This weekend Bryan and I drove to Mt. St. Helens, went to the Woodburn dragstrip, where Bryan finally got to race his car (usually we go to PIR, and this is also a new engine build), and we went to two BBQs- one for an old teammate of Bryan's basketball team and one for the future family that Bryan's brother will be marrying into in December. We also watched movies, ate ice cream (i fell off my diet wagon temporarily) and I exercised. So far I am doing well with the routine, though I have yet to wake up promptly by 9- until this morning, but that was because I had to be out of the house! Yesterday I woke up even earlier to go walking with another friend, but that could all change when everyone goes back to work in the morning. :-)

My big plans this week are to prepare for the garage sale- wish me luck!

Busy Busy

This month is cruising by at record speed. Since returning from Vegas, I lost a week due to a killer headache and then last week was my birthday week. Bryan and I spent the day together last Sunday, and I visited with many friends throughout the week who I have been meaning to see this summer and havent had a chance to yet (which, by the way, summer is already half over!).

Then this week so far I spent three days at St. Child watching and driving around pregnant young ladies to appointments, the store, and so forth. This is a fun non-profit organization to volunteer for!

I now have nine days left until the garage sale! I am pumped to fish through my house (and my moms) at record pace. I also have a lot of cleanup/chores to do as well. I also decided that I need to put myself on a schedule, or such things will never get done. I also need to be more strict with myself about when I go to bed and when I wake up. Disappointingly, I keep gaining weight so I have decided to up my workout amount/time, which takes some scheduling as well:

9a.m. Mandatory wake up!! Check email, facebook...etc. Then abstain from sleep and FB until bedtime!

9:30 Walk (Pray/conversate with Jesus)or exercise at 24 hour fitness

10:30 Breakfast, Bible & journal

(fulfill other goals/committments/appointments)

1:30 Lunch and log in to Weight Watchers (record whats been eaten so far today)

(fulfill other goals/committments/appointments)

5:30 24 hour fitness with Bryan or walk (if gym has already been completed for the day)

7:00 Dinner and log in to Weight Watchers (record diet, eat no more!)

apply for jobs, check bank account, email, etc

10:30 Tv, Wii, Read, relax!

12:00 Lights out!

So I know this is ridiculous, but this will keep me accountable. I do forget to pray, I do put off exercising even once a day, and I always get too overwhelmed by the amount of food I eat in one day to count it or record it by the end of the day (which explains the weight gain). There are also fun things I want to do but never have time for (like our long-abandoned Wii console or the dusty books on my bookshelf). So I am hoping this will keep me on track for the last half of summer!

His and Hers: New Cars

Here is the last installment to our fleet of vehicles: Bryan's on left, mine (newer black civic) on right. Bryan's came to him via his Heinrichs' Honda Rescue Foundation (he thinks he needs to buy the gems belonging to his friends). We won't be doing this again for awhile...we are done with Craigslist!!!

Cars, Cars, Cars

So we say this a lot but this time it is true: We are DONE selling and buying cars, at least for our personal use. Bryan hopes to very soon create his own small business of buying junk cars and fixing them up and re-selling them, however.

We bought a 2008 Civic for me, and we bought a car off of our friend Bobby for Bryan. We are rid of our old junkers, which all turned a profit but one! We are now satisfied with our fleet, and I will post pictures soon!

The Fremont Street Experience

The world's largest television screen spans two city blocks and covers the tops of the historic casino buildings. They were playing songs of The Doors to something like a laser light show.

Las Vegas!

We left for Las Vegas on Thursday night, July 1. We got there around 10:30, stopped at our timeshare condo thingy and then rode the shuttle to the strip, where we walked around and up and down til 2:30 in the morning! Our party consisted of Bryan, Me, my friend Brittany, her roommate Cherith, our brother/roommate Brandon, Bryan's co-worker Andy, his girlfriend, and his mom (though we didn't see too much of them).

The next morning we woke up it was hot! The high was a little over a hundred degrees, and somewhere along the line we got the bright idea to walk to McDonalds for breakfast (though it was way past breakfast time). By the time we got there I was soaked in sweat! We also went to the grocery store to get food, then napped and swam in the pool for the afternoon. For dinner we went to the MGM Grand for a buffet dinner. After that our group divided and Bryan and I went with Brandon, Andy and his girlfriend to the old Vegas Strip, now called Fremont Street.

On Saturday, we swam a little earlier and headed to the strip earlier in the afternoon. Brandon and Bryan gambled in a casino while Cherith and I checked out more hotel/casinos, including the new city center. We also met up with one of her friends who drove over from Arizona. Brittany met us at dinner time and we went to Jimmy Buffett's restaurant called Margaritaville. After dinner (and a volcano show) we walked down to Treasure Island where they do an outdoor pirate show. We went home relatively early and crashed!

On Sunday, we swam (but it became more crowded) and then we also had to switch rooms because we were double-booked. Then Brandon, Bryan, Cherith and I headed down to the MGM and floated on inner tubes in their lazy river. When we were done there, we went to the store to pick up steaks and rested back at our house before dinner. Bryan BBQ'd steaks and we had an awesome dinner in our condo before walking down the street to another casino called the Orleans (our condo was 2 miles off the strip, but the Orleans was only a couple blocks away). This place had a theater, bowling alley, arcade, several restaurants and Baskin Robbins, and of course a Casino and other shops. We could also see 4th of July fireworks out above the strip.

On Monday morning, Brittany and Cherith's flight left early and we cleaned up and headed over to the MGM, where Andy and his family was staying. We then took a taxi to an indoor go-kart arena, which was a lot of fun, especially for the boys. We rested back at their hotel before heading to the airport in the evening. We got back to Portland that night around 10:30!

Overall it was a very fun trip. We might have overdone it a tad on the walking (not nearly as bad as our first time in Vegas, where we NEVER took a taxi) and maybe some of us drank a little too much! By the end of 4 days we were ready to come home. I was done eating out, paying for taxis to go anywhere (one driver yelled at me because I didn't give him enough of a tip) and we missed our own bed. But we came back with lots of good memories! Who knows where we will vacation to next? Hopefully somewhere new and just as exciting!