The Rest of March

We are so thankful for all the warm, sunny days that the second half of March brought. 

Marshma sent the boys these "straws" that you stick in oranges to drink the juice. Luke loved his so much and has reminded me like a thousand times to buy more oranges at the grocery store.

Picnic lunch on the driveway (his request)

Caleb loves climbing the tree (that used to be a "weed" when we built out house) in our backyard. Each year he ventures a little higher. (It makes Luke so nervous when Caleb is up there-ha!)

Luke still sets up his "work" on a daily basis. Boxes, legos, notebooks, old ticket stubs, etc. He is such a character. (Notice all the empty boxes in the background...yeah, those are his boxes.)

Nap time is still pretty important for this little guy. Normally we have to wake him after an hour and a half to pick up Caleb from school. On this particular day I just couldn't get him to wake up!

Our first after school park visit this year

Over the weekend the boys dyed Easter eggs. When we were finished Luke said he was ready to put candy in them. Ha!

Since it was sunny and in the 70s today, we met my friend Kristen and her daughter Kamryn at the zoo. I can't even remember the last time we went, so Luke was super excited!

These two were hilarious...they loved giggling about the gorilla's butt. ;)

 Our "Let's see who is taller" worked to get a picture.

One last carousel ride with my little guy. I just love our time together.

 Luke then spent all afternoon and evening on the back deck. He rearranged his playhouse and played with his sand/water table for hours!

While we were away...

While we were in Vegas, the boys were well taken care of and hardly missed us at all!

We were so thankful that Peepaw could come to town and take the first shift. He stayed at our house with the boys the first two nights and we kept him busy with carpool, piano lessons, homework, gymnastics, etc. 

There was also a lot of spoiling that took place.  Sunday after we left for the airport, the boys got to go to Walmart (The LOVE to go shopping at Walmart!) for "treats." Then it was their 2nd favorite dinner...White Castle!

Monday they met Dana, Garrett, and cousin Bennett at their favorite dinner place...Sake Blue!

Grandmom, Grandpa, and Aunt Paige took over the second shift. They played, went to the park, and poor Grandmom even got stuck taking Luke to his four year old checkup. (Thankfully the doctor and shots don't faze him!)

Looking good on the way to the park!

We were so grateful for our trip, and even more thankful for our family that took such incredible care of the boys!

Vegas, Day 3

For our last day in Vegas, we decided to ride the city bus to Fremont Street so we could see the original Vegas casinos. The funny thing was, Creed and I simply loved Fremont Street, much more than The Strip. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe on the street, and Fremont Street provided excellent people watching. :)

Golden Gate Casino

The oldest Casino in Last Vegas

Haha! 

No free lunch

That evening we had dinner and then saw the Cirque du Soleil show, KA, at the MGM Grand. Instead of taking the tour bus back to our hotel we decided to walk the 3 blocks back and look at the sights. 

New York, New York was simply incredible all lit up at night!

The next morning, we headed home.
I am so thankful that we got to visit Las Vegas and to have done all the fun things we did. While Vegas itself wasn't my favorite, it was still an incredible trip that we will always remember. 

Vegas, Day 2

Good morning, Las Vegas!

Yes, I could have basically slept as late as I wanted, yet saw the the sun come up. Sigh. Time zone changes and I don't mesh.

Day two started out with an early breakfast and business meeting for Creed, and another relaxing room service breakfast for me. 

After Creed got back we headed off on another adventure...

We boarded a tour bus with some of our Chevy friends and traveled through incredible landscapes that are simply breathtaking. 

When I found out about this Vegas trip, I told Creed that the one single thing I wanted to do more than anything was to visit the Hoover Dam. I was thrilled to find out it was one of our choices for an excursion!

We started with a tour of the power plant at the dam. After taking an elevator really, really far down, we walked this hallway to see the plant.

Everything at Hoover Dame is just massive. And incredible. These are the generators for Nevada. There are 8 others ones that supply electricity to Arizona and (mostly) southern California.

After the tour, we were able to explore outside on our own. It was in the low 80s that day, much more comfortable than the 120 degree mark they hit during the summer. (Um, I wouldn't recommend visiting the dam during the summer...)

Wow!

As hard as I tried, I couldn't get a the entire dam in the camera's frame. 

Fun dam fact (Haha, yes we heard lots of dam jokes while we were there!)

It only took four years to build the Hoover Dam.

That is mind boggling to me, considering it seems to take years to finish a stretch of construction on the interstate.

What a sight!

(And, I am not really afraid of heights, but I don't think I would necessary enjoy driving across that bridge.)

We walked across the dam so we could say we walked to Arizona and saw beautiful Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in the US. (See, I am full of new fun facts.)

Visiting Hoover Dam was everything I had hoped it would be, and much more. I know we will never forget the incredible sights, and we will never forget our tour guide either. (But, that's a story that written words just can't do justice.)

That evening we had the big Chevy awards dinner and celebration in the hotel's theater. 

Me and my handsome date!

Dinner was really great (I was shocked at how good the food was considering they were feeding like 500 people!) and Howie Long (Yeah, I didn't know who HE was either but most of the people there were pretty excited to meet him.) spoke, which was fun. 

At the start of the awards portion of the evening, Chevy did a short video montage of all the What does Chevy mean to you pictures and it was funny to see that our family picture made the cut. Then they went through each dealership that was represented there. 

When I saw this on the giant screen, I was reminded of how proud I am of my hard-working husband. He has an incredible work ethic, puts 100% into his role, and loves what he does. (And there's our hilarious family picture again!)

After dessert, the comedian Jeff Dunham (Yeah, I didn't know who HE was either, and again, everyone else did and were really excited to hear him!) did his routine. It was funny, and while I am not a huge fan of stand up (usually it is just too dirty!) he kept it clean for this show and I really did enjoy it.

Whew.
Day 2 was long, but really great. We were (again...third night in a row) in bed before midnight (I still blame the time change!) and resting up for our last full day there.

Vegas, Day 1

We had a very fun, and very full, first day in Vegas. With the time change, we were up fairly early, so after a wonderful room service breakfast (Thank you to Chevy for spoiling me with one of my favorite luxuries in life: room service daily!), we headed out to explore in the daylight. The weather was amazing while we were there: clear skies and 70+ degrees each day. (It was such a treat after the 12+ inches of snow we had a few days prior at home!)

Pictures of the massive hotels just don't do them justice. They are simply enormous.

The Paris

Planet Hollywood

The Bellagio 

Caesar's Palace

Look closely in the background...Haha! Only on a sidewalk in Vegas...

We spent a while shopping inside the Venetian. 

It definitely felt like we were strolling the streets of Venice. Incredible.

This is one of The Cosmopolitan's towers.

The center of the hotel has a massive, three story bar called The Chandelier Bar. Obviously it got it's name from the massive, gorgeous chandelier that went all around it, and was itself, three stories tall. This picture just doesn't do it justice... (Creed kept telling me that I couldn't take pictures in the casino so I kept trying to sneak one and this is the best I got.)

This is the picture that I did get yelled at for taking. Yes, I took a picture of the NCAA basketball odds in the hotel sports gaming club, and while I knew I would get in trouble, I decided it was worth it to get Kentucky's odds...1-1. (Oh, and I am getting yelled at by a casino lady at this point so I didn't have time to focus. :) Oops.)

We decided to give our feet a break and spend the afternoon at the hotel's pool. Do we look relaxed and happy, or what?!! 

That night Chevy hosted a welcome reception and dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants, Rose.Rabbit.Lie. (It was as weird and off the wall as it's name!) But, we did get a chance to meet other Chevy people and their guests, most of whom we befriended and hung out with at the other events that week.

This was one of the entertaining little shows they put on. Each show was about 10 minutes and just crazy. These two are flying around in a circle while wearing roller skates...on a tiny platform. 

Look- no hands. He did have a rope around his neck that she was holding. They were something else.

These two gals circulated through the room all evening and I couldn't pass up the opportunity for this photo opp. Creed isn't that tiny...they were huge! Like 6 to 8" platform heels huge.

After our first full day, we discussed walking around or checking out the casino when the reception ended. Our decision: sleep! Haha! Yes, we again were in bed and asleep (in Vegas!) before midnight. :)