scar face.

yup. we fell out of the bleeping raft. couldn't have come at a better time... lodged between two rocks. good times. but i won't get ahead of myself.
friday september 22. jason's birthday. actually left on time. well, pretty much! couldn't believe that jay and chris were actually here at 9am. they so aren't the punctual pair! debated between two cars for a while. finally decided on the trusty minivan. woot, woot. we travel in style!
stopped in indianapolis to visit willie {the boy who was married in a barn}. able to catch up over lunch at a mexican restaurant and stopped in for a moment to see his new apartment.
then continued our journey to cincinnati. of course, it had to rain like crazy. had a few homeruns come our way. nick almost caught one. if only jason wouldn't have pushed him! made it through the 5th inning and then the game was delayed. after waiting an hour, they finally called it. we were WET!!!
see empty seats. nope, not us idiots. we sat there. jay is an avid cubs fan. a crazy one too! thought since it was his birthday we should keep him company. yeah, that was stupid...

my jeans were soaked. it looked like i was wearing chaps. and it was oh so comfortable...
went back to the hotel room. were going to go out for drinks but we were cold, wet, and tired. the boys got pizza and us girls passed out!
saturday september 23. drove the rest of the way to west virginia. made it to our campground safe and sound. it was crowded and noisy!! walked around and took in the sites. to see a zillion tents on platforms was kinda crazy. drove into town and got some necessities. alcohol. food. ice. it ended up raining all evening so we turned in early.
sunday september 24. our first day of rafting. had to be at breakfast by 9:30am. wasn't easy dragging myself out from under the comfy sleeping bags into the cold morning! and then we had to change into damp, cold wetsuits. blech. thought i would be more nervous. but i guess i really didn't know what to expect. all loaded onto a bus and drove about an hour to our drop off site... we were rafting the lower gauley river. had a kick ass guide, brad. he is starting his own business in costa rica. totally are putting that on our travel to do list.
weather stunk. was cool and rainy. i guess the rain doesn't really matter when you are gonna get wet anyway!
jas, started off the day bullriding. they attached a rope to the front of the raft and he tried to stay on the nose of the raft through some rapids. didn't do so well.
made it through the trip with no one falling out of the boat unintentionally. we even surfed the last rapid. way scary. way cool. kel, fell down and then we all went. but we all fell into the boat. brad, was a little disappointed that we didn't fall in, so one by one he started tackling us... right into the water. was a blast!!
those are my feet. kelly is on the right. jay and christy are on the left. haven't a clue where nick is. and brad is already back in the boat!
were freaking exhausted at the end of the day. went back to a much less crowded campground. ate dinner at the lodge and just vegged in front of the fire for a while...
monday september 25. were up early. had to be ready to go by 8:30 so that meant breakfast at 7:30. waited for quite some time for a few stragglers. so frustrating. sitting around in not the driest or warmest of socks and wetsuits. drove to the drop off site for the upper gauley. it was the gauley festival day. so a lot of the guides were off to participate in the race. curt was our new guide. not as friendly as brad. and went to indiana university. not necessarily the best guide for five boilermakers from purdue. but i think having brad our first day would have made anyone seem bad!
started off with no problems. then into our third or so rapid, not even a big one. only a class 3. we had a mishap. not sure if it was our paddling or our guide's driving... but we ended up lodged between two rocks. they were more specifically called toothpaste. i guess it's because you get the squeeze. and boy did we...
so we were stuck. curt had us all on one side of the raft to prevent it from tipping. then he wanted us to jump up and down. yeah, i'm not so sure i like that idea. i mean, we are wedged between two giant rocks... my head inches away. and you want me to jump. not to mention that i have kelly and nick on top of me. i just kept thinking 'this is not good.' next thing i know, i'm under water. i feel the boat on top of me with my foot stuck inside, a zillion rocks, and someone on top of me. they tell you when you go under it seems likes minutes. so i just thought that i should count to five, pull my feet up {the tell you to never stand up because you can get entangled in rocks and rope}, and threw my arms up trying to figure out if i was under the boat. i popped up away from the boat and the rocks and saw only jason and our guide, curt, still in the boat. jas pulled chris in and curt grabbed me. when i got in and finally realized what happened i looked out to the water and saw nick and kelly. everyone got back in. but not everyone came away without injury. me, nothing serious. my ankle hurt from being stuck under the seat. kelly, had some redness to her eye and lost a contact. pretty sure she's gonna have a black eye. nick was a bloody mess.
the picture was taken after i had already wiped blood off of his face and tried to hold the wound shut for a few minutes. didn't really think to take a picture... what was wrong with me?
ended up having to have some butterfly stitches applied. has quite the bump. but doing okay considering.
the rest of the day went off without a hitch. climbed some rocks by sweets falls to watch other rafters and some of the competing kayaks/duckies/rafts.

aren't we dead sexy in those stinking wetsuits... was so pretty just to sit there and take in the gorgeous scenery. the sounds of the river, the changing trees. very relaxing despite all the excitement that day.
nick road the bull. we ended on the same rapids that we started with sunday. he did way better than jason. stayed on the entire time. too bad it wasn't on video!
got back to the camp ground. made a fire and chilled. the boys and i tried to watch monday night football but fell asleep on the picnic tables outside!
made some killer smores with heath bars. yum. i love toffee! chris prefers reese's peanut butter cups and nick's chocolate of choice was a york peppermint pattie. look how yummy...

went to bed way early monday night. none of us could sit. the combination of tight wetsuits and bouncing on a raft all day doesn't make for a very comfortable bootay. super sore. wasn't really my arms or back. a little, but nothing terrible!
tuesday september 26. the journey home.
a whopping 8 hours in a car. i think it might have been more but we did stop to eat. played trivia, brain teasers, and tried to name all the state capitals/motos to pass the time. had everything unpacked and laundry going before we went to bed.

so that was it, i think. our first adventure in white water rafting. nick got a shirt that reads scars are tattoos with better stories. so true in this case. glad to be home. excited to think about doing it again next year. can't wait to watch the videos and look at the picture cds. might have some more action pictures to share then...

today didn't do much of anything. tried to do some dt layouts. not the greatest. ran to walgreens to get the underwater camera pics developed. vegged. so glad to have the day off. might have to look into that when we come back from los angeles. can't believe that is only a few weeks away!

seriously.

it's back! so effing excited. nick and i have been grey's junkies for the past week or so. trying to get him caught up on all the episodes. we did it and we are so ready!! a little behind on house stuff... but caught up and that is what totally matters! ;o)
trying to pack for whitewater rafting. so not ready. it's gonna be cold. 60s during the day. but when you combine that with water... not so sure i'm gonna like it. 40s-50s at night. that and a tent. hmmm. me thinks i need to spend a lot of time at the campfire! looking forward to hanging out with the friends, laughing, drinking, eating. just being merry. hoping that i don't fall out of the bleeping raft and kill myself. really kinda nervous about it all. my idea of a vacation is a little bit more relaxing!
going to the cubs/cincinnati game tomorrow. a halfway point of our trip. stupid forcast is prediciting rain.. of course! must pack for summer/fall and rain. which is quite the challenge for such an overpacker like myself!
leave friday at 9am. and instead of packing, i'm here blogging and baked some cookies. lisa made the cherry/white chocolate ones you posted at knk. heather i made your fruit roll up ones. yeah, i suck. they are all falling over and stuff. but i think i can perfect them, and if so, plan on using them for christmas cookies. maybe some green on the outside... so if you have any rolling tips, please share!
and for the exercise/health kick. did splendid the first two weeks. then i just crave the bad stuff! still doing okay tho. gonna even try and log my food while we are gone. maybe just to remind me not to die of gluttony. really like some of that website for the comparisons. helping you pick the lesser of the two evils. because sometimes it can be tricky!
alright. i really must get something done. like pack, or bake some bread, or do my design team layouts, or maybe even pack!

yikes.

where did time go? been kind of a crazy week around here. that and i have to get used to the gym taking a chunk out of my evening. that has been going really well. again, much love to stacey for the kick ass webpage. totally suggesting to everyone i know!
had some crazy rains here wednesday. was a bit scary. our governor has declared a state of emergency in lake county. flooding like i haven't seen in ages. remember a biggun back when we lived in east chicago. i had to be like 6. so yeah, quite some time. and to think that this was mostly caused by 6 inches of rain in 3 hours. but it did rain for 5 days straight on and off. i had to drive thru it wednesday morning after a meeting in our other office. it was insane. i was half tempted to pull over... didn't tho. went at a snail's pace. lots of cars were stalled due to high standing water. my brilliant husband even got his car to smoke as he drove thru the gym's parking lot. like he didn't see that the ENTIRE parking lot was filled with water. didn't hurt the car tho! dork...
check out pictures here and here. they actually had to evacuate kids from schools in boats. my coworker waded thru knee deep water to get them. you can see the school in one of the pictures. collpased houses. schools and businesses are closed. roads were blocked off. nuts. and by thursday, the following day, a lot of the water had receeded, thankfully!
my immediate family had no damage. and no one in nick's family either. so that's good.

snotty mcgee.

so janis joplin might have sang about bobby mcgee. but today i'm calling myself snotty mcgee. i know maybe too much information. but i hate the fact that running makes my noise run! what the heck is that all about?
day two went well. i guess the work out bug is contagious. nick is even getting back into the swing of things. did the walk/jog thing with me today. except he sprinted. show off.
added weights today. hoping i'm not too sore to do yard work tomorrow! or scrap for that matter.
found spark people thanks to stacey. signed up, got my workout plan, tracked my meals today. really liking it so far. well, i am but i'm not. i eat a lot of crap. so i guess this will be a good thing for me. to actually see it on the screen in front of me.
and thanks for the kind words... i hate running too. but think it would be pretty neat to say i can run three miles! ;o) maybe do a charity run. no marathons. not that crazy... yet.

yesterday had a nice evening with nick's dad, his girlfriend {michelle}, and her daughter{brianna}. had family movie night. going to try and do it more often. it just seems like the summer months get crazy for everyone. saw chronicles of narnia. pretty cute. think i might have enjoyed it more as a book. speaking of books, i've added a reading list/blog. i copied from fellow bloggers. hope to pay more attention to their book lists... you know who you are!

so is everyone humming bobby mcgee. ladada, dada, dadadadadada... hey now... bobby mcgee....

back to school...

errr. the gym. since i gave myself a summer break from the gym and the kiddos are all back in school, thought i should drag my sorry self to the gym.
was bored with the old routine. wanted to do something different. going to try the couch to 5k program. probably will tweak it and make it my own. kinda nervous to start running. had my ankle reconstructed a few years ago. been released and given the okay for ages. just scared and it doesn't always feel right. i don't know how professional peeps do it. especially those football players. scary.
anywho. today was day one. didn't to to shabby. i suck at running. seriously. was thinking i would do the phoebe running thru the park episode on friends . okay, not really. but still thought i might look a fool!
did 25 minutes. did 5 extra minutes. it was probably more walking than running tho. i just keep telling myself baby steps. and that would be why i didn't do weights today either just abs. i'm sure my legs will be noodles for the next few days. didn't want to have the entire body aches again. so next week will be cardio and weights {abs too!}. really liked being on the track and not in the gym. always feels like a meat market. the track is way more private. nice.
contemplating a bodybugg. thanks stacey. not sure tho. i really like my food. might have a heart attack if i saw what i ate... but i have kinda adjusted my eating habits. still trying...
and in theory, if i just added exercise and still at the same, i should weigh less. well, depending on muscle. ;-) but honestly, i just want to feel healthier. don't get me wrong, what girl doesn't want to lose a few pounds, but it would feel great to know i could run three miles!
so anyone got any running tips for this lazy heffalump?
oh and i'm totally thinking i need a new watch. this second hand while bouncing/running up and down is ridiculous!

4.5 pounds.

no not my weight loss goal or my weight loss.
not how much my new pumpkin weighs. {okay, i don't have a pumpkin. soon. i hope.}
hmmm. i wonder how many dollars that would be. never been good on conversions...
not how much i think the new harry potter book will weigh.
not the size of a fish i caught.
not how much iced tea i have drank in the past week. however, i do drink lots! ;oP

okay.. seriously. 4.5 pounds of photos. just from vegas. arrived on my doorstep today. a giant box from the developer. {scrapbookpictures...} and you know what? i laughed at the fact that i almost had five flipping pounds of pictures. but then i thought. damn, i only had to pay two dollar shipping. bonus!

vegas in review...

good times. been ages since we had been on a vacation with our family. his or mine. can't wait to do it again. my parents already booked a return trip for december. nick doesn't have enough vacation days or we just might have joined them again! thanks to everyone for your tips and advice. it was really appreciated and whatever we didn't get to see or do this time around, has found its way onto our vegas list and hopefully we can get to it another time!

wednesday august 9: an early morning. caught the flight without problems. my lil bro's first plane ride ever. he did great. could tell he was scared tho. didn't eat, pee, drink, move. only played video games. glad we had them to take his mind off of things. i guess my dad really kinda freaked my mom out. kept talking that the plane needed to go faster if he ever wanted to get off of the ground. seriously? shut up silly man!
had some uber annoying kiddos behind us. came thisclose to killing them. grrr. otherwise uneventful flight. gorgeous clear skies. great views of lake mead before we landed.
kev, nick, and myself took off once we got to the hotel. were way hungry. found some giant drinks and burgers at imperial palace.

the burgers started a crazy addiction. we photographed every single meal we ate in some way, shape, or form! so making a mini album out of those! also started a trend that we ate burgers every flippin day of this trip. oy.
did some gambling to pass the time. love the new ticket system. so much easier than dealing with coins!
went to dinner at the top of the eiffel tower. way cool. way yummy. so neat to see the fountains at the bellagio go off during dinner. not gonna bore you with all the food pics. will have to update the gallery when i get my pics and the oomph to do that album.

thursday august 10: jared and melissa's wedding. mom, dad, and kevin were going to attend. it was my chance to check out the world series of poker. headed to the rio. was so worth the trip. we got there early. didn't realize the final table started later. oh well. was nice to walk around without the crowd. got to see all the tables. unreal to think about 8800 and some people playing poker in that room. way neat to watch it on espn and think that we were there. not necessarily at that time but still cool!
saw phil gordon. bout pissed my pants. was too chicken to ask for a photograph. nick yelled at me. said since i was a girl i probably could have gotten one. that and the fact that he seems so incredibly nice! i didn't want to bother him tho! oh well, from now on, i vow to stalk any celebrity i see... maybe!
after that we walked the strip. made it to the wynn. had lunch at red 8. saw it on rachael ray's tasty travels. worth the trip. so yummy!
had some time to see more hotels and hang out by the pool before dinner.
ended up eating a jimmy buffet's margaritaville for jared and melissa's reception. went in place of mom and dad. they ended up with free meals at harrah's so they went there instead! we met up with them to go see the nudie show. it stunk. but it made mom and dad happy. can't complain.

friday august 11: the grand canyon adventure. where do i begin!?
left dad at the hotel. the four of us got up uber early to begin our four hour each way road trip...
drove past the hoover dam. that thing is so damn cool. i'm fascinated each and every time we pass it! stopped for some pics. was windier that heck...
nick cracked up when he saw a ram crossing sign. then i'll be damned there were a bunch of them right next to the road! snapped a pic of the lone one. look very, very closely!









not sure how to move my pics. i suck, sorry!
stopped at jack in the box for burgers! then got to some nasty weather. apparently, arizona decided to have monsoons while we were there. figures. never can go on a meyer family vacation and get away with no rain. it even is called the 'R' word in our family.
crappy times. made it to the giant hole tho! pretty damn cool. wish it wasn't as overcast. sigh. would have loved to see the vibrant colors. oh well, had to buy a book instead! :)



froze our patooties off. ended up experiencing a 50 degree weather change. vegas was 109 and arizona made it as low as 53. yes, the weather change entertained us in the car. you see, we had to find something because the stupid monsoons washed out a road. so we had to take a lovely detour thru flagstaff. added over an hour onto our return time.
drove thru crazy scary rains. my husband is amazing. so thankful we made it back safe and sound. played trivia when i wasn't too scared to read the questions!

were exhausted when we got back. ate at paris. yummy buffet. then we tried to walk the strip at night. wanted to see some free shows. the mirage volcano. snore as usual. but kev wanted to see it. after it was over he said, 'that's it!?' had to laugh. tried to see the sirens at treasure island. was too windy. they cancelled it!

saturday august 12:
walked the strip some more. went to m&m world and the coca cola store. had sodas from around the world.

some were tasty. some not so much. pretty good deal for like $7 bucks. made us all have the burps tho!! totally dug the apple one from china. at least i think that was my favorite. have the papers somewhere!
nick felt the need to feel up green...
wasted 20 minutes waiting for and seeing the 3 d movie there.... at least i got this kick arse picture! thanks babe! ;o)
yeah, we are cool. after that we walked our sorry selves to mandalay bay. jeez, is that a hike. took a cab back... but that's another story!
ate at burger bar. way freaking cool. totally recommend it! saw it on rachael ray's tasty travels too! the boys had the kobe beef burger and i had the black angus. we all split the dessert burger. yummy!
went to downtown vegas that evening. just kinda walked around and chilled. ate some fried oreos. thankfully we did a lot of walking to make up for all those damn calories!
gambled the night away. figured it was our last night. why not. nick lost a boatload on let it ride. but he had a blast. i turned in early to pack. had to rearrange our luggage thanks to the liquid scare. i'm so glad that it didn't happen the day we flew out and that the hotel was nice enough to notify the guests of the changes.

sunday august 13: were up at the crack of dawn. packed and to the airport with no troubles. the biggest pain was southwest's terminal. had to wait almost an hour there. the security guards told us wednesdays and sundays were always like that. note to self: do not fly out of vegas on a sunday or wednesday! after our baggage was checked we headed to security. was a breeze. shocked. thought it would have been a nightmare considering they wanted you there four hours early...
hung out in the terminal for what seemed like ages. papa bear can sleep anywhere...

i had my mandatory trashy airplane reads...
nick was a doll. staked out our 'B' boarding place in line. only bad thing about southwest... no assigned seats. and well, i guess that they don't play movies! boo!
kinda strange on board. the overhead compartments were empty. the pilot said they almost ran out of room for luggage. they had almost 75 more pieces to board than usual. yikes! got this super fun picture right after i got the one of all the empty compartments.

was kind of a crummy flight home. super cloudy. some not nice turbulance...
then we arrived at midway and had some missing luggage. dad's wasn't there. had to fill out all kinds of paperwork. got yelled at for checking into the airport too early. um, hello. the airlines recommended 3-4 hours early. so not our fault that you didn't have someone checking id with the baggage tickets. finally gave up and loaded the shuttle back. while on the shuttle we got a call from southwest. someone else had picked up dad's luggage, they were going to deliver it before 7am.
got home around 10. dad tried to convince us to go out to dinner. i was tired and crabby and hungry. we convinced him to pick up taco bell and to just drop us off!
i got mostly unpacked that night. totally turned out to be a good thing, since that stinking summer cold/flu kicked my butt.

so there you have it. the update. abridged. have tons of pictures. i think over 400 by the time i collected my mom's and my brother's. yeah, you'll never hear me say i've run out of pictures to scrap! ;o)