My Weekend at the Airport

I spent most of this past weekend at the Las Vegas Airport trying to use a buddy pass to get to Atlanta. Gavin had a wedding to go to in Baltimore on Sunday, so we were both going to try to fly out on the redeye to Atlanta. We both made the flight and we even got to sit together! We had the very last seats on the plane, and we were all buckled into our seats ready to take off when... BAM! We both jump up out of our seats to see what had happened. The flight attendant had deployed the emergency slide on the back of the plane. Gavin immediately told me that this plane was not going anywhere because Las Vegas did not have the parts needed to fix this problem. He said we needed to grab our stuff and get off the plane immediately because we would be stuck behind everybody if we waited. So we all but sprinted to the front of the plane only to find that the door was already closed, and the pilots and flight attendants at the front had no idea about the deployed float at the back of the plane. They wanted us to take our seats again, even after Gavin explained that he was a mechanic and that this place wasn't going anywhere! About 30 minutes later, they announced that they needed to de-plane everybody! Here is a picture that I was able to take with my camera phone (this explains the quality). This is the plane on the left and Gavin on the ramp looking at the slide. That is him in the blue shirt on the right side of the picture. The plane on the left is the plane that was going to take me to Atlanta to see my mom and dad until the genius flight attendant accidentally deployed one of the emergency escape slides. You can see the engine and the wing on the right side of the plane. And if you look past that you can see a white slide. Long explanation, sorry about that. So, we headed back to the airport the next day and I missed more flights because the slide from the night before was still messing everything up. And, on Monday we tried again, and missed even more flights. Gavin could have caught one of the first flights, but he was being sweet and denied taking a seat until I could fly out with him. We probably would have made it too, if it weren't for 2 foreigners flying standby who used up 6 seats over two flights. But that is a different story. God just had other plans for us this weekend, so Atlanta will have to wait.

We took turns napping on the floor in the terminal. I guess if we had to be stuck, we were lucky to be stuck there together!

Tori is ENGAGED!

My little sister, Tori, got engaged last Friday!!!!! I talked to her in the afternoon for about 45 minutes while she was getting ready for her date with John Carl. When she called me back about 3 hours later, I thought about silencing my call because I was lost in traffic, but figured it had to be important for her to need to call me back. I am so glad I answered... she got engaged! I am so excited for her and John Carl, and his proposal story was priceless! I was just really, really sad that I couldn't be there to celebrate with them... or see her ring in person! So happy or you, Tor!

Best Friends!

I couldn't be there, but they took a picture of her talking to me!

Good lookin' couple!

Desert Day

On February 10th, just a few days before we went to San Diego, Gavin and I went to meet some of his work buddies out in the desert. One of his coworkers, Ed, had just recently purchased a Polaris Rzr, which is an off-roading sport vehicle. It was a beautiful day, and I was happy to come along and be the only girl. This first picture below was the view from where we were parked. We were on the east side of the city, and we were able to watch Nellis Air Force base do test runs on some of their jets that day.

If you look closely in this picture, you can see the Stratosphere (needle-like building) on the right side of the picture. This kind of reminds me of a scene out of CSI.

Looking under the hood...

Two of the many jets I saw taking off and landing.

They were very loud.

Ed even let me drive for a while. I was really nervous to crash or mess up his expensive new toy, but I got the hang of it, and it was a lot of fun.

Christmas in April

It's just like Christmas! Well, actually, it is Christmas for me! Mom and Dad gave me an IOU for a sewing machine for Christmas jut before I drove out to Las Vegas. Because I opted for a two-door "sporty" Accord as a young, naive 18-year-old, there was barely any room to pack my clothes and birth certificate into my car. There was just no room to fit a sewing machine, thus, the IOU. So I cashed in today, and it was so exciting! I have been wanting to get a sewing machine for a few years now, but I was never going to be able to give it enough time while I was in school. In fact, being the daughter of my oh-so-very-talented mother, I should have learned to sew, needle-point, embroider, cross-stitch, crochet, knit, and then make the accessories to match it, and then professionally scrapbook the results! I am ashamed to call myself Judy's daughter. What a failure. What was I doing all my life other than not learning all of my mother's trade secrets? Now here I am in Las Vegas, 2,000 miles away without my mom to instruct me step-by-step. But, I am here now and ready to learn!

I ripped through the packaging just like a kid on Christmas!

It's so pretty! My brand new Viking Emerald 183!

So shiny and new!

Look, you can push these buttons and get it to do special things!

And, you can use this guide to guide you to do other special things! Okay, okay. Confession: I haven't the slightest idea how to use this contraption! I have used my mom's machine, and I played on the Emerald 183 in the store, but I am a very green sewing machine owner. It was actually difficult to know which machine to select because I knew so little about what to look for. But have no fear, I am taking some classes and I should be up and running in no time. At 4:15 tomorrow, I am to report to class for my first private lesson. I am so excited! You will all be receiving handmade Christmas gifts this year. Which means that you should begin praying immediately that the Judy in me emerges quickly! Now, I am off to meditate and summon Jude's genes in me to surprise myself in my lesson tomorrow! Gonna make you proud, Momma!

Slacklining

Slacklining, definition according to Wikipedia:

Slacklining is a balance sport that uses nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline. The line's tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker's footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope.

Well, as you may have guessed, this is Gavin's new sport! I have pictures (hundreds of them) dating back to February 4th, marking his first attempt at standing on a slackline. The idea was to get good enough to rig up a "highline" over a canyon in Red Rocks. In the midst of visitors and vacations, we spent a great deal of time in the public parks, borrowing their trees to practice this slacklining (strong trees are difficult to come by our here in the desert). This sport is more difficult than you might think, and Gavin has been practicing hard. Here are some picture from that beginning day up until yesterday.

Day 1. He could barely stand without holding onto my shoulder.

Slacklining can lead to some crazy falls. But, if you roll out of them, you'll be just fine.

Lots and lots of falling involved in learning this sport.

But not me. I never fall. I always look perfectly poised and peaceful, posing in front of beautiful mountains such as these. Kidding, obviously. It is a miracle that I can even stay on long enough for a picture to be taken.

Getting better, and the line is getting higher.

More practice.

My balancing abilities are actually digressing.

I love this picture because it looks like he is walking on top of this family. What is also fun about this sport is how many people stop to watch this "crazy" person. And ALL of them feel lead to tell him that he is "crazy." Many people want to know if he is with Cirque du Soleil, or some other act that performs on the strip. Almost everyone will stop and watch for a while, look at us like we have lot our minds, and then wish us luck or ask to pray over us for the healing of our minds from the Lord Jesus. Not really that last part, but you can tell that they are really scared for him!

As I said earlier, the whole point of learning to slackline was to be able to highline (taking the slackline up high, as the name implies). So, what do you do when you have a dream? You make it happen, right? Here is Gav drilling holes for bolts to attach a highline out in Red Rock Canyon National Park. Don't worry, we are pretty darn sure that it is totally legal to go drilling wherever you please in this particular national park. Bolting for slacklining is the same thing as bolting for rock climbing, but it must be done very carefully. So, Gavin learned himself in the area of bolting, and here we are.

Blowing the sand dust out of the hole to make sure that the bolt fits as snug as possible.

Random side note: Teddy Grahams are a hiking favorite of ours.

Here is a picture of Gavin rigging up the highline for attempt number 1. An important note about highlining: he uses a climbing harness and a leash that attaches to him and to the slackline, so that he will be caught in the event that he falls. It would be the exact same thing as taking a 4 or 5 foot fall on a climbing rope. This is not any less safe than that, just more scary.

This was about a month and a half after he started slacklining. Don't worry Judy, as I said before, this is just as safe as rock climbing.

Standing up, and surfing the line.

After he fell... crawling back to the side. It was a pretty scary fall! I added the video of this fall to the bottom of this post.

This is the face or frustration and defeat! After a fall too close to the side of the rock that nearly took his head off, he decided to call it a day. More practice was needed.

More practice.

Even more practice.

I'm still digressing.

Here he is, back for attempt number 2 (this was yesterday, 4/12), and very determined to make it all the way across this time!

AHHH, he's walking it!

This was so awesome! I was so excited! Somewhere around 3/4th's of the way across, he said that he cracked a smile, and then the smile made him lose his concentration, and then he fell!

Pretty darn pleased with himself! He didn't make it all the way across on attempt number 2, but it was definitely a victorious day! We will be back after more practice I'm sure.

This is what he is doing while I am sitting here typing this. He said that all the nerves and anxiety have carried over from yesterday and made him sleepy. I guess this is how people who never have anxiety respond to it. To that I say, if I were to get sleepy from anxiety, you would never see me, I would be sleeping all the time!

Gavin's fall on first attempt to send at Red Rocks.

Weekend of Worship

You know that feeling in the summertime when you don't even realize how thirsty you are until you reach for the water? I am one of those people who habitually reaches for the diet coke, lemonade, or even V8 before I will reach for just water. It is a horrible habit. But anyways, back to the summertime scenario. So, it is really hot, and water has never tasted so good to you as it does right then. I mean, you could drown yourself with the amount of water you are trying to consume at that moment. Well, that is kind of a metaphor for how my weekend went. I don't know how many of you may have heard of the band Jesus Culture, but you should go and look them up immediately... or after you are finished reading my thoughts! Jesus Culture is a group out of Bethel Church in Redding, California. They began a series of conferences this weekend here in Las Vegas. I didn't attend the conference, but I was able to see the night sessions for free! Jesus Culture is an incredibly anointed worship group. I haven't been in a worship atmosphere like this one in months... my soul was thirsty, very, very thirsty! I am really enjoying the church that Gavin and I are going to out here, Shadow Hills Baptist Church. The college group is a lot of fun, and the Pastor is very good. BUT, the music department is seriously lacking, God bless 'em. That was the nicest way I could put that. I honestly like the church, I just really miss the music I took for granted at Church of the Highlands back in Auburn. So, this music was exactly what I needed. I knew I missed connecting with God through worship music, but I didn't realize how deprived I had been until this weekend. It was AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, BEAUTIFUL, AWESOME to be able to experience the presence of God this weekend!

But that wasn't the end of it. At church this morning I found out that the Rock and Worship Roaddshow was stopping in Vegas at The Orleans Arena tonight. CRAZY! This cast included Steve Fee, The David Crowder Band, and MercyMe to name a few. So wonderful! I was ale to go and sit with the college group tonight, but the seats were right by the stage, and the speakers and the base (the speakers and the base would not have fit in the baby house back in Auburn, if that gives you any indication of the power of the base that was hitting tonight). The base was vibrating my entire body, and it kept making me cough... that has never happened before. I am not especially huge fans of any of these bands, but I had a great time. Some of the bands had recently put put new albums that I was unaware of, so I am excited for the new music I stumbled across tonight.

So, now I am feeling completely filled with the Holy Spirit, and I am also experiencing a a throbbing headache with partial, temporary deafness. But, well worth it! What an amazing, worship-filled weekend. I feel like the Lord grabbed my attention, and reminded me how important it is to take time to praise Him through song. I realize you can worship at any time in many ways, but my soul has missed the music, and I will not ever go that long without it again! I am so thankful for each of you, and I am missing all of you out here! (I apologize if this was long and doesn't make sense... let us blame the base headache!)

Date Day!

Today, I had a really fun date day! Gavin was given some free tickets to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay on the strip. One of his co-worker's wives works there, and it was so nice of him to pass the free tickets our way. It was a wonderful day!

Gavin at the Starbucks drive-thru. Ahh, two of my favorite things in the same picture!

Most beautiful picture of the day! This my friends, is a grande, stirred, iced caramel macchiato with nonfat milk, and sugar-free syrup! It is my new joy, and I would drink it a few times a day if I had the money, and could afford to be in a state of caffeine over-drive all the time. Do yourselves a favor and go get yourself one today... and then the next day!

At the aquarium. It was a small aquarium, but really nice and full of different types of sharks. There were two or three tunnels that you could walk through and see the sharks from below.

Me.

In a tunnel!

Him.

Looking at the glass ceiling, waiting for a shark to swim by!

And this is my tiny little Asian friend who was pointing out all of the "little fishies." Everything was a "little fishie," even the largest shark in the tank! He was so adorable!

I tried to get a picture with the strip behind me. Not successful, but I did get The Mandalay Bay.

We went back to my apartment to watch a documentary that we had been waiting to arrive from Netflix, Man on a Wire. It is about a guy who walked a tightrope between the twin towers in the 1970's. It was a really good movie... I recommend it. I think this face, is "What? What are you doing? Watch the movie! You can't take pictures while we are watching a movie!" Ohhh, but I can, and I will, and I did!

He was like a little kid watching this movie... hanging on every word!

And then our date was over because he had to head off to work! Thank you Gav, for such a wonderful date today! Ok, that was my day today, I hope you enjoyed!