Better Late Than Never

As I posted a while back, I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Vegas with 3 of the greatest girls I know. We all arrived around noon on Friday and greeted each other with long overdue hugs. After getting the rental car we headed off to our hotel. We got a 2-room suite at Cancun Resort Villas. It was perfect for what we were in Vegas to do. It was family friendly (which means no casino) and had plenty of room for the 4 of us. We had lunch, did some shopping at the outlets, had a blast sliding down the waterslides and swimming in the pools at the hotel and headed out for a fabulous dinner of Brazilian cuisine at Samba. We stayed up way too late talking and playing NERTZ, just like old times. On Saturday we headed down to the pool to work on our tans in the morning. We decided to eat at the MGM Grand Buffet for a late lunch (we were in Vegas, right?) I must say that I'm quite proud of how much I was able to eat. Sometimes I worry that I don't get my money's worth at buffets, but my appetite did not disappoint, nor did the Grand Buffet. After lunch we walked the strip and did some more shopping before heading down to Freemont Street to catch the show. I think Freemont Street was my favorite part of the entire weekend. I loved that it wasn't too crowded and that there were mostly locals hanging out. We got some BIG NON-alcoholic drinks and had a good time listening to music. Click here to see a video clip of the great entertainment we were lucky to catch. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Bridget after coming off the waterslide. I love how it looks like she is trying to be all sexy and seductive.

Megan and I relaxing in the pool.
All of us after we stuffed ourselves at the buffet
Dinner at Samba at the Mirage. Great food and great company

Grrr. I just uploaded more pictures and was about to publish this post when it deleted them. Check out Dallas' blog if you want to see a slideshow of all our pictures from the weekend.

Thanks for the great time girls... I can't wait until the next reunion!

Quirks

Okay, okay. Hilary tagged me and I'm finally getting around to it

Here are the rules: Link the Person who Tagged you. Mention rules on your blog. Tell about 6 quirks of yours. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same. Leave a comment to let them know. Here are my quirks: 1. (I know this isn't a quirk now, but it was once and I hope it will be again someday!) When I was pregnant I couldn't stand to eat meat of any kind except for Arby's roast beef sandwiches. Everyday at work when Justin would ask where I wanted to go for lunch and I would respond with, "Arby's." My sweet husband almost always agreed. 2. I am a closet Fresh Prince of Bel Air fan and always have been (Just aske Megan). When Grace was first born and would get up during the night for feedings I would watch it on Nick at Nite and I find myself missing it ever since she started sleeping through the night. Oh, and while we were in Vegas for 2 weeks I was walking through a casino and the Carlton song came on, "It's not unusual..." and it took all my strength not to bust out the Carlton dance. 3. I love cheesy made for TV movies on ABC Family and get really excited when a new one is premiering (like the Cutting Edge 2 &3). Christmas time is the best for this quirk. 4. I'm a picker/peeler and I'm embarrassed to admit it. I think it's an addiction. I always pick at scabs and pimples and I love to peel sunburns, but only on myself. It grosses me out to think about doing that to someone else. 5. I hate to drink water, especially first thing in the morning. The only time I like water is when I've been doing something really active, like exercising (which is really, really rare) and I'm all hot and sweaty. Even then I'm very particular about the temperature of the water. 6. I refuse to drink any soft drink of the diet kind. I also won't drink anything that is sugar free. I always choose to go without or drink water (refer to quirk #5 to understand just how much I hate diet and sugar free drinks). Diet sodas leave the most bitter taste in my mouth and I hate it. I'm tagging Dallas, Brooke, Emily, Morgan, and Chandi Stay tuned for more posts detailing our month of September that was basically spent in Las Vegas.

"I'm too excited to sleep"

In just a few days I get to spend a weekend with three of my favorite people in the whole world. I met these girls (except for Megan - I've known her since I was 10) about 8 years ago when we all moved in to Royal Crest Apartments together in Rexburg, Idaho. I don't know that we became instant friends (Bridget thought Megan and I were lame because we were blaring Backstreet Boys and dancing around insanely while unpacking, and she hated that we wouldn't remove our boxes from the apartment), but it didn't take long and we have all been close ever since. Most of my fondest memories include at least one of these girls. Over the last 8 years we have all graduated college, three of us have gotten married, two of us have kids, and one of us has travelled extensively. I love these girls like sisters and I can't wait to give each one of them a BIG hug!

(Megan don't hate me for posting this picture because I LOVE it)

I can't wait to see you all!

P.S. Brooke and Emily you will be missed and I hope you can join us for our next reunion!

Fishing and Yard Work

On Wednesday my wonderful husband spent the evening with Grace and let me go to Activity Days childless. It was fun to be able to give my full attention to the primary girls and I think Grace had fun with her dad. The Young Men were out at President Austin's lake working on their fishing merit badges so Grace got to be one of the boys for the night.

Grace playing on the boat

On Thursday night we had some yard work that needed to be done. I strapped Grace to me in the Snugli and mowed the lawn while Justin ran the weed eater. This picture may look like Grace is not enjoying herself, but she actually loved riding around our yard on the mower. It worked out really well, but I no longer have an excuse for not being able to mow the lawn.

"Ferberizing"

We've decided to "sleep train" Grace. We haven't been having any problems getting her to go to sleep at night or even sleeping through the night. She's been doing that since she was about 4 months old. The problem is that she always falls asleep while having her bedtime bottle. She never gets the chance to go down while still awake, thus making her learn to soothe herself to sleep. We decided to try the "Ferber Method" tonight. I mixed up her bedtime routing so that I would put her down in her crib when she was tired but was still awake. I gave her a bottle, then she had a bath, then I read a couple books to her, and then I turned on her lullaby music and we said goodnight to her. We turned off the light and left the room expecting her to cry and wail for a long time, but much to our surprise she only cried for about 5 minutes. I stood by her door after she quit crying and I could hear her playing in her crib. A little while later I checked on her again and she was asleep. I couldn't believe it. I think this was just a fluke. I'm sure tomorrow night will be horrible.