Nevada and Utah!

First of all, I know that there are spacing issues and 

font issues in this post.  

I'm going to let Blogger have the better of me this time.

I decided that I really needed a vacation, so a couple of weeks ago I headed out west to Nevada and Utah to play/visit with my friends that I haven't seen in 3 years.  

It was a blast and just what I needed.

We accomplished a lot of fun things in the time I was there.

Here we are riding bikes.  

I was driving Ms. Daisy (aka Meggy Moo).

The ever-lovely Carol!

And Gary.  He was in charge of the camera.

Here's Logan showing off his mad bicycle skills!

And, Caden doing the same!

I also took another kind of bicycle ride.  I'd never ridden on a motorcycle, so Gary took me for a ride.  

It was a blast!  I was too chicken to drive it though.

Post-ride.  My hair was slightly poofy!

We also headed up to Lake Tahoe for the afternoon.  What a beautiful day it was!  

The lake was a little too cold for my liking.

Here's lil' Miss Megan

The Johnson Clan.  I kinda love them and miss them a lot.

Megs and me

Logan and Caden

We also made it to Virginia City!

One day Megan walked up to me with these crazy glasses and I about fell over 

laughing at her cute little face!

Post-church pic, minus Logan.

I also got to see the Wadworths.  I kinda love and miss them a lot too!

I am so blessed to have so many wonderful and loving friends in Nevada.

While in Utah I was able to get together with some of the girls I had while I served in the Young Women's program.  I can't believe how old and grown-up they seem!

I also got together with lots and lots of friends. 

This is Jackie and me.  What a fun girl!

And, Suzi, one of my dearest and most wonderful friends.  

She is also quite possibly the FUNNIEST person I know!

It was a great and fun trip.  Can't wait to go again!!

Memphis!

A few months ago a couple of friends and I signed up to run in the St. Jude 5K race.  As you will see, we did more than just participate in the race.  None of us had ever been to Memphis and we were really looking forward to the roadtrip.

One stop we just had to make was to Uncle Lou's.  Susie's brother had been to this fried chicken dive last year after having seen an episode featuring Uncle Lou's on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  You can see it here.

I tried to tackle the "Sweet Spicey Love" (I shortened it to SSL) fried chicken (foreground), Susie had the grilled SSL (featured at 10 o'clock in the picture) and Tonya had the original (featured at 12 o'clock in the picture).  She wasn't feeling very SSL.

The food was pretty delicious and the staff was pretty fun too.  We decided we should get a picture of us outside the restaurant.  Susie went back in to ask our waitress to take a picture and she dragged Uncle Lou himself out for a "photo op". 

Saturday morning we ran the 5K.  I, Karen Slovensky, actually kept up with these girls who run at least 3 days a week!  I finished in 33:43.  A personal best and I was pretty dang proud of myself, Susie and Tonya.  This race is post-race.  Hence the reason my face is the same color as my shirt.

Graceland!  That's right, the home of the one and only, Elvis Presley!  We were able to tour his home and his 2 planes, and we were also able to see his cars, jewelry, wardrobe and his grave.  He was quite a talented entertainer and had quite the ecclectic taste.  It was a pretty fun tour!  I had Elvis songs stuck in my head for hours afterwards, but it was still a fun tour.

   

Our tour of Memphis also took us down Beale Street.  Beale Street holds a lot of history, especially when it comes to the Blues style of music.

This is Susie under the "Memphis" sign that she adored.

Looking down Beale Street.

Yours truly on Beale Street.

There are interesting people, well, everywhere you go.

He did have a very cute dog that look so very much like the dog we used to have.  Those of you that knew Bear would have to agree.  This dog's name was Ashley.

We also went to the Peabody Hotel.  You know, the hotel where the ducks get the VIP treatment.  Well, it's a gorgeous hotel and it was decorated beautifully for Christmas.

We couldn't go to Memphis without getting a little BBQ.  It was pretty dang good too.  I think I should have run at least four 5K races to make up for all of the food I ate.  It was a super fun trip and it was only 4 hours away!  I can't believe I had never gone before!



Truman Lake Take 2

So, blogger and I have struggles. I did a previous post about our trip to Truman Lake, published the post and then realized that a few of the pictures I wanted to include were deleted. So, here is part 2.