Jenni's Birthday Celebration!

Tonight we celebrated Jenni's Birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's. It has been a long time since Ken and I have been to a Chuck E. Cheese. The games were fun and the company was even better. We must be out of the loop on the latest arcade games, some of them we had never seen before (i.e., the "Flamin Finger" - see below).

YUM - pizza!!!

Ken was really good at this game named "Sparks".

Skee Ball!!!

Ok, this is the "Flamin Finger" game. The object was to move the dot on the screen, with your finger, through a maze, really really fast. The farther you moved the dot, the more tickets you won.

Time to light the cake!

Jenni blew out the candles so fast that we had to relight them!

Jenni the Birthday Girl!

The Party Animals!!!

Ken playing the "Flamin Finger" - hahahahaha!

Me in a clown car!

20 MILES

It was a few degrees warmer this week for our long run, a whole 15 ºF. The terrain this time varied between: deep snow, ice, packed uneven snow/ice, and bare pavement. My left hip flexor muscles were so fatigued that my left leg refused to lift up after mile 16; it took some effort (a few curses) and I was up and going again. I made it the last 4 miles... running, because stopping made it all the harder to start going again. Ken was there all along and was a great trooper, despite looking like a yeti.

TNT members up ahead on the Jordan River Parkway Trail.

Ken with a white beard!

... and white hair!

Going, going, going... keep those legs a going...

Our turn around point, Gardner Village.

Ken with another bloody ankle. I told him, "Quit hurting yourself!"

Spontaneous Geocaching Trip

Mom and I headed to Las Vegas for a geocaching trip and ended up finding over 100 caches! We flew in on Tuesday morning, picked up a rent-a-car, and started hunting. Our rent-a-car was a black Dodge Caliber (absolutely gutless, it however, did get us where we needed to go). We stayed in the fabulous South Point Hotel, which is duh... on the south end of the valley. Fellow geocacher and local Vegas resident, Judi (a.k.a. cwdancer), joined us for some geocaching and dinner on Tuesday. Sadly, we flew home on Thursday night, just in time to catch a Utah snow storm.

Me and Mom at geocache GC167E3 (C.H.1).

Some geocaches were rock hides (tons of rocks and a cache hidden underneath), like geocache GC10VBQ (Is This A Helicopter Landing Pad?).

Creative geocache GC16647 (THE SKULL).

cwdancer and Mom the Cook (b.t.w. these are geocaching handles).

Great view from geocache GC100K5 (V-8 # 3 - CISCO KID).

This is the smallest cache we found on our trip, geocache GC12VZJ (Fone-a-Friend).

Some geocaches have decoys, this is one of them near geocache GC11A2Q (Attack of the Killer Bunnies!).

Yep, believe it or not, that is a geocache. This one is geocache GCA9CC (S.N.T.).

Zoo Lights

On 12/17/2007 we checked out Hogle Zoo Lights with friends! Although it was chilly, the lights were amazing and we even caught a glimpse of the snow leopard (see picture below) and the Ghost of the Bayou (white alligator).

Lights near the elephant exhibit.

Ricki and Meghan all bundled up.

Larry worshiping the heat lamp.

Michelle and Morgenn going really super-duper fast!

Eskimo kiss!

Bryon, Larry, and Ken.

The snow leopard.

More LIGHTS!

Coach Josh's B-Day

We celebrated Coach Josh's Birthday at Zanzibar. It was our first time at the jazz club; the friends, food & drink, and band were all great!

Oh boy, chocolate cake!

The band, Straight No Chaser.

Me and Ken.

14 MILES

Saturday's Team-In-Training run was very cold. The temperature was 13 ºF at the start of our run at 7:45 a.m. The spouts on the hydration coolers were frozen shut, so we removed the lids and used a paper cup like a ladle. Our run was along the Porter Rockwell Trail in Draper.

The MINI says, "IT'S COLD!"

Denver, Ken, and Paul heading back after the last hydration station.

Ken, Team Captain Jeff, and Coach Josh after the run.

US!!!!!

Ewwwwww, Ken had a bloody ankle after the run!

Girls Night Out

It was a fun night of Chinese food at Joy Luck and shopping at South Towne Mall for The Girls! We ordered a mango chicken dish that turned out to be sooooooo yummy. I'm glad that none of us purchased fuzzy fanny packs or scarfs.

Elise & Michelle.

Kandi & Me.

MINI Christmas Party!

It was a MINI Christmas Party at the local Chuck-A-Rama Buffet today! I'll admit it, I LOVE their SCONES! We have been slacking on the monthly rallies, so it was good seeing old friends and meeting new ones. The white elephant gift exchange was hilarious; we came home with a talking "Hot Alert Button" (see below for a visual).

MINIs at the Chuck-A-Rama!

More MINIs!

HOT ALERT!

John (MiniMax) and Joe.

Me and Trish.

Port O' Call

We couldn't miss out on being with friends and seeing the Hard Rockin Johnsons play at Port O ' Call on Saturday, so... after some 8-hour Tylenol we were able to make it to the club. The company was great and the band did an awesome job entertaining the crowd. The band sang Nickelback's 'Rockstar' - loved it! Kandi advised me to watch the music video; needless to say, I then purchased it on iTunes.

Yep, we are dorks!
Everyone was told to show some devil-horns, so we did our best!

GIRLIE PICTURE!

18 MILES

It was another snowy Saturday for our Team-In-Training run. Although this Saturday's run was longer than the previous one, the snow was wetter and therefore, easier on the feet. Soggy socks definitely beat trudging through the thick-heavy snow!

Sugar House Park @ 7:45 a.m.
(They moved our starting time to almost an hour later - yeah!)

Our meeting spot was being snowplowed when we arrived, so all of the runners had to wait in a line before entering the parking lot.
(That's a lot of cold ducks on the pond!)

Come on Ken! We are only half way done!

Ken at the City Creek Canyon hydration stop.