Pumpkin Guts!

We carved a pumpkin the other night. We let Kenzie pick what it would be and she chose Ariel. She loved digging in and pulling out the pumpkin guts. I baked the seeds too. We don't care for pumpkin seeds much though so Andy took them to work to see if any of the guys there wanted them. They just don't seem to crack right like sunflower seeds do. Who knows - maybe I don't cook them long enough or something.



Kenzie made a nature bracelet! We did this around 6:30 and it was already dark by the time we were done. Geez it gets dark so early now!

The last few weeks

Ok - I think I've summed up our Vegas trip. We had such a wonderful time...staying out late, sleeping in, eating whatever we wanted, laying out by the pool, awesome shows, fabulous friends, lots of alone time, no schedule. It was so much easier to have fun knowing the kids were being good too! Now we're counting down the days until our next trip! I think there's only 56 days now until we're back at Disney!
The day after I got back from vacation I decided to run a 5k. This one was definitely harder than my first one. There were more hills too. At the end of the race each runner got a free beer and brat! So funny! This one was called Rosstobestfest. It is a benefit run for a boy named Ross who has muscular dystrophy.

Here's a pic with me and some of my friends at the Race for the Cure 5K

Meghan completed the Couch to 5K program - this was her first 5K too, Kim was a walker/runner she's so skinny she doesn't need to run!, Mindy jogged the whole thing and she just had a baby 3 months ago, and Stacey jogged the whole race while pushing her 3 almost 4 year old in a stroller :) We all rocked.

Andy's boss, Matt, also got married the day we got back from Vegas. Matt & Haley had a beautiful wedding. Yummy food and wine too! They went on a 2 week Honeymoon to Australia. ---jealous!

Last week I got to see the beautiful baby Maci. Definitely the highlight of my Branson trip. I think Evan showed Mark & Valorie how much baby proofing they're going to need to do in a few months! He's suck a little stinker.



Happy Birthday to Jill! We surprised her and showed up for her b-day party. I wish it could have been a happier day. My Grandma was in the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers.

She is back at home now but still not doing well. I wish the doctors could figure out what's wrong with her but none of them seems to be able to :(

I found this video on an old memory card. I can't remember when this was but I know Evan wasn't born yet so it was at least 14 months ago!

I have much more updating to do. We've been busy busy around here! Lots of fun fall activities!

Vegas - The Strip

Of course we hit up the free shows!
Sirens of Ti (Pirate Show at Treasure Island)



Volcano at the Mirage


Bellagio Fountains


We played some beer pong at O'Shea's against some guys that were in Vegas for a Bachelor Party. They beat us!


On top of the world

Pictures from the top of the Stratosphere Tower





We rode two of the rides on top of the Stratosphere.
The Big Shot thrill ride catapults you from the 921-foot high platform up the Tower's mast to a height of 1,081 feet and down again. Before you catch your breath, you're shot back up again!

Insanity is a massive mechanical arm extending out 64 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower at a height of over 900 feet. This ride spins you in the open air at speeds of up to three 'G's. You're propelled up to an angle of 70 degrees, which tilts your body into one position — straight down!

The Shows

Vegas is known for their shows! Monday night we saw Penn & Teller.
Hilarious! I'm usually not really into magic - but some of their tricks were pretty crazy.


Tuesday afternoon the girls went to watch The Price Is Right. We hoped they would call one of our names, but they didn't :( Here's a pic of us with the host Todd Newton ("E! News Live," "Coming Attractions" and "Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck") and the announcer. They randomly draw the contestants names at the Vegas show. The people who were picked didn't get nearly as excited as the ones you see on tv. We were a little disappointed.

The $1.00 margaritas were really good though :)

Tuesday night Andy and I went to see The Blue Man Group. Thanks Mom!

The band was incredible.



We could have seen Cher or Donny & Marie. Haha. Or maybe next time we'll go see Thunder From Down Under ;)

Fremont

We stayed at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street. Fremont Street hotels were a lot cheaper than the ones on the strip. We rode the deuce (a tourist bus) to the strip the 2 days we went. It was only $7.00 for 24 hours. We loved our hotel. Our room was super nice and the hotel staff was great.

Here we are about to have some yummy sushi at the Red Sushi in our hotel.

The first night we had the $10.00 prime rib dinner at the Golden Gate. I don't remember any of the trip after that. Just.Kidding.
Every night every hour on the hour from 8:00-midnight there is a free light show on the huge canopy. It has people singing and dancing in the street. Kiss & Queen were a few of the shows we saw.


There were also stages set up with performers. It was the beginning of their Octoberfest. This group was singing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" here.


We loved sitting outside the "Gold Diggers" bar in our hotel and people watching. You truely see everything in Vegas! We saw a drunk girl try to do a cart wheel and she totally busted her butt. Her crack was hanging out too. We laughed so hard. We saw hookers, bums, impersonators, lots of girls in clothes they shouldn't be wearing, bachelor party boys, and drunk people everywhere!

We got our picture taken with a million dollars at one of the casinos.
My favorite slot machine was called Texas Tea. Andy liked playing the poker games like Blackjack & Deuces Wild.
Our favorite casino was probably Mermaids. They gave out beads which we brought home to Kenzie, they did drawings every 30 minutes, they had 99 cent Nathan hotdogs, and real $money$ actually came out of their slot machines (not just a ticket)! Oh, and the girls kept the drinks coming :)

VEGAS!!! The pool!

We had such a wonderful vacation! The pool at our hotel was awesome!

It was so nice and relaxing to lay out and soak up the sun in this big comfy chair!

Check out the slide. It was super fast!

It went through a tank that was full of sharks and fish!

We figured out if we sat up in the slide we would slow down so we could get a better look in the shark tank. The lifeguards didn't like us doing this...



Our friends were earlier riser then us and they made it to the pool in time to snag a sweet cabana both days we spent at the pool.


Check out the old people in front of us. Definitely didn't look like the scene in the CSI episode the other night that had all the smokin' hot bodies in it!

You can check out the whole episode here:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/video/?pid=YuAAtO4hWUS3Ctg_0bN_T6jNYnLvOmuO&vs=Full Episodes&play=true

This is a 30 million dollar pool and was voted one of the top 10 pools in the world by Forbes Traveler!