30th Birthday part 3 - VEGAS

On Thursday when Jeff got home from work we left for St. George.  We were on the road by 8pm and in St. George by midnight.  SUPER BIG THANKS to Rachel's parents for letting us stay at their vacation home in St. George!

Jeff and Rachel got the main bedroom, while I had my choice between the 2 kids bedrooms.  Both had bunk beds.  I felt like I was 12 all over again!

The next morning we got up and went to the gym:

Then got ready for VEGAS!!

Jeff Rachel and I were staying at the Rio (for free!  Thanks comped room!)  The first thing we saw when we got to the hotel/casino was a big advertisement for Chippendales.  Jeff was not pleased, but we stopped to take pictures anyway!

We then checked in and went to our room on the 22nd floor.  The view was ah-mahzing!

Although the view into the bathroom was not as pretty:

Thankfully Jeffry plugged up the window with towels so we could shower in privacy.

We were hungry after our drive in, and I had a gift card to outback, so we caught a shuttle from the Rio to Harrah's (which was actually on the strip) and walked over to the Outback Steakhouse:

When then walked around and looked at shops.  The most interesting shop was the first one we stopped at. It was a candy store that had EVERYTHING!  It had 1 LB Reeses:

Harry Potter related candy (Bernie Botts Beans and Chocolate frogs):

Giant sugar daddy's and Rice Krispie Treats:

and then Rachel went on a bender:

I made Jeff and Rachel pose as a fork and spoon at another store:

Although they were much more excited to pose in front of the gondola at the Venetian:

Some of the stores were more, uhm, unique than others:

But of course one of our favorites had chocolate lolly pop amazingness in front (and free wifi!!!!)

I'm not quite sure where this was, other than on the strip, but it made for a cute picture:

One of Rachels friends had recommended we got to serendipity 3, which is based on the movie serendipity  and get a frozen hot chocolate.  They were HUGE and also quite delish!  Jeff and Rachel got the regular frozen hot chocolate:

While I got the Oreo Frozen Hot Chocolate:

There were a lot of walkways you had to use to cross from one side of the strip to the other.  Here's a pic of the strip from one of those walk ways:

By 5pm we were all tuckered out and ready to go home.  We went to the shuttle to catch a ride back to the Rio.  It's suppose to run every 1/2 hour on the hour.  We got to the shuttle stop around 5:20.  5:30 came and went with  no shuttle, so did 6pm.  While I was on the phone angrily talking with someone at the Rio, the shuttle finally showed up at 6:15.  It was so full that not everyone got on!

We went back to our room with some junk food and were sound asleep by 9pm!

30th Birthday part 2

In preparation for our Vegas trip, Rachel and I went to go get our nails done and spray tans.  The week before I had flown out to Utah, I had tried tanning in tanning beds and gotten 3 sunburns and NO color on my skin.  The spray tan turned out pretty good, although you can't really tell from the pictures.  Here is our before pic:

and our after pic

It was more noticeable in real life, but here is a pic of our sweet tanned faces:

We also got our nails done.  They used this "gellish" nail polish that lasts really long and doesn't really chip.  I finally took it off after having it on a week and it just peeled off!  No need for nail polish remover!!  Here's what it looked like:

Later that evening my best friend from college, Justin Abbott, came over for dinner.  He brought Glogg, which was amazing.  You can get it at IKEA, and it is super delish warm!

We had meatloaf (which was amazing), lots of laughs and just good conversation!  Of course I made sure I had pictures in front of the pretty Christmas tree:

Now on to the cutest part of the blog.  Forrest!  Rachel and Jeff have a pretty fancy fireplace.  While Rachel and I were talking in the kitchen, Forrest came in looking quite distressed and then showed us his hands, which were black!  I guess he had been playing in the fireplace.  So cute and horrible at the same time:

Forrest LOVED giving cuddles!  He cuddled with his aunt:

his mommy:

and his daddy:

He was also super smart.  He would play a puzzle game with his mom every night:

and he knew almost any animal sound you could name:

As we were getting ready to leave for Vegas  Jeff and Rachel decided to give Forrest an early Christmas present.  Forrest is a total Curious George addict.  I don't know how parents do it.  If I had to watch one more stupid episode of "George" I was going to go completely crazy!!  Anyway, he got a George doll for early Christmas and LOVED it:

30th Birthday part 1

For my 30th Birthday I took a week off of work and went on a a whirlwind vacation to utah then vegas.  I waited until the last minute to pack.  As I was sitting on my $25 walmart suitcase to close it, the zipper broke (suitcase on the left).  I ran to Target and picked up a more expensive suitcase, finished packing and then had Mitch and Dom drive me to the airport (YAY for awesome friends!!)

The first part of my trip started by visiting my brother Jeff, Sister-in-law Rachel and nephew Forrest in utah.

I brought Cleveland shirts as thank you gifts for hanging with me.  Jeff and Rachel promptly threw some Cleveland Ohio Gang signs:

Rachel and I went shopping for all the delicious foods she would be making for us this week (she is an AH-MAZHING cook!!)  While at Walmart (in Utah) I saw a Food Storage section!!!!  Only in utah would there be a whole section dedicated to food storage!!

As we walked back to the car to drop off the food it started snowing again.  Utah in snow is so pretty!!

Rachel and I then metup with my roomate from LDSBC Sharene.  Shar brought her 2 beautiful daughters and the girl she babysits.  It was so much fun catching up.  Sharene mentioned that it was over 10 years since we had been in college.  I can't believe it!  It does not seem like it has been that long!  Sharene was as funny and kind and wonderful as ever!

Rachel and I met up with Sharene at McDonalds because they had a playplace.  Forrest was super excited to get a milkshake!

That night for dinner we had spinach stuffed shells with garlic bread.  It may have been the most delicious thing EVER!  I want to steal Rachel and take her home with me!

The next morning Jeff and I went out into the boonies and shot guns.  This was the view of the mountains from the boonies:

We shot a 22 caliber rifle (a pew pew gun)

A handgun:

And a shotgun (which was my favorite):

We exploded a bunch of things we got at the thrift store ranging from a vase full of marbles:

To a porcelain boot filled with fake flowers:

A vase with hearts all over it:

We also shot some targets that Jeff had:

That evening, Rachel made homemade rolls, and a delicious Italian sausage soup.  Sooooooo yummy.  I must have had 5 rolls, they were so good!!

That was only the first 2 days of vacation.  2 down, 6 to go!  Say bye bye Forrest:

Life update

I realized I haven't blogged in quite a while so here's a quick update blog:

Not much has happened since the last blog

Seriously, not much new has happened.  Manders (see the sushi rock blog) had her baby on November 30th (almost 2 weeks early)!  Yay (other peoples) babies!!

The crew (mitch, dom and KW) and I went to see Lincoln last weekend.  I was a bit disappointed   I thought it was all about lincoln, but it was only about the part of his life where he got the 13th amendment ratified.  Damn you politics!!!  I just don't care!  Maybe if I had gone into the movie knowing that's what was going to happen I would have liked it better.

The next day I went to see The collection, which is a scary movie by the director of the saw movies.  It was better.  Nice and gory, just the way I like a horror film.  This one I would recommend, but expect a stupid ending.  If you know that going in (which I did thanks to brother Joel), you will enjoy it!

I'm leaving for Utah, then Vegas in 2 or 3 days to celebrate my 30th birthday!!!  Hopefully I'll have a blog full of pictures when I get back, or, as I'm on the trip!

Other than that the most exciting thing is I've been trying (fairly unsuccessfully to wear eyeliner):

Keep an eye out for awesome vegas pics upcoming!