My Birthday Get-a-way

          WOW...a month flies by pretty darn quick! Thanks for the kind reminder that I haven't blogged in a while Kev! Atleast it has been a productive month filled with lots of subbing at my favorite middle school, finishing the dreaded thesis proposal and of course spending time with family and friends.
          To break up the monotony and as an early birthday present to myself, last week I flew down to Las Vegas to visit two good friends. Alicia  moved to Vegas about a month ago to work for Amer Core so it was great to see and spend some time with her and meet her awesome roommates. They were pretty great to let me stay at their apartment for a few days and show me around another side of Vegas. On Friday, Alicia, her roommates Neyda and Scott, fellow co-worker Danny and I did a wicked fun hike scrambling around the Valley of Fire, boy was I wrong thinking Oregon had all the sweet hikes!

the texture of the rock was crazy

arch rock or something like that

scrambling is my new favorite way to hike!

enjoying the view with alicia

scott and I showing our karate kid skills!

I thought this rock looked like a monkey

the rocks felt way cool

neyda and alicia on the way up

love the tricky camera angles!

          The other friend I visited while in Vegas was Andrew. Our families have been friends since we both lived in Arizona way back in the day. Andrew and I lost touch over the years when they moved to Vegas and we moved to Oregon, but a few months ago started chatting again while he was playing ball in France. He's a fun guy to be around so naturally I wanted to see him while in Vegas. Lucky for me, he was playing in a softball tournament Saturday and Sunday so I got to be the cheerleader for him and his team. I've never actually seen him play baseball and by the by...he's kind of a big deal! The weather was beautiful and turns out softball was pretty fun to watch!

Andrew, his roommates and I also made an appearance at a UNLV football game. Not quite as big a deal as a Beavs or Ducks game, but still a fun time complete with losing the car in the parking lot! Darn those multiple exits! All in all I'd say it was a great trip! Only a few disappointments, but I guess life would be pretty boring if everything was perfect all the time. Plus I'm getting better at hitting life's curve balls;D 

On to 27...hope it's a GREAT one!!