Memphis and Other Adventures in May

Drive
10 People
Fried Pickles
Shooting at the Gun Range
Barbeque Festival
5:00 AM Wakeup
Triathlon
Golf/Nap and Shop Time
Dinner!
Wrapping 50+ cookie cutters
Drive
3 hour nap

That's the sushi roll of Memphis in May weekend! After the Intermediate Photography field trip to the Sheldon Art Gallery, Trey and I met the Dutton's at Ted Drewes for some famous St. Louis ice cream, and it was sooo good! Apparently when Trey was a kid, he threw his shoe out the window there so he could go back and get more, and it worked. Smart kid! I'd go for another brownie concrete even if it meant losing my favorite pair of shoes (ok, maybe that's a little extreme).

We hit the road early on Saturday after really yummy sticky buns and got to Memphis in time for lunch with the fam at Cafe Etc. Then Mom and Dad took Ben, Phil, and Trey to the gun range, while Courtney and I went to swim the tri course, and Steph took the kids home for a nap. On the way out to the course, Courtney and I were blasting, "Shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low" in my car when she stopped and goes, "Hey, did you know that our parents just traded all three of their daughters in for 3 sons?" We were slightly hurt... Anyway, when we got back (after winning $1 off Ben for swimming across the pool), we headed to BBQ Festival to eat more!! The ribs were pretty much the most amazing thing I have ever eaten-- the meat just fell off the bone! Trey and I went to the Missouri Mule tent to find his friends from Barney's, but they weren't there, so we met up with my family again and took pictures down by the river before we headed home.



The next morning was the 5AMer...Whoof! Phil, Courtney, Trey, and I got up first to get set up for the triathlon, and then Mom, Dad, and Amy (I was sooo excited to see her!) came a little later to watch! After doing all the set-up stuff, I was the first in our gang to head out, and I finished my mile in 24:56-- not exactly Lib Arts time, but I beat Courtney by a whole 17 seconds!! Ohhh yeah! Nevermind the fact that she had two more legs ahead of her... Then Phil was off to biking, and Trey was waiting for his first ever 10K. While we were waiting for Phil to get in, Amy, Trey, and I were discussing the quickest way to tag off for the next part, which involved throwing Phil's bike over the railing where Trey would catch it and rack it, and then Trey would start the run down, and by the time he made it back past the Relay area, Phil would be there to do a running chip strap! While we were so busy discussing this, I looked up and almost said, "Hey, look! Someone else has a Deloitte shirt just like Phil!" but then I realized it actually was Phil, so there was a big rush to get him in and Trey out, lots of cheering, and then it was time for the last leg! Trey took it out fast (mind you, with no real training other than Frisbee in the afternoons when it wasn't gross and rainy, which were few and far between). Apparently, the first mile felt great! He thought it was about 7 minutes, but then the 5 miles ahead started to slow him down. I think I would have lost the will to live at the "Hey, now turn around and do it all again!" marker, but Trey kept going and ran faster to the finish than Amy or I could keep up with him after not having run a 10k, and one of our fellow triathletes gave him a gold medal for finishing the run! He finished in less than an hour, so that was awesome! Go Team Strength and Honor! Team Awesome, made up of Courtney, Emmeline, and Courtney Lynn, was really strong, but at the tag off between Emmeline and Courtney Lynn, the evil alter ego won over, and she didn't even do the run. Next year, I would suggest not asking Courtney Lynn to be on the team. You'll do better without her.

Even though Trey could barely walk, the guys went and played 9 holes of golf after lunch, while the girls crashed at home for a while and then went shopping. Sunday night was pretty chill, and Trey and I started wrapping 100 cookie cutters for Tommy and Samantha-- it was his idea to wrap them individually...Haha, but it all turned out great in the end! I was totally exhausted by the time we got back on Monday, so I slept from 3:50 PM to 6:50 PM and then went to bed again at 11 something and slept til 8 the next morning. Oh, how I love sleep!

Wednesday night we finally got to play Pixar Monopoly, and it was soo much fun! There were 7 of us, and we played from a little after 10 until 2 in the morning! I got to be Lightning McQueen, and Trey got the Great Barrier Reef, and I think everybody had a really good time! We had punch from Tommy and Samantha's shower and music, and Matt ended up winning even though he barely had any properties to start out.

This weekend was "Night at the Museum" on the Chapel Green on Friday, Saturday I cleaned like crazy, baked Choc Chip Banana Bread, and we played Pixar Monopoly again at the pub. Inspired by Pixar (and who wouldn't be?), Trey and I watched Cars after that! Sunday was absolutely insane but so much fun again! Here we go: get up, go to church, lunch with Dan and Adrian (learn that Dan got 2 tatoos...kind of--they are dots), Senior Women's Tea, leave early to get to Samantha and Tommy's shower-- I think they liked the cookie cutters, and they unwrapped them all,-- dinner at Barney's with the Duttons, ice cream at Fritz's with the Duttons, hail storm, looking at baby pictures of Trey (who I was expecting to be much bigger from all his talk, but he was just a really cute little kid), then back to Prin to start the week again!

My capstone is finally COMPLETELY DONE and TURNED IN!! However, if my career as an actuary fails, I do have backups:

1) Flower Arranger
2) Ribbon Bouquet Arranger
3) Banana Bread Baker
4) Photographer? (is that in there somewhere?)





Here are some pictures I took in the studio-- I think they're kind of fun!