We did it! At the end of May my husband and I completed our first 30K trail race. Though I had great fears that I hadn’t trained enough, we finished with plenty of time to spare and I still had the energy to jog through the finish line with a smile on my face. Of course, I finished last in my age group, but I’m just proud I finished! Here’s what it was like running in the Dixie National Forest of Hatch, Utah, with Vacation Races. First of all, I need to brag about how awesome Vacation Races and their volunteers are. They are always super organized, and definitely know how to host a better eve ..read more

We found a new way to cool off by hiking high up in the mountains of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge outside of Vegas. Forty-five minutes of bumpy dirt road driving, an ominous name of Deadman Canyon, and 5.5 miles of uphill climbing made our hike quite the special trek. Once we reached over 7000 feet of elevation, the payoff was a forest of ponderosa pines and a cozy cabin from around the 1930s. Next time I definitely need to consider hauling a tent and sleeping gear for some first-come, first-served camping! I think we are STILL going to be washing dust off our Nissan Rogue for a few mo ..read more

We are fully into the spring season now in Las Vegas and have all the crazy weather to go with it. Sometimes it rains in the valley while it snows on top the mountain, and sometimes we have lovely, hot, 80- and 90-degree days. Thanks to a visit from my parents, we’ve been able to try out all the fun, touristy activities that go along with spring and spring break in Las Vegas. So how can we tell it’s spring here in Las Vegas? All the turtles and lizards and snakes came out of hiding! Turtles are my husband’s absolute favorite animal, so it was about time we finally found a tortoise in the wild ..read more

With foster kid recently moved out, our lives have been going through an interesting little season of renewal. The weather’s let us spend more time outdoors, my husband’s teaching job prompted the creation of a new home office in our house, and we’ve piled on all kinds of activities to keep us busy. Little Dart has been enjoying his fun in the sun, walkies, new clothes and toys from the holidays, and new cozy dog beds all over the house. With the transformation of kid’s room into a grown-up office, our futon mattress moved onto the floor and Dart is in L-O-V-E with his ability to snuggle up o ..read more

This week my ‘granola’ side came out in full force. I pulled all the middle school home economics lessons from the back of my brain and set out to recycle, reduce, and reuse. Menus were created, shopping lists were made with precision, and we made use of every last bit of food that we could. I may have even gotten in touch with my homesteading desires as well. Here are a few of the ways we tried to innovate this week, hopefully saving a little money and bettering the Earth in the process. We recycled a household item into a toy This is one of my favorite ways to upcycle and turn fairly usel ..read more

We did it! I finished another half marathon, and my husband and foster kid completed their first half marathon races. We stuck with Vacation Races of course, heading just a few hours over from Las Vegas, Nevada to Joshua Tree, California. Both are in the Mojave desert, making me think I had some sort of training advantage, but boy was that night time course at Joshua Tree tough! Here are the highlights of our trip. Years and years ago my husband and I actually lived in 29 Palms, California, so we were rather accustomed to this drive. We used to drive over to Vegas from 29 Palms for the Mar ..read more

Life in Las Vegas in the fall is the BEST! Not only do we have some of the prettiest mountain views all year round, but this is the time of year that it also starts to feel wonderful outside. Spring break visitors have it all wrong- fall is definitely the perfect season to visit Las Vegas. We don’t exactly have all those lovely fall colors you might expect for the season, but the mountain views surely make up for it. Forget all the glitz and partying on the Strip, all the outdoorsy nature-filled places are where it’s at for me. Heck, I’m not sure I’ll ever run out of places to hike, run, walk ..read more

My husband got a new side hustle teaching, yay! He’s going to be spending a bit more time away from home, but what a great opportunity for him to teach future electricians As I finalized my shopping list and weekly menu this morning, I almost didn’t realize that my husband’s dinners away from home are about to add an extra challenge to my weekly meal planning, yikes! Thankfully, we used to be pros at cooking multiple tiny meals ahead of time to freeze and then take to work each day. Here’s how we dusted off that skill, cut corners to save time, and still ended up saving money. And wiener dog ..read more

With days getting shorter and cooler temperatures coming to Las Vegas, Dart and I have re-committed to getting outdoors more often. In April, Dart started on a weight loss journey that was quickly derailed when he ate more than 2 pounds of people food and got a generous dose of chocolate toxicosis too. Rather than focusing on our weights on the scale, Dart and I are instead just adding in more healthy habits to our day-to-day lives. The vet agreed too, Dart could stand to lose just a little of his “fluff.” Seriously, watching this little doxie butt wiggle on walks every morning is the best ..read more

We did it! At the end of May my husband and I completed our first 30K trail race. Though I had great fears that I hadn’t trained enough, we finished with plenty of time to spare and I still had the energy to jog through the finish line with a smile on my face. Of course, I finished last in my age group, but I’m just proud I finished! Here’s what it was like running in the Dixie National Forest of Hatch, Utah, with Vacation Races. First of all, I need to brag about how awesome Vacation Races and their volunteers are. They are always super organized, and definitely know how to host a better eve ..read more