Hoover Dam

We decided to go to Hoover Dam when we were in Vegas (and when I say we...I mean Andrew).  I personally wouldn't spend 3 hours of a 70 hour vacation walking outside in the heat looking at a dam, but at least now we can check that off our bucket list.

It actually was pretty neat...as you can see by the pics.  By the way...I don't know what to say on most of the pics.  It's a large dam.

so massive!!  Pretty impressive

Over looking the lake

Trying to be a good wife in 100+ weather

Food

Some how I managed to do the impossible and actually LOSE weight in Vegas.  Granted it was only .5 lb...but I'll take it.  Of course it helps when you're so busy that you only end up eating one meal a day!

Our first night we splurged and went to Beso Steakhouse.  I'm sure it's not much of a splurge in Vegas, but considering that we didn't even look at prices before we asked for a table...that's a splurge for us.  It was delicious!!   We had dinner with a friend, and we all got a skirt steak which was SO good (probably due to the high fat content).  We ordered truffle mac 'n cheese (it sounded better when I thought truffles were chocolate...especially since I hate mushrooms) and asparagus.  Thank goodness for credit cards!

No trip to Vegas would be complete without a trip to IN-N-OUT

Obviously we weren't the only ones who were craving it.

I have to say that I wasn't sure what the big deal was all about...but it actually pretty tasty.  Though I do think that a Whopper tastes just as good.

Our last night we went to a Korean buffet where you can choose your meat and grill it.  Delicious!!

Pics for the Grandparents

I'm sure by now my parents are going through Ryan withdrawl...so here are some pictures to hold them over.

Waiting for fireworks to start with Daddy.  They were set to go off after a baseball game...which of course went into extra innings.

It took him a while to warm up to me.  When we first met up with Ryan I thought that he would be all clingy to me so I had Roo hold him first (that way he could get some bonding time before it was all about me).  Well...Ryan was mad at me...and wouldn't come to me.  I tried to hold him and he just turned away.  I have to admit that it hurt my feelings a little.  

Exploring the hotel room

At dinner with Nana and Papa

Saying Good-bye.  Thanks so much for coming down at watching him!!

Entertaining himself on the ride back to base.

LA and celebs

I decided to break up my posts about our vacay (because in a few days when reality sinks in I'm going to be posting about what I ate for lunch again).

We had a great time!!  One of my goals was to see some famous people...which we accomplished the very first day!

I've decided that this is the way to travel...with a magazine and some candy.  Definitely can't have either when traveling with Ryan!

Us waiting for our flight

Lovely LA...I'd love to actually get to go there and walk around sometime

some nice LA smog

I had to get one picture with LA palm trees in the background.  Roo was a little bit embarrassed by my pose (don't know why...his people are the ones who started this trend)

We saw John Travolta's plane!

We were on the same flight with Randy Jackson...no big deal.  Sorry that I didn't get a better picture, but I was too scared to take one of his face.  I know that if I were a celeb I would LOVE for people to take pictures of me...but I didn't want to get told off by his entourage.  By the way...he is smaller in real life than on t.v.

When we were waiting for the tram in Vegas, we stood next to Slade and Gretchen from the "Real Housewives of OC".  Roo thought he was trying to take the picture of the guy in the pink shirt (Slade's the one in the blue shirt).  She is as pretty as I thought, and he's a jerk.  O.K. I don't really know that, but according to the reunion show he's behind in child support...and he wears his sunglasses in the airport.  Weird.

For dinner in Vegas we ate at the same restaurant with Slade and Gretchen (that's how we roll).  They were only two tables away.  We tried to be covert and get them in our picture...but we only got Slade.

 Last weekend there was a UFC fight in Vegas and we happened to go to the MGM where they were having a poker tournament.  We saw Chuck Lidell (he looks as tough on t.v.)

 and we saw Randy Couture (he seems as cool as he is on t.v)

I AM maternal

Today I left to go to Abq to get ready to fly to Vegas tomorrow.  It really hit me yesterday that I was leaving Ryan, and I'm pleased to say that it made me tear up.  I was feeling like a bad Mom because I thought that I was a little too excited to be going on vacation without Ryan, and now I'm just feeling like a bad Mom for leaving Ryan.  I talked to my Mom today and she said that he probably doesn't comprehend that "his Mom" isn't there...he'll just notice that something is different.  And in a weird way it made me feel better--it's good to know that he's not going to be crying himself to sleep every night because I'm not there.  

I am so thankful to have great in-laws that I know are taking great care of him.  They have a pretty good track record with raising boys--they are 4-0 (actually more like 3.5-.5 taking into account the time that Dave pushed Roo out of a tree).

For those of you who have a blog you know that sometimes it's hard to figure out what to blog about.  I'm sure that the Grandparents would find everything that Ryan does super exciting and say that I could blog about that everyday...but the other 5 people who read this might not agree.  So I thought tonight I'd blog about what I'd do if I won the lottery and became filthy rich (I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thought about this!)

• I would say I'd pay off my parents mortgage, but they just did that a couple of months ago.  So I'd give them as much as my Dad said he'd give us when we asked him the same question: 0...and for the same reason.  I want them to learn the value of hard work, I definitely don't want life to be too easy for them.

• Roo and I have already discussed how much we would give each member of our family (hint...you get a higher percentage for the # of times that you call Roo to chat)

• I'd buy myself one of these:They start at $60,000.  No big deal

• I'd pay off our house, and believe it or not, we'd continue living in it.  We really love our house, and we've already decided that if we ever did win the lotto that Roo would stay in the military.  Though I do find it hard of hard to picture being multi-millionaries and living in Clovis...we may just have to get a summer home on some island somewhere.

• I would get my hair professionally dyed every two weeks, and a pedicure every month

• I would book a world cruise for our families...the itenerary would be:

an interior cabin goes for $17,500...so maybe we'd have our family members duke it out for a spot.

• I would go back to Rhodes, Greece just for a Greek salad.  Because I'm rich and I can.

• I'd buy myself a billion coins for Bejeweled

Happy Anniversary

O.k...so this is a few days early, but I figure I might not have time on the actual day (have I mentioned that we're going to be in Vegas?).  I can't believe that it's been nearly 6 years since Roo and I got married!!  I'm sure that he would agree that some days it feels like we've been married a lot longer than 6 years...but overall I'd hope that we'd both say that we're really happy.  I know that I feel really fortunate to have married my best friend.

Early on we decided that we wouldn't exchange gifts during the year (i.e, none for Christmas, birthdays, Anniversaries...).  Actually I think that came about when I got Roo something for Christmas and I didn't get anything (like I said...sometimes it feels like a lot longer than 6 years!).  Since we've decided against gifts, we generally use the money we've saved on nice trips for our Anniversary.  This year we're going to Vegas.  Here are some pics from our wedding and some of our Anniversary trips.

 Family dinner before the wedding.  We first met each others families two days before the wedding.  Luckily we all got along!

 The lovely Seattle Temple where we were sealed.

The excited parents

One Anniversary we went to Paris...where I ate all of the pastries that I could.  It was so delicious!!

 Another year we went to Ibiza, Spain.  We are all about sun and beaches.

Some of the beautiful scenery...and Roo with hair.

First steps & first concert

Ryan had an exciting weekend.  He took his first steps...and we took him to his first concert.  Yesterday he took a couple of steps (I'm so glad that Roo was home to see it).  Yesterday we also took him to the Dairy Fest that was held at the Fairgrounds.  Thankfully it was only $1 each to get in...any more and we would have asked for our money back.

digging for toys in his toy box

Not sure what is up with the picture...maybe it was all of the dust in the air

Mark Chesnutt was the performer (not even sure if I spelt that right)

One family picture before getting out of there.

Girls night

Thursday some friends and I went to Lubbock for a girls night.  We went shopping, ate junk food, and had fun conversations.  While it wasn't the most relaxing trip (4 kids in a hotel room) it was a LOT of fun!!

Trying to get Ryan to wear a cute USA hat at the Cracker Barrel.  He wasn't really feeling it.

Ryan and Grant waiting for a table

such cute boys

we took advantage of the pool at the hotel.  It was a little chilly, but the kids really enjoyed it.

The lovely LeAnna

Meichelle and LeAnna

Our snacks for the night (I only had a salad for dinner to ration my calories)

and a random photo:

This is how we found Ryan this morning.  His sheets were soaked and there were little pieces of poo in the corner.  Lovely.

Vegas!!

If you've talked to me within the past couple of months, I'm sure that I've brought up how excited I am for our upcoming Vegas trip (I'm so excited that I'm already sad about coming back...except for seeing Ryan of course. That's how excited I am!!)  I'm trying to figure out what we want to do while we're out there to maximize our time.  Here are some of our goals:

See Hoover Dam

Watch a show.  We've heard KA is great

It is my personal goal to come home at least 4 shades darker than this picture.  No, seriously.

• See at least one celebrity.  The NKOTB and the Backstreet Boys are putting on a concert while we're there...so anyone of them will do.  Though I'd prefer to see Nick
• Work out at least 30 minutes a day
• Eat some AMAZING food
• Party like a rockstar

Funny Dad

Here is some video of Roo entertaining Ryan.  Thankfully at this age he thinks that we are hilarious!!  Hopefully he'll still think that in a few years!

Lessons learned

Today I made the drive back from Albuquerque and learned a couple of things, like:

• when following behind a car to pass a caravan of 3 other cars (one including a truck carrying hay) on a two lane highway and the car in front of you sees on a car coming so they cut into the caravan...it actually helps for you to scream "AAHHH!!!" as you step on the gas as hard as you can.  I really think it made me go faster.

• On a side note, cars don't like when you play chicken with them.

• I can physically be on a road trip without eating a single piece of candy.

• When you are stopped to get food, even if you don't think that you have to go to the bathroom...GO.  Because as soon as you leave McDonalds and hit the middle of nowhere, you'll have to go.

• I am amazing!!  I managed to changed a poopy diaper in the front seat on the side of the highway.  Added props for the wind being about 100 MPH

• Don't leave that same poopy diaper in your car when you get home, because a couple of hours later when you get back in the car that's been in the sun...it's going to smell.  Real bad.

• And the last lesson I learned is that if you have pictures of your horses on your back window...you are a bad driver and I hate driving behind you.