Tubing and Snowmobiling

I know this is over 6 months late, but I am trying to catch up and then hopefully stay updated with my blog. Be patient with me!

 

Over Christmas break, my family went snowmobiling and tubing in the mountains above my parents' house. It's always a blast!

Wes and me after we tubed down together

Lana, Mom, Peyton 

Tyson took us part way up the hill on the snowmobile. (ok, I admit, we are a little lazy... or maybe just out of shape)

Dave and Peyton zooming down the mountain.

Dad was the only one who went to the top on the snowmobile (surprising because he rolled it on this hill last time) and he took us for rides with him. Kami is the little dare-devil on the left.

McCall and JD

I don't know what it is, but the little kids always fall asleep on even the most adventurous 4-wheeling and snowmobiling rides.

You can't tell how steep it is in the picture, but this hill was huge so we only went about 3/4 of the way up at best. So when Kami attempted to conquer this beast, we all stopped and stared.

Kami VS Mountain... Mountain wins

AAO Hawaii

This year, the Annual Orthodontic Convention was in Oahu so I felt it necessary for me to accompany Wes. We had such a great time. We went to meetings and receptions for the first half then we went up to the north shore and stayed at Turtle Bay. We snorkeled, surfed, ate shave ice, explored Pearl Harbor, visited the Polynesian Cultural Center, drove around the island, survived an intense hike, and swam to an off-shore island. Hawaii is ALWAYS a blast. Even though it took us an eternity to get there from Kentucky, it was well worth the trip!

Amazing view from the pre-gala. (gala = a party before the party for cool people only)

Boat ride to see the USS Arizona

The island we swam to; not quite a full mile round trip.

We needed our shoes to hike on the island when we got there so we used a string from one of my swimsuits and tied our flip-flops around Wes' waiste. haha

This is how beautiful the drive around the island is. LOVE the palm trees :)

I think this is one of my favorite temples. (I think I say that about all of them) This picture doesn't do it justice either.

Bet ya can't guess what song this is...

This was one intense hike! We climbed all the way to the top! It was like doing the mega-stairstepper for half hour each way. That's Wes in the white shirt coming down.

Polynesian Cultural Center

One of several amazing lookouts.

Tornado Devastation

We were blessed to be safe from the devastation of the horrible tornadoes that made national news as they passed right over us and left behind nothing but a disastrous mess. I didn't work that day and headed to the gym to swim laps first thing in the morning. The weather wasn't great, but I didn't pay much attention because in Kentucky, the weather is all over the place. Half-way through my workout, we were all kicked out of the pool because of the storms and bad lightening/thunder outside. (So we got out and went straight to the showers- not sure how much safer that is!) Then I headed to the grocery store and was lally-gagging my way around the store when I got a call from Wes saying the school is sending everyone home because this storm was supposed to get really bad. Up until this point, we didn't take tornado watches/warnings very seriously so we just hung out in our (upstairs) condo and even went out on our balcony to watch the storm pass. Little did we know that this tornado would make history. The next day, we drove up to Henryville and Marysville, Indiana (only 20 minutes from our house) and were truly humbled by the devastation left behind.

You could see where a house was supposed to be, but all that was left was a foundation...

or just a pile of debri.

This was a church.

No matter how large the tree, it was either broken or uprooted!

The orange X's mean the house has already been searched for survivors.

If a home was in the path of this monster, didn't matter if it was a barn or...

a brick house, it didn't stand a chance.

This roof was nowhere near a house.

Debri was EVERYWHERE!

Going Private

When I started this blog, Wes didn't want me to put our private lives out for public view. I talked him into it by telling him I would make it private so only our friends and family could view it. Well, it's been almost 3 years and I decided it's time to fulfill my side of the bargain. Please send me your address so I can send you an invite to view it and keep in touch!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2012!

Ragnar Relay

I ran in a 196-mile relay race from Chattanooga to Nashville in November.

I had an awesome team and we had a blast together!

There were 12 of us and we all ran 3 times. My total was 18.6 miles.

It was very challenging, but very accomplishing. It was an adventure to say the least.

We started running Friday morning, ran through the night, and finished Saturday afternoon.

I think my grand total of sleep was an hour and a half throughout the whole race!

A few of our runners got lost- one ran 4 extra miles, one 2 extra, and a couple a few extra blocks.

One girl got run off the road by a car resulting in some pretty crazy flesh wounds.

A couple with minor GI problems, (I guess that's common during a race like this). Let's just say the port-a-potties were well-used!

We had a couple injuries, but everyone was able to finish their shifts.

So it was quite the experience, but I loved every minute of it and will definitely will be doing more relays in the future!

Happy Halloween!