a bona fide ski run all by herself. It was so much fun skiing with them after lessons.

Grant rode up the ski lift once with his dad and Papa. I'm a bit squirmish about heights. When our babes are on the lift, I am extremely squirmish about heights. While taking this picture, my free hand was busy hanging onto the back of Grace's jacket. Papa was doing the same for Grant...

Apres Ski fun. One evening, the pool was nearly as warm as the hot tub. As pool owners, all we could think of was the heating bill! Well, that and swimming.

We loaded up the car and pointed it towards Phoenix. We asked the kids to guess where we were headed next and they said "Grammy and Papa's house?" Like my dad says, always leave them wanting more.

We overnighted in Vegas on the way out and back. Grant saved up his tickets to buy these two $100 bills and was bitterly disappointed to find out afterwords that they are not legal tender. I tried to explain it to him, honest. This picture makes me laugh so hard. Also, Grace and Grant's fascination with Sponge Bob is directly proportional to Cori and my hatred of him. We have avoided him so carefully over the years, I don't understand how it is even possible. I took this picture to make Grace happy.

tahoe was so much fun. full report tomorrow (or maybe friday)