Saturday, March 29, 2008

Addie's 1st Birthday Party

Tonight we celebrated Addison's birthday (even though it was yesterday). Martin & Linda, John, Sarah & Sophie all came over for dinner and cake/ice cream. Addison had a great time. She decided to hold in her excitement for this picture though.Sophie, didn't anyone ever tell you that you aren't supposed to out dress the birthday girl? I didn't think a bow would go with the nice bruise on Addison's face so I didn't make her wear one. Okay the look on Sophie's face made me laugh so hard. It's as if she is thinking, "Boys are so stupid."
Grandmama and her girls
Addison's new chair that Aunt Say Say, Uncle John & Sophie gave her.Sarah and precious Sophie
Addison LOVES Elmo so I got her an Elmo cake!
She wasn't to sure about digging in to the cake. Zachary loved his first bite of birthday cake when he turned one. Addison doesn't really like anything that is soft so she didn't want to put it in her mouth.
Jason finally took a spoon and fed her some. She took a few bites but wasn't that interested. I think she got my salty tooth instead of daddy's sweet tooth.
She managed to get a little messy. I think she had a great time at her first birthday party. Thanks everyone for coming!! I just wish my family could have been there to help us celebrate!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Happy Birthday Addison!

Today is our sweet little girl's first birthday. She has brought us so much joy and laughter. She is a bundle of energy and will have no problem keeping up with her older brother, Zachary. We cannot believe it's been a year. We are celebrating her birthday tomorrow night and having Jason's family over for dinner. I wish my family could be there too. Addie is so close to walking. She does pretty well but hasn't given up on crawling. Here are a few of my favorite photos from her first year.
Happy Birthday Addison Lilly!

Here are a few from today.....

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

That's My Mom!!

My mom made the Salina paper the other day! She has been the Historian at the Public Library for 17 years. In the past she has written an article for the newspaper, written and published short stories in various magazines and books and also written a book on the history of Salina. She has done so many things it's hard to list them all. I'm so happy that the city of Salina has finally done a great story on her. My uncle, Kendall, scanned in the actual pages from the newspaper and sent them. Mom is a lucky person to be doing a job she loves. Although I know she is looking forward to retiring soon so she can spend more time writing and visiting grandkids. It is a wonderful article mom, I am so proud of you!!!



Happy Birthday Linda!

Today is Jason's mom's birthday, Happy Birthday Linda! Linda is a wonderful mother and Grandmama and I don't know what I would do without her here. She helps me out with the kids so much. We are so lucky that she lives less than ten minutes away from us. We got to celebrate her birthday at the bay this year over the Easter weekend and had a great time!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Easter Egg Hunt

On Sunday we went to the tennis club for the Easter egg hunt. It was absolutely beautiful outside, perfect weather. I thought I'd get a picture of the kids in some spring clothes. One of these days a bow is actually going to look good in Addison's hair. It just helps people realize she is a girl. A lot of people have to ask if she's a boy or girl.
They split the kids up into two groups, younger and older. Zachary was with the younger crowd but basically the eggs were just thrown on the ground! He started walking by them looking for ones in bushes.
He did manage to find one in a flower pot.
I finally took him over to the big kids area. He had been practicing over at Grandmama and Pop's house so his egg hunting abilities are pretty high. We found a few that someone had thrown in the bushes so he crawled in there after them.
Here he is after it was over with a basket full of eggs.
Just wanted to put this picture of Addison in here. She loves playing with the eggs.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Better late than never: Part 2

Well I did it again. Forgot to post a Happy Birthday to a few of my family members. Where does the time go! In January (the 22nd) my mom and my sister in law have the same birthday! Which is great because it makes it easy for me to remember. Remembering to blog about it is another story.

I want to wish my mom a Happy belated Birthday! She is a wonderful mother and I miss her so much. Wish we could get together and go to lunch or go shopping once in a while. Can't wait to see y'all in June!
Next is my sister in law, Sarah. Happy belated Birthday Sarah! It truely feels like she's been my sister forever. We get along great and I don't know what I'd do without you here!!
And finally, my brother in law, Barry. His birthday was just a few days ago (March 3rd). Happy belated Birthday Barry! Hope you had a great day. Barry is getting ready to become a daddy again, this time it's a girl!! Can't wait to meet your precious daughter.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

So I guess I won’t be able to tell you about our trip. Sorry.


Only kidding!


Jason and I had a great time!!! My parents got here Saturday afternoon. Zachary was so excited to see them. He was a little confused because he thought we were meeting them at the airport and then getting ON the plane. Sunday morning Jason and I drove to New Orleans to fly out. It was a direct flight from there. We flew Southwest, which we’d never done before, and it was interesting the way they board. You don’t get assigned seats you just get a number as to when you can board. Group A goes first (1-60), then group B (1-60) and then group C. It wasn’t that bad but then we were never Group C #60. We did end up sitting by some drunk dude who had apparently partied until five that morning, gotten two hours of sleep and then got a speeding ticket on the way to the airport. He proceeded to have two bloody marys on the flight and asked for a third but the flight attendant cut him off. Thank goodness. He passed out about half an hour before we landed but not before telling us that he was flying home on Thursday as well. We started concocting our plan right then and there as to how not to sit next to him on the way home.

We landed and took a very expensive taxi ride to the hotel. We stayed at the Bellagio. Very very nice. We told the guy at the registration desk that it was our first time in Vegas and he hooked us up with a great room. It was on the ninth floor smack dab in the middle of the hotel overlooking the Bellagio fountains & the Paris casino across the street. You can turn the TV on a certain channel and it plays the music that the fountains are ‘dancing’ to. The fountains came on every half an hour so we enjoyed watching them throughout the day. They were especially pretty at night.
Our view.

Our view at night.


On Sunday night we had tickets to “O” which is a Cirque du Soleil show that was at our hotel. We had amazing seats right in the middle and the show was phenomenal!!! Anyone going to Vegas has got to check it out. We gambled a little before the show. Didn’t really lose any money but didn’t really win any either. Monday we just did sightseeing. We walked through all of the shops at the forum in Caesars Palace and it was so so nice. I could have really done some damage there but since Jason’s not a big shopper I didn’t spend too much money. Monday night we went over to the Rio casino and saw the Penn & Teller show. We ended up getting really good seats there as well. The very first two seats in the whole theater so we were right up front by the stage. It helped us figure out some of the magic tricks!! They were very entertaining.

Jason at the bar on top of the Rio casino.
On Tuesday we did some more sightseeing. We traveled all the way to the Stratosphere which was at the end of the strip. At the top (and you can see it’s really high!) there are three roller coasters. I was honestly feeling nauseous that day (and no it’s not because I was dreading going on these rides) so I didn’t want to push my luck and get sick all over myself by riding one. As you can see from the pictures one of them is so stinking scary I think someone could have honestly offered me a million dollars and I still wouldn’t have gone on it. I was getting sick just watching these people ride it. Jason didn’t want to go on any of them by himself so neither of us went. Can’t say I’m all that broken up about it if you want to know the truth.

The view of the strip from the Stratosphere.

This is that CRAZY ride that pushes you over the side. Can you imagine sitting in the front!

This is another ride that goes over the side of the Stratosphere. It doesn't look that bad until......
........it starts to move. Here is a better picture of how it dangles over the side.
This is the one, had I not been feeling nauseous, that I would have agreed to go on. It shoots you straight up in the air and then drops you.
We did manage to ride a few roller coasters though. The first one was at New York New York. It was pretty neat although extremely jarring. The second one (which I didn’t get a picture of) was a Nascar one that lasted maybe 45 seconds but it was a lot of fun (and a lot smoother).

On Tuesday I did manage to play my favorite slot machine (Wheel of Fortune). I won a little and lost a little and basically came out even.

Tuesday night we decided to try out a Mexican restaurant that we had passed by on our way to NYNY. It was called Diablos and it was probably one of the best Mexican restaurants I've ever eaten at. And I know Mexican restaurants!! Afterwards we walked around a bunch of the casinos trying to decided where to play blackjack. Most of the tables were $10 minimum bet and we wanted to find a $5 table. We went to Wild Bill's or something like that. Not the nicest of casinos but they were advertising $3 Corona's so we gave it a shot (after spending $8 a beer at Diablos - $3 sounded like a bargain). Of course there was no one at the Corona cart when we got there but we did find a $5 table. We gambled, we lost, end of story. Here's a picture of Diablo though!!
Wow this post is really long isn't it! Anyways, on Wednesday we went to the Tennis Channel Open which is a small tournament they hold every year in Vegas. It was SUPER windy and chilly that day. As you can see below. We had left to go eat lunch and I made Jason stop at Kmart so I could buy a blanket. Don't worry, I wasn't the only one. I got the idea from all the other people who came prepared with their own blankets.
There weren't a whole lot of really big name players there but there were a few I was hoping to see play. Marcos Bagdatis was one and Marat Safin was another. We lucked out, well I lucked out - I'm sure Jason didn't particularly care, because they were playing against each other in doubles. Here is Bagdatis
And here is Safin.
Safin was the main one I wanted to see (besides the Brian brothers whom we didn't get to see). I will admit to a small crush. After it was over we were walking out of the tennis center and we walked right by Safin. I am still kicking myself for not asking him for a picture.
We are much colder that we look.
Wednesday night we just took it easy. We were exhausted from all of the walking we had done the two previous days. We tried going to ESPN Zone to eat and watch the Aggies play but we couldn't get a table in front of the game. We ate there anyways and then headed back to the hotel to go to bed early. We flew out the next morning and as we were sitting waiting to board the plane guess who sits down right next to Jason. Yep, the drunk dude. He was with a friend and hadn't said anything to us so we casually got up and walked around a bit and sat down some place else. Luckily he got on the plane first, so as I was walking down the aisle of the plane I made sure not to make eye contact and walked to the back of the plane. We got home late Thursday afternoon and were so excited to see the kids. We missed them so much. Zach was very excited to see us and Addison was a bit confused I guess. She just stared at us and then at my parents for a while. It was pretty funny. We had such a good time. We want to thank my parents so much for watching the kids while we were gone. They had such a good time with you. I can't wait for the three of us to come to KS in June.