There was blood...

Poor Chaos finally bled from the kitty wars. I'm not sure who got her, my guess is Spirit, but the poor dog suffered a bloody scratch near her shoulder. Not fun.

Sorry for the late posting, Borders had a great pre-Black Friday sale I wanted to hit. 25% off an item! And then I had to buy my ingredients for the cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole I'll be taking to our dinner. I was suppose to host but called in tears last week begging for someone else to do it. Hosting a dinner with everything going on and now revisions screaming to be done was not going to work. So my mom is hosting it.

Back to the Western Regional Championships aka Oireachtas 2008...

Saturday:
Mackenna had to be at the Pavilion at 7 am to prepare for her team competition also called an 8-hand, even though there are actually 16 hands if you count two per dancer. I've never understood that 8-hand term, but I'm guessing there's some historical significance somewhere in the annals of Irish dance.

All the girls put on the same makeup. They also had the same wigs. And then the waiting began. Finally around 9 am, they danced. I thought they did great, but then again I always do. Unfortunately they didn't recall, but that just meant an entire day free. We could skip the awards ceremony! We spent 6 hours at the resort's water park called The Oasis. It was so much fun. They had a wave pool, a lazy river, hot tub and three big slides. They also had waitresses who would come to your chaise lounge and bring you whatever you ordered. We had lunch out there.

In the evening, we ate dinner at the Rustler's Roost, a restaurant that's part of the resort and where the company I used to work for in Phoenix used to have lunches and stuff. It hadn't changed, though the view from the hill had. There was a wedding reception on the terrace which was fun to watch. The bride ditched her heels for a pair of pink Converse tennis shoes!

Sunday:
I took Mackenna to Mass at the parish I used to belong to when I lived in Tempe. Back then it was brand new and Mass was held in the parish center. Now the church is huge. Mackenna said it reminded her of a little village. It even has a gift store! We grabbed breakfast on the way back to the resort, packed, then went to watch a few of the dancers we know compete.

A little before lunchtime, we headed out. Our destination, Last Chance. This is where Nordstrom sends their returns, and you can find bargains if you're willing to search through the racks of shoes and clothing. I found some great stuff for the three kidlets. Nordstrom tights for 47 cents! We had a blast. We followed our shopping with lunch at the New York Pizza place. Then it was off to see my Aunt Neomi where we were staying for the night.

My aunt, one of my dad's sisters, spoiled us rotten. My maiden name is Martinez and you can imagine the mexican cooking we ate that night. She even taught me how to do things her way! She used this special chili powder that you can only buy if you're family of the makers. It's so good, not at all hot, and I want to get the info and take advantage of being part of la familia! We watched a DVD of another aunt's 80th surprise birthday party, my Uncle Maury's funeral DVD and the AMAs. Mainly we just caught up and heard stories! Fun times! We were sad to leave.

So that's my trip sans pics. I still haven't had time to download them. My revisions arrived on Wednesday after turning to book in at midnight on Monday so it's crunch time again trying to get those done!

What's going on with you?