Fun Extras

This post is to get you caught up on all the little happenings that have been going on in our world.

Jared's new optometry toy! A binocular indirect opththalmoscope!

Jared taking his blood pressure with his new kit.

Our last visit to Disneyland before our season passes expired. Of all the times we have been to Disneyland this was the only time we were lucky enough to see and get pictures with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy!

Jared does a great impression of Heimlich from "A Bug's Life"!

Tea Cups

Jared attempting to pull the sword from the stone....almost got it

I went to Ellen show with some friends! We danced (ok..I did very little dancing, but others did), watched Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls, and listened to One Republic. Ellen didn't do a giveaway while we were there...but hope to go back again and get something amazing!

Elsie with her favorite toy!

Elsie hunting something in our apartment...not sure what it was.

Party with the Parents!

Last Friday Jared and I set off for Vegas to meet my parents. They were in Vegas for a work convention, but came a few days prior so we could visit. We started our stay with dinner at Dick’s Last Resort. This restaurant’s gimmick is “rude service”. Jared and I knew this, but purposefully neglected to tell my parents. When the hostess seated us my mom made the comment that “they are rude here”. We continued to let her be oblivious. Then as our server was taking/demanding our drink orders Jared and I watched my mom getting more frustrated with the service she was receiving. Rather than saying something to the server, my mom starts talking back!

Server: “What do you want to drink?” (rude and talking loud)
Mom: “beer?” (she is frowning at the waitress)
Server: “small or large?” (really rude)
Mom: “LARGE!!” (yells at the waitress)

It is at this point Jared tells her about the restaurant. During this time, my dad had little reaction…not sure he noticed the attitude. Dinner was continued to be fun! Our waitress proceeded to make us paper hats that we wore throughout dinner (hats were extremely funny, so pics have been edited for appropriateness of this post)…we all got some good laughs.

The remainder of the weekend was sent walking around the strip, gambling, and eating! Jared got on quite the gambling streak with the penny slots! We left Vegas with a surplus! My parents attempted Jared’s strategy and advice, but didn’t fare as well with the machines. My dad put his efforts into roulette and did pretty well. It was a fun weekend and nice to visit with my parents!

KC ½ Marathon…completed!

I headed to KC bright and early Thursday morning to run in my 2nd half marathon! The atmosphere for this run was different...I was running for fun and with many of my friends, My parents would get to see me enjoying my new hobby, and I was going to get to see the city I grew up in, on foot!

Friday I had the opportunity to have lunch with my old co-workers. I went up to school to visit them during their (extremely brief) lunch break. It was really nice to see everyone…I miss them! In preparation for the big ½ marathon, my mom made a wonderful pasta dinner, so we (the runners...Amy, Mark, and I ) could “carb-up”. We had plenty of spaghetti, lasagna, cheese bread, and salad…yum! We had a great turn out with my cousin Mark, his wife Carrie, their son Carter, grandma, Amy, Paul, and my friend Megan and her sister Jana…great time!

Mark, Carrie, and Carter

Mom preparing our carb dinner.

The Big Day started out wet and freezing. Due to my parents and brother-in-law volunteering along the race course, we were dropped off and transported by Megan and George. Once we arrived at the race, and navigated through some heavy traffic, the rain had stopped. We made our way towards the pace group running a 10:15 mile. Our group consisted of Megan, Jana, and Me (all running the ½), Erin, and my sister’s friend Sara (running the 1st leg of the marathon relay). We were off! The 1st 3 miles flew by and our group was able to stay together. As we approached the 2nd leg of the relay we said good-bye to Erin and Sara and were joined by my sister and best friend Becky! Besides the cold weather the run was off to a great start. Becky and Amy stayed with us until shortly after mile 7 when we parted ways. At this point my attention was drawn to a throbbing pain in my knee and ankle. I pushed myself and continued running. We paced well and finished with our goal time. The following are my stats:

Time: 2:14:09
Pace: 10:15
2,549/4,487 Overall
341/664 Age
1,217/2,717 Females

After the race I met up with family and friends. We ate, talked, and hung around in the cold weather!
With the exception on my leg and ankle continuing to hurt the rest of the day through Sunday I had a fun weekend. It may have taken many years of convincing and hearing about their other runs, but it was finally nice to be able to run with my friends!

I was able to capture a few good pictures along the way…yes, I carried my camera with me!

Union Station

Plaza

Nelson Atkins Museum

Me Finishing!!! (Should have put my gloves back on)

Amy and I

Me, Becky, Erin, Megan, Jana

Bravo Mark!!! Mark placed 48th in the 1/2

Paul, Mom, Amy

Marathon relay group: Becky, Erin, Jason, Rozella, Justin

Fun even with a loss

When we moved out here I thought I would be giving up watching K-State football (this being ok since we aren’t doing so well)……but……we were fortunate to attend the K-State vs. UCLA game played at the Rose Bowl! Our weekend started off with dinner and festivities at Adam’s place in Huntington Beach. Mike and Emily, Mason and Katie, Bjorn, Jon, and Paul were all able to come in town for the game (the boys are Jared’s frat brothers)!

The party continued at our place Saturday before leaving for the stadium. It was hot, crowded, but Fun! We hosted the ol’ K-State crew, as well as, some of Jared’s optometry classmates. To save parking hassle and money we rented a conversion van to take ourselves to the game…I drove (little girl behind the wheel of a VERY large van… empowering).

Once at the tailgate we ate (thanks to Adam for the wonderful food), talked, and partied! It was amazing the number of K-Staters we saw from back in our days! To sum it up….we lost the game, but made some decent plays. It was a great weekend and wonderful to get together with old friends! (I missed my girls though!)

Emily, Katie, Lisa, and Me

"The Boys" Mason, Paul, Bjorn, Adam, Jared, Jon, and Mike

Boys being a totem pole.....?

Boys laughing at themselves :-)

KSU cookies...delicious!

SCCO girls: Julia, Kristen, Kat, and Rachel

Mike, Katie, and Lisa

Jared, Mason, and Bjorn

Emily, Paul, and Jon

"The Van"

Everyone in "The Van"

Jay! (My boss from So Long Saloon in Manhattan)