My Mother's Day Present

While we were in Las Vegas, Tami arranged to have an amateur photographer take pictures of Megan for a Mother's Day present for me. They turned out so well, as well if not better than the "professional" ones we've had done. I'm definitely going to call her and see if she'll do 3 year pictures of Megan as well as some family shots. She took 1159 pictures that I have all of on a cd. Tami also put together a nice photo album of some of the best shots AND framed 2 8x10's for me. It was such a sweet, thoughtful present and I appreciate it so much. Thank you so much Tami! I couldn't think of a better gift!

Future All Star!

We had a great Mother's Day. First we went and picked up Josh's mom and took her to breakfast at a place called Coleman's out in Gales Creek. On our way home, we decided to go to Fred Meyer to pick up some hanging flower baskets for our front porch. Josh's Uncle had just gotten some really pretty ones there. When we got there they were pretty much all out of the baskets, especially the nicer looking ones. That didn't stop us from creating quite the chore list for the rest of the day. We bought four dark pink calla lily plants to put in the flower bed in our back yard along with some lupines. When we got home and started to plant, we realized we should get some more mulch so Josh ran and did that. Keep in mind that we were expecting my family over for a ham dinner at 5:00 and I still had to get that going! It was a busy day but we had a lot of fun and I think we might start a Mother's Day planting tradition. The flower bed is looking really nice and on Monday we also planted a vegetable garden and a little fruit/berry garden. So, given that it's our first attempt at a garden, we are hoping for fresh tomatoes, zucchini, peas, carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, red and green peppers, blueberries, watermelon, honeydew melon and strawberries!! It's going to be fun to show Megan how they are growing and then ultimately be able to pick and eat our own fresh veggies!

After dinner on Sunday, Megan pulled out her new baseball tee and showed us all her talent. I knew that she could hit the ball off the tee but then she actually started hitting the ball when we tossed it to her. Of course we missed all of the really good hits on camera but I think it's pretty impressive that a 2 year old could have such good hand/eye coordination. Another thing we noticed is that she is swinging left handed and throws right handed. (Not sure if that's because she has the bat in her left hand or not.) Anyway, I'm already envisioning our little Megan cranking the ball over the short right field fences!! And she's already got quite the arm!!









I'm not sure what the original question was, maybe, "Do you love Mama?" But this was her response. She was very disapointed that he was not able to join us. She did however get to say hi when he called Kelly.

Elmo's Green Thumb

On Saturday we went to see Elmo's Green Thumb at the Coliseum. I'm not sure about Danielle but I was TIRED Saturday night. The kids liked the show and then as a cruel joke, intermission came and they let all of the vendors in to sell overpriced momentos and snacks to the unsuspecting parents for their begging toddlers. Fortunately our kids haven't learned how to do that yet and they just played with eachother until the show came back on. But at that point they were a bit done so we struggled getting them to watch the show again. Overall they were pretty good so I'm not sure why I was so exhausted by the end of the day. On the way home we had a quick lunch at McD's and then went to see where Justin was training his new K9 partner on an obstacle course. That was fun and of course Megan loves to see anything to do with doggies.

Here's Jace watching intently.

Megan really liked Oscar, which I didn't know because she always wants us to fast forward to Elmo's World on Sesame Street and barely sees anyone else.

Here's Megan watching the show.

Danielle and Jace (a little blurry - sorry!)

Cousin Everett

My cousin Trisha had her second baby boy on April 16th. We finally got to see him last week and of course Megan couldn't give him enough love. Welcome Everett Stephen to the family!

Thank you Grandpa!

Dad and Teresa drove through Loughlin to get to Las Vegas where they were having a bike week. Megan got a tshirt from Grandpa that says, "My Grandpa went to bike week and stole this tshirt for me." We were told it was better than the alternative: "My Grandma went to bike week and won this tshirt for me in a wet tshirt contest."

Las Vegas

Josh and I have had a trip to Vegas planned for several months and finally the time came! We were very excited but I was also very nervous, I think the actual feeling of taking off in the plane hit me harder than I expected. Well, I didn't expect anything but all of the sudden I had the overwhelming anxiety about the fact that I was flying out of state, away from Megan. The farthest I've been from her is about a 4 hour drive. I knew she was safe of course and I knew we would return home safe. When we made it to Las Vegas, I called my dad to see where he was. He and my stepmom, Teresa were meeting us there. He just got a new motorcycle and decided they would drive it up from Phoenix. Unfortunately right before we got to the hotel, he had gotten a phone call from my aunt telling him that my grandmother had had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. Information was hard to get at that time but my dad ultimately decided that it would be safer for them not to jump right back on the bike to drive back but to wait for the morning. So that night my dad suggested that we go to Fremont Street. It is the original Vegas strip. Of all of his trips there, he had never been and Josh and I had really never been either. So thats where we headed first. The city paid for a huge canopy/screen to be built over the city street and the city street to be turned into a pedestrian walkway. This is where the "cowboy" is that you always see in the movies. It was pretty cool to see. They do shows on the screen every hour starting at 8:00. We watched that show and then had a really good dinner together. By that time, it was the 10:00 show which was a tribute to Queen.

After Fremont Street we took a cab back to the strip and made it just in time to see the fountain show at the Bellagio.

I had my camera on the wrong setting so unfortunately this picture isn't very clear.

The volcano at the Mirage.

On Tuesday morning, Dad and Teresa decided they would go back to Phoenix. Dad thought he could drive better without Teresa on the back so he took the motorcycle and she caught a flight home. So that meant that Josh and I were on our own. We took the bus down to the MGM and started walking our way back towards our hotel. We saw the lions at the MGM which was pretty cool. The place they are laying is actually glass so you could walk underneath and see them.

We also walked around New York New York and think it would be a fun place to stay sometime.

And of course we went to M&M World in honor of Megan. She would have loved that place!

We made it back down to our end and went into Circus Circus to see how it compared to the Reno one. We have both been there. We grabbed a drink and waited for their show that was about to start. We thought it was going to be trapeze stuff but instead it was a couple doing very odd and hard things with their bodies! Sort of like the Circus Circus version of Cirque de Soleil! And Free!

Tuesday was the night that we (my dad, Teresa and I) were going to go see Cher! Josh thought he could find something better to do! Well, fortunately for him he HAD to come with me since Dad and Teresa had to leave early. We got all dressed up and made it to Caesar's Palace only to find out that they wouldn't let us take our cameras in. I was SO bummed. So....I went to Vegas to see Cher and all I got was....a stupid picture off of a website.

It was really neat to see her though. Once I reminded Josh that she was in her 60s I think he appreciated the show a little more. She changed after just about every song and kept the audience entertained with more Cirque De Soleil type of stuff from her dancers. I wish Dad and Teresa were there but we still had fun! Thank you guys!

After the concert we walked to the Venetian and took a gondola ride. That was fun too except we had a bit of an odd couple riding along with us. Enough so that we thought it may have been worth it to pay the extra money for a private boat. Oh well. I looked a lot cuter earlier in the evening too! I had the false eyelashes and everything but my eyes were being stupid and watering so I had to rip them off after the concert. I look sleepy here because I'm supposed to have those lashes on!

We were leaving on Wednesday and it seemed like it was the nicest weather since we'd been there. People were actually at the pool and I was really jealous. We slept in, had breakfast and checked out. Then we went back to Circus Circus and toured around a little more and then waited for a spot for Josh to play Blackjack at a $2 table (we're big spenders). Finally he was able to sit down and then after awhile, I got a little more comfortable and someone else gave up their seat and I sat down. We played for a couple of hours and of course were up and down the whole time. By the time we left to catch the shuttle to the airport, we were only down $6. Not too bad for a couple of hours of entertainment!

As we were waiting for the shuttle, I called my dad to see what was going on in Phoenix. He said that his mom had passed away at about 1:30 that day. He was able to see her before though so that was good. Unfortunately I never really got to know her, mostly because we barely ever lived in the same state. My sadness is mostly for my dad and his loss. It was also good to see him and Teresa even just for the day. We love you guys and thanks for everything!

The Zoo with Grandma

Megan and I asked Grandma if she wanted to meet us at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful sunny day - no coat weather! All of the moms pushing strollers were wearing their sundresses and sandals. It was the busiest day at the zoo since we bought our membership. Everyone wanted to take advantage of the weather. We had a good time of course and took a few pictures.

Megan refused to smile. It's her new game!

Cute picture with Grandma

When the sun is actually out, it is a little too bright to get a good picture with the bears but Megan insisted. She "cheesed" in front of both of them and wanted to give them high fives.