I'll Let You Borrow My Four Leaf Clover

Have I ever mentioned that my birthday is on St. Patrick's Day? Yup, every year and I love it. I like going to the store and seeing all the Happy St. Patrick's Day cards in the card section and can't help but feel they are all for me, or the fact that everyone wears green. It makes it extra special in my mind.

Before we left to Vegas to celebrate, I made some rice krispie treats with my new shamrock cookie cutter and made my favorite Andes mint cookies, wrapped them up with a "lucky" gold coin inside and handed some out to friends.

Like I mentioned, we went to Vegas not only to celebrate my birthday but also to run my 2nd half marathon! Its called the six tunnels race and they hold it every year in March and on St. Patricks Day when it falls on a Saturday. I ran the 5k back on my 21st birthday and thought it would be fun to go back and run the 1/2 marathon this time! Not only did it all go down on my birthday but my dad and I have been planning on running this together for a good few months too. He's a bit faster than me (he's run a lot more races than me!) and that's ok. I definitely don't have that runner's body nor do I consider myself a runner. I'm not super fast, I didn't place or get a winners medal, but for me it's still an accomplishment and definitely a challenge and an opportunity to really push myself and not too mention, it's a good time! Ok, ok... mile 10 and mile 11 not so much when my feet/legs were starting to get tired but crossing that finish line having Collin and my fam waiting was worth it!

I really am thankful for my body. It is one of the greatest gifts I have been given. I definitely don't give my body enough credit and criticize it way more than I should. After teaching an indoor cycling class, taking anat/phys and running these races shows me how strong and how much our bodies are capable of.  Another confirmation to me that there is a Heavenly Father and that his son, Jesus Christ died for me so that I can have a body.

Here is collage of the fantastic time we had!

1. Our first stop in Vegas for lunch at Famous Dave's.

2. Went to the famous "Pawn Stars" pawn shop featured on TV.

3. Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio.

4. Us at the gardens.

5. Collin and the bees all made out of flowers!

6. Waiting for the fountain show.

7. Fountain show at the Bellagio.

8. Morning of the big race!

9.  My awesome dad and I. (You can't tell but he wore green just for me!)

10. Birthday flowers delivered to our hotel room from my momma!

11. My dad and my step mom Diane took us out to celebrate BOTH of our birthdays at the fanciest restaurant we've ever been to!

12. They also took us to see Cirque Du Solei Beatles Love show. Incredible!

13. We spent our last day in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay hotel! I highly recommend it.

14. Visited the Shark Reef aquarium.

15. Jellyfish!

16. Got to touch the stingray like/crab creatures (not sure what they were called but it was cool!)

Fun weekend!