Las Vegas (with a kid or two)

Viva Las Vegas--> Fast Forward 3 Years

The last time we came to Las Vegas it was for our honeymoon 3 years ago. Now, we return with 2 kids for what promised to be an adventure.

The McKesson IdeaShare convention was held in Vegas. My parents were going so we decided it would be fun for us to go too. We headed down on Sunday and spent 4 days there. Lots of the time I was attending classes and presentations. I went to some good classes and I hope to be able to implement some of the things I learned to improve the pharmacy. A few of the classes were awful boring but I got CE credit for them, so it was worth it. All of us spent quite a bit of time on the trade show floor getting free food (lots of food!), free samples and learning about all sorts of products and services that people were promoting. We did find some time to swim in the massive expanse of pools on the property and get some sun. Sam loved being at the pool and in the water! We also had a chance to walk up the strip one night and catch all the outdoor shows that play on the strip. It was a short, fun trip.

We had some time to play at the pool. Sam loves playing in the water!

Kate didn't really appreciate the heat but this nice pool girl brought us some cool towels (which smelled of eucalyptus) to put on her head. That was better for her.

Walking down the strip. I guess Sam was too tired. He woke up after this to watch all the shows along the way.

Grandpa taking a minute with crazy Kate

Trisha and I at the Bellagio Fountains. Do you know that after this we walked around the Mile Mall for about 30 minutes trying to find a virgin daquiri? Don't waste your time. Don't have them there anymore. I was thoroughly disappointed. Good thing I found one later at our hotel!

Our hotel room at the Palazzo. It was the nicest hotel room I have ever stayed in and it was great to have some space for Sam to run around. Plus, my mom and dad were in the room next door, so Sam would open the door and have their whole room to play in as well. He loved being around them.

Sam practicing his swimming moves with his mommy

Sam jumping off the ledge

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying the sun

Our family at the pool

Sam in the kid pool at the Venitian

Sams favorite part of our hotel room? Not 1, but 3 telephones for him to play with. He likes to call his pappa and talk to him about lots of things we don't understand.

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Sam on the trade show floor. We spent quite a bit of time there. Got free things, free food, etc... Lots of fun

The final night party at the Palms Resort pool. We got to see a concert from a mock-Beatles band.

Driving back home, we were greeted by lots of wildfires burning in Utah. It was incredible to drive up I-15 and pass one after the other. From Delta to Vernal the sky looked like this. This picture was taken overlooking Strawberry Reservoir.

Wasatch Back

Months and months of preparation all led to this... Ragnar Wasatch Back 2012

With a few weeks to spare we got a full team and ventured out to conquer the Wasatch Back. I bought all the food and drinks. This is most of it loaded up in the car, it pretty much filled my entire car. So much food! So much liquid!

The totes of food for each car

My mom at her first exchange waiting to start her first run

Mom at the end of her first run

I'll tell you what, my mom went in to this completely blind. She had never run a race. She didn't look at the schematics of her runs and she didn't want to. I think she wanted to kill someone when she got to her second run and looked at the mountain in front of her (knowing that she was gonna have to run it). That wasn't the only mountain. Her second leg was hill after hill after hill and it was nearing midnight. We tried to follow her and support her the best we could but when it got close to the end and I asked her if she wanted water and she glared at me, I knew exactly what it meant. It meant, leave me alone and let me do this. Pure determination to get to the end of that leg!! I asked her after it was over if she thought that the race was easier, harder or the same as she expected and she said, "Definitely harder." She was sore and hurting, but she finished all 3 legs. Much of the family was there to cheer her on in her last leg through Heber so I think that helped her get to the end. I just want to let her know how proud of her I am. I knew going into it that it would be really hard but I knew she could do it. I hope that she looks back on it as a huge accomplishment. For me, running is all about the satisfaction of pushing myself further than I thought I could go. I hope you feel that same satisfaction, Mom. Congratulations on your first race!

My ragnar tatoo. I am a little bit sad that it washed off. I would consider having it permanently.

Since I was the team captain, it gave me freedom to choose my own runs. I gave it a lot of thought and assigned myself runs that I thought would be most challenging for me and yet fun. I may have picked wrong. Or I may have worn the wrong shoes. My first run was 7 miles uphill to Snow Basin Ski Resort. I wore my five finger shoes. I actually killed it during the run, especially one small portion that was downhill. I was running 7 minute miles. However, by the end of the run I knew there was a problem. My left heel was killing me. I could barely walk on it or put any pressure on it. I knew that the rest of the race would have to be done in my normal running shoes and I was scared that I wouldn't even be able to do it in those. My second run was basically flat for 5 miles. It was an alright race for being 3 in the morning. Slower than I hoped but I was able to work through the pain and do what I could to finish. The last run was 7 miles straight down hill into Park City. It was absolutely brutal! I was so relieved to be done with all three legs!

I'm pretty sure that it was achilles tendonitis due to the stress on my achilles from the first uphill run. It took about 2 weeks for me to walk normally. I'm almost ready to try running again and see what happens. Hopefully everything will be healed up, I wanna get at least a half marathon in by the end of running season.

Our team at the finish line- Great Job!

Jaime, Camille, Lori, Shayne, Ben, Brooke, Stephanie, Mike, Karli, Laura, Dan

 

I have now done the Wasatch Back twice. It was an interesting experience to be in the second van this time and see the differences. I think that there are some pretty big differneces. It was an incedibly hard but really fun race! Thanks to all my team members who made it a great race!

We finished in 34:31:56.3

My brother also ran on a separate team. His first big race. Congrats CJ!

Fishing with Daddy

I had a day off and really wanted to go fishing.  I decided to take Sam with me and give Trisha a break for a few hours. We went out to Matt Warner Reservoir because I love catching the rainbow trout there. We spent about 4 hours fishing and hanging out.

Sam got a new camping chair and he loved sitting in it and eating his snacks and drinking his drink. He thought he was pretty cool.

This is the biggest fish I caught. I tried to get a picture of Sam by the fish, but he wanted no part of it. He was intrigued from a distance.

He also liked to walk up and down the shore and check things out.

Big cheese ball!

Sam holding the fishing pole.

He was completely exhausted by the end and slept the whole way home.

I forgot to put sunblock on the little kid, so he got a small sunburn on his face and arms.

I hope we get many more trips together in the future. I was scared to take him because he is crazy and cannot usually stay still for more than 2 minutes. It turned out to be a really great trip and he did so well. I think that next year we can buy him his own pole and start teaching him how to fish himself.

Flipping Out

Sam's latest and funnest trick; What a crazy kid!