the one about our trip to Indy

How can I even begin to tell you how amazing our trip was?!?!

We left Friday evening and drove to SLC to stay with my Uncle. We had a pretty early flight on Saturday morning so we hated to get up super early for a 3 hour drive. Uncle Kim was a wonderful host! We meant to go to sleep at a decent time but we ended up visiting with Kim and Jayme until about midnight. It was so fun to see them and we are so grateful they let us stay.

Saturday morning, we went to the airport, boarded our flight and flew to Minneapolis. We only had about 20 minutes to get to our connecting flight and it was clear across the airport! We had just enough time to use the restroom, then it was time to go! We met a cute lady on the flight and we stayed busy chatting it up with her so our flight went super fast!

When we arrived in Indianapolis, there was a Lincoln Electric representative waiting for us. She gave us some information, waited for us to gather our luggage, and got us set up on a shuttle to the hotel. We had such a crazy busy morning, we hadn't had time to eat yet, so we were starving! But by the time we got to Indiana, it was almost 5:00 and dinner was at 6:30. We just toughed it out, but by the time we got to the restaurant, we were SO HUNGRY! It was YUMMY Italian food and they sat it up on a buffet. We were total pigs and scarfed so much food!! The restaurant was so cool. It sat on the bank of a beautiful lake and we were able to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. I took this picture with my phone, so it isn't the best, but trust me... it was amazing. Anyway, after we ate, we sat outside on the deck at the restaurant and made some friends. It was mostly husband and wife couples on the trip so it was easy to chat it up. After dinner, we were taken back to the hotel in the shuttle buses. There was a sports bar/pub close by, so we went there with several couples and watched the Nuggets/Lakers game.

We had to meet in the hotel lobby at 7:30 so we could leave for the race. We had a police escort waiting for us! It was crazy!

This was our cute little friend Sandy. We hung out with her and her husband all weekend. They were so much fun!! We totally loved them! There were two officers on motorcycles that stopped traffic and led the way for us. I am not 100% sure WHY we had an escort, but it sure was cool. We were in these big white vans with tinted windows, so it was fun to watch all of the people on the streets looking at us trying to figure out who was so important or famous to get such special treatment. Nobody famous.... Just us!



Once we got to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, (IMS) we totally had rock star parking. We were right by the garages! We got to take an all access tour of the garages and pit areas, as well as walk onto the track and see the famous yard of bricks. Brett was super excited to see anything related to Danica Patrick. These are tires from her pit stop on the track, and her car in the garage.

Nearly as giddy as Brett, I was way excited to see anything that had to do with Helio Castraneves. He is such a little cutie pie! I was cheering for him the whole time! It actually turned out that our suite was sitting right by his pit stop! So every time he came in for a pit, we could see EVERYTHING! This is his car in the garage. It was so cool that Helio actually won the race! I am sure it was because I was cheering so loudly for him! This is just as we walked onto the track. We got to meet the driver of the super cute pink car. He came to our suite, signed autographs and answered questions. It was SO COOL!


I really hate to bore you with all of my pictures, but if you would like to, you can click here and view the entire album on my Facebook page. You don't have to have Facebook to see them. It is a free public link. I have lots of great pictures there! Including some HILARIOUS pictures of weird people. It was PRIME people watching territory!

This was truly one of the most thrilling experiences of my entire life. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I loved it. It was cool that Brett and I got to share this great experience together. The only t hing that would have made it better was if Quayd could have been there with us. We both loved it and we are officially Indy Car Racing Fans!!!

the one about my sweet friend

Since we got home from Wendover, I have had a nasty cold. In Fact, everyone has been asking me if I have swine flu. No, its not swine flu! Just allergies/cold crap. I get it a couple times a year and the sucky part is that because of my heart issues, I cannot take ANYTHING to relieve it. So I usually have to spend a couple of days in bed, then I start feeling better. That is exactly what happened this time. Anyway, they other day, Tara came by to check on me and she brought me the sweetest gift! She brought these cute tulips, a Diet Pepsi and some Oreo cakesters. I hadn't eaten lunch yet that day and it just hit the spot. My tulips are still super beautiful. Thank you Tara for thinking of me.

I am so sad for the Galley's today. Last night I got a call from Tara. She was hysterical. Her 2 youngest kids were down at my house playing. Tara had just walked outside and saw Winston, their cat, in the road. He had been hit. She didn't know what to do. This was their first pet tragedy. I went right down and we made a plan. Brett came down a little bit later and dug a hole so we could bury him. We gathered all of the kids and told them. They were all able to pet him, tell him goodbye, then Brett took care of the rest. It was so sad. We babysat Winnie a few times and we loved him like he was our cat. He was actually Itty Bitty's brother. We got them at the same time. :(

This is Winston and Itty Bitty at Christmas. We were decorating for Christmas and they had climbed clear up Tara's tree and they were wrestling in it. It was so funny. Poor babies.

So again, thank you Tara and I am so sorry for your loss.

the one about Brett's Birthday

Brett's Birthday was last week on the 28th. He turned 29. For his Birthday, he wanted to go to Wendover, Nevada! We made all of the arrangements, invited anyone who wanted to come, and left Friday afternoon. The only ones who were able to make it were our friends Anna and Angelique. Anna is on the left. She looks sorta mean in this picture (that was taken a few months ago) but let me tell you... this girl is a RIOT!!! She is so stinkin' funny. Angelique is a total sweetheart and I love her guts!!! Anyway, they were excited to join us. They live about 20 minutes away, so we picked them up and away we went. It was about 5 hours to Wendover. It was a long drive, but WELL WORTH IT! We checked into our hotel and started playing. It was so laid back and fun. We had no plans. We ate when we were hungry. We slept when we were tired. We showered when we stunk. We gambled when we felt like losing. So that probably answered your question... We didn't win big. :( We went to pretty much all of the casinos, but our favorite one was at the hotel where we stayed. It was called the Wendover Nugget. I went knowing I only like to play slots. And cheap ones at that. I hate throwing money away. I would rather buy a new purse or something. But I left being a HUGE fan of Craps and Roulette. Brett loves Craps, so he taught me how to play. FUN!!!! And on our last day we were watching the Roulette table. It wasn't very busy there and this super nice lady totally taught us how to play. Its easy, but she gave us some hints and tips. We had a BLAST playing that! We wished we would have started sooner! Anyway, it was such a fun weekend. I had to steal all of my pictures from the internet because, like a total idiot, I only took one picture the whole weekend. (I will get to that in a second) We got the cheapest rooms and they were adjoining, so our room looked nothing like this! We did, however, have a nice view of the pool, but it looked nothing like this either. It was NASTY, SLUDGEY, GREEN and DISGUSTING!! I am sure it was because of the time of year, but it was still gross, and right outside our window! We laughed about our "rooms with a view" the whole weekend.

I kept thinking I should take some pictures, but I just never did. I wanted to go to the Wendover Cowboy, but nobody else cared. So pretend I am standing here happy as can be with my buddy Wendover Will. (again, picture stolen from the internet. Seriously, Brett wouldn't stop for me to take a picture!) I did take one picture though, and it is so good I have to share. We were waiting at our hotel for the shuttle that takes people to all of the different casinos. We saw this guy through the window and his mullet was just too good to pass up.
How 'bout you, Joe Dirt??

HaHaHaHaHaHa!!!! so funny!!