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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

July Instagram Photo Dump

This post is my way of proving that I take way too many pictures - as if you guys didn't already know that.  I love instagram and this post shows how much!!!!  

If you're interested, you can follow me at acq9104









Monday, July 30, 2012

Post Concert Fun!

After our must-do trip to IKEA, we headed up to Charlotte Motor Speedway.  I must admit, I was less than thrilled to be going, but hubby and BIL endured IKEA for me, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and attempt to enjoy myself.


Needless to say, pulling up to the Speedway, I felt myself getting jacked!

Right outside the Speedway

Kayla and Kent inside the speedway

Kyle and I inside the speedway
 We decided to pay $10 and take a tour of the speedway, the dragway and the dirt track.  While we were waiting, we got to watch the driving school do a few laps and that itself was so awesome.  The driving school offers two options for school - you can either do a ride-along or you can drive yourself.  At first, all 4 of us decided we wanted to do it and drive a car.  Then the ride-along cars came by and we quickly changed our minds!  These are driven by an instructor and you are really getting a better glimpse into racing.  These cars were going around the track at 130 mph and it was so loud.  I had no idea NASCAR was that loud.

It was time for our tour and we didn't really know what to expect.  Needless to say, it was the best $20 we had spent in a l-o-n-g time!!! I was so glad we went by the speedway.  I had no idea racing could be so much fun!  We're now planning a trip back to Charlotte for the night race in October!

Our tour guide was really nice and gave us a great tour.  We knew that we were supposed to take a lap around the track, but what we didn't know was that our guide was going to pull up the bank going around Turn 1 and scare us all.  He pulled onto it and we literally felt like the van couple topple over at any second.  It was definitely a HUGE thrill!!!!  As he came off of the turn, he floored it and before we knew it we were heading around the track going 80 mph.  After that, we knew we HAD to do the driving school.  I could only imagine the thrill going around the track twice as fast!!

Entrance into the administrative part of Charlotte Motor Speedway

The largest tv in the world.  It contains more than 9 million LED lights.  I can't remember the exact measurements, but it was HUGE!

Inside the winner's circle

zMAX Dragway - this is the only 4 wide drag strip in the world.
Our tour van and the other van raced against each other.
We lost. :(

The dirt track at Charlotte - they were getting it ready for monster trucks
Before we ever decided to do this tour, Kyle had his mind set on going to Hendrick Motorsports.  For those that don't know - Kyle is a DIE HARD Jimmie Johnson fan.  And no, he didn't jump on the bandwagon once Jimmie became a champion 5 times in a row.  Kyle has been a #48 fan since he and I got together.  I love giving him a hard time about it, but I really believe Kyle would leave me for JJ!!! Ha!  He loves to give me a hard time too because he's managed to convince all the kids in the family to be #48 fans too.  Anyway, we found out that Hendrick Motorsports was just down the road from the Speedway, so we headed there next.  This place was in the middle of a little country neighborhood, but once you got onto the property, it opened up like you wouldn't believe.  There were 5 (maybe more) HUGE buildings on the property, a giant pond and more asphalt than you could imagine.  And of course, it was H-O-T!!!!


The two big buildings on the back of the property are where each team's garages are.  The #48 and #88 share a garage and #24 and #5 share a garage.  We headed to the #24 and #5 garage first because that's where the majority of the cars were.  Once Kyle learned you could go in and walk around, we quickly made our way through that garage and headed to the #48 building.  Kyle was more excited than a kid at Christmas!

The #5 and #24 garage 
Kyle in Heaven...

#48 and #88 share a garage

Smiling bigger than I've seen in a LONG time!

View into the #88 and #48 garage

5 time Champion

#88 was a bit overshadowed being in the same building as #48.
All these trophies belong to #48
Trying to fit into this mock - up car was hilarious!!!!  I'm almost positive people over 5'9" aren't supposed to squeeze into them, but Kent and myself sure did.  We struggled to get in and out, but we fit!!!

We were looking online for tickets to the October night race before we got out of the parking lot if that tells you had much fun we had.

Who knew NASCAR and racing could be so exciting!!!!!




Sunday, July 29, 2012

So, we went to this concert...

... and had the best. time. EVER!!!!!

We left for Charlotte bright and early Saturday morning and after a stop in Simpsonville to drop the girls off with my sister, we were on the road and ready to start having a good time.  We pulled into Charlotte around 11 a.m. and it was on after that!

It was so on in fact, I forgot to take any pictures.  :( All of these were taken as we were leaving the hotel for the concert and at the concert...

Kent and Kayla ready to rock out!

Kyle and I ready to party
(good grief, I'm tall!)

LOL I was squatting down

Twins born 3 years apart

pre-concert tailgating

It was sooooooo hot!!


Headed into the concert :)

Sold out!
Luke Bryan!!

Jason Aldean!!

LB and JA put on a heck of a show - which I knew they would, but this concert was by far the best one yet.  I can't wait for the next one!

And just because this is the whole reason I have been at every local JA concert since January, 2010 and will continue to go until I can't go anymore... enjoy!

Click HERE!

Erik's Rodeo REMINDER!


Just an FYI to let everyone know that I am collecting more orders for Erik's Rodeo!!!!

Shirts (short sleeve, long sleeve and hoodies), decals (car stickers) and bracelets (adult and kid sizes) are available for purchase.  If you're interested in buying anything or have any questions, please email me at eriksrodeo@yahoo.com.  All orders must be paid in advance.  Payments can be made via paypal once you submit your order to me.

I'll be collecting orders for a month, so you have until August 15th to get your order in!


Front of back of green shirt with yellow writing (the pic of the back is the actual color of the shirt - the pic of the front makes the shirt appear a bit darker than it is)

Front and back of orange shirt with purple writing

Front and back of purple shirt with orange writing

Yellow shirt with green writing
Cowboy - black outline
Tractor - green outline
Cowboy - woodgrain outline

Tractor - woodgrain outline
Green/yellow bracelet; orange/purple bracelet

Purple/orange bracelet