June 9, 2009 "The 5th Birthday"

We started the day off shopping at Kmart. Karlie had some gift cards from her birthday and said she wanted a new outfit. She ended up with 2 swimsuits, a summer tan outfit (if it ever gets warm enough), and some hot pink tights with stars on them. She dresses herself all up in the tights, a ruffled jean skirt, pink shirt, and new jewelry. Headed out again at 1PM to get her ears pierced. Auntie Susie, Mitch, Ashley, Nick, & Steph got her a gift cert. to get it done. It's been something she's been asking for for at least 2 years. I told her she couldn't until she was 5. She didn't cry or anything. She held my hand and said ouch mom, ouch, ouch, ouch. The lady could only do one ear at a time, too. After the first ear, Karlie peaked in th mirror to see how it would look, then again after her second. She did so good. Headed out again with dad and Tanner to pick up a little surprise. Kittens! One for each of them and then they can keep each other company. They are so cute. Black and white patches. Karlie named hers Casey, and Tanner named his Panda. He really wanted Alligator, but mom talked him out of it :) We finished off the night with Karlie's T-ball game. So cute to watch. They are all visiting, drawing in the sand, waiting until someone tells them to run. Happy birthday little girl! Love you!

Karlie's 5th Birthday

Karlie turns 5 on Tues. June 9. She had her first little birthday party with other little girls invited. The girls had so much fun. The giggled and squeeled in Karlie's room dressing up. Sloppy joes and ice cream cake, then outside to play. Just before the girls were about to leave my dad says I think I hear a goat. I was like yeah right dad. All of a sudden I look at the road and there's a goat running down the road with a leash on! So I call to it and it comes up the driveway so we tied it to a tree until the neighbors could come get it. Her name was Dandy. Free entertainment and the girls loved it. It was so much fun to see her play with all the other little girls and have such a wonderful time at her birthday. I can't believe my little girl is already 5! Where has the time gone?

Las Vegas

We were so excited to take off for Vegas, wow, a vacation with just the two of us to enjoy some fun. Adam worked nights Thurs. night so I met him at the airport Fri. morning at 5:45AM. That morning about 5:20 just about ready go and notice a puddle on the floor in front of my fridge...oh my gosh, it quit working; threw everything into bags and threw it in downstairs freezer, and ran out the door to get to the airport calling dad on the way to contact a repairman for me. Not the best start to the morning, but the rest of the day went great.

Davina & JP picked us up at the airport and we had lunch at the Spago, yum! Checked into the hotel-Bally's, upgraded to a jacuzzi suite (I would be very glad for this later on with all the walking in those cute heels all over Vegas; used it at least twice a day to stick my feet on the jets to numb them before heading back out). Great hotel because it was so centrally located everything was so close. We met up with cousin Jep and he took us backstage to the Terry Fator Show to meet the band, and his great team. We got to visit and it was so nice since we hadn't seen him for awhile. Headed out to watch the show, fantastic is all I can say, the lights, the talent, the show. Afterwards, we went backstage again and Michael Love of the Beach Boys (who sat just behind us during the show) was backstage, too. Soooo cool! After the show we headed out for awhile to see some more things.

Sat. we shopped, ate at BLT burger (really good burger & shake) :)walked around some more just checking stuff out. Headed out again to meet up with Jep. He took us out to the Cirque show LOVE. Phenominal! It was a show with all of the Beatles songs. I mean who doesn't know all of the Beatles songs plus dancing, acrobatics, and theater. It was wonderful! Headed back to the Mirage and out to dinner with Terry and his wife to Ruth's Chris steakhouse. OK they cook the steak in butter, I mean what could be better then that. Soooo good! Petite filet (which was not even close to being petite) with oscar style, and a wonderful red Quintessa wine. It was so fun to visit with them.

Sun. relaxed again and got ready for our vow renewal. Davina and JP met us at the hotel and the limo picked us up to bring us to the chapel. They brought us a really nice bottle of champagne to celebrate and I think we got the only limo without a liquor license. I mean people wonder around with drinks on the streets of Vegas for crying out loud we just wanted to toast ourselves! We renewed our vows at the Graceland Wedding Chapel Elvis style. The people that walked out before us had fake sideburns on, hilarious! Jep met us there. We headed in and immediately I got the giggles. Elvis was girating his hips, and I couldn't quit. Elvis sang and had his own little twist to the wording for renewals. He handed Adam the mike to sing so Adam did a bit and then Elvis was like "OK, that's enough" so fresh new set of giggles from me. Then Adam was moving his hips with Elvis. Definately won't forget this memorable moment. I even had Elvis laughing. It was so much fun! Out to the parking lot we headed, Davina disappeared and out she came with cone solo water cups so we could toast with our champagne. More laughs! Then to the Bellagio to eat some appetizers at FIX and visit some more. We headed to the Cirque show O there and that show was wonderful, too. Then over to the Wynn for dinner at Daniel Boulud's. JP knew the manager so we received lots of complementary food. Tiny beautiful goat cheese tarts, foi gras flan with escargot, and the desserts were to die for raspberry souffle, raspberry pistachio tart, lemon tart with candied blueberry's, chocolate lava cake with fresh mint ice cream. I had the halibut and it was beautiful so light and fresh tasting. Hats off to the chef & pastry chef. When you can take pictures of your food you know it's good. We then got into Club XS where people were dancing around a pool where there were cabana pool beds and lounge chairs in the water. I know I've seen this used on a scene from CSI.

Monday out we flew back home. Boy I missed the kids, but boy did we have a good time together visiting with friends and family. It can't get much better then this. Sorry to all of you for describing all the food we ate, but if anyone knows me, you know what a passion it is for me to cook so I love to taste and try to recreate delicious food at home. I love the culinary field, who knows maybe in my future. Vegas is just a whole different lifestyle. No one eats lunch before 2pm and dinner until 10 after all the shows. I can't pick a favorite show because they were all so good, and there were special things about each show that were my favorites. It was so good to visit and see everyone while we were there. Thanks you guys for showing us a good time and making our anniversary get away so very special!