Vegas Baby!

Steve and I are having an unconventional turkey day this year. We are headed to Vegas! We leave tomorrow after work. I know its going to be a great trip. Neither of us have ever been before. Right now I am most exited about a few things...
- Buffet Thanksgiving dinner with Steve, Sarah and Tony
- Holy flatten penny machines! I just gathered about 20 pennies to take! I will get the quarters when I get there.
- Checking out all of the different hotels. We are staying our first night at the Luxor and the rest of the time at Harah's
- Hitting up some great looking brewpubs
- Beatles LOVE Cirque de Soleil
- Possibly hitting up a world renowned restaurant or two. We have seen a lot of them on Top Chef this season and we are big fans of Open Table. So I am sure we will use it to make a great dinner reservation one night.


Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Eat some pumpkin pie for me!

Welcome Leah

I'm an Aunt! Kim and Brian had a beautiful baby girl last Wednesday, Leah Gwendolyn Gilmore. Steve and I went to St Louis this past weekend to meet her.
Isn't she cute? :)

Steve was very excited to meet her too. With his crazy imagination and goofiness he is going to be a great uncle. I've already decided I am teaching her "Uncle Steve is stupid." when she can talk. Kim said it was ok. haha

I wish we were a little closer so we could see her more often and be able to spoil her properly. I am sure we will still manage to do a good job from a distance though.

Introducing....

The newest member of out family.....Yuri Kozlen.

Last weekend we drove to Chewie's hometown of Greentop, MO and got him a brother. These are some pictures from that day.

A tired Yuri is not used to traveling by car like his big brother is.

Here is a video of him running around at a park that we stopped at on the way home. Hes pretty fast so a lot of the video is just leaves. hehe.

It has been a few days now and Yuri is adjusting to life in Olathe pretty well. He has learned his name and is trying to figure out potty training right now. His favorite thing to do is chase his brother around. Making Chewie's favorite thing to do hiding on the couch where his pesky little bro can't get him. We are hoping in time they will become best friends, but right now Chewie is just tolerating him. hehe

Babies!

Last week I got to meet the cutest babies. I have had two friends recently have their first children, Katie and Brooke. Steph has been in town for work and we she came up with the great idea of getting together to see kiddos. It just happened they were all going to be at Brooke's house one day last week so it worked out well.

Steph holding Brooke's daughter Adalyn. She was born with that much hair! So cute.

Katie and I with her twin boys. Abram(with Katie) and Owen(with me).

Owen giving me some smiles. So adorable.

Abram sleeping So tiny and cute!

All of the babies are so well behaved. Both Katie and Brooke have been blessed with beautiful children. So glad I got to meet them. I can't wait to watch them grow up.

Woof's

Today Chewie is at doggie day care. We are heading to Vegas in a few weeks and we decided to try out a new place to board him at while we are gone. Last time we were at the dog park a lady with two small dogs told me about Woof's. I have driven by it many times, but never thought to look it up. Going off of her recommendation Steve called them last week. We had to submit a form to get him approved. They got his shot records from our vet and he is now Woof's material. hehe. They do a free half day of their "Stay and Play" for new-comers. So Steve took him there at noon today. They have a web cam on the dogs so you can watch them interact all day. It is kind of fun. The quality isn't great but there are only about 3 small white dogs there when I have looked so I can try to pick him out.

I put a red box around him here. I am positive this one is him. hehe

He may or may not be in this one.

They have an outdoor area they can go and play in too. It is all open, so they can go in and out as they please.

Chewie is that you standing in the doorway? I can't tell. hehe

I think he had a good time. I am going to pick him up after work and I can't wait to get to see the play myself. Steve said its pretty cool. I also can't wait for Chewie to tell me all about his day at the Stay and Play. :)

13.1 miles!

Well we did it and survied to tell about it! Last Saturday Steve and I both completed our very first half marathon..13.1 miles. Steve ran his in 2 hrs 25 mins and I was able to complete it in just barely over 3 hrs...3 hrs 2 mins. We both figured I would have ran it in 30 more mins than it actually took me, so coming in at that time I was ecstatic! A few highlights for me were:
- Running through downtown was really fun, there is so much to see. Kansas City really is a great town.
- The beginning few hills were quite a site, thousands of people running at one time is such a thing to see
- I made myself an acquaintance to run with the first 8 miles. This helped out a lot. We chatted and kept each other going.
- There were bands playing along parts of the route that kept it fun and exciting.
- I got to mile 10 and someone had candy they were giving out! The Skittles I took got me through the next mile or two.
- Seeing Steve close to the finish line cheering for me and so happy for me that I was still running was really awesome.
- I was able to continue running till the end of the race. I calculated that I probably walked a total of 30 to 40 mins the whole time. So 2 1/2 hrs running..that's a long time!

Chewie wearing my bib number and wondering why we are up so dang early on a Saturday!

Steve and I before the race. It was dark out still and raining!

Me waving to Steve and some of our friends...almost to the finish line!

My Final Stats:

Track Us

This Saturday Steve and I are running in the Kansas City Half Marathon. Below is a link to a site where you can track how we are doing by text message or email. I thought I would send it out in case anyone was interested in seeing how we are doing or how we did.

http://tracking.theendresultco.com/2009/kc/index.php

Look for Steve to do really well, but don't be surprised to see my time between 3 and 4 hours long. I didn't end up training like I should have for this, but you know I was busy planning a wedding. :) My goal is not based on time really, but just to finish the race at all. I know I have the ability to run half of the distance. it is going to be the second half that I will have to push through (a half is 13.1 miles). Wish us luck!