Goodbye Racing Season, Hello Holidays!

Lately we have been busy finishing up racing season. He had a good but expensive racing season this year. He set some goals and as far as I know met pretty much all of them. Before a race we would say something like "today we will go (fill in the blank speed/time)" and for the most part that always happened. Nathan's knowledge on car stuff really amazes me - he laughed at me when I told him this, but he speaks a foreign language when it comes to racing. I know most engine parts (not what they do, I can just identify them) but he will get on the laptop and say something about "turning the retard down and phasing the distributor back in and ramping the something or another up" and on and on (for the record I have no idea if any of that is what he actually says, but it is how I remember it) and it just impresses me when it all falls in to place. He works on his own stuff and knows everything about it. He also make me feel involved and important. This is a big deal. I help him however I can, and usually don't feel like I help that much, but he always thanks me and tells me how much help I am. The kids and I are his number one fans. We can't wait until the kids are a little older and can come to the races with us. Right now, all I would do would be to get onto them the whole time because it is not little kid friendly and that is not fair to them. We also hope to be able to get an RV in a few years and then we can all stay in it at the races together.

Autographs :)

Trying to figure out the best strategy :)

Even at the times Nathan was not able to compete at a race, just hanging out with all the other racers is fun. The people Nathan races with are good people - we made lots of new friends this year. Nathan won a few different races this year and was pretty competitive. During his last race of the year, his car broke about 100 feet from the finish line. I guess if there was ever good timing for that to happen, that was it. Now his winter of fixing it will begin - after my list of "honey dos" I have been saving until race season was over.

Other than racing, we have been spending a lot of time with the kids doing fun things and getting ready for fall - pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, football games, playing at the park, and four wheeler rides. We are ready for racing off season and the holidays!

A Short Flight to Neon Lights

Nathan and I went to Vegas last year for our first big vacation alone since having our kids. It was an awesome experience and we decided to make it a point to go somewhere together like that every year. We were going to go to Boston this year to watch a Red Sox and Patriots game but once we started pricing everything we could not afford it. So, we started looking at all kinds of other places to go. None of them sounded as good for the money as Vegas. We were going to be able to go longer and do more there than anywhere else. So, I started looking at dates and it just so happened the same week we went last year was the cheapest this year - so back to Vegas we went! We did wish we had friends with us last year so we were excited when our friends Jolee and Celia decided to go with us!

We got there late on Monday night and dropped our bags off and headed straight to the strip! We stayed at the MGM Grand again - we just loved it last time and it was the best hotel in our price range. We went to the PBR bar for some food, drinks, and people watching. Watching drunk people ride a mechanical bull is quite amusing! The next day we walked around and did some shopping in Caesars Palace and had lunch there at Trevi. I tried squid for the first time there - that is not happening again, but at least I tried it! We then went and checked out the pools at the hotel - very nice! That night we went to eat dinner at a nice steak house called Gallaghers in the New York, New York hotel - it was very fancy and expensive, but good! Then we went to The Blue Man Group show. It was a good show - the ending was my favorite! They had about ten 6' balls fall from the ceiling and we were bouncing them all around with crazy lights and paper and toilet paper flying on us - it was awesome!

The next day we slept through breakfast and went straight to lunch at La Salsa Cantina. Then more shopping and sight seeing at the Venetian.  We then decided to race go karts (not just any go karts, these go karts went about 50 mph). It was hard for me to get the hang of the go karts having to use my left foot for the brake and my seat was so uncomfortable - so I just made sure Celia didn't lap me and was glad we were done! So, I got a solid 4th out of 4! Nathan got first place even after wrecking 3 times - but Jolee was right behind him! That night we had our first Vegas buffet! We ate at our hotel at the Grand Buffet and it was really good! All you can eat crab legs, shrimp, fish and prime rib! We got our moneys worth! Then we took the monorail from our hotel to the other end of the strip and then got a taxi to Fremont Street! The Fremont Street Experience is an experience for sure! If you are wanting to walk around, see crazy sights, listen to live music, and maybe even zipline - this is your place! We walked up and down the street 4-5 times just looking around and people watching. The street is covered in a canopy of television screens showing an ocean scene and every so often all the lights on the street go out and there is a music and light show on the canopy. When we go back to Vegas, we will be going back there for sure!

Thursday was our last full day there and we had pretty much done everything we had planned to do so we decided to walk to the Welcome to the Fabulous Las Vegas sign. It was almost 3 miles from our hotel, but it was a nice morning and wasn't a bad walk. There were quite a few people there once we got there but we were able to get a turn pretty quickly. We then had lunch at Dick's Last Resort. We had never eaten there before so we were not aware they call it Dick's because they are Dicks to you - the wait staff is supposed to be rude - it was actually fun! We then took the monorail back to the Stratosphere and went to the very top and rode the Big Shot - best ride they have! That night we had dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, a French steakhouse and my steak was really good (and the fries were awesome too :) ). We watched the Bellagio water show and then just went back to the hotel and packed up.

The next day we had time for lunch before our flight so we had the hotel hold our bags and we went to Diablos for Mexican food. Then it was goodbye Vegas and hello Arkansas!

We are so happy we have jobs that allow us to go on vacations, parents who watch our kids, and are able to get away and enjoy eachother every now and then. We don't do it often, but enjoy it when we get to. Next on our traveling adventure - DISNEY!! (with the kids this time of course) :)

Princess Ryans 2nd Birthday Party!

I had a photographer come and take pictures for me at Ryan's birthday party - that way I could just focus on having fun and not getting shots of all the guests and important things happening. Tootsie Toes Photography did an awesome job!

We did a Sophia the First theme - Ryan loves "Fia" :) I made some backgrounds for the food table and I love how they turned out! We did the party at our local community center so we had plenty of space for the kids to run around, a bounce house, coloring station, and face painting. As always it seems, more people came than I thought were going to be able to make it - that is always a pleasant surprise!

Food table with the background I made :)

Princess Sophia :)

Ryan getting a puppy painted on her face :)

Noah had to have a dinosaur, of course :)

We had to have the princess bounce house of course :)

We always use Michelle Mayer for our cakes and once again she did great! I found the cutest cupcake picks  to go with her amazing cupcakes and she made the most delicious cookies.

It was a great party - Ryan felt the love for sure! It was also great to look around and see all the kids running around playing together and the parents talking - we have the best friends and family!

Happy 2nd Birthday Princess Ryan!