A Very Vegas Christmas

We hope you had a great Christmas. We did. Maggie had a really big time and was worn out by yesterday afternoon.

Click anywhere in the picture below and it will take you to a website to view all of our pictures from Christmas. THE PICTURES THAT YOU SEE BELOW ARE RANDOM SELECTIONS FROM THE GROUP. IF YOU WANT TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES, YOU WILL NEED TO CLICK ON ONE OF THE PICTURES. After that you will need to click on the link to the right of the picture that comes up to view all 74 pictures. I know this is a little more time intensive than the old method but I just can't get the old way to work.

The pictures are of our trip to Mississippi two weeks ago, our playgroup's holiday party, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and our trip to the mountains yesterday. The mountains are only 45 minutes from our house and there was about a foot and a half to two feet of snow up there. We got to have a "White Christmas".

Katie

www.flickr.com

Guess How Much The Suitcase Weighed???

We're back from our trip to Mississippi to visit with family and friends for Christmas. I had planned to take an extra suitcase (the biggest one we own) to bring stuff back in. When I finished packing on Monday to come back, we decided to weigh the suitcases to make sure they were 50 lbs. or lighter. Ha, ha, ha. One weighed 60 lbs!!!!! So, we borrowed a suitcase and all was well. Oh, but we are having stuff shipped to us from Jackson.

We did so much while in MS that it would take forever to write about it, but I there are a few key words that would define the trip:

1. Carousel rides (and lots of them)
2. New words for Maggie (oh wow was the most repeated)
3. Maggie would have stayed outside the whole trip if we would have let her.
4. Good times with friends and family.

The craziest thing was the weather. When we left Las Vegas on the 12th, it was pretty cold but when we arrived in MS it was not cold. The weather was much warmer than I had packed for but we survived. Oh, and when we got back to Las Vegas on Monday, it was snowing. All the mountains around the valley were covered on Tuesday morning but it has since melted.

Here are some pictures but there is no way for me to post all the pictures I want to from our trip- there are almost 200! If you are interested in seeing all the pictures, you can email me and I'll send you the Snapfish link.

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and safe travels if you plan to travel for the holidays.

Andy, Katie, Maggie and Jack Pete

Pictures

Okay, so as promised here is a more thorough update of the marathon weekend.

Saturday, we had to go to the marathon expo to pick up our race number and chip (a timing device that is attached to your shoe to record your time). We soon realized how many people were participating in the marathon- about 20,000. Crazy.

Andy and I went to a Christmas party on Saturday night while Gigi stayed home with Maggie and went to bed early to prepare for the marathon.

Sunday started really early for Tara and me. We had to get up a little after 4 am in order to get to the Strip, park and get in place for the race to start at 6 am. There was a 40% chance of rain on Sunday morning and it rained on us on the way to the Strip. Thankfully, the rain stopped but the wind didn't. It was between 20-30 miles an hour for the entire race (which is not fun when you are walking into it on the last half of the race)! The temperatures weren't as cold as I expected but it was pretty chilly before the sun came up.

Tara and I were excited to get to see Andy and Maggie waiting for us at mile 6.5 with a pretty sign wishing us luck. But the race didn't end there. I had walked up to 9 miles in training so after 10 miles I was getting tired and my legs were starting to rebel.

Thankfully, Tara was there to get me to the finish line and we made it in 3 ½ hours (my goal). Once at the finish line, they took the chip off our shoe and we got our medal and Andy and Maggie had flowers for each of us!!!!!

Tara and I are both sore and have blisters but I think we both agree that it is worth it.

We are heading to Mississippi bright and early in the morning (we have a 7 am flight) and will be back in Las Vegas next Monday night. We are looking forward to seeing all our friends and family back home.

Katie


We finished!!!!!!!!!!! 


At 6 1/2 miles with our cheering section. 


Here we are. 


Look at that great sign!!! 


Somewhere between mile 2 and 3. 


Before the race. 


An attempt at a family picture. 


Maggie and Gigi at lunch on Saturday. 


Pre-race day at the Expo. 

13.1

Well, I did it. I completed a half marathon yesterday. My official time was 3:30:42. My goal was exactly that so I couldn't be happier. I will post more information later (including pictures) but I am in the midst of cleaning and packing for our trip to Mississippi tomorrow.

Katie

The Party and the Park

Sorry it's been over a week since the last post. We spent most of last week preparing for a dinner party on Saturday night. We had a great time and Andy and I enjoyed throwing a party.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to take Maggie to the park to play for a little bit. We didn't realize how cold it was until we got there so we didn't stay long. Maggie didn't like leaving the park one bit. But she had fun while she was there.

Here are the pictures.

Katie


Despite, our disbelief this summer, the weather in Las Vegas does get cold. It was so cold at the park yesterday that we could only stay for about 15 mintues. 


Such a happy girl...until it was time to leave. She was so mad at us. She didn't really stop being mad until we got home. 


She spent most of her time throwing sand. I'm not sure why that is so much fun. 


Having fun with Daddy 


Daddy having fun...sometimes we still feel like being a kid. 


The placecards from the dinner party on Saturday night  


The table... 


The Christmas tree...it's a little big for our condo but we really enjoyed seeing all of the ornaments since we didn't put up a tree last year. Maggie hasn't been interested in the tree at all. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kennedys.

We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving together as a family. As most of you know, last Thanksgiving was my first opportunity to visit Las Vegas and Maggie didn't make that trip. So, this was our first Thanksgiving together. We started off the day watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Andy made homeade eggs benedict for breakfast.

Andy was in charge of the turkey and gravy and I had the sides for dinner. We timed everything perfectly and as I pulled the last dish out of the oven, Andy finished the gravy. Dinner was excellent. Maggie decided that her Thanksgiving dinner would consist of rolls and cranberry sauce (homeade, not the canned version).

There is sound to the video under the pictures, so be sure to have your volume on.

We hope everyone had as good of a turkey day as we did.

Katie

Getting ready for Turkey Day

Maggie is very excited about Turkey Day. We are trying to get her to say gobble, gobble. Not too much luck yet. She is getting all four eyeteeth right now and she let us know how she felt yesterday afternoon and evening.

Right now, Maggie wants to let me know that she has found a new place to put her toys. She is downstairs and I am upstairs. I have the gate at the bottom of the stairs locked so she doesn't get into any trouble. So, she is throwing all of her toys over the gate onto the stairs. Hopefully, I can get back over the gate. If not, Andy is coming home for lunch in about an hour. Speaking of the gate, Jack successfully jumped over the gate last night. He was about to get a bath and was running away I guess. It was pretty funny.

On another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIGI!!!!! Maggie wanted to let you know that you could wear her birthday hat if you wanted to.

Also, here are a few pictures from last week.

Katie


Is is bedtime yet?


Maggie enjoys a quiet evening at home in her new favorite lounging spot.


Eating a snack is so tiring.


Oh, I see. You can get food into your mouth using this thing.


The Thanksgiving party with playgroup. Maggie thinks other kids toys are so much fun!


Having fun at playgroup.


Enjoying turkey and dressing...