What a trip!

Oh my goodness. These past five weeks have flown by! I am tired. The kids are tired. Todd is tired. I have thousands of pictures, we have spent just as much money (at least it sure feels that way), we are all sleep deprived and on Thursday we will start our journey back across the United States. It has been wonderful and fantastic. I am convinced this country is beautiful and we now know all too well that we love our van for road trips but I can honestly say I am ready to be in my own bed in my own house with kids to bed at a decent hour and NOT living out of a suitcase. My only hesitation is that home is Louisville and it is summer. I do not do Louisville's humid summers all that well but I might just miss home enough to not complain when I get there...at least not too much. I would post a picture but I don't have any on this computer.

RITL Weekend 2010- Las Vegas

While in Vegas I was able to have an annual girls weekend with my BFFs BreAnn, Amy & Michele.

We have been friends for almost 20 years, which is just mind boggling to me. Since I was raised with three brothers and no sisters, these girls are the closest things I have to sisters. (I do have some terrific SIL's now- but they haven't known me for 20 years. :) It was such a fun time and I look forward to next year's location, wherever that may be.

Michele striking a pose.

We spent our first night eating at the Hard Rock Cafe eating good food, drinking not so good soda, and having some very interesting conversations...Michele- did you ever ask your dad? I asked my mom. :)

In between eating, laying out, shopping, and going to the movies, we pampered ourselves with pedicures.

Pretty toes.

Even though I am looking rather cross-eyed and very heavy lidded, I love this picture. We do a lot of laughing together. It is so nice to be able to go a year or more without seeing each other and be able to pick up right where we left off.

(Bre- you were flying on a plane at this time. Not that you would have joined in the picture anyway. :)

Bre spent the entire weekend dodging my camera. She tried to hide from me Saturday morning but I still knew who was under those covers from the size of her bling...I mean RING...that was poking out from under the sheet.

Just know, Bre, that I have some great blackmail photos if the opportunity ever arises.

And in true RITL weekend fashion, I have some quotes that I wrote down although I have to admit it would have been better for me to blog this three weeks ago when everything was fresh in my mind.

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"I'm exactly as you would imagine."- Amy, about herself, during our "interesting" dinner conversation at the Hard Rock.

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"She was large...and not bright." -Bre during the said conversation from above.

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"Is it bad that I have three?"

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"Adorable!" -Quote of the weekend.

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"Are you cold Bre?" (Think sweater, long pants and wool socks in Vegas.)

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"And you wipe yourself."

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"I should be the one to delete her!"-Michele

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"It's you and me...and Nate."

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Love you guys!
Can't wait until next year.

Lake Tahoe preview

We decided to take a late drive up to Lake Tahoe today and it could not have been any more perfect. We had Sand Harbor all to ourselves and now Cooper can say that he has officially been introduced to his mom's favorite place.

More pictures to come of Tahoe and all our other adventures. I am finally sorting through my 8 GB and 3 CDs of pictures from our trip so far.

How long is this road trip??

So I may not have mentioned this but Todd and I left town for five weeks a few weeks ago. So far the trip has been epic and full of driving, family, friends, flying, boating and a lot of other things. I have thousands (yes. Thousands.) of pictures and no idea how I am going to sort through them all considering I was behind on my pictures from before we left. But I WILL do it because this trip has been too awesome to not post the millions of pictures that are sure to find their way on to this particular blog.

So what I have seen and done so far?

Day 1: (Ky, IN, IL, MO) We drove through St. Louis and attempted to go up the arch but tours were full for the day so we settled for pictures. Stayed the first night in Independence, MO outside of Kansas City.

Day 2: (MO, KS, OK) Toured the Independence Visitor Center the next morning, drove through Kansas City and then drove to Oklahoma City where we stayed the second night. Toured the memorial for the OKC bombing which is beautiful.

Day 3: (OK, TX, NM) Attempted to make a long drive to Flagstaff but decided to stay the third night in Albuquerque. That day we dined at the Big Texan in Amarillo, TX which is a steak house frequently featured on the Food Network.

Day 4: (NM, AZ) Made our way to the Grand Canyon where we quickly learned that the thought of Fisher at the GC was just as scary as we imagined and so most of his time was spent in the car. Todd and I watched the sun set over the Grand Canyon which is something we can now cross off our bucket list. Beautiful! That night we stayed the night in some po-dunk town outside of the GC.

Day 5: (AZ, Las Vegas, NV) Made our way to Las Vegas, the next day to visit my brother and sis-in-law. It was so fun seeing my niece and nephew and brother, Ken & sis-in-law, Alicia. We were able to check out their house which we had not seen (and which is very cute!)

Days 6-8: (Vegas) I have to say thank you to Alicia for watching my kids that weekend while I had a RITL weekend with my three best friends, Amy, Michele, and BreAnn. We spent part of Friday, all of Saturday and part of Sunday catching up, pampering ourselves, laughing, talking and eating. It was wonderful!

Days 8-9: (Vegas) After the girls left it was more time spent with my family. My parents were kind enough to come into town to help watch the kids, keep Todd company while Ken was working, and drive me and the boys back to Reno while Todd is in Utah. Monday, Ken went back to work, Todd was on his way to Utah and my dad flew home so it was a girls' night with Alicia & Mom with chick flicks and take out. Thank you so much to Ken & Alicia for opening their home to us. It was so wonderful seeing you guys! Ken, thanks for taking time off from work to spend time with us! It was so fun spending time with you guys and I know Todd had fun hanging out with you! Alicia- thanks again for all of your help. We can't wait to see you guys for the boys' birthday.

Seeing my siblings makes me wish we all lived closer together.

Day 10: (Las Vegas-Reno, NV) Tuesday my mom, Cooper, Fisher and myself were on the road for a 7 hour drive (made longer by driving with two kids, one of whom that happened to be having diarrhea into sage brush all the way across the state of NV) to Reno. It was so nice to make it to my home away from home. I love being able to return to the house I was raised in. It just feels like home the moment I walk in the door.

Days 12-15: (Reno) Thursday night Todd was able to come and spend the weekend in Reno. Fun! Sunday he was back on his way to Utah.

Days 16-19: (Reno) Me and the boys spent the next week through Thursday afternoon in Reno playing and having fun with G & G Lund. We took walks, played in the yard, on the trampoline, at the park, at Karen, Sariah & Camden's, worked out, got hair done, walked Yonder, rode the polaris and Cooper got in to everything.

Days 19-23: (Seattle, WA and the "Twilight Tour") Thursday I took Cooper on a airplane where we flew to Seattle to visit my little bro and sis-in-law. Our time here has been spent touring Seattle, driving and taking two ferries (there and back) to Port Angeles, Forks and La Push. It was awesome. I have laughed a lot and had a great time. The scenery was breath taking and the company has been fantastic. I am 1) convinced I want to live closer to my siblings and 2) Convinced I want to live in the North West. So Ken & Steve- you guys are going to have to move up here :) Robbie, thanks for taking time off from work and indulging your sis. :) Erin, thanks for putting up with me and thanks for the laughs.

Day 23: (Seattle) Tomorrow morning Cooper and I will hop on another plane to head back to Reno where we are going to stay for another week. I plan on visiting with more family & friends, having a joint 1 yr old birthday party for Cooper and his cousin Ethan.

We will then drive back to Utah with my sweet husband (who I am so excited to see!) and then we will gallivant around Utah to visit the sites, family and old friends. After that we are going to make the drive home back to Kentucky and just hope and pray that it is still standing when we get home and that nothing has been stolen.

Whew! It made me tired just listing everything everything. I think I am going to veg in my pajamas for a week after I get home...