Monday, April 28, 2014

Oklahoma City 13.1 Weekend

Girls weekend! 
I don't know how many times I've passed this leaning water town on I-40 in the past 12 years, but we all decided that we needed to pull over for a photo op during this girly road trip. 

Yes, we are in a bathroom... on stop #2 only about 60 miles outside Amarillo...

...and then stop #3 for some poses in front of the Oklahoma sign.

This may just seem like a beautiful picture of the American Flag, but it's actually showing how strong the winds were in OKC!  Saturday was CRAZY windy.
The tall building in downtown OKC and my thoughts of the long line and the weather forecast for Saturday night/Sunday morning. 

Even though Laura and I were the only ones "running" the race on Saturday morning, Laci & Sarah wanted an excuse to get out of town and hang out for the weekend. 
Laci is a true foodie and her role of the weekend was to seek & find delicious places to eat.  
She succeeded with our dinner at Kitchen 324 in the downtown area.
This photo doesn't do this salad justice, but it was the best salad EVER.  I had to refrain from licking the plate when I was finished.  

Race Day:
And since we are such nice friends (Laura and I) we made Laci and Sarah drive us to the start line.  
We were promptly at our proper gate by 6:30 a.m., when the race was supposed to start, but it started to rain and there was lightning seen around the course.  
So... in order to avoid getting wet, we piled into a parking garage outside our corral. 
And I found a nice man passing out trash bags.

26,000 people waiting out the storm...
Thankfully, we were able to start by 8:20 a.m.  
The awful wind died and the weather was downright pleasant for us... to the point where we were steamy and praising God that we weren't doing a full marathon. 
Medals... this is why we run. 
To complete the goal and see something in our hands for the weeks of effort paid off. 
I think we actually got a little dehydrated because Laura had a hard time standing at the end without being dizzy and I felt as though I could wring water out of my clothes.  
Laci, Kristin, Laura, and Sarah at the entrance to the memorial.
And as we were walking back to the car, I discovered the Chihuly exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  Love it!

Laci proving herself once again by finding Stella- the BEST post-race brunch a girl could ask for.  Eating: the real reason I run.  I love food!

Oddly enough, after running 13.1 miles and eating amazing food with friends, being gone a whopping 28-hours is all I need to feel completely recharged and ready to see my family again.  

April

Spring is here!  A tiny bit of moisture to knock the dirt out of the air.
Love this.

The end of our Sunday morning run ritual with Laura... 
As usual the weather is impossible to predict here.  We opted out of the Amarillo Town Club's annual "chilly hilly" 5K/13.1 on the Soncy trail (shown here) because the weather can be quite awful and WINDY this time of year.  Well... the weather was fantastic on the day of the race so we ran the following morning in our own version of the race in which we nicknamed "the windy bitch."  
blowing ponytail selfie

BFFs Owen and Evelyn... check out the bite marks on Owen's elbow.  Karma in action right here. 
riding bikes up & down the sidewalk...
...and then having a sleepover in mom & dad's closet. 

Sunday morning in the Canyon with Laci & Laura
Kaden running before class the Townclub.
I thought I ordered a SMALL?!?
Owen "making cupcakes" on Laci's iPhone app.
Remember the 1st photo?  This is a dust storm with a few rain sprinkles mixed in.  
No lie.  
I drove to the edge of town to pick Kaden up from school and THIS was the view of the sky out my driver's side windshield.  In the almost-9 years of living here, this is the 1st serious dust storm that I've experienced.  Yuk!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Easter Egg Hunt #2

When Julie called and asked about my Easter I told her that it was good... though not quite like the Easters I grew up with; an Easter filled with tons on people crammed in a small house and lots of chaos.  Her response, "I can fix that... How about everyone come to our house for an Egg hunt at 4:30.  There will be TONS of chaos and forced family fun."
This looks similar to my childhood, with a few bonus kids.
Lining up by age... 
Not sure what was said or done here, but Luke is making his point to Kaden.  Ha!



discovering the "goods" inside each egg

This Easter may have topped ours in Missouri because we brought wine!
the girls (a.k.a. "the sorority house) as well as Julie's mom and Micah hanging out. 
putting those Easter eggs to use in an egg salad
Somehow Julie started making "Frozen" braids... which turned into everyone getting their hair braided- including the adults... which may or may not have been influenced by said wine...